82 



NEW ENGLAND FARiMER, 



SEPT. 15. 1 11 



quired to make oath to the correctness of said 

 Btaleineiils. Such written statements will be de- 

 livered to the clerks on entering the animals. 



V. All animals will be examined and preiiiiums 

 awarded on the first day of the Fair, and the view- 

 ing committees will commence their inspection at ] 

 10 o'clock, A. M. No spectators will be admitted 

 to the yard, until after the viewing committees 

 have performed tlieir duties. 



VI. Implements, products, &c. will be examin- 

 ed on the second day of the Fair. Implements, 

 particularly plows, will be put to a full and accu- 

 rate test 



VII. Any inhabitant of the State will be sufTor- 

 ed to compete for premiums on animals and pro 

 ducts, and any inhabitant of the United Slums for 

 premiums on implements, on the payment of one 

 dollar, if not already mentbers of the Society. 



VIII. Viewing committees shall in all cases 

 have power to examine applicants for premiums 

 personally, when more particular or satisfactory in- 

 formation is desired. 



IX. No premium shall be awarded without a 

 competition, unless the viewing committee shall 

 deem the animal, or product, or implement exhibi- 

 ted, highly meritorious — nor in cases where there 

 is competition, utilcss they shall consider such ani- 

 mal, product or implement worthy of the same. 



X. All reports of viewing commillees shall be 

 made io writing and signed by the members assent- 

 ing thereto. 



XI. All persons intending to compete for the 

 premiums on animals, should give notice to that 

 effect on or before the 20th Sept. to Luther Tuck- 

 er, Albany ; H. S. Randall, Cortland village; M. 

 B. Bateman, Rochester, or P. N. Rust, Syracuse — 

 in order that the necessary accommodations may 

 be made for them. It is desirable, also, that those 

 who intend to compete for the prizes on imple- 

 ments, should give notice as above by the 20th 

 September. 



Q^Owners of stock throughout the State, and 

 manufacturers and patentees of agricultural and 

 horticultural implements throughout the United 

 States, are invited to present their animals and im- 

 plements. Samples of farm and garden products, 

 silk, cocoons, domestic uianufiicturcs, &.c. &.c. are 

 also solicited. 



Discretionary premiums will be awarded on ar- 

 ticles not enumerated in the prize list. 



Friini llic Albany Cullivalur. 



QUICKSILVKR A DESTROYER OF THE 

 CANKER WORM. 



.Yewport, Feb. '.^S, 1793. 

 Hon. .lusiin Ely, Esq. — I was the last evening 

 favored with yours of the I'lth inst. It is with rea 

 pleasure I communicate to you, sir, the informa- 

 tion I have had of the efficacy of quicksilver in de 

 stroying the canker worm, so destructive to our 

 apple trees. Having been informed of an instance 

 iu which the trial had a complete effect, I was in 

 duced to examine into the facts personally. I 

 waited upon the gentleman who had declared the 

 success of his experiment — a ilr AlcCurrie, a gen 

 tieman who owns and improves a good farm on 

 this island — a iiian of good observation, an excel- 

 lent farmer, and on whose credit the utmost rcli 

 ance may be had. He had several orchards, but 

 the one the experiment was made in was an old 

 orchord of very largo trees. Nine trees, the most 



central in the orchard, he bored with a spike-gim- 

 let about four or five feet from the ground, an inch 

 and a half or two inches into the tree, rather slant- 

 ing the boring downwards. He procured an ounce 

 of quicksilver from an apothecary — half an ounce 

 he inserted into one of the trees, a quarter of an 

 ounce he inserted into three irecs in equal quan- 

 tities, and the other quarter of an ounce as equally 

 as he could, he divided into five other trees. He 

 then plugged up the holes tight. This was done, 

 I think, in December. Some weeks after, he took 

 out the plug.", and found the quicksilver in the 

 same state he had put it in. He again plugged 

 up the holes, and sometime after the sap of the 

 trees had begun to ascend, he again took out the 

 plugs and found the quicksilver was gone, leaving 

 behind something like the slime of a snail. The 

 worms came as they had done the year before, and 

 totally destroyed all the verdure, &c. of all the 

 tri-es except those nine, which were in as good or- 

 der as ever they had been, and yielded their com- 

 iiion plenty of apples, about one hundred bushels. 

 The boughs of some of the nine trees interlayed, 

 and were interwoven with the branches of the oth- 

 er trees ; and he said the fruit upon them was 

 equally good, while ihe branches of the other trees 

 so iute-woven amongst them, appeared as though 

 they had been fired. The trees with the least 

 quantity of ipiickeilver were equally protected or 

 preserved as Ihe one which had half an ounce. He 

 inserted the quicksilver with a quill open at one 

 end and the side of it cut in the manner we make 

 a pen, the more readily to let the quicksilver into 

 the quill. 



As to the Palmer worms, I know nothing of 

 them; he made no complaints of them. If they 

 are a worm which always follow the other, they 

 might have been equally affected. It seems the 

 quicksilver might have been diffused by the sap to 

 the very extremes of all the ramifications of the 

 trees. 



I should think it may not yet be too late to try 

 the experiment, though I should prefer the latter 

 end of January or beginning of February, for in- 

 serting the quicksilver. Perhaps credit might be 

 given to the effect of such an experiment, by rea- 

 soning from the efiect which mercury has upon the 

 human body. But I leave that province to others, 

 whose professions and abilities are more adequate 

 to the undertaking; ever preferring facts to theo- 

 ry, and that humble track to the labyrinths of fancy 

 and imagination. At any rate, facts and success- 

 ful cxperimcnis are most encouraging to the far- 

 mer, who ought to be led by a certainty of success 

 or giiin, as too many can illy bear unsuccessful la- 

 bor or expense. I have heard of an attempt of the 

 like kind as the foregoing, made without success ; 

 but this was attributed to an improper time of in- 

 serting the quicksilver, viz : in June. 



HENRY MARCHANT. 



From the same. 



ARTIFICIAL WATERINC PLACES. 

 Messrs. Editors of tht Cultivator — Mr William 

 Robertson, of Fishkill Landing, Dutchess county, 

 one of our most successful farmers, has communi- 

 cnt(Ml to me the following mode, successfully prac- 

 ticed by himself, of supplying ivith water, fields 

 destitute of springs, ponds or rivulets. The farm 

 lately occupied by him is now in the hands of its 

 proprietor, J. 1). L. Verplank, Esq., where the wa- 

 tering places constructed by Mr R., may stilt be 



seen. The situation of the farm is upon the w hoh 

 favorable for the purpose, and the plan therefon 

 may seem to require further tests by experiment 

 before it can be considered invariably successfu' 

 He says it was an entirely accidental discovery,— T 

 he one morning found one of his calves drowned ii 

 a barrel sunk in the usual way for the purpose o 

 collecting water from a spring. The water hai 

 sunk to near the bottom of the barrel, and the ani 

 mal in reaching down for it had lost its balance 

 and falling, was unable to extricate itself. \'e.ve4 

 at his loss, he immediately ordered the cavitv t 

 be filled up ; this was accordingly done by tliro»f 

 ing in a parcel of round pebble stones, which wen 

 lying near at hand. The next day in passing bj 

 he saw to his surprise, that the water had rise: 

 over the tops of the stones, although no rain ha> 

 fallen, and the se&son had been very dry. 



The idea then struck him, (manifestly crrone 

 ous, as Ihe barrel is not water light in these cases 

 that it was similar to the raising of water ui 

 pitcher by throwing in pebbles, and lie deternmie 

 to make the experiment more complete. AccorJ 

 ingly the barrel was taken out and the hole deof 

 ened with very little appearance of water, and h 

 struck his crow-bar down so as to make .-;' ver> 

 deep holes ; he then replaced the barral, packm 

 it well around with earth, and afterwards filled i 

 the barrel as before, with the pebbles. In a shoi 

 time he had the pleasure to find the water oo/.in 

 in and gradually rising over the stones until 

 stood permanently some inches over the surriiimi 

 ing level. He repeated the trial in several oth( 

 fields, and always with snccoss, even in plict 

 where, on first digging down, tlier' 

 least appearance of moisture, much 



he considered that the appearance ^: .-, _...^. 



is of no consequence, but that water will at 

 show Itself in the barrel in all cases, and 

 nally rise 18 or 20 inches above the surfiice, a| 

 pareiitly increasing in quantiiy for & year or two 



Such is Mr Robinson's statement, and he is tul 

 entitled to our confidence, yet I do not believe th 

 this is an infallible method of obtaining water 

 every situation, strata or soil ; it nevertheli .- n 

 pears to me reasonable to suppose that it rnav pro' 

 of great service in many ploces at present i;e!.| 

 tute of water, without resorting toexpensu.' Iio 

 ing, digging wells or making artificial pond- ; tl 

 last especially, from the severity of our s. -in 

 requiring great labor and care in their en 'ru 

 tion, to prevent their being nflbctcd by iV.i.-ts i 

 drought. 



I do not know whether the followin 

 tions will throw any light on the rationale of 

 simple process, which at first sight appears sea 

 ly entitled to notice. The driest soil [l 

 ance completely dessieated) nevertheless n n 

 some moisture, quickly attracts more from ih 

 mospherc, and, if collected, from u large li I 

 earth, it would form a considerable rill. Ii 

 suppose one drop gradually to distil and r. 1! 

 into the excavation, its full and its attracln i. 

 put in motion the next particle and the next, 

 so on as long as there are particles to be alTec 

 and this takes place not only in one right line, 

 extends in every direction : nt first only those lio 

 towards the aperture which are in a hon.' mti 

 plane with the upper level of the vessel, but by 

 grees the higher strata are affected, and their pi 

 sure from above in a tight vessel or tube (for 

 sides of the barrel become tight by the prc«»| 

 ami packing of the earth and the swelling of 



111! I 



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