1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



19 



not readily be forced ont. The pipe might be tested 

 with an air-pump ; if a perfect vafuiim can be 

 formed, you can rely upon it that it is all right. Do 

 not on any account cover up the pipe till it is proven. 

 O, P. Laird.— Oneida Castle, JY. Y., jYov., 1850. 



TO REMEDY LEAKY ROOFS. 



Gknts : — Hoping yon. or some of your valuable nnd experi- 

 enced oorre.spondeiits, can suggest some cheap and practicuble 

 method of mending up old roofs that from craclis in the shin- 

 gles, or otherwise have become leaky, I thought best to ask 

 information through your widely circulated journal. 1 iiave 

 a roof that has always leaked more or less from bud shingling, 

 and it has delied my eflbrts, so far, to make it good by driv- 

 ing under shingles, to patch it as is customary in some places. 

 It appears to me that some one knows of some cheap prepar- 

 ation or cement that will effect the object ; and if so, those 

 of us whodonotknow will feel greatly obliged if enlightened. 

 A Subscriber.-;— /S'c'ioo/cra/C, Mich., Nov., 1850. 



Many are covering the roofs of buildings in this 

 vicinity with pitch and tine gravel. Sheets of tarred 

 paper are first put on the roof, which is covered with 

 hot pitch, and a coating of lake gravel, put on while 

 the pitch is hot. This forms a good roof, and we 

 should think would be durable. It is about as ex- 

 pensive as shingling. We have seen roofs that 

 leaked badly, remedied by putting hot coal tar on the 

 shingles, carefully introducing the tar into all the 

 crevices, and then covering with sand. Two conts 

 put on in this way, we should judge from what we 

 have seen, would prevent all leakage, and make an 

 enduring roof. If a better method is known, we 

 should be glad to publish it. 



THE ^^aRE-WORM. 



Messrs. Editors : — I saw in your last number, in- 

 formation solicited as to the best mode of destroying- 

 the wire-worm, which makes such fearful work with 

 our crops. I shall not say that I know of the best 

 mode of utterly destroying them ; yet I can give my 

 experience, as little as it may be. 



My father's farms is so full of them as to ren- 

 render useless all eiforts to raise corn. I have known 

 my father's corn crop to be entirely destroyed by 

 them. Since I have had the control of it, I had one 

 field that had been used as a meadow for several 

 years. I plowed it in the fall, mistrusting that there 

 were worms in it, though not to such an extent as to 

 injure the crop materially. I plowed late, thinking 

 it would destroy the eggs, if it did not destroy some 

 of the worms, by freezing. I left it so until spring, 

 and then planted it with corn, and I can say it looked 

 fine the first time it was hoed ; but all at once it 

 looked yellow, and it was but a short time before 

 half the field was destroyed. 



I wish to notice here, that they never, or hardly 

 ever, disturb it until the first plowing and hoeing, 

 and then they go at it in earnest. 



1 followed the corn with two crops of oats^ (The 

 worms will not disturb oats or wheat as soon as they 

 will corn ; and if they do, it is not so easily discov- 

 ered.) After the two oat crops, it was summer-fal- 

 lowed and sowed to wheat, covering it completely 

 with weil-rotted manure, which was harrowed in 

 with the wheat. The manure was drawn out for 

 that purpose, and piled up. The wheat was sown 

 this fall, and the result remains to be determined. 



I do not consider the above mode as the right way 

 or the best method of working land, except in the 

 above case. I think the ground ought to be worked 



after it, and should not lay long if it is liable to be 

 troubled with the worm ; and to make up the defi- 

 ciency for plowing and cropping s ) often, there must 

 be a good crop of clover plowed in. But to get at 

 the foundation of the matter, the ground should first 

 be ditched or drained. I find even in doing as I 

 have said, that they work into the ground again. 

 They trouble grain most in wet places ; and when 

 plowing, they seem to be so thick in these wet places 

 or hollows, that when the ground is seeded only one 

 year, they work from these wet pjaces and keep ex- 

 tending further from these hollows, and the longer 

 the ground is left before being plowed up, the fur- 

 ther they will extend : and if these hollows should 

 be ditched, I think there would be no trouble ; for 

 they certainly do work in wet ground the most — 

 there is always vegetation enough there to support 

 them. First ditch the land, and then commence 

 with coarse grain, and keep the ground clear, so that 

 there will be nothing for them to live on, until you 

 are satisfied it will be safe to sow wheat. It will 

 run the ground ; but sow your wheat, and put on a 

 good coating of well-rotted manure, and you will 

 have good wheat. 



I think this is the best mode of applying manure 

 to wheat that when seeded down the seed catches 

 much better, the wheat getting a top soon enough to 

 prevent the sun from destroying the strength of the 

 manure A. E. R.— Trumunshurg, JY. Y., 1850. 



THE PIONEER 



"Through the deep wilderness, where scarce the sun 



Can cast his darts, along the winding path 



The Pioneer is treading. In his grasp 



Is his keen axe, that wondrous instrument, 



That like the talisman, transforms 



Deserts to fields and cities. He lias left 



The home in which his early years were past. 



And, led by hope, and full of restless strength, 



Has plunged within the forest, there to plant 



His destiny. Beside some rapid stream 



He rears his log-built cabin. When the chains 



Of winter fetter Nature, and no sound 



Disturbs the echoes of the dreary woods. 



Save when some stem cracks sharply with the frost ; 



Then merrily rings his axe, and tree on tree 



Crushes to the earth ; and when the long keen night 



Mantles the wilderness in solemn gloom, 



He sits beside his ruddy hearth, and hears 



The tierce wolf snarling at the cabin door, 



Or through the lowly casement sees his eye 



Gleam like a burning coal." 



There is nothing so surprising to the foreigner, in 

 the history of this country, as the rapidity with which 

 the wilderness is transformed into fertile fields. Vil- 

 lages and cities arise as if by magic. The wolf and 

 the panther are scarcely driven from their haunts, 

 ere they are occupied by a teeming population. The 

 screech of the owl scarcely dies away before it ia 

 succeeded by the scream of the locomotive — the htitn 

 of busy life, and the sound of the church-going bell. 

 The secret of this is to be found in the love of inde- 

 pendence, as general among our people, as it is honor- 

 able. How many young men, unused to toil and 

 privation, have left their homes of comfort to endure 

 the hardships and privations of pioneer life, for the 

 honorable purpose of carving out their fortunes in a 

 new land, and gaining that independence and com- 

 petence they could not hope for in the land of their 

 birth. But, while theyonng man, with a strong arm 

 and an unconquerable determination, is prepared to 

 cope with the difficulties of a new settlement, he is 

 generally accompanied by one of more fragile form,' 



