204 
THE BARBERRY-BUSH.-SELF-ACTING CHEESE-PRESS. 
be sown with a drilling machine, if one can be had; 
if not, and the quantity of ground be small, a little 
furrow may be made with a hoe or pointed stick 
along the top of the drill, about an inch and ahalf, or 
two inches "deep; and the sowing may be done by 
means of a bottle, having a quill inserted in the 
cork, with which the seed may be deposited tolera¬ 
bly even, and with considerable rapidity. The seed 
is best covered by running a light roller over the 
top of the drills ; or, in a small way, it may be 
done by drawing over them the back of a shovel 
loaded with a small weight. 
In newly-settled countries, where land is cheap, 
and labor high, it is more economical to sow tur¬ 
nips broadcast, and cover the seeds by means of a 
brush-harrow, or rake. The ground, in this case, 
must be plowed in the fall, replowed the following 
summer, and finely pulverized by harrowing previ¬ 
ous to sowing the seed. When newly-burnt land 
is employed, the ground should first be cleared of 
all logs, brands, and loose stones. Then, without 
any further preparation, the seed may be sown 
broadcast, and the ground immediately after run over 
with a heavy iron-toothed harrow, which should be 
followed by an iron rake or hoe, in order to more 
perfectly cover the seed around stumps and large 
stones, or other places where the harrow may not 
have done its work. 
By adhering to any of the modes as above, which 
may be safely practised wherever circumstances are 
favorable for their adoption, good crops may gene¬ 
rally be secured, unless affected by drouth or the 
fly, both of which must carefully be watched, and 
if a failure is likely to ensue, measures should im¬ 
mediately be taken to resow the ground. In our 
next number we propose to treat of the after¬ 
culture, and the mode of securing and disposing of 
the crops. 
THE BARBERRY-BUSH NOT INJURIOUS TO 
GRAIN. 
Much has been written, and particularly of late, 
for the last hundred years in reference to the influ¬ 
ence of the barberry in blighting grain ; and as re¬ 
cently as the year 1826, a statute was passed by 
the legislature of Connecticut, which is still i n force, 
for the eradication of this harmless shrub. In on 
article written by the late Dr. Dwight, of Yale Col¬ 
lege, in answer to some inquiries made in 1800 by 
the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, it 
is stated, that, in the year 1796, the town of New 
Haven appropriated $200 for the purpose of de¬ 
stroying barberry-bushes within its limits, and that 
individuals were supposed to expend as much more. 
This was done, it is stated, because, from examina¬ 
tion, the evidence was deemed conclusive, that the 
bushes had an injurious effect on grain. Dr. Dwight 
supposed that the blight was occasioned by the wind 
carrying the effluvia and the decayed blossoms over 
the field; and he states that wherever they fell, the 
grain was blasted. Others contend that the mis¬ 
chief is done by the pollen of the barberry flow¬ 
ers, commingling with that of the grain; but this 
theory falls to the ground, when we consider the 
fact that the barberry is out of flower several weeks 
before either wheat or rye comes into bloom. 
The error of this doctrine has been ably and sci¬ 
entifically refuted by Messrs. Du Hamel, Broussonet, 
and Drs. Grenville and Lindley, a notice of which 
will be found on page 243, of our last volume. And 
besides, numerous instances are on record in this 
country, where grain has been fully exposed to the 
barberry in various stages of its growth, without 
the least injurious effect. As. a case in point, we 
quote from a communication by Mr. W arren He- 
cox, of Skaneateles, in the 7th volume of the Cul¬ 
tivator, in which he states, that for the purpose of 
testing this question, he planted a barberry-bush in 
the midst of a field of wheat. “ On my wheat 
ripening,” says he, “it proved a good crop of 
plump wheat, and no way injured by the barberry 
in any part; the heads of wheat which shot up in the 
top and among; the branches, some of which rested or 
lay reclined on the leaves of the bushes, were equally 
plump and good as any in the field. The bush was 
green and thrifty. Some of the branches or limbs" 
bad grown ten or twelve inches; there was a sprink¬ 
ling of oats in the wheat, some within five feet of 
the barberry, as plump and good as ever I saw. 
There was an acre of barley in the same field, 
twelve or fifteen rods distant, as good and plump as 
any I ever had. My neighbor’s field of winter 
wheat, only twenty-five rods distant, was not at all 
affected or injured, but plump and good.” 
PATENT SELF-ACTING CHEESE-PRESS. 
Fig. 42. 
For cheapness and simplicity of construction, 
strength, power, durability, and the perfect man¬ 
ner in which this implement does its work, we 
think it will eventually supersede every other 
cheese-press in use. It is so constructed, that by 
means of two pair of double-acting levers, the 
cheese presses itself, by its own weight, and this, in 
ten-fold proportion. Thus, if a cheese weigh 20 
lbs., it will exert a constant pressure on itself of 
200 lbs.; and whenever a greater pressure is re¬ 
quired, for every pound added, a power of ten pounds 
is gained ; or in other words, if it be desirable to 
exert an additional force on a cheese of 1000 lbs. it 
