18 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
dude rain; as they wilt and settle down, there is air 
enough to cure. No better food is needed. 
Egyptian Millet, step-dropped in Si feet rows (rich 
land) 10 to 15 seed 2 feet apart, will bear several cuttings, 
and when you can spare the time. 
Bermuda Grass, planted on a rich, rather moist low 
ground and kept rich, will give full 2 tons of hay per acre. 
It has given more o« rich land. 
Clover can be grown in Madison county; sow 1 bush- 
el to 8 or 10 acres, with | bushel of oats, say in September 
or October, in a cotton field — the picking of cotton will 
cover the seed. I have made 2 cuttings a year. 
I have now for planting, Muticole Rye, Clover, Blue, 
Orchard, Timothy and Red Top or Herds, Stanford’s Wild 
Oat and Rescue Grasses. Intending to test all, but mostly 
as grazing grasses. 
By the way, I forgot Gama grass. I brought it here in 
1834, not knowing it waS indigenous and pressed it for- 
ward until the demand for cotton land encroached on my 
Gama patch. I have watched it for days and weeks, and 
can safely say that it grew here 1 to 1^ inches per day, 
and was cut three or four times per year, yielding a good 
feed. Some aver it is coarse, but not too much so for 
stock to destroy it ; if permitted to run on it they keep it 
eaten down to the earth. I admit, like too many others, T 
run after new things, for I do not see what we can have 
to desire over and above the articles I now name as for- 
age plants. 
The Patent Office sent me, years ago, a few seed of the 
Multicole Rye ; it was sown too late to make any grain, 
and from the immense quantity of grass I have been in- 
duced to oi'der a bushel, from Pitkin & Brothers, in 
Louisville, Ky., price $1.75, with a view of testing it fully 
on pine land, drilled and on rich land sown broadcast, 
and to be cut as a forage. 
I think we need pasture for winter more than anything 
else. If we had pastures our hogs would cost nothing but 
to harden meat as is thought needful, and our work ani- 
mals and cows would fare better. 
The Rescue, with me, (I am very certain I have had it 
10 years,) does not make grass enough. I have not had 
enough growing to test satisfactorily and hope, “by your 
assistance,” to do so the coming year. I say above I have 
had the Rescue — a friend sent me, from Texas, about 1844 
a seed he called a variety of the Musquite. I planted it in 
a corner of the flower garden and, when absent, a servant 
cleanedit up-, I only got one bunch, those I saved and put 
away so carefully that I have never seen them since. But 
I cannot be mistaken in the plant I think. To think I 
lost so profitable a seed— $20 per bushel— think of it. 
Shanghais and Rescue ! Yours truly, 
M. W. Philips. 
Hinds County, Miss., 1856. 
COfVCRETE BUIEDINGS — MR. SAXTON’S 
Octagon House, its Cost, 4fec. 
D. Redmond — Dear Sir: Yesterday I received the en- 
closed letter from Mr. Saxon, near Adairsville. I send it 
to you, thinking It might answer a valuable purpose in 
connection with my former letter on the subject of con- 
crete. Mr. Saxon’s house is very much admired by all 
who have seen it. It is certainly a striking fact that so 
large and handsome a house could be built at an expense 
of $1100, not including the labor of eight farm negroes, 
at spare times from the crop. 
If you are not wearied with the subject, permit me to 
add one or two extracts from Lieut. Wright’s work on 
the subject of concrete, in addition to those previously 
set you : 
“In England, concrete, as a substratum, especially on 
dangerous soils, is fast superceding every other material 
at the present time. The materials usually employed in 
the manufacture of concrete by the English, are hydrau- 
lic lime, sand and some other material like coarse gravel, 
or stone or brick fragments. 
“The lime, fresh from the kiln, is first ground to pow- 
der, then mingled with the other ingredients, properly 
proportioned, and the whole well blended in the dry state, 
in order that the slaking of the lime may be delayed to 
the last possible moment. When the materials have been 
thoroughly incorporated, water is added in sufficient quan- 
tity to bring the mixture to the consistency of good mor- 
tar, and the mass again turned over with the shovel once 
or twice, with all practicable expedition. 
“The foundations of some of the most important struc- 
tures in England have been built entirely of this kind of 
concrete, and constructors of that country unite in 
giving it an excellent character. 
“Concrete admits of a great variety of applications. 
Arches, and indeed entire buildings, have been construct- 
ed of this kind of material alone, and it furnishes an easy 
and cheap means of forming the shafts of columns, the 
ornanamental work connected there with it, and many 
kinds of artificial stones.” 
It may interest you to know the cost of a cubic yard of 
concrete, as used for the foundation of the sea wall at Fort 
Warren : 
Mortar— ) Cement, 286.37 lbs— 3 cub. ft. paste, $1 28 
8.17 cub. fl. 5 Sand, 674 lbs.— 6 1-2 cub. ft. dense, 17 
Gravel, 25.13 cub. ft 24 
Making mortar, 0.064") 
Making cement, 0.109 t noc j oi 
Transporting do. 0.051 ,!■ 0 06 • 31 
Paoding do, 0.031 J 
Tools’ &c 11 
Cost pr cub. y’d, concrete foundation, $2 11 
Analysis of cost per cubic yard of common roofing con- 
crete : 
Lime, . 28 cask, at 70 cents - - - $0 19 
Cement, 180 lbs., at 1-2 cent - - - 50 
Sand, .54 ton, at 50 cents - - - - 27 
Granite fragments, .57 yard, at 70 cents - 40 
Gravel, . 54 ton, at 50 cents - - - - 27 
Making mortar, 138 yard, at 39 cents - - 14 3-4 
Making cement, &c., _____ 59 
Cost per cubic yard - - - - $2 76 3-4 
The same cement would cost more at Augusta than the 
above estimate, but this difference would be more than 
made up by the greater cheapness of the other materials 
and of slave labor. A smoke-house built and arched with 
concrete would be inaccessible to vermin, and indestruct- 
ible by fire. A spring-house built and arched overhead 
with concrete, would be exceedingly cool in summer. If 
an estimate of the cost of a neat paling of wood be made, 
it will be found to exceed the cost of a congrete wall ; the 
latter will be more ornamental and vastly more perma- 
nent. The coping should be made of cement concrete. 
I will endeavor to obtain from a Mr. Rogers, of this 
county, estimates of cost of a very large three-story con- 
crete house, which he has just built, and will send it to 
you when I obtain it. I am yours, truly. 
C. W. Howard. 
Spring Bank, near Kingston, Ga., Sept., 1856. 
Rev. C. W. Howard — Dear Sir: Your favor of the 
— ult., requesting a description and estimate of my con- 
crete building, was received, and Contents duly noted. 
Several considerations seem to forbid my answering yours, 
as I would wish. The pressure of business denies me the 
privilege of writing by daylight. I have been very care- 
ful to item all my moneyed expenses, and to some extent 
the amount of labor. To collect all the memoranda, and 
make a faithful exhibit, would require more ti,me than I 
