SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
273 
seems to be inherent in the very nature of some folks, 
which prompts them to conjure up dificulties and cast 
them in the way of every improvement. They do not 
intend to make any improvement ihemselves, and they 
glory in ridiculing the man that does. They had rather 
be on earth and cry “humbug,'' than to be in Heaven and 
cry “holy art Thou,'’ &c. 
But apart from this unpleasant consideration ; 
To give a correct idea of my system of ditching and 
liorizontal culture, 1 shall have to do that which lias 
been often done, namely : give a description of the imple- 
ment with which the work is performed. I use the rafter 
level, with a spirit level attached and it is graded in the 
following way : When made, it should spread 12 feet and 
be placed on a level floor, then mark across the centre of 
the bubble in the spirit level, then reverse the compass, or 
rafter level, and mark again as before. The centre between 
these marks gives the dead level. You w'ill then move 
the compass, until the bubble stands at the centre, and on 
a level, then place an inch block under one end of the 
compass, and make a mark across the phial at the end of 
the bubble next to the centre, then raise another inch and 
raise as before, and so on, until you raise 3 inches tall. 
Then get a basket of 4 inch pins and you are ready for 
the field. 
Before you commence ditching take a general survev of 
the ground you intend to ditch, and determine in your 
mindas near as may be, the distance the ditches should be 
apart, &c. 
Then place your compass near the top of the hill where 
your land commences to w’ash, and move the front end 
until the end of the bubble falls to the two inch mark, and 
make the boy with his basket or sack of pins drive down 
a pin at each end of the compass. Then move the hind 
end where the front end was, and move the front end un- 
til the bubble rises to the 2 inch mark again and drive 
down a pin as before, and so on until your ditch is located. 
After w’hich take a 2 horse plow and throw a furrow 
slice down hill, plowing up the pins, and repeat the plow- 
ing 3 or 4 times and clean out with hoes. The ditch should 
be about 2 feet wide, and sloped downwards to the upper 
bank so that the water may have a hard bank to run 
against below, and thus lessen the chances of breaking 
over, &c. 
The distance of the 2nd ditch from the first, must be de- 
termined by the aparatus. No definite rule can be given 
as that will depend upon the declivity of the hill and the 
volume of water to be conveyed out of the field. It should 
be close enough, however, to catch the water that falls 
below the upper ditch before it accumulates enough to 
wash, and so with all the other ditches. 
After the field is thus ditched lay off guide rows — 1 or 
2 between each ditch, and perfectly level. These guide 
rows will cross the ditches about half ways out. Your 
guide rows all laid off, you will then bring 4 good plow- 
man in the field, with a good steady mules or horse each. 
If your rows are to be 4 feet apart, tie a light pole 8 feet 
long to the bits of the bridal of one of the mules, and make 
a boy walk parallel to the mule in the upper guide row 
and a plow behind throwing out, which makes your 
roiL's precLScly 4 feet icide. The other 2 plowmen com- 
mence on the 'upper side of the second guide row, with a 
pole and boy as the other and they thus lay off until they 
meet at some point between the guide rows, and then fill 
out on the levelest line. We commence, then, between 
the next two guide rows and lay off as before, and so on 
until the whole field is laid off. 
The above is my simple plan of ditching and hoizoltal- 
izing by which I have stopped the progress of many a 
gully, and made the red hill to rejoice with waving and 
luxuriant crops of cotton, corn and wheat. I have full con- 
fidence in the system, for I have tried it, and what my 
eyes have seen that do I know. 
On this place, I have ditched and horizontalized a 100 
acre field in the above way, and i)r. IVL W. Phii.,ips paid 
me a visit the other day, and examined it and he can say 
whether or not I have saved that field. 
L.and ditched and horizontalized in the wai/ described 
can be solved. The water stands on the ground in a solid 
sheet, until the water furrow is full, and then it falls 
getuly into the one below and the ditch stands ready to 
catch it before it accumulates enough to wash, 
I have now done, and if anybody has a better plan let 
them give it, and we shall be obliged. Good night 
Yours, &c., G. D. Harmon. 
UUca, Miss., July, 1856. 
THAT PROLIFIC PEA! 
Editors Southern Cultivator — “I, Iasi year, planted 
3 peas brought by a friend from China, only me of which 
come up, and from this one pea I gathered over a half 
a gallon.” Well, I don’t dispute that. But you say, again, 
“Then, again the vine is eaten greedily by stock of any 
kind, Itested 'm a small way last year.” Now, Mr, 
“ W. F. D.” please inform us how you proved that stock of 
«?rykind would eat yom pea vine greedily. 
If you had but one vine, if you tested the matter at all, 
it must have been m exceedingly small way. Divide 
one pea vine between your oxen, cows, sheep, horses, 
hogs, &c., and how could you tell whether they eat it 
greedily or not. Each one’s allowance would be so small 
that I hardly think they would notice it. What do the rest 
of you think, gentlemen '? 
But seriously, Messrs. Editor.^, I am sorry to see such 
statements as the above in our agricultural journals. It 
injures our cause, and writers should be more careful 
how they tell their tales. Yours &c , 
G. D. H. 
Ulica, Miss., 18.56. 
MOLE PILLS. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — I have been a subscri- 
ber to your paper three years, and having been profited by 
the many valuable recipes and other information through 
its columns from brother farmers, I feel that I would be 
doing them an injustice was I to withhold anything from 
them that would benefit or enlighten them in the least 
possible way, I, therefore, beg that you will allow these 
lines a place in your valuable paper for the satisfiiction of 
your “Fellwood’s Store” correspondent, who wants to 
know if there is any protection against the ravages of 
Moles. I will give him my experiment with them this 
spring and the result, and, as it is a very simple one, he 
can give it a trial. 
For two years my wife’s garden has been troubled by 
these little pests, and as I knew no way to remove them I 
was compelled, as I thought, to submit to their ravages. 
Things went on in this way until last spring, when I had 
a warm bed made and bedded out my seed potatoes ; in a 
very few days they took possession of it, and like some 
other beds in the garden, they completely undermined k 
(if I may so express myself) ; this I could not stand, and 
resolved at once to try and get rid of them. I according- 
ly procured a lump of cold hominy about the size ofa hen 
egg, into which I mixed 10 grains of strychnine. I then 
went about in the garden and wherever I found a fresh 
trail [ run my fore-finger through the loose cracked earth 
to their cave or passway, into which I dropped a small 
lump of the hominy about as large as the end of my finger, 
always being careful to put a small piece of bark over the 
I hole to keep the dirt from rolling in and to shut out the 
I light should they attempt to pass before night I did this 
