212 
SOUTHEEN CULTIVATOR. 
years of experiment, perfected an instrument, which proves, 
on trial, to be as nearly the thing that was needed as we 
sought to make it. 
It is a table or ring of brass which rests upon a steel 
point, supported on a tripod, and which is brought in- 
stantly into a true horizontal position and kept there by 
a heavy plummet. I claim the combination and arrange- 
ment as my own ; and if it is found to answer fully, the 
purpose intended, after a year or so of frequent use, I shall 
apply for a patent and have the instruments manufactured 
in as cheap a style as possible, that all may have a good 
and serviceable instrument who desire one. 
Thomas Affleck, 
[in Southern Rural Almanac. 
[to be concluded.] 
SLAVERY AS IT IS! 
The New York Herald holds the following sensible 
and correct views on the slavery question ; 
“All this mock philanthropy about human freedom, 
liberty, and the horrors of Southern Slavery, is mere stulf 
and nonsense. The real question is union or disunion. 
The African race, whether as slaves in the South or “free 
colored Americans” in the North, occupy the position, 
socially and politically, of an inferior race, and properly 
so, and simply because the great Creator has made them 
an inferior race. In the same community with the white 
man, the black, enslaved or emancipated, must forever oc- 
cupy a degraded position. In a community purely Afri- 
can, even the civilized black relapses again to African in- 
dolence and barbarism. See Hayti ; see Jamaica. Stop 
the supplies of christianized recruits from our Southern 
States to Liberia, and that republic, in the space of two or 
three generations, would probably degenerate into a petty 
kingdom of cannibals, with a savage beast as their ruler, 
horrible and bloody as the King of Dahomey, The three 
millions of the African race, the most enlightened and the 
happiest in the world, are the three milllion slaves of our 
Southern States,” 
Sheep-Killing Dogs. — The Indiana Farmer \s “down” 
on their Legislature for not enacting laws for the protec- 
tion of sheep against dogs. After alluding to the negli- 
gence of the “assembled wisdom” on the subject, our con- 
temporary says : 
“ In the existing state of things, sheep-raisers have a 
law of their own, the most important provision of which 
is a well loaded and ever-ready musket. This law is of 
course clandestinely enforced, which has doubtless a ten- 
dency to create in the minds of boys and young men, who 
are generally encouraged to become the executioners, a 
disposition to violate all laws which do not correspond 
with their notions of right and expediency. But enough. 
The Legislature doubtless finds matter of great importance, 
at least in the eyes of its members, on which to spend the 
people’s money. Wonder if it ever occurs to them how 
large a portion of their pay is furnished by farmers, and 
how large a proportion of these are sheep-raisers 7 If the 
Legislature will not afford any protection to the wool- 
growers of the State, we will try to take care of ourselves 
— that’s all.” 
Management of Manure Heaps.,— One of our ex- 
changes has a communication from Mr. Austin, Man- 
chester, England, who says that upwards of a ton of 
horse manure is produced in his stables daily, and the 
usual odor and evaporation entirely prevented by sprink- 
ling over the heap a solution of a pound of green cop- 
peras in a gallon of water. This application also fixes the 
ammonia and strengthens the manure. 
AN ALARM CLOCK TOR PLANTATIONS. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Permit me, through 
the medium of your valuable paper, to inquire whether or 
not, there is such a thing as a plantation Clock'? It often 
happens on a plantation, that the overseer or driver, is 
not at his post just at the proper time in the morning to 
start all hands promptly, thereby causing confusion and 
disorder, rarely restored during the day. 
Now, what I want, is, an alarm clock, of sufficient size 
and capacity to ring, or put in motion, a 50 or 60 pound 
bell, so arranged as to alarm at any hour desired. If there 
is such a thing in use, where can it be had '? If there is 
nothing of the sort known, who will make one, or suggest 
the best plan and send to the September Fairl 
S. H. C. 
Red River, May, 1855. 
Remarks. — If your overseer sleeps at home, a common 
alarm clock ought to be sufficient to awake him, at any 
hour desired. If you wish a clock large enough to wake 
up every person on the plantation, you can have it made 
at a cost, probably, of ^30 or ^40, by addressing C,, 
Jerome, Clock Manufacturer, New Haven, Conn. — Eds. 
Cotton Rafted I — An Important Invention ! — The 
New York correspondent of the National Intelligencer 
says : * 
“'An enterprising gentleman named G. R. Griffith has 
been perfecting an invention by which cotton may be got 
to market and the seaboard, in spite of low water in the 
Southern rivers; and he left here this afternoon for the 
South to demonstrate the practicability of his invention to 
the planters. The plan is very simple, being merely the 
adoption of a kind of vulcanized India rubber bag, so con- 
structed that any number of them may be connected to- 
gether in the fashion of a raft, and either towed down the 
shallow streams by a steamer of light draught or piloted 
by hands on the cotton, two mqn being able to manage 
one hundred bales. Twelve inches of water is amply suf- 
ficient for the transportation of cotton by means of these 
patent floaters ; and if they can be successfully intro- 
duced the condition of the streams hereafter will be no 
barrier to suplying the markets with the great Southern 
staple. Mr. Griffith gave a practical exhibition of his in- 
ventions at this port a few days since, and I believe en- 
tirely satisfied those present of the feasij3ility of the plan.” 
A Valuable Compost. — Near every dwelling, hut a 
little out of the way, there should be a place, vat or cistern 
prepared, where all the scrapings of the door-yard and 
litter from the garden can be conveniently deposited. 
Where likewise should ^be thrown all the woolen rags and 
other refuse stuff, such as old boots and shoes, bones, &c.^ 
usually committed to the flames by the neat housewife, 
upon every return of that ever- to-be-dreaded “festival” com- 
monly denominated “house cleaning !” Into this recep- 
tacle throw all your brine and soap suds on washing days 
and ashes and lime rubbish where leaches are emptied ; 
add occasionally a wheel-barrow load of muck, loam or 
turf, and you will find at the end of the year, that you 
have a quantity of excellent manure, far more valuable for 
many purposes than barn-yard manure. — Ontario 'Times. 
Nothing is purer than modesty — nothing sweeter 
than charity — nothing brighter than virtue — nothing 
warmer than love. These united in one mind, form the 
purest, the sweetest, the richest, the brightest, and the 
most steadfast happiness. 
