SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
155 
Be Careful with Guano. — It may not be as general- 
ly known as it should be (says the Philadelphia yorth 
American) that great danger may be incurred by the reck- 
less handling of guano, V/e understand that cases have 
occurred of persons having cuts upon their fingers who, 
in handling this manure, have received a deadly poison 
into the system. The guano contains an organic element 
which is just as certain to operate against life if it once 
reaches the blood, as the corruption of a body that gets 
into a wound upon the person of the dissector. Farmers 
should be aware of this fact and be cautious. We hear of 
a death from this cause occurring within a few days in a 
neighboring county. 
I 
CHINESE SUGAR CANE IN lEEINOIS. 
Mr, E. Baker, of Rochester Mills, Wabash county, 111 , 
writes to the Belleville Advocate, that he shall plant 25 
acres with the Chinese Sugar Cane the present season 
“I am convinced,” he says “that the State of Illinois will 
in five years make her own sugar, and if I have luck I 
shall make, this season, enough sugar, and certainly will 
molasses, to supply my little town. At all events, I shall 
try.” 
Mr. Kitch, of Wabash county, who some months ago, 
made a statement of the result of his experiment with the 
Sugar Cane last year, offers to bet the sceptical editor of ' 
the Charleston Co^^^^cr, $500, that he will manufacture from j 
one acre, “planted with the Chinese weed,^' five hundred j 
gallons of molasses, a superior article to any manufactured ! 
in the South, and sold by the merchants in Coles county, 
in 1856 for 75 cents per gallon. And further, that he will 
manufacture it at the cost of 10 cents per gallon. 
Water Lime. — A correspondent of the Country Gentle- 
man asks, what is water lime 1 and the question is an- j 
swered as follows : which we insert for the reason that j 
while hydrulic cement is known to most persons, it is by | 
no means so generally known by the less seldom used i 
name of water lime : ^ 
Water lime, which our correspondent may be familiar 1 
with, under the name of hydraulic cement, is made by 1 
burning an impure limestone, and then grinding it like ! 
plaster or gypsum, for use. When mixed with nearly j 
twice its bulk of clean, sharp sand, and mixed with water | 
it soon “sets,” and by exposure to air and water, be- j 
comes, in a few months, hard like stone. Two parts of i 
water lime and three of sand, usually m.ake the hardest | 
cement. A cellar, first smoothly paved with small stone, i 
and then coated with water lime mortar, made of the best 
materials, is furnished with as perfect a floor as by the 
best flagging. Water limestone differs from common 
limestone by the impurities it contains, and more especi- 
ally by a large proportion of alumina or clay— it does not 
burn so as to slack to powder, and hence needs grinding-. 
It has been made artificially by mixing clay and some 
other ingredients with common or pure lime. 
A Snake Within a Potato. — The Chicago Journal, of 
a recent date says, “that Mr. Chas. E, Day, of the North 
Side, yesterday showed us a boiled potato which, on be- 
ing opened, was found to contain a small snake 2 inches 
long. It is an ugly looking thing. The development took 
place at the dinner table.” 
Fine Cotton. — The New York Courier and Enquirer 
has been shown a sample of Sea Island cotton, taken from 
a bale sold in Charleston, S. C , at S‘1-25 per pound, pro- 
bably the highest price paid in 20 years. The factors who 
sold this bale are confident that it is the finest bale of cot- 
ton that has ever crossed the Atlantic. The planter (of 
Edisto, South Carolina,) took the medal in the London 
Exhibition of 1851, and the prize bale, which spun yarn up 
to No. 900, is believed to be inferior to this. Tins bale was 
picked out by the lady of the planter with her own hands, 
and it is a marvel the perfection to which she has brought 
the staple. We understand it is to go to Havre. 
Lusus Nature. — An exchange paper says : — Mr. Ma- 
son S. Barkley, of Jessamine county, Ky., has a mare 
that produced two colts, a few days ago, one of which 
was a horse and the other a mule colt They were both 
good sized and perfectly formed. This is certainly a re- 
markable phenomenon, and the like of which we do not 
remember ever to have noticed before. What is still more 
singular, Mr. Barkley is not aware that his mare was ever 
bred to a horse the past year. 
Longevity of Mules. — The Medical Wo-rld says that 
there is a mule in possession of a farmer, near Ballingloss, 
Ireland, which has been employed in the transit of ammu- 
nition, &c., to Vinegar Hill, since 1798. There is saying 
that a white mule lives longer than any other mule. Some 
year ago, one of that color on Col. Middleton’s estate, 
in South Carolina, was ever eighty years old, and was 
still at work. 
Wheat Crop. — The accounts from almost every part 
of the country give encouraging hopes for a bountiful har- 
vest. In some localities the the severe winter has injured 
it, but generally the crops are represented as looking re- 
markably fine. 
[This was written before the late frosts. We fear the 
prospects are not so flattering now.] 
High Priced Forign Wines. — Mr. Cozzens gives us 
the following, in his “Wine Press 
The Chateau Wines of Lafitte, Margaux,and Latour, of 
185(), have all been sold at 5,700 francs per tun of 4 hogs- 
heads, or 1,000 bottles. These are r27t5 svr lie, wines on 
the lees, and will not be fit to bottle until four years at 
least, from the year of the vintage. Taking into account 
the loss sustained by racking the wines oft' lees, fining, 
leakage, interest of the money, &c., it is always' estimated 
the wines will cost double the original price when ready 
for bottling. This will make the value of the wine itself 
about two dollars and five cents per bottle in France, irre- 
spective of the cost of bottling, cases, &c. Add to these 
shipping expenses, and duties here at 40 per cent , and 
then what will these wines be worth in 18G0'? 
The Season in Ten.nessee. — A correspondent v/rites 
us from IMemphis, under date of March 17th ; 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Since the 1st of March 
we have had very cold weaiher— frost every night, and 
often ice. The ground slightly frozen. The early fruits 
are all killed, except in favorable localities. The weather 
has been very dry during that time, which is favorable. 
Yours truly, W. B. H. 
