374 
NOTES FROM A KITCHEN GARDENER’S MEMORANDUM BOOK. 
and lets it grow in the bed, long, spindling plants, 
until the last of July or first of August, and then 
sets them out in deep-dug holes, well manured, 
when the ground is wet, covering up all the 
stalk except the bud, and then he is sure to have 
good heads for winter.. The holes should be dug 
and well-rotted manure laid by them, so all will 
become soaking wet, in a shower, when the 
manure is hauled in with some dirt, and the 
roots of the plant placed on it just so high that 
the bud will be even with the top of the sur¬ 
rounding earth after the hole is filled with the 
soil, or other rich dirt. 
Price of Land. —Mr. Shackleford, an intelli¬ 
gent lawyer of this place, who takes an interest 
in agricultural matters, says the average value 
of farming land in Oglethorpe county, is about 
$8 an acre. The common selling price is $ 10— 
the soil generally, sandy loam—rocks, granite 
and quartz—timber, principally oak, with hick¬ 
ory, pine, &c. The surface is nqt so uneven as 
it is around Athens, but still, is quite rolling. 
Governor Gilmer is satisfied by the experi¬ 
ments which he has made, that clover and grass 
can be successfully cultivated in this part of 
the state, if it were not that cotton absorbs 
everything else. There is not sufficient corn 
and meat made for the consumption of the 
county. Pork and flour are both imported. 
Wheat is grown to a small extent, and yields, 
sometimes, fifteen to twenty bushels to the acre ; 
though on an average, not more than five or 
six. Governor Gilmer’s method of saving seed 
wheat, is to let a portion of the field stand until 
so fully ripe there is no immature seed, and 
then by lightly threshing, the very best is ob¬ 
tained. 
Appropriate Border for Garden Walks. —Gov¬ 
ernor Gilmer has made use of specimens of na¬ 
tive quartz rock, and it has only to be seen, to 
be appreciated above the long rows of dull-col¬ 
ored brick usually appropriated to that purpose. 
The Cradle Rock .—Upon the Governor’s farm 
there is a rock of perhaps a hundred tons, so 
nicely poised that it can be cradled by the hand 
of a child. 
March 23d, upon which I left Lexington, was 
a lovely spring day, and on my way down the 
railroad, with such vast tracts of old worn and 
wasted fields on each side, I was forcibly struck 
with a remark made by a stranger— 41 What a 
country this would now be if it had not been 
destroyed by bad cultivation.” 
Washington , Ga .—Having a desire to visit this 
place, I went down by the midnight train, 20 
miles from Union Point, to Gumming Station, 
and spent the balance of the night in just such 
a tavern as unfortunately abounds all over the 
country, and then proceeded by stage 18 miles, 
to that ancient town and seat of justice of Wilkes 
county. Of all the land in sight of the road, the 
traveller could have truly said, what a country, 
if it had not been wantonly and wickedly de¬ 
stroyed. There are a great many fine gardens 
in this place, well filled with excellent fruit, 
and ornamental shrubbery. Mr. Cleveland, an 
enterprising merchant'and gentleman of taste, 
has done more, probably, than any other indi¬ 
vidual, to introduce an extensive assortment of 
valuable fruit. He succeeds in saving his apri¬ 
cots and plums from the ravages of the curculio 
by planting trees in hen yards, or setting coops 
under them at the proper time. Suitable as all 
this county is to produce fine fruit, there is a 
criminal neglect, upon the part of the planters, 
that they do not plant orchards sufficient to feed 
themselves and all their people. 
Solon Robinson. 
-' 
NOTES FROM A KITCHEN GARDENER'S MEMO¬ 
RANDUM BOOK—No. 5. 
Endive .—Of late, this plant is more exten¬ 
sively cultivated, and meets with ready sale in 
our markets. It makes an excellent salad, and 
it is said that its root when ground and mixed 
with coffee, greatly improves the flavor of that 
popular beverage. Before being suitable for 
the table, it should be blanched, and with this ex¬ 
ception, its cultivation requires but little atten¬ 
tion. Grown in drills, and thinned out to the 
distance of twelve inches apart, its handsomely 
fringed leaves appear to advantage; and by 
those who are fond of variety, it is considered 
an acquisition to the garden. 
Melons .—To have this choice fruit in perfec¬ 
tion, it should, like all natives of tropical cli¬ 
mates, be brought to ripen during hot weather; 
to effect which it it best to forward the plants in 
a moderate hot bed. If the seed is sown early 
in April, and the plants put out about the first 
of June, they will fruit much earlier than if the 
planting be delayed until the usual time the 
ground is in condition for planting in the spring. 
Another advantage to be gained is, by keeping 
the plants in frames until the rough leaves are 
formed, they are safe from the attack of insects; 
and the cultivator is not subjected to the incom 
. venience of loss of seed and time, which fre¬ 
quently occurs in consequence of the plants 
being cut off in the early stage of their growth, 
; by late frosts, the seed rotting in cold wet 
i weather, or the plants subsequently destroyed 
. by the depredations of the notoriously destruc- 
