Southern planter - The W&M Digital Archive

1859.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 419
crystallization is effected, it is transferred to
coolers, which are large, shallow pans.
When fully cooled, it looks like brown
sugar and molasses mixed. It is then shoveled
from the coolers into hogsheads. These
hogsheads have holes bored in their bottoms;
and, to facilitate the drainage, strips of cane
are placed in the hogsheads, with their ends
in these holes, and the hogshead is filled.
The hogsheads are set on open frames, un-
der which are copper receivers, on an in-
clined plane, to catch and carry off the
irippings from the hogsheads. These drip-
pings are the molasses, which is collected
ind put into tight casks.
I believe I have given the entire process.
When it is remembered that all this, in
ivery stage, is going on at once, within the
imits of the mill, it may well be supposed
o present a busy scene. The smell of juice
tnd of sugar vapor, in all its stages, is inense.
The negroes fatten on it. The clank
f the engine, the steady grind of the ma-
hines, and the high, wild cry of the ne-
;roes at the caldrons to the stokers at the
iirnace doors, as they chant out their direcions
or wants—now for more fire, and now
o scatter the fire—which must be heard
bove the din, "A-a-b'la! A-a-b'la!" " E-eha
candela !" " Pu-er-ta !" and the bararic
African chant and chorus of the gang
t work filling the cane-troughs—all these
lake the first visit at the sugar-house a
range experience. But after one to two
isits, the monotony is as tiresome as the
rst view is exciting. There is, literally, no
hange in the work. There are the same
oises of the machines, the same cries from
egroes at the same spots, the same intensesweet
smell, the same state of the work
all its stages, at whatever hour you visit
, whether in the morning, or evening, at
idnight, or at the dawn of the day. If
du wake up at night, you hear the " A-ala!
A-a-b'la!" "E-e-cha! E-e-cha !" of
le caldron—men crying to the stokers,
d the high, monotonous chant of the
ings filling the wagons or the trough, a
lort, improvisated stave, and then the cho-
is-—not a tune, like the song of sailors at
le tackles and falls, but a barbaric, tuue-
ss intonation.
Florida Grass.—Dr. S. S. Mills, of
harleston, S. C, has invented and pat-
lted a machine which prepares the grass
"
the Florida Keys for rope-making.
From Quarterly Journal of Agriculture.
Country and City Life.
(Froin an Address dtUverd at the Tennessee
State Exhibition, 1858.)
BY THE LATE POSTMASTER GEN. BROWN.
In this country the farmer generally holds
an indefeasible title to the broad acres he
cultivates. He moves, proudly over nig
fields, and surveys with satisfaction the crops
which are upon them. But he will not stop
in his money making career to build his
neat cottage, or his more costly mansion, according
to his circumstances. He will not
adorn his grounds, nor plant his orchards of
delicious fruits. He will waste no time on
shrubberry and flowers. He will prepare
no healthful cistern, nor lead the gushing
fountain to his door. All is left rude, inconvenient
and uncomfortable around him,
with nothing to lure either himself or his
family away from the blandishments of some
neighboring town or city. Every farmer
and planter should make his home to him-
self and his household the dearest and loveliest
spot on earth. Though he may have
no marble palace, no rich and costly furni-
ture, no liveried servants, still, there is his
homestead beautified and adorned with
every embellishment of taste and fancy.
Who would be willing to leave such a home,
with its Arcadian bowers and its pure and
sparkling waters, for the dust and smoke of
the crowded city 1
And how strange is this passion for city
over country life which we so often encoun-
ter ! It cannot spring from any inordinate
desire to grow rich, for agriculture rewards
her followers more bountifully than any
other pursuit. It is a passion for pleasure
and display more than for riches. Some
men desire to live in palaces built in the
city, that they may be seen and admired.
They desire costly equipages, but they must
glitter in the city, attracting the admiration
of thousands who would never behold them
in the solitude of the country. The thea-
tre, the ball, and the masquerade present
their nightly attractions, whilst they are
seldom heard of in rural life. The devotee of
more questionable pleasures finds in the
city ready facilities of indulgence, which
are entirely removed in the plain and vir-
tuous organization of country society.
Whatever the motive, this preference given
by so many to city life, is productive of some
of the greatest evils of the present age. In