152 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
®l)c SDutl)ern ^ulttuatov. 
AUGUSTA, GA. 
VOI.. IV.. NO. 10 OCTOBESB, 1S46. 
THOSE 
TWENTY THOUSAND SUBSCRIBERS!!! 
STILL THEY COME ! 1 
It wotild be highly gratifying to us, if our limits yi-ould per- 
mit us, to copy the letters of all those who enlist under the 
banner of our lamented friend McDonald, but as they would 
occupy too much space, we must content ourselves with on- 
ly a few of them, and enroll the names of the others. We 
had hoped that ere this, the list would have swelled to a 
much greater number, and, though disappointed in this, we 
are cheered with the feeling which the proposition has awak- 
ened, and we doubt not that hundreds wiU flock to the stand- 
ard during the month of October. Let the friends of Agri- 
culture, in every coimty and neighborhood, arouse and buckle 
on their armor in her cause and the march of improvement 
will be onward — onward— onward ! 
Let us then have “ a long pull, a strong pull, and a puU al- 
together,” during the month of October, and our cause will 
triumph as certainly as truth triumphs over error, or as indus- 
try and economy wiU outstrip indolence and prodigality in 
the race for a competence. We have not space to say more. 
Col. A. MCDONALD, Eufaula, Ala. 
E. McCROAN, Louisville, Ga. 
T. W. RUCKER, Elberton, Ga. 
C. DOUGHERTY, Athens, Ga. 
G. B. HAYGOOD, Watkinsville, Ga. 
WM. T. DeWITT, Hopewell, Ala. 
H. E. CHITTY, Henry Co., Ala. 
WM. CUNNINGHAM, Monroe Co., Ala. 
C. B. ZUBER, White Sulphur Springs, Ga. 
J. C. HENDERSON, Macon Co., Ala. 
JAS. J. BANKS, Enon, Ala. 
Gen. A. W. GREER, Taliaferro Co. 
SINGLETON HARRIS, “ 
J. S. LASSETER. “ 
JARED L. TURNER, Greene Co. 
J. P. C. WHITEHEAD, Waynesboro, Ga. 
E. F. HURT, Macon Co., Ala. 
B. P. BORUM, “ 
WM. B. S. GILMER, Chambers Co., Ala. 
JOHN A. CALHOUN, Eufaula, Ala., 
JOEL HURRT, Crawford, RusseUOo., Ala. 
GEORGE SEABORN, Pendleton Dist., S. C. 
MARTIN McNAIR, Richmond Co., Ga. 
Several articles prepared for this No. are unavoidably 
omitted. 
Ourselves. 
We thank our correspondent ‘Zachary’ for 
the good opinion he expresses of the Southern 
Cultivator. Commendations from such a 
quarter are worth something. 
We hope Zachary may be induced to con- 
tinue his contributions towards the advance- 
ment of Agricultural improvement. One who 
is so capable of giving, as ball-players say, 
good licks on our side, should by no means 
withhold them. He may, by using the rasp 
himself, and by inducing others to u.se it too, 
be the means of doing great good. 
If Zachary will look over the editorials of 
the Cultivator, he cannot fail to notice that 
we have used the rasp pretty freely on divers 
occasions. But still, on looking back our- 
selves, we are not entiiely satisfied with what 
we have done. This short-coming, however, 
is not so much our fault as it is that of the pub- 
lic. Our subscription list has been too small. 
We candidly confess our inability to preach, 
with becoming energy, to a thin congregation. 
Dean Swift might go through the church ser- 
vice with all proper fervor, with nobody pre- 
sent but “Dearly beloved Roger.” But every 
one is not Dean Swift. He stood alone and 
apart from his race in many things besides 
preaching. There is always wanting in such 
cases, with common men, that secret something 
— mesmerism, or some other ism, call it what 
you please— emanating from a large assembly, 
that is absolutely necessary to get the steam up 
in one addressing such assembly. And this is 
as true of vvriting as of speaking, ff, therefore, 
the husbandmen of the South want the Culti- 
vator to exercise an influence commensurate 
with the wants of Southern Agriculture, they 
must, one and all, earnestly set about getting 
the 20,000 subscribers proposed by our deceas- 
ed friend, Col. McDonald, 
Apples. 
Our mountain farmers ought now to be 
making their arrangements to supply our South- 
ern cities with apples. If they can be persuaded 
to pursue their own true interest, such a thing 
as a Northern apple will not be seen in Charles- 
ton, Savannah, Mobile, Montgomery, Colum- 
bus, Macon, Augusta, or Columbia. But to 
supply these markets they must prepare for 
them a marketable article; not such stuff as 
they now offer forsale— deficient, not in quality, 
for Southern apples can’t be beat any where, but 
in the way in which they are handled. Itseems 
as if they were beat offthe tree with a pole, and 
tossed into a wagon pretty much as if they were 
stones. The consequence is, they come to mar- 
ket so bruised and injured every way, as to be 
hardly fit food for pigs. Indeed, a thrifty 
Yankee farmer would not give such apples to 
his pigs. But if they are properly handled, no- 
thing that can be brought to market will com- 
mand the cash more readily. And if our moun- 
tain farmers do not take advantage of their posi- 
tion in this respect, they deserve to be condemn- 
ed to undergo the penally of never once more 
hearing the exhilarating jingle of the almighty 
dollar. 
In the American AgricuUurisl fur September 
it is recommended that apples intended to be 
preserved for winter and spring use, should 
remain on the trees until quite ripe, which usu- 
ally lakes place at the coming of the first heavy 
frosts. They should then be plucked from the 
trees by hand, in a fair day, and packed up 
immediately in casks, in alternate layers of dry 
sand, plaster, chaff, saw'dust, or bran, and con- 
veyed to a cool dry place, as soon as possible. 
The sand or sawdust may be dried in the heat 
of summer, or may be baked in an oven at the 
time required to be used. The peculiaradvan- 
tagesarising from packing apples in sand, are 
explained and commented upon as follows, by 
the late Mr. Webster, author of the American 
Dictionary of the English Language, fst. The 
sand keeps the apples from the air, which is es- 
sential to their preservation; 2d. The sand 
checks the evaporation or perspiration of the 
apples, thus preserving in them their full fla- 
vor — at the same time any moisture yielded by 
the apples is absorbed by the sand — so that the 
apples are kept dry and all mustiness is pre- 
vented. My pippins, Mr, V/. says, in May 
and June, are as fresh as when first picked.— 
Even the ends of the stems look as if just sepa- 
rated frem the twigs. 3. The sand is equally 
a preservative from frost, rats, &c. But after 
the extreme heat of June takes place, all apples 
speedily lose their flavor, and become insipid. 
The fine apples we have seen, brought from 
our Southern mountains, if they were cared lor 
according to Mr. Webster’s directions, could 
be readily sold, in March and April, incur 
Southern cities, at 6 to 9 dollars per barrel of 3 
bushels. Is not this sufficient inducement lor 
Southern apple growers to bestir themselves'? 
And then there is Apple Butter — a more deli- 
cious or wholesome article — wholesome be- 
cause simple— never was set before a hungry 
man. Here is the way they make it. The 
next time we go to the mountains we hope to 
see it on every table. 
Pennsylvania Apple Butter. — To make 
thisaccording to German law, the host should, 
in the autumn, invite his neighbors, particu- 
larly the young men and maidens, to make up 
an apple butter party. Being assembled, let 
three bushels of fair sweet apples be pared, 
quartered, and the cores removed. Mean- 
while, let two barrels of new cider be boiled 
down to one-halt. When this is done, commit 
the prepared apples to the cider and let the boil- 
ing go on briskly and systematically. But to 
accomplish the main design, the parly must take 
turns at stirring the contents without cessation, 
so that they may not become attached to the 
sides of the vessel and burn. Let the stirring 
go on till the amalgamated cider and apples be- 
come as thick as hasty pudding, then throw 
in powdered allspice, when it may be consider- 
ed as finished and committed to the pots lor fur- 
ther use. This is Apple Butter; and it will 
keep sweet lor many years. It is a capital ar- 
ticle for the table. — N. Y. Mechanic. 
A New Grass for the South. 
As our people abhor crab grass or Bermuda 
grasssomuch, perhaps we ought to congratu- 
late them that, in Oregon, there is a grass that 
will no doubt suit them exactly. It will suit 
them in this, that it is none of your common 
every-day articles, growing at home, and invit- 
ing us hourly to avail ourselves of their good 
qualities; but a real foreign article, coming 
from over the hills and far away, and therefore, 
by Southern rule and Southern practice, enti- 
tled to a preference over everything domestic. 
The Rev. Mr. Spalding, in an account of the 
manifold blessings that are showered upon the 
inhabitants of Oregon, recently published, gives 
an account of this grass. From his very irn- 
peifect description, we judge it to be the same 
with the famous muskeet grass of Texas and 
Mexico ; the same grass on which the vast herds 
of buffalo that range the western and southwes- 
tern prairies, live and thrive so wonderfully. 
If it be the muskeet, or even if it be another 
sort, and comes up to Mr. Spalding’s estimate 
of its good qualities, no effort should be spared 
to introduce it on Southern plantations. Who 
will undertake it ? It won’t cost either much 
trouble or money; 
“The country is one extensive prairie, except 
the mountains, which are covered with several 
species of pine, cedar and fir. The prairies are 
rolling, and with the exception of a narrow belt 
