The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1872-09-04
Extracts from Letter of Rev. G. N. Morton,
CAMpINAs, June 18th, 1872.

OAMPINAS, June 1OGn, IOi -
I have just moved into quite comforta'
bic little house on the Chocora. By the
next mail l will send you an estimate of its
cost. 1t was the cheapest building l could
get put up, and gave the work as much OF
my attention as possible, in order that l
might save money in the materials and in
the construction. But you will see by the
bills which will enclose that the cheapest
building materials are very dear.
Mr.. and Mrs. Lane are boarding; Miss
Mamie is teaching in Senr. Caldina's school
in order to learn Portuguese. She has
room in the school and spends the week there,
and on Friday nights she comes up and stays
with us until Monday. She is the very wo,
man for her situation, and is learning Portu-
guese very fast. We are all so much pleased
with her. If God spares her life, you will
not regret having sent her.
The Americans have been very prosperous
this past year. They have just finished or
rather are just finishing their cotton crops.
Nearly all of them have made over bale to
the acre, and some of them, from 700 to 75O
lbs of lint cotton to the acre. Their corn
crops too are very good, yielding with little
cultivation from 40 to so bushels per acre.
After speaking of the expense of building
the cottage and acknowledging a snail bal
snce, the letter continues: This aid more
was spent in repairing the fences, bitches
and walls in killing the ants, and in clean,
ing the ground-the first and second required
by law; the third was necessary in order to
use the ground either for school or missionary
purposes.
When we received the property, the fenc-
ing was bad in many places. But it had
passed muster because no stock had happened
to test it: but after the Chocora had come
into our hands, very bad neighbor with a
set of very bad mules tested the weak points,
and also injured the bitches in many places
where they had been good. l was compelled
to renew the bitches. The heavy rains threw
down some of the walls, and wherever the
walls come within the corporation they are
required to be plastered and whitewashed.
We had to suffer fine on one occasion on
account of not getting them finished within
the prescribed time. Our expenses for this
item was by no means light.
Nor will you consider the matter of kill
ing ants a trife when l tell you that we
have consumed hundreds of pounds of sui
phur, and wagon-loads of wood and OK horns,
and that it requires the labor of two men to
kill bed. The former owner of the Chocora
lived in England, and his agents here kept
the ants somewhat in bounds. But we
thought it the cheapest plan to kill them at
once and have done with the business. |
have had three men to work two days on one
bed. Mr.. Lane is now digging q we'll, and
fifteen feet from the surface he struck nest
which occupied cavity of about foot in
diameter. | have had dug out a single bed
which had % or 80 of these nests, and |
have been told that they sometimes reach
100 or more. You can imagine then what
formidable creatures they are TO deal with.
1t is impossible to apply any poison which
can exterminate them. There are but two
ways of reaching them: the one is to dig
them out and mix them up into mortar
with mud and water; the other is to apply
fire and smoke by means of ventilator or
a large bellows. You may ask if these ex-
penses are always to continue? I answer no /;
for once that they are subdued, Mr.. Lane
and myself can keep them down with our
own hands. Once that we are established
here, you will find that the property with all
the expenses was cheap investment. This
year we cannot make any difference, but |
believe that in two years we can cut down
our salaries to nearly half what they are now.
We shall both labor for that end. The hap
piness of my family has been greatly in
creased since our removal here. We would
not exchange our little cottage for the finest
home in the city. The situation of the
Chocora is not only the most beautiful in
the neighborhood of the city, but is also re-
markedly healthy.
1 have a good garden and 1 take great
pleasure in working it with my own hands.
/ have excellent sweet and Irish potatoes,
cabbage, beet8, lettuce, celery, butter-beans,
satisfy, etc, etc.-Te Missionary.