AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



45 



:r remedy ie to keep it clean. reniln$h or 

 put into the Byriip while over the lire, will 

 he acidity cnueed by rcrmeiilntion. 



GEO. HUMPHREY. 

 ird, Feb t 1941. 



Ices favorable to NntiounI Exports nnd 

 National Wealth. 



s. EoitORs — Within the Inst two weeks 12,- 

 ,000 barrels of flour have been purchased at 

 New York, for shipment to England. Be- 

 can be consumed there, it must pay 50 cents 

 reight, $3 duly in the English port, and a- 

 ;ent6 commission, &c., which will make the 

 he consumer in England about $(?,50 per 



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



in England for the protection of her agri- 



nteresls, the r profits are very much reduced 



itnpetition of our bread stulls in their own 



ends of free trade in the United States, may 

 "the above facts to show the bitter fruits of a 

 eclive tarifi'. They say that it only inflates 

 home, thus enabling the British manufactii- 

 lersell us not only in the foreign market, but 

 ir own ports. The experience of the last two 

 it positively shows that the low prices of our 

 ral productions have had the efl'ect to treble 

 rts of manufactured articles, a consumma- 

 h could not have taken place under a protec- 

 with high prices for the necessaries of life 

 :quent high prices of labor, 

 the agricultural staples of a country are sold 

 ces, the price of manufactured articles con- 

 lem, — both become substantially the articles 

 ition, and the country gets out of debt much 

 I it would if prices were so high as to stop 

 n. Another and paramount advantage to 

 ■y, from the low prices of its productions, i« 

 pur it gives to our maratinie commercial inter- 

 3 now no longer hear of ships rotting at the 

 they are busily employed carrying the pro- 

 lur soil and our work shops to every part of 



England take off the duty on American 

 dd not English corn have to fall in price as a 

 consequence, or be driven into the grana- 

 ported bread stuffs ? Certainly it must, and 

 would be that all manufactured articles in 

 would be sold at correspondent low prices, 

 nanufactures would then more suceesefully 

 dth our own, in our markets in spite of our 

 they would efTeetually drive our manufac- 

 if the great South American and other for- 

 ets. 



.ough we are opposed in the main to a tarifi 

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

 uld be so mended and increased as to act as 

 vailing duty, while it also protects those 

 of American industry which have already 

 d in the absence of all protection. 

 i that every hogshead of tobacco shipped to 

 ys an impost there of $300. As France 

 duce tobacco, this duty is ten fold as one- 

 American tobacco planters, as the operation 

 n laws of England can be to the wheat 

 f the United States, as our foregoing re- 

 explain Hence we premise that the most 

 advocate of free trade will not oppose coun- 

 duties on French silks and wine. We have 

 ous communication shown that the balance 

 jainst us with France is more than 14 mil- 

 ally. A balance which has heretofore been 

 rafts on England, State Stocks, United 

 StocWa, &o. &.-C. But since the failure 



of both States and llank, ought not such excessivi 

 J'rcc importation to fail also 7 s. W. 



CnUse of the '* Decay of Kuta Bagos." 



Mkssrs. Thomas & Batkham — 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 baga, raising from 2000 to 3000 

 bushels for my cows. 1 have almost invariably found 

 that when I avrccd early my roots were more or less 

 rotted. In 1839 I lost most of my crop from that 

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

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

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

 ved that those which are sowed eorly grow very rapid- 

 ly at first, but are generally checked in their growth 

 by the heat and drought of July, in which 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 A'ete Genesee Farmer. 

 Rats and Rat Catching. 



Messrs. Editors — The sagacity and eunniiig of 

 this little animal are really extraordinary, and its da- 

 ring courage is truly remarkable, considering its small 

 size. Although almost every 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 

 may often see people carefully baiting traps in a place 

 where rats are swarming, and marvelling that none 

 con be tempted to enter; when the simple reason is 

 that from want of a little consideration, the sagacious 

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

 tempts mode to eapttire it. The block rat fmiis rat- 

 bis) is characterized by the body being black above, 

 while the brown or JVorway rat, (vnis decummnns,) 

 has the upper part ol the body covered with light 

 brown hair, and whitish underneath. The black rats 

 are not very numerous, because the brown rats prey 

 on them whenever they meet — the brown rais aid 

 likewise in keeping their own species 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 ifaey 

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

 cing from ten to twenty in n litter. 



The enemies most dreaded by the rat are the com- 

 mon VN-easeland the ferret. These little creatures, in 

 proportion to their size, are more blood thirsty and da 

 ring than the most tremendous and rapocious quadru- 

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

 consequently they are of little use, compared with the 

 weasel or ferrot. 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 hove 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 

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

 drained the life blood. 



Farmers may sometimes drive away rats from their 

 premises in the summer season, by blocking up their 

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

 Eds.] and plastering them with mortor, repealing the 

 ■process wherever new boloe appear. 



Among other expedients, I hove tried a box balan- 

 ced on a stick, with o bait on the end. One morning 

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

 but a quantity of little chips, lor 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 

 is to smear a rat, (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 

 thot he took a full grown rat, and first cutting ofl' his 

 tail and cars, he singed off the hair, ond fastened a 

 fringe ol stiffwriting poper round his neck ond let him 

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

 scored for one unlucky vogront. 



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

 troubled with rota is, to procure, if possible, a wcofel 

 or ferret, ond turn him into the principle holes about 

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

 expedients above mentioned; but in case of these fail- 

 ing, the rats may be materially checked by pereeve- 

 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 sufficient sweet milk to moisten the 

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

 of rhodium con generally be procured at a druggist's 

 store; ond seldom foils, together with the musk, to 

 draw rots into any place. Caution is requisite to 

 guord ogoinst the common cause of traps failing, which 

 is the smell of the hand. This con be avoided by 

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



Yates Co., Feb., 1841. 



Himdreds of thousands of dollors are yearly wosted 

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

 ject is well worthy of attention. Dr. Godnion, 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 rh^idi- 

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

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

 using spoon insteod of the hands in covering them, 

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

 been profusely baited, we have sometimes seen it 

 marked thickly with their tracks, except directly over 

 the trap. • 



For the Ifete Genetee Famur. 

 The Importauce of Indian Corn as a Crop for 

 Man and Beast. 



Messrs. EdItors — Hunibolt says that the Musa 

 Paradisica, misnamed by his translator Banana, in- 

 stead of Plantain, is to the inhabitants of the torrid 

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

 barley, are to the inhabitants of Europe. 



A single bunch of this vegetable weighs from 65 to 

 88 lbs. It is probable, as Humbolt asserts, thot 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 (Indian) corn is much more general 

 in equinoctial America, hot hfor the subsistance of man 

 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 easily produced. A hea- 

 vy growth of stocks as fodder, particularly in a dry 

 season, has never yet been duly appreciated; and 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 eereal 

 grasses. > S. W. 



Erbatij.m. — Page 42, Col. Ist, line S3, of tliia num. 

 ber, frji " Uim" r«ad kci 



