THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
159 
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1844. 
|3^Look at the swamp and meadow lands, 
(says an exchange paper,) with which ourcoiin- 
try abounds, that are now worthless, and causing 
sickness and death in their vicinity. All these 
might be reclaimed, and made the most produc- 
tive land, by a small outlay of time and capital. 
The owners have neither because they have too 
much land already calling for their attention. 
The muck contained in these places, can be 
made to pay better interest than bank stock: 
yea, it properly used, it may be the farmer’s 
mine of wealth.” 
writer in the London Gardener’s Chroni- 
cle, says he has entirely discarded the old mode 
of allowing cucumbers to run on the surface of 
the ground. He trains them to trellises, and 
finds that he has not half the trouble with them 
that is required by the old plan, and that the 
plants continue much longer in bearing, when so 
treated. 
Coal Tar as a Paint. — This article, which 
is abundant and cheap, has long been used suc- 
cessfully as an economical paint, particularly 
for iron. A correspondent of the American 
Agriculturist says : — “ I think it would be w’ell 
to call the attention of farmers to the use of coal 
tar as a paint. The tar produced in coal gas- 
works is used extensively in England for paint- 
ing fences, out-buildings, &c., and is being intro- 
duced in this country also. It never alters by 
exposure to the weather, and one or two good 
coats will last many years. It is the cheapest 
and best black paint that can be used. Our 
buildings are painted with it ; all our apparatus 
also; and even the wrought-iron pipe we place 
in the ground is coated with it. I think if its 
advantages were fully known, it would be gene- 
rally used throughout the United States. The 
Government soak the bricks used in building the 
Fort at Throg’s Neck in this tar, which renders 
them impervious to water; and posts painted 
with it are protected from rot, when in the 
ground, as effectually as if they had been 
charred.” 
0"East year, (says Dumfrie’s Courier,) we 
stated that a gentleman of our acquaintance had 
planted beans in the same rows with potatoes. 
The result, we learn, exceeded his expectation, 
the produce being 36 bushels of beans and 12| 
tons of potatoes per acre, both of excellent 
quality. 
0*Two tea-spoons lull of finely powdered 
charcoal, (says the N. Y. Herald,) drank in a 
half tumbler of water, will, ia less than fifteen 
minutes, give relief to the sick headache, when 
caused, as in most cases it is, by superabundance 
of acid on the stomach. 
Guano. — The Lancaster Guardian says : The 
most easy and simple method of detecting an 
adulteration in guano, and also ascertaining 
the quality of the article, is the following; — 
Ta’xe four pounds of guano, and add one quart 
Qf water for every one of guano; stir them well 
together, and let them stand for a few days; if 
the guano be good, it will float an egg or a pota- 
to, and if it floats well, add water in half pints 
until the egg or potato sinks to the bottom ; and 
that guano which floats an egg with the greatest 
quantity of water is the best. If any earth or 
sand has been mixed with the guano, it will be 
found at the bottom of the vessel. 
correspondent of the Exeter News Let- 
ter gives the following reasons for early rising, 
which are conclusive. It is to be regretted, 
however, that, with many, fashion and idleness 
are of superior influence to sound reason. The 
writer says: — “The practice of early rising 
should be adopted — 1st. Because nature does 
not require but a few hour’s sleep. 2d. The 
morning air is the most healthy and invigorating 
to the system of any in the course of the day. 
3d. The body and mind are better prepared for 
the necessary business of lire in the early part of 
the day than any other. 4th. By avoiding the 
habit of sleeping in the morning, there are more 
hours of consciousness and activity, so that life 
is made to appear longer than it otherwise 
would.” 
|;^Those who wish for neat bedsteads, (says 
the British American Cultivator,) should wash 
them well with boiling water, and then put 
quicksilver, beaten with the white of eggs, in 
every crack and corner. One white is enough 
fora bedstead, with as much quicksilver as it 
will receive. It is the only thing that will keep 
bugs away when the bedsteads cannot often be 
attended to. It is a certain poison to bugs. 
Tomato Tart. — The New England Farmer 
says: Roll out your dough very thin, and place 
it on the plate in which you intend baking your 
tart, and slice your tomatoes very thin, spread 
them over the dough very thinly, ta’xa about two 
table spoonsful of brown sugar, and one of 
ground cinnamon bark; spread the two over the 
tomatoes, bake it well, and you have a fine tart. 
|:;|=The British American Cultivator says 
that the fumes of brimstone will remove fruit 
stains and iron-mould from linen and cotton. 
Moisten with cold water, then hold it over the 
smoke of the burning brimstone. 
Large Pears. — We were presented (says the 
Southern Geo. Recorder) by a friend, a few days 
since, in DeEalb county, with a pear weighing 
within a few grains ofl| pounds. The same 
tree from which it was taken, we were inform- 
ed, was full of others equally as large, if not 
larger. They are quite juicy and well tasted, 
|::^Two or three spoonsful of strong ley, made 
of oak ashes, and mixed with molasses, are re- 
commended as a positiye cure for croup. 
|:^A writer in the Michigan Farmer, recom- 
mends buttermilk for the destruction of lice on 
cattle. 
From the Southwestern Farmer. 
CURING PEA VINES. 
Your correspondent, C. M., in calling the at- 
tention of your readers to the curing of the pea 
vines, deserves, at their hands, thanks. It is an 
important means of keeping stock, which, it 
well cured, will do better than any other species 
of forage we have. I have seen it cured ior 20 
years, and as the mode is different from his, £ 
beg to give it to you, leaving to your choice to 
dispose of as will suit you. After you have ei- 
their cut the vines near the ground, or pulled 
them up, leave them in a swath until they have 
wilted, not taking longer than half a day. Then, 
with forks, throw them up into hand-cocks, 
small at the base, and as high as will not press 
together, only by their own weight: after re- 
maining thus fora couple of days, open out for 
an hour or two in sun and haql up. Having 
provided a rail pen with surplus rails, and 
boards to cover, then put rails in lor floor a few 
inches above the ground, a foot or so apart, on 
which throw in some 2 or 3 feet thick the vine; 
put on another floor of rails, and fill again 2 or 3 
feet: continue thus until the pen is fO, or 12 feet 
high and cover. Many persons fork in a layer 
of straw of any kind, oats, rye or whegt, with 
every layer ol the vine; many use salt in both 
ways, and no question but what it is as saving 
in the end. 
Now for the reason, if the \ine is cured as 
“ fodder or other hay,” you will lose every leaf, 
much of the stem, and one entirely unacquaint- 
ed with the vine, would lose nearly all — for they 
would let it remain until dry. Lucerne, clover 
and pea vine, require the same treatment, there 
being so much sap in the stalk that you would 
lose all the smaller part before the stems, or 
thick nart, was cured— but by merely wilting, 
the leaf and leaf-stalk is retained in a degree, 
and by throwing into cocks, the air passes 
through : the moderate heating it receives has a 
tendency to ripen the juices, making sweeter for 
stock, and toughens the vine — and very little ex- 
posure will cool it off. 
Some persons pull and put in pens as abov'e, 
and the use of salt will protect: it may mould a 
little, but try the mouldy part to even a well-fed 
mule. Those who are saving to their land all 
they can, will not pull up the vine, but cut off 
with a grass knife, saying the tap root is a bene- 
fit, and ought not to be taken from the land. 
One thing I press on those who have no expe- 
rience — rather run the risk of losing, by having 
put up too green than too dry. I have seen them 
in a house 14 by 18 and 12 feet high, when 2 to 
3 feet from the wall they were very hot, yet 
stock ate them very greedily. I thought they 
were lost. 
Saving Seeds. — “Like produces like,” is a 
general law of nature; the same both in the ve- 
getable and animal kingdom. If a cultivator, 
then, desires tohave any production earlier than 
usual, let him procure the first seeds that ripen 
on a well grov/n and productive plant, and so 
proceed year after year, and he will obtain this 
desideratum. 
Every variety of vegetable may be rendered 
more productive, by selecting every year the 
seed of the most productive and well-formed 
plants. For instance, peas that grow in lon^, 
full pods, on vines that bear abundantly ; and if 
you would have them earlier, take those which 
ripen first; choose beans the same way; select 
the finest heads of grain for seed before reaping; 
select seed corn from stalks that bear two or 
more good ears, and take the largest and best 
formed ears. Choose from stalks that are large 
at the bottom and run off to a small top, not very 
high. For early onions, select seeds that ripen 
first, and have good form: turneps the same, 
and so on, following the same rule throughout. 
There is no work, attended with so little care, 
which is so much neglected by the farmer as 
this . — Plow Boy. 
Go TO Work. — There are thousands and tens 
of thousands of young men among us whose on- 
ly resource against the accumulated miseries of 
