AMERICAN AGRICUILTURISI 
mg lines being at right angles to the road 
running east and west through the entire 
length of the farm, having at the same time 
some regard to the diversity of soils. These 
divisions are so arranged that they can with 
facility be cut up into smaller divisions when 
necessary for experiments. 
The committee on fences have had the du¬ 
ties of their particular department under 
consideration, and the fencing operations will 
be begun at an early day. Preparations are 
also being made by the committee on horti¬ 
culture for the procuring a collection of the 
best varieties of fruit trees ; and the planting 
of forest and other ornamental trees on the 
road-sides, &c., will receive due attention as 
opportunity offers. 
Mean range of thermometor for the Month.411” 
Highest, on the 7th, at4p. m.71° 
Lowest, on the 31st, at sunrise,.. . 23° 
Southern Farmer. 
MAPLE SUGAR. 
The following is an accountof the process 
adopted by Mr. Woodward, who obtained the 
premium from the State Agricultural Socie¬ 
ty, in 184b, for the best article of maple 
sugar: 
“ In the first place, I make my buckets, 
tubs and kettles all perfectly clean. I boil 
the sap in a potash kettle, set in an arch in 
such a manner that the edge of the kettle is 
defended all around from the fire. This is 
continued through the day, taking care not to 
have any thing in the kettle that will give 
color to the sap, and to keep it well skim¬ 
med. At night I leave fire enough under 
the kettle to boil the sap nearly or quite to 
syrup by the next morning. I then take it 
out of the kettle and strain it through a flan¬ 
nel cloth into a tub, if it is sweet enough ; if 
not, I put it in a chaldron kettle, which I 
have hung on a pole in such a manner that I 
can swing it on and off the fire at pleasure, 
and finish boiling, then strain into the tub, 
and let it stand till the next morning. I 
then take this and the syrup in the kettle, 
and put it altogether in the chaldron, and 
sugar it off. To clarify 100 lbs. of sugar, 1 
use the whites of five or six eggs, well beat¬ 
en, about one quart of new milk, and a spoon¬ 
ful of saleratus, as well mixed with syrup 
before it is scalding hot. I keep a moderate 
fire directly under the chaldron until the 
scum is all raised ; then skim it off clean, 
taking care not to let it boil so as to rise in 
the kettle before I have done skimming it; 
when it is sugared off, leaving it so damp 
that it will drain a little. I let it remain in 
the kettle until it is well granulated; I then 
put it into boxes made smallest at the bottom, 
that will hold from fitty to seventy pounds, 
having a thin piece of board fitted in two or 
three inches above the bottom, which is bored 
full of small holes to let the molasses drain 
through, which I keep drawn off by a tap 
through the bottom. I put on the top of the 
sugar in the box, two or three thicknesses of 
clean, damp cloth, and over that aboard well 
fitted in, so as to exclude the air from the 
sugar. After it has nearly done draining, 1 
dissolve it, and sugar it off again, going 
through the same process in| clarifying and 
draining as before.” 
Cure for Warts on Cattle. —I have made 
a discovery in the cure of warts on cattle. 
I have a young cow that had twelve or fif¬ 
teen warts on the neck varying in size, from 
half an inch to two inches in diameter. The 
largest were quite sore, and frequently dis¬ 
charged blood. 
Remedy .—Slack a piece of lime the size of 
a hen’s egg, add four tablespoonfuls of soft 
soap ; stir the same until well mixed. Ap¬ 
ply the same to the warts. They will dis¬ 
appear in a few days, and the skin become 
smooth, as I have found by experience. 
Lenox, 1854. a. H. 
Iforticultuol giprtnmtf. 
HOVEY’S MAGAZINE FOR FEBRUARY, 
The editor devotes an article to the late 
meeting of the American Pomological Socie¬ 
ty, in Boston, which has already been fully 
noticed, and the report reviewed in our col¬ 
umns. Wilson Flagg continues his plea for 
the birds, and certainly makes out a very 
plausible argument for the crows and black¬ 
birds, which have so long been put under 
bann by the sapient legislators of New-Eng- 
land. It is among our earliest recollections, 
living in the family of a Justice of the Peace, 
that the farmers’ boys brought young crows by 
the basket-full, to receive the bounty upon 
them. The cry of those poor birdlings, just 
taken from their nests in the deep forests, 
and with the down of infancy upon their 
half-covered skins, haunted our boyish im¬ 
agination for months after the sacrifice. 
It seemed a most inhuman butchery. The 
bounties so thinned out the crows, and in¬ 
sects increased to so great an extent, that 
some of the States were obliged to offer 
counter rewards for the protection of the 
crows. 
The red-wing, crow and blackbirds live to 
a great extent upon grub-worms, caterpil¬ 
lars, and other larvae—the silent, but deadly 
enemy of all vegetation ; and whose secret 
and insidious attacks are more to be dreaded 
than the combined mischief of all the feather¬ 
ed tribes put together. It is repo rted that when 
the locusts had been accidentally introduced 
into the isle of Bourbon, and had spread so as 
to destroy vegetation, a few grackles intro¬ 
duced from India, soon multiplied so as to ex¬ 
terminate them. The woodpeckers and the 
night-hawks are also shown to be very useful 
birds. 
Who would grudge the common robin his 
feast of cherries, or the blackbird his grains 
of corn, if he were once convinced that the 
services of these birds, and others, are all 
that can save our crops from destruction, 
and the world from famine. They are profi¬ 
table servants, who glean a tribute from 
our orchards and corn-fields, as the wages of 
their labor; and if we could make an exact 
estimate of the amount of service they per¬ 
form, we should find that they are abundant¬ 
ly worthy of their hire. If the poor bird 
who is outlawed for a little mischief he is 
supposed to do, should present his bill, con¬ 
taining an enumeration in figures of the 
amount of grubs and insects he had destroy¬ 
ed, we should probably be startled at our 
own indebtedness, and be willing to pay him 
more liberally than he pays himself for the 
continuance of his services. We commend 
this plea to all legislators, or candidates for 
the duties of that office. In Connecticut 
there is a very stringent law for the protec¬ 
tion of the birds; and it is the fault of the 
cultivator himself, if they do not multiply 
so as to check the ravages of insects. 
Professor Russell, of the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society, writes upon Winter 
and the flora of northern regions. He con¬ 
siders the red snow of the Arctic regions as 
the lowest form of plant life, the first and 
primitive vegetation of the most northern 
regions ; and, perchance, the most primitive 
form of vegetable life on our planet. These 
myriad little specs of carmine tints exhibit 
each a definite contour—each a distinct or¬ 
ganism—each a separate vitality—each a 
prospective continuance, and all serve to 
gladden the desert ice-field, the lofty glacier, 
the Arctic summer, with their singular beau¬ 
ty. The whole article is overflowing with 
enthusiasm at the beauty of plants, wherein 
we think the reader will want the genius of 
the writer, as well as his microscope, to see 
all that he seems to see. He recognizes no 
such facts as absolute barrenness and ster¬ 
ility ; while equally in summer or in winter, 
forms of vegetation on rock and iceberg, on 
the limits of perpetual snow, and beneath 
the Northern Ocean vegetation and vegeta 
tive life reign victorious and supreme. So, 
growing a crop on an iceberg is no longer an 
admissible figure illustrating natural impos¬ 
sibilities, and Sahara henceforth is a poor 
type of barrenness. Notice this, ye florid 
gentlemen in your future rhetoric. 
Andrew Gray, of Savannah, has an arti¬ 
cle upon southern gardens. He notices the 
difficulty in cultivating lawns there in orna¬ 
mental grounds, most of the grasses devoted 
to this purpose failing in the drouth of sum¬ 
mer. They have in flower, in the open 
ground, (Dec. 16th,) carnelias ,roses, chrys¬ 
anthemums, alyssum, and narcissus. 
Mr. Simpson gives us in this number, his 
process of growing grapes, so as to have 
them ripen in December. The vines are 
pruned and started in August—say the first. 
There is no delay in the starting of the buds 
after pruning; in a week they will require 
tying to the rafters, and soon after the fra 
grant blossoms will give you assurance of a 
good crop. To retain the heat in the border 
as the cold weather came on, he covered it 
with meadow hay about a foot in depth, 
and about six inches of wool-waste and 
manure on top of this, to absorb the rain, 
which freezing, made a still more perfect 
protection. This answered the purpose, the 
heat passing away from the border only 
about three degrees a week ; after the 1st of 
December, at which time it was 60°, the fruit 
ripened perfectly. It was generally sup 
posed that he would fail in the flavor and 
color of his grapes, as well as in size, from 
the want of sun in December; but the ex¬ 
periment does not show it. Though he has 
got two crops from his vines in one year, he 
does not recommend this, as it would be like¬ 
ly to: overwork the vines. His present 
judgement is, that one crop in two years 
would be better than two in one. He re¬ 
gards the advance made in horticulture by 
his experiment, as chiefly this, that we shall 
be able to supply ourselves with delicious 
grapes in mid-winter, which has heretofore 
been considered impractical by our best 
grape-growers. The success of Mr. Simp¬ 
son will be hailed with great satisfaction by 
our amateurs. What Boston notion may we 
next look for. 
