THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
93 
all, except curs, very sparingly exist. Whether 
in fact these several breeds, so divergent in 
shape and appearance, be really the progeny, in 
the long run, cl the identical woll stocU, would 
be enough, I apprehend, il all were before his 
view, to stagger the philosophy of Buffon. 
But howsoever the matter of ancestry in this 
species of animated nature be settled by sa- 
vant, it is certain they have become adapted 
to multifarious purposes, and in some instan- 
ces to none at all; and men of any show of 
real capacity or wisdom would attend to their 
necessities in this particular, by making choice 
as companions, of such alone as their mode of 
life and stress of cultivation may w'arrant. 
To pioneers in a new country, where the 
merciless and cunning savage be next door 
neighbor; where vermin infest the forest and 
teem in the swamps; where wolves commit 
nightly depredations — dugs are wanted; and as 
poor people, such as compose our frontier inha- 
bitants, have neither the skill nor ability to select 
or import thebest breeds, they have to put up with 
the cur— which cannot fail, in the untried 
woods, of turning of service to the backwoods- 
man, in his remote solitudes. 
As the progress of civilization comes round, 
and a dense population with cleared fields begins 
to seek the natural resource that is found in the 
sheep, the necessity for numerous dogs becomes 
no longer an excuse; or they must adopt the 
Turkish mode at Constantinople, detaining 
them for a use similar to that in this country 
of the turkey-buzzard, wdih this considera- 
tion, that the Turks seldom or never export 
fleece, and in that warm climate never have oc- 
casion fo'r that article. In this climate, how- 
ever, where wool appears indispensable to our 
clothing, the sheep would always be an impor- 
tant farmingstock; and all that is requisiie at 
this time to ensure a plentiful supply ol warm 
garments, is for our farmers no longer to pur- 
sue the beaten track of the last century-^no 
longer to follow the custom of ancestors which 
had been justified to them by a necessity that we 
cannot plead— no longer to put a mill stone in 
one pannel to balance the corn or meal in the 
other — but to bring about, a course of innovation 
upon the long mooted but now unavailing meth- 
od peculiar to pioneers. 
in Mexico they have shepherd dogs, of a rare 
and valuable breed, introduced into that country 
from old Spain, where the finest merino and 
Saxony flocks feed in security, and from 
whence, formerly, the English woollen facto- 
ries were (if I recollect aright) supplied with 
the raw material. How easily attainable by 
way of Texas are such dogs to our farmers! 
Tney are always faithful servants fir guardians : 
not only repelling or slaying wolves, but every 
other dog that dare intrude within range of, or 
molest. sheep. 
Contingencies of which we must first gel rid, 
admonish us of the fact that operative laws 
would be necessary to teach the descendants of 
pioneers, that the same occasion environing 
their fathers no longer exists; and that newer 
modes of existence havingnowto be experiment-- 
ed, do not warrant the retainraent of such num- 
bers of dogs of little or no value, to the detri- 
ment of their more enterprizing neighbors. Men 
too often follow the same monotony of life, ge- 
neration after generation, until some action 
from elsewhere introduce them, (at first amid 
their reluctance,) to some more prosperous en- 
terprize. But I fear there is in Georgia, re- 
garding the existence of worthless dogs, and the 
introduction ol valuable sheep, a good deal of 
incipient opposition from those who see no good 
any where but in the soil, and who, always ex- 
pectant of emigration elsewhere, do not care 
for the prosperity of the State, or for anything 
connected with the virtues of economy, good 
husbandry, or of unremitting enterprise— things 
that elevated other States to affluence — and 
things only that can mend our prevailing pover- 
ty. Is it the fear of this class of people, speak- 
ing at the polls, that turn our legislators into 
men of trepidation or time servers, making 
each some— 
“ Hovering temporizer, that can 
With his eyes, discern both good and evil. 
Inclining to them both?” 
I hope not. I hope at least when a trial be 
m.ade in our State, of appealing to the Legisla- 
ture, something will be done in sympathy with 
the wishes of the best portion of our citizens — 
our men of enterprise, and, consecutively, of 
resources — of protecting their flocks from the 
rapacity of canine marauders, the undue breed- 
ing of which or allowing to breed, cannot but 
be reprehensible. Should this fail, and the in- 
terdictory tax amount not to a virtual inhibi- 
tion, then let some of our people endeavor the 
election of some eloquent man expressly for this 
design to the General Assembly — a man whose 
eloquent representation can persuade or influ- 
ence the enactment of the requiredlaw, and who 
having thus fulfilled the intent of leaving his 
privacy, can again retire, independent of the 
consequences of this proceeding, which, in a few 
years may have the hearty approval of p.'-eseni 
opponents. 
Very respectfully, your obed’l servant, 
J. J. Flournoy. 
Wellington, Jackson Co., Feb., 1846. 
From the North Carolina Farmer. 
Brief Outline of tlie American System of 
Wine Culture. 
Mr. Lemay : — The following is at your ser- 
vice for some useful agricultural purpose: 
1. Cultivate the best kinds ol American grape 
fruit in your nursery. If not convenient to pro- 
cure well rooted plants, ihe layer.sof the Scup- 
pernong (as ihe.-e not succeedflsg otherwise or 
bv cuttings) and cuttings of other kinds or firm 
layers. 
2. Plant the Scuppernong 20 feel and other 
kinds 10 apart. 
3. Two or three years aftet take out the stakes 
and insert posts 10 feet each way elected at 
squared lops to hold the rail's to support the scaf- 
fold iu?. 
4. Keep the ground under the scafl"olding 
clean, and incorporate all falling leaves and lit- 
ter. And keep off all straggling vines from in- 
tercepting the free passage of wind, team or 
men benealti the canopies. 
5. When grapes ripe and mashed and juice 
expressed, strain the juice through several folds 
of a woollen blanket, and add at least 2 pounds 
per gallon of sugar or one-lourlii of good spi- 
rits, or sav one pound of sugar (if wanting a 
sweet wine.) Alter the lourth of spirits added, 
and my word lor it, you will have an excel ent, 
safe keeping wine. Or, if wishing a first rate 
family medicinal cordial, after juice strained, 
put one-third good spirits and 2 pounds of sugar 
to the gallon. You^s, &c., 
Sidney Weller. 
Brinkleyville, N. C., October 2^, 1845. 
From the Western Farmer and Gardener. 
Degeneracy of Plants. 
Both Van Mons and Knight believed in a 
degeneracy of plants; but the degeneracy ol 
the one system is not to be conlounded with 
that of the other. 
Knight believed that varieties had a regular 
period of existence; although, as in animal 
life, care and skill might make essential differ- 
ence in the longevity, yet they could in nowise 
avert the final catastrophe ; a time would come, 
sooner or later, at which the vegetable vitality 
would be expended, and the variety must perish 
by exhaustion — by running out. 
Van Mons believed that an improved variety 
tended to return to its normal state — to its wu'id 
type; and although he did not believe that it 
could be entirely restored to its wild state, it 
might go so far as to make it w'onhless lor use- 
ful purposes. 
Knight believed in absolute decay; Van 
Mons, in retrocession. According to Knight’s 
theory, varieties of fruit cease by the natural 
statute of limitoiion ; according to Van Mur.s, 
they only fall from grace. 
There can be no reasonable doubt that Van 
Mons held the trutn, and as little, that Knight’s 
speculations w'ere fallacious. Bad cultivation 
will cause anything to run out; no plant will 
perfect its tissues or fruit without the soil af- 
fords it elementary materials. The so-called 
exhausted varieties renew their youth when 
transplanted into soils suitable tor them. 
[From the Western Farmer and Gardener. ] 
Slitting the Bark of Trees. 
This is a practice much followed by fruit- 
raisers. Downing gives his sanction to it. Mr. 
Pell, (N. Y.) famous for his orchards, includes 
it as a part of nis system of orchard cultivation. 
Men talk of trees being and let out 
the bark on the same principle, we suppose, as 
mothers do the pantaloons of growing boys. 
We confess a prejudice against this letting out 
ol tucks in a tree’s clothes. We do not say 
there .nay not be cases of diseased trees in 
which, as a remedial process, this may not be 
wise; but we should as soon think of slitting 
the skin on a boy’s legs, or on calves or colts, 
as a regular part of a plan of rearing them, as 
to slash the bark ol sound and healthy trees. 
Bark-bound ? — what is that! Does the in- 
side cf a tree grow faster than the outside? 
When the bark is slit is it looser around the 
whole trunk than it was before? When granu- 
lations have filled up this artificial channel, is 
not the bark just as tight as il was before? 
Mark, we do not say it is not a good practice; 
but only that we do not yet understand what the 
benefit is. 
Why, the bark bursts semetimes.” 
Yes, disease may thus affect it ; and when it 
does, cut, if nec£ssa,ry. 
“ Does it do any har.D ?” 
Perhaps not; neither would it to pul a wea- 
ther-cock in the top of every tree ; oi to bury a 
black cat under the roots, or to mark each tree 
with talismanic signs. Is it woiih u'hile to do 
a thing just because it does no barm ? 
“But when a tree is growing too fast does it 
not need it?” 
Yes, if it can be shown that the bark, albur- 
num, &c. do not increase alike. That excite- 
ment which increases the growth of one part of 
a tree, will, as a general fact, increase the 
growth of every other. In respect to the fruit 
and seed, doubtless, particular manures will 
develope special properties. But is there evi- 
dence that such a thing takes place in respect 
to the various tissues of the wood, bark, &c? 
” But ifa tree be sluggish, and bound, will it 
not help it ? 
V\ hatever excites a more vigorous circula- 
! lion, will be of advantage. Whether any ad- 
I vantage from the knile arises in this way, we 
j do not known But a good or a scouring 
I ol the whole body with sand, and then a pungent 
alkaline wash, (soft soap diluted with urine,) 
would, w’e think, be better for bark-bound trees, 
than the whole tribe of slits, vertical, horizontal, 
zig zag, 0 .'- waved. But we should be glad to 
hear both the facts and reasonings on which the 
I practice is founded, irom some one who has 
' implicit faith in its virtues. 
The Red Ant. — The little Red Ant, where 
he is disposed to make himself lamiliar, is one 
ofthe greatest of all pests that afflict a household. 
He is always on hand, in the sugar bowl, makes 
the preserve dish a sort ol every-day' lounge ; 
and it a choice pie is set away any' where for 
an extra occasion, this little fellow is sure to 
j find it out and keep guard there. Several modes 
are recommended to drive him away'. 0ns is 
to strew sage leaves about the cupboard ; ano- 
ther, to u-se cedar boughs instead, and a later 
one is to guard any particular treasure with 
common salt. For instance, says the New York 
Far.ner and Mechanic, if a sa.fe or cupboard is 
to be kept from them, set it from the walls, so 
as to touch nothing laterally; then place a cup 
contaiiiing salt under each leg, so as to oblige 
the animals to travel through it. They will not 
do \l.~ Frairie Farmer. 
