€4 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
of Lake Erie, or that grow near Toronto, and other 
parts of Upper Canada. 
Mr. Garnett speaks of the Holley, as “ sui-generis 
in regard to its exemption from disease.” Does he 
mean the Ilex Opaca of Brown’s Sylva Americana, 
and if so, would it flourish well here? The close 
branches and spinous leaves would make an admira¬ 
ble fence, and there is no doubt, with attention, in our 
fertile soil, the rapidity of its growth would be great¬ 
ly accelerated, and its foliage at all seasons retain the 
brightest green. _ Yet I have thought of another tree 
still more beautiful: the flowering rhododendron, 
(Rhododron maximum,) and known at the south as 
dwarf Rose Bay, and at the north as dwarf Laurel. 
As it seeks moisture and shade, I should suppose our 
chmate more congenial to it than any other in the 
United States, for the thermometer rarely sinks with 
us to zero, or rises above 75° ; and besides, the air is 
more moist, though less foggy, than the same parallels 
on the Atlantic. I see no objection, therefore, to first 
placing a triple row of intermixed evergreens, hem¬ 
lock, spruce, fir, cedar, &c. then a small space for the 
line of rhododendrons, then mixed evergreens again, 
till a sufficient breadth of trees for shelter were plant¬ 
ed. Here then would be obtained the great deside¬ 
ratum, fence and shelter, for I know of no other ever¬ 
green that will flourish as a thicket in the shade of 
larger trees. 
If no one has yet attempted this rhododendron, I 
should be pleased to, as also the holley, and as neith¬ 
er grow in our immediate neighborhood, supposing 
plants out of the question, I would like to know where 
I coul(^ obtain seed, with any directions for sowing 
and growth. I am told they flourish from the hills of 
Massachusetts, along the highlands of the Hudson, to 
the mountains of Carolina; and that autumn is the 
proper time for gathering. 
And while upon the subject of trees, would that my 
voice might reach and have an influence with those 
clearing up new lands. No matter how exposed the 
situation may be to the rude blasts; of winter, or the 
scorching rays of summer, in goes the ruthless axe on 
the front line, and never ceases its remorseless swing, 
till the whole land is denuded ; not even a shrub being 
left to weep over the mournful fall of the majestic fo¬ 
rest ; but stumps, black, naked, and deformed, like so 
many Stygian ghosts, by the deep shades of Erebus, 
and as offensive to the eye of true taste, as to every 
principle of feeling, alone ruling over and marking the 
sad scene of desolation. Just such havoc has been 
committed all along the beautiful banks of the Niaga¬ 
ra, and for one I would give a handsome sum to have 
back a belt of a few rods wide on our front, of the 
magnificent decidious and evergreen trees, that origi¬ 
nally hung in soft and graceful foliage over the land. 
It is objected, that if trees are left in clearing up, 
that they quickly die or blow down. So they will if 
single, but not if in masses. They then lend shade 
and shelter to each other ; and if one occasionally de¬ 
cays or is uprooted, a sufficient number is still left to 
supply the place of those destroyed, and these daily 
become stronger, spreading in roots and branches, and 
in a few years are proof against wind and sun, and 
form a magnificent mass of forest verdure, that it is 
rapturous to behold, and that English gentlemen would 
give thousands of pounds could they but shew them on 
their estates. Sir Walter Scott pronounced our gi¬ 
gantic old forests as the true antiquities of the land, 
and added that he would preserve them with the same 
care and veneration that he would old feudal castles. 
Very sincerely, A. B. ALLEN. 
Buffalo, 19 th March, 1838. 
Remark. —We can assure Mr. Allen, that any attempt 
to cultivate a holley, or rhododendron, or indeed an 
evergreen hedge of any plant that we know of, by plants 
or seeds, upon the bleak bank of the Niagara river, will 
be but money and labor lost. The holley will hardly 
stand the latitude of 40°. and the rhododendron is too 
tender, difficult to transplant, and unfit for a fence if it 
would grow. We volunteer our advice to Mr. A. that 
he plant a thick belt, broader or narrower— ; as he plea¬ 
ses, of indigenous trees, embracing evergreens, on his 
Niagara exposure, to afford shelter to his buildings and 
his grounds; and that he add to this shelter a substan¬ 
tial turf fence, at least five feet broad at the base, and 
of corresponding height.— Cond. Cult. 
A hint worthy of notice. 
Schenectady, 2 d April, 1838. 
Dear Sir, —Since I wrote you, on the subject of 
feeding down wheat and rye m the spring till June, 
to keep it back from blossoming a month later than 
usual, till the fly of the grain-worm had spent his al¬ 
lotted time for depositing his eggs in the blossoms, I 
have conversed with a Mr. Smith, of Schuyler, nine 
miles below Utica, and advised him to feed his wheat 
for the experiment, which he promised to do. After 
a little reflection, he said that he had often mowed 
down oats after they had grown' six or eight inches 
high, on stony and rich ground, which put them back, 
and caused the stalks to thicken and become strong, 
which prevented them from falling, or lodging, which 
they were apt to do on rich ground. I advised him 
to try the experiment on strips of his wheat, through 
his field, and after harvest, to give you the result. He 
promised to do so. Most respectfully, 
Jesse Buel. D. TOMLINSON. 
We think, with our correspondent, that both mowing 
and feeding, are worthy of an experiment, as a preserva¬ 
tion from the worm. There is another consideration: 
Grain that ripens in cool weather, say late in August 
or September, will be heavier, ordinarily, than that 
which is hastened to maturity by hot weather.—Goad. 
Cult. 
To avoid the Bee-moth.” 
Let your bee-house and hives be kept well white¬ 
washed, also the short boards on which each hive 
stands, particularly the underside ; on each, place two 
or three quarts of fine earth, one part salt, mixed, for 
the hive to rest upon. Change once or twice during 
summer. I found good cause to abandon placing bees 
on the ground, as had been recommended twenty 
years ago. C. WHITNEY. 
English Berkshire Pigs. 
Mr. Buel, —Sir,—Circumstances have transpired, 
rendering it incumbent on me to caution the public 
against certain impositions practised in regard to the 
Berkshire pigs. Persons in this vicinity, either through 
ignorance, or regardless of their honor, are constant¬ 
ly palming off; as full bred, half and three-fourths of 
Berkshire, crossed with the hogs common in and about 
Albany. 
They make good individuals, and would very much 
improve the common hog of the country; those ap¬ 
proximating nearest to the pure blood, resembling 
them so much in appearance and colour, that a per¬ 
son, not well acquainted with the true breed, would 
be very easily deceived. I would not wish to be un¬ 
derstood as derogating in the least, from the good 
qualities of this cross, but I do protest against the im¬ 
position of palming them off as the genuine Berkshire 
breed. Let them be sold for grade animals—for what 
they really are—half, three-fourths, &c. &c. of Berk¬ 
shire, crossed with the “ China,” “ Mocho,” “ Grass- 
breed” or common hog of the country. 
About two years ago, a gentleman of an adjoining- 
county engaged of me a pair of Berkshire pigs, and 
before I was enabled to supply him, he chanced, in a 
neighboring town, to meet with a lot of, to him, very 
fine looking pigs, which the owner represented as 
genuine Berkshire. The sequel was, the unsuspect¬ 
ing gentleman purchased a pair and took them home, 
and never discovered the deception until he compar¬ 
ed them with some his neighbor procured of me. All 
the claim they had to Berkshire blood was, their pa¬ 
rents were obtained in the county of Berkshire, Mas. 
sachuselts. 
I have not unfrequently been invited to look at a 
very fine Berkshire sow or boar, which their owner 
would affirm to be genuine, and on making some ob¬ 
jections to their points, colour, &c. when the white 
colour predominated, I would be answered “ why the 
mother was entirely white,” &c. &c. Now, I have 
the charity to believe, that in most cases, it is more 
through ignorance than design. 
There are persons in this vicinity who possess the 
pure unadulterated English Berkshire breed, which 
were either procured of Mr. Hawes, my predecessor, 
or from myself and others, that would spurn at the 
idea of selling a mongrel for full blood. 
The three imported sows and .boar I now own were 
selected in England, from different families of the same 
breed—still the resemblance is so great, and they 
breed so near alike, that a person would be puzzled 
to select a pig from a particular sow, when mixed in 
a pen together. 
Some objections have been made to this breed in 
regard to size ; to such I would observe, that in Eng¬ 
land they have been made to' * 1 attain six, seven, and 
even eight hundred pounds. 
The demand in this country has been so great, 
that very few of the full bloods have been fed. I kill¬ 
ed a barrow in November, 1836, eighteen months old, 
fed for a short time in the fall, (after running in a 
pasture three months in the summer without any feed, 
except grass) on raw and boiled potatoes with a small 
quantity of soft corn ; he was hot fat, and when dress¬ 
ed weighed 312 lbs. Some of the same litter were 
fed and killed when nine months old, and weighed 
from 175 to 185 lbs. A three year old boar was al¬ 
tered in the spring and fed last fall, which I have been 
informed, weighed, when dressed, over 500 lbs. It is 
said they can be fattened at any age, and to very 
great weights, and at little expense, in comparison 
with other varieties. 
A gentleman in Dutchess county put in a pen one 
of the Berkshire and one of the common pigs—fed 
them alike, and the consequence was, the Berkshire 
grew so fat and lazy, they were obliged to help him 
up to eat—while the other grew so poor that he re¬ 
quired the same assistance at his meals. I do not as¬ 
sert this as a fact, but so the story goes. 
_ Another gentleman, from one of our western coun¬ 
ties, after examining my Berkshires, said to me, “ I 
have just as good pigs at home, as these, with one ex¬ 
ception—and that is, they have no kink in their tails.” 
I need only say, that this gentleman owns a flouring 
mill, and “millers never have poor hogs.” 
Now, I do not say or pretend, that the Berkshire 
hogs will live on air —but I do say, they will grow 
larger and take on fat faster, with the same quantity 
of food, than any other breed I am acquainted with. 
The demand for this breed, last year, was so great, 
that Mr. Lossing, of Albany, sold a pig (which he 
obtained of me) when thirteen months old, for $80. 
Others from six to ten months, were sold at from $25 
to $50. Sucking pigs, only five weeks old, brought 
from $15 to $25 each. 
My price for pigs, from six to eight weeks old, is 
invariably $10 each, or $20 per pair—cage to send 
them in, from $1 to $1.50, according to size, deliver¬ 
ed in Albany. 
Those gentlemen who ordered pigs in 1836-7 will 
please signify by what conveyance and to whose care 
they are to be sent. Some will be ready for sending 
off in all this month. Letters, post paid, will receive 
due attention. 
C. N. BEMENT. 
Three Hills Farm, Albany, May 1,1838. 
Agriculture—Its Usefulness. 
Agriculture is a branch of business of the highest 
importance to mankind. By far the greater part of 
the human race are either directly or indirectly de- 
pendent on it for subsistence. In this region of coun¬ 
try but very little is obtained for the support of man , 
but what may either be justly denominated agricultu¬ 
ral produce, or is in some way or other derived from 
it, as for instance, the most of our animal food.— 
From these considerations arises the importance of 
the subject, and consequently its dignity; and hence 
the laudable pursuit of agricultural employment. The 
maximum of praise, however, is not due to him who 
labors with the greatest assiduity or energy, nor even 
to him wfio uses his tools with the greatest dexterity 
or skill. For, as according to the old maxim “ a spur 
in the head is worth two in the heel,” he may be most 
beneficial, to the community at large, who officiates in 
some department of the business which requires prin¬ 
cipally the exercise of the mental faculties. And, so 
everyone in the subordinate sense in which his labors 
are beneficial to mankind, has a claim on his fellow 
men for their respect. Y. 
Experiments in producing improved varieties of 
Indian Corn. 
Baltimore, April 6,1838. 
Judge Buel, —In the last number of the Cultivator 
(page 51) I observe the following remark by the con¬ 
ductor:—“The idea of improving our corn by artifi¬ 
cial crossing, is novel, yet perfectly philosophical.” 
Some ten of twelve years since, I instituted a se¬ 
ries of experiments in crossing different varieties of 
corn, and was perfectly successful. The variety of 
corn named in Dr. Brown’s list (page 43 of the same 
number) “ No. 16, Pennsylvania 8 rows, called Smith’s 
early white,’’was the result of one of the experiments. 
It was produced by what we call the Tuscarora, or 
“ New-York cheat,” with the Sioux (No. 9 of Dr. 
Brown’s list.) From the parentage of this new vari¬ 
ety, you would naturally expect a mulatto color; but 
I will explain why it is pure ivhile, as I go along. I 
had two objects in view, the one to get the large 
white grains of the Tuscarora on the small cob of the 
Sioux; and the other to produce a variety earlier than 
either, if possible. To accomplish my object, I plant¬ 
ed a piece of ground, say the eighth of an acre, with 
both varieties, one in each alternate hill; but as the 
Tuscarora was known to me to be from 15 to 20 days 
later than the Sioux, I planted the latter 15 days after 
the former was planted. Now the process of crossing 
is performed in the following manner. The variety 
that has the cob that I wish to retain, is used as the 
female, and as the tassels (male flowers) appear, they 
are carefully cut off and suppressed ; the variety whose 
grain I wish to get, is used as the male, and its tas¬ 
sels are allowed to grow. It is unnecessary to inter¬ 
fere with the female flowers (the silk.) The ears of 
corn produced by the Sioux hills had the form and size 
of cob of the Sioux, but the grain was a beautiful sul¬ 
phur color, and of the form of the Tuscarora, though 
smaller. This corn I planted the next year, and the 
result was, a beautiful variegation of the grains, of 
pure yellow and pure white, though all the grains 
were alike as to size and shape. The cream color 
had evidently returned to its original elements. I 
then carefully selected the white grains, and planted 
them the third year, and the result was the establish¬ 
ment of the variety called “ Smith’s early white.”—. 
(I do not understand how or whence Dr. Brown ob¬ 
tained the name of Pennsylvania 8 rows.) 
My experiments established the fact, satisfactorily 
to my mind, that you can place the grains of any va- 
