CISTERNS. 
213 
Abandoned for a new location, in the states farther 
west, which, in turn, will be worn out, until the 
tide has reached the Pacific and turned back. 
: Employment. —It is not because the “ robust far¬ 
mer” is employed, that he “bemoans his lot;” but 
because, in a great majority of cases, he is com¬ 
pelled to continued, incessant toil, for a bare sup¬ 
port of himself and family, while he sees, not only 
“ his wealthy neighbor,” “ surrounded with more 
splendor,” but a vast number of idlers, without any 
visible means of support, setting a mischievous ex¬ 
ample to his. own children, who are induced to 
think that the only true source of happiness, is in 
having no employment. I agree with the writer, 
that employment promotes happiness, but it is hard 
to convince the laboring man that such is the fact. 
A Cheap , Portable Fence. —I do not think that 
this kind of fence is so cheap, or portable, as the 
“ladder fence.” If I were to use boards for a 
fence, as hurdles, I would nail each panel upon 
battens, and put them up without posts, by setting 
them crooked, and fastening the panels together 
with hooks. For one, I am free to say, that I do 
not think that Mr. Hardeman’s plan is so good as 
several others that I have seen. 
Facts in Farming. —Why will ye not hearken 
unto facts like these, and profit thereby ? 
Fences a Direct Tax to the Farmer. —I am glad 
to see that I have got one other champion in this 
good cause. This article of our old friend Mr. 
Robinson, is a most conclusive one. Let me re¬ 
peat, “ Farmers,think of it A I cannot say more. 
Galloway Cattle. —What do we grow horns for % 
and if the “ hornless cattle should be bred in re¬ 
mote districts,” why should they not be bred in 
near districts ? Cattle horns never yet sold for 
enough to pay the cost of growing, to say nothing 
about the mischief they do. It is the universal 
opinion among all who have ever paid attention to 
the subject, that polled cattle are more healthy, and 
more easily raised, than those with horns. As it 
is not fashionable, nor useful, in these latter days, 
to “ take a horn,” and as we have quit the use of 
“ horn spoons,” I vote for quitting the growing of 
such a useless appendage upon the heads of our 
oxen, bulls, and cows. 
Seasoning and Preserving Timber. —If the sills 
of a mile of railroad can be rendered almost as 
imperishable as stone, for $500, it is passing 
strange that the process is not universally adopted. 
So of all bridge timber, as well as sills of buildings, 
&c. Pray, let us hear more of this very important 
subject. 
Wool Growing in Texas. —Mr. Marsh says that 
lie commenced business with “twelve Mexican 
ewes and one buck.” Now I want to know what 
sort of sheep these Mexicans are % If they are as 
much of a mongrel breed as the people that I have 
seen at Tampico, Vera Cruz, and other Mexican 
ports, I want none of them. But perhaps they T 
may be of the pure old Castilian stock, and well 
worth the attention of gentlemen in other south¬ 
ern states. Will Mr. Marsh give us more details 'l 
The increase of the flock has certainly been such 
as astonishes us way off here among the rocks 
and hills, ice and snow. Do the ewes have two 
Iambs a year 1 Form no other way can I make 
out how 12 could increase to about 300 in five 
years. 
Technical Words Complained of. —This com¬ 
plaint arises from a very great fault in nearly all 
the schools of the country. Children are seldom 
taught the meaning of words. Whole pages are 
committed to memory, but ten to one, if the child 
is ever asked if he fully understands the meaning 
of the words repeated. Until there is a radical 
change in the system of instruction in common 
schools, it would be useless for any competent per¬ 
son to furnish the articles recommended by the 
editor, giving explanations of these “ hard words.” 
For few, if any teachers, would use the paper in 
school. I have repeatedly tried to get agricultural 
papers introduced into our district school, as read¬ 
ing books, where every child’s father was a farmer; 
but found so much opposition to it, that I had to 
give it up. I still hope for better things ; and that 
farmers will yet see the necessity of educating their 
children in such a manner, that, when they read the 
names of substances which should occur in every 
day conversation relative to farming, they will 
not pass them over as unknown, and to them un¬ 
meaning “hard words.” Reviewer. 
CISTERNS. 
As to cisterns in your country, and in the far 
west, alluded to by Reviewer, at page 375, I can¬ 
not say; but I do know that a cistern in many 
parts of Mississippi, will save in physic and doc¬ 
tors’ bills, in one year, the whole price. 
I believe I speak in due bounds, when I say, 
there are some families who have not one third the 
sickness now, that they had when using other 
water. My cisterns are sixteen feet deep, plaster¬ 
ed on the clay walls; one of them has a brick arch, 
with full three feet of earth upon it, to make the 
earth around it level. 
I wish Reviewer could persuade every one to 
abolish tea and coffee. I now think many are ru¬ 
ined by them; I myself, for one, no doubt, am a fair 
specimen of what tobacco, coffee, and tea can do. 
May he live until he is as grey as a rat, and as old 
as Methuselah, if he can only be always happy 
cheerful, and useful. 
The peach-tree borer, I hear people talk about in 
these parts; but really, I do not see any use in this. 
* * * * I have now here, 
of standards, full 1,200 trees, and some 4,000 
more young trees, and I have no sort of thought 
that I will lose one tree in a year from the borer* 
Land that is rolling enough to take off surplus 
water, well cultivated, rich, and with proper ingre¬ 
dients, lime, especially, will grow peach trees in 
this latitude—worm or no worm. I have cut the 
worm out, four feet above the earth, and I have 
trees here that are 15 to 17 years old. I can show 
trees in this neighborhood, neglected all the time, 
that bore fruit 17 years ago. The time taken up 
in catching the flea to poison him, would be better 
made use of in preparing the earth to grow the 
tree vigorously. 
We all know that the cotton plant is subject to 
the cotton louse all the year, the growing part, of 
course. But who ever complained of the louse 
when the season was warm, and the plant growing'* 
