304 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
ami exposed to view the interior, “ full of dead men’s 
bones.” 
After passing Lexington, the county seat of Holmes, 
which is rather a pleasant-looking town, we begin to 
leave the hilly country, and find one, though of the same 
kind of soil, much more level, and showing more good 
farms, upon several of which I saw large forces busy 
planting corn. Cotton seed is much used for manuring 
corn, sometimes spread broadcast and sometimes put in 
the drill with the seed, which is generally planted in 
drills and covered with the plow. 
From a Mr. Adams, whose hospitality I partook of this 
night, I learned that hot ashes are a very effectual reme¬ 
dy for what is generally called “ the damps ” in wells. 
They appear to absorb and neutralize the gas—so he 
says. It is easily tried. Mr. A. is a great economist of 
manure, and plows his land upon the level system, but 
without ditches, which Captain Eggleston says, upon 
side hills is worse than straight up and down. Mr. Ad¬ 
ams’ land is, however, comparatively level. 
February 19th, I passed through the town of Benton, 
the county seat of Yazoo, and which is so superior to its 
namesake in Missouri, both in appearance and character 
of its inhabitants, that one or the other ought to change 
its name, and principally though for the reason that pa¬ 
pers directed to one often get astray to the other. I re¬ 
gret that the anxiety that I began to feel to reach Log 
Hall, prevented me from making a stop at this town and 
forming more close acquaintance with some of the many 
friends and readers of the Cultivator that in a very short 
visit I found here. It was then my intention to return, 
which circumstances prevented. Although I would not 
make distinctions among friends, yet I may be permitted 
to signalise Mr. Jenkins, the P. M., and Wm. Battel, 
Esq., whom I found most active and anxious to encourage 
the reading of agricultural papers. 
A few miles west of Benton I called upon John M. 
Cullen, who has invented, as he thinks, an improved cot¬ 
ton scraper—it being a small piece of steel attached to 
a plow in such a manner that he can “ bar off” and 
“ scrape ” at the same time. I witnessed a trait in Mr. 
Cullen’s character that I desire to mention, together with 
the wish that others would do likewise. 
He owns a pond, which is the only watering place for 
teams upon the road for a long distance, and which he 
necessarily had to enclose; but instead of shutting the 
public out, he has gone to considerable expense to pro¬ 
vide for their accommodation, and has put up a sign of 
“ Bethesda,” the meaning of which Bible readers will 
understand. 
But let us go on with our wonders. To-day I first 
met with the “ Spanish moss ” regions, which, contrary 
to the opinion entertained by many, that it only grows 
upon trees in swamps, is found equally abundant upon 
the hills. I don’t know that it shows any preference in 
the kind of tree it grows upon, for it is'not a parasite; 
that is, so far as I could observe, it appears to have no 
connection with the tree, but hangs loosely upon the 
limbs, sometimes hanging down two or three feet. Its 
color is silvery grey, and when all the trees in the forest 
fre thickly covered, it gives a curious appearance. Al- 
;nough at the north we esteem it valuable for mattresses, 
ic., it is here but little used. 
Th/vi evening I crossed the “ Big Black,” a stream large 
uougu for steamers in high water, but for want of im- 
\ rovcu «nt but little used. It runs through a wide, rich, 
lverflo vable bottom, entirely uncultivated. During two 
»?ays ride I passed land that was not yet clear of timber, 
that had been worn out and thrown out of use. This 
bottom land would be more enduring. 
In this region of the state there is great difficulty in 
getting wells, while streams and springs are few and sub¬ 
ject to dry up; and though every body ought to have 
cisterns and artificial ponds, yet every body has not, and 
none that I have met with seem to be “ fixed,” but are 
ready to sell out and hie away to Texas, or some other 
place “ further west.” 
February 20th I travelled on a very broken and poorly 
cultivated part of Madison and Hinds counties; passed 
several “ gOne to Texas ” plantations, the appearance of 
which give the country a desolate look. 
Enquiring for Dr. Phillips, I found that “ a prophet is 
not known in his own country,” and that if a man wishes 
to distinguish himself “among some folks,” he must turn 
politician, instead of becoming a writer for agricultural 
papers. However, most that I inquired of seemed to 
know that the Doctor lived somewhere, though the exact 
where they could not tell, and for which latter piece of 
ignorance I did not much blame them after I knew my¬ 
self, for a more out of the way place can’t well be thought 
of. Knowing that his post-office address was “Edwards' 
Depot,” I easily found that, but I cannot say that the 
seven miles from there was so easy to find in the night, 
or so pleasant to drive over; but perseverance accom¬ 
plished the task, and I found the Doctor and his family 
so much more pleasant than the route to his place, that 
with the reader’s permission who has traveled thus far 
with me, we will tarry awhile and partake of heartfelt 
hospitality while resting from the fatigue of our thousand 
miles journey. And now for another short month, dear 
reader, a kind adieu from your old friend and fellow 
traveller. Solon Robinson. 
SEEDLING PEAR. 
Luther Tucker, Esq.— Having read in the Cultiva¬ 
tor for June last, the communication of Judge Darling, 
of New-Haven, in this state, relative to the seedling 
pears cultivated by Gov. Edwards, of the same place, 
I concluded I would send you a sample of a seedling 
pear which has been cultivated in this vicinity for a 
period of nearly or quite one hundred years. They are 
known by the name of “ Pineo pear.” It is said 
that the eider Dea. Pineo, who formerly lived in the 
North Society of Lebanon, (which is now Columbia.) 
found a young pear tree growing wild in a piece of 
wood land. He took up the same, set it out near his 
dwelling, and the result was the kind of pear which I 
send you. It has been cultivated by budding and graft¬ 
ing, so that many of the farms in this and adjoining towns 
have one or more of this kind of pear tree, which have 
long been in bearing. No sales of these pears have 
been made until within a few years, when a fruit dealer 
in the city of Norwich chanced to purchase a few of 
them in their hard state, which he considered of little 
value, and they were left in a barrel for nearly two 
weeks, when, having occasion for the barrel, he found 
on examination, that the pears had become mellow, 
were juicy and very delicious, and that the fruit he had 
considered as nearly worthless, was really a valuable kind. 
I He has introduced them into the Boston market, and 
jthey find a ready sale among the lovers of fine fruit in 
'that “city of notions.” In fact, they have so grown 
iinto repute within the few years past, that fruit dealers 
jin Hartford and Norwich have been out to engage them 
1 of the farmers in advance, before the fruit was ripe 
| enough to be gathered from the tree. Mr. Truman, a 
| fruit dealer in Norwich, told me a few days since, that 
he thought the variety was peculiar to this region, and 
would not succeed well in any other locality. How this 
is I know not, but have been informed that people who 
have moved from this place to the western part of your 
state, have taken with them the scions of this pear, but 
when the trees came to bearing, they were nothing like 
the “ Pineo pear.” I also put in the box a few peaches, 
which are seedlings of my own raising. Should the 
box arrive before the fruit is injured, will you please 
to give your opinion as to its merits, and how it will 
compare with the pears raised in your vicinity. 
John S. Yeomans. 
Columbia, ( Ct .,) Sept. 1st, 1845. 
[The box of pears and peaches above spoken of by 
Mr Yeomans, and for which he has our thanks, arrived 
safe on the 6th of Sept. The fruit was however too ripe, 
generally, to test its real qualities. The pear was 
tasted by several, and pronounced decidedly good. Its 
size is more than medium; form handsome; color fine 
light yellow with minute rusty dots; and its flesh rather 
melting and sweet. We presume it is not overrated by 
Mr. Y. The peach is a middling sized, pretty fruit. 
Color yellowish, with a beautiful bright blush. Quality 
middling— Ed.] 
