290 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
diameter, having five annual rings. The cotton 
fiber is long, fine, and silky, resembling and ap¬ 
parently equaling the best Sea Island Cotton. 
Of the tree in its native habitat, in various por¬ 
tions of the Western Coast of South Africa, from 
the Equator to the Northern part of Patagonia, 
Capt. Kendall says it flourishes best in Southern 
Chili, in about 40° South latitude. He found it 
growing at an elevation of 7000 feet above the 
ocean, almost in the regions of perpetual snow. 
The tree resembles the white mulberry in gen¬ 
eral appearance of thebrancfies, bark, and leaves, 
the average size and bight being about that of 
common peach trees. It begins to produce 
bolls the third year from seed, and continues 
healthy and vigorous—according to the accounts 
of the natives—from thirty to fifty years. It at¬ 
tains its full size about the eighth year. It is 
propagated by seed and by cuttings. Near the 
tropics it is evergreen, and begins to produce 
seed the first year after sowing, but there it is 
only a shrub, growing five or six feet in bight. 
The tree is very ornamental, especially when 
covered with a profuse mass of flowers that re¬ 
semble the double hollyhock, though less in size. 
Capt. Kendall is now stopping in this City and 
would be happy to communicate with any of 
our leading agriculturists, or nurserymen, in 
regard to the feasibility of making some effort 
to introduce the plant into the country. 
How to Winter Cabbages. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist, 
The following method for keeping cabbages 
through the Winter, I have followed for twenty 
years, and find it to be the best I have seen. 
First dig a hole six inches deep, and large 
jnougli to contain about thirty cabbages piled in 
i conical heap. In the bottom of this pit lay 
dry hay or straw to the depth of three inches, 
when packed down. Cut off the stems of the 
cabbages to within three or four inches of the 
neads, remove only the decaying leaves, and pile 
them with the heads downward. Cover them 
with a good layer of dry hay or straw, and then 
with five or six inches of earth. Make the heap 
sharp at the top, and smooth the sides with a 
shovel. Lay a sod on the top of the heap to 
shed off rain. When opened in Winter to take 
out cabbages, stop the hole tightly with hay. 
Allegany Co., Pa. SAMUEL POLLOCK. 
Remarks. —We question whether it would be 
safe, generally, to place cabbage heads together 
in a mass as above recommended. They are 
liable to heat, and one head or its leaves decay¬ 
ing, would communicate decay to the rest. We 
have found no simpler method than the follow¬ 
ing : Lay down poles or rails in pairs, on high 
dry ground, or on a ridge sufficiently raised to 
avoid water. Set a row of cabbages near to¬ 
gether along each pair of rails, the heads down¬ 
ward. Spread a little straw over the heads, 
not under them, and put on a covering of earth 
pointed up well to shed off rain. The roots 
need not be covered. A little freezing of the 
cabbages does not hurt them when there is a 
sufficient coat of earth to “draw out the frost” 
gradually. Several of these rows may be placed 
side by side. The earth taken up for covering 
will leave open ditches between the rows, and 
by making outlets from these the soil is kept 
drained. In Winter, pieces of the bank of fro¬ 
zen earth, with a cabbage in each, may be cut 
off with an old ax, and carried into the cellar. 
The earth will gradually thaw off, leaving the 
cabbage heads in good cqnditiqn for use. 
For those wanted in early winter, a simple 
method is to sink a barrel in the soil and fill it 
with heads cut off from the stems, loosely 
thrown in. Cover the barrel with boards and a 
little soil, which can be lifted off and the heads 
taken out as needed. The cooler cabbages can 
be kept the better. A house cellar is too warm. 
Another good plan is the following, where 
mice are not abundant, or can be kept out. 
Choose a dry plot of ground, square, or oblong, 
as large as wanted ; dig a trench on one side, 
and plant a row of cabbages into it, covering 
the roots and stems nearly up to the heads. 
Then set out another row by the side of the 
first, and so on until all are put in. Build a 
bank of earth all around the plot, and lay poles 
or rails just above the heads, covering the whole 
with straw a foot or more deep. Put two poles 
on crotched stakes on two opposite sides, one 
pole higher than the other, and lay on boards 
for a rough temporary roof to shed off the fall¬ 
ing rain and snow. The cahhages will not only 
keep well, but will even grow all Winter. The 
boards and straw can be removed at any tiL'.e 
to take out what cabbages are needed. Except 
in the coldest weather, holes should be opened 
on each side of the pit to admit a circulation of 
air. The ventilating holes may be secured from 
mice by setting in them old wire sieves, and 
stopping them with straw when required to be 
closed in extreme cold weather. The bank of 
earth around the outside may be raised up to 
the board covering, so as to shut out the free en¬ 
trance of mice. 
--—--- 
Humbugs—A New Dodge. 
Formerly we had frequent occasion to show 
up sundry plausible schemes to filch money from 
the unsuspecting. Latterly we have had little 
to do in that line—partly because our exposures 
have thoroughly put people on their guard, part¬ 
ly because the “ hard times ” rendered it less 
easy for the swindlers to get money, and partly 
because the army has absorbed a considerable 
number of those who formerly lived by their 
wits. The organization of the regiment of “ Billy 
Wilson’s Zouaves,” has cleared our own city of 
not a few of the “gentry ” who are now usefully 
serving their country in the fortifications on 
Santa Rosa Island, near Pensacola. But within 
a few weeks there have been indications that 
swindlers are beginning their operations anew. 
Our readers will do well to be on the look out 
for chances to buy good land at the East for a 
song, to make a fortune in the culture of newly 
discovered plants, and to realize sudden wealth 
by a variety of other sure methods. We shall 
have an eye upon the craft. 
To begin with, here is a pretty scheme, to 
which we respectfully call the attention of the 
authorities of New-Hampshire. On Sept. 7th, a 
respectable citizen of New-Jersey (for whose 
real name we will substitute John Smith), re¬ 
ceived a letter from New-Hampshire, enclosing 
a ticket in a scheme, not called a lottery, and 
stating that hearing accidentally that he was a 
reliable man they took the liberty of presenting a 
ticket for their next drawing, stipulating that if 
he drew a prize he would make it known, thus 
advertising their business. Sept. 14th he re¬ 
ceived a printed slip, purporting to be the 
“ Grand Social Banquet , by the Mechanics Union 
Club , at the Union House , Holderness , N. H., Drawn 
on Thursday , Sept. 12th, 1861, under the manage¬ 
ment of Adams , Duncan & Co." Then follows a 
list of numbers, which are declared to have 
drawn prizes, such as : No. 1365 drew $2000.. 
No. 534 drew $1500... .No. 3070 drew $300.... 
No. 842 drew $10.. .No. 3769 drew $100. .and sc 
on through some 250 numbers—with directions 
how to get the money—all in a very business like 
way. Now comes the gist of the matter. Along 
with the above announcement came the follow¬ 
ing letter, written in a fair business hand: 
Holderness N. H., Sept. 12. 
John Smith, Sir. I have just returned from the draw¬ 
ing; you will see that No. 3769 drew a prize of $100. Now 
I will tell you how to obtain this prize if you will assist 
me in selling Tickets which you can do by letting people 
know that you have drawn a Prize and informing their, 
whom to apply to for Tickets. By your doing this I shall 
sell a large number of Tickets for the next Banquet in 
your vicinity. In order to have your Ticket good, you 
must have a certificate from the Managers. To get this 
you must send me a letter dated Sept. 12, and enclose $5 
the price of the Ticket. As soon as Rec’d, I shall hand 
it to the managers saying this letter was miscarried but 
the money is all right. They will then send you a Cer¬ 
tificate, after which you forward the ticket to them and 
receive the money by Ex. Send at once and don’t show 
this letter to any one. 
Yours Truly Geo. F. Hamilton. 
Well, Mr. Geo. F. Humbug, you mistook your 
man in this case, though we suppose you have 
got plenty of $5 bills from these who do not 
read the Agriculturist. Your “reliable man” 
happens to be a subscriber to this journal, and 
having, as he writes, seen our exposures of such 
as you, he disobeys your injuctions “ not to show 
your letter to any one,” and “ sends it at once,” 
to be published for the benefit of those disposed 
to invest in your “ next Banquet.” A private 
word, Mr. Hamilton. Can’t you send us a free 
ticket for the next banquet in return for this 
“ first-rate notice ? ” If in these hard times you 
send us a prize of $2000, or even $100, we will 
tell a hundred thousand people all about it. If 
you insist upon the $5 after presenting the ticket 
to us, why, you can just deduct it out of the prize 
money. Send by express. “ Send at once.” 
----—o»- . »- 
Manure Cellars Under Barns. 
In reply to “ E,” and several others, we say, 
that as frequently constructed, and advised, ma¬ 
nure cellars under the barn or stalls, are an un¬ 
mitigated nuisance. The vapors and odors ris¬ 
ing, if allowed to ascend into the stalls above, 
and to spread through the hay and grain, are 
not only unhealthy to the animals, and injurious 
to the hay and grain, but they rot the timbers. 
But all this does not by any means condemn 
such cellars. We have one from which no such 
difficulties are experienced. The walls are laid 
in hydraulic mortar, and carried clear up to the 
floor, the boards over the walls and the timbers 
being imbedded in the mortar. The floor is 
double, the lower one of matched lj inch pine 
plank, over which 2-incli matched plank are 
laid, inclining from the mangers to a gutter at the 
rear of the stalls, and also from the rear wall 
to the same gutter. The trap-doors for letting 
down manure are also double, and fit closely. 
No vapors can get from the cellar to the stalls. 
Further, on one side the wall is built out in 
the form of an L,or square, 7 feet each way; that 
is, a part of the cellar is outside of the barn, 
which not only affords free escape for the moist 
vapors, but also supplies a broad opening for 
throwing out the manure. Where the bight of 
the barn or the elevation of the ground admits 
of it- it is w T ell to let this outside opening incline 
gradually, so that a cart or wagon can be back¬ 
ed in to haul out the manure. Manure kept n. 
such cellars is saved from the washing of rains, 
and is under control at all seasons. All the li¬ 
quid droppings, litter, etc , are neatly and en¬ 
tirely saved from loss, and the better quality o’ 
the manure pays, which is the main thing 
