210 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
is, to connect the stakes before the top rail is put in, 
with iron wire, say one-fourth of an inch in diameter, 
which is done after the stakes are set by bringing the 
tops of the stakes as near together as the fence will ad¬ 
mit; then lake the measurement with a cord, which will 
show the length to cut the wire, which is easily done 
with a cold chisel; the ends of the wire are then hooked 
around each stake; the top rail being then put in, com¬ 
pletes the fence. With an iron a foot or more in length, 
with a hole near one end to admit the end of the wire, 
the operation is quickly performed. This is a much 
cheaper method of securing upright stakes than the usual 
way with a piece of scantling. 
The Harrow, whether square or triangle, should be 
constructed entirely of iron, (except the points of the 
teeth, which are steel) ; bars of iron of proper thickness, 
width and weight, are selected and welded together so 
as to form the desired shape for the frame; the tops of the 
teeth being rounded about an inch down, pass through 
the iron plate or frame, and are made fast on the upper 
side by a nut. The teeth in this way are always kept 
tight, which is very difficult in a wood framed harrow. 
With the exception of the teeth, a harrow thus con¬ 
structed will endure a century without being housed. 
A Farmer. 
GRASSES FOR THE SOUTH. 
Editor of the Cultivator —Your correspondents 
frequently inquire respecting the grasses suitable to the 
south. If each would communicate what he has obser- 
, ved, it would be a sufficient answer to such inquiries, and 
might prove the most important benefit to the agriculture 
of the south. During this winter I have seen bundles of 
northern hay brought to the stables of my neighbor, which 
had paid for carriage many hundred miles round the 
capes of Florida, through the Gulf of Mexico, and five 
hundred miles (by the course of the river) into the inte¬ 
rior. This is a standing reproach to the agriculture of 
the south. 
Lucerne. —This is found to grow well here. Sow it 
in drills, in the early part of the fall, 24 to 27 inches 
apart; it flourishes, yields four to five cuttings in the 
course of the year; and on soil w r hich would bring 20 
bushels of corn to the acre, grows one foot and a half 
high. This season, some was cut on the 12th of March, 
for soiling; and was then from a foot to knee high. The 
most of it has been cut twice over, since the first cutting, 
to this day, May 13. Cattle and horses eat it greedily; 
a cow, fed on it chiefly, is yielding at this time between 
five and six gallons of milk daily; when as yet there is 
no grass in the woods or on the common, sufficient to 
change the poverty-stricken appearance of the cattle in 
“ the range.” I have made no hay from it; but have no 
doubt it will make good hay. 
hot of these grasses in conjunction, on high land; the 
whole about knee high, ami the clover in flower. Mr. 
Kilby, one of my neighbors, cut the wooil from a piece 
of low’, pipe clay, crawfish land, last winter; and when 
the brush, &c., lying on the ground, had become suffi¬ 
ciently dry, he set fire to it and burnt it all off; thus 
giving it a top dressing of ashes. He then sowed Herd's 
grass on the top of the ground, without plow, harrow, 
or any thing of the kind. He now has a most rich and 
beautiful crop of this grass growing. If desired, your 
readers may obtain further particulars of this crop. 
Leersia Orizoides, (rice grass.)—This plant so much 
resembles rice that only a practiced eye can distinguish 
them. The negroes on the rice plantations in Carolina 
call it “ the rice's cousin .” It will grow wherever rice 
will— in the icater, or in any damp situation. It is found 
wild in all the southern country; grows tall, seeds in a 
panicle not unlike a head of oats, and will yield two 
crops a year of choice hay. Roots perennial. B. M. 
Tuskaloosa, Ala., May 13, 1845. 
TREATMENT OF SHEEP AFTER SHEARING. 
Mr. Tucker —The directions for a “compound for 
jsmearing sheep/’ that is given in your last number, leads 
I me to make the following remarks respecting the treat- 
Imentof sheep generally after shearing. There is no- 
ithing conduces to the general health and comfort of 
J sheep at this season more than a clean skin; any appli¬ 
cation that has that tendency will be of service; any thing 
i to the contrary must injure them, ami the growth and 
quality of their wool, in a greater or less degree. Smear- 
jing of any kind is injurious at any season, but particu¬ 
larly so after shearing, when the wool is short; it stops 
the pores, checks the growth of the wool, ami leaves it 
.dry and brittle, far into the season. If when sheep are 
shearing, there is a large hogshead of very strong brine 
|made, and as the sheep are shorn they are taken to it, 
and while one man holds the sheep, another takes a strong 
j scrubbing brush, such as floors are scrubbed with, and 
after pouring some of the brine along the back and 
shoulders, he scrubs the sheep well all over, until he 
raises a lather as with soap; nothing more is necessary. 
The skin will be left bright, and red, and clean. Every 
tick and sheep louse instantly disappears, and if the skin 
had any tendency to itch, it is entirely cured; perspira¬ 
tion is promoted, and the growth of the wool improved. 
In this way I think that the genera! strength of the sheep, 
to withstand the effects of any storm, will be better pro¬ 
moted than by smearing of any kind, which is never 
admissible. Whenever this simple and cheap plan is 
once adopted, its effects are so obvious that it will never 
be neglected by the good shepherd every season after, at 
shearing time. Grazier 
Guinea Grass. —The root is similar to that of the cane 
or reed, and is perennial. The stem and blade are like 
those of the Egyptian Millet. On rich soil it is very 
luxuriant, yielding many cuttings in the course of the 
year. It is good for soiling—horses and cattle eat it 
readily, and, if cut when in flower, it makes a hay most 
abundantly, of which cattle feed greedily in winter. 
Horses do not seem to like the hay. It is most readily- 
propagated by the root. A small root, two inches long, 
with one or more joints to it, will vegetate; and, if the 
ground is made loose by plowing once or twice during 
the season after planting, roots placed in checks of four 
feet will take complete possession of the soil the first season; 
so that the next spring it will start up evenly over the 
soil everywhere. Hogs root after them with great eager¬ 
ness; and as the tendency of this plant is to fill the ground 
with roots in so thick a mat that the grass does not grow 
tall in consequence, the idea suggests itself of pasturing 
cattle on this grass in the spring anil summer, and giving 
the hogs the benefit of the roots in the winter. They 
cannot destroy it; the smallest fibre left in the ground 
will grow. It might be a great pest in a garden; but if 
land is to be used for stock it will take and maintain 
entire possession to the exclusion of any competitor which 
we have in middle Alabama. 
Clover and Herd's Grass _I have now a beautiful 
BLACK LEG IN CALVES. 
Mr. Tucker —The remarks on “ the black leg in 
calves,” in your last number, taken from a Scottish paper, 
remind me of my own sufferings, and those of my fa¬ 
ther, from that dreadful disease for many years, and never 
occurring but on the one farm, and when the calves were 
in the highest condition. The inhabitants of the island 
of Araumore, on the western coast of Ireland, are famed 
for raising the finest calves in the kingdom. In one of 
my visits there, to purchase their heifer calves for spay¬ 
ing, in talking over the several diseases that stock are 
subject to, I named the black leg in calves, and to my 
surprise I learned that they had for a century before, in 
that primitive spot, been aware of not only a cure, but 
a preventive for that disease, as effective as it was simple 
and easy to administer. At six weeks or two months 
old, they took the calf, and under the tail near the butt, 
where the skin is free from hair, a small incision is made, 
and pea of garlic about the size of half a hazle nut is 
inserted into the incision, the skin being loosened a little 
downwards, so as to'retain the pea, which is left in. The 
effect is surprising. As quick as the person performing 
the operation can step from the tail to the mouth of the 
calf, the smell of the garlic is perceptible on the breath 
of the animal! On my return home, I had the operation; 
