MISCELLANEOUS. 
319 
me, that 1 might use a vat solely for heating the wa¬ 
ter, in which an air-tight, right angle flue shall be ad¬ 
justed, surrounded with water, in which flue a grat¬ 
ing may be placed, near the base, to be fed with char¬ 
coal from the top, which rises perpendicularly above 
the water. The horizontal base to open on one side, 
where it is made water tight at the point of insertion 
in the vat. This admits of lighting the fire and sup¬ 
plies the draught. The front or lower entrance may 
be secured by a partial and total damper, and a pipe 
led through the roof might prevent all danger of fire. 
Yet I am apprehensive of danger in careless hands ; 
in what way can I avoid all danger, and yet ferment 
my meal during winter ? As I think nearly one-half 
the meal may be thus saved, and I contemplate using 
1,000 bushels per season, you may justly think l look 
for an answer with no little anxiety. R. 
To CURE A STIFLED HORSE IN TWO HOURS TIME. 
—Take one gallon of urine and put therein a small 
handful of junk tobacco, boil down to one quart; 
then add two ounces of oil of spike, one ounce of 
oil of amber, two spoonsful of spirits of turpen¬ 
tine, and two spoonsful of honey. Put it into 
a jug, and cork it tight for use. 
Process of Application. —Rub the stifle bone hard 
with the mixture fifteen or twenty minutes; then 
dry it in thoroughly with a red hot fire shovel, then 
ride the horse forth and back one hundred rods. 
Repeat the above two or three times, and the cure 
will be effected. J. B. Goddard. 
Norwich, Ct., Sept. 15th, 1845. 
Overseers at the South. —I commenced the 
year with three managers, every one of whom 1 
turned off successively, because I could not get 
them to enter heartily into my views, and attend 
to details. Overseers are among our greatest 
curses, and not only abuse our negroes, kill our 
mules, and ruin our lands, but they uniformly set 
themselves against any improvement that is at¬ 
tempted, and in most cases will lose their places 
rather than permit any important experiment to suc¬ 
ceed which they can thwart. They have no inte¬ 
rest in doing so—it is merely stupidity and per¬ 
verseness, to which is usually added unbounded 
conceit and obstinacy. What could you do with 
such agents at the north ? Depend upon it that it 
is not our negroes, but our white managers, who 
stand in the way of our improvement. For the 
month of August I had no white man about me; I 
relied altogether on my negroes. I never had as 
much work done in a month, or as well done. 
Everything was to my satisfaction, and the negroes 
seemed to comprehend and obey my orders better 
than any overseer I ever had. S. 
South Carolina, Sept. 9th, 1845. 
Benefits of the Drouth. —The drouth still 
continues here, and although it has reduced the 
crops, and produced much inconvenience and loss, 
yet it has not been without compensating advan¬ 
tages, for I believe it has rid us of many destruc¬ 
tive insects. I have heard nothing of the potatoe 
rot in this region, nor have the wheat-fly, the curcu- 
lio, the locust-borer, or sycamore-fly made their 
usual ravages. I have no doubt, you will agree with 
me that this world is more wisely governed than it 
may at times appear to be by us poor, short-sighted 
mortals. R. 
Red Hook, Sept . 14th, 1845. 
Horticultural Shows. —These are increasing in 
every quarter, and some of them are of great interest. 
We would particularly instance that held at Newark, 
New Jersey, the past month, as well as the one at 
Flushing, Long Island. The fruits and flowers at 
both places were in great variety and profusion, and 
several of them entirely new, in this country. 
WESTERN CALENDAR FOR OCTOBER. 
Late in September, or early in this month, the 
graziers of the west cut up their immense crops of 
corn, and put it in shock for feeding their numerous 
herds of large bullocks through the winter, prepara¬ 
tory to their driving them to market the succeeding 
spring, or in the fall thereafter, according as they 
shall find it most advantageous. A view of hundreds 
of these fat bullocks in a gang, feeding upon the lux¬ 
uriant and extensive blue-grass pastures of Kentucky, 
during the summer next after they have been “ full 
fed ” for one winter, is a sight worthy to behold, even 
by those who have seen “the far-famed falls of 
Niagara.” 
Like other crops, corn must be ripe before it is cut 
up. If cut when green, the fodder is less valuable, 
and the corn is greatly injured. Corn which was 
planted early, will be fit to gather for immediate feed¬ 
ing about the beginning of this month ; and that 
period is the proper time for putting up hogs to fat¬ 
ten, which thrive best on new corn. But hogs that 
are intended to be driven on foot to eastern markets, 
or to the south, must be fattened much earlier. They 
are usually fattened by turning them into corn-fields 
which were planted very early. The corn in these 
fields will be fit to turn upon about the first of Sep¬ 
tember, and the hogs will be ready to drive in six 
weeks, if they shall have been well kept on good 
clover during the summer, assisted by oats and rye, 
fed off in the field. This has reference to Kentucky. 
Farther north, corn comes on a little later, and more 
to the south, still earlier. 
If any part of the tobacco crop is still in the field, 
it should be housed early in this month, as we may 
usually expect frost sufficiently severe to kill tobacco 
by the tenth of October, in latitude 39°. But it some¬ 
times holds off a week or two longer, and occasion¬ 
ally happens as early as the first of the month. Far¬ 
ther north, frost may be expected sooner, and each 
tobacco planter must judge for himself how long he 
can risk leaving a part of his crop unhoused. If any 
part of the wheat crop remains to be sown, the earlier 
it is put in the better. Rye should also be sown in 
this month, unless intended for pasture, in which case 
it would be much better to sow late in August, or 
early in September. 
Apples should be gathered in this month—some of 
the earlier kinds late in September. The best method 
of keeping them is to put them in well-made, sea¬ 
soned flour barrels, filling the interstices with per¬ 
fectly dry sifted sand, taking care to sprinkle a little 
next to each head, and between each layer of apples. 
They will thus be kept from air and moisture. Some 
hemp should be spread about the middle of this 
month, for early breaking. A. Beatty. 
Prospect Hill, Ky. 
