186 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
GROirriNG, MULCHING, AND WATERING! 
After manuring, subsoiling or spading, pulverizing, 
■preparing and cultivating the garden ground properly, 
the three other operations assential to complete success, are 
described by the words at the head of this article. 
‘ ‘ Grouting''' is a simple operation by which the roots 
of plants taken up in dry weather are coated over with a 
moist and (sometimes) fertilizing substance, which prevents 
their dying from excessive evaporation, and gives an 
impulse to their growth until their existence is rendered 
certain by a shower of rain. When properly done, it is 
of great utility, rendering the gardener or planter almost 
independent of the “seasons.” We scarcely ever wait for 
a rain, in order to transplant cabbages, tomatoes, sweet 
potato draws, or any similar plant, our practice being 
simply this : We take a bucket of rain water or soap 
suds from the washing-tub, and stir into it enough leaf or 
C'woods mould and scrapings from the cow-pen to make it 
as thick as batter or thin mortar. Into this batter, we dip 
the roots of sweet potato draws or any other plant, and 
when they are well coated with the grouting mixture, we 
set them where they are intending to stand, in a hole 
made with a dibble or pointed stick, and having pressed 
the earth firmly around all parts of the root, the work is 
done. From 4 o’clock in the evening until sundown, is 
the best time for this w’ork, as the cool dews of night 
greatly assist the plant in getting a ‘jfoot-hold” in its new 
locality. Should the ground be very dry, and the weather 
excessively warm, we drop a handful of pine-straw or 
other leaves around and over the newly-moved plant, to 
“ make assurance doubly sure,” and by this method, we 
seldom, if ever, lose 5 per cent, of our plants, even in the 
heat of midsummer. The handful of leaves is lifted from 
the plant, and spread around it as a mulch, as soon as the 
plant is firmly rooted. 
“ Miilcliing^' all our readers ought to be tolerably 
familiar with, from the urgency and frequency with 
which we have pressed it upon their attention. It con- 
sists in surrounding the trunk or stem, and covering the 
ground over the roots of fruit trees, vines, herbaceous 
plants, vegetables, &c., &c,, with a thick layer of partly 
decomposed leaves, pine-straw, saw dust, half rotted 
chips, stable litter, moss, or any other substance that will 
keep the ground moist, and by gradually decaying, give 
off nourishment to the growing plant. We have found it 
of the utmost value in all our horticultural operations ; it 
is a protection against both frost and drouth, and has in 
numerous instances, preserved the lives of tender or half- 
hardy plants that had reached us in a perishing conditior>, 
after imperfect packing and a long journey. In addition 
to its value as a shade and fertilizer, it keeps down the 
growth of weeds, and enables the gardener or fruit-grower 
to appply water copiously, even under a burning sun, 
without any danger of wilting the plant or causing the 
surface of the ground to bake or harden, 
TFafermo-, i-egularly and abundantly, is almost indis- 
pensable, in the long-continued drouths of our climate. 
Rain, or pond water is best, where it can be obtained, un- 
less the gardener prefers to give his plants a little extra 
stimulus with liquid manure. In order to prepare this^ 
infuse 2 quarts of Peruvian guano or 4 quarts of hen- 
house manure in a barrel of water ; keep it well covered 
and stirred up, and apply to the earth around the plant, 
just before sundown^ either from the rose or nozzle of a 
watering-pot. Pure rain water may be poured all over 
the plant — leaves, stem and roots — but the liquid manure 
must be applied directly to the roots, without touching 
any other part of the plant. If your soil is unmulched, 
clayey, and inclined to bake, it is advisable to loosen it up 
deeply with a prong or forked hoe before applying the 
water, and to select always the cool of the evening for 
the job ; but, if, on the contrary, it is well mulched and of 
an open texture, the water or liquid manure may be poured 
through the mulching, around’ the plant, at such times as 
are most convenient. Soap suds and chamber slops, di- 
luted with equal quantities of rain or pond water, are in* 
valuable fertilizers, and should never be thrown away. 
See, also article headed “ Arable Land, and Water in 
present number. 
“THE GOOD TIME COMING !”~DEATH-BLOW TG 
“HARD TIMES!” 
Agriculturists, and all who are at all interested in the- 
products of the earth (rather a large and “respectable” 
class of our “fellow- citizens”) must feel the greatest pos- 
sible anxiety for the solution of the mystery hinted at in the 
following attractive item of news, which we copy from an 
extra or “supplement” of “TAe Dime,'' a little 10 cent 
paper, published in New York. Where, now, is “Terra- 
Culture” Comstock, or even Signor L.vttis, the great 
Egyptian double rice-crop man I We pause for a reply; 
but in the meantime, let the editor of The Dime be heard 
“for his cause:” 
“We beg to call your attention to the following an- 
nouncement. Though it may seem incredible, we can have 
no doubt of the fact : 
“WONDERFUL DISCOVERY IN AGRICULTURE! 
“ There has just been discovered in England, and pa- 
tented in that country, France and Belgium, a method 
by which the products of agriculture can, with ease and 
certainty, be increased from five to ten fold, with a great 
improvement in quality. Not only are single crops, in- 
creased in productiveness 300 to -500 per cent., but three 
crops may be raised in a season by the increased rapid- 
ity of growth produced by this method. It is applicable 
to all soils, and makes the most barren fertile and pro- 
lific. By this process, one acre will produce as much as 
from five to ten by the ordinary method, so that a man 
may support his family and even grow rich from a single 
acre. (!) 
“A full account of this discovery will be given in the 
May number of The Dime, an illustrated monthly paper 
published at Ten Cents a year, or eleven copies for One 
Dollar, by Leland, Clay & Co., 321 Broadway, New 
York. 
“We earnestly wish to bring this discovery to the 
knowledge of the whole agricultural population of the 
United States, as we believe it will be of the greatest bene- 
fit to thousands, and vastly increase the agricultural pro- 
ducts of our country in quantity, and improve their qual- 
ity.” 
Oh, yes ! a system that enables a man to “ support 
bis family, and grow rich from a single acre ”(!) will cer- 
