SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
309 
and general tillage, it makes the most beautilUl and pro- 
ductive farms in the southwest, where peace, and joy, 
and contentment d well. On high land, too, or more pro- 
perly the hills, are fertile and well watered fields, good 
for raisins: wheat and other amall grains, as well as for 
general tillage and pasturage. This part of Arkansas Iras 
the advantage in health ; its waters are clear, pure, and 
cool, and valuable minerals— marble, slate and lead — 
abound. White river and its forks water this whole re 
gion ; made n ivigabie, as they easily might be, they 
would soon develonethc ine.xhausti'ole resources of this por- 
tion of the State. The cotton growing region of Arkansas 
is south of the base line. 
It is true, cotton is raised a.s high up as Jacksonport, 
on White River, but the southern par^ of the State is 
ju.stly considered as the region adapted to cotton And 
for the production of* this great scapie the lands of the 
Mississippi, White, Arkansas, Ouachita, and Red Rivers, 
are not surpas.sed. Their richness and produciireness 
are too well known for me to attempt to say anything 
more in their favor. These streams are rendered naviga 
ble, in the spring of the year, by rains and the melting of 
the snows in the mountains above, and not undl then the 
greatest part of the cotton goes to market. But in order 
that they may ship their cotton as soon as it is ready, 
they are building a railroad irom Fulton (on Red River) 
to Gaines’ Landing, (on the Mississippi.) And to re- 
move a like diffi unity, (to which the Arkansas river is 
subject,) they have been talking of a toad from Little 
Rock to Napoleon, at the mouth of Arkansas. - 
The writer adds that there are a vast number of cotton 
lands in Ark msas not yet brought into cultivation What 
is wanted m'lre than anything else, at present time, is 
the enterprising and. all- pervading spirit of the age, to in- 
fuse those inestimable virtues, industry and energy. 
And in this connectmn, the writer alludes more 
particularly <o the raiiroa.^s already in progress, or 
in contemplation in Arkansas the “ Fulion and 
Gaines’ Landing” road; Little Rock and Najxilfcon road; 
“ Cairo and Fulton ” “ Memphis and Little Rock ” road ; 
“ Iron Mount.ain ” road, etc., the importance of all which 
to the sections through which they pass is incalculable 
-^Enterprising men, also, are now at their head, whose 
character, if any evidence but their imperative necessity 
were needed, would be a sufficient guarantee of their 
speedy completion. 
The growth of Arkansas, for a long time after it be- 
came a Slate even, was very slow; it is now, however, 
making ample amends for the dilatoriness of days happi 
'ly, gone by. The last two years, the wealth and 
population of many counties have nearly doubled. At 
one lind office alone, that at.Baiesville, no less than two 
hundred and sixty thousand acres have been entered the 
last twelve montlis, and, for the mo^t part, by indu.striou' 
enterpri.sing ami permanent citizens Other portions of 
the Sidle, also, are .settling up with equal rapidity A 
few years, and Arkansas will be one of the wealthiest 
and most populous Stales of the Federal Union. 
How TO Use Faurrs. — To derive from the employment 
fruits and berries all that healthful and nutritive cfTect 
which belongs'to their nature, we shouM, 
1st U<e fiuiis iluu are ripe, fipsh, perfect and raw, 
2nd. They should be used in ifieir natural state, with- 
out sugar, cioam, milk, or any other item of food or 
drink 
3rd. Fruity have tfi; ;r best elTeot \vh< n used in the 
‘■early part of the di-iy ; hence v.’e do not advise their use 
at a l iter hour thim the middle of tiic forenoon. ^ „ 
To d' rive more decided mtdional tflc' t, fruits should 
be largely ca'eil soon afiei; ri-.ing in fti“ morning, and 
about midway between breakiast and dinner. 
MAKE YOUR OWN WINE. 
Surely ! it is time for us to make our own wine. The 
government of Portugal has recently discovered a great 
fraud in the wine trade, and arrested large quantities of a 
drugged mixture in Oporto 
This compound had been manufactured in England, and, 
in a concentrated form, sent to Oporto, whence it v/as to 
be re-shipped again to England under the seal of the Por- 
tuguese authorities as “genuine Port Wine !” It proved 
to be a mixture of alcohol, syrup, logwood, iron, essence 
of tar and other equally fine constitucuts ; the balance of 
the beverage, a little wine and a lar^e quantity of water- 
was to be added to it in Oporto. 
About three thousand hogsheads of this “ genuine 
Old Port” had already arrived in London, where it, un- 
doubtedly, will gladden many a heart ! 
Does this need any comment I 
Our soil and climate in the Southern States are so con- 
genial to the Grape, that this beautiful fruit and profitable 
crop cannot be too highly recommended for general culti- 
vation 
Foreign vine-dressers have tried to throw a mysterious 
veil over the cultivation of the grape. They, like ail other 
illiterate persons, think themselves in possessian of a 
great secret. The successful aud profitable cuhivation of 
the grape, however, is almost as plain and easy as the 
r.iising of corn and cotton, and any man of good common- 
sense can easily do it, though, of course, as in all other 
pursuits in life, greater skill will insure greater success. 
I do not believe that ‘3000 gallons can be raised to the 
acre ; but let us come down to a sober calculation, and I 
would say that 400 gallons to the acre may, with a cer- 
tainty, be calculated on as an average crop annually dur- 
ing ten years. Will not such a crop, at a dollar per gal- 
lon, pay the vine grower I Robert Nelson, 
FruxUand Nursery, Aus[usla, Ga , Sept, 1857. 
SAVING SWEET POTATOES. 
Editors Southern Cultivator. — I wiU give you my 
plan of putting up Sweet Potatoes, and I have not tailed 
tosatfe them well in winter, spring and summer. I com- 
mence to dig after the first frost kills the leaves ; dig care- 
fully and haul, so as to bruise them as little as possible. 
Commence your banks, make them in circles of 7, 8 or 9 
feet in diameter, laying straw in the bed so as keep them 
from the dirt, and alter the potatoes have been put in — say 
50, 60 or 70 bushels— cover the bank over with straw so 
that the potatoes cannot be seen, then use corn stalks, in 
the place of boards or bark as a covering as thick as they 
can be placed up and down, so as not let any dirt into the 
straw ; throv/ on your dirt three inches thick, leaving a 
s nail place for the air at top through the stalks, then cover 
iht-m well with boards, so that they will not be leaked on, 
and you will have few if any rotten potatoes. 
Respectfully, David, 
Bwrke Cauntu, Ga., August, 1857. 
[The implement alluded to by our correspondent in his 
private note, is probably “ Knox’s Horse Hoe.” It may 
be ordered through Messrs. Carmichael & Bean of this 
city. Price S'8 or ^9 — l'T.s ] 
High Pr ces for Ni.GROr.s. — Oector Davis, auctioneer, 
of this city, sold three nude setvmtsat his auction room, 
on Saturday last fi>r the verv fine average of SL320. 
Neither ot the three could be called No. 1, but ordinary 
tann hands These sales are a fair indication of th< esti- 
mate whicii is now jilaceil on this species of property, 
i he country peonle shall bf regularly advised of the slave 
sal^s, no mattei v/ho may be aispka&ed. — 'The Si^xilk 
luchvuind. 
