242 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
waste, and a cube of less than ten feet will not keep 
through the summer. If an ice houee is built upon a sandy, 
porous soil, no special care is required to secure 
drainage, but if the soil is of a texture that will retain 
moisture, it is thus rendered a good conductor, and the ice 
in contact with it will melt rapidly. 
We had occasion some years ago to make some inqui- 
ries on the subject of ice houses of Mr. N. J. Wythe, of 
Cambridge, Mass., who planned many of the extensive 
commercial ice houses near Boston. Mr. W. constructs 
his ice houses all above ground, with double v/alls or 
frames, as described by our correspondent, except that the 
space between the two walls is 2K feet at the bottom and 
2 feet at the top ; the spaces are filled with tan or saw- 
dust, but charcoal is better, and a thickness of 13 inches 
we should suppose sufficient to keep ice well. Mr Wythe 
.sets the posts which are to form the double walls or frames 
of his house in the ground. 
The bottom of the house, he says, should be filled about 
a foot deep with blocks of wood ; these are leveled and 
covered with wood shavings, on to which a strong plank 
flocr is laid to receive the ice. Upon the beams above 
the ice a tight floor is laid and covered several inches 
deep with dry tan or saw dust. The roof of the house 
should have a considerable pitch, and the space between 
the upper floor and the roof should be ventilated by a lat- 
tice window at each gable end, or something equivalent, 
to pass out the warm air which will accumulate beneath 
the roof. 
From the hints we have given we think E. will discov- 
er where his house is defective. 
Those who do not enjoy the luxury of ice these hot 
days will do well to preserve these directions and prepare 
a house in time for next winter. 
A PLEA FOE A HUMBUG. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — The Oregon Pea has 
attracted so much quill work of late that a man would be 
regarded as insane by some, who would endorse it now, 
‘as one of the greatest improvers of the soil that we could 
plant in the South. We are half inclined to brave (the 
odium and say, it is the very best pea for the corn planter 
we have ever seen. We could not endorse the humbug at 
1^80 per bushel — and, with “Broomsedge,” put our foot on 
that. We have had it growing for ten years, and paid no 
other regard to it than in having a few quarts annually 
gathered for our seed box. We never planted it after the 
first time, and when it became a ’priceless hmnbug we 
saved a peck of seed. V/ith these, we planted an acre or 
two of poor, dry hill-side in our peach orchard; They 
grew, flourished and fell to the ground under the weight 
of pods they bore. We gathered a barrel of seed amongst 
our calves, Suffolks and poultry, which ran on them, and 
in the v/inter plowed down the vines as a salvo to the 
land preparatory to putting it in corn. The prize Devon 
heifer, “Alice,” which attracted so much attention at your 
Fair, for her symmetry and condition, was taken off that 
Oregon Pea patch to the cars which bore her to Augusta. 
Her condition was the effect of the Oregon Peas alone. 
My Suffolks almost suffbcaied with fat, from gleaning the 
ripe peas. And my guinea fowls, continued laying'and 
hatcliing till November, furnishing me with young birds 
until late in the spring. 
I planted the piece of ground in corn, not suspecting 
that the stock had trampled in seed enough for a stand. 
The corn was plowed once and ihe.stand of peas is now 
thicker than I could desire — twelve and fifteen inches 
high. The corn, although it has been neglected in order 
to give the peas a fair shake; is now of fine size and color, 
and the peach trees have m.ade a vigorous growth. The 
land has evidently been improved by tlie subversion and 
shading of the pea vines. I think, for stock and manur- 
ing, it is very valuable, and hence this plea which simple 
justice to the much abused demands at my hand. 
My Rescue Grass, and also that of several of my 
friends, has come up to all that Mr. Iverson claims for it. 
I gave it a fair trial, and would not be without it for any 
amount. I cannot bear to see men humbug themselvee, 
as so many have done, who have purchased Rescue Grass 
seed, and left it to take care of itself Such men are not 
lights to read by. They are blind to common sense, and 
deserve failure — because it is the crop they expect to reap. 
A. G. Summer. 
Havener oft,{yiear Alston^ S. C., June, 1855. 
WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FROM A BOOK 
FARMER. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — I have been a sub- 
scriber to your Cultivator for over two years, and I have 
never had reason to complain of it. I appreciate it above 
all other journals known for its general information in 
regard to tilling the soil and farm economy, so I feel it 
my duty to bear some humble part in circulating it more 
extensively through our land of flowers ; therefore I send 
you the name of one of ray neighbors, and the dollar 
accompanying it, which J hope will reach you safe, and 
you will send the Cultivator and its back numbers to 
him. 
I hope I shall be able to send you other names before 
long, as “ book farming” is bound to take the lead. Those 
dry summers have proved that deep plowing is the only 
way to make com. I have made corn, plenty and to 
spare, ever since I have been a subscriber to the Cul- 
tivator. A. W. 
Waukeenak, Fla., June, 1855. 
COMBUSTION OF COTTON. 
MeScSrs. Editors — I would render an essential serrice 
to an important branch of Southern interest by calling 
attention to a subject deserving the most serious consi- 
deretion. 1 refer to the Spontaneous Combustion (ignition, 
rather) of Cotton, with the cause- giving rise to it. My 
attention was particularly awakened to the subject by 
noticing the disastrous losses recently .on the Tennessee 
and Mississippi rivers. Such accidents are far from rare, 
are forever in danger of recurring, and are at all times 
accompanied with great destruction of property and dan- 
ger to human life. For many years it was supposed that 
cargoes' of cotton on steamboats became ignited by contact 
with, or proximity to, the boilers- — else from sparks falling 
from tile stack pipes. But repeated accidents, together 
with experiments, have finally established the fact, that 
cotton frequdh'tly takes fire, especially when in considera- 
ble bulk, without the presence of artificial heat. This is 
undoubtedly caused by the oil of the seeds, which must 
be more or less bruised during the ginning of the cotton, 
and escaping, saturates the ma§s. This oil is of the class 
termed vegetable'''' and siccative'" oils. This 
last name it takes from its tendency to dry upon ex- 
posure; linseed oil is a'gqpd illustration of the fact, and 
familiar to most persons. If a given quantity of this fluid 
be exposed to the atmosphere at ordinary temperature, it 
will be observed gradually to diminish, and finally, losing 
the mobility of a fluid, it becomes semi solid and gum- 
mdus to the touch. Now it is important to observe that 
this great change of consistency has not been brought 
about by evaporation altogether, but is in a great mea- 
sure attributable to the chemical changes the oil has 
undergone upon exposure. Since the first moment the 
external air had access to it, a loss commences on tlie 
one side and a corresponding gain on the other. The 
air loses a part of its oxygen which combines with the 
