248 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
AUGUSTA3 GA: 
VOL. XIV. NO. 8. 
AUGITST, 1856. 
To Correspondents. — A great number of very valu- 
able communications are unavoidably deferred until our 
next. Among them are interesting articles from Dr. 
Philips, Prof. H. W. Ravened, Col R. M. Johnston — D 
E. P.— L. S. G.— W. H. R.— Bradbury— W. R.— S.— G. 
D. H. — Tattler — T. C. Watson, &c. All of which will re- 
ceive attention hereafter. 
^'Woodland Female College.” — This excellent insti- 
tution is located at the quiet and beautiful village of Cedar 
Town, Ga. We had the pleasure of attending the Com- 
mencement exercises on the 2d July, and would commend 
to the attention of parents and guardians the unusual fa- 
cilities for education which it affords. The fall season 
opens the first Monday in Avgust. Circulars, giving all 
desirable information as to Terms, &c., may be obtained 
by addressing the President, Rev. J. M. Wood, Cedar 
Town, Polk county, Ga. 
FOMOLOGICAL MEETING AT ATHENS, GA. 
All who feel an intei’est in Southern Fruit Culture are 
requested to meet at Athens, Ga., on Wednesday , August 
6, 1856 — during College Commencement Week— and to 
bring specimens of the best and rarest ripe Fruit (especial- 
ly Southern Seedlings) and such Fruit Buds (carefully 
packed) as are deemed worthy of extensive propagation. 
An effort will be made to establish a Pomological Society 
on a permanent basis, and a full attendance is urged up- 
on all Horticulturists and Fruit Growers. 
HINTS FOR THE SEASON. 
Oirj Pc<z5, for Hay, may still be sown. Cut when the 
pods are beginning to form, and cure carefully according 
to directions to be found in our September number. 
Corn for fodder may still be sown in the drill, upon well 
manured and deeply plowed land. See directions in 
Work for the Month, June and July numbers. 
Turnips must be sown without delay. Have your 
ground all prepared, so as put in the seed just before the 
:&rst shower. 
■May Caps are coming into extensive use among 
Northern farmers, and would save much loss of Fodder 
and Hay in the South. They are made thus : — Take com- 
mon sheeting, and cut pieces double as long as it is wide 
— sew the edges together so as to form a square, hem- 
ming the torn edges — sew firmly into the corners a piece of 
strong cord as large as a goose quill and two feet long, 
leaving a loop at the end — then immerse your cloth in 
the waterproof mixture described on the opposite page, 
dry them, and the Hay Caps are done. They are used 
thus: — When a storm is approaching and the exposed 
cocks ofhay or fodder are in danger of getting wet, one 
person fakes an armful of these cloths, and passing rapid- 
ly along, throws one over each mound of hay or fodder. 
He is followed by a boy with a basket full of long wooden 
pins which he catches in the cord loops, and pulling the 
cloth tight, fastens it by thrusting the pins upward into 
the hay. It is very quickly done, and every farmer ar.d 
planter should be provided with a lot of the caps and pins. 
Hay Making . — Cut all grass when in blossom, and cure 
according to directions heretofore given. 
HINTS IN WHEAT-CTTLTIJRE, AND OTHER MATTERS. 
If early sown, wheat is sometimes injured by late 
spring frosts ; that which is sown too late, is still more 
likely to be damaged by rust. Of the two evils, that of 
late seeding, with its generally feeble growth, more lia- 
bility to suffer from the heaving frosts of winter, and front 
rust in summer, is more to be dreaded than its opposite. 
Instead of sowing in December, in this latitude, it is bet- 
ter to sow in November, and early in the month. Wheat 
plants need considerable roots and strength before cold 
weather sets in ; and this advantage is attainable only by 
putting the seed in the ground long enough before it ia 
frozen to insure considerable development. The tempera- 
ture of the three winter months, December, January and 
February, is variable, so that wheat makes a much large- 
growth before March in some winters than others. It is 
better, however, to feed off any excess of early luxuriance 
by calves and sheep than have the plants very small and 
feeble when frost and frozen earili reach them. In the 
latter condition a large share will be killed. 
Poverty of soil is-the grand drawback to wheat culture 
at the South. If this impediment did not exist, the busi- 
ness would be alike pleasant and profitable. We shall 
try the use of the Southern pea as clover is used in Wes- 
tern New York, to enrich the land by being plowed in, 
preparatory for wheat. On really poor ground it may not 
be very easy to grow a fair crop of pea vines, as it cer- 
tainly is not one of clover ; and we can only remedy the 
defect by the use of manure, forest leaves, ashes, lime, or 
bone-dust. The cultivator who makes ten bushels of 
wheat grow where not one bushel would grow before, is 
a benefactor to his race ; and this is precisely what good 
husbandmen are learning to do. Our limited experience 
this year has taught us anew the importance of deeply 
stirring the earth for the benefit of all cereals, and the 
other plants which v/e have cultivated. Where the mois- 
ture had a free passage lipvrard from the deep subsoil, 
around the roots of wheat, maize and potatoes, the ab- 
sence of rain for five weeks did little damage : but where 
