Newspaper Page Text
doing for the North. But up to the present
time, his dreams have never been realised.
Many private experiments have bgpn made with
it, but with no satisfactory results. Some have
concluded that it would answer the end contem
plated, others say it will not pay to stop in mid
summer to sow and plough in this Southern clo
ver, and leave the cotton to the mercy of the
grass. Thus the exhausting process goes on,
and no ameliorator found to supply the waste.
The truth is, the pea has never been properly
tested as an ameliorator of the soil, and proba
bly never will be, without an experimental farm.
In order to such tests, too much precious time,
care, precision, and trouble is demanded for any
private individual, without being paid for it. A
section of an acre would have to be selected,
and carefully measured, the pea sowed, and
turned in at different stages of its growth, and
the succeeding year planted in corn and cotton —
other sections planted without having under
gone this process, and the whole product gather
ed and carefully weighed, and this will have to
be continued for several years before a just esti
mate can be formed of its value as an ameliora
tor of the soiL And so of every other experi
ment involving abstruse and undeveloped ques
tions in ag#cultare.
In England they have farms of this class, con
ducted by able men, who devote their whole
time to them, and the results of their experi
ments are doing more, it is believed, for the ad
vance of true agricultural science on that is
land, than the observations and experiments
of all her farmers Insides. It was on one
one of these farms that the exhausted tendency
of partial manures, were fertilizers, was first de
monstrated. Three tenths of an aero put in
wheatj for fifteen consecutive years, and manur
ed with the same quantity of a highly charged
ammoniated manure each year, fell gradually
from more than forty bushels per acre to less
than thirty. While other plats, hard by, under
the more judicious system, of always returning
to the soil as much as was taken from it, contin
ued to improve rather than deteriorate it. Les
sons have been learned ,by those
that it would take ages to develope by individ
ual farmers, thrown upon their own resources,
without the aid of an experimental farm; of
this help, we can only gather up here and there,
experiments, instituted by men who are dovoted
to their calling, (many of them unsatisfactory,)
and profit by them as best we may. Many
are doubtless made which never have seen the
light, especially of the class of failures, as men
are slow to publish their own defects, although
this class of experiments are quite as useful as
the more successful. But these iudividual ex
periments have comparatively little weight, un
less they come from a source entitled to great
consideration.
This leads us to the introduction of several ex
periments made in this county, with a view to
ascertain the true value of salt as a fertilizer to
certain plants. We tried it ourselves, on corn,
during the last season, combined with ashes, and
was very much pleased with the result; although
no distinct memoranda were kept. B. T. Har
ris, Esq., made a more interesting experiment in
its application to cotton, which has treated won
derfully to increase the amount purchased as a
manure, by the planters of this county. We
planted parallel rows of cotton, with and with
out Guano, and with salt and Guano continued.
The results was that the combination of the two,
outstripped the others to.the eye even, of a casu
al observer. We are sorry that Mr. Harris did
not weigh exactly the products and give them
in detail. His practised eye, however, was
enough to satisfy his neighbors, for he is
known to boa gentleman of fine judgement,
not given to impulses, or easily carried away by
new fanglcd notions. Such an experiment by
some of our fancy men woidd have had quite a
different effect from what it did. We hope that
the result will prove quite as favorable to those
who have purchased the salt in such quantities,
as this adt has been complimentary to the gen
tleman who instituted the experiment.
The result of an experiment, made by the
writer last fall with guano and salt, for the wheat
crop, we give os follows: Three lands of very
thin soil in our wheat field were sown in the fol
lowing manner. First, with salt at the rate of
two thirds of a sack to the acre. Second, with
out manure of any kind. Third, with salt as
above, and about seventy five lbs. of guano. We
cut a trench twenty yards in length and eight
feet wide, in each of these plats, equal to 480
square feet or 1-91 of an acre. The first or
salted plat, produced five small sheaves which
weighed eight lbs: the wheat measured 3} pints
and weighed two lbs. five and a half ounces.—
The second or manured plat produced four small
sheaves weighing four lbs. the wheat measured
1J pints and weighed one lb. oz. Tho third
plat manured as above, produced six sheaves
weighing lbs. the wheat measured five pints
full, and weighed 3 lbs. 15 oz. The section
without manure produced at the rato of two bus
els three peeks and two quarts to tho acre. That
manured with salt at the rate of four bushels,
one peck and six quarts. The last section man
ured with guano and salt measured up seven
bushels and a half peck, per acre. An estimato
of the cost of the manure and the overplus of
wheat shows that it baroly pays at the present
low price of wheat. This is the second year we
have tried guano on wheat with about the same
result. •
How does salt act as a fertilizer ? is an in
teresting question' to the agricultural chemist,
and one which has not as yet been satisfactorily
answered. It has been suggested however that
as it is an absorbent of ammonia it acts mainly
in this way. letting off this nutritious and volatile
salt to the feeders of the plant as they require it.
If this be true we can see good philosophy in
its producing such fine results in combination
with guano. In fact may not this be the reason
in part, why tho ammonia of guano is so well and
so long retained ? As it is the excrement of sea
birds, a co nsiderable portion of the chloride of
soda enters into its composition. And may
not this be tho reason why tho dung of sea birds
is so much more powerful a fertilizer than that
of our domestic fowls ? This would suggest that
the admixture of salt with any of our amraonia
cal manures, might help to retain the ammonia
and at the same time add several essential in
gredients to all good soils, viz: Chlorido of soda
and sulphate oflime and magnesia,
Sparta, Geo, P.
- - - —i <►•+-Jim ■
Errors t» Grtowtyo Beans. —Lima Bean vines
are Usually suffered to wind themselves around
a polo twelve or fifteen feet high, and before the
vine reached the top of the pole, some beans are
already of a size to bo pulled, near its bottom. —
Lima Beans should be pinched oft'when five and
a half feet high, and will readily throw out side
shoots well filled with pods, which will ripen
before frost; whereas; when not shortened in,
the beans on tho upper ends of the vino cannot
perfect themselves in time to be saved. It is
unfair to expect a gill of sap to travel through
forty feet of vino wrapped around a pole, and
make a perfect bean at the extreme end of it.—
Exchange.
SOtriWXBJSr ME® VXXSSXBS.-
* . • ■5?
[Written for the Southern Field and Fireside.']
Green Mt., Bcrke Co., May 21, ’59.
Mr. James Gardner .—Dear Sir: struck with
| the new title of your new enterprise, "The South- |
; era Field and Fireside,” thoughts long at rest in
! our own mind, have become a source of disquie- -
' tudo to us. No two subjects in the whole list i
j of what is sublunary, ought to possess a greater
1 charm for the minds of men. Who that dwells
on earth, eating of the produce of the field, and
enjoying the comforts of the domestic fireside,
whether merchant, farmer, lawyer, physician, or
• minister, if endowed with common reason, ean
! not with me; welcome this new effort to befriend
| man ? We wish you success to make earth’s
surface teem with beauty and productiveness,
, and the home of every son of Adam, to abound
; in taste, refinement, learning and virtue.
We can contribute no mite to throw rays j
j of light on what firesides are, or what they ought !
! to be, in this country. For the present we shall j
leave this part of your undertaking to older and j
more experienced heads. The field shall be our j
theme, as it is our vocation. Experience either j
makes men worse, wise, or more foolish; and of :
j it we claim sixteen years. Ten years have been j
: devoted exclusively and enthusiastically to the j
| farm. Like the majority of men, we have aimed ]
to make money. What success has been attain- |
ed we will only say, satisfied us.
In our view there is no other branch of busi- j
ness that men follow for a livelihood, on which j
more erroneous opinions are held and practiced. ;
than farming. The merchant makes an invest- '
ment of ten thousand dollars in goods; and to be j
successful, ho maintains, he must get cost and j
interest. The townsman purchases a house in |
the city to let; and he calculated to get interest
on cost, &e., for rent. Land owners, in Europe,
frequently, and occasioaully, in the Northern
States of our own country, let their farms on
such conditions and work them themselves in
such a manner, as to insure them interest. And
why should not planters in the Southern States,
look more closely to the intrinsic value of their
lands ? If it pays anything in the way of per
centage to work poor land, how much more re
munerative it must be to operate on rich land.—
Experience has taught this fact to all tillers of
tho soil. The labor of cultivating rich land is
certainly no more. Tho wear and tear of stock
and implements are no more, (unless the lands are
fresh lands) than that of poor land. And here
allow me to say emphatically, the profit attend
ing the cultivation of new lands, is not equal to
that of old lands of the same fertility, where all
stumps, roots and impediments of all kinds have
been removed; for the reason of the great wear
and tear and the impracticability of using im
proved and labor-saving machines. With these
facts before us, can we recognize the system of
agriculture, generally practiced in the Southern
States, as wise, economical and tho most profita
ble ?
Ever since we arrived at manhood, it has ap
peared incomprehensible how men owning fer
tile lands could sufl'er them to become impover
ished—and that those possessing farms, exhaust
ed by tillage and denuded by rains, could be
contented to plant, cultivate and gather, year af
ter year, without any effort to prevent the former
and remedy the latter.
To suggest some methods thoroughly practi
cal, by which lands now productive, may be kept
so—and those exhausted almost to sterility, may
be restored to a state of fertility, and at tho same
time give subsistence and percentage in money
on tho capital and labor employed in working
them, is the object of this essay. If in a single
instance, this effort shall accomplish good results,
the antlior will bo perfectly satisfied. He claims
to have discovered nothing new—promises noth
ing to supercede the necessity of effort, skill and
industry; but something which will enable the
young farmer, in the worn out portions of the
Southern States —if he regard it attentively—to
work successfully, and preserve the old home
stead. And who is so unwise and so unpatriot
ic as not to experience a thrill of pleasure at tho
bare mention of home ? Who in his flourishing
new domain in Texas, Oregon or the wide world,
does not at times have a -longing for tho old
home—the old, well tried friends—the associa
tions of youth, and more than all else, for the
places where bones of ancestors and friends re
pose ? Young man preserve the old homestead
from desertion—beautify and adorn it with or
chards of choice fruit—lawns—flower gardens,
with terraces, statuary and fountains—have those
old fields around it to evidence more than their
pristine fertility, and in after years, you will reap
a rich reward. To make money should not be
all the effort of life. This is noble ; but there is
a higher and a more exalted work still. To beau
tify and adorn what is uninteresting and defac
ed—to render useful and profitable, what has
well nigh gone to decay, is an achievement for
which the wise of your own day will give you
praise, and those to come in future ages will call
you blessed.
The first practical suggestion we shall make,
is in regard to the preservation of fields from
washing. It might appear useless to some
minds for us to pen any thing on this subject,
after so much has been by others more able,
already promulgated orally and written. The
same, however, might be urged against any
other subject to which the human mind has been
called to consider; because it is hackneyed.—
Wo have full confidence in the efficacy of con
stantly holding truths before the mind in order
to have them appreciated. Hence the impor
tance of the subject must be our apology for
wlmt follows
First in tho list of remedies, is Hill-side Ditch
ing. We know from cxporienc-e (in some mat
ters tile best teacher) that it is indispensible,
and others of more scientific knowledge advo
cate its great utility. Hill-side Ditches are no
ornament, and are expensive, but in our view
are more beautiful and economical than denuded
hills and yawning gullies, and are richly worth
all their trouble and outlay. We differ from
many advocates who seem to think that mul
tiplicity constitutes efficiency. A few ditches
with sufficient fall, rightly located are far more
advisable, than man}'. We are in the habit of
dividing incline plains into two equal segments,
by a ditch which conveys its own water from
the field, or into another ditch coming from
another direction and thence into another and so
on. The rows of corn and cotton and whatever
else may be planted, are made to run obliquely
to the ditches, as much so as can lie, to have
them empty their water into the ditches. Some
very short declivities we do not divide, but pro
tect by a ditch running along on their summits.
Occasionally where the plain is very long and
much inclined, it may be necessary to divide it
into three or more segments instead of two. —
• Wo find no difference between sandy lands and
clay lands as regard tho number of ditches
• needed; but we have learned that it is better on
light lands, to have each ditch convey its own
water as much as practicable, to prevent deop
- ening.
i What we practice more and deem no less
salutary than Hill-side Ditching is dividing fields
into plains, on patches, having each one as near
a level as the nature of the surface will allow. —
Tho more undulating the field, the smaller the
'T
plains or patches must be made. In farming
! these plats, it is as great desideratum to have
! the rows of whatever is planted, run in as many
i different directions as possible. The intention
! of this is to have the excess of water which the
. earth cannot absorb, never to accumulate into
, a large volume—never to acquire much momen
tum and never to concentrate on any one point
and thus each plain and even each row may be
[ able to hold its own water. While fields thus
treated, are under tillage we never allow’ the
spaces between the plats, or the tumrows to be
molested by the plough, and the hoes are only
required to keep down bushes, vines, and such
weeds as we desire not to grow’.
To the two preceding wo add another method
of great value. All observing farmers are aware
I how much greater quantity and more rapidly (a
i great desideratum at a time w’hen rain desends
| in torrents, as often hapi>enß in our climate)
: water is absorbed by porous, than by hard,
j compact earth. Hut for the great tenacity of
j argillaceous soils, on account of their tardiness
] in absorption, they would soon liecome denuded.
; The reverse is true of silieious soils, because but
j for their great absorptive powers, owing to a
; great lack of adhesion between their particles.
! they would never rest long in any one position.
Wo have been able to discover no way of
I remedying these defects more efficient and
i conomieal, than the turning under and blending
! vegetable matter with the particles of earth.—
; In the former caso porosity, and in the latter
I tenacity is imparted to the soil, whereby the
liability to wash in both cases is greatly
| diminished. ■ In the case of clay-land, other ad
j vantages accrue as facility of culture, and in
both instances increased fertility is added, but
of this we will treat in another place.
Fourth I but not the least important is deep,
and thorough plowing. In farming, as in other
affairs of life, he who skims the surface may float
with ease, but can never accomplish great re
sults. Without deep ploughing, all other devi
ces will fail in preventing the washing away of
the soil. So soon as the bed of earth, uprooted
and pulverized by the plough, becomes saturated
with water down to the hard pan beneath, the
remainder of showers, must stay ponded, or
move along on the surface to the lowest points,
carring with it the soil, corn, cotton or whatever
is planted. We honestly believe that were all
lands well coated with a soil, to be broken to
the depth of eight oM welve inches, washes now
so plentiful would be much more rarely seen. If
the proceeding suggestions are rightly under
stood, and literally practised, the planter may
safely rely on preserving much of his soil which
otherwise would bo taken from him.
As the foregoing prepares the way whereby
the full benefit of manuring is secured to the
husbandman, we shall now proceed to offer
some practical suggestions on that operation.—
The necessity of practising some system of fer
talization on our exausted lands, it seems to me,
no sane man can help discerning. The utility
of such effort is more obscure for the want of
practical illustrations around us. Reading plan
ters know what has been done by a wiso sys
tem of manuring in other countries; but he who
can't read but would read, is left to grope in
darkness, or practice a liberal credulity to ma
dam liereßay. We truly believe, and sincerely
hope that there is a day not far distant, when
the true system of agriculture—returning to the
soil the elements of fertility taken off by crops,
so that its productive capacity shall not diminish
will bo practiced in the Southern States. No
other system than this but will end in barren
ness and cause dosertion of old homesteads.
The question will arise in many minds, is this
the way to make money? We unhesitatingly
answer this is the best, the surest way to ac
cumulate wealth. To continue to plant and cul
tivate lands which barely yield a subsistence
without any per centagc on the labor and capi
tal employed, can never build fortunes. To go
to Texas, Oregon, or any other country where
productive land can bought cheaply, is better.
But in a move liko this one speculates with life,
and fortune and has to bury all the finest and
strongest feelings of the heart. If the posses
sion of wealth were certain to be attained, the
inducement might be considered quite sufficient;
but facts show this to be a very variable result.
For our own part, we candidly think that the
amount of money invested in land, the money
and laltor appropriated to building and improv
ing and the quantity of labor expended in prepa
ring the land for successful cultivation, if wisely
used in fertilizing old land, would give greater
and quicker returns of profit. Another argu
ment against seeking after new lands is the ne
cessity never ends. It is a fact well established
that no lands except those subject to inundations
but will become impoverished by successive
crops and continued tillage. The most of our
lands lose their highest fertility in from four to
eight years, where no effort is made to have
them retain their productive capacity. Then
why seek new lands, when by the time money
enough is made to pay for the land over and
above a support, and to erect as fine and costly
tenements for man and beasts as were left be
hind on the old place, the necessity of moving
again arises, if only land of virgin fertility is
dstermined to be cultivated. Thus the seeker
after new and productive land can promise him
self only a succession of moves, an ever fixing
yet never fixed condition.
As hard and unpleasant as the above necessi
ty may seem, there is but one way to avoid it on
the one hand and starvation on the other, and
that is I)}’ a wise systcqi of rotation and liberal
manuring of crops. Hence wo see various me
thods adopted in different nations and even in
different parts of the same nation for the preser
vation and improvement of land. This diver
sity to a great extent, is founded in wisdom. In
Europe it may bo most economical and profit
able to employ one class of fertilizers and one
svstem of rotation; while in the northern states
of this country another description of manures
may be used and another system of rotation
may be practised with the same result, contin
ued fertility and liberal production. So too in
the southern States have we not substances in
abundance fit for manure not found in Europe
or the North, and may we not have a system of
rotat ion and manuring best adapted to our crops,
climate and soils? There are, however, certain
substances eminently adapted as food for field
crops, found in common in all countries, for ex
ample the excrements of all bipeds and quadru
peds. and the residue of decayed animals and
vegetables, In short, if there be a country, or a
portion of laud in any country —except natural
deserts, on the face of the Earth where the ma
terials and the means of fertilization best adap
ted to its wauts, are not to bo found, we have
yet to see it.
[to be continued.]
*• i ■ —
Bread Pudding.— Fill a four quart pan half
full of light bread, crumbled fine; add milk so
as nearly till the pan; let it soak two hours; then
add two thirds of a cup of sugar, two eggs, two
spoonfuls of sweet cream, a of salt,
half a nutmeg. Bake throe fourths of an hour.
[Written for the Southern Field and Fireside.]
PLANTING ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
Mr. Editor:—One part of this country is from
one to ten feet under water , and the other part is
parching up for the want of rain.
We have fine stands of cotton, and it looks
well. I saw a bloom yesterday, the 6th of June,
and will have many in a few days. Bat if the
refreshing showers don’t descend upon us soon,
corn will immediately be ruined, unless it is the
late planting.
The water is slowly retiring from the cotton
fields of Madison Parish,' and we are planting
the overflowed land. We plant as fast as the
water recedes—plant in the mud by throwing
down the cotton seed on the old bed and tramp
upon them. It is up in a few days, and strange
to say, looks healthy. The water has left some
plantations entirely; they are done planting and
have commenced scraping the young cotton.—
But other plantations, not so fortunatoly located
are still ahnost entirely submerged, having plant
ed from only forty to fifty acres, out of from four
hundred to one thousand acres they have under.
If the river falls too feet more, it will throw out
thousands of acres. But at the rate it is falling
now (one inch in twenty four hour) it will take it
to the first of Juljwto get to that notch, and then
it will be too cold to plant.
So you may put it down as a fixed fact that the
agricultural prospects of this country are gloo
my enough.
But if the water leaves us too late to plant cot
ton, we will plant peas and make a No 1. article
of pea-vine-hay. If this water and drouth con
tinue, we will need all the hay wo can get, for
our supply of corn will tie extremely limited.
Now Dr. Lee, if you were here to examine
this country a few days, you would go home and
urge upon the planters, in stronger terms than
ever, the necessity of improving their hills.
Improved land in the hills, is in my opinion,
tho most valuable land in the world.
More anon. Yours truly.
G. D. Harmon.
Willikin’s Bend, La., June 7th, 1859.
•»>
[Written for the Southern Field and Fireside.]
Augusta, Geo,, March 22nd 1859.
Dr. D. Lee —Deer Sir: Though a Northern
man, it is with much pleasure I this morning
have noticed your prospectus, for a paper in
part dovoted to Agriculture—this together with
Horticulture, is a favorite occupation of my lei
sure time. For eight years past I have spent six
to eight months of tho year South, though ne
ver before in this state, and having been but
one month in it, and this having been an unfav
orable one to see or know much of its climate, or
of its agricultural adaptation. Yet one thing
strikes mo as being adapted to both climate and
soil. That is the culture of the Grape for Wine.
Having passed some time in France and other
parts of Europe, I was much interested in the
culture of the Grape, and was at some pains to
see and know tho “ Modus Operandi ” which 1
found exceedingly simple and profitable, though
you no doubt understand it, yet few of your
readers perhaps do, as it appears to ine if they
did they would go into it, as I am satisfied that
ten acres cultivated in either the Grape or the
new Rocheller Blackberry, for Wine would pro
duce more profit to tho vinter, than one hundred
acres in any other crop, besides the vinyard
once properly put out, is there for ages. I will
relate a circumstance it being the time of the
vintage, I went to see a vinyard a short dis
tance from the city, on this vinyard I meet with
a man some sixty years of ago—together with
other enquires, 1 asked him how old the vin
yard was; to which he replied ‘J’na sais pas’
Ido not know. He then informed mo that he
had been on it sixty years, and that ho knew
not how old it was when he went upon it. It
was not a large vinyard perhaps .eighteen or
twenty acres, this man did the work, except at
the time of the vintage; at that time men, wo
men and children are employed on the vinyard.
A frame is put up, some forty feet long and fif
teen to twenty wide—the length depends upon
the size of tho vinyard—this is open except that
it has a thatch roof of straw, at one end. There
is a room called the fermenting or wine room,
this is enclosed sufficient to keep the rain out,
on each side of the frame are shelves, or a shelf,
running the length of the frame or building of a
height convenient to work, two to three feet
wide; through the centre a plank platform eigh
teen inches high of a width to set the Tubs or as
they are called Tuns. These tuns are made
a little flaring or largor at the top than the bot
tom of oak staves. About six inches from the
main bottom a strip is nailed round for the pur- ,
pose of supporting a false or movable bottom,
this is of plank, which is perforated with holes,
about half an inch made perfectly smooth: it is
then covered over with a cloth made of horse
hair, a piece of rattan sewed to the edge, this
covers the false bottom, it is then set into the
Tun. tho Grapes are picked and brought in and
put on the shelves, then the children pick them
from the stems, culling out every unripe or im
perfect grape and putting them aside, the per
fect and ri])e are then put into tho Tuns, in
small quantities at a time; when this is done the
men stript themselves naked, wash and step
into tho Tuns. A blanket for the purpose, with
a string to draw or gather it around the body
is put over the Tim, the object of which is to
keep the heat of the body in, this causes the
fermentation to commence sooner, tubs on rol
lers are set at the end of this platform, all be
ing ready, the men step into the Tuns—a man
with a violin, commences to play, the men to
dance, the girls to sing, and the AVine or Grape
juice to ran. These Tuns are of convenient
height to admit of the men placing their hands
on the edge to support them. As the Tubs are
filled juice is drawn into tlie AVine room, there
it sttfnds to ferment; this is the critical period
as in case of a storm, tho fermentation may be
delayed and the AVine become sour. If all is fav
orable, in few days the scum that has passed the
strainer will riso to the top, soon it liegins to
crack, and a light froth appears, it is then care
fully skimed off and the AA’ine is transferred to
the casks, as they are filled the bung is set on
lightly; for some days you hear a bussing noise
—each day the bung is driven a littlo with a
wooden mallet, when tight it is placed where it
is to stand until the second fermentation take*
place which is usually in March. At this t«ue
tho wine is carefully decanted and placed i* “ ar ‘
rels for shipment, or bottles, to preserve t*® wine;
before tho barrels are filled a piece fi linen, a
strip say one inch wide is dipped ln sulphur
melted, it is then held in the cas* at the
to fumigate it, this preserves tie wine from lie
eoming acid. After the first casks in which the
fermentation took place have stood to dry, they
are opened by taking out one of the heads , they
are found to tie coated with a scum or incrusta
tion, this is then cleaned out, and this scum ta
ken care of. This is known in commerce as
the red or white argols, used in dying, or for the
purpose of making the Tartaric acid. (I am a
little too fast, and must go back to explain an im
portant point in economy) The unripe and
defective grapes, (Brandy drinkers, now look
sharp) the pulps or skins and seeds, the scum
that arises in fermontation, any Wine that may
become afcid, are put into vats of water, there to
ferment. Then the Wine of this fermentation
goes to the still for making the Brandy, or the
Wine is reserved for Vinegar.
After the vintage, the stock which produced
the Grape is cut close to the ground leaving
three or four of the scions of the season’s growth
to remain for the next years crop, the vines that
have produced are cut into lengths of five or six
inches, placed in an iron cylinder and charred.
These are then arranged in sizes, put up and
sold, these are the Crayons used for drawing.
You may here see that every part is turned to
account—so that in fact, the Wine or Claret costs
little in a fruitful season. I notice the vintage
of the past season was very good, and that the
wine was selling at four cents per gallon.
Now Mr. Editor, I trust this may lie the means
of inducing some of your planters to look into
the subject, and turn their attention to it. I
think it may not only prove a profitable business,
but banish from your society the use of that a
bominable beverage, called whiskey. Ybungmen
take an interest in the cultivation of the vine.—
Young ladies do all you can to aid and encour
age it; you can do much, and your peace com
fort ami happiness in this life, if not for eternity,
will bo greatly enhanced. Oh! how many of
your sex, with as fair prospects as you may now
have, have been made to weep and mourn. The
yohng husband, perhaps in some unguarded hohr
has been induced to partake of the empoisoned
cup, thence his courso has been downward to
the gates of death. I will not venture further,
your own imagination, together with the facts
that have come under your own observation, can
readily fill up the picture. You may say, wine
intoxicates, true! yet if the pure juice of the grape,
the man who should, or could become a drunk
ard, would be lienoath the brute.
I will here relate a case, the truth of which,
I think I can vouch for. One year since, I was
travelling in N. 0.; while stopping at a hotel in
one of the lower counties a gentleman from a
short distance in the country r came in to the
town to order a coffin for a young man; after he
went out—one of the persons present, related
the following : The father of this young man
for whom the this house of the dead was order
ed, was an old genleman upwards of eighty years
of age ; a short time previous to his death, ho
(the old gentleman) had purchased a barrel of
whiskey ; ho died and little was thought of it,
further than that ho had lived to a good old age,
and departed in the course of nature.
At the sale of his effects, the young man, (his
son) purchased the barrel with what remained of
the whiskey; in a short time—l do not remem
ber the exact time it may have been—one or
moro months—this young man died suddenly
—as he had been a healthy man, this caused
some notice to be taken, and some experiments
to be made. The physicians thought there were
some indications of poison—a committee was ap
pointed and instead of a post mortem examina
tion of the young man—the remains of the whis
key were examined, then the cause was discov
ered. This committee stated as the result of
their examination, that the remains of this whis
key, after having destroyed two persons, con
tained strychnine enough to destroy some twenty
more. You see hero how the lives of worthy
men are trifled with by the unprint-ipled manu
factures and dealers in this abomination. Young
men taste not, touch not, handle not; for in such
a day and hour, as ye think not, death will come.
There is another article for a delicious wine,
that is the black/terry ; a neighbor of mine has the
past season, made from the new Rercliello Black
bury sixty barrels of wine. I understand ono
house in h T ew York had made him an eft’er of
$2.00 per bottle, for the whole of it; this 1 think
is the product of ten acres. Make the calcula.-
tion and see if one hundred acres of cotton will
make this sum.
Now from either of these wines can be made
a champaign of superior quality, without tho use
of any deleterious substance. I have myself the
past season mado wines and champaigns from na
tivo grapes. Blackberries, elder berries, apples
and tomatoes, make a fine champaign.
Traveller.
[From the Genesee Farmer.)
DOMESTIC RECEIPTS.
Walnut Puffs. —Two tablespoonfuls of flour,
two ounces melted butter, two ounces sugar, two
ounces hickory nuts beaten fine. Bake in cups j
well buttered.
Cold Custard. —One quart of new milk, one- - ,
half pint of cream, four ounces white sugar, a
. glass of water in which an inch of washed ren- |
net has Been soaked, and nutmeg.
Biscuit. —One quart of buttermilk, two spoon
fuls of cream, two teaspoonfuls of soda, one tea- ‘
spoonful of salt. Use flour enough to form a
stiff dough, kneading it well. ]
Rice Custard. —Boil three tnblespoonfuls of
rice flour in a pint of milk. "When cold, add
three eggs, two ounces of butter,, and a teaspoon
ful essence of vanilla. Sweeten to taste.
Buttermilk Pie.—Three pints of buttermilk,
two eggs, four table-spoonfuls of sugar, a tea
spoonful of flour stirred into the milk, and half
a nutmeg. Stir well together, and bake like a
custard pie.
Sponge Cake, —Sift one pound of flour, one (
pound of loaf sugar, beat ten eggs very light,
mix the ingredients well, then add the juice of (
one lemon. If baked in one cake, two hoars is
necessary. No saleratus, soda, or tartans need
ed. ■}
A Nice Tea Cake.— Beat the whites of four
eggs to a light froth, beat the volts of the same )
with a cup and a half of sug» r > one C '*P ®f sour
cream, half a cup of batter; flavor with lemon.
A little soda; flour to make a stiff batter.
Tomato Marmalai*- —Take full grown toma
toes while quite grre D > cut out the stems, stew
them till quite sod, nib them through a seive,
set the pulp on die tire; season highly with salt,
pepper, pounded cloves, and stew all together till
thick. It is excellent for seasoning gravies, and
keeps wed-
To Make Red Current Jelly.— Put your
currants in a jar in the oven, and let them remain
/ill the juice is all out of them. To a pint of syr
up add a pint of white sugar, pounded, and made
quite hot. Before the sugar is added, boil the
sump very slowly for two minutes; then add the
sugar, and boil it ten minutes.
To Clean Green Currants. —An expeditious
way of cleaning green currants from stems and
grit, is to rub them well and bard in a handful
or more of flour, then rub them in a seive, wash
them well in several waters, spread on papers
to dry, stir frequently if drying in an oven; but
they are better dried on folded cloth in the sun.
0
%
31