Exegesis

"Do you smell my mimosa? It's like angels' breath."

Mimosa is a genus of about 400 species of herbs and shrubs, in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the legume family Fabaceae.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimosa

"They don't eat up people's gardens; don't nest in corncribs; they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out."

A corn crib or corncrib is a type of granary used to dry and store corn.
After the harvest, corn, still on the cob, is placed in the crib either with or without the husk. The typical corn crib had slats in its walls. These slatted sides of the corn crib allow air to circulate through the corn, both allowing it to dry initially and helping it to stay dry. The slats expose the corn to pests, so corn cribs are elevated above the ground beyond the reach of rodents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_crib

"When the boy was in his teens, he took up with some bad ones from Old Sarum--(Front.)--probably drinking stumphole whiskey.

It's when farmers and home owners would make home made whiskey. then they would hide it in tree stumps. It was illegaly made and sold.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_stumphole_whisky

"Miss Maudie told me you broke down her scuppernong arbour this morning."

Scuppernongs are defined as a type of bronze muscadine grape. They are distinguished from the purplish muscadines by their green, amber, or bronze color. They were originally called the "big white grape." Scuppernongs are very large, about twice the size of a regular grape, with a thick, bitter skin. They are found in farmer's markets and grocery stores throughout the South in late summer and early fall.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5055443_scuppernongs-definition.html

"At Christmas there was a crate of smilax and holly."

On their own, Smilax plants will grow as shrubs, forming dense impenetrable thickets. They will also grow over trees and other plants up to 10 m high, their hooked thorns allowing them to hang onto and scramble over branches. The genus includes both deciduous and evergreen species. The leaves are heart-shaped and vary from 4-30 cm long in different species.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smilax

"My folks say that niggers oughta hang from the water tank."

A raised tank of water, such as today's water tower.

http://www.texaswindmills.com/water_tanks.htm

"Old mules hitched to Hoover carts flick flies in the shade."

"Hoover cart" -- the remains of the old tin lizzie being pulled by a mule
During part of the great depression of the 1930's when Herbert Hoover was president, many auotomobile owners could not afford gasoline to power their cars so would cut off the rear end of the vehicle, attach a tounge and pull it as a cart with either a horse or mule. Others simply took the rear end housing out of the car, built a wooden cart over the housing and pull this with a horse or mule. These carts acquired the nickname "Hoover Carts" in "honor" of President Hoover.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_hoover_cart

"At least they could cut the Johnson grass and rabbit tobacco."

Johnson grass is a tall, coarse, grass with stout rhizomes. It grows in dense clumps or nearly solid stands and can reach 8 feet (2.4 meters) in height. Leaves are smooth, 6-20 inches (15.2-50.8 cm) long, and have a white midvein. Stems are pink to rusty red near the base. Panicles are large, loosely branched, purplish, and hairy. Spikelets occur in pairs or threes and each has a conspicuous awn. Seeds are reddish-brown and nearly 1/8 inch (0.3 cm) long. Johnson grass should be accurately identified before attempting any control measures.

http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/chf/outreach/VMG/johngrass.html

Rabbit tobacco is also known as lasting, everlasting, sweet balsam, white balsam, feather-weed, and sweet cudweed. Its scientific name is Gaphalium obtusifolium. These annual herbs reach a height of 1 to 3 feet and have erect stems with brown, shriveled leaves persisting into winter and stems covered with felt-like hairs in summer. The leaves are 1 to 3 inches long, and alternate. The flowers, minute in whitish heads, appear in late summer to fall. Fields, pastures, and disturbed areas are the sites of this common native plant of the eastern United States. The Cherokee named it rabbit tobacco because they believe it was the rabbit who took attended the plant.

http://www.123helpme.com/preview.asp?id=82897

"And if Mrs. Grace sips gin out of Lydia Pinkham bottles, it's nothing unusual--her mother did the same."

Gathering Lydia E. Pinkham memorabilia probably doesn't rank very high on most collector wish lists. Nevertheless, Lydia (1819-1883) the 10th child of Rebecca and William Estes of Salem, Massachusetts was without a doubt the dominant woman of her times. Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Lloyd Garrison, Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglas and many others were not strangers to the Pinkham household. Her name, picture and medicine became world famous and they allowed her brothers, sons, and grandchildren to successfully market her vegetable compound via a 14 1/2 oz. bottle well into the 20th century.

http://www.glswrk-auction.com/025.htm