1861.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
325 
for naming Cincinnati, Porkogolis. (P oils means a town or 
city.) Less than a dozen years ago the total grain business 
of Chicago was not half a million bushels a year. 
During the past year the receipts of grain in that city 
alone amounted to over thirty-five million bushels, some¬ 
times reaching hcarly or quite half a million bushels a 
day. There are fourteen large steam elevators for trans¬ 
ferring grain to and from cars, boats, anti storehouses. 
The storehouses have a capacity for over five million 
bushels.—The increased value already given to the grain, 
and to the lands producing it, would more than build all 
the vast networks of railroads terminating in Chicago. 
Most of the money to build these roads has come through 
Wall street in this City. We hope Western far¬ 
mers at least, are learning to look upon railroad men as 
friends, and not as monopolists to be taken every advan¬ 
tage of possible. We can better excuse the prejudices of 
Eastern farmers, who look upon these railroads as agen¬ 
cies for bringing strong competitors to their markets. 
Weevil iai drain.—George Lindsay, West¬ 
moreland Co., Pa. When grain is infested with weevil, it 
should be threshed at once, and if possible dried in a kiln, 
which will destroy the insects. Many of them will be 
driven from the grain by passing it through the fanning 
mill. It has been recommended to fumigate grain bins 
so infested, with sulphur. Stop all cracks tightly, place 
the sulphur in an iron vessel, set it in the middle of the 
bin, light it and close the door ; this it is said will kill 
most of the vermin. It is best not to store grain for sev¬ 
eral years, where the weevil have taken quarters. * 
We’ve got si Premiaim.—At the recent 
Queens Co. Agricultural Show, by way of helping out the 
Exhibition, our gardener filled up a pretty long table with 
sundry garden productions, vegetables, flowers, etc., etc., 
—to the amount of three wagon loads. Intending to leave 
the field clear for others, cards were put up all over mu¬ 
table malted : “For Exhibition Only.” But it seems 
that a big cabbage, or beet, or something else jutted out 
too far, and seizing upon this the Committee on “ Veget¬ 
ables and Roots,” generously awarded us a premium. 
Query : WhaticouM they have given us if the whole table 
had been labeled “ For Competition ?” Another joke is 
the fact that the prize awarded was one of our worthy $2 
cotemporaries, with which we already exchange two 
copies. We suggest to the Committee that the joke would 
have been a better one still had they awarded us a copy 
of the American Agriculturist, of which we see a consid¬ 
erable number of copies were given to others as premi¬ 
ums. That we could have appreciated, and we hope the 
•change will yet be made. As it is, we feel slighted, and 
propose an immediate “Mass Meeting” of all the disap¬ 
pointed ones at all State and County fairs in the country. 
Sjssislcs amtl — We have a long 
communication from Mr. J. Stevens, complaining that 
manufacturers do not make a sufficient variety of spades 
and shovels to suit the wants of persons of different 
hights. A dealer, to whom we submitted the letter, says 
he has kept on sale 15 to 25 kinds and sizes, but that not 
more than a dozen kinds are ever called for, while nine 
teen out of twenty purchasers choose the smaller sizes, 
alleging that one of these is large enough to exhaust the 
strength of any man who will use it industriously during 
ifhe entire day. We have one with a blade 14 inches long 
-and 10 inches wide, and the handle proportionately long, 
'but except for deep trenching it is not so convenient for 
.breaking up the soil finely, and for rapid work, as one of 
'the smaller dimensions. For breaking up and pulverizing 
■ a plot of ground, the spading-fork is preferable to the full- 
-bladed spade. We think Mr. S. must have overlooked a 
mumber of establishments, or he would have found just 
-the spade he describes as being desirable. At least any 
'manufacturer would cheerfully furnish almost any thing 
.in this line that he could possibly ask for. We submit to 
'manufacturers, however, Mr. Stevens’ suggestion that a 
part of the ordinary spades be provided with handles 
somewhat longer than those in common use. What is 
.lost in power by the use of a long handle, may be gained 
.in saving a tall man the necessity of bending his back. 
UJiait of II©rst‘»P©wer.— Answer to que¬ 
ries from several readers of the Agriculturist. The ave¬ 
rage power of a horse is reckoned as equivalent to the 
raising of 32,000 lbs. one foot per minute, and this is the 
unit of measure in estimating the power of steam en¬ 
gines, etc. A horse walking at the rate of four miles an 
hour, travels 352 feet per minute. Going at this rate, lie 
would only have to pull on a rope sufficient to draw up a 
weight of 91 lbs. (nearly), to exert the same power as 
w-ould be required to raise 32,000 lbs. one foot in a full 
minute. If traveling only three miles an hour, the con¬ 
stant weight to lift would be 121M lbs. If traveling ten 
miles an hour, the average draught would be about 3GH 
lbs. By recent enactment, the Austrian government has 
fixed the legal horse power for that empire at 32,982 85 
lbs. (or nearly 33,000 lbs.) raised one foot per minute. 
(430 Pfund raised 1 Fuss per second—70 kilogrammes 
raised 1 metre per second.) 
Scttiasg- ff’eaasjc —Wm. McLaclilcr, 
Oneida Co., N. Y., advises to fill the holes around posts 
with sand or gravel, when setting them, to prevent their 
being heaved out by frost. A surer remedy is to drain 
tlie adjacent ground, and thus draw off the water which 
causes the heaving by freezing and thawing. Water, or 
water saturated soil, expands mucli more in freezing, than 
mere damp soil. Dry soil contracts with cold. A soil 
freed from standing water, will heave very little by frost. 
IPfiMEiiijs Wsaaifteel.—“H. A. S.” Middlebury 
Vt. suggests to inventors that a pump is needed for sup¬ 
plying pastures, where there is no running water, and 
other locations distant from the residence of the owner. 
He thinks a pump to be worked by electro magnetism, 
made cheaply, might be contrived to work with little at¬ 
tention. It would not need to be very powerful, as a 
very small continuous stream of water would be sufficient. 
S®roMItc S»w.-S. Dodge, Essex Co., N. J. 
reports to the American Agriculturist, that a sow, owned 
by him dropped 17 pigs in September last; 10 of them 
are living at this date, Oct. 15th, one having been over¬ 
laid and killed. The sow is a very large animal, partly 
of Berkshire breed. Do any of our readers know a case 
of greater prolificness ? 
SDraimnaiaig oanff ISats. —A subscriber at 
Farmington, O., writes that rats will not remain in a 
building where a drum is beaten occasionally. This 
may be so ; the idea is confirmed by another correspon¬ 
dent who relates that the rats left his corn cribs, when a 
hand-sheller, that made a great racket, was introduced. 
No doubt an unusual noise would frighten them away at 
first, but we imagine they would soon become accustomed 
to it, and remain undisturbed. 
ISeffsiLse © 5 ! for Siiteep Tielks.—“S. S. D.” 
Dayton, O., writes to the American Agriculturist, that a 
neighbor of his destroyed sheep ticks by liberal application 
of the sediment from an oil cask to the skins of lambs 
that were badly infested witli these vermin. 
deaialjiag- otaf. f.niJts.—P. Jagaer, Colum¬ 
bia Co., N. Y. Those following the business in this city, 
use long handled shovels, ladles, and buckets, and do not 
enter the vault. Much was hoped from a plan to con¬ 
struct air tight boxes or carts with a hose attached to run 
through tlie house from the street, and into the vault. 
An air pump was to exhaust the air from the box, and the 
contents of the privy were to flow in and fill the vacuum. 
This might answer if the contents were sufficiently liquid. 
The plan did not work well, and has been abandoned for 
the scoop and buckets. 
@salt MuidlL—“W. B.,” “Westchester Co., N. 
Y. Tlie vast deposits of black muck and peaty matter, 
along the margins of salt water, do not greatly differ in 
character and value from tlie inland fresh water muck 
swamps, and their treatment is similar. Some think tlie 
salt muck the most valuable of the two, owing to its 
chloride of sodium (salt) and other mineral substances, 
and this is probably the case where these are not counter¬ 
balanced by excess of fine sand washed in by waves. 
The only practicable treatment we can recommend is to 
remove it to dry land, adding lime, unleached ashes, or 
refuse potash, to decompose it. After being awhile mixed 
with alkalies, it may well be added in unlimited quantity 
to the yards and stables to absorb all the liquid manure, 
and be composted with the more solid manures. It may 
be used with manure in considerable quantities without 
any previous alkaline treatment, but with this previous 
addition tlie quantity can be largely increased. After al¬ 
kaline decomposition, it may be used directly upon and in 
tlie soil. Untold millions of dollars worth of produce will 
yet be raised with the aid of our unlimited deposits of 
black vegetable material along our sea coasts, bays, etc. 
ESomte-Wlaiile ISome BSaaniire.—A. F. G., 
of West Gardiner, Me., writes to the American Agricul¬ 
turist that lie makes a good bone manure thus : A kettle 
holding a barrel or more, which is kept for boiling roots 
for stock, is filled with bones, and caustic lye poured in 
to cover them. A gcnlle fire is built for two or three suc¬ 
cessive days, to barely warm the liquor through. In a 
week the bones become soft and fine. The mass obtained 
from one barrel of bones is then mixed well with about 
three loads of muck, the leached ashes from which tlie 
lye was obtained, being mixed with the heap. After ly¬ 
ing awhile for the muck to partly decompose, the fertitizer 
is ready for use, and produces good effects. If not the best 
mode, this is certainly one easily practised on most farms, 
and it is far better than to let the bones go to waste. 
5 ffy«lramlic ILinne mett Injurious to 
Water.—W. W. Dashiel, Sussex Co., Del., inquires, 
whether the water will be affected by the lime if a well bo 
walled up with rough stones laid in mortar made with 
Rosendale cement. We should say decidedly not. After 
the mortar has thoroughly set, chemical tests scarcely 
discover in the water a trace of lime or other material 
derived from the cement. We use for drinking and family 
purposes only pure “distilled’ water, as it falls from the 
clouds upon an upper roof, and is retained in a cistern 
well coated with hydraulic lime mortar. It is far purer, 
and sweeter to the accustomed taste, than the purest 
spring or well water. 
Winy so flow Pears.—Everybody is fond 
of good, melting, juicy pears. Two to ten eents a piece is 
readily paid for all the passably good pears brought to 
our market, and there is always a call for more. We 
have seen many baskets of pears, holding a scant bushel, 
sold for $4 to $6 a basket this year, and higher prices 
are frequently paid for early lots of good Bartletts. A 
correspondent of the American Agriculturist, in a long 
communication on this subject, argues that pear trees, 
where once well growing, are very productive and profit¬ 
able. His conclusion is, that tlie high price asked for 
good trees by nurserymen, is the main reason why so 
few plant pear trees. He had intended to plant an acre of 
Bartlett trees, but found that the trees alone would cost 
him $80. But according to his own story, the pear orch¬ 
ard would pay well on that preliminary cost, and he ad¬ 
mits the difficulty experienced by nurserymen in produ¬ 
cing a lot of really good trees. There is undoubtedly a 
demand for more good pear trees at moderate cost, than 
can yet be supplied by nurserymen, and it stands them in 
pocket to make up the deficiency as early as may be. There 
is likely to be a demand for all the good pear trees that 
can be produced at moderate prices for some years to 
come. Nurserymen would do well to devote more at¬ 
tention to getting up a stock of a few really good sorts, 
and less to having a large catalogue of good, bad and in¬ 
different trees. We have seen several collections of 50 
to 100 varieties of pears on the tables of our fairs this 
year ; but among all these there are seldom more than a 
dozen kinds really worth cultivating. 
ISsaisiBBag- SertSIitrag- drapes.—W. G. Fel¬ 
ton, Chester Co., Pa. The seeds should be put in sand 
or earth as soon as taken from the fruit. Keep it moder¬ 
ately moist until next Spring, than plant in drills in a 
favorable location. It is generally considered advisable 
to sow seeds from improved varieties ; there is however 
no certainty as to whether the produce will be valuable 
or worthless. It is considered good success if one seed 
ling in a hundred proves valuable. 
Seedling firapes.-J. N. Hawkins, of Suf¬ 
folk Co., L. I., sends to our tables two varieties of new 
seedlings. The small purple clusters are not worth pro¬ 
pagating—hardly equal to some of the wild fox grapes. 
The others are very fine ; clusters large and well shoul¬ 
dered ; berries of good size, round, thin skin, little pulp, 
sweet, and light color, strongly resembling tlie Rebecca. 
It is said to be a seedling from the Isabella, and has 
been named the “Hawkin’s White.” If hardy, prolific, 
a good grower, and free from disease, it will be a de¬ 
cided acquisition. 
Tlie IFinestf Ehelaware drapes we 
have seen, were in a box placed upon our table by B. H. 
Mace, of Newburg, N. Y., as our last number went to 
press. Tlie bunches were large, well packed, and many of 
the berries measured five-eighths of an inch in diameter. 
Mr. M. says he has obtained them three-quarters of an 
inch in diameter. The demand for vines has hitherto pre¬ 
vented much attention to the production of the best fruit. 
Many are now turning their attention solely, or mainly, 
to fruiting, and the specimens before us indicate what 
may be done. 
Kalsims frost! drapes.—P. Wright, York 
Co., Pa. Raisins are ripe grapes, dried without being 
pressed. In Southern Europe, whence we receive most 
of our raisins, the selected clusters are spread on smooth 
clay banks, sloping towards the sun, with a wall upon 
the north side. A movable shelving cover is placed over 
them at night, and during rains. The clusters are care¬ 
fully turned once during the process. A little artificial 
heat would probably be needed in our country, or at least 
in this latitude. The grapes used are sweet sorts, such 
as Muscatelle, Malaga, Black Smyrna, etc. Tlie “dried 
currants” are really a small variety of grapes, dried 1* 
the manner described abpye. 
