THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 199 
wishes to benefit others should not be ashamed 
to back his recommendation by his name. It he 
be ashamed ot it, who ought to confide in it? 
■Very respectfully yours, 
C. 'VV. Goocii. 
Airfield, June 1843. 
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1843. 
Back Numbers. — All new subscribers to the 
"Southern Cultivator” can be supplied with the 
back numbers. 
TO OUR FRIENDS. 
In the appeal which we made to you in our 
last, for the extension of the circulation of the 
"Southern Cultivator we omitted to state the 
necessity ot having the result of your labors by 
the first of January, in order to afford us some 
idea of the number of papers necessary to be 
issiiecL As ibis is very important, we hope you 
will bear it in mind and send us your lists of sub- 
scribers by that time. "We hope that every 
friend of the work will unite in a zealous effort 
lO extend our circulation. 
AGRICULTURAL FAIR. 
We are indebted to some friend, who will 
please accept our thanks, for a copy of the 
"Southern Shield,” containing a report of the 
Fair of the Agricultural Society ot Barbour 
county, Ala., which will be found in another 
part of this number. 
The existence of an Agricultural Society in 
the newly settled county of Barbour, and the 
deep interest manifested in the cause of agricul- 
ture by the members, afibrd food lor reflection, 
while they serve as an example worthy of imi- 
jation for our planters in the older sealed States 
of South Carolina and Georgia. We therefore 
commend the subject to the calm and dispassion- 
ate reflection of our reacJtrs. Certainly if the 
wise forecast of the planters of Barbour should 
suggest the necessity of forming an Agricul- 
tural Society for the preservation and im- 
provement of their rich, fresh lands, and the 
introduction of the most approved and enlight- 
ened system of culture, how much more impe- 
rious the necessity for the organization of such 
Societies throughout every old settled county in 
Georgia, where a system of culture, the most 
ruinous to the soil ever practised by any people, 
has exhausted her lands, anddiiven many of her 
most valuable citizens to seek a home in the 
Southwest? We have so often alluded to this 
subject, and so frequently urged upon our read- 
ers the necessity, the great importance, and the 
lasting benefits of Agricultural Societies, that 
we feel that we almost subject ourself to the 
suspicion of being a monomaniac upon this 
question; for we have not only urged it again 
and again in our editorial remarks, but we have 
availed ourselt of the lights afibrded by the ex- 
perience of others, and have given our readers 
their views also. It has often occurred to us as 
strange, passing strange, that intelligent men, 
and even planters themselves, in the prosecution 
of every other branch of business, unite their 
councils to direct their energies the more wise- 
ly; and for the attainment of their objects with 
the greatest possible certainty and precision, 
they avail themselves of all the lights which 
the experience, investigation and practical ope- 
rations of others can afibrd; yet in Georgia, 
save m a few, very few, counties, men w 11 not, 
or have not, associated themselves together for 
the purpose of imparting information in that 
important branch of business upon which is 
based the prosperity of a nation of people in 
every department of science or mechanics. Can 
ary of our readers account lor this extraordi- 
nary state of things — this paradox in our charac- 
ters — this evidenJ disregard of our immediate 
private interests, and this virtual declaration to 
the world, that we are either already sufficiently 
learned in the science of agriculture, or too in- 
different and indolent to make an effort for the 
improvement of our own, or the sp'stem of oth- 
er.s? Can it be that we are like the bey, who 
persisted in carrying a stone in one end of his 
bag and a pumpkin in the other, simply because 
it was the established custom of his father? — 
Certainly every intelligent planter mu-sthave 
long since perceived, if he ever for one moment 
attempted to unveil the future, that the system 
of our fathers would a6.suredly, at no very dis- 
tant day, result in the total destruction of our 
soil, and the consequent depopulation of our 
State. Can we not then persuade or invoke 
them to stay their march, to turn aside from a 
course which will entail poverty and distress 
upon themselves and their posterity, and adopt 
a more wise policy, a more enlightened system, 
which will secure peace and plenty, and contri- 
bute, in an e ninent degree, to the cultivation of 
the intellect, the refinement of our feelings, and 
ti.e promotion of domestic happiness? With 
these remarks, (already extended much beyond 
what we had designed,) we for the present leave 
the subject to the consideration and refiection of 
those for whose immediate benefit we have urg- 
ed its importance. 
SOMMER’S MANURE. 
Desirous to afibrd our readers every facility 
for obtaining information in relation to this im- 
portant subject, which is daily attracting more 
and more attention throughout the Union, we 
have transferred toour columns, in this number, 
the Card of Mr. Bommer, to which the attention 
of the reader is invited. The agent of Mr. 
Bommer is now engaged on the plantation of 
one of our planters, near the city, in making a 
heap of manure on the Bommer system, and 
we hope to be able, in a short time, to favor our 
readers with the result of his labors, together 
with such other information as we may deem 
of value for the consideration of planlers. 
Large Cotton Stalk. — R. P. Miller, Esq., 
of the parish of Concordia, has sent ffie editors 
of the Intelligencer a cotton stalk thirteen feet 
long, which they say has the appearance of a 
vigorous young sapling. 
SWINE MANAGEMENT. 
In managing hogs, it is important that pigs 
should be fariowed at seasons of the year nei- 
ther exceedingly hot or cold. Apt d and Sep- 
tember are the best months for the sows to pig. 
For this purpose they should go to the males 
the fost ol May or fast ol June, and in Decem- 
ber. It is a good rule never to let breeding sows 
get very poor cr very fat. From the time they 
go to the boars till within a month of pigging 
they should be fed regularly, but only in suffi- 
cient quantities to improve them slowly. As 
the time ol' pipging approaches they should be 
fed more bountifully. But if they become too 
fot, they often oveiiay their pigs, and are not 
^^!sual!y eaieful with them. Many rules have 
been given for the management of sows at far- 
rowing, but only a few plain directions will be 
of service: — 1st. Let no other hogs interlere 
with the sow; and ‘Jd. Be certain she has water 
and a pleasant shelter in the lot. If she should 
happen to make choice of an unsheltered spot 
for her bed, a few planks, ora board shelter will 
protect her from the sun and rain. 
Young pigs should become tat as soon as 
possible, and be kept so till they are ready to 
butchei. To effect this matter, the dams should 
have an abundance of rich food, such as kitch- 
en slops, roots, boiled corn, 
It is a good practice to have a small pen with 
a hole, to admit the pigs, and a low trough for 
them to be fed in from the time they are two 
w eeks old. 
■When the pigs are from six to eight weeks 
old, if they have learned to eat well, they should 
be weaned. At this season there is greater dif- 
ficulty than any other. Unie.ss they have close 
attentinn they will become poor, sink behind the 
shoulders, and scarcely ever recover from it.— 
Let them have food regularly five times per day, 
and it should be such as will suit the stomach, 
and be most nutiitious. Slops will answer a 
good purpo.se for part of the time, but the food 
should vary every day. Milk, boiled meal, 
slops, roofs, and dry food, as corn, should be 
given daily. Hogs should have w'aber at all 
times, and if salted everyday, they will do the 
better for it, Giass and clover are always ac- 
ceptable to swine, and cymlings, pumpkins, and 
peas are very good, and artichokes, in winter, 
(except when the ground is frozen) are unequal- 
led, particularly it the hogs have salt and a lit- 
tle dry food daily. 
Care must be taken that hogs do not occupy 
the same bed too long, and by all means they 
should be kept from sleeping in stables, about 
manure heaps, in shucks, or wet or old straw. 
The cheapest pork is that M'hich is made of 
pigs dropped in the .spring and slaughtered the 
December following. By this process a win- 
ter’s feed is saved, and by "pashing” the pigs 
will weigh from one to two hundred pounds at 
eight or nine months old. For large pork, the 
year olds will do tolerably well, but we think it 
bad economy to have killing hogs more than 
twenty months old. — Tenn. Agriculturist . 
A Curious Agricultural Experiment. — - 
The following novel and interesting experiment 
has lately been made by Mr. A. Palmer, of 
Cheam, Surrey; In July, 1S4‘2, he put one grain 
of wheat into a common garden pot. In Au- 
gust the same was divided into 4 plants, which 
in three weeks were again divided into 13 plants, 
III September these 13 plants were divided into 
33, which in November were divided into 50, 
and then placed in open ground. In July, 1843, 
13 of the plants failed, but the remaining 38 
were healthy. On the 19th August they were 
cut down, and 1,973 stems, with an average of 
50 grains to a stem, giving an increase of 98,600. 
One of the stems has been sent to us as a 
sample, which is rather more than six feet 
long, and stout in proportion. — London paper. 
To Cure a Scald or Burn. — Dissolve a 
piece of alum, about the sizeofa walnut, in a 
half pint of warm water, in which immerse a 
linen cloth. Apply the wet cloth on the part 
affected, and let it lie until relief is obtained. 
