s^o. 3. 



AND GARDEiNER'S JOURNAL. 



45 



belter remedy is to keep it clean. Tearlash or 

 ileratus put into the eyrup while over thfe fire, will 

 imove the acidity caused by Icrinentation. 



GEO. HUMPHilEY. 

 nuilford, Feb., 1841. 



lOW Prices faroiAble toNatioaal Exports and 



J National Wealth. 



Messrs. Editors — Within the lost two weeks 12,- 

 M to 1.5,000 barrels of flour have been purchased at 

 4,75 in New York, for shipment to England. Be- 

 ire this can be consumed there, it must pay 50 cents 

 er bbl. freight, $3 duty in the English port, and a- 

 jut 25 cents commieeion, &c., which will make the 

 rice to the consumer in England about $8,50 per 

 irrel. 



Thus, in spite of the duty of $3 per bbl. on Amer- 

 mn flour in England for the protection of her agri- 

 oltural interests, their profits are very much reduced 

 f the corapeliiion of our bread stuffs in their own 

 larkets. 



The friends of free trade in the United Statep, may 

 ell cite the obove facts to show the bitter fruits of a 

 igh protective tariff. They say that it only inflates 

 rices at home, thus enabling the British inanufactu- 

 )r to undersell us not only in the foreign market, but 

 [so in our own ports. The experience of the last two 

 ears most positively shows that the low prices of our 

 giicultural productions have had the effect to treble 

 ur exports of manufactured articles, a consumma- 

 on which could not have taken place under a protec- 

 ve tariff with high prices for the necessaries of life 

 nd consequent high prices of labor. 



When the agricultural staples of a country are sold 

 ; low prices, the price of manufactured articles con- 

 >nn to them, — both become substantially the articles 

 " exportation, and the country gets out of debt much 

 later than it would if prices were so high as to stop 

 xportation. Another and paramount advantage to 

 le country, from the low prices of its productions, io 

 le great spur it gives to our maratime commercial inter- 

 jts. We now no longer hear of ships rotting at the 



harves; tbey are busily employed carrying the pro- 

 acts of our soil and our work shops to every part of 

 me world. 



Should England lake off the duty on American 

 our, would not English corn have to fall in price as a 

 tcessary consequence, or be driven into the grana- 

 leS, by imported bread stuffs ? Certainly it must, and 

 le result would be that all manufactured articles in 

 Ingland would be sold at correspondent low prices, 

 iiglish manufactures would then more successfully 

 ompctc with our own, in our markets in spite of our 

 uty, and they would effectually drive our manufac- 

 ues out of the great South American and other for- 

 ign markets. 



But although we are opposed in the main to a tariff 

 iclusively for protection, we feel that a tariff tor re- 

 enue should be so mended and increased as to act as 



countervailing duty, while it also protects those 

 ranches of American industry which have already 

 ommenced in the absence of all protection. 



It is said that every hogshead of tobacco shipped to 

 Prance pays an impost there of $300. As France 

 annot produce tobacco, this duty is ten fold as one- 

 OUB to the American tobacco jilanters, as the operation 

 f the corn laws of England can be to the wheat 

 [rowers of the United States, as our foregoing re- 

 narks will explain Hence we premise that the most 

 astidious advocate of free trade will not oppose coun- 

 ervailing duties on French silks and wine. We have 

 It a previous communication shown thot the balance 

 jf trade against us with France is more than 14 mil- 

 lions annually. A balance which has heretofore been 

 laid by drafts on England, State Stocks, United 

 Siaice Bank Stocks, Jiw. &c. Bat since the failure 



oti both States and Bank, ought not such excessive 

 free importation to fail also 7 S. W. 



Cause of the " Decay of Rtita Bagas." 



Mkssrs. Thomas & Bateham — I see in your paper 

 of January, an inquiry made by Silas Pratt, of Chili, 

 as to the cause of his Ruta Bagas rotting. 



I have, the last fourteen years, cultivated both the 

 sugar beet and ruta bago, raising from 2000 to 3000 

 bushels for my cows. I have almost invariably found 

 that when I sowed early my roots were more or less 

 rotted. In 1830 I lost most of my crop from that 

 cause, having sowed the seed os early as the first of 

 June. The last season I sowed from the 15th to 20lh. 

 1 had scarcely a defective one. I have always obser- 

 ved that those which are sowed early grow very rapid- 

 ly at first, but are generally checked in their growth 

 by the heat and drought of July, in xvhich state they 

 remained until the fall rains set in, when, from so 

 great a change from drought to excessive moisture, 

 the roots craek open, rot, and disappoint the expecta- 

 tions of the farmer. Should these suggestions prove 

 of service to Mr. Pratt, or any others who have met 

 with a similar disappointment, it will give pleasure to 

 A NEW SUBSCRIBER. 



Roxbury, Mass-, Feby. 1841. 



For the JS'ew Genesee Farmer, 

 Rats and Rat Catching. 



Messrs. Editors — The sagacity and cunnihg of 

 this little animal are really extraordinary, and its da- 

 ring courage is truly remarkable, considering its small 

 size. Although almostevery body can produce a bud- 

 get of stories about rats; yet how few are there who 

 have accurately observed their habits, or even suffi. 

 ciently to rid themselves of such destructive vermin; 

 and it here occurs to my mind that I have never seen 

 the subject treated on in an agricultural paper. We 

 mny oftcti see people carefully baiting traps in a place 

 where rata are swarming, and marvelling that none 

 can be tempted to enter; when the simple reason is 

 that front want of a little consideration, the sagacious 

 instinct of the little animal is a match for the bad at- 

 tempts made to capture it. The black rat Cmus rat- 

 liisj is characterized by the body being black above, 

 whde the brown or Norwoy rat, Cmtts decummans,) 

 has the upper part of the body covered with light 

 brown hair, and whitish underneath. The black rats 

 ore not very numerous, becouse the brown rats prey 

 on them whenever they meet — the brown rats aid 

 likewise in keeping their ownspecies in check, a large 

 rat being the terror of the small ones. If it were not 

 for this fact, we should surely be overrun, for they 

 are very prolific, breeding three times a year; produ- 

 cing from ten to twenty in a litter. 



The enemies most dreaded by the rat are the com- 

 mon weasel and the ferret. These little creatures, in 

 proportion to their size, are more blood thirsty ond da 

 ring than the most tremendous ond rapacious quadru- 

 peds. A cat or a dog cannot follow a rat into its hole, 

 consequently they are of little use, compared with the 

 weasel or ferret. Only turn a single one down a rat 

 hole, and the horror and alarm created is soon manifest. 

 The rats fly with all possible speed, the ferret pursu- 

 ing and darting at the neck. I have been acquainted 

 with several men who followed this occupation, and 

 they told me that their ferrets wert frequently wound- 

 ed severely, sometimes losing an eye in the conflict; 

 but the moment it fixes itself on the neck, its victim 

 is secured, for it cannot be shaken off until it has 

 droined the life blood. 



Farmers may sometimes drive a«Tiy rate from their 

 premises in the summer season, by blocking up their 

 holes with broken glass, [or blacksmith's cinders.— 

 Eds.] and plastering them with mortar, repeating the 

 process wherever new holes ajipeai. 



Among other expedients, I have tried a box balan- 

 ced on a stick, with a boit on the end. One morning 

 i found my box down, and on raising it I found no rat, 

 but a quantity of little chips, tor the little rogue had 

 gnawed his way out; but this I remedied with a nar- 

 row strip of tin round the lower edge. Another way 

 16 to smear a rot, (when caught,) all over with spiiits 

 of turpentine, set it on fire, and start him into one of 

 the most frequented holes. A friend once told me 

 that he took a full grown rat, and first cutting off bis 

 tail and ears, he singed ofl" the hair, ond fastened a 

 fringe of stiff writing poper round his neck and let him 

 go; but the whole body politic did not choose to be 

 scared for one unlucky vagrant. 



Now, my advice to any of your readers who may be 

 troubled with rots is, to procure, if possible, a weasel 

 or ferret, and turn him into the principle holes obout 

 once a month. But if neither can be procured, try the 

 expedients above mentioned; but in case of these foil- 

 ing, the rats moy be materially checked by perseve- 

 ring in the use of traps, baited with the following 

 mixture: — Take of oatmeal one quart, one grain of 

 musk, and six drops of the oil of rhodium. Put the 

 musk and oil into sufKcient sweet milk to moisten the 

 meal; then mix all together in a stiff poste. The oil 

 of rhodium can generally be procured at a druggist's 

 store; and seldom foils, together with the nnisk, to 

 draw rats into any place. Caution is requisite to 

 guard against the common cause oftrapsfailing, which 

 is the smell of the bond. This can be ovoided by 

 using an old knife or spoon. W. N. H. 



Yates Co., Feb., 1841. 



Hundreds of thousands of dollars are yearly wasted 

 in this State by the depredations of rats, and the sub- 

 ject is well worthy of attention. Dr. Godman, who 

 says they " are the veriest scoundrels in the brute crea- 

 tion," (though more excusable than some other scoun- 

 drels,) recommends poisoning them withnux vomica, 

 mixed with corn meal, and scented with oil of rhodi- 

 um, which he soys is very effectual. In using steel 

 traps, a good woy is to conceal them in light bran, 

 using a spoon instead of the hands in covering them, 

 although in this case, when the surface of the bran has 

 been profusely baited, vve have sometimes seen it 

 marked thickly with their tracks, except directly over 

 the trap. * 



For the Aew Oenetee Farmer, 



The Importance of Indian Corn as a Crop for 

 Man and Beast. 



Messrs. EdItors — Humboll says that the Musa 

 Parudisica, misnamed by his translator Banana, in- 

 steod of Plantain, is to the inhabitants of the torrid 

 zone, wbot the cereal grasses, wheat, rye, oats, and 

 barley, ore to the inhabitants of Europe. 



A single bunch of this vegetable weighs from 6G to 

 88 lbs. It is probable, as Humbolt asserts, that there 

 is no other plant capable of producing so much nutri- 

 ment, on so small a space of ground, — still, the culti- 

 vation of Maize (Indion) corn is much more general 

 in equinoctial America, hot hlor the subsistance of maa 

 and beast, than any other vegetable production. — 

 Ought not this single foct to encourage our farmers 

 to give more of their attention to the crop of Indian 

 corn. There is no doubt but that on a first rate soil, 

 100 bushels per acre may be cosily produced. A hea- 

 vy growth of stocks as fodder, particularly in a dry 

 season, has never yet been duly opprecioted; ond the 

 working of the soil planted with corn, is a certain 

 means of eradicating those weeds which are so often 

 introduced by manure in the cultivation of the ccrcol 

 grasses. S. W. 



Erratcm. — Page 42, Col. 1st, line 23, of this num- 

 ber, for " hum" read ki. 



