The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1851-05-20

ash bank, or the throat OF a lOafer In the
honey Of his temperance pledge.
In the first place | caused to be excavated
centre ditch four miles long, and on some points
from 16 20 feet deep, beginning at the Savannah
swamp and passing entirely through the pond
Secondly, were dug sping bitches Of several miles
in length in all suitable places and lastly parallel
bitches leading from the centre to the spring drains
these lateral bitches placed at intervals Of l40
yards. The cypress part, formerly visited only BY
a canoe, is now easily accessible, and furnishes
abundant and durable timber for building and
fencing The open, uncultivated part, is covered
with grass averaging 1000 pounds to the acre,
paaable and nutritious to horses and other stock
Last year sixty yielded sixty heavy bales Of
cotton and the best Of the land seventy
six bushels. @ a'- - q yi3 - .... Afr'
This work was accomplished by Irish ditchers.
Negroes, it Is said, could have done 1t cheaper
but governed by the maxim " ne sutor ultra cre-
pidaus" | confined the black to the cuitiva-
ton Of the staple commodities. An Irish ditcher
brought up in locality not larger than pig stye,
| with rotten poatoe for his breakfast yoke upon
his neck, and gatherer in his pocket, is to be
excused if his relish for liberty be keen and his de-
| votion to that Goddess profound and sincere.
II When properly schooled in a
little cisatlantic adversely he becomes the finest
| laborer in the world The railroads he has built
the canals he has dug, the bogs he has Drained the
| embankments he has thrown up, the pestilence he
has driven forth, bespeak the magnitude and value
OF his services and furnish to his adopted country
a satisfactory remuneration for his eccentrictes
and turbulence. If time should continue to roll on
and the bog trotter of Erin be laid low history, in
| filling up her pages, will be compelled to admit
| that he welded the spade with more adroitness
| than the sceptre, and that his achievements
dtcher immeasurably transcend all his efforts as
| politician.
In the open uncultivated part of Mobly's pond,
there are several hundred acres of peat from 12 to
| 36 inches deep, resting on bed of blue clay; at
| first had great msgivngs in regard to this peat
land, and thought of using it exclusively for pas
ture and manure. This year | planted seventy
| acres of 1t in With knife plough. similar
to the blade Of utter, l cut the land both ways
every twelve inches to the depth of the grass
ROOTS followed the same furrow with bull tongue,
ard bursted up in every direction square blocks Of
| peat. After being exposed to the sun and made
| dry, these were fired and burnt. By this
the formidable roots of the grass were eradi-
| Gated and coat of ashes secured. In the spring,
| ridges were thrown up the corn planted and up to
| this time l very much question whether in all
| Georgia there is better field of grain. -u f-,s .
/ Several hundred acres of this pond are appro-
priated to pasture. The grass in many places is
| breast hgh and the mowers pronounce it equal 10
| any specimens in New England. To me it is
panorama, to use a big word, transcendently beau
uiul Unfortunately, do not reside on my plan.
tation, but when go there, which is often, and
look around on that plain of velvet, l become
| dreamy and imaginative, and imagine it to be the
finest meadow east of the Buffalo prairies. When
| behold the cattle browsing the rank grass, and
cotton and corn sprInging from soil which for ages
| generated malaria and monsters, enjoy the land
| scape with as much gusto as ever Archimedes did
his solution of the problem Of the King of Syracuse
l or SardaDapaus his dinner on bull frogs
| Independent of this, | have drained on the same
| premises some fifteen other ponds, all of which
| productive, and one of which, embracing hun
dred acres, is worth, in the opinion of some Caro-
/ lima gentlemen, who have visited it, two hundred
/ dollars 10 the
| Mobly's pond is no longer eye sore, but Pyg.
| malions clay metamorphosed into beautiful wo-
| man. Ii throws out its wealth from centre 10 cir
Inference, yielding materials for building and
| fencing pasture for cattle, hay for work horses,
and corn and cotton which would not disgrace the
| banks of the Mississippi.
Has your humble servant accomplished any
| thing in the premises worthy OF your time and
| trouble in wadng through this letter1 Is it not
something to introduce health where previously
malignant fevers prevailed! If St. Patrick be-
came a saint for banishing snakes from Ireland
| and Hercules demi god for cleansing the Augean
stables, and driving wild beasts from the noun
tans of Lydia, may not your humble servant rake
ttle comfort to himself for roofing out one of the
strong holds of pestence, and converting vas
quagmire into fruitful field! w. w. SrARKE.
A PRACTICAL AND PROSPEROUS MAN.-Ons
Of the most eminent instances of energy, honesty
prosperity, and usefulness is presented in the per
son of Zadoc Pratt, of Prattsburgh, New York
| who few years since disting uished for hi
practical talents in the halls of Congress as he wa
before and is since in the pursuits of private life
He is tanner and farmer; and, as specimen o
his energy in those occupations, will let hin
speak for himself, he did short time since, in
address before the Agricultural Fair of Greer
county, N. Y: t' .,
And now will show you the advantage thos
dreary hemlocks have been to the farmers of GU
4 mountain towns. Since first engaged in farming
~ hos hoo Inf
. years of other mems labor-an army of fifty thou
sand men have employed, and have paid thos
| men for their labor alone, over two million fiv
hundred thousand dollars. | have cleared over tel
| thousand acres of land, used over two hundre,
!. thousand cords of hemock bark, and paid owe
= half million of dollars for it, Used and wor
u out five hundred horses and one thousand yoke O
oxen. Used two hundred thousand bushels of oats
y one hundred and twenty thousand tons Of hay
thirty thousand barrels of beef and pork and neal
ly one hundred thousand barrels of flour, and pc
taIoes without number measure.
5, have tanned one million two hundred and fft
sides of leather my usual disbursen ent is fiv
Is thousand dollars per day, and have used in m
business here, ten millions. Every aborer
n celved his money, yea, every man his penny, i
e peace and 10 the credit of this community be
n said, that never had side of leather stolen,
y was never made defendant in law on account
business transactions, during my residence anon
you The great object of my living is 10 be nsefu
Of Live with your neghbor, not on him.
in The American Contributions to the World
Ly Fair do not impress the English with a very hg
i. notion of American manufactures The Londo
W News says 1t may be said of the American di
in play generally, that is evidently the produco
Ia of a new country, where the useful arts are v,
a. more in request than the ornamental" OF II
ar manufactured cotton, in prints, it says, p" Thoug
Al they very creditable evidences of the progre
an of American manufactures friends on the 9th.
he side of the Atlantic will pardon us for saying tn,
tn they not of that high class of goods-especa all
at the pripts--that our Manchester manufacture
,e need fear their competition, at least for the pr,
u- sent" From the list of articles enumerated, Il
i'm contribution is very meagre, and the show
is American articles will scarcely be equal to Il
gs | annual exhibitions at State Fairs and Frank
lly Institutes. .r-' or
,us Cincinnati paper, the Nonpareil, tells d
subIolned story of an Englishman, and one Of I
ds, early Governors of Vermont:
ms ms The Englishman had been entrusted wi
@ @ some important papers from merchant in Boslt
h to the Governor, and having arrived at the villa,
m o near the Governors farm, he stopped at the ho
! on and by the aid of all the SOAP towels brushes
H lHeu Zors, and combs in the house, was enabled. al
IA' two hours labor upon his person. 10 make. as
ne ne thought, genieel appearance, aud conseonentl
Ell favorable impression upon his ExceIlencv An
ne eleven O'Clock, therefore, he presented himself
ho the door Of the country mansion of the Chief n
rec gistrate of Vermont.
Joy "'Can have the honor of an interview w
mt his Excellency the Governor, on important b,
ness 2 he inquired of a plain matrOnlv woman "a