THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
91 
Agriculture— Horseley’s Wine and 
Nursery. 
Mr. Camak:— I tis doubtless very gratifying 
to every old Georgian, who, like myself, has long 
deplored the lethargy which oppressed the ener- 
gies of his native State and kept her in the rear 
of many ol her confederates in the race of im- 
provement, to see her at length waking up to a 
proper appreciation of her vast capabilities. But, 
while he rejoices at the improvement in her mo- 
ral and social condition, and at the progressive 
development of her natural resources, which 
have been effectea within the iast ten or fifteen 
years, as illustrated by the increase ol her colle- 
ges and other seminaries of learning; her rail 
roads and steamboats; her numerous fine flour 
mills and cotton factories; her iron foundries 
and gold mines, besides many other things 
that might be mentioned, as evidences of her ad- 
vancement in science, commerce and arts, he is 
mortified by the reflection that the hand of im- 
provement has lent but little aid to agriculture 
upon which all other interests depend. 
He sees this great and important interest still 
languishing and degraded, and the planter still 
pursuing the old wear-out and break-down sys- 
tem which has already brought his class to the 
verge of bankruptcy. And it is much to be feai- 
ed that neither the \ery able and praiseworthy 
efforts of the Southern Cultivator, nor the 
wailing Jeremiads of its correspondents, will 
prove competent to arrest theonvvard and devas- 
tating course or to overcome the numerous 
impediments to agricultural improvement. It 
v.’ould be inconsistent with my present purpose, 
even if it were thought profitable to Jo so, to 
inquire particularly into the various causes of 
the drooping condition of this noble branch of 
industry. None, it is believed, however, hasop- 
erated more fatally than the want of sufficient 
incitements to a proper division of labor, and of 
adequate patronage to new enterprises. Whe- 
ther indeed this may not to a great extent be re- 
garded as the effect or natural consequence of 
the many humbugs of which the planter has 
been made the victim, might form a very proper 
subject of investigation. It is nevertheless true 
that there is not sufficient encouragement afford- 
ed to these who manifest a disposition to withdraw 
their labor from the cultivation of our great sta- 
ple, and to engage in new pursuits. There is 
something radically wrong in the spirit and tone 
of public feeling in regard to this matter. Until 
a change is effected in the tendency of this feel- 
ing, there is little prospect that any efforts to 
give a new direction to a portion of the labor de- 
voted to agriculture, will prove successful Be- 
lieving patronage of new pursuits to be essen 
tial to success, and that a proper division of la- 
bor is strongly demanded by the present condi- 
tion of the planting interest, I would respect- 
fully suggest to you and your many useful and 
talented co-laborers, the necessity of continued 
and increased exertions to effect, however Her- 
culean the task may be, a change in public feel- 
ing and taste upon this subject. 
In other countries the cultivation of the vine 
and of silk has proved eminently successful and 
lucrative — and experience in this country, and 
in our own State, has demonstrated that they 
may be cultivated as advantageously here as 
any where else. Why, then, is their culture al- 
most abandoned in Georgia! Again, in other 
States the publication of periodical papers devo- 
ted to the cause of the planter, has been found a 
profitable as v/ell as a useful occupation. Why 
then does it become probable that your publish- 
ers will be compelled to discontinue the “Cul- 
tivator,” a paper creditable alike to the talents 
of its editor, the enterprise of its publishers, 
and the cause to which it is devoted! 
The want of sufficient patronage is the answer 
to both interrogatories. No wonder then that 
agriculture languishes in Georgia ! 
"^In the March No. of the Cultivator, you 
have taken occasion to speak in high terms of 
commendation of samples of wine made by Mr. 
Peabody, of Ala., and Mr. Speed, of Ga. 
The first of these gentlemen, it seems, has 
haJ the good fortune and good sense to find and 
introduce to public notice a valuable native 
grape. Well nov/, I beg leave to inform you and 
your readers, that Mr. James Horseley, a very 
intelligent and enterprising neighbor of mine, 
has been for a number of years engaged in the 
nursery business, has cultivated the vine success- 
I fully, and made wine from many varieties of fo- 
reign and native kinds of grape. He manufac- 
tured the last season from the Scuppernong grape 
alone, some 200 to 2£0 gallons of wine. After 
several years’ experience wiih different kinds of 
grape, Mr. Horseley pronounces the Scupper- 
nong superior to any other variety known in this 
climate, as more hardy, more certain and more 
productive — the fruit too, it may be added, stands 
almost without a rival for deliciousness of flavor. 
I have had the pleasure of tasting some of 
Mr Horseley’s wines, but not being a connois- 
seur in such matters, 1 am not prepared to speak 
critically of their merits. This much, I do 
know, however, that to my unpracticed palate, 
their flavor is exceedingly pleasant. And no- 
thing prevents you, sir, from having a chance of 
smacking your lips over a bottle el'ihis excel- 
lent and unadulterated juice but the want of a 
suitable conveyance. But Mr. Horseley is with- 
out a marked ! He has not sufficient encourage- 
ment to dress his vines and prepare for another 
vintage. Now, if one-tenth part of the hundreds 
of thousands of dollars which are annually sent 
abroad for the purchase of the abominable com- 
positions which pass under the name of wine, 
were expende 1 for the pure, undriigged domes- 
tic article, the above named enterprising gentle- 
men, and others, would be encouraged to prose- 
cute their labors, and to devote their time and 
attention to a much neglected but useful branch 
of business, whereby they would attain to great- 
er proficiency in the manufacture of wine. F'ur- 
thcr, if those who desire to raise vineyards or 
orchards of fruit trees would send their orders 
to Mr. Horseley, they would be served wit!) fi- 
delity, and another useful branch of business 
would be encouraged and sustained. His nurse- 
ry contains, perhaps, a greater variety of fruit 
trees and vines than can he found elsewhere in 
Western Georgia, which lie offers at prices low- 
er than they are usually sold for by nursery 
men. Say, for rooted vines, 6 to 10 cents ; fruit 
trees, S7 per hundred. 
But such is the prevailing bias for everything 
foreign, that consumers of wine in this State 
will scarcely be induced to prefer the domestic 
unless it were offered to them under some out- 
landish name or unintelligible brand — or those 
who need fruit trees to believe they can do as 
well at home as to send their money abroad — or 
those who subscribe for Northern agricultural 
papers, that they can do better for themselves 
and their own State by subscribing for and sus- 
taining the Southern Cultivator. 
ilespectfuHy, D. Kendall 
F'rankLn Academy, Upson Co., Ga,, April 11. 
The Squash Crop-- Measures. 
Mr. Camak: — Among all the articles contain- 
ed in your valuable paper about raisingfood, both 
for man and beast, I don’t find that any of your 
contributors have taken notice of this im.portant 
crop. I say important, because I consider them 
valuable lor family use, and a most excellent 
article of food for hogs. 
In July and August, when most other vegeta- 
bles have failed, nothing suits iny taste better 
than a large dish of well served up squashes. 
They are excellent and cheap food for negroes. 
But above all, I value them for my hogs. I have 
a large pot filled up full at night and boiled, 
ready for my hogs in the morning, then pour 
them into a large trough, and the hogs will de- 
vour them greedily to their great benefit. I pre- 
fer boiling at night on account of getting the li- 
quor, in which dinner was boiled, which I con- 
sider valuable, not only as food for them, but 
strving to free them from tire mange. The 
squashes should be chopped up so as to make 
them boil quicker, and a litile sail added. 
The mode of cultivation is quite simple — the 
same as for pumpkins. I prefer planting early 
so as to have them ready for use as soon as pos- 
sible, but May will do for them. A late crop is 
belter than noneat all. All who will take the 
pains to plant a spot of ground in squashes and 
feed them to their hogs, will not regret it next 
September. 
The best of all is, tliey come when corn is 
s"arce, and hogs fed on them will improve ra- 
pidly, and will be already in an improving con- 
dition by the time your fields are ready nm them. 
After having the run of your pea-fields they 
wi'l be nearly ready to kill. And in the end, a 
vast amount of corn will have been saved. I 
raise the large white squash. I think they are 
the best. 
Measures. — I thank you, friend Camak, for 
the notice of my mistake in the size of the bu- 
shel. You ask for my authority to make iho 
bushel to contain 2,160 cubic inches. I simply 
answer that I had as much right to make a 
wrong measure as anybody, but did not do it de- 
signedly. I have always heard it said that a foot 
and a fourth made a bushel, and made my mea- 
sures accordingly, but however I will say no 
more and make corrections. 
I am sorry to learn that your paper is not well 
supported. For my pait I would rather pay five 
times the subscription price, than for the 
paper to be stopped. Brother farmers, let us all 
try; none of us know what we can do until we 
try. Each of us can get one of our friends to 
subscribe, a great many can get five, and many 
twenty-five. I firmly believe that in supporting 
the Southern Cultivator we are greatly beiie- 
fitting ourselves and the country at large. 
Your humble servant, _Pedro. 
Baldwin County, Ga , April lith, 1846. 
Bermuda Grass. 
Mr. Camak: — Desirous of procuring a good 
summer pasture grass, I have this soring plant- 
ed something like a bushel of the roots of the 
Bermuda Grass. My place is twelve miles above 
this village, and about the same distance from 
the foot of the Saluda mountains. This grass 
has not, so far as I know, been tried b-fore in 
this climate. I know of none highe’’ than the 
neighborhood of old Pendleton. Since I have 
planted it I have received many alarming lec- 
tures on the impossibility of extirpating, and of 
preventing it from spreading. Although I have 
not heard anything I did not know before I 
planted it, yet the lectures have had the effect 
of causing reflections which perhaps would not 
otherwise have occurred, and I now propose to 
give the readers of the Southern Cultivator a 
part of the result of .those reflections. 
For physiological reasons I should suppose 
that Bermuda Grass might be extirpated by the 
cultivation of the long Jerusalem Ariichoke. 
The artichoke puts up in the spring rather ear- 
lier than the grass. The top grows raoidly, and 
by proper management can be made to shade the 
ground perfectly. '1 he artichoke will grow in 
the fall as late as the grass. The light and free 
access of atmospheric air, are indispensable for 
the healihful growth of the grass The arti- 
choke can be made to exclude both these. Can- 
not the gras.s be choked out by it ! As the arti- 
choke will need only to be worked the first year, 
in this way it seems to me the grass may be ex- 
pelled from any spot of land without much 
trouble ot expense. 
This, I admit, is all theory, for I have had no 
opportunity of making the experiment, but 
should be glad to liear the result of such trial by 
some one who has Bermuda Grass. 
Yours, respectfully, A. B. C. 
Greenville Court House, S. C , April 10, 1846. 
Drought— Short Crrp— Fertilizing Depc- 
sit— Analysis. 
Mb. Camak: — I have been a subscriber to 
your valuable agricultural paper for three years, 
much to my gratification and interest as a farm- 
er, and have, during the time, endeavored to im- 
press on the minds of my immediate associates 
and friends (farmers) the importance of such a 
work, and more especially one adapted to our 
clime as yours is — and I hope success has at- 
tended my efforts to some ex'enl, from what 
your agent, Mr. Goul«ing, informed me at our 
February Superior Court. I am nothing but a 
plain, uneducated man, not in the habit of wri- 
ling anythin? for the inspection or criticism of 
the public, But I discover your views and feel- 
ings are republican, in relation to your patrons 
and correspondents ; therefore, 1 take the privi- 
lege to write to you on such subjects as I feel 
interested in, and perhaps others of yourpatrons 
also. 
My first inquiry is, has not the unprece- 
dented drought throughout the State been, or 
will if not be, a general benefit to the communi- 
ty ultimately where it existed! Judging from 
my own feelings and necessities, I would say it 
would bo decidedly so Until the year 1845 I 
have been fortunate crough to make and raise 
