SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
55 
CHINESE SUCJAil CANE AS A FEKTIEIZER. | 
Editors Southern Cultivator ; ! 
Among the innumerable advantages, which tlie public j 
are already aware, belong to the Chinese Sugar Cane, ! 
one most important has escaped mention. For cheapness 
and value, as a gjvcri mamurey Vais, plant stands pre-emi i 
nent. It is time fhr the Southern people to awake to the I 
necessity of improving their lands, and to subdue that | 
greedy appetite, which takes every thing from the soil and j 
returns nothing to it. Patriotism, philantliropy, paternal | 
love, and a far-sighted polic}' unite in demanding this of | 
them. If the present system of cultivation is pursued i 
much longer, our lands will be exhausted, our govern- i 
ments impoverished, our commerce destroyed, our cities j 
in ruins, and our people driven like the poor Indians who j 
preceded them, from the land of their fathers, before tJie | 
indomitable perseverance, energy and science of the Yan- ! 
kee and the European. Another system might improve ■ 
our soil, enrich our governments, increase our commerce, I 
build up our cities, and render us a great, happy, and | 
contented people. To do this, a complete revolution must j 
be accomplished, old empirical notions must be eradi- I 
cated, and plans substituted in their stead. To i 
find out these by skilful experiments, and to prevail upon | 
the mass to adopt them, is the noble and useful vocation ; 
of the scietific Agriculturist; for he who makes “two! 
blades of grass to grow where only one grew before,’’ is j 
justly entitled to be called the benefactor of Ids race. { 
The three fundamental principles of planting, are deep | 
plowing, thorough drainage and manuring.' It is ob- j 
vious tliat the latter is the most difficult to apply skilfully. | 
The vaiieties of manure are innumerable. Almost every j 
mineral in the earth, every gas of the atmosphere, every i 
exhalation and excrement of the animal, and every re- 
spiration of the vegetable bodies give food to the plant. — 
To choose from all these, what can be applied to the crop 
with the greatest benefit, and at the least expense, is the 
object of the Planter, and evidently requires no small 
amount of study, judgment and experience. 
Green manuring, so successfully and extensively em- 
plyed in Great Britain, has seldom been used in this coun- 
try, except by accident, in turning under the grasses, the 
spontaneous growth of fields suffered to lie out. The su- ! 
periority of this manure over all others is easily demon- j 
strable. From the food of the horse, fljr instance, a large j 
amount of carbon, and a still larger proportion of nitro- i 
gen is extracted before it passes through the stomach, for j 
re-producing the tissues and organs of the body; the! 
amount of these gases, generated by the metamorphose of j 
these tissues being mainly exuded through the skin. The 
excrement of the horse consequently cannot be as rich as 
ais food. When this excrement is mixed with straw and 
urine, as in the common manufacture of stable manure, 
and suffered to undergo fermentation and decomposition, i 
a large amount of nitrogen again escapes into the air in ! 
the form of ammonia and nitric acid. But when any 
green crop is turned under, the gases generated by its de- 
composition escape slowly and with difficulty through the 
pores of the earth, and consequently a greater amount re- 
mains there to feed the plant, tlian can be produced by a i 
quaintity of farm-yard manure, much exceeding the green ' 
manure turned under. Tliis demonstrates clearly, that 
this manure increases the fertility of the soil beyond all 
otliers, for all organic manures are subject more to the 
same disadvantage as that of the farm-yard. Whether 
this superior will counterbalance or more than counter- 
balance the increased expense, if the expense be increas- 
ed, is the next question : and one that can be solved only 
by experiment. 
Clover and other long rooted grasses are principally 
osed for this purpose, on the other side of the Atlantic ; it 
is our object at present, to suggest as superior to them the 
Chinese Sugar Cane, particularly to the Corn Planter; 
and for tlie following reasons: 1st. On account of its 
greater bulk. 2d. The luxuriance with which it grows. 
3rd, Its richness in saline matters. 4th. Its similarity to> 
Corn. 5th, On account of the cheapness of the seed, when 
the plant has become generally cultivated. H. F. P. 
Nas/nnllo, Tevn., 1857, 
ONE OF THE ROADS TO 
One of the surest methods of makine- criminals is to 
degrade labor and pay undue respect to wealth. Men 
will run any risks to gain a position in society. The re- 
cent disclosures in the case of Huntington, Tuckerman, 
and otiier similar delinquents in. this country; of Sad- 
lier, Robson, Redpath, and others in England and France, 
prove that the desire to appear well in society, to be rank 
ed among the happy few who live without labor and n 
dulge in the elegancies of life, is one of the strongest 
incentives to crime. And it must be noticed, for the fact 
is painfully evident, that the false spirit of aristocracy 
which reverences mere wealth and scorns honest labor, is 
becoming alarmingly prevalent among us. It is time that 
the Press and the Pulpit, and every other instrument for 
modifying opinion, and pioducing a moral efiect, were 
employed in checking the growing evil in question. It is 
especially the duty of parents to instill into the minds of 
their children just ideas on the true dignity of labor, and 
the worthlessness of mere extrinsic show; for the child 
tiiat has been taught to regard wealth as the standard of 
excellence, and honest labor as degrading, will run a nar- 
row risk of ending his days on the gallows or in the cells 
of a prison, A few nights since, a little child of some ten 
years, wlio should have been as guileless and innocent as 
a cherub, on being requested to dance with another child 
of her own age, shrugged up shoulders, and in her child- 
ish way, positively refused. On being asked why she 
hesitatedi?sh^' said-sl>e cSuldsd. dance with the other little 
girl because her father was captain of a steamboat. Of 
course thehitle creature was taught to regard the captain 
of a steamboat with disdain, and probably to look upon 
the children of all mechanics as below her, or she would 
not have dreamed of making such an excuse. It would 
rtquire no gift of prophecy to foresee what must be the 
inevitable termination of a life which is commeneed with 
such false ideas of what should constitute true claims to 
honor and respect.— fSc?/- York I'ivies. 
■ ■ ■ ♦ -• 
PEA.S FOR HOG^-«riEDGE8 AND FENX’E'.^. 
Editors Southern Cui.tivator— In your last issue I 
see, a gentleman advocating the doctrine of fattening pork 
hogs entirely on peas. From the little experience I have 
had in the matter, I think hogs should be taken from the 
peas and fed on corn, say one or two weeks before killing, 
for the reason that if the hogs are fed on corn a while be- 
fore killing, the fat will be firmer or harder and will not 
drip as it will when fattened alone on peas. I may be 
mistaken in this; if so, I would like to know it. It is also 
my opinion it will' not do to put stock hogs on peas. 
I am trying the O.sage Orange. It is doing fine so far, 
and I think it will do when planted on the right kind of 
soil, and also rightly cultivated. I planted some where 
there was rock and it did no good. 1 have a mile of plank 
fence; plank and post furnished at .iioGOanhle; white 
oak plank, post oak post. I think this cheaper than rail 
fence. Yours, &c., A. R 
LaGrav^e, Ala, 1857. 
^3^ Feelings are stars, which guide us only under a 
clear sky; but better is reason, the magnellic needle, 
which directs the ship when they are corcealed and shine 
no more. 
