No. 8. Planting Corn. — To take Honey. — Cure for Warts. 



259 



In conversation on the subject, at the 

 Agricultural Society, a gentleman asked, 

 "Have you ever thought what effect chips 

 and rotten wood might have, as a remedy 

 for the disease on pears and apples'! My 

 reason for making the inquiry is, I made 

 my wood pile close to a forlorn apple tree 

 that bore miserable fruit. It has since borne 

 remarkably fine." 



This brought to mind, the great quantities 

 of fine fruit produced in this part of Jersey, 

 years back, when the soil had much vege- 

 table matter, not quite decomposed; also the 

 fine apples that have arrived in our towns 

 from the western part of the State of New 

 York, the last season ; the land of which is 

 still full of undecayed vegetable matter. 

 These statements give rise to the following 

 questions: Is the acid produced by the de- 

 caying vegetable matter, essential to the 

 apple tree 1 Or is the open state of the 

 soil of a new country, the cause of the 

 thrifty state of the trees and excellence of 

 the fruit] 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Planting Corn. 



Messrs. Editors, — As your valuable pa- 

 per seems to be a depository for hints for the 

 improvement of farmers, I thought I would 

 refer to my mode of farming corn, which 

 you can make such use of, as you think 

 proper. 



Immediately after planting, I go over the 

 ground with a large harrow, to level it. 

 This I find a great advantage, in regard to 

 economy of time, as with the large harrow 

 the work can be better done, in one-fourth 

 the time it will take to go twice in the row, 

 with the common scraper. There is an ad- 

 vantage too, in doing it immediately after 

 the corn is planted, for the ground soon gets 

 a crust on it, when it does not break up so 

 nicely. And if it is left till the corn comes 

 up, a boy is then wanted to uncover; a job 

 which is seldom well done. And the ground 

 too being entirely level, you may afterwards 

 work much nearer the corn. I have also 

 found it an excellent plan to pass over the 

 ground after the harrow, with a light roller. 

 It makes the earth compact around the corn, 

 and hastens its sprouting. Further, I would 

 say, drop plenty of grains in a hill — it is far 

 better to pull up, than to replant. 



s. c. w. 



Chester county, Pa., Feb. 20th, 1843, 



To TAKE GREASE OUT OF SILK. Apply a 



little powdered magnesia on the wrong side, 

 as soon as the spot is discovered. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



To take Honey. 



Messrs. Editors, — Believing it to be our 

 duty to communicate any information we may 

 possess, in regard to subjects of general in- 

 terest, I beg leave, through the columns of 

 your widely extended and useful paper, to 

 give what I consider an important discovery 

 in the management of bees, an improvement 

 that supercedes the necessity of the brim- 

 stone match — a resort both cruel and unne- 

 cessarily destructive, as I will endeavour to 

 show. The method is simply this, — in au- 

 tumn, when you think your bees have done 

 their best, instead of killing them, put them 

 out to board with their neighbours. This is " 

 very easily done in the following manner : 

 place the hive you wish to take, close by 

 one you wish to keep over ; raise the edge 

 of each a little, so that the bees can pass 

 easily from one to the other ; slightly raise 

 the top of the hive you wish to take the 

 honey from, and puff in smoke pretty freely 

 for a few minutes, and the work is complete. 

 The bees will take refuge in the neighbour- 

 ing hive, and you have all their labour of 

 the summer. The two families will be 

 found to agree well, and to subsist on what 

 one would have devoured ; and will throw 

 off earlier and larger swarms in the spring. 

 If any doubt the above, I can assure them, 

 "there is no mistake," as the plan has been 

 fully tested by myself and others for two or 

 three years, and found to succeed admirably. 

 Bee owners will do well to drive all their 

 poor hives in this way, if for no other pur- 

 pose than to save their lives; they are not 

 so likely to be attacked by the moth as when 

 they are but few and weak. Bees should 

 never have much of a stock of honey on 

 hand in the* spring — they will not do so 

 well ; having no place to deposit eggs, they 

 will not raise young bees soon enough for 

 early swarms, which always do the best. 

 Should you think these hints worthy of a 

 place in your Cabinet, place them there. 

 Respectfully, 



JOSIAH C0WLE8. 



Hamptonville, N. C, Feb. 23d, 1843. 



Cure for Warts. — In our paper of Janu- 

 ary 8th, we published a recipe for curing 

 warts. Mr. H. M. Sanborn, of Brookline, 

 called on us the other day to say, that he 

 had cured all the warts on the hands of his 

 son, by the use of the means therein recom- 

 mended. That is, he scraped a carrot and 

 salted the scrapings for a poultice, which he 

 bound on the boy's hand on his retiring to 

 rest. This was several nights repeated. 

 — Mass. Ploughman. 



