82 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
the ground is soft, and the side ditch run with- 
out delay, to prevent a loss oi labor. 
If this mode of improving our land is taken 
in time, it will prevent much labor; for so long 
as hilly land is cultivated without side ditching, 
so long will it continue to wash in gullies, and 
become more difficult to stop. Had our farmers 
commenced this mode of improyeipent years 
past, our old red hill Georgia would now pre- 
sent quite a different aspect; but alas! alas! it 
is not so. 
Mr. Editor, I long to see the day when the 
Cultivator will be filled with the productions of 
Georgia writers; then I shall know that im- 
provement is with our fanners; but so long as 
we neglect to exchange ideas, so long will we 
continue to follow our old (dans of culture, and 
the consequence will be light crops and a yearly 
increase of gullies. Say who will try the ex- 
periment. Come, let me hear from you. 
JOHN ROOT. 
Green County, Ga., May 11th, 1843. 
‘Some gullies are too deep to do any thing with. 
To the Editors of the Southern Cultivator: 
Gentlemen; — I am much pleased to learn 
that you are publishing a paper devoted to ag- 
riculture in Georgia. 1 have not seen your pa- 
per, and, therefore, can say nothing of its mer- 
its; but surely something of the kind is much 
needed among us. We murder up land and 
timber in Georgia, as if we all believed in Mil- 
lerism. The object ol the machinist is, with 
a given power to overcome the greatest resis- 
tance, or to produce the greatest possible effect. 
So the object of the planter should be, with a 
given amount of capital and labor, to produce 
the greatest possible amount of wealth, and to 
do this he must get all the information he can 
on the subject. The wealth and prosperity of 
our country depends on the industry and econo- 
my of the people. But surely it is possible to 
be industrious to little purpose, or to work to 
disadvantage, and this thing does actually hap- 
pen among us. To cure, or at least qualify, 
this evil, is rvhat I suppose to be the object of 
your paper, and that it may be well conducted 
and well patronised, I think must be the wish of 
every friend to the country. I only plant on a 
small scale, and I am reading two papers ol the 
kind already, so that I can not say whether I 
will take your paper the present year or not; 
but I wish to see it very much, and perhaps you 
would do well to send me one number. Should 
I conclude to take it, I will send you the change 
immediately; if not, I will at all events show it 
to such of my neighbors as I think will take it. 
The silk culture is now getting some part ol 
the attention in, the United States which its vast 
importance to the country requires, and, because 
of this, I will take the liberty to make some re- 
marks on that subject, which you can dispose of 
as you like. 
I have been cultivating silk, in a small way, 
for several years, and my experiments prove, I 
think, conclusively, that it is an easy matter to 
produce silk in Georgia. My censtant success 
in the business vdll not admit of any other con- 
clusion. I know but little about the business. 
and when I commenced I certainly knew less, 
and yet I have been constantly successful. We 
have surmounted Avhat are known to be the 
greatest difficulties in the business, and so have 
others, and so may all that will. I have read 
some on the subject, and have thought much, 
ami, alter all, 1 firmly believe that silk can be 
cultivated in Georgia to as much profit as it can 
be in any part of the world. From ev‘ery thing 
I know on the subject, the time, I think, will 
come, when it will be ascertained that Georgia 
silk is a superior article. 
It is, I think, admitted by every person Avho 
has used our sewing silk, that it is from 10 to 
25 per cent stronger than Italian silk, and if we 
had the same skill in manufacturing the article 
that they have in Ital}‘, our silk would surpass 
theira as much in beauty as it now surpasses it 
in strength. I believe, and believe candidly, 
that the silk culture can be made a better busi- 
ness is Georgia than cott.m ever has been. — 
Whether I am mistaken in this matter or not, I 
certainly believe it, and I should not be acting 
the patriot to keep silent on the subject. 1 be- 
lieve every body in this neighborhood admits 
now that silk is easily produced, and surely ev- 
ery body knoAys that it is a valuable article 
when produced, and, notAvithstanding all this, 
little interest is taken in the matter. What I 
think is wanting in this section is, a mar- 
ket for cocoons and raw silk. If there was a 
market for cocoons, the very poorest people 
could and would make them, for it neither re. 
quires much capital or skill to do this much. 
A black man of mine one year made three 
bushels of splendid cocoons in his own time. 
These Avere AAmrth Si 2, and this was about as 
much as he could have made at any other busi- 
ness, provided he had devoted his whole time to 
it. 1 am pretty sure that il' Ave knew as Avell 
how to cultivate silk as we do cotton, we could 
make it for 814 per pound. The Avriters on the 
silk culture have had too much to say about 
flues, furnaces, stoves, thermometers, &c. &c. 
In this Avay they haAm magnified the difficulties 
and thus discouraged the people. 1 cannot say 
but all these appendages may be necessary in 
other places, but, to my certain knowledge, here 
they can be dispensed with. There is certainly 
but little difficulty in any part ol the business 
in Georgia. The reeling is given up to be the 
most difficult operation, and this I think less 
difficult than the art of spinning cotton. The 
difficulty in reeling silk Jies entirely in the val- 
ue ol the article. If silk was worth no more 
than cotton, we should have plenty of silk reel- 
ers. Every person that commences reeling silk 
is certain to spoil some of it, and spoiling or 
wasting so Amluable an article is surely not a 
cash business, and here they abandon the reeling. 
Since I commenced Avriting this letter, a lady 
who has been in the business and abandoned it, 
jells me she would commence again if she could 
get S2 a bushel for cocoons. Now the value of 
cocoons is from $3 to S5 a bushel. Another 
lady told me she thought her silk did not cost 
her more than wool. I have had more experi- 
ence in the business perhaps than any person 
within fifty miles of me, and my opinion is that 
cocoons can be produced at $1. I would'rather 
make cocoons than Avffieat at the same price. 
It is a mistake to suppose the prosperity of 
this country depends on any thing but the in- 
dustr}'-, skill and economy of the people. If a 
great many people are idle in the country, po- 
verty Avill be the consequence, whether they are 
idle Irom necessity or choiee, the result will be 
the same. A great many people in our country 
are, no doubt, idle Irom choice, but there are 
some idle “because no man hath hired them.” 
Humanity, justice and the good of the country, 
all require that these should have employment, 
and that the silk culture can be made to give a 
profitable employment to an immense number 
of persons, is a matter about which I have not 
the shadow of a doubt. The condition of our 
country, beyond all doubt, requires the best ex- 
ertion of all fis Meads. In eA'^ery direction we 
see nothing but distress and priAmtion; and, if 
we may believe our newspapers, or our eyes, 
the moral condition ol the country is no better 
than that of its pecuniary condition. All these 
evils originate from the same prolific source. — 
Idleness, beyond doubt, is one of the greatest 
sources of moral and phy.sical evil known in 
our world, and yet it goes unrebuked. Every 
idle person is as certainly maintained by those 
that are not idle, as a man in jail is maintained 
in that way, and unless a person contributes to 
the good of the countiy in some way, he is just 
as certainly an evil, as a great fire in a city is 
evil. In Georgia Ave are cursed Avdth blessings. 
W e have a climate that produces almost every 
thing that is produced in the AA'orld. We ha\re 
iron mines, gold mines, water poAver to a great 
extent, and we can produce silk, one of the most 
valuable articles in the world, in away that I 
certainly do not believe it can be produced else- 
where, and yet, under all these circumstances, 
Ave are not ashamed to cry hard times, har^; 
times. 
I have carried on the silk in connection with 
other business, so that it is impossible that 1 
could give details, and, besides that, I hav'e not 
paid that attention to facts that I might have 
done. I never measured or weighed my cocoons 
but one year; that year I made in out buildings 
and a part of our dwelling, 44 bushels. I ana 
sure a person can reel a pound of silk in a day, 
and can wind it in less time. The worst opera 
tion is to twist it. A young lady in our employ 
has twisted, on a common cotton Avheel, one- 
third of a pound of sewing silk in a day, and, 
in another day, the same young lady twisted 28 
cuts of warp, or warp for 2 8-10 yards. 
Yours, respectfully, 
A. E. ERNEST. 
Bibb County, May 11th, 1843. 
To Cure Butter. — Take two parts of the 
best common salt, one part of sugar, and one 
part of saltpetre; beat them up, and blend the 
whole together. Take one ounce of this com- 
position for every sixteen ounces of butter, 
work it well into the mass, and close, it up for 
use. Butter cured in this way, appears of a 
rich, marroAvy consistence and fine color, and 
acquires a brittle hardness nor tastes of salt. It 
will likcAvise taste good three years, only ob- 
serving that it must sland three weeks or a month 
before it is used. — Selected. 
