298 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
can be protected, that they may head. Work and manure 
your Asparagus beds, not forgetting to give them a liberal 
top dressing of salt before spring. Do not suffer weeds to 
cumber your garden and exhaust the soil, but turn them 
under, as soon as possible, and you will find the soil much 
improved by next Spring. Save all old bones, soap-suds, 
dead leaves, decaying vegetables, &c., &c., and make up 
into compost heaps for future use. Plow and subsoil 
your ground for the planting of your Orchards, directions 
for which will be found in an article on another page of 
this number. November, December and January are the 
best months for planting trees, vines, «fec. 
STRAWBERRY BEDS 
The best soil for this delicious fruit is a sandy or even a 
gravelly loam, moist and rich in vegetable manure. An ex- 
cellent compost for an acre of ground would be 60 bush- 
els of leaf mould from the woods, 20 bushels of leached 
ashes, 5 bushels lime and 3 or 4 quarts of salt. Mix 
thoroughly, let it stand 2 or 3 days, scatter broadcast 
and plow in. Then harrow or rake the surface, making it 
fine, and set your plants in rows 3 feet apart, and 1 foot 
to 18 inches in the row. After the plants become well 
rooted, cover the whole ground with partly decomposed 
leaves from the forest, leaving nothing exposed but the 
stems and fruit stalks of the plants. 
FARMING NORTH AND SOUTH. 
Edftors Southern Cultivator — That “Pennsylvania 
fermer,” on page 258, present volume, should not “hide 
his light under a bushel,” We want just such men as 
“A. C ,” to give us his helping hand, and I doubt but that 
he will do his adopted country more service by his pen 
than will the commander of the army and navy of the 
United States, though he also is from Pensylvania. That 
closing remark is worth more to me than an article be- 
ginning at the fliood and twisti g in Roman Agriculture 
and Varro and Cato and Collumella and Choctaw and 
Billy Bowlegs thrown in, viz : “ commenced to seed 
down a portion of our land to grass, for the use of our cat- 
tle, hogs, &c.” That is the text from which our people 
should be lectured, if we are ever to hold up our heads 
Some folks think the South must rely upon the democratic 
party, another thinks all politicians are alike, and we 
must rely upon religious people ; but my humble 
opinion is, the strength lies in the masses, and theit 
strength in providing for home. 
If the South, to a man, will “seed down a portion of our 
land to grass,” and let it be a fair portion, I am willing to 
let politicians, and new school or old school, negro chil- 
dren and white children mixed in school policy, each and 
all go their own way to kingdom-come, and not fear for 
our blessed land. Give us the means to live within our- 
selves, and, with cotton bales as a bulwark, we are safe. 
This can only be done by the policy of “A. C.” Call 
him out and let us all listeu to his teachings, and profit 
therefrom. We have had hints from our own folks on 
that subject until our ears have become used thereto. Give 
us the light. 
Oh ! for the day when locks to corn houses and steel- 
yards to the meat house will be unknown ; then we will 
have mutton and wool, horses and mules— in lependance! 
Yours, &c.. 
An Old South Carolinian. 
August, 1857. 
Unhsaltht Houses — No fact is better established than 
this, viz : — That dwellings so located as not to have the 
direct rays of the sun, on either side, are not to be com- 
pared to those on which the light is freely admitted. There 
i » a great deal more sickness in shaded houses than in 
^ose about which light and air circulate. 
PORTABLE SAW-MIL.E. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — My letter in the Au- 
gust number of the Cultivator, in answer to a correspon- 
dent in the July number, on the subject of Portable Saw- 
Mills, has brought me a “shower” of letters of inquicy 
from all quarters of the “Sunny South.” 
1 am delighted to see this spirit of indust y and enter- 
prise manifested, and if persisted in, it will show to the 
world that the people of that beautiful “Land of Promise’'' 
are waking up to their interest and determined to work oub 
their own salvation, the croakings of Horace Greely &r 
Co. to the contrary notwithstanding. 
For the benefit of all whom it may concern (for I find: 
it impossible to answereach separately) I take this method, 
of answering through your valuable and widely cii culat- 
ing journal, that upon inquiry at tlie Patent office, the 
Saw Mill spoken of was patented by and belongs to a 
Mr. John A. Taplin, of Fishkill, Dutchess county, New 
York; who will, no aoubt, be happy to give all satisfac- 
tory information to all correspondents who may honor 
him with their address. 
The gentleman who has charge of that branch of busi- 
ness, at the Patent office, says that the saw a Saw- Mill at 
work at Glennville, Barbour county, Alabama, about 10 
years ago, which was worked by 3 horses and sawed 800 
feet of lumber per day. It was called the Wood-Pecker 
Saw-Mill, was an Alabama invention, and hailed front 
Mobile. Very respectfully, M. Garrett. 
Washington, D. C., August, 1857. 
DITCHING Hllil, SIDE — MR. HARMON»S 
Terras. 
Editors Southern Cutivator — That there maybe no- 
mistake as to the terms upon which I will engage in the 
business of Hill Side Ditching and Horizonializiog, T 
deem it proper to state now, and request you to publish 
it in your October number, that my price for locating 
the ditches and guide rows is two dollars per acre, with 
two hands furnished me to assist me in managing the 
compass and level, and sticking down the pins— myself 
and horse boarded while at the work. I will superintend 
the construction of a few ditches on each place, and give 
such instructions to the overseer or manager of the farm 
as may be necessary to enable htm to open the balance of 
them without any mistake whatever. Any man can, af- 
ter seeing 2 or 3 ditches made, open the others just like it. 
The maine, vital point, is their location — the location of 
the guide rows. I prefer this arrangement to charging a 
fixed sum per day, from the fact that if I should, per- 
chance; stay longer in a field than my employer thought! 
ought, he would not charge me with killing time for his 
money. Ifl engage in the business in question, I intend^ 
to leave no field until I am satisfied that the ground work 
of its salvation is laid — the occupant having nothing to 
do but to follow my ins' ructions, and those ugly gullies 
in Georgia which yawn to the traveller’s view, and spoil 
the beauty of the landscape, will be numbered with the 
things that were. 
In conclusion, permit me to say to those who contem- 
plate employing me next year to ditch and horizontalize 
their plantations, that they must ail be patient. J cannot 
perform the operation on everybody’s place at the same 
time. And here lies the only difficulty in ray way. I 
fear that all would want that work done at the same timCg 
and that I should be idle too much of my time. I advise 
those who want my services to sow down the most bro- 
ken land this fall in wheat or oats or other gram, leav ng 
the surface as level as may be. I can then operate in the 
spring (and winter) until they have to plant, and return 
after harvest and grade their stubble land, then after the 
crop is off I could operate again } and thus be busy R 
