34 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
Mass,, who kept him till 1855, when he sold him to a 
stock company in Williamstown, Vt., where he is now 
owned. Mr. Hale took him West in 1853, and he received 
first premiums at the several State Fairs of Kentucky, 
Ohio and Michigan, and in 1854 he received the first 
premium at the Vermont State Fair, at Brattleboro.’ He 
has also taken several other premiums. He is a horse of 
great muscular development, and remarkably nervous, 
spirited action. 
TALL. COTTON PICKING. 
Tha Vicksburg (Miss.) Whig, of a late date has the 
following : 
Villa Vista Plantation, Nov. 24, 1756. 
Mr. Editor — Beat this who can ! Four negro men and 
two girls picked, on Wm. Hawes Harris’ plantation, 7,750 
lbs , of cotton, commencing at daylight and quitting at sun- 
set. L. Henry, 1,560 lbs.; Arthur, 1,235 lbs.; George, 
1,200 lbs.; Abner, 1,415 lbs.: Eleanor, 1,150 lbs., and L, 
Betsey, 1,190 lbs. They have been picking at this rate 
for the last ten days. L. J. Philips, 
Manager of V. V. Plantation. 
“ THE ART AND PRINCIPLES OF SOAP 
Making.” 
Editors Southern Cultivator: In your remarks un- 
der the above head, May No . 1856, page 163, I think the 
minds of your readers are liable to be misled. If I am 
wrong, I shall be giad to get light. 
You say, “water slowly decomposes soap.” Is it not 
the lime and salts in the water which decompose the 
soap I My daily experience shows me that one pound of 
hard white soda soap, combined with ten pints of water, 
(free from lime and salts,) keeps for a length of time with- 
out at all losing its solubility. All soaps contain water in 
greater or less amount, and keep for years without appre- 
ciable deterioration in quality. It is foreign matters 
in the water, then, which decompose the soap, and not 
water itself. 
You say, “because the oil or grease seems to neutral- 
ize, in the first place, and mask in the second, the too in- 
tense causticity of the alkalies named-” Does not carbon- 
ic acid fulfill amply the two indications named, (neutralize 
and mask the causticity,) as well as the fat % Why remove, 
with so much care, the carbonic acid from the alkali, and 
supply its place with the fatty acids'? Soap is certainly 
something more than a caustic alkali deprived of its caus- 
ticity. Nor is it simply grease deprived of its greasiness. 
It is a true chemical compound, having, sui generis, posi- 
tive detergent properties, wholly distinct from those of 
its constituents. The property, when in dilute solution, 
of uniting readily with greases, constitutes its chief value. 
This property is not at all characteristic of either caustic 
or carbonated alkalies, else we should find no difficulty 
in the very ready manufacture of soap under almost any 
conditions. The alkalies, to unite properly with grease, 
must be concentrated, and hence do violence to the cloth 
as well as to the hands of the laundress. 
You say, “But since commercial soaps are so shame- 
lessly adulterated.” Adulterated with what'? Pereira 
says, “with excess of water, lime, gypsum or pipe-clay.” 
Water is the only adulteration I have ever met with — and 
this in no wise injures the quality of the article as a deter- 
gent. 
You say, “We never saw any one weigh either potash, 
ley, grease or oil, in making soap.” Surely, it is a very 
rational proceeding with a new beginner,, especially if 
potash is used. 
You say, “Adding a saturated solution of caustic lime, 
as long as any precipitate falls in the ley.” It seems a 
needless waste of time and fuel to add so large a quantity 
of water as would be required to dissolve the requisite 
amount of lime. If the potash be in the state of proto- 
carbonate, every ten pounds will require at least six pounds 
of lime in a caustic state. The U. S. Dispensatory in- 
forms us that one pint of water at 60° dissolves 9 7-10 
grainsof lime. PemVa says 11 6-10. Now, if we assume 
11 grains, we shall require four hundred and seventy-one 
gallons of lime-water to render caustic ten pounds of pot- 
ash. A bulk altogether too large to be evaporated for the 
recovery of so small a quantity of alkali. Your previous 
remark, “unless you prefer to throw it away,” is well put 
in. 
You say, “Hence, the simple addition of salt will often 
solidify soap, (forming, in part, a soda soap, j ’ &c. Does 
not the addition of salt in sufficient quantity, to potash 
soap, such as you describe, alvooAjs solidify soap '? And 
does it not form in toio a soda soap % So say the authorities. 
You say, “One pound of such soap is worth many 
pounds of the insoluble, filthy, resinous stuff sold for 
washing purposes.” If reference is had to the brown tur- 
pentine soap usually sold, I must differ with the opinion 
expressed. My own observation is, that good turpentine 
soap is a most excellent detergent. • It unites with grease 
with remarkable facility, and by the friction which it in- 
duces, greatly promotes the cleansing of cloth, while a 
pure tallow or oil soap causes the folds of cloth to glide 
smoothly and quickly over each other, so that little or no 
motion takes place in the fibres of the cloth, and the remo- 
val of dirt from the interstices is thus retarded. Good 
house-wives always add rosin or turpentine in their soap- 
boiling, for the improved quality of the soap thus yielded. 
You certainly, Messrs. Editors, have not had much practi- 
cal experience at the wash-tub, or you would not speak so 
harshly of rosin soap. 
You say, “Neither rosin nor any ©fits feble acids ever 
become rancid ; and therefore, says Knapp,” &c. I think 
you certainly mistake the ground upon which Knapp 
makes his assertion, and I apprehend he is in error, as the 
weight of chemical authority is against him. Indeed, he 
says himself, on the very next page, “rosin, in combina- 
tion with either soda or potash, forms by itself a soft 
soap'^ The technical point aside, every house-keeper 
knov/s practically that rosin does make soap, and a first 
rate washing soap can’t be made without it. I remark, in 
conclusion, rosin is one of the constituents of the “Eng- 
lish Honey Soap,” so celebrated for toilet use, which took 
the medal at the London Exhibition. 
R. B. 
[The strictures of our correspondent refer to an article 
published in our last volume, page 163. The senior Edi- 
tor (who wrote that article) will reply in good time.] 
Hair Oil for FIorses. — Immense fortunes have been 
realized in the manufacture of Hair Oil for the Lords and 
Laities of creation. But here i-s a recipe for the manfac- 
ture of hair oil, said to be successful in promoting the 
growth of horse hair, rendering \i pliable and glossy. We 
give the technical formulae of the prescription : 
R. — Take 
Brushus et currycomus ad libitum. 
Elbow greasus quantum suff. 
Blanketisus firstratus. 
Stablus warmus. 
Fodderus never say diet-us but meal us et oatus. 
Exercisus non compromisus. 
The effect of the above is truly wonderful. It results 
in — 
Coatus shinitus, 
Appetitus wolfitus, 
Muscularitus, two-forty-itus. 
Horse Latinus. 
