208 
FRUIT AT THE SOUTH, ETC. 
Agriculture” and the striking out of the clause for 
“ the organization of an Agricultural Board.” you 
write as though you expected different things of 
such a set of demagogues and fighting brawlers as 
of late have disgraced the halls of Congress. I am 
glad it was stricken out; for, had the office been 
created, it would have been filled with anything 
else but a practical agriculturist. But my paper is 
out and so is the reader’s patience I suppose, with 
the fault finding of your Reviewer. 
FRUIT AT THE SOUTH. 
You ask in your May number whether the 
whortleberry, (vaccinium,) is found at the south 
except among the mountains. I answer, that 
every variety, both of flowering and bearing, is 
found in the greatest profusion throughout this part 
of the country. But for abundance, the black¬ 
berry takes the precedence of all the smaller fruits 
in a wild state, and is highly esteemed. 
Several varieties of grapes are found in perfec¬ 
tion in all our woods; and around every old set¬ 
tlement, spontaneous orchards of fine plums may 
be found. 
The sandy subsoil of the low country is found 
to be unfavorable to stone fruits other than the 
plum. But the middle and upper sections of Caro¬ 
lina and Georgia produce fruits of all descriptions 
equal, if not superior, to those of a more northern 
latitude. I now have pears, apples, and quinces 
nearly half grown ; but am not able to state w r hat 
their size will be when matured. What are called 
baking pears flourish as well as at the north. 
Strawberries, also, do as well here as anywhere 
else ; but gooseberries, raspberries, and currants 
will not produce well in the low country. My 
cherry trees bloom regularly ; but five is the great¬ 
est number of this delicious fruit that I have been 
able to gather in one season. As an offset, how¬ 
ever, we have the orange, the fig, and the pome- 
ranate in great perfection. The best pine apples 
have ever eaten were grown in my garden with 
but slight protection. Camellias grow and blos¬ 
som in the gardens here as readily as any other 
hardy tree. 
Reference is made in the same number to the 
sumach. Carolina produces a great abundance of 
this article, as well as the far-famed silk grass. 
J. S. 
Lawfuskie Island, S. C.,May 1 Ith, 1849. 
SPARE THE BIRDS. 
We copy the following from the London Agri¬ 
cultural Gazette, as the facts therein stated have 
quite as an important bearining on the the farming 
community in this country as is England:—I take 
the liberty of predicting that, in the course of a few 
years, the farmers of this country will be unable to 
grow r grain crops at all! Many years ago, the 
coffee plants, in the island of Madagascar, were at¬ 
tacked by the grakle, a well-known bird on the 
African coast. The grakle is an insect feeder, but 
having used up the supply, it betook itself in pure 
necessity to coffee. An edict was speedily issued 
and carried into effect, for the annihilation of grak- 
les, and every bird on the island was destroyed. 
All went on very well for a year or two; when { 
lo and behold, the insects and their larvae, having j 
the field to themselves, began to make sad havock 
upon the coffee plants. What was to be done 1 
There was, no alternative but that of bringing back 
the grakle, which was in due season imported. 
The coffee planters had, however, gained something 
by experience, and they resolved to profit by the 
same ; they managed to keep the grakle within 
bounds, and they well knew that he would do the 
same by the insects. And they were right. By 
preserving a juste-milieu doctrine between the two, 
they were enabled to grow' coffee. 
Now, I apprehend the farmers in the present day 
are much in the same position as the coffee plan¬ 
ters of Madagascar. There has been for some 
time a system practised in this neighborhood of 
poisoning birds by wholesale ; thousands upon 
thousands have thus been destroyed, and the sys¬ 
tem continues. Can anything, I ask, be more ab¬ 
surd and irrational—I had almost said stupid, than 
this abominable practice % I will say nothing about 
the beauty and harmony of living nature, I will 
not whisper a syllable of the goodness and benefi¬ 
cence and wisdom of its Great Author, for I know 
from experience, that against prejudice in agricul¬ 
tural districts such arguments have no weight; nei¬ 
ther will I attempt to picture the horror with which 
I have witnessed this familiarity with poison 
spreading like an evil pestilence among the beau¬ 
tiful of God’s works. But this I will say, that if 
the farmers of England run blindly and wilfully 
into the proved and fatal error of the coffee plant¬ 
ers of Madagascar, if they permit the grub and the 
wireworm to destroy the crops of this country—and 
this they will do most assuredly if they annihilate 
insect feeders—then they will not only effect their 
own ruin, but they will inevitably cause a great 
national calamity. 
THE DOG- DISTEMPER AGAIN. 
My attention was drawn to a question asked by 
a subscriber, in the May number of the Agricultu¬ 
rist, who wished you to advise him how to cure dogs 
of the distemper. As you politely refer the gentle¬ 
man to some dog physician, I am only too happy 
to assume the honor of the reference, and adminis¬ 
ter the desired relief. 
The best remedy is the simplest. The distemper 
in the dog is an inflammation of ihe lungs, and the 
membranes which surround them. It is something 
akin to consumption in the human system. The 
stomach of the animal, in distemper, is always op¬ 
pressed with a large quantity of mucus, which 
keeps the lungs, membranes, &c., in a state of con¬ 
stant irritation. Hence the severe cough which ac¬ 
companies this disease—the cause removed, of 
course, the effect ceases; and the patient recovers. 
Take a handful of fine table salt; hold open the 
dog’s mouth, pour it down his throat, and hold his 
jaws together until the salt is all dissolved and 
swallowed. In about a minute, he will vomit, and 
throw up great quantities of mucus, and in many 
cases, will throw up a little bladder, about the size 
of a pigeon’s egg, which he should hy no means 
be allowed to swallow again. The salt makes the 
dog very sick, but it only lasts a few minutes and 
is not in any way dangerous; this process should 
be repeated every other day, for a week, diminish- 
