From Vicksburg, Miss. 
Last February I quitted an elegant farm 
in Central Indiana, turned my back upon 
my loved ■wife and child, and came to this 
Southern country to give its soil and society 
ouc year’s trial before moving here. The 
experiment has not yet proven sufficient to 
give any satisfactory results. 
Vicksburg is surrounded by a great num¬ 
ber of hills, which extend several miles hack 
into the country. These bills, generally, are 
poor, and produce meager crops, though 
they arc extensively cultivated and bring a 
higher rent than ibe rich bottom lands, 
which are liable to overflow any time from 
January to June. The bottom lands adja¬ 
cent, and near here, arc rich enough for any 
one, and will produce the great staple of the 
South equal if not superior to any land in 
the Union. 
Mississippi, as you are aware, stands at the 
head of the cotton growing States, her cli¬ 
mate and the greater body of her land being 
well adapted to its production. Corn and 
early potatoes, L properly cultivated, do well 
here. Sweat, potatoes, pinders (peanuts,) 
and melons are raised in great abundance. 
Of the fruits, peaches, plums, figs and pears 
are quite prolific. Almost all vegetables 
do well, and especially beets, turnips, toma¬ 
toes, beans and cabbage. The last named 
grows all winter, and cun be bad upon the 
table the year round. 
I don’t say the South is all she should be, 
or urge any one to quit a peaceful abode in 
the North or Northwest for a habitation in 
this country. The change might, prove sat¬ 
isfactory, and then it might not. Land is 
cheap here, that is certain; the soil in the 
low lands, and often on the hills, is rich; the 
price of labor is reasonable, though the la¬ 
borers are not strictly honest, or faithful; and 
the markets generally all that could be de¬ 
sired ; the people invite and welcome North¬ 
ern capital and energy, and the country itself 
stands vastly in need of both; still, a fortune 
cannot be made in this country without ex¬ 
perience, skill, energy and industry. Many 
a Northern ° adventurer” can attest to the 
truth of this. If any fanner, having these, 
desires to make a change, tell him to come 
on, and the South will reward him surely. 
Such men are needed to lift up the agricul¬ 
ture of the South. 
The vast tracts of land south of Missouri 
and Tennessee are almost entirely cultivated 
by the negroes, the great majority of whom 
are directed solely by their ow n crude ideas 
of what is necessary to the successful cul¬ 
tivation of the soil. They have even de¬ 
generated from the careless cultivation of 
the old planters, which, surely, was bad 
enough. Of a hundred or more of them, 
whose crops this season have come, under 
my observation, 1 have not known a single 
one who has broken up his ground broad¬ 
cast before planting. How then, you ask, 
as any Northern man would naturally ask. 
For cotton, they ridge up in rows varying 
from four to six feet apart, lapping the first 
two furrows upon the hard, and, it may be, 
weedy surface. The depth of their plowing 
is from two la four and it half inches. This, 
they invariably claim, is all that cotton re¬ 
quires in the preparation ofthc soil, and add 
that cotton never grows well till its roots 
strike the hard ground. Ajid yet the cotton 
stalk, when young, is the most delicate plant 
in extensive cultivation, and requires greater 
care to raise it properly than any other crop 
of which I know. 
In the culture of corn they are even more 
slothful. A shallow furrow' is run in the 
weeds and the seed dropped ; then the plow 
turns round and throws the dirt hack in the 
naked furrow, and the corn or potatoes are 
piantcd. The middles are thrown out at 
leisure, ami the truck worked (?) at leisure 
after it comes up. I know' of corn fields in 
rich bottom land that will not yield f ee 
bushels to the acre; and still the season lias 
been fine, and everything conducive to the 
growth of corn save proper culture. 
I never saw a cotton stalk till hist spring, 
and, indeed, did not know the young plant 
from a “tie-vine” when it first came up; 
and yet, upon a plantation where upwards 
of ioj-ty cotton crops are being raised by the 
negroes, I have decidedly the finest prospect 
of all, if not the very best field of cotton in 
tills section of the country I do not men¬ 
tion this so muen for boasting as to argue the 
necessity of thorougn cultivation in cotton 
as in other crops. My ground was first 
cleaned of all rubbish, broken up broadcast, 
at a depth of seven or eight inches, harrowed 
thoroughly with a heavy double harrow, and 
finally thrown up into light ridges six feet 
apart. w - p - 
---- 
From South Haven, Michigan.—I. S. L. writes 
U6: _“\Ve are at the mouth of Black River. 
Beaches never fail. All kinds of fruit do well. 
Climate, very mild. Coldest weather the past 
winter six degrees above zero; the coldest for 
six years, tour negroes below zero, while twenty- 
five miles from Lake Michigan it was eighteen 
to twenty-two degrees below zero. We snip our 
fruit In the afternoon, arriving iu Chicago the 
same as the last. The box should be about 
two feet deep and baited on the bottom. 
The only sure wary to keep chickens from 
such depredations is by using wire runs with 
the coops, which while they give the chicks 
a good grass run, arc also vermin proof; 
after the chickens are three or four weeks 
old, they are generally old and strong enough 
to take care of themselves, and can be let 
run at large. 
In the country we also have weasels, minks 
and skunks to fight against. If the place 
abounds with mice tiro weasel will rarely 
touch the chickens, the former being lift 
favorite food. But when the' weasel once 
gets ft taste of chicken, he will 1 sometimes 
slaughter whole broods itf a single night; 
lie simply sucks the blood nM 1 passes on 
to the next. We have known them 1 to at¬ 
tack full grown fowls, but rarely; unless 
their burrow is near by, they will rarely virit: 
the same yard two nights in succession. 
As to trapping them, it may be talked of, 
but it is something we have never succeeded 
in doing. Shooting is the only effectual mode 
we have ever found, and even then, unless 
within fifteen or twenty feet, we have often 
failed. A weasel will often dodge at the 
flash of a gun, especially If in a stone, fence, 
and unless you are within the above dis¬ 
tance in such a case, it is almost useless 
to shoot. We have watched a w easel in a 
stone heap for an hour, and shot at him 
several t imes before getting him. The stones 
around and behind, where he w'as sitting, 
being literally needed by the shot. 
The mink comes next, but we shall have 
to leave him for a future chapter. n. 
ijjjtfnk ^Information 
anb Gtpartmrnt 
SCARLET FEVER: 
Precautions Recommended for Preventing 
the Disease. 
THE CLAIMS OF LOCALITIES 
A VERMIN CHAPTER 
Answer to “An Inquiry About North Caro¬ 
lina.” 
The questions oi a, correspondent from 
Juda, Wits., do not admit of categorical re¬ 
plies. 1 will answer them as well as 1 can. 
lie asks, first, “ whether a man with moder¬ 
ate means—say from $1,000 to $1,500—with 
family, who understands fanning as prac¬ 
tised on our Western prairies, would be like¬ 
ly to succeed in that State.” I reply that 
some fanners do succeed in the State, mak¬ 
ing money on several products; some on 
cotton, some on tobacco, some on peanuts, 
&c. 1 do not think that much money is 
made novv-a-davs by raising the small cere¬ 
als. The wheat crop is a very precarious 
on® here, almost invariably disappointing 
exportations, from some kind oi failure or 
accident; while corn requires too much 
labor to lw particularly remunerative. This 
may be attributable to want of good judg¬ 
ment and proper tillage, &c. 
One friend has jasl harvested two hundred 
and thirty.three bushels of wheat from ten 
acres, but his case is extraordinary, lie 
used barn-yard and stable manure only. 
The average yield in the Btate would not 
reach the fourth of tin's in on average year. 
The eastern lowlands—the ms in cotton sec¬ 
tion of the State—arc also best .for corn. They 
yieki well. They would seem, more like the 
broad prairies both in appearance and 
character than any other portion. But I 
think that one who has been accustomed to 
prairie farming would find considerable 
change® necessary if he undertook a Caro¬ 
lina farm. 
To succeed here, a man should have capi¬ 
tal enough to supply fertilizers liberally until 
lie could stock his farm with clover or other 
green crops for plowing under. If .he had 
lmt $1,000, lie would find it difficult to get 
safely through Die first year. His one hun¬ 
dred acres of tolerable land would take *<ix 
hundred dollars, leaving only four hundred 
dollars for implements and all incidental ex¬ 
penses of the form and Die requisite supplies 
of every kind for his family. The success ot 
his undertaking, like other investments, 
would depend on liis judgment in his par¬ 
ticular line of farming, and Die favorableness, 
or contrary, of the seasons, <fec. 
As to advantages in firming here, I frank¬ 
ly state that while any industrious, economi¬ 
cal, judicious farmer, though poor, can make 
a livelihood here, there is little probability of 
large profits on a small capital; and that the 
best prospect, lies in the garden and the 
truck farm. The forwardness of the season, 
added to the facilities of transportation to the 
Northern cities, gives all the large, compli¬ 
mentary prices for fruits and vegetables to 
enterprising Southern producers. I know of 
no respect in which one can so certainly an¬ 
ticipate a hasty profit from an investment of 
money, labor aud attention. 
It is inquired, further, "whether dairying, 
as practiced by the natives of Switzerland, 
would he likely to be profitable.” From 
this I iufer the inquirer is from that salubri¬ 
ous and mountainous lit tle country. I would 
not. advise him to seek a home in the Eastern 
or Southeastern part of this State. Borne 
Swiss immigrants have been settled near 
Goldsboro for some months. I do not know 
certainly how they boar the intense heat of 
the summers there. I was raised less than a 
hundred miles West, not in the mountains 
cither, and yet I have found the summers 
“ down the country ” almost insufferable. 
The Swiss must find them more severe. 
Very recently Mr. Atkinson has returned 
from Europe with another company. 1 ob¬ 
serve that during our recent severe Heat, two 
or three of them, whether of the former set¬ 
tlers or those recently arrived I know not, 
have died of sun-,stroke. This is a very rare 
occurrence with our people, and suggests the 
idea of the impolicy of settling those moun¬ 
taineers in a flat, hot, comparatively malari¬ 
ous country. But we have mountains in the 
Western part of the State that would remind 
even the Swiss emigrant of his Alpine home. 
If tlic Swiss seek a home among us, and we 
bid them welcome, they should go thither 
by all means, instead of stopping in the op¬ 
pressive heat ot the East. 
As to dairying in that healthy section, I 
cau only say that it ought to he decidedly 
profitable. A cheese factory there last season 
proved a decided success, and others are 
starting in consequence. Grapes flourish 
thioughout Die region; fine beef is raised 
there; there is a vast extent of untiQcd, un¬ 
occupied land which may be obtained at 
verv cnoap rates, and I think it probable that 
the thrifty Swiss herdsman would find it as 
profitable and congenial and homelike as 
any part of the vast territory oi Die Union. 
One word of concluding advice;—Get 
very clear and minute information before 
you give up a home for one prospective 
merely. I wish you to be gratified and led 
to prosperity, tuid not in any respect disap¬ 
pointed. w * 
Traps for Trappiun Ruts, Weasels, &c. 
Numerous inquirias reach us bow to 
prevent the depredations of vermin on 
poultry. The most common source of com¬ 
plaint arc rats. In villages especially, this 
scourge is sometimes very annoying, carry¬ 
ing off whole broods. The past two seasons 
wc have had trouble from this source; our 
outbuildings seemed to be alive with the 
rats, and for every one we accidentally 
killed, there seemed a dozen more to take 
its place. Finally we organized our forces 
for a vigorous campaign; traps of all kinds 
were set, guns were kept loaded, poisons 
were used (but with a great deal of care) 
and now we are comparatively free from 
the pests. 
Our object here i3 more particularly to 
give our read el’s Die mode of catching, and 
kinds of traps used.. Our best trap was con¬ 
structed a number of years ago especially 
for this purpose. It is not patented, and is 
free to any of our readers. 
W. Budd, M. D., Honorary and consulting 
Physician to Die British Royal Infirmary has 
written the following paper which it may 
profit and interest our readers to peruse: 
Members of Ibc profession who may hap¬ 
pen to have read a letter by Mr. Bradley, of 
Marlborough College, in which he sets forth 
the conflicting responsibilities imposed on the 
master by the case of boys at school conva¬ 
lescent from scarlet fever, cannot have failed 
to sympathize deeply with that gentleman in 
Ibe difficulties of his position. Gn the one 
band, Mr. Bradley shows, in forcible terms, 
that a long detention in the sick house, is 
full of evil, moral and physical, to the boy ; 
on the other iie is reminded that to send a 
scarlet fever convalescent away through the 
country is not only to inflict an unwarrant¬ 
able peril on the community, but to infringe 
the law. Happily, medical science is in a 
position lo furnish an escape from this pain¬ 
ful dilemma. If, iu fact, the patient can be 
so treated as to cease to be an active source 
of infection by the lime lie is able to travel, 
the difficulty is over. Now, if my own ex¬ 
perience can be trusted, nothing is easier. 
Much more, indeed, can be done to limit the 
spread of this malignant, fevty than the pub¬ 
lic are at all aware of, or than the common 
practice of medical men would seem to in¬ 
dicate. 
There is good reason to believe that, not 
only the eruption on the skin, but everything 
that is shed by the body <>f the infected, is 
heavily laden with the germs or seeds by 
which the disease is propagated. The dis¬ 
charges oft lie throat and nose are, I imagine, 
especially virulent. It is more than sus¬ 
pected, on grounds which I need not here 
insist, that t hose from the bowels are scarcely 
less so. As the kidney is known to kc af¬ 
fected in a very special, and often in a very 
severe way, by the poison, this organ prob¬ 
ably furnishes another outlet tor it. All 
analogy tends to indicate, indeed, that in this 
case the renal epithelium, which is cast off 
so plentifully, performs the same eliminative 
function as that which is cast off in stiil 
greater profusion by the outer surface of the 
body. As the bulk of all these excreta soon 
finds its way to the cesspool or sewer, the 
large part which sewers and cesspools are 
known to play in the dissemination of the 
fever, and which, quite lately even, has been 
so strangely misinterpreted, is easily under¬ 
stood. I could enlarge much on this topic, 
if I had time to do so. it must suffice for 
the present to say, once for all, that all that 
has been shown to hold of typhoid fever in 
regard to these relations—con lain! nation of 
drinking water included—may be applied, 
vyilli little qualification, to scarlet fever also. 
Taking these things as our data, the one 
thing to aim at, therefore, in seeking to pre¬ 
vent the spread of this fever, is to annihilate 
the genus proceeding from the various 
sources on their very issue from the body, 
and before the patient leaves the sick room. 
In accordance with this view, 1 have long 
been in the habit, in all cases, which tall 
under my own eare, of enforcing the follow¬ 
ing simple precautions: 
1. The room is dismantled of all the need¬ 
less woolen or other draperies which might 
possibly serve to harbor the poison. 
2. A basin, charged with chloride or car¬ 
bonate of lime or some other convenient dis¬ 
infectant, is kept constantly on the bed for 
the patient to spit into. 
3. A large vessel, containing water im¬ 
pregnated with chlorides or with Condy’s 
fluid, always stands in the room, for the re¬ 
ception of all bed and body linen immedi¬ 
ately on its removal from the person of the 
patient. 
4. Pocket handkerchiefs are proscribed; 
and small pieces of rag are used instead, for 
wiping the mouth and nose. Each piece, 
being once used, is immediately burnt. 
5. As the hands of nurses of necessity be¬ 
come frequently soiled by the specific excre¬ 
ta, a good supply of towels, and two basins, 
one containing water with Condy’s fluid or 
chlorides, and another plain soap and water, 
are always at hand, for Die immediate re¬ 
moval of the taint. 
6. All glasses, cups, or other vessels used 
by or about the patient, are scrupulously 
cleaned before being used by others. 
7. The discharges from the bowels and 
kidneys are received on their very issue from 
the body into vessels charged'with disin¬ 
fectants. 
By these measures, the greater part of the 
germs which are thrown off liy Die internal 
surfaces ai'e robbed of their power to propa¬ 
gate the fever. Those which are thrown off 
by the skiu require somewhat different man¬ 
agement. If my information does not mis¬ 
lead me, it is in "dealing with these that the 
practice of medical men generally is most 
detective. There are, no doubt, distinguished 
exceptions; but, for the most part, either 
nothing is done, or, what is done, is done 
imperfectly or too late. And yet to destroy 
from the first, as far as possible, the infec¬ 
tious power of what emanates from the skin, 
is, for obvious reasons, the most important 
object of all in the way of prevention. 
GAPES IN CHICKENS 
Box Trap. 
The top and bottom of the trap are made 
of oak board one inch thick and twenty 
inches square. It is divided into two parts, 
making really two distinct, traps. The cor¬ 
ners are of wire about oac-quarter inch di¬ 
ameter and the sides and partition of No. 7 
wire. Holes are bored both top and bottom 
aud the wires inserted. The corner wires 
arc riveted, holding the trap firmly together; 
the doors are of oak, three-quarter inch 
thick, aud are kept in place by a cross wire 
on the top board of the trap and by two 
small staples near the bottom edge of the 
door, which slide on the upright wires on 
each side. The treadle, X, is also oak, work¬ 
ing on the upright pin, O, us a fulcrum, aud 
being held in place by Die wire hook, V, 
working on a pivot at P, and on the lower 
cud of which the bait is placed. One side of 
the trap is represented as set, the other as 
sprung. 
In setting this trap, when the rats are 
abundant, we have always baited the trap 
for several nights before setting it in earnest; 
we fasten the bait to the hook and then fix 
the trap so it cannot be sprung, Dion strew 
Indian meal or other feed around the bot¬ 
tom of the trap. In a few nights the rats 
will make this quite a feeding ground. We 
have caught twenty-seven rats in a single 
night; sixteen at the first setting and eleven 
at the next. Then perhaps it would be a 
week before we would catch another in that 
trap; meanwhile we would start another. 
One simple arrangement has caught scores 
for us. In any building or cellar where the 
rats abound put a water-tight box or barrel; 
if a box, it should not be less than two and 
a half feet deep; about one third down from 
the top hang a lid or trap-door, hanging it 
from the side of the box or barrel. Cover 
this lid with a piece of tin or sheet iron in 
such a way that there is no rouglmesss to 
make a foothold for rats. To hold up this lid, 
I have been reading the Rural to see if 
I can find the cure for gapes in chickens. I 
have tried everything, aud come to the con¬ 
clusion there is no cure. I have been for 
years trying to find the cause. Last year I 
raised one chick for ten I bad hatched. In 
June 1 put them off in a lot where I had 
beans, corn and cabbage growing. I put one 
hundred and eleven young ones out, never 
gave them a drop of water. We had no 
rain in live weeks. I fed them on corn 
dough once or twice a day. I never had 
chicks to thrive or grow better — not one 
touch of the gapes. 
This season I had thirty hatched in Janu¬ 
ary and February; all died but three. In 
June I thought I would try again. I cooped 
them on the other side from where 1 had be¬ 
fore, and did not suffer them lo go where 
there was any slop, as I had before allowed 
them to run around -where tlie slop was 
made for the pigs. I now have two hun¬ 
dred and thirty-three fine growing chicks, 
and no gapes amongst them; and I never 
gave them any water. Some of the hens 
never have seen water except dew, and if 
they get any it is from the plants that grow, 
as 1 never suffer any to stand where they 
are; and I never had chicks thrive more 
than since I adopted that mode of treatment, 
I have come to the conclusion that sour 
dough, slop, or standing water is the cause of 
gapes, and that there is no cure. I can get 
the worms out of Die windpipe with a horse 
hair, but 1 never know how many there are. 
I have taken as many as ten from one 
chicken, but they have a wheezing and gen¬ 
erally die at last. I have adopted a rule that 
may be of some benefit. When I take my 
hens out with the chicks 1 grease under 
their wings and legs to destroy the vermin, 
as some allege it is vermin that causes gapes. 
1 have had my hennery washed with lime to 
keep it clear of vermin, but, nothing that I 
have ever tried is so effectual as tobacco. I 
use the stems in my nests, on tlic floor, in the 
roosting nests and every place I can lay 
them; and 1 see no vermin. I did that for 
twenty-three years, and last year was the 
first I ever had gapes. 
Mrs. JonN W. Dalton. 
Houstonville, N. C. 
Tins is precisely the kind of detailed ex¬ 
perience which if profits practical people to 
interchange. We thank Mrs. Dalton for it, 
and trust others will imitate her. 
LAMENESS IN YOUNG TURKEYS 
I saw in the Rural, June 26, an inquiry 
by W. II. 8. as to the cause of lameness in 
young turkeys reared by hens. One, and 
perhaps the principal, cause is the want ol 
time in their food, which lie states to he 
principally cheese made ot sour milk. It, is 
necessary that there should be sufficient 
lime to harden the bone, which the cheese 
does not contain. The young which run 
with the mother turkey travel farther, it 
allowed, and obtain more animal food in the 
shape of bugs and worms. Now, if W. H. S. 
will feed Ids young turkeys a few eggs, 
boiled hard aud chopped fine, and wheat 
screenings along with his cheese, which is iu 
part excellent food for them, (as also is corn 
bread shortened with lard; raw corn meal, 
betorc they are eight or ten weeks old is apt 
to scour them,) I think lie will not be 
troubled with lameness in bis young tur¬ 
keys. II. M. Bliss. 
Cass Co., Ind., 1869. 
Barrel Trap. 
make a common wire spring, thus, X, X., 
passing through the side of the box or barrel, 
to Ibe ring of which attach a cord; carry this 
cord to the outside of the building or cellar, 
so that it can be pulled without being obliged 
to enter the room where the trap is. The 
lid should hang so as to drop, not lift or 
raise. Sprinkle some corn meal or other 
feed on the lid, having previously put about 
six or eight inches of water in the box. At 
any time during the day or night,, when you 
are passing, pull the string and drop the lid; 
a minutes time will reset the trap, and, 
although you may often catch nothing, you 
will sometimes catch half a dozen at a time, 
we have known over a dozen caught during 
a single evening, and in the course of a 
month a house almost depopulated of rats. 
Another simple trap is an ordinary box 
with lid fixed to pull down by a string the 
