THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
109 
much ; and, at digging time, a crop was housed 
superior, by at least one third, to any that had 
ever beet raised on the same farm, on the same 
quantity of land. Yours, William Davis. 
St. Pauls, N. a, May 27, 1345. 
Batter Cakes. 
Mr. James Camak:— Since commencing to 
keep house, some month or so since, my wife has 
been giving me a batter-cake with which I am 
so much pleased, and it is so simple and so easy 
:o make, that I am induced to send the receipt to 
you tor your valuable paper, should you choose 
:o insert it therein. I have never seen the same 
;hing any where else, although it may be used 
by many in some sections ot the country. This 
is. the receipt tor making a cheap and excel- 
lent batter-cake— better than buckwheat, viz; 
Make a mush of Indian meal, work It well, and 
let it get cool. To.l pint ol milk add 3 or 4 
table-spoonslul ol the cold mush, then add a lit- 
tle flour, to make it of the proper consistence 
for batter, 1 tea-spoonful of fine salt, i tea- 
spoonful of saleratus, and 1 egg it you have one, 
if not it does very well without, and cook as 
any other batten-cake on a greased griddle. 
A Young (Green Co.,) Bouse Keeper. 
Greensboro, Ga., May, 1845. 
^oUfes of Nero Books, 
From the Dollar Farmer. 
S. Treatise on the Theory ano Practice op Land- 
scape GaRDENI.NG. adapted to iSORTH .AMERICA, 
WITH A VIEW TO THE I.MPROVEMENT OF COUNTRY RE- 
SIDENCES : liy A. J. Downing; Second Edition. 
This edition of this valuable and interesting 
work, which has but recently reached the West, 
jresents it enlarged, revised, and ornamented by 
many new illustrations. It may be considered 
now as a very complete work, and we regard it as 
far the most vaiuible and interesting contribution 
3 ver made in this country to that class of the com- 
munity to which it is specially addressed, not ex- 
cepting the great works on agriculture which 
have distinguished this period. 
We are particularly desirous of recommending 
this work to the attention of our readers. Much 
is we feel it our duty to keep them advised of all 
the discove ies, e.\periments, and improvements 
in agricnllure, we believe that we should render 
therm, at least those in good circumstances, a far 
mote valuable and [lermanent service by simply 
inducing them to purchase and study this tieaiise 
on the art of adorning their homesteads, and on 
the pri nciples of taste in rural scenery. By com- 
municating such information as might enable 
them to increase their crops, the w'ealth of those 
who avail themselves of such information might 
be augmenied ; they might thus gain a pecuniary 
advantage over their neighbors who disregard 
euch information ; but it is by no means certain 
that their happiness, much less t4iat of the great 
mass of farmers, would be increased. On the hy- 
pothesis that they become richer, the sum of their 
pleasure or happiness would depend at last on the 
manner of using the increased wealth ; and nine 
times out of ten there would be no increase of the 
enjoyments of life. With regard to that large 
class w’ho either cannot or will not avail thenr- 
sslves of the information in question, the in- 
creased production of their licher or more enter- 
prising neighbors would be a decided injury by 
lessening the value of their own jiroduciions. 
But the difTasiou of a taste for rural scenery 
would produce unmixed and universal benefits. 
The happiness of those induced to adorn iheir 
homesteads would be increased in a degree far be- 
yond the power of the mere accumulation of 
wealth. Any kind of occupation prevents ennui, 
but the occupation of landscape gardening par- 
takes of the rapturous delights felt by the painter 
or poet in reducing to paper or canvass the visions 
of the imagination. Landscape gardening is as 
much a fine art as either painting or poetry, and 
it differs from these in this, that all have more or 
less the talent to practice it, and that there is 
more general capacity to enjoy its effects. 
With regard to persons in poor circumstances, 
a taste for improving the country would promote 
their interests hy producing a demand for labor, 
and by diverting lai'or from productive occupa- 
tions and slackenine: the competition among pro- 
ducers. The blighting e.ffects of great competi- 
tion are nowhere better illustrated than in the 
cotton region, where all the comforts and delights 
of life are sacrificed in a struggle to make money, 
and where the struggle to make money plunges 
the people every day deeper in debt and poverty. 
If one half the labor of fnc South were diverted 
from cotton to the production of the comforts and 
elegancies appertaining to a high state of civiliza- 
tion, not merely would the enjoyments of life be 
infinitely multiplied there, but tire wealth of the 
country increased. 
The great obstacle to real social amelioration, 
to progress in geii nine civilization in this country, 
is the inordinate thirst for gain, and the want of 
local attachments. In general it may be said that 
in the South and in the new western Slates the 
only object of the cultivator of the soil, after sup- 
plying the actual wants of subsistence, is to in- 
crease in wealth. With this object alone in view 
he makes a settlement, and he removes to a new 
farm the moment he can make a dollar by the ex- 
change. He seems to make his temporary home 
as cheerless as possible, in order that no love of 
it may interfere to prevent his migration when- 
ever he believes he can make money by it. No 
sentiment, no attachment is allowed to take root 
that may possibly interfere with the one object of 
amassino riches. He builds a cabin of logs 
barely tight enough to keep him from freezing, he 
cut? down every tree and shrub within a quarter 
of a mile, he surrounds it with a worm-fence, and 
with the plowshare he defaces every vestige of 
natural beauty up to his very door sill. In the 
South, cotton and corn, in the West, corn, flax, 
and hog?, are his only care. He cultivates no ve 
getabkfi but cabbages and turnips, and no fruit of 
any kind ; for f uits and the more delicious vege- 
tables are not necessaiy to support life, and the 
cultivation of these would flatter pleasure, divert • 
the mind from the one object of life, and beget an ! 
attachment for the soil, a sentiment of home and 
the delishts of civilized life. j 
It is this migratory spirit, thi? sordid love of | 
money, this worse than savage destitution of the I 
love oi home, attachment to the soil, and all the 
elegancies, refinements, and charms of civiliza- 
tion, that is tempting the people of this country 
to pass beyond its bounds and seize the ample do- 
main of Texas; and one of the greatest, with ns 
far the greatest of all objections to the annexation j 
of Texas, is ‘his, that U v.dll tend to increase this 
Tartar spirit. ‘»> ould that a wall were built up j 
about us, on the south and on the west, that the | 
living tide might be staid, and that our people 
might subside into civilization, and the love of 
home, the sentiment of patriotism, the amenities 
and tastes of a high state of cultivation, find a \ 
place in their hearts. The work before us, if | 
widely circulated, would be a powerful auxiliary 
in this great social reform. Nothing tends so ! 
much to fix men to the soil, to nourish a love of i 
country, to quench the all-consuming and all-de- ! 
stroying love of money, to cherish the amenities j 
and charities of life, and generally to dignify and | 
elevate man, as a taste lor ' horticultural pursuits 1 
and rural scenery. j 
II. j 
From the South Carolinian. j 
Rural Economy. In ils relations with Chemistry, j 
Physics, and Meteoi olojiy, or Chemistry applied to I 
Agriculture. By J B Bousginganit, .Member of the ! 
Institute of France, <fcc. Translated wilh an intro- | 
duction and notes by Geo. Law. Agi icullurist. New 
York: D Appleton & Co. pp. 507. j 
This work gives the results and enquiries iii 
which the uthor was engaged for many years, I 
relative to the advancement of practical Agricul- j 
ture. Tha first part of the work treats in sacces- | 
sion of t te physical and chemical plienomena of j 
vegetation; of the composition of vegetables and 
their immediate principles ; of fernientaiion; and 
of soils. The second comprises a summary of all 
that has been dons on the subject of manures, 
organic and mineral; a discussion of the subject 
of rotations; general views of the maintenance 
and econo 'ly of live- stock ; finally, some con- 
siderations on mete irology and climate, on the 
relations between organized beings and the at-' 
mosphere. A summary view is given of all the 
questions of rural economy that admit of scien- 
tific treatment. Rooks if this character now find 
admirers with all kinds of readers ; and we see the 
whole world, from the pent-up dweller of the city, 
to the Avild, free woodsman, excited as to re- 
searches into the mysterious and instructive 
kingdom of nature. We tliink it argues a good 
omen, for the prosperity of our extensive nation, 
that readers of such works, read them almost e.x- 
clusively for the benefits which ihey bestow on 
our domestic comforts, and look to flatteiing re- 
sults, from the even increased interest afached 
to researches bearing upon practical agriculture, 
and like the author, must ‘‘hope for conclusions 
important as regards science, profitable to prac- 
tice, and useful to humanity.” We shall make 
extracts from this work for our agricultural de- 
partment, which will more fully show to our read- 
ers its inestimable value to the practical Agricul- 
turist. — 
III. 
Stable Economy : A Treaiise on the Management of 
Horses, in relation to Stabling, Grooming, Feeding, 
Watering and Working. By John Siewail, Veteri- 
nary Surgeon, &c. From the third English Edition, 
with Notes and Additions, adapting it to American 
food and climate. By A. B. Allen, Editor of the 
American Agriculturist. New Yoik : D Appleloa 
<fc Co. 
The Horse! friend of Humanity! loved by the 
lazy! admired by the tasty ! who does not turn 
with pleasure to the contemplat'on of a wmrkj 
which treats of those means best adapted to im- 
prove his usefulness and preserve his incompara- 
ble powers'? Mule and donkey, both can take 
care of themselves, but the horse, a creature of 
delicate pov\ ers when mismanaged, can be trained 
to the endurance of wonderful performances, by 
the proper knowledge relative to the wants of his 
constitution and peculiarities. By careful breed- 
ing and training, his strength, sp ed, and endu- 
rance have been wonderfully increased. Agents 
employed have been numerous, and their p~ower 
has n t been limited to one change alone, but va- 
rying according to circumstances, such as dura- 
tion.and repetition of their operation, and the con- 
dition of the animal at the time he is operated on. 
IMuch of this and the inproved value of a well 
trained harness horse is owing to proper treat- 
ment from the groom, who may, by understand- 
ing the peculiar wants of an animal, from his con- 
stitutional organization, render him extremely 
valuable — and fro.m the contrary cause, igno- 
rance, may entirely ruin a good animal. All these 
things render the horse an eminent study — not 
only for his improvement, but for the benefits 
which may be conferred on the community by the 
prevalence of the est breeds for the different pur- 
poses for which they may be wanted. V\ e have 
seen a Canadian pony, weighing seven hundred 
Weight, which could ai.d did draw in our pre- 
sence, more tha.i four times his own weight of 
stone, on a common cart in the streets of Mon- 
treal, up a considerable hill. These ponies have 
speed, endurance and good action — and Jiving on 
less and .coarser food than is given to the w"orst 
fed mules of this country, they are valuable in an 
economical point of view to their owners. 
Of what benefits could we count on receiving, 
if such a breed of horses were introduced 
amongst us? Would they’ not soon supply the 
places of our large and almost worthless Ken- 
tucky horses, which “eat off their heads” before 
they become acclimated, and are fit to do substan- 
tial service. There is not a single strain of the 
Canadian blood incorporated amongst the many 
breeds which obtain amongst us.'” Good roads 
would tend, too, to improve the breeds of draught 
horses more than any one thing which we could 
do. The book, the title of which stands above, 
gives us suggestions as to ail these matters— -in 
tact, it teaches us every tiling, from the construc- 
tion of stables, their ventilation and appendages, 
to stablemen, grooming, and operations of deco- 
ration, management of the feet, &c. 
It also treats of restraints, accidents, habits, 
vices, &c. , warmth, food, water, service — which 
comprises general preparation for w. rk, physio- 
logy of muscular exertion, preparation for fast 
work, preservation of working condition, treat- 
ment after work, accidents of work, kinds of 
work, repose, &c. ; and closes with an admirable 
chapter on the management of diseased and de- 
fective horses, colts, &c. 
The name of Mr. A. B. Allen is a sufficient 
guaranty to the American public of its adaptation 
to our wants and climate, and its general utility. 
Dr. Lee, of Buffalo, asserts that 97 percent. of 
the food of plants is derived from the atmosphere, 
and only 3 per cent from the soil. That a great 
amount is so derived has been long knowm. And 
yet the want of some single ingredient in the 
soil may prevent a plant from eliminating for its 
use this amply supply of atmospheric foo^. How 
important, then, that we should know the con- 
stituent elements of different plants, in order that 
we may supply each with its appropriate food. 
