220 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



July 16, 183 i 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



" If brush'd from Russian wilds, a cutting gale 



Rise not, and scatter from his humid wings 



The clammy mildew ; or, dry blowing, breathe 



Untimely/ros/, before whose baleful blast [shrinks 



The full-blown Spring through all her foliage 



Joyless and dead, a wide dejected waste. 



For oft, engendered by the hazy North, 



Myriads on myriads, insect armies warp 



Keen in the poisoned breeze ; and wasteful cut 



Through buds and bark, into the blackened core 



Their eager way. A feeble race, yet oft 



The sacred sons of Vengeance ; on whose course 



Corrosive famine waits and kills the year. 



To check this plague, the skilful farmer, chaff 



And blazing straw before his orchard, burns ; 



Till all involved in smoke, the latent foe 



From every cranny suffocated falls : 



■Or scatters o'er the blooms, the pungent dust 



Of pepper, fatal to the frosty tribe : 



Or, when the envenom'd leaf begins to curl 



With sprinkled water drowns them in their nest : 



Nor while they pick them up with busy bill 



The little trooping birds unwisely scares." 



The foregoing extract from Thompson gives a 

 ■rery curious view of the notions prevalent in Brit- 

 ain one century ago, in regard to insects. As the 

 editor of the Genesee Fanner has visited that 

 land and scrutinized its rural economy, perhaps he 

 would be willing to say whether pepper ! or 

 smoke! or water! is still employed for their ex- 

 pulsion ? 



Many observers, 



" "When the envenom'd leaf begins to curl," 

 ascribe it to the irritation of insects ; and indeed, 

 they are often supported in this opinion by the 

 presence of such depredators, who take shelter in 

 its cavities ; yet it appears in most if not in all 

 rases that the wrinkling of the leaf is caused by 

 frost, which ruptures the sap vessels. After the 

 snow which occurred on the ninth of last month, 

 the leaves of the peach trees assumed a singular, 

 fungus-like appearance, and many are now drop- 

 ping from the trees ;* but I observe that such as 

 have since grown on the same branches, are quite 

 smooth and healthy. 



That this damage has not been caused by in- 

 sects, I infer 



1st. From the change being so sudden and gen- 

 eral, and so unlike the progressive works of the 

 insects of our country. 



2d. From the comparatively small number of 

 insects that can be found among the leaves even 

 by microscopic inspection. 



3d. From the smooth and healthy leaves which 

 have since protruded from the branches. We 

 Could not expect this immediate recovery from 

 trees over-run with insects, for where these obtain 

 all possession, things generally go on from bad 

 (p worse. 



We may remark that the ymmg peach when 

 encased in the culi/.r, is hardier than the leaves. — 

 Sometimes the wild plum however,assumts a fun- 

 jus form, not very dissimilar to the leaves of the 

 peach. 



To our horticulturists I would recommend the. 

 example of the British farmer in treating with 

 kindness " the little troooping birds." On the 

 scund policy of this course of proceeding, much 

 might be said. There arc but comparatively few 

 species of birds that damage us as much as they 



* All those have liace dropped, and onr treat h.1110 an 



*:"rv new and sTnvajh foliage. C iuo. 25, IKJl. 



benefit us ; and every principle of equity and emo- 

 tion of benevolence ought to interfere in favour of 

 many kinds which our sportsmen slaughter with- 

 out mercy, and for no worthier a purpose than 

 that of Esop's boys who pelted the frogs in the 

 pond. 



We are greatly in want of a Book for Chil- 

 dren, in which shall be figured and described all 

 our common Birds, with an account of their man- 

 ners, migrations, food and usefulness ; to be enli 

 vened by particular anecdotes of their affection 

 for their mates and for their young. From such 

 a work not even the owls should be excluded, for 

 though some species occasionally invade the hen 

 roost, others are free from the charge, and all 

 greatly assist in diminishing the number of mice 

 The impressions that such a Book would make 

 on the tender mind would be durable, and by im- 

 planting germs of mercy and kindness, would el 

 evate and ennoble the character. D. T. 



6 mo. 8, 1S31. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



The following remarks on the subject of lightning 

 rods, taken from an old paper, are well worth the 

 attention of the farmers of Old Genesee. They 

 are at your service. NATH. SMITH. 



GorAam, June 207A, 1831. 



Lightning rods are generally made and 

 put up by persons wholly unacquainted with 

 the principles of electricity, and what is ne- 

 cessary to constitute a safe conductor. I 

 shall therefore, endeavor to give some di- 

 rections for the information of those who 

 are unacquainted with the subject, and have 

 not the means of information. The rod 

 should be made of round iron, at least three 

 quarters of an inch in diameter, and when 

 it can be done, instead of linking, it should 

 be smoothly welded together ; but when by 

 reason of its length or otherwise,it is inconve- 

 nient to weld the whole rod, let it be smooth- 

 ly connected by screwing the end of one 

 part into the end of another. There should 

 be five or more points, one in the centre, 

 perpendicular, and the others oblique. They 

 should be filed to a sharp slender point, and 

 lipped with silver. The points should be el- 

 evated at least six feet above the highest 

 part of the building. The bottom of the 

 rod should go into the earth six or seven feet, 

 ind terminate in a bed of two or three bush- 

 els of wet charcoal The wet coal covered 

 with earth will probably retain dampness 

 longer than any other substance. A con 

 ductor constructed and put up agreeably to 

 the above directions, will perfectly secure 

 a building for twenty feet on every side. — 

 When a building is more than 40 feet long 

 for perfect security there should be two or 

 more rods, calculating one rod for every 

 forty feet. The whole expense of one rod 

 for a two story building, including the sil- 

 vering the points, will not exceed $10. 



SILK WORMS 

 Are raising on Scotland neel, N. C. ; the silk 

 is reeled and twisted by the inmates of a genteel 

 famil y, and appears equal to imported. 



Flies. The best remedy against being plagu- 

 ed and pestered with the common House Fly is, 

 to close your rooms from June to October, — and 

 buy sparingly at market ; better fir than, all the 

 FryttPps incrcafioir. 



From tha New-England Farmer. 



PRESERVATION OF SWEET POTATOES, AP* 



PLES, SQUASHES, &IC 



Mr. Fessenden— Many experiments ha- 

 ving been tried in the vicinity of Boston to 

 preserve the sweet potato slips through the 

 winter without success, I have thought the 

 following observations may be acceptable to 

 some of your readers. 



After digging my sweet potatoes last fall, 

 I packed a quantity of the slips down in a 

 barrel with waste cotton, as is obtained at 

 the cotton factories for making into coarse 

 paper and batting, (at two cts. per lb.) with 

 a layer of cotton and a layer of slips alter- 

 nately, and then placed them away in a warm 

 room, which we keep from freezing during 

 the winter. On opening them in the spring 

 I found a part of them very fresh ; but where 

 they were too thick, they had created too 

 much dampness and rotted. I also packed 

 down two barrels of apples in the like man- 

 ner, and found them in the spring much bet- 

 ter preserved than any I ever before saw. I 

 am informed that the New Jersey Quakers 

 preserve their potato slips in leaves. As the 

 cultivation of the sweet potato is now beco- 

 ming so general in this quarter, I hope and 

 trust there will be some mode discovered to 

 keep the seed, without having to get them 

 from New Jersey every spring. And I fee) 

 confident the one given above will be suc- 

 cessful. I am also inclined to think, that 

 ground plaster, as was mentioned in yout 

 48th number, will answer this purpose. 



I believe it is not so generally known as it 

 ought to be, how to keep winter squashes, al 

 most any length of time wanted ; you have 

 only to hang them up in a warm dry room. 

 I have them now perfectly fresh, and their 

 flavor as good, or better than when they 

 were taken from the vines. Any room where 

 they will keep dry and warm through the 

 winter, will preserve them. One may be 

 seen in Mr. Shepherd's bar room at Con- 

 cord, perfectly sound, which grew in 1829, 

 and many of last year's growth. I will also 

 call your attention, Mr. Fessenden, to the 

 mode of cultivating early potatoes in Den- 

 bighshire, Eng. found in Loudon's Garden- 

 er's Magazine, vol. ii. pp. 171, and pp. 317: 

 and I for one should be glad if you will give 

 the substance of those two articles, in the 

 New England Farmer, at your leisure, as 

 the Magazine is in the Hort. Society's Li- 

 brary, you can refer to it at leisure. 



Yours, rkc. ED. CURTIS. 



Pepperell, June 21, 1841. 



From the New-Kngland Farmer. 



CHAMPAIGN CURRANT WINE 



Mr. Fessenden— Agreeably to request-, 

 I have the pleasure to hand you the details 

 of my process for making currant wine. 

 Ingredients for 30 gallons of nine. 

 Three bushels or ISO pounds ol currants. 

 Seventy-five pounds of white Ilavanna or 



dry Brazil sugar. 

 Three pints of white French brandy, with 



sufficient pure soft water. 



Gather the fruit in dry weather, when ra- 

 ther under than otrr ripe — mash them to 

 break every berry, but not bruise the stems 



add a portion of the water, and after stir- 

 ring well, turn the mass on to a strainer ovej 

 a grain riddle or cheese basket, rubbing and 

 pressing gently with the bands ; — by repeat- 

 ing the, operation a fcw trrnes, afl the vinous 



