SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
345 
A Rkasonablb Request. — We are often in re- 
ceipts of such polite requests as the following, most of 
which, we are reluctantly obliged to decline. We pre- 
sent a literal transcript, merely suppressing signature and 
Post Office : 
“Mr. R- D, Esq., Dear Sir: You will pleas 
Send me by the next mail, one of your Chronometers, as I 
have some three acres of Chineas Sugar cane that I wish 
to make in to syrup, and understand your Chronometers 
will tell the presise time to boil it &c. 
Yours truly 
N. B. If you have any Charge to make, send me the 
amount and I will remit the same to you, fourth with.” 
Odr friend forgot to enclose a postage stamp for our re- 
ply, but thinking a Saccharometer might be the instru- 
ment he desired, we immediately referred him to Dr. 
Robt. Battev of Rome, Ga., and we hope that, ere this, 
he has discovered the “presise” time to boil his Cane 
Juice, and is luxuriating in its luscious sweets. 
Rheumatism. — Will our correspondent, “A. T. L ,” 
whose article on Rheumatism appeared in the Cultivator 
for November, 1854, be kind enough to send his full ad- 
dress to the Editors of this Journal I 
Palma Chisti. — A correspondent wishes information 
in reference to the cultivation of the Palma Christi plant, 
and manufacture of Castor Oil from its seeds. Any infor- 
mation on the subject will be very acceptable to the Cul- 
tivaior^ for’publi cation. 
A Camel Load — The government camels now at work 
in Texas, carry 600 pounds of corn at a load, and travel 
three and a half miles an hour without difficulty. Their 
great value is not so much on account of greater strength 
than the horse, but on account of their ability to make the 
joruada del muerto or “journey of death ” across some of 
the desert plains of Western Texas 
Mississippi Fair. — The Annual Fair of the Mississippi 
State Agricultural Society, will be held at Jackson, on the 
4th and 5th of the present month, (November^. 
Agricultural Society in Jackson Co., Texas. — Some 
of the prominent citizens of Jackson have formed a very 
pleasant association, which, from a knowledg^^of those en- 
gaged in it we predict is destined to become permanenr 
and useful. It is a kind of social agricultural society, 
well calculated to promote the best farming interests of 
the country, and also to foster social and friendly feeling 
amongst its members, inducing them to “dwell together 
i« unity.” ^ 
That our soil and climate are capable of results in the 
way of agriculture, that have not been attained, there can 
be no doubt; and all efforts calculated to develope un- 
known facts, and to add to the productiveness of the soil, 
should be encouraged. — Terns 'po'per. 
Fruit in Louisiana. — A correspondent, “ J. P. H.,” 
writes from New Orleans, under date of August 11th: 
“ My Peaches and Pears, this season, are abundant and 
of great excellence; some of my Bartlett Pears, I should 
think, will weigh a pound.” 
THE VAEUE OF THE CHINA TREE. 
This beautiful shade tree, under whose wide spreading 
branches the Southern people spend so much of their lei- 
sure time in the hot summer, is (says the Port Gibson 
Herald) truly to them one of the greatest blessings of Pro- 
vidence. There is an inviting and welcome look about 
its refreshing shade, and we hold that man is a misan- 
thrope indeed who loves not the China tree. But the 
China tree while it is such a friend to man, is an unrelent- 
ing foe to insects and vermin. 
Man has no terror about him to the bold little ant in 
his “wild hunt” after something to eat, and in his little 
pleasure excursions, but in neither his hunting nor plea- 
sure trips, nor in his aspirations for the higher life, will he 
climb the China tree. And the caterpillar refuses to grace 
it with its handsome turnout of butterflies. The tree frog 
leaps from it as it would from the little urchin armed with 
a stick for its destruction ; and those ear splitting little 
tormentors, the locust and the catydid, are said to refuse 
to make melody in its branches. 
This repulsiveness about the China tree to insects and 
vermin, has led some observing and thoughtful persons 
to experiment with it. Its branches hung about fresh 
meat will keep off flies. A tea made of its roots is said to 
be death to garden worms. The skipper fly will not 
trouble meat which has been smoked with the berry or 
wood of the tree. Fleas and bed -bgs refuse to keep com- 
pany with its leaves. In fact the China tree needs only 
the application of the inventive genius of a live Yankee to 
draw from it some balm for most of “ills that flesh is heir 
to.” Truly the China tree is a great tree — the pride of 
the South, as well as of China. 
Chinese Sugar Cane. — The editor of the St. Louis Daiy 
Intelligencer was shown specimens of sugar manufactured 
at Belcher’s sugar refinery in that city, from Chinese sugar- 
cane grown this year in the neighborhood. The sugar is 
brown, and pretty well granulated, being very similar in 
taste to the Louisiana sugar. The editor of the Austin 
(Texas) Gazette, has seen a sample of sugar made from 
Chinese cane by Mr. Studor, near Austin, which he de- 
scribes as being of fine grain and color, and such as would 
command the highest price in New Orleans. 
Rot in the Grape. — An experienced Grape Grower, of 
Hancock Co , Ga., writes us as follows: 
“Grapes have not yielded very abundantly, as they 
svere nipped in the Spring after putting out. The Isabella 
and the Warren, were infested with tlie rot. I applied 
a solution of sulphur water two or three times, and then 
a solution of lime water, which finally arrested the pro- 
gress of the disease.” D. P. 
Merit and Position. — The difference between a man 
of merit and a man of position, is this: the latter is the 
man of his clay, the former is the man after his day. 
There wtis a king in England when Shakespeare lived 
there, and doubtless every child in the realm knew his 
name familiarly ; but how many knew the name of tlie 
poor play-writer'? But now almost every child that 
speaks the English language knows of Shakespeare and 
his writings. How many of them knows of Jnmes and his 
writings'? Very few. Thus the man of high position 
died with his position and his day; but the man of merit 
only began to live when he died. 
