43 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 
— a tool room, with a good plank floor, where your imple- 
ments will never be lost in the dust. 
Now for gutters and conductors. Two cents a running 
foot, pitched and painted (better than tin) paying their 
cost a hundred fold by the absence of drip in the first 
shower.* 
This leaves you in debt to your own handiwork. 
Square the account by the best pump which can be had 
for money, and then wait for rain. And my good neigh- 
bors, when you he<ir the soft dsstillment go rippling along 
your gutters and plashing musically below, and when it 
returns gurgling at your (ouch, and your trough is full, and 
when the “dress circle” ot your horse lot, petrified by what 
they suppose to be a “mirage,” finally delegate your favor- 
ite filly to examine the phenomenon, and she,gatheringcon- 
fidence from your presence, plunges in her muzzle up to 
the eyes, and passes her silken foretop backwards and 
forwards under the very spout, yon will have a con- 
sciousness which you would not readily part with, coupled 
with the clearest possible title to a sleek (or in other words) 
a kecdthy horse, 
I should add to the above requisites, a couple or so of 
perforated zinc plates arranged at your exits and entrances, 
to keep out rats, frogs and other “small deer,” 
A cheap contrivance of my own for a filtering cistern, 
I may give hereafter. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
M. D. 
Columbus, Ga., Sept., 1857. 
MEMOK-ANDUIHS. 
Editors Southern Cultivator— In the September num- 
ber, article, “The Grape Culture,” “ The Warren, which 
produces a wine allied to Madeira, and would be a Ma- 
deira if treated as such ; is devoid of the wild flavor which 
attaches to the Catawba and Muscadine,” You have it, is 
“devoid of the mild flavor which attaches to Catawba and 
Muscadine.” There is no u'ild flavor, to the Warren grape, 
it has a rich wine flavor and very mild. 
Dwarf Psars— Pears may be dwarfed not only on 
Quince and Hawthorn, but both the Pear and Apple may 
be dwarfed on each other. Graft Pear on Apple stock 
of tile size of half, three-fourths, or an inch in diametre, 
six or twelve inches above the ground. Graft Apple or 
Pear in the same way. If the gratfs are inserted at or 
below the surface of the ground near the roots, such grafts 
will in time, attain a tolerable large size; and if the grafts 
put out roofs, they will grow to be targe trees. I have 
dwarf bearing Pear trees on Apple, Quince and Thorn, 
and Dwarf Apple trees on Pear and Crab stocks. 
D. P. 
Mount ZUm, Ga., Sept. 1857 
MUSOAJ5INE ©R BUIi^LACE WINE, 
Editors Southern Cditivator— I have been reading 
the Cultivator, (or many years, and have been much bene- 
fited by it I have learned many things of incalculable 
value to me as a farmer, by reading the hints of men of 
practical experience. I was born in the first settlements 
of Middle Geotgia, and have grown old vvith the country 
I am a witness to the rise and piogress and present situa- 
tion of the farming intrest of the country, for I plowed the 
soil when 1 was only eight years old, and have been farm- 
ing ever since. Yet 1 am lecmrung something every month 
by reading (he CnUivafor, and J would advise every far- 
mer who does not believe he knows everything, to send 
his dollar immediately and take the Suu'kcrn CvUivatoi , 
*We suppose the gutters to be of wood, but our corres 
pondent will oblige us and our readers by a detailed des- 
cription of these and the filtering cistern alluded to. — Eds. 
for he will learn a dollar’s worth from every monthly issue. 
Those who have a few Muscadines on their spring branch 
or creek bottoms, may learn a dollar’s worth if you will 
publish the following recipe: 
Take one bushel of ripe Muscadines, mash them as 
you would peaches, when you wish to make brandy, 
place them in a tub, covered tight, let them stand until 
they ferment and settle, then press with a cider press. 
Hicok's Keystone Cider Mill and Wine Press, is the best 
thing you can get, but a common cider press will do. 
Line the press with thin bleached shirting. One bushel 
of fruit will make three gallons of wine; to this, you must 
add six pounds of clear brown sugar; after a few days 
strain and settle or put it in a clean cask, and stop tight, 
and you w’ill have a pure wine without using any dis- 
tilled spirits. J. D. 
Ebenezer, Ga., Sept. 1857. 
SYRUP MAKING FROM THE SORGHO. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Having read an ar- 
ticle in your paper, by Dr. R. Battey, on making Syrup 
from the Chinese Sugar Cane, I have concluded to give 
you some of my ideas on the subject; if they are worth 
anything, I would be glad if you would give them a place 
in your paper. 
Dr. B, says, in the first place, that a proper set of rol- 
lers and kettles should be provided, and properly set up. 
The kettles being properly set up, is an important item. 
The largest kettle should be set nearest the chimney, then 
the next in size and so on to the last, which of course will 
be at the end of the furnace, and should always be the 
finishing kettle. In setting up this kettle, the brick work 
should join the kettle an inch or two below half the 
depth of the kettle; this will obviate the necessity of 
moderating the fire, and thereby save time, which is an 
important item in syrup making. Experience has taught 
me, that the sooner juice can be boiled to syrup, the 
brighter color it has. In boiling, the heat should be suf- 
ficient to keep it up to the rim of the kettle all the time, 
until it becomes concentrated to a certain degree, then the 
more heat is applied, the faster it shrinks down in the ket- 
tle, and when boiled sufficiently, it stands a little below 
half the depth of the kettle. If the fire can reach the 
kettle above it, it will be sure to scorch it, unless it has 
been moderated, hence the necessity of having the brick 
to join the kettle below half its depth. Now in regard 
to the proper degree of concentration to which it should 
be brought: 
The plan adopted by Gov. Hammond and Mr. Peters, is 
not the one in use here, nor is it based upon the judg- 
ment of the eye alone. It is generally known by all whs 
have seen syrup made, that when it becomes concentra- 
ted to a certain degree, it will not boil over ; the steam 
does not escape so freely as before, and it begins to shoot 
up in bubbles; these increase in number until they rise up 
ail over the surface ; a great many of them burst and 
shoot up eight or ten inciies, but as the syrup thickens 
they begin to cease bursting, and if boiled long enough, 
will finally cease. To make good syrup from the Chinese 
Cane, it should be taken off just before they cease burs- 
ting. The bubbles make a peculiar sound about the time 
they cease bursting, so that one can soon learn when to 
make a strike, without even look'ng into the kettle. Old 
sugar makers say, that the reason why this is a never- 
failing test, is because the water in the syrup causes the 
ba!>bh-s to i)ur,-.t, and us soon as they cease bursting it has 
all evaporated, and then the syrup becomes sugar. It re- 
quires as much boiling to make good syrup from the Chi- 
nese Cane, as to make sugar from the other. I v/ould say 
to all those who are not fond of acids, to use lime in ma- 
king it. Respcctiidly yours, Florida. 
EiOrida, S plcmbcr, 1857. 
