THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 143 
enough of it will make them shed lice if they 
have any, and may be given without any risk of 
danger; or at least if there is danger in giving 
ij, I have never found it out. 
TO PREVENT RABBITS FROM BARKING YOUNG 
FRUIT TREES. 
Mix sulphur and any kind of grease (perhaps 
hogs lard is the best) together, and rub it on the 
trees from the ground fifteen or eighteen inches 
up, all round. After being once rubbed it will 
never require repeating. When I was a boy, 
my father had a young apple orchard, (in Vir- 
ginia,) to keep the rabbits from barking the 
young trees of which, it fell to my lot to tie 
broom straw round them every fall, until he 
wms told to have sulphur and lard mixed togeth- 
er and rubbed on them. It was also my duty to 
prepare and make the application. It had been 
done about twenty years when I last saw the 
orchard, and there never had been a tree touched 
by the rabbits after the application was made, 
and by rubbing my hand on the trees where the 
application had been made till it was warm, I 
could distinctly smell the sulphur. 
I am, sirs, yours respectfully, 
John Farrar. 
CULTURE OF WHEAT. 
Green County, August 8, 1843. 
Messrs. Editors — Your notice of the sam- 
ple of w^heat 1 sent you by the hands of a friend 
that was passing, in the Cultivator of the 19th 
of July, is now before me, and though I am not 
in the habit of penning communications for 
publication, I comply with your request therein 
made, and shall write as though I were talking 
with}' on in my cabin, or walking with you 
through my fields. 
You stated that you would be glad if I would 
furnish an account of the character of the soil, 
its preparation, time of sowing, reaping, and 
last, though not least, the yield. 
The soil is inclined to be red, though some- 
what mixed with sand. The ground was last 
year in corn, which did not make me more than 
two and a half barrels to the acre. After re- 
moving the stalks, I had about six small loads 
of lot manure hauled and spread over the 
ground, which was thirty yards square. I then 
plowmd it up with a common rooter, and let it 
remain so for ten or fifteen days. I then sowed 
about eight bushels of cotton seed, and at the 
same time (which 1 think was the 10th of De- 
cember,) I sowed the wheat, broadcast, and then 
plowed it in wdth the same kind of rooters. — 
Nothing more was done with it until the 2d of 
June, at which time I reaped near two thirds of 
the ground, and the balance a few days after- 
wards. The rains, which continued for several 
days, injured the wheat some, and having it to 
change and move about, much was lost. I sow, 
ed but a small quantity, (as I stated to you,) 
which was an eighth of a bushel lacking a pint. 
From this I saved and measured five bushels 
and one peck, and I think I must have lost near 
two bushels. 
Having answered your enquiries in a short 
way, allow me to make a few more statements 
which may be somewhat necessary to accom- 
pany the above note. The wheat alluded to 
Avas handed to me the last of November, by a 
friend in Athens, who said it should be sowed 
in October, and stated that the gentleman who 
was so kind as to send him the sample from 
which this was made, had been cultivating the 
same kind of wheat for twelve years, and that 
he had never seen the least appearance of smut, 
nor CAmn the rust. From the small sample I 
sent you, you will see it is a large and fine grain, 
AA'hich I think Avould have been improved had 
it been sowed in the month of October. I have 
been sowing the little Avhite AA'heat for a number 
of years, which is a forward wheat, perhaps as 
much so as any aa^ are in the habit of culthm- 
ting. My last crop aa'rs sowed in the month o( 
October, on the same kind of soil, under the 
same fence, and Avith the same preparations, 
and the Avheat soAved in December wms reaped 
at the same time, and if the grain were the 
same, in Avhich there is^no comparison, I would 
prefer the kind sent you, for I think there need be 
no danger of the {rust, it being a very forwmrd 
Avheat. I am yours, &c. 
A Planter. 
Making Soap. — Among other things, let are 
tell you to learn how to make soap. I do not 
know that I should have thought of naming 
this, if my ignorance of soap making had not 
troubled me exceedingly. At first I did not 
know the method, and depended on the old avo- 
man who lived with me, to make it. I Avent to 
her Avhen the soap keg was almost empty, and 
told her AV'e must have some made as quick as 
possible. “Why, law! Miss, now don’t you see 
it ain’t the right time of the moonl” I tried to 
persuade her that soap making and the moon 
were but very slightly connected, if the other 
part of the business Avms well conducted. It 
Avas, however, to no purpose — 1 had to Avait till 
the “right time” came round, before I could get 
my soap. After this, Avhen I had the superin- 
tendence of a large family, I was obliged to buy 
it by the barrel, because I did not Avell under- 
stand the manufacture of the article, and I was 
really ashamed that such extra expense Aims 
caused by my ignorance. Sometimes there Avas 
too much lime with the ashes; then again not 
enough: sometimes it was too greasy, and some- 
times any thing but Avhat it ought to be. I tell 
you my experience in the matter-, so that you 
may learn from your mothers now, and not have 
the trouble of learning, Avhen you ought to be 
making it. As I have given you so long a talk 
on the subject, I Avill add a recipe I found in the 
Cultivator. It may be of use to some of your 
mothers, if not to you. Mr. Tomlinson AAwiting 
to Judge Buel, says: “My wife has no trouble 
about soap. The grease is put into a cask and 
strong lye added. During the year, as the fat 
increases, more ley is stirred in, and all occa- 
sionally stirred with a stick that is kept in it. — 
By the time the cask is full, the soap is made 
ready for use. It is made hard by boiling and 
adding a quart of fine salt to three gallons of 
soap. It is put into a tub to cool, and the froth 
scraped off. It is afterAvards melted to a boil- 
ing heat, and a little rosin or turpentine given, 
which improves the quality.” 
Some of you will think me a most unsenti- 
mental sort of a woman, when I advise you to 
learn how good bread, butter, coffee, pickles, 
puddings, &a-., are made; but you Avill have to 
learn sometime, or do worse. Work Avith your 
OAvn hands too, even if it should tarnish their 
whiteness a little. A man does not consider the 
beauty of a soft white hand a very strong re- 
commendation, when he ffnds it has been kept 
for show and not for use. I think a young lady 
should be able to scour a kettle and grace a dia- 
mond. Lucy. 
Michigan Farmer. 
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
The following remarks of the Columbia (S. 
C.) Planter, on the important advantages to be 
deriAmd from Agricultural Societies, are so just 
and proper that Ave cannot omit the opportunity 
to urge their consideration upon our readers, 
and Ave sincerely hope they Avill not permit such 
valuable suggestions to pass unheeded. 
“The benefits resulting from these associa- 
tions, Ave think, are not properly appreciated in 
many portions of the country. 
“Agricultural Societies are eminently useful 
in a moral and in a pecuniary light. They ex- 
cite a greater interest in devising and cariying 
out improvements, that otherwise might not be 
forced upon the attention of their members. — 
And thus, by inducing planters to feel more in- 
terested, a spirit of inquiry is created, which 
leads them to devote more time to profitable 
reading, than Avould otheiwise be the case. No 
one who is accustomed to meet with his neigh- 
bors three or four times a year, andlistens to the 
details of their experiments, and to the practical 
information Avhich they suggest, can be indif- 
ferent to his own improvement. A planter thus 
stimulated to seek information on a subject, of 
vrh-ich. knowledge is power, becomes not only a 
more intelligent and thinking man, but he be- 
comes a more practical and successful agricul- 
turist. He finds more time to read, and less to 
waste in idleness and dissipation. Interested in 
some system of improvement he has formed — 
home has fresh charms for him, and his farm 
receives a gi'eater share of attention. These 
we regard as moral advantages, resulting from 
Agricultural Societies, of no small consequence. 
And wm think it can scarcely be denied, that if 
associations of this kind do impart this stimu- 
lus, they must tend, also, to the pecuniary im- 
provement ot their members. If mind is at all 
concerned in successful agriculture, surely who- 
ever is stimulated, no matter by w^hat, to im- 
prove in a knowledge of his profession, and who 
applies that knowledge to its practical details, 
must acquire greater skill. And it he does 
this, he necessarily i caps a pecuniary reward, 
exactly proportioned to his increased skill. In 
agricultural pursuits, there is no professional 
jealousy, for the success of one is not at the ex- 
pense of another; and surely, if there is any av- 
ocation, in which the knoAvledge of each should 
be the common property of aU, it is in that of 
the planter. By means of Agricultural Socie- 
ties and Agricultural Papers, this is effected. — 
They condense the scattered rays of knowdedge 
that, separately, afford but feeble and uncertain 
light, into a common focus, Avhere they are com- 
bined and reflected back on all. The reading of 
one, the reflections of another, and the informa- 
tion derived from experience in a third, thus be- 
come the reading, the reflections and the expe- 
rience of all. Hence Agricultural Societies 
are the cheapest and most effective agricultural 
schools that can be instituted, while they pro- 
mote, at the same time, a social intercourse 
among neighbors, that contributes, in no small 
degree, to the pleasures of life. We Avill not 
dwell, however, on these social advantages. — 
Estimate Agricultural Societies by the amount 
of actual information which they cause to be 
brought forth and diffused. If they are con- 
ducted with proper spirit, committees are ap- 
pointed every year, each to consider some spe- 
cified subject, and after gaining all the informa- 
tion in their reach, to report this information for 
the benefit of all the members. Each member 
of a committee should give his views, the result 
of his experience on this one particular subject, 
and his opinions as to any prevailing practice 
connected with it, and the reasons for those 
opinions — from these the chairman should pre- 
pare his report, and submit the condensed know- 
ledge of the whole committee. If we suppose 
that a very large amount of practical Imow- 
ledge will not be elicited in this way, we must 
sadly underrate the capacities of our neighbors. 
There are rich mines of knowledge throughout 
