Southern cultivator. (Augusta, Ga.) 1843-188?, July 01, 1868, Page 205, Image 13

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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,” 205