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Several of my friends in Singapore and Java are ena
bled to grow Ramie, but their greatest difficulty is to clean
it properly. Machines have been invented here and ex
ported to the East for this purpose, but I believe I am
correct in stating that they do not answer the intended
purpose. T quite agree with you, it wiil be well for those
interested in cultivating this article, not to be too
sanguine, but steadily advance in the endeavor to pro
duce it in a eheap’and uniform manner. The material is
| good and useful, but large sums of money have been 10.-i,
and sanguine expectations of the shippers and manufactu
rers in this country and on the Continent have not been
realized. It is no new article here, and I would strongly
recommend those about engaging in its culture, to make
further investigations before entering too extensively in
to the speculation.
The largest supply comes from Hankow and Ningpo
(Japan ;) it also grows in Java, and is used for making fish
ing lines, twine, &e., and the refuse for making paper.—
I have imported it from Baukok, and considerable quan
tities are shipped from that place to Ilong Kong. The
market value at Ningpo islvbout $7 per picul of 133 1-3
pounds. Unless the people of the United States can pro
duce it at a low cost, I am inclined to think it will prove
a failure.
From the Memphis Appeal.
THE HOU FOR THE SOUTH.
Os the multiplicity of subjects that present themselves
to the Southern farmer at this time, none is of more im
portance than the hog for the South, since it is clear that
we must raise our meat, and by sufficient preparation,
judicious selections and proper management, A\ cst Ten
nessee can compare with Western Kentucky, where there
is great profit realized by raising hogs. Hut simply to
procure,hogs of fine blood, fine form and size, is not suf
ficient to guarantee a successful and profitable propaga
tion of the same in our climate. The want of success
which has heretofore attended the raising of stock in this
country, has occurred from insufficient preparation and
want of proper attention to crossing with our hardy and
native breeds. Relying upon the propagation of the
pure blood of stock imported within our parallels of lati
tude, bred and raised within others far from us, impress
ed by a different atmosphore and subsisted upon a differ
entfood, will always be a failure. Water is the fishes’
element, and he must have water to thrive. Feed a car
niverous bird on grass, and it will soon die. The Ches
ter, the Berkshire, the Grazier and Suffolk, all have a na
ture peculiar to themselves. They flourish in their own
country; here they do not, and to attempt to preserve
and raise the pure blood here, would always be a sinking
business. The Chester hog is, undoubtedly, the best hog
that we can procure, though a serious objection to him is
his color—he is white. A white hog is more easily and
deeply impressed by the debilitating influence of the hot
Bummer’s sun, than the long-haired black hog. Hence,
he is more subject to disease in the summer. In hot
Jummer he gets lazy, lies around, becomes debilitated
and diseased, and is more subject to an attack of the hog
cholera, than the long-haired black hog. The Chester
kog matures early, takes on fat easily, and carries a great
SOUTHERN OULTI Y'ATOff.
dia* of flcth. AN e might procure the finest Chester hogs
that Pennsylvania could furnish,give them our best care and
attention, endeavor to propagate the pure blood, and
they would degenerate and become mere scrubs; but to
cross them wit h our long-haired native black bog, and bo
careful to select for breeders those that are black and
most resemble the Chester in form, we can procure an
improved stock. AVc have the aptness of the Chester to
take on flesh, combined with the industry and hardihood
of the self supporting woods hog. In short, we have a
black Chester, the very hog for the country, that will do
well in a common range.
K IIAMMOXTREK.
THE CASTOR OIL, BEAN.
this plant is of tropical origin, and has about the same
range of climate in which it may be profitably cultivated
as the sweet potato. It is grown to a considerable ex
tent in the southern part of Illinois, but the largest yield
is in the extreme Southern countries, showing that it
needs a hot sun and a long season to give* the largest
amount of oil. The whole treatment of the plant up to
harvest is much like that of Indian corn. The plants
should not stand nearer than four feet, and the best cul
tivators place the rows seven feet each way. The plant
is a rank grower, and wants plenty of food and sunlight.
The Florida beans are considered better than the Span
ish for producing oil. Two beaus are usually planted in
a bill, but one should be taken out when the plants are
six inches high. The cultivation may all be done by
horse-power, but care should be taken not to wound the
stalk or break off any of the limbs. Cultivating five or
six times is none too much to secure the best results.
The proper time for planting in southern Illinois is about
the first of May, and by the middle of August some of
the stalks will be fit to cut. This should be done when
the bottoms of the spikes yielding the beans begin to
turn brown and crack open. It pays to have a drying
house for the curing of the beans, and a plan of one is
given in the May Agriculturist , 1807. Drying yards are
discarded by skillful cultivators. This crop is usually
planted upon the poorest land, and is thought by some
to improve it quite as much as clover. The average yield
under fair treatment is about twenty bushels to the acre.
The price of the beans varies much more than that of or
dinary farm crops. During the past year the price has
ranged from $3.90 to $4.25 per bushel, in the St. Louis
market, where most of the oil used in this country ia
manufactured. An acre of the beans, or twenty bushels,
will yield about 68 gallons of oil, worth at present prices
about $1.50. Those who raise the beans, think the man
ufacturing pays much better than the cultivation. TosaD
bly the farmers who raise this crop, could form a joint
stock company, and press the oil out of their own beans
to advantage. We believe the business of pressing tho
oil in this country, has been almost a monopoly, and that
one man has made a large fortune by it.— Ain. Agri*
culturist.
Very Good. —“ You ought to acquire the faculty of
being at home in the best society,” said a fashionable
aunt to an honest nephew. “ I manage that easy enough/*
responded the nephew, “by staying at home with m/
wife and children,”
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