Vol. 1.— No. 8. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



61 



though there are not more than from ten to fif- 

 teen days in the reason, that are favorable for 

 the running of the sap. During this time, a 

 man armed as above, will make about six htm- 

 Jrod pounds, worth nine cents per pound, or 

 $54. 



The cost of two hundred buckets, made 

 suitably for this purpose, would be aboot$20 — 

 two kettles for boiling, about $15 — making an 

 outfit of $35. 



Thus with the small expense of thirty-five 

 dollars, in apparatus which will last 10 years, 

 tor which we will allow ten per cent, which 

 added to the simple interest, would make the 

 annual interest of about six dollars, which ad- 

 ded to twenty-four dollars, as the wages of the 

 man and horse, would amount to $30. 



Thus for the amount of thirty dollars, a far- 

 mer who has plenty of maple trees, may fur- 

 nish himself with six hundred pounds of su- 

 gar, equal to the best West India, provided 

 the operation is well conducted. Thus it ap- 

 pears that the cost of maple sugar would be 

 but five cents per pound, which is mostly paid 

 in labor, and can be done in most lamilies ea 

 sier than to pay one half that sum in cash. — 

 We hope those farmers who have not been in 

 the habit of making their own sugar, will think 

 the subject of sufficient magnitude to give it 

 a fair trial, which would make a great saving 



to Old Genesee. 



TERMINOLOGY. 



Herb — a plant destitute of a woody stem. 



Herbarium— a book in which specimens of 

 plants are kept. 



Imperfect — a flower which does not contain 

 both stamens and pistils is imperfect. 



Irritability— the contractile motion of plants. 



Leafing season — that time when leaves make 

 their appearance. 



Lurid — of a pale, dull, deathly color. 



Midrib— the middle rib of the leaf running 

 irom the stem to the apex. 



Nectary — that part of a flower which con- 

 tains honey. 



Palmate — spreading like the hand. 



Pcifect flower — huving both stamens and pis- 

 tils. 



Phytology— treating of the principles of ve- 

 getables. 



Plant — any substance growing from seed.. 



Pulpy — filled with a tenaceous kind of Pa- 

 renchyma. 



Raceme — arranged like a bnnch of grapes. 



Radicle— Small roots. 



Runner — a side horizontal shoot, producing 

 young plants- 



Serate — notched like a saw. 



QUESTIONS FOR FARMERS* 



-Have you got your wood cut and piled up 

 uir next summer? — examined your bees? got 

 your buckets ready for making sngai — and 

 spouts for tapping the trees ? drawn your logs 

 '.o the sawmill? racked off your cider — and 

 bunged your casks tight? put your hams in 

 the smoke house ? threshed out all your grain? 

 assorted your potatoes in the cellar ? felled 

 your trees for rails ? collected your cions for 

 grafting in the spring ? repaired your carts, 

 ploughs and harrows? seltled with all your 

 , mechanics? dressed out your flax? taken a 

 toad of wood to the poor ? — If you have done 

 :jjl these things, you have done well. 



tVOAD. 



Rochester, Feb. 4, 1831. 

 Messrs. Editors— In the New England 

 Farmer of the 28th ult. 1 observed an inquiry 

 from a committee of the Pennsylvania Horti- 

 cultural Society, on the culture of madder, ba- 

 rilla and woad.' In 1826, I received a letter 

 from Mr. \Vm. Partridge, of New York, on the 

 culture and properties of woad, which I send 

 you for publication, in the Genesee Farmer. — 

 Mr. Partridge is a practical man, and author of 

 a valuable treatise on dying, and which I think 

 also treats on the cultivation of madder. 



I am, respectfully, &c. O. W. 



As the Want of room forbids our copying the 

 letter at full length, we mako the following ex- 

 tracts : 



"Your iuquiries relative to the woad plant 

 induces me to believe that yon have an inten- 

 tion of raising it. A considerable quantity of 

 that plant has been raised in different parts of 

 America, both by individuals for personal use, 

 and by cultivators for a market ; but those who 

 have engaged in it have been ignorant of wliat 

 ought to be performed to insure a good ariicle, 

 and American woad is consequently in disre- 

 pute. Our market has been supplied mostly 

 from England. German and French ball-woad 

 has been imported to some extent, but owin 

 to its being in a different state from the Eng 

 lish, few of our workmen can use it, and for 

 want of sales the importation is stopped. Woad 

 is valuable in proportion to the coloring matter 

 it contains, and as a fermentative medium to 

 bring the indigo used with it to a state of de- 

 oxidizement. To perform the latter, any ve- 

 getable equally succulent, worked up in the 

 same way would answer as well as woad. Its 

 principal value, therefore, consists in the 

 quantity of blue coloring feculaa contained in 

 the plant. 



"To obtain this disideratum, woad must bo 

 raised on a rich soil, not a soil that has been 

 enriched by manure, but a naturally strong, 

 rich soil ; unless this can be obtained, it wouid 

 be useless to make the attempt. Twenty a- 

 cresof such land, divided into three parts, one 

 third to be cropped every year would af- 

 ford a pretty plentiful supply for the present 

 market. Land will not bear more than two 

 crops of woad in succession, notbecanse it is 

 weakened by cropping, but because after the 

 second crop the land becomes so filled with 

 white grubs, as to destroy the plants raised on 

 it. 



" Upon good land, two tons of woad can be 

 raised on an acre — i. e. two tons when couch- 

 ed, by which process the weight is increased 

 about twenty per cent." 



The writer then proceeds to a description 

 of the mode of rearing and preparing the plant 

 for use, &c. 



This plant was brought into notice by the 

 ingenuity of Bonaparte during his reign, in or- 

 der to render the nation independent of others 

 for dying materials, and was shortly after in- 

 troduced into English manufactories; but Lou- 

 don, a late English writer, of high repute, in 

 speaking of it says, " At present it is to be 

 considered moro as a matter of curioos histo- 

 torical information, or of local adoption, (han 

 of general utility ; beoause no mode of cul- 

 tivating or preparing woad could bring it into 

 competition, either in the European or Ameri- 

 can rrrarfcetwilh inttigo. 



DUTCH SPINKA6.E. 



This is a hardy perennial plant, a native of 

 Italy, and introduced into the gardens in Eng- 

 land in 1573. It is a valuable plant, and should 

 be found in every garden. We introduced 

 this plant into several gardens, in this neigh- 

 borhood, in 1825, and yet the plant is not gen. 

 orally known. 



In growth and habit, it greatly resembles 

 the common narrow leaved dock, which is so 

 troublesome in rich meadows. The leaves, 

 however, are much larger and more succulent. 

 It is easily cultivated from seed sowed in the 

 spring, in rows, or beds ; and if a row is sow 

 ed by the south side of a fence, it will increase 

 its precocity. Cover the plants in the fall with 

 litter, or stable manure, which should be re- 

 moved as soon as the frost is out of the ground 



in the spring, as the plants vegetate early. 



The leaves should be gathered and dressed 

 like other spinnage dishes, over which it has 

 the advantage of being more easily cultivated, 

 and not inferior in flavor. 



If sowed in rows, the plants may be allowed 

 to stand within four or six inches of each oth- 

 er in the row ; and this is like most other spin- 

 nage plants, in one respect — the more thrifty 

 the plant the better the leaves. Its leaves 

 will be fit for use early in May, and will scn- 

 tinue good for one month. 



SEA«KAIjE-«C7hj»iJ£ Maritima, L. 

 William H. Adams, Esq. Vice President of 

 the Domestic Horticultural Society of the 

 western part of New York, called at our office, 

 on the 19th, and politely offered to send us a 

 box of the Sea-kale; and also some Alpine 

 strawberries, for the Monroe Horticultural So- 

 ciety. These will be forwarded on the open- 

 ing of the canal, as a present from the above 

 named gentleman. Nolice of their arrival 

 will be given, that they may be distributed to 

 the members. 



As the cultivation of this plant is not gener- 

 ally known in this section, we subjoin the fol- 

 lowing : 



The Sea-Kalo is a hardy perennial, which 

 has been cultivated in the gardens of Europe; 

 for the last hundred years. It is found grow- 

 ing, wild, on the sea coasts, in England, and 

 some other parts of Europe. The inhabitants 

 of those countries where it is a native, have 

 been in the habii of gathering the young shoots 

 of this plant for boiling, from time immemoik 

 al ; and it is now ranked among the luxuries' of 

 the garden. The young shoots are blanched 

 by inverting a box, or some other convenient 

 article, (which shall exclude the light,) over 

 them, when they begin to vegetate, which is 

 early in the spring ; by which means the young 

 shoois become as crisp as asparagus, to which 

 many prefer it, when dressed in the same man- 

 ner. In its growth, when young, the leaves 

 bear the greatest resemblance to cabbage, be, 

 ing covered with a beautiful bloom. As the 

 stalk increases in height, the leaves become 

 smaller, and indented, the flowers are white and 

 fragrant, the seeds are produced in pods,whicli 

 are round, and of the size of a pea, contain- 

 ing but one seed each. It is raised from seed, 

 also propagated bv offsets from old roots, which 

 row very readily ; and as those who have at- 

 tsmpted to raise the young plants from seeds 

 procurer! from Neiy York, have almost invati 



