KB 
SOUTHEKS’ CULTIVATOR. 
Book correctly, requiring the same of his overseer — “such 
planters knew what they were about, and, in fact, rarely 
asked for advances.” Instances have already occurred in 
the Courts, in which the overseer’s daily entry in his 
Plantation Book was received as evidence, in the same 
manner as the entry of a Merchant’s clerk in his Day- 
Book. 
But I have spun out my letter far beyond what I intend- 
ed when I sat down to reply to yours. 
Many thanks for the blank leaf from your own Planta- 
tion Book. It suggests a vast improvement to mine, 
which I shall make in my next editions. Pray favor me 
with a copy of your Plantation Buies. Some one in Rich- 
mond, Vh’ginia, I believe, has published an almost literal 
reprint of my books ; but with^the part of Hamlet omitted ! 
Most shabbily gotten up, and some of the most important 
records left out. 
We think it, here, indispensable that the cotton picked 
by each hand each day should be recorded. If for no other 
purpose than to compel a uniform and invariable system on 
the part of the overseer. Thei’e should be no omissions. I 
have not time to point out all the advantages ; but they are 
many. 
I have been compelled to omit many things I should 
like to have included, to avoid complication. The plan- 
ter himself should keep records of each field, &c. My 
plan is, a skeleton map of the plantation, cut out of Bristol 
boards leaving a net work of the board, for the boundaries 
of the fields, &c., of about a quarter of an inch wide, upon 
which the Nos. of the fields are noted, their contents, when 
cleared, &c. This is laid over a blank sheet, and sketched 
around with a pen, leaving a copy of the skeleton. In the 
space marked out for each field, notes of the crops are 
made, &c., &c. But I must close. 
Yours very respectfully, 
Thomas Affleck. 
Washington, Miss., Jan., 1855. 
SAVE YOUR NIGHT SOIL. 
The following, from the Edgefield Advertiser, contains 
more “truth” and good sense “than poetry.” That the 
most valuable of all manures [human ordure] should re- 
ceive so little attention, while our ships are scouring dis- 
tant seas in search of the “far fetched and dear bought” 
guano, is one of those inconsistencies that to us seems en- 
tirely unaccountable. False delicacy and silly squeamish- 
ness should not prevent us from availing ourselves of a 
fertilizer so valuable and accessible : 
Messrs. Editors — I congratulate your readers on the 
•agricultural arrangements of your paper and have but 
few remarks to make. Why do farmers save their stable 
and cow, and hog-pen manures I Because their daddys 
did before them. N^if sed about chemico-meteoroligical 
modus operandi of their application to corn, wheat and 
cotton lands. But just ask them why not save night soil, 
and a laugh is the reply. 
Well, now for our new way of making old bacon and 
old corn. One negro will consume in 12 months 144 lbs. 
of bacon at 10 cents S14.44 
13 bushels corn at $1 per bush 13.00 
S27.44 
Now, the same negro will p'roduce “in liquid and solid 
excrements on an average 1 1-2 lbs. daily (54 lb. of urine 
and 1-4 lb. fceces,) and that both taken together contains 3 
per cent, of nitrogen ; then in one year they will amount 
to 547 lbs., which contain 16.41 of nitrogen, a quantity suf- 
ficient to yield the nitrogen of 800 lbs. of wheat, rye, oats, 
or of 900 lbs. of barley.” 
This 547 lbs. oi domestic African Guano, vfiih. 100 lbs. 
of pulverised charcoal and 200 lbs. of gypsum or plaster 
to fix it, costing about S3, and worth as much as Peruvian 
Guano, say S25, will manure 4 acres of wheat (on land 
producing without manure 6 bushels,) and produce 20 
bushels of good wheat per acre. 
Then 80 bushels wheat at $1 S80.00 
Deduct 24 bushels at SI 24.00 
S56.00 . 
A little more than clear gain enough to pay for the old 
bacon and corn consumed by the same negro, in the 12 
preceeding months, and leave a balance, to pay for the 
interest and trouble of making the calculation. This is 
what a young American farmer would tell an old fogy to 
be a new way of making old corn and old bacon. 
Try It. 
SALTPETRE FOR CURING MEAT. 
A FEW years since, upon the occasion of a large fire in 
New York City, considerable discussion arose upon the 
question, “ Will Saltpetre explode ?” We are not aware 
that the public mind has ever been fully satisfied upon 
this subject, nor do we now propose to bring it up again. 
Our object is simply to call the attention of our readers to 
the too frequent use of this dangerous article in curing 
meat, and to suggest its discontinuance. The Dollar 
Newspaper^ correspondent, “Doctor,” gives us his views 
upon the matter, as follows : 
A few days ago, perusing the Albany Cultivator for 
1846, I was not a little surprised to find the following re- 
cipe for preparing meat for salting for long sea voyages : • 
“Take half a pound of black pepper, half pound of red 
or Cayenne peper, half a pound of the best saltpetre ; all 
beat or ground very fine ; mix these three articles well to- 
gether, then mix them with three quarts of very fine salt.” 
[Signed] Noyes Darling, New Haven. 
And after detailing the manner of applying it and salt- 
ing beef, he says : “Provisions salted in this manner will 
keep during the longest voyages, and are more wholesome 
and palatable than any other,” But I imagine if the gentle- 
man would take the trouble to consult medical authors, or 
observe more carefully the effects of meat thus cured by a 
compound containing saltpetre, he would sooner become 
a Grahamite [vegetarian] than hazard his life by using it, 
when cured by his own process. 
On inquiry, I find that many of my neighbors are mak- 
ing daily use of meat and butter wherein a small quantity 
of this deadly drug is infused, and imagine it renders the 
meat more tender, and easier of digestion and more whole- i 
some, and are not sensible of any deleterious effects from ^ 
its use. But there are instances recorded by medical au- 
thors, where arsenic and other poisons, by beginning with 
small portions, have been used, and the quantity increased 
moderately for years, without any aparentbad effect. But ^ 
the patients died suddenly, and on a post mortem exami- 
nation it was found that the delicate fibres of the stomach 
were entirely destroyed, and may not this be the case 
when saltpetre is used % 
Thatcher’s Dispensatory says : “ This powerful salt, ' 
when inadvertently taken in too large doses, is one of the 
most fatal poisons.” 
Cox’s Dispensatory says : — “ In large doses, such as an || 
ounce, taken at one time, it produces the most dreadful , 
symptoms — constant vomiting, purging, convulsions and j 
death.” 
Dr. Tompson’s New Guide to Health says : “ I have 
found by a series of experiments for many years, that salt- 
petre has the most certain and deadly effect upon the hu- 
man system of any medicine known.” 
