SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
15 
with that “little fall” of which they speak, ranging from 40 
to 100 feet per mile ! 
Will the Editors be so good as to furnish me the fall of 
the Merrimack river, if you have it, or can readily procure 
it for me 1 
With a sincere desire for the continued and increased 
success of your able journal, and an ardent hope that a 
new year may inaugurate a firm purpose on the part of 
planters to go to work and determine this all-important 
question, each for himself, I remain. 
Yours respectfully, 
H. J. C \NN0N. 
Melton, {Sommervillc P. O.) Tcnn., Nov., 185G. 
CHINESE SUGAR CANE — NORTH AND SOUTH. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — There seems to be 
considerable variation in the samples of stalk and seed 
exhibited by different growers of the Chinese Sugar Cane. 
At the late National Fair, specimens shown by Prince & 
Co., of Flushing, Long Island, and others whose names I 
do not now recollect, as well as those exhibited in some 
Seed Stores of Philadelphia, differed widely from each 
other and still more widely from that which I obtained from 
you under the same name. The stalk of the Northern 
samples ranges from 10 to 12 and even 14 feet in height, 
while mine rarely exceed 8 or 9 feet. The diameters vary 
also from the largest size corn-stalk (say 2 inches or more) 
to not more than three quarters of an inch in some samples. 
Theirs has a rind much like corn — thin and comparative- 
ly soft and yielding. They differ in the structure of the 
celular tissue also — approximating more to the pith of the 
corn stalk than to the firm, hard cell of the true Sugar 
Cane. Their pith is but little more sacharine than corn 
stalks, while ours is so sweet as to rival the true cane, I 
notice also in some of these samples a disposition to throw 
down rootlets from the lower joints into the earth like our 
corn, which I have never noticed in the plant I grow. 
In the seed, also, I find marked differences, The color 
varies from reddish brown to black in the chaff, and the 
inner envelope is lighter in its hue, while the size in dif- 
ferent samples varies from half to double that to which I 
- am accustomed to see it attain. The seed is placed much 
more compactly in the head than mine. 
These differences are probabh. dependent upon the ad- 
mixture of pollen from other varieties ; perhaps from the 
Dourah or Broom Corn. It is possible they may be dis- 
tinct species, though it is scarcely, I think, probable. 
Some of the Seedsmen, to whom I refer, supply field and 
garden seeds largely to the South, and will doubtless dis- 
seminate their Cane seed also. I draw the attention of 
your readers to the subject, that they may be on their 
guard in purchasing this seed for the production of syrup. 
Disappointment must necessarily await those who shall 
cultivate this tall corn stalk cane for the sacharine juice. 
' Many of the Northern farmers have grown crops from 
• such seed as I refer to for provender, and so far as I can 
learn, speak of it in the highest terms of praise. It is at- 
tracting general attention as a forage crop, and will be 
very largely planted the coming season for that purpose. 
\ aluable as the Northern variety doubtless is in this re- 
spect, it will not answer for syrup. R. Battey, 
Rome, Go.., Nov., 1856. 
A Good Horse. — According to Abd-el-Kadar a well- 
bred horse is one which has : 
1. Three things long — the ear, the chest and the fore- 
arm, 
2. Three things short— the bones of the tail, the hind 
legs and the back. 
3. Three things large — the face, the breast, and the 
croup. 
HYDRAUEIC, OR WATER RA3I — REPLY TO 
Hou. Gai’uett Andrews. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Your correspondent, 
Hon. Garnett Andrews, wishes irformation in relation to 
this most useful and economical machine, and I am pleased 
to give him such data to work upon in selecting one as 
his limited description of the stream, elevation, &c'., will 
permit. As Mr. A. has not given sufiicient particulars 
lor me to base the true calculations upon, I give him the 
following rule, which will enable him to make nearly an 
accurate estimate of the amount of water he may expect to 
receive at his door, viz : 
First ascertain the quantity of water flowing per minute 
or hour trom the dam or head, as nearly as can be done. 
This, with a ten feet fall, will elevate one-seventh part of 
the volume fifty feet, or one fourteenth part of one hun- 
dred feet high, and carry it to the distance of 250 to 300 
yards. A stream furnishing less thau 3 or 4 quarts per 
minute would not be worth the expense of ram, &c., for 
his elevation. The greater the length of pipe, the more 
friction to be overcome — the larger should be the dis- 
charge pipe. The greater the elevation or pressure, the 
more strength is required for each pipe. 
For rams and more accurate information upon the sub- 
ject, write to Messrs, W. & B. Douglass, Middletown, 
Conn., who* can furnish the proper size for Mr. A.’s 
stream. Very respectfully, R. B. N. 
Huntsville, Ala., Dec., 1856. 
A SOUTHERN DAIRY— REPLY TO “E. G. P.” 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Your subscriber,5“E. 
G. P.,” in the November number of your truly valuable 
paper, asks for the best and most economical plan for 
building a “Southern Dairy” on a large scale, &c.,” and 
also “what system of feeding will preserve cows in good 
condition and abundance of milk I” 
I will answer the first by stating that I have a subter- 
ranean dairy, twenty-five feet (at the bottom) below the 
surface of the ground, 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, 7 feet high 
inside, with a 4 inch flue passing up from the back end of 
this little apartment, through the earth to the height of 3 
feet above its surface. This dairy is situated on the north- 
western slope of the hill upon which ray house stands and 
entered on the lower side. It was first dug out, and 
widened at the bottom for the logs, and constructed thus ; 
The room mentioned as being 8 by 4 by 7 is walled up on 
3 sides and covered with square hewed red cedar logs 
nicely fitted together, and the fourth side being open as an 
entrance, is faced up with the same, and holds the ends 
of the side logs, as well as the stair case logs, secure- 
ly. The stairway or sloping entrance is walled up and 
covered like the room below, and ends upon a landing 6 
feet below the surface of the ground. It is here secured 
from intruders by a latticed door, which admits a current 
of air in summer to pass down and up through the flue. 
This landing is protected from rain, &c., by a simple shed 
roof, and is latticed on the east and west and open on the 
north, and extends to the ground on the south. It is en- 
tered by an ordinary pair of steps. 
The cost of the lumber out of which this dairy was 
built was less than $30, the work being done by my 
own servants, under my supervision. Since I built 
it (1848) we have never had the first pan of sour milk 
from it, neither have we had from it soft butter to put upon 
our table. Fruit, meats and fish keep sweet until con- 
sumed by the family. It not only keeps everything put 
into it, at a low' temperature in summer, butprevents Ireez- 
ing in winter. I do not hesitate to say that it is the most 
useful dairy I have seen, and I have examined many in 
other States. As “E. G. P.” wishes one on a large scale, 
I would advise him to have one built of cedar, stone or 
