<o. 3. 



ANDGARDENER'SJOURNAL. 



45 



yuT the IScw Genesee Farmer. 

 Obseri'ations on the departing >Vinter. 



it Gceme desirable thnt q emnll portion of l!ic **For- 

 cr" should be npproprinled to subjects of interest, 

 her thnn agriculturnl. If one page could even be 

 li J with the most pertinent and valuable literary 

 aiiiT, it would probably be most welcome to a great 

 lajority of its readers. There are many things which 

 »ve a pretty direct bearing upon farming interests, 

 hich are not strictly agricultural. The laws of 

 eather, or the laws by which the changes of wcath- 



'• •, are directed, to advert to no other, are subjects of 

 reat consequence. Like all the other laws ol this 

 lendid system of nature, this wondrous and beautifid 



li ibric of divine power and skill, they are to be 

 arned only from observation. Facts are the elements 



" om which the general principles must be deduced. — 

 'he man who seems to know more about these chang- 



id ;, and to have the wisdom to anticipate them more 

 lan others, has been a more careful observer of facts, 

 id talien a wider range of observation, and possessed 

 more happy talent of generalizing the principles, 

 .id forming special and important conclusions. Un- 

 able is the atmosphere, and hidden from the eyes of 

 len as are tlie causes of changes, yet it was said with 



, nth nearly two thousand years ago, "ye can discern 

 le face of the sky." The same diecernraent is still 

 be acquired, and is to be the result of observation 

 ad deduction. 



In the winter, which is now passing away from us, 

 lere has been a singular succession of facts. The 

 longes of the weather have been great and attended 

 ith great consequences. The barometer has shown 



g reat diflerences in the weight of the atmosphere. — 



Dl 'he winds have been uncommonly violent. Over a 



[' Jge tract of the Northern States there has been an 

 aiisual fall of snow. The ground froze in autumn 



^'ijsfore the rains had filled the earth with water to its 

 sual extent, and yet there has been little want of 



'^' lis necessary of life and comfort. 



^ , The mean temperature of 1838 for December, was 



\ 1° 56, and for December 1839 was 28= 36, being 

 meiderable higher , from the first half of the month 



,, 3ing unco-Timonly warm. 



In 1836, the canal was closed by ice on November 



il Ist, and remained closed through the winter. But in 

 339, the canal closed on November 2'<J, and was fully 

 )en in a fortnight and was not finally closed till Dec. 

 ?. Hence it was that the mean temperature of the 

 8t half of December last was 34° 45. The last half 

 id a mean temperature of 23° 33, a little above that 

 the whole of December 1838. 

 The mean temperature of January 1839 was 25° 31, 

 id that of last January was 19° 54, a difference of 

 ^arly^irc degrees for the month. This is a great dif- 

 rence, and shows the severity of the last month. — 

 he thermometer attests the correctness of the impres 

 una of the public on this subject. 

 In December 1839, there fell about Roche8ter/«r(y 

 !if inches of snow; in January 1840, about twenty 

 inr inches. In the whole winter of 1838 — 9, there 

 !1 about 00 inches of snow, but it did not fall in such 

 rge quantities at a time. 



The mean temperature of the first half of February 

 b:j9 was 20" 22, and of the present February was 



; 7^ 48, being warmer than the last year. Last year 

 le sleighing lasted nearly through February, while it 



..il'as gone this February as early as the 18th, and 



jrlhiefiy gone some days earlier. 



'■'' The coldest weather in this city in 1839 was only 



. our degrees below cypher ; and this winter only tliree 



elow. In the cold change, January 1(3 and 17, when 



ur temperature was three below; at Albany it was 



, ,om 28 to 32 below in different parts of the city; in 



;- I'ittsficld, Mass., 32 below, end at New Lebanon and 



* 'haker ViUaje, cost of Albany still lower. 



The winter has been nuicn more severe on the eiat 

 side of the Allegany ridge than on the west side. — 

 Thus Virginia has had extreme cold over the lower 

 country; the same also in New England and the eas- 

 tern part of the State of New-York. In the county 

 of Plymouth, Ma6sachusett8,thcre has been little snow, 

 and over the eastern part of the State of Ohio ; but in 

 the intervening distance, the snow has been deep, and 

 the eastern part of this State and Massachusetts have 

 been absolutely overwhelmed with it. Yet it is re- 

 markable that on the west side of the Green Moun- 

 tains in Vermont and in the northeaetern parts of this 

 State, there^ has been only a moderate fall of snow, 

 and the winds that have been so tempestuous in other 

 parts, have not reached that portion of our country. 



More damage baa been done by storms along our 

 coast the past winter than usual; far more shipping 

 lost, and far more lives destroyed. The breaking up 

 of the ice and rise of the streams in the laat fortnight, 

 has made much desolation in several of the States. — 

 From Ohio and the ^7estern part of Pennsylvania, 

 from Virginia and Maryland, as well as from the Hud- 

 son and its tributaries, there are sad reports of great 

 destruction of property. 



In this section of our country, have we so far shared 

 less in these sufferings. Even now the swollen Gen- 

 esee is a roaring, dashing, and harmless, stream, is 

 hastening to be lost in the blue waters of the Ontario. 



Rochester, Feb. 25, 1840. C. D. 



Wild Rice, (Zizania aquatica.) 



A subscriber writes "I would ask as a favor any infor- 

 mation you or any of your subscribers can give through 

 your paper respecting wild rice of the northern and 

 wescern lakes and rivers, as I want some to sow in our 

 flowed meadows and swampa, having reason to be- 

 lieve it may be cultivated on such lands to good ad- 

 vantage. I think the experiment well worth trying." 



We have noticed the wild rice growing on one or 

 two localities on the borders of lake Ontario, but not 

 very abundantly. If an opportunity offers we will ob- 

 tain some of the seed next summer, and send to our 

 correspondent. From what we have seen, however, 

 we should judge that it is decidedly a water plant, and 

 carmot be cultivated except on such lands as are most- 

 ly covered with water. 



We are not aware that any experiments have been 

 made with a view to its cultivation, and if any of our 

 correspondents can give us any information on the sub- 

 ject we shall be happy to hear from them. In the 

 mean time we give the following extract from Lou- 

 don's Encyclopoedia of Agriculture, the only work 

 containing any thing on the subject, at this moment 

 at hand : "The Zizania aipiatica might be cultivated 

 on the margins of ponds for its seeds, which much re- 

 semble those of Polish millet. It is exccedinlgy pro- 

 lific, grows in great luxuriance, and produces abun- 

 dance of bland, farinacous seeds, in all the shallow 

 streams of the dreary wilderness in north-west Ameri- 

 ca, between the Canadian lakes and the hilly range 

 which divides Canada from the country on the North 

 em Pacific ocean. Its seeds contribute essentially to 

 the support of the wandering tribes of Indians, and 

 feed immense flocks of wild swans, geese, and other 

 water-fowl, which resort there for the purpose of 

 breeding. Productive as is this excellent plant, and 

 habituated to an ungenial climate, and to situations 

 which refuse all culture, it is surprising, says Pinker- 

 ton \_Gceg. vol. III., 330,] that the European settlers 

 in the more northern parts of America, have as yet ta- 

 ken no pains to culture and improve a vegetable pro- 

 duction, which seems intended by nature to become 

 at some future period, the bread corn of the North." 



we find it asserted that Congress has not a right to 

 impose any duty op French silks, (which constitute a 

 large proportion of the manufactured silks imported 

 into this country, ) owing to a stipulation in n treaty 

 made bi tween France and the United States at tho 

 time of the settlement of the indemnity question, in 

 which the latter guarantees to the former that no du- 

 ties shall bo imposed on her silks. We have made 

 considerable search itir some record of a treaty con- 

 taining this stipulation, but have not been able to find 

 any. And further, we are unwilling to believe that 

 our government would shackle itself in such a manner, 

 merely to " induce France, not to be generous, but 

 just." Besides, in o late discussion of this subject in 

 Congress, Hesrv Clay declared himself in fav.jr of 

 imposing a duty as large as the compromise act would 

 allow, which is twenty per cent. And during all tho 

 debate, no allusion was made to the existence of any 

 such stipulation with France as that mentioned above. 

 We cannot but conclude therefore that the "Culturist" 

 was mistaken. 



Duty ou Silk. 



The subject of imposing a protective duty on silk, 

 for the purpose of encouraging its production and man- 

 ufacture at home, is a question of great importance to 

 this nation at the present time. Most journals have 

 recommended that petitions be sent to Congress on 

 the subject. But in theDcc. No. of the Silk Culturist 



From the Ohio Farmer. 

 Maple Sugar. 



We publish, at the request of a correspondent, the 

 following article on mople sugar, published in our 

 third volume. As the sugar season is now approach- 

 ing, it is to be hoped that many of our farmers will 

 follow the simple process here described. The superi- 

 or quality of the sugar will certainly justify every man- 

 ufacturer in exercising neatness and cleanliness, where 

 they involve no expense. And the higher price which 

 this fine sugar will bring iu market, will more than 

 compensate for tho diminution of weight arising from 

 the drainage. 



We think the method of drainage here recommend- 

 ed, by far superior to the usual method with barrels. — 

 The conical shaped vessels are made of a clieap mate- 

 rial, and no man can be found who is n,'t suHiciently 

 acquainted with carpenter's tools to mnUe them for 

 himself — besides these considerations, experience has 

 fully shown us that small quantities of sugar are much 

 more easily drained than large ones. These small 

 vessels are readily handled, and can without difficulty 

 or inconvenience be placed in a warm room, and tho 

 form of them is the best that can be adopted for the 

 ready flow of the moisture. 



Mn. Medarv — I send you a small specimen of 

 beautiful Maple Sugar, manufactured by Mr. David 

 Augustus, a very intelligent farmer residing in Tarlc 

 ton, Fairfield coanty. When you are informed that 

 this sugar derives its beauty from the particular clean- 

 liness exercised by Mr. A. in its manufacture, I trust 

 thnt with me you will wish that our sugar makers were 

 in general better impresocd with the propriety of at- 

 tention in this particular. Is it not to be imagined, 

 that in a pecuniary point of view they would be pro- 

 fitable 1 Mr. A. made, as I understand from himself", 

 about 4.50 lbs., all of like quality with this specimen. 

 The following description of the process of manufac- 

 ture, is in his own words. It will be observed that he 

 only varies from Chaptal in his language, and in the 

 want of technical terms : 



"Be particular to have clean buckets for the sap, 

 and to have clean ketibs. Boil only one barrel of sap 

 to each kettle, and when boiled to a proper syrup to 

 strain it through flannel, take it off the fire, and cleau 

 the kettles'; — then pour in one pint of sweet milk to 

 each barrel of water evaporated, — put it over the fire, 



and when it is about to commence boiling, take it ofl: 



let it stand a few minutes, skim it and strum it 

 through flannel. It should not be suffered to stand off 

 the fire more than one night, then put it over the fire, 

 and for every three barrels of water, use at least four 

 eggs well beaten — skim it, and if it is not perfectly 

 clear, take it off', and strain it again — then boif it down 

 with a rapid fire, adding, if necessary, clean butter or 

 lard to prevent its boiling over; and when it is suffi- 

 ciently boiled to lift from a cup of water with the point 

 of o knife, take the kettle off' to cool, and let the crys- 

 tals form, for which purpose two days are amply suffi- 

 cient. Then put it in the cones made of poplar 

 boards holding from 15 to 2(1 pounds, bringing them 

 to a point at the lower end, and leaving a hole at the 

 point about the size of a shingle nail — set them in n 

 stove room, or some other place where it may be made 

 hot, so as to cause the molasses to separate from the 

 crystals ; leave it in the stove- room for a week, so that 

 it may become perfectly dry." 



I send you this description with the hope that the 

 simplicity of it will induce others to make a trial. 

 I am yours, respectfully, 



A. S. Chi,w. 



