602 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



often founcl, when we went to thrash, our oats cut 

 and cleaned by ihem, and the straw rendered un- 

 fit for any purpose whatever, except the subser- 

 vient one of htier. 



But every evil has a cure: and I have found 

 "common elder" to be a common prevenlive,antl 

 have tesied its properties a^i an anti-rai appli- 

 cation. When the grain is to be packed away, I 

 scatter a ihw of the younij branches over every 

 layer of bundles, heino; mindful to have them in 

 greatest abundance on the edges of the pile. The 

 drying of the twigs will give the grain an odor not 

 relished by llic vermin — which scent in no wise de- 

 tracts from the quality of tlie straw I'or liorses, as 

 it makes no sort of difference with them. I have 

 tried it successfully, a number of years, in wheat, 

 oats and corn. 



Kor tlio Farmers' Register. 

 GENUrPTK MORUS niULTICAULIS. NOT EX- 

 EMPT FROBI THE DEPREDATIONS OP IN- 

 SECTS. 



" October I8th, 1838. 



As Mr. Gideon B. Smith seems to be considered, 

 by yourself and others, the best authority in re- 

 gard to the multicaulis mulberry, there are two 

 assertions in his communication in your last Re- 

 gister, which induce me to fear that I, who am 

 one of the humbugged class, may have been buy- 

 ing the wrong sort. Mr. Smith says, " the 

 leaves, when llill grown on the vigorous wood, 

 are 12 to 15 inches in length, and 10 to 13 wide." 

 Now, after inspecting many hundred bushes of 

 the kmd I have purchased, which had all the ap- 

 pearance of vigorous growth, I have seen no 

 leaf much, if any more than half that size. It is 

 true, I did not apply my rule, but my eyes could 

 not so far deceive me. 



Again— Mr. Smith asserts, as "a remarkable 

 fact, that all the species and varieties of mulberry 

 tree are exempt from the depredations of all in- 

 sects, except the silk-worm." He farther states, 

 that, "during ten years that he had been a close 

 and daily observer of the niorus multicaulis par- 

 ticularly, he never saw an insect of any kind upon 

 it." Since I know, from many years' observa- 

 tion, that he is mistaken in what he assumes to be 

 a fact — at least so far as our native varieties, and 

 the English mulberry, cultivated in our Gardens, 

 are concerned— I hope he is so in refrard to the 

 multicaulis, also. If he is not, then liave I an 

 additional reason to fijar, that my purchase is not 

 of the genuine kind : for, the few plants saved of 

 a small trial made last spring, have their stems 

 and many of their leaves now nearly covered 

 whh numerous small, greenish-colored 'buffs, that 

 seem quite as much at home as if they we're in 

 their native domicil. We have been dosing them 

 with soap-suds to kill or drive them off: bul have 

 not yet ascertained how the phvsic will work. It 

 is probable, however, that it will be effectual '; for 

 these little depredators appear to be the same spe- 

 cies which often infest our rose-bushes, and which 

 are easily destroyed or driven away, either by 

 soap-suds, or soot and water. This last mixture 

 by the way, is an excellent thing, if not made too 

 strong, for accelerating the growth of ail garden- 

 vegetables, especially where the ground has not 

 been fully manured. I remain, 



Your friend and constant reader, J. M. G." 



An editorial note, attached to the passage referred 

 to above, stated another exception to the general rule 

 which Mr. Smith had given as the result of his ex- 

 perience. That note drew from him the following 

 passage of one of his private letters : 



" 1 am much surprised at your note, [page 

 431, No. 7,] relative to the caterpillars devour- 

 ing the multicaulis, and thank you for it. It is 

 the first instance I ever heard of, and I fear it is 

 the forerunner of a terrible calamity to the cause 

 of the silk-culture in this country. I never heard 

 of these insects touching any species of mulberry 

 before ; and as they never quit any kind of trees 

 after they once begin upon them, I much fear 

 they will extend their depredations to the mul- 

 beiTy generally ; and if they do, it will be a sad 

 drawback upon the business. But five years ago, 

 our elms, [in Baltimore,] that had stood un- 

 touched by any insect for ages, were first observed 

 to be infected by a small caterpillar ; the insects 

 increased every year, until in the last two years, our 

 once stately and, as ornamental trees, entirely une- 

 qualled elms, have been entirely stripped of foliage, 

 as though a deadly blast of fire had passed 

 through them. Last year, the beautiful lindens 

 were first visited by the same insect, and now we 

 expect them also to share the fate ot^ the elms." 



We presume, that our friend, J. M. G., need not 

 distrust the genuine character of his plants, merely 

 because of the smaller size of the leaves. The sizes 

 spoken of by Mr. Smith, were the largest, and not 

 meant as usually found, on any but very luxuriant 

 growth. No one who has once noticed the multicau- 

 lis, can mistake it for any other kind of mulberr}' 

 tree ; and, therefore, the person who furnished to our 

 correspondent his original stock, could not have given 

 a wrong kind, unless wilfully, and by designed decep- 

 tion. — Ed. Far. Reg. 



INQUIRIES IN REGARD TO KEEPING SWEET 

 POTATOES. 



To tlie Editor of tlie Farmers' Register. 



Can you inform us through your November 

 No. how to preserve sweet potatoes through the 

 winter? Should they be gathered before a single 

 frost, or after one has fallen to kill the vines 1 I 

 am inclined to think that the error is in suffering 

 them to remain in the earth until a frost; and 

 hence the difficulty of keeping them has arisen 

 with U8. Some of your correspondents in the 

 lovver districts, could inlbrm you, as I have often 

 seen large supplies from them in the spring, in a 

 very perlect state. C. H. M. 



SOAKING SEED CORN IN SALTPETRE WATER. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



I am utterly astonished at the simple fact — 

 " truly simple, in one sense of the word, " stated 

 in your last No. by Mr. Massey, of New York, 

 as " one of the greatest discoveries of modern 



