348 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



May 16, 1S32. 



Selections. 



From the Naturalist. 



THE CRANBERRY. 



The cranberry, which is so much esteemed in 

 tarts, is a native of the turfy, iiiossy boirs, in the 

 mountainous and fenny parts of Europe, New Hol- 

 land and xVmerica, flowering from Jlay to July. 

 Few plants are more elegant. Its wiiy, shrubby 

 stems, creep among the bog moss with long, branch- 

 ing, fibrous roots, which often appear to imbibe 

 nourishment from the clear water alone. 



There are four species of cranberry enumerated 

 in the Hortus Britannicus, the most important of 

 which are the long-fruited cranberry, Oxycoccus 

 macrocarpus, and tlie red-fruited craul>erry, Oxy- 

 coccus enjlhrocarpus, both indigenous to the United 

 States. They are the produce of damp swampy 

 lands only ; but the idea that they will not bear 

 transplanting is erroneous, for they have been trans- 

 planted from this country to England, and pro- 

 duced fruit beyond enlcidation. Mr H. Hall, of 

 Barnstable, Mass. has been engaged for twenty 

 years or more in the cultivation of this fruit ; and 

 his grounds have averaged for the last ten years, 

 seventy bushels per acre, and some seasons he has 

 had one hundred bushels. Mr F. A. Haydcn, of 

 Lincoln, Mass. gathered from his farm last year 

 four hundred bushelfe of cranberries, which he sold 

 in this city for six hundred dollars. It is well 

 known that cranberries are capable of being trans- 

 planted to Europe, without sufliering by the voy- 

 age. American cranberries are frequently sold in 

 London at eight dollars a bushel, as fresh as when 

 first gathered from the marshes. This informa- 

 tion may be worth the attention of those who have 

 marshy or brook land, as a matter of profit ; and 

 to those who have ornamental water in their gar- 

 dens or parks, it would be found an enihellishment 

 to the banks, it being an elegant little fruit on the 

 ground, where it trails and spangles the ground 

 with red and variegated berries. 



Cranberries are of an astringent quality and es- 

 teemed good to restore the appetite. They were 

 formerly imagined elficacious in preventing pesti- 

 lential diseases. 



Cranberries may be preserved perfect for sev- 

 eral years, merely by drying them a little in the 

 sun, and then stopping them closely in dry bottles 

 The red-fruited cranberry yields a juice which has 

 been employed to stain paper or linen, purple. — 

 These berries are of great value and importance 

 for diflferent culinary and well-known purposes, 

 as in pies, tarts, &c. 



Cranberries may all be raised from seeds or off- 

 set root suckers, creeping roots and trailing root- 

 ing stalks. Those also growing with several root- 

 ed stalks and branches, may be divided in the 

 root and top into separate plants, in which way 

 they succeed very well. The seeds should be 

 sown, where that method is pursued, in autumn, 

 as soon as they are ripe and gathered, in a shady 

 border or in the places where the plants are to grow 

 and remain ; and when the young plants are up 

 they should'lje kept clean, and be removed with 

 earth about their roots, as there may be occasion. 

 The off-sets and root-plants may be set out in the 

 same season, in a soil resembling that in which 

 they naturally grow. It may hkewise be advise- 

 able, in many cases, to take the plants from their 

 natural situations with balls of earth about their 

 roots. Some, however, succeed in the common 



borders and other ])arts. They may in some ca- 

 ses be removed in the spring season, but the other 

 is the better way. 



TO DESTROY RATS. 



3Ir Goodsell; — In your pajier of January 28, 

 your correspondent, Ulmus, complains bitterly of 

 the depredations and trespasses of the rats, upon 

 his properly. He is welcome to my experience 

 on the subject, without the i-eward or inducement 

 of a patent right held out by him. 



About the year 180-3, I removed on to a farnv 

 near Savanna, in the Slate of Georgia, where I 

 was very much annoyed with rats, which in that 

 climate harbor in the woods in immense numbers, 

 and are drawn in swarms round every out building 

 where they are Ukely to get food. I tried arsenic 

 in every form mentioned by Ulraus and many oth- 

 ers, but all was without any effect. At last I pro- 

 cured a quart of opened oysters, to which I added 

 about an ounce of arsenic, stewed them well to- 

 gether ; then divided them, two or three oysters in 

 each separate shell, and jilaced them under and 

 about the house. The oysters all disappeared in 

 about fifteen or twenty minutes. In the course 

 of two or three days after this, I observed several 

 rats very much swelled and their hair rough and 

 standjng ; but I have no recollection of seeing a 

 single dead rat, nor were they materially thinned 

 about the out-house ; from which I conclude that 

 arsenic, although it may sicken, will not destroy 

 rats. 



The ensuing spring, I was troubled with im- 

 mense flocks of a bird called a Corbeau, in size 

 between our large corn black-bird and the crow. 

 These with the field rats and the squirrels, threat- 

 ened to destroy, totally, my cornfield and garden. 

 I procured two ounces of }ii(.r vomica, which 1 

 bruised or poimded in an iron mortar and then 

 added t«o or three quarts of hot water, let it stand 

 to soak all night. In the morning I took about a 

 peck of corn and poured the water from the mix 

 vomica on it, and lift it to soak till near sundown. 

 Towards evening I scattered the corn all around 

 the fences, and crossed the fields from corner to 

 corner, scattering a little of the corn as I went. 

 After which I had no further trouble with the 

 birds, no one of them venturing to alight on the 

 field after that day. I found a number of dead rats 

 and squirrels near the fences. Such is the results 

 of my experience, and if it will be of any benefit 

 to Ulmus or any other of your readers, I shall feel 

 myself snfiiciently paid for any trouble in commu- 

 nicating the same. I remain yours, 



R. M. WILLIAMS. 



Middlesex, Feb. 19, 1832. 



From the New York Farmer. 



ZINC WARE. 



At a regular meeting of the Albany Institute, 

 held the 28th ult. Dr T. Ron;eyn Beck read a pa- 

 per on the danger to health in employing articles 

 manufactured from Zinc, for culinary and domes- 

 tic purposes. The author stated, that his atten- 

 tion had been recently called to the subject, from 

 the fact, that articles of zinc ware are at present 

 advertised as well adapted for cooking rice and all 

 kinds of sweetmeats ; also for the dairy, being re- 

 commended as producing from twenty to twenty- 

 five per cent more cream or butter, than any other 

 way, and for preserving butter sweet, &c. 



The patentee, (if his patent be tenable,) could 

 not have been aware, that this subject had been 

 made a matter of investigation with European gov- 

 ernments, and the result a most unfavorable one. 



The following are among the facts stated in cor- 

 roboration of this assertion : — 



The French government, in 1813, were desirous 

 of su.bstituting zinc canteens in the army, instead 

 of tinned ones, as neater and more durable. Pre- 

 vious to introducing them, the minister of war re- 

 ferred the subject to the following eminent chem- 

 ists and medical men : Chaussier, Gay Lussac, 

 Tlienard and Chisel.' They reported against their 

 use most decidedly, and for the following (amongst 

 other) reasons : Zinc is readily and powerfully 

 corroded by vinegar. Conunon urine dissolves a 

 portion of it, with a disengagement of hydrogen 

 gas. Even water, standing a consideiable time in 

 vessels of zinc, acquired a disagreeable taste, and 

 by its oxygen dissolved a portion and formed an 

 oxide. [An abstract of this report, is contained in 

 the New York Medical Reports, vol. 17, p. 188.] 



During the same year, both the ministers of War 

 and of the Interior, referred the subject of zinc 

 vessels for culinary purposes, to the French Insti- 

 tute. The report was unfavorable. Cuvicr says, 

 tluy found " that zinc was loo soluble even in the 

 weakest acids, in fat and even in water ; that the 

 sails which it form^are too acrid, and in certain 

 cases, act too violently on the intestines to allow 

 the employment of the metal for any such purpo- 

 ses, without inconvenience. Say found, that even 

 distilled water kcjit in vessels of zinc, acquireil a 

 decided styptic taste, and that the juices of fruits, 

 wIm'u boiled in similar vessels, dissolve a portion 

 of them and form a suflicient quantity of salt to 

 render their taste disagreeable." [Annals of Phi- 

 losophy, edited by P. Thompson, 4, 310.] 



Proust, an eminent Spanish chemist, was about 

 the same time ordered by his government to in- 

 vestigate this subject. His report, which is a 

 very elaborate one, fortified by numerous experi- 

 ments, is equally unfavorable. It may bo found 

 in the first series of the English Repository of 

 Arts. 



The medical faculty of Paris requested V'auque- 

 lin and Deycux to examine this subject. They 

 fiiiind, besides the efr'ects of vinegar and water, 

 already mentioned, that citron juice on being boiled 

 in zinc vessels, dissolved the metal and formed a 

 salt. Common salt in solution, furnished a liquor 

 which, on being tested, gave a precipitate of oxide 

 of zinc. Even butler heated in a zinc sauce-pan 

 destroyed the polish of the vessel, and a small hole 

 was formed in its bottom. It is therefore impossi- 

 ble, they remark, to employ it for kitchen utensils, 

 without incurring the hazard of its being united, 

 either in the state of oxide or salt, with domestic 

 viands. 



After reading these authorities, Dr B. submitted 

 to ihe members, whether the experiment of intro- 

 ducing such vessels in this country, should not be 

 discountenanced. He exhibited a zinc kettle in 

 which about a gill of vinegar bad stood for two 

 days in the cold air. The acid had become dark 

 and colored, and bitter to the taste ; and the sur- 

 face of the vessel where it had restedHiad o.xidized. 

 Here no heat had been applied. What then must 

 be the result where sweetmeats are prepared in 

 ihem, all of which contain more or less acid? — 

 The same remark mu.st undoubtedly apply to a 

 suflicient extent, to all other articles proposed to 

 be kept in zinc vessels. 



