The Arkansas banner., 1844-02-13
 CULTURE OF PINDARS.

 tages.
 CULTURE OF PINDARs.
 FROM the experiments 1 have made in cul- tivating the pindar or ground-pea, think you would do we'll to call the attention of your southern readers to that subject plantef, the 18th February last, three acres in pindars, in rows five feet apart, the peas about twelve inches apart, in common small furrow made with bull-tongue blow, on perfectly level ground, having first broken up and narrowed it we'll The weather afierward in March was very cold, wet, and uniavorable, and kill- ed many of the peas which had sprouted, so that had very poor stand they however, grew finely, and interlocked across the rows; and covered the ground pretty well. On the 27th October, began digging (for fear of trosD by loosening the ground little round the bunch with an iron fork with three prongs; each above thirteen inches long, and then pitch the fork under the top root and pry it up; a hand follows and lifts up the bunch, most of the peas adhering to it, and shakes the sand (dirt we have none all off, and lays ii out straight to cure like hay ]; when suffi- ciently cured, tie up in bundles the proper size for a cutting-box, and SOW away for win | 1 there can be nothing better or more nutriti- tio,,s cut bundle of pindars, peas, tops, leaves, and roots, and then bundle of rice with the grain all on, and thus mix them to- gether, to feed my work-horses, and milk cows, and find them all doing better than on any food l have ever tried here. The pin dars that are torn from the vine are partly left on the top of the ground, and can easily be picked up after rain l then turn the hogs in and they gather the balance, and fatten as finely on them as on corn. Our poorest land will yield fifty to eighty bushels of the peas and over ton of hay per acre, and, altogeth- CT, regard it as one of the finest crops the southern farmer can raise. If we could at- ford to give an entire crop to the land, am persuaded 1t would be quite as good as a crop of your best red clover to fertilize it, There has been q mistaken policy pursued, almost universally, in cultivating the pindar, by covering over the top with earth when they begin to bloom; this is not only unne- cessary, but positively injurious, although the top, or vine, grows straight up at first, yet when t is time 10 seed, the small flores on the end of which the pea grows arise, the vine inclnes to the ground until 1t finds a proper location, and then extends its branel
 es two, three, or four feet in length in eve- " direction, touching the earth. The only cultivation requisite, is to keep the ground loose and clear of weeds and grass, and as level as possible, so that the ibers on which the pea grows can penetrate the ground eas- iy. intend, next year, ;o r!a::: r:ndars in hills, or, rather, in checks, two feet apart each way, which will cause them to grow in up- right punches, yielding more hay, and will be easier dug, and, think, will probably yield as many peas.
 For the last three weeks have kept sixty sheep on five acres of sweet potatoes. They have eaten all the leaves and most of the vines and have evidently improved very mnch.-- This does not hurt the potatoes, and the land gets all the benefit of the manure.
 , We had our first white frost on the 18th October, but so very light as to hurt nothing :; since which we have had no more, and pro- , bably will not before full moon, 9th Decem- , Der. Last year our first frost was the 18th , November, and very severe in lS4l, the : same as this year. Last spring we had frost as late as 29th March. We do not generally l have frost after the 10th February. We have had an unusual quantity of rain the past sum- T mer and fall, which injured our little crops l here very much, particularly sweet potatoes on every level land.
 [ The grape is about receiving that attention 1t so justly merits here, from a neighbor of mine who possesses the proper degree of en- ergy, industry, and practical knowledge, (hav- ing spent his youthful days in the Rhenish 3 vincyards,) to succeed with anything he at I tempts. He came here and settled in the : woods last February, and has already ate I grapes of his own raising; besides, he IS a : farmer in every other respect, and his im- I provements already, are we'll calculated to n put LIS all to the blush. trust his example f will have good effect on the whole neigh- borhood we have needed such stimulus 1, here bad enough. l have no doubt he has 9 collected more manure, and made more com- post for the benefit of his land, in the last , nine months, than every man within nine . miles of him has done in the last nine years. :: There are others, however, here, who are l not neglecting entirely their agricultural in . tercsts. JOHN J. M'CAuGHAN. : Palmeno Farm Mississippi Ciiy,
 e 24h .Norember, lS43.
 IspiGo.-The Planters Gazette, of the 2oth inst : says By an article published some time ago in the Baton Rouge Advocate, and by subsequent ex-