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VOLUME I. 



ROCHESTER, APRIL 2, 1831. 



NUMBER 13. 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



AND GARDENER - * JOURNAL. 



Oovotedto Agriculture, Horticulture, Domestic Econo- 

 my, &c. &c. 

 N. GOODSsXL, EDITOR. 

 Published on Saturdays, at f$2 50 per annum, 

 payable in six months, or n $2 00, it paid at the 

 time of subscribing, Dv Lcther Tucker, at 

 l lie office of the Rochester Daily Advertiser. 



COIVXiaUNIUA t IOWS. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Mr. Editor— i am pleased with the num 

 hers of your paper so far; because vou give 

 us valuable aiaterials, without regard to their 

 origin. To be original seems to be the whole 

 object of some editors. Such editors should 

 have no patrons but editors who puff them 

 for originality. Let such compliment each o- 

 ther, or quarrel about " first entries." We, 

 common folks, " ; care not a straw" whence 

 vou derive materials, provided you give us val 

 liable ones. I hate, ' fiutn my soul I halo all 

 affectation" of original materials in a periodi- 

 cal. The farmer neither knows, nor cares, 

 who first penned an article on raising peas or 

 potatoes. 



Col. A. Worthington of this county first said 

 :l sow peas about the 10ih of Juno, and they 

 will not be infected with bugs." This I pub- 

 lished in 1822. Thousands of dollars have 

 been saved by the information. But farmers 

 <!o not know that Colonel Worthington first 

 communicated the fact to me; and that I said 

 it was because the 10th of June was too late 

 for the pea-bug (Biuchus pisi) to deposit its 



Col. Worthington and mysel 1 ", (though " un- 

 noticed and unknown"; are paid by the fire- 

 side pleasure of saying to our boys and girls. 

 " we first suggested this." Vanity is vora 

 cious, but is easily fed. Now continue to give 

 us valuable materials, and pay the authors by 

 inverted commas, while you interest your sub- 

 sribers ; who (like me) care not a straw which 

 end of a comma stands uppermost, unless our- 

 selves were the original suggestors of new 

 thoughts. Then a wrong-endup comma will 

 pay us. Your friend, AMOS EATON. 



Troy, March 18,1831. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



HAMS. 



Perhaps there is no subject of equal inter- 

 est among farmers, on which there is such a 

 contrariety of opinion, as that of curing hams. 

 Almost every farmer who is fond of good 

 hams, or wishes to procure a good price for 

 them, has opinions, forms or receipts, peculiar 

 to himself, and after all, the article is seldom 

 produced in the country, much superior in 

 taste or flavor to that of common salt pork — 

 The plan which I pursue is extremely simple, 

 and, I have no hesitation in saying, produces 

 hains superior to any of the kind which I have 

 ever lasted, not excepting the celebrated hams 

 uf Virginia, or England, or the still more fa- 

 mous of Calabria. 



The hams, as soon as they are separated 

 ;Vom the body of the animal, are to be closely 

 packed in a clean, tight, common sized barrel ; 

 and to a full barrel aid a pickie. made by dis- 

 solving eight quarts of clean Liverpool salt, 

 and four ounces --alipetre, in a sufficient quan- 

 tity of rain or soft water, to covet the whole. 

 In this situation thev are to remain until re- 

 moved to the smoke-house, which should be 

 from eight to twelve weeks. 



The smoking process is to be conducted al- 

 together with cobs, or the wood of sugar ma- 

 ple (the former is prelerred) ; and when suffi- 

 ciently smoked, those that are intended for im- 

 mediate use, may be hungup in a dark garret, 

 orTt' the weather be too cool, in the sellar; as 

 freezing, particularly if often repeated, is ve- 



Lttuicn Hill, 3d mo. 25, 1831 . 



I^afh 



FUR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



I wTsh our HoriicHlttirists to believe as I do, 

 that there is no finer di.mo.tr. than that of the Gene 

 see Country. To some,! know, this declaration 

 may be startling. We have heard much of the 

 temperate seasons of Gieat Britain, and ol 

 tho glorious skies of Italy and Greece. 1 

 doubt not that those countries partake largely 

 of the bounties of a munificent Creator; bu' 

 I wish not for the long enervating summers of 

 the south, nor for the mild winters of Bruaiu 

 connected with its pale and feeble sun in sum- 

 mer. 



Hereafter I may discuss this subject more 

 at large. Many plants from warm countries 

 would mature their fruits under our genial 

 skies, and even become naturalized. could theii 

 stems endure our rigorous winters. Of this 

 kind is the fig, the pomegranate, and the caper. 

 L'y the following extract from Loudon's Enrij- 

 r.lopcilia of Plants, it appears that even at Pa- 

 ris, six degrees further north than this place, 

 ihe caper is cultivated. That our summers are 

 morn favorable will scarcely be questioned ; 

 and I have un donbt lhai the plant can repose- 

 equally safo beneath our sods in winter. 

 H D. T. 



The caper tree (Capparis spinosa)*' lias the 

 habit of the common bramble ; it grows in t lie 

 souih of Europe, especially on rocks and 

 ruins. Tho chief supply of caper buds is 

 from Sicilv ; but the plant is cultivated in the 



ry injurious. Those that are intended for 

 summer use, are to be well whitewashed with 

 lime, and when dry, wrapped in paper and 

 packed away in new dry ashes, and then set 

 in a cool dry place in the cellar. Particular 

 c ire is requisite to prevent its being heated loo 

 much, while in the smoke-house, as this is ve- 

 ry destructive to its line flavor. Q. B; 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 

 BASS MATTING. 



On reading an article in your paper of last 

 w> ek, headed Bass Matting, I took some good 

 •und basswood bark, that had been taken 

 from the tree last summer, and boiled it from 

 two to three hours in water, trying it at inter- 

 vals, to see whether its layers would separate ; 

 hut I found at the end of the boiling that its 

 adhesion was scarcely, if at all, diminished ; 

 which confirmed what I before supposed, that 

 the gum, if once dryed, becomes insoluble in 

 water ; this is well known to be the case with 

 gum copal, caouchouc, indigo, and many other 

 vegetable substances, which, by exposure to 

 the air, undergo snch chemical changes by the 

 absorption of oxygen, and perhaps some other 

 means, that water will no longer serve them as 

 a rnenstrum. 



The inner bark of the Basswood, (Tilia 

 Glttbra) however useful i: may be for various 

 purposes, is almost indispensible to every hor- 

 ticulturist in the form of strings ; and that 

 prepared frum our trees is much better than 

 what we get from Europe. To prepare it. I 

 take the bark from the trees when it will peel 

 freely, and immerse it in water immediately, 

 beng careful that every part is covered. In 

 from four to six weeks, in warm weather, the 

 inner layers will be completely loosened, and 

 fall apart on being lifted up; it may then be 

 stripped out, washed soft and pliable, having 

 a smooth and regular fibre, but as we approach 

 the outer rough bark, we find the fibres broken 

 and interrupted by the expansion of the tree, 

 forming a kind of im-guter net work, not easi- 

 ly separated. Proba^Bit may make good 

 wrapping paper, but it Spears difficult to form 

 this part into the proper state for matting, fo 

 when much force is required lo separate it 

 ihe fibres are broken, and the ribbands will be 

 of very irregular breadth. S. C. 



neighborhood of Toulon, in orchards, in the 

 intervals between fig and olive trees; and in 

 the neighborhood of Paris, where it is trained 

 on low walls, and the shoots durino winter laid 

 down and covered with soil to protect them from 

 thefrost In [England] it has stood the winter 

 in the open air in some situations, and by rai- 

 sing from the seed for severul generations 

 might probably be naturalized. A plant stood 

 near a century against the wall of the carden 

 of Camden House, Kensington; it produced 

 many flowers annually, though the young 

 -hoots were frequently killed to the slump du- 

 ring winter. 



" As a pickle, the flower iurfsofthe caper are in 

 great esteem thro'outEurope.In Italy the unripe 

 fruit is prepared in the same way as the flow- 

 er buds ; both are highly arrid and burning to 

 the taste. In ihe Isles of the Mediterranean, 

 and near Toulon, the flower buds uf the caper 

 are gathered just be fore they begin to expand, 

 which forms a daily occupation during six 

 months, when the plants are in a flowering 

 state. As the buds are gathered they are 

 thrown into a cask among as much salt and vin- 

 egar as is sufficient to cover them, and as the 

 supply of capers is increased, more vinegar is 

 added. When the caper season closes, the 

 casks are emptied, and the buds sorted accor- 

 ding to their size and colour, the smallest and 

 greenest being reckoned the best, and put into 

 small casks of fresh vinegar for commerce. They 

 will in this state keep fit for u>e five or six 

 years. The best capers are called nonpareilles, 

 and ihe second best capucines. 



" Most of the species arc very showy when 

 in flower. Ripe cuttings grow readily in 

 sand." 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



HEAVES IN HORSES. 



Take one pound and a half of good ginger, 



for a horse, give two spoonsfulls each dav 



one in the morning, and the other in the eve- 

 ning, mixed wilh wheat bran. This receipt has 

 been selling ai the eastward for $5, where the 

 efficacy of the above medicine has been pro- 

 ved in the cure of several cases of obstinate 

 heaves. K. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



SPRING. 



Winter, bleak, desolate, and dreary winter 

 has at length taken its flight. It now awaits 

 the revolution of another year. With it, its 

 chilling train, its benumbing power, its spot- 

 less garb of virgin white, and its " envious nip- 

 ping frosts," have vanished, and like an ill- 

 starred dream, it is bat held in remembrance. 

 Ii has fled to give place to the benign influence 

 of a genial sun, and now, 



"no more [cold; 



Th' oxpansive atmosphere is cramp'd with 

 But, full of life and vivifying soul, 

 Lifts the light clouds sublime, acd spreads 

 them thin, [ven." 



Fleecy and white, o'er all-snrrrounding hea- 

 The delightful season of spring has return 

 ed, that refreshing and ioviguratiug period of 

 man's existence. The regeneration of things 

 has commenced, and at its gentle coming 



" all nature then [up 



Rejoiced together glad; the flower looked 

 And smiled ; the lorest, from his locks 



shook off (birds 



The hcary frost, and clapped his hands; the 

 Awoke, and, singing, rose to meet the day." 

 The various implements of agriculture are 

 now pat in requisition and the ground is pul 

 in preparation to receive the seed. The fru- 

 gal husbandman rejoices that another season 

 has relumed, and is bestowing his energies for 

 another crop. 



The fields already begin la arrogate to tbern 

 selves their green mantle and the buds .aud 



