136 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
next, and the early Canada is the latest. Both are 
eight rowed, and, like the Dutton, they grow seven 
and eight feet high. As to number of ears on a stock, 
they are about alike, except the Lake Superior, which 
is far the most prolific in its succors and ears, though 
they are very small. As to the size of ears, the Dut¬ 
ton has a manifest superiority; as to length of ears, 
the early Canada and the Red Blaze, 8 rowed, are 
equal, if not a little superior to the Dutton. Several 
gentlemen, who have visited the plat, concur in the 
correctness of this statement. We intend to exhibit 
samples of each of these varieties, at the fair of the 
American Institute. We omit the notice of later ri¬ 
pening varieties. 
The Crops. 
In addition to the notices of the crops, which will 
be found under correspondence, we give the following 
brief abstract from the newspapers : 
In Maine, the crops are generally good. The 
grain-worm has, however, done considerable damage 
to wheat. 
In New-Hampshire and Vermont, the early har¬ 
vest was abundant, and the Indian corn has been 
much better than ordinary. 
In Massachusetts, the crops have been better than 
ordinary, though the potato and other late autumn 
crops, have suffered in the southern parts of the 
state, as they have through all the middle states, from 
the drought m July. 
In Connecticut, the injury from the dry weather in 
July, has greatly diminished the autumn crops, though 
the early ones are believed to have been good. 
In New-York, the summer harvest was generally 
; abundant, and well got in. South of Albany the dry 
weather has seriously diminished the product of the 
latter harvest, particularly of the potato crop. North 
of Saratoga, no want of rain has been experienced, 
and the autumn crops are fine. The same remark, 
we believe, will apply to Oneida, Onondaga, and 
most of the counties lying in the more elevated por- 
: tions of our state. In the western counties, the 
: drought of July did considerable damage, and still 
more in the southern counties. 
In New-Jersey, it will be seen by the letters of our 
correspondents, in this and our last numbers, the au- 
- tumn crop has, in a measure, been a failure. 
I In Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, the wheat 
1 crop was good, the rye inferior, oats a small yield, 
fc corn very deficient, and potatoes a virtual failure.— 
The Commercial List, of Philadelphia, states as fol¬ 
lows, in regard to East Pennsylvania and New-Jer¬ 
sey : Wheat, decidedly good. Rye, half an average 
crop. Oats, two-thirds of an average. Corn, one- 
! fifteenth of an ordinary crop. Buckwheat, little ex¬ 
pected. Potatoes, early kinds very light; late, an 
• entire failure. Hay, first crop good. Pasture, none 
| in August. 
In Delaware, the corn crop promises to be an ave¬ 
rage one. 
ft. 
In Maryland and Virginia, the wheat has been 
. good ; but the corn has been seriously injured, and in 
many cases utterly destroyed, by the dry weather. 
In the states still more south and west, the wheat 
crop has been great, and the corn generally promised 
at least a medium crop. 
We shall go more into detail in these matters in 
our annual report. In the mean time, from all the 
information in our possession, we venture it as our 
opinion, that wheat is much more abundant, and that 
! flour will consequently be lower in market, this win¬ 
ter, than it was last; that Indian corn, and probably 
rye and oats, will sustain their present prices, and 
may advance; and that potatoes will command, 
south of our latitude, an unusually high price. The 
failure of the potato crop, and, we are sorry to add, 
the unusual depredations of the fly upon the ruta ba- 
ga, will undoubtedly have an influence upon the price 
of the coarser grains and hay, which latter, however, 
, may be considered abundant throughout the union. 
i 1 Will the politician, the manufacturer, the merchant 
'and the mechanic, pause a moment, and reflect upon 
the controlling influence which the abundance or 
scantiness of the harvest has upon the prosperity of 
out- common country, and upon their several pur- 
suits'? If the harvest is abundant, the whole land is 
(((prosperous and happy. If the harvest fails, every 
| class feels the electric shock, business becomes stag¬ 
nant, embarrassments multiply—and the whole land 
nourns. How important is it then, that all should 
eel and exert a direct influence in encouraging and 
qualifying the husbandman to increase the products 
>f the soil—by legislative patronage, and by a system 
>f enlightened education, calculated at once to make 
.etter farmers and better citizens. 
illi 
Pruning of Trees. 
If there is any branch of rural economy, which a 
over and cultivator of good fruit should personally 
nderstand better than another, it is that of pruning 
nd taking care of his fruit trees. As but very few 
understand how and when the operation of pruning is 
best performed, it is extremely difficult to hire it done 
well unless the owner himself is competent to direct 
in the matter. 
In all sorts of trees reared for standards, the first 
object is to obtain a straight bole or stem, at least to 
a given height, sufficiently stout and tapering to sus¬ 
tain the top. Having acquired the requisite height, 
the next object, in the management of fruit trees, is 
to obtain a proper and productive top. To effect the 
first point, the common practice is, to begin to prune 
at the bottom, and to divest the lower part of the plant 
of its limbs and leaves. The consequence is, that 
the plant becomes spindling—the growth being per¬ 
fectly equal up to the first branches—top-heavy, and 
ultimately ill-shaped; or, being deprived of a great 
portion of its leaves—its lungs or elaborating organs, 
—its growth is materially checked. Those equally 
err who do not prune at all; as the branches soon 
interfere with each other, the top becomes too thick 
to produce or mature well its fruit, and the conse¬ 
quence 1 is a growing, not a bearing tree. 
In the first stages of growth, the object being to 
get height and strength, few or no branches should 
be cut close to the bole, and the long ones, and those 
that compete with the leading shoot, may be shorten¬ 
ed one-half their length ; but not a healthy leaf should 
be unnecessarily removed from any part of the plant. 
Thus the stem will grow tall and strong, with a gra¬ 
dual taper from the lower branch to the terminal 
point at top. As to the time of pruning, particularly 
the apple, we persist in recommending—the long days 
in June,—when the plant is full of elaborated sap, and 
yet the flow of sap so moderate, as to be taken up by 
the remaining branches, without generating suc¬ 
cors. 
Fumigation to Destroy the Grain-Worm, &c. 
We are told that fumigation has been resorted to, 
to prevent the depredations of the grain-worm; and 
that although attended with some labor and expense, 
it has been found to be both successful and economi¬ 
cal. 
It is stated in an Amsterdam paper, that a farmer 
in Herkimer, has saved from the worm, an extensile 
wheat crop, by fumigating with brimstone for a few 
days, when the wheat-fly most abounded, while all 
around him was swept as with the besom of destruc¬ 
tion. He employed 100 lbs. of brimstone to a field of 
100 bushels sowing. The brimstone was melted, and 
strips of old woollen cloth dipped in it, which were 
fixed on sticks in different parts of the field, and par¬ 
ticularly on the windward side, at evening. The 
smoke and gas of the sulphur, which is offensive or 
destructive to the insect, thus every where penetrat¬ 
ed the standing gram, and preserved the crop. 
The Yankee Farmer advises, that burning or smok¬ 
ing with pine knots, has been found efficacious. The 
mode of operating is, to brush the tops of the grain 
with a long pole, carried across the field in a horizon¬ 
tal position, which causes the fly to rise,—a strip of 
board, raised somewhat above the pole, is perforated 
with holes, into which are placed splinters of fat pine, 
which are lighted—and the flame scorches the wings 
of the flies as they rise. 
Of these expedients, the first appears to claim the 
preference ; and we think it would prove efficacious 
in protecting young fruit from the curculio, were 
brimstone employed in this way, occasionally for a 
few days, to fumigate the branches of the trees; the 
young fruits would become so impregnated with the 
fumes of the sulphur, as to render them obnoxious to 
the insect. 
A writer in the Farmers’ Magazine, says he prac¬ 
tises fumigation to preserve his young turnips from 
the fly. He collects the weeds on the farm, lays them 
in heaps round the field, and on the appearance of 
the fly, the heaps to windward'are set on fire, brim¬ 
stone thrown upon them, and the offensive smoke is 
wafted over the crop. This is repeated till the tur¬ 
nips attain their second leaves, and is always suc¬ 
cessful. 
English Agricultural Society. 
The subscription to this society, now organizing in 
Britain, embraces the names of nearly 100 members 
of parliament, and a great many of the nobility and 
gentry, of all political parties. Ninety individuals 
have subscribed each <£50, ($222,) to constitute them 
life members or life governors ; and 115 others have 
subscribed £5 ($22.20,) annually to constitute them 
governors—ordinary members pay £l=to $4.44 per 
annum. This is but the commencement. Thus will 
a fund be secured in the outset, from other than or¬ 
dinary members, of more than $22,500. We should 
like to see this spirited example imitated by the capi¬ 
talists and statesmen of the United States. It would 
form a new and auspicious era in our history, and 
evince at once a high feeling of patriotism, and a dis¬ 
criminating judgment in the display of it. 
Beware of Loco-Foco Matches. 
A boy was bringing into our room some parcels of 
these matches, when a bunch, wrapped in a paper, 
slipped from his hand, and fell on the carpet; the 
friction occasioned by the fall instantly ignited the 
bundle. We doubt not but many recent fires have 
been caused by the accidental ignition of these phos¬ 
phorated matches. Every house-keeper should see 
that these matches are securely kept in metal or ear¬ 
then, and apart from all combustible materials. An¬ 
other modern improvement—the portable furnace— 
we doubt not, has led to immense losses by fire. 
On the Causes and Prevention of Rust or Mildew. 
The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, to which we 
are indebted for much valuable matter to fill our pa¬ 
ges, has a lengthy article on smut, canker, and rust 
or mildew. Having published in our two last num¬ 
bers, several articles on the causes and means of pre¬ 
venting smut, we shall now give so much of the ar¬ 
ticle from the Quarterly, as is descriptive of the rust 
or mildew, the ascertained cause of the evil, with some 
suggestions for its prevention, omitting the specula¬ 
tive opinions which have prevailed on the subject, and 
their refutation by modem writers and experience. 
DESCRIPTION OF RUST OR MILDEW. 
<! Rust first makes its appearance on the upper leaf, and 
then on the lower leaves and the stem, in the form of small 
white spots, scattered irregularly like spots made by rain on 
new cloth. These spots gradually increase in size and num¬ 
ber, and assume a reddish tinge, and at length form a soit of 
dust-looking powder, of an ochre or orange yellow, little co¬ 
hesive, and without smell or taste, and therefore very diffe¬ 
rent from canker or smut. It stains the fingers yellow, as 
well as the clothes of those who walk amotig the affected 
corn. 
“The dust-like substances of the rust originates beneath 
the outer bark or epidermis of the plant, which it raises up, 
renders thin, and at length cracks and bursts through. When 
examined by the microscope, it presents a congeries of egg- 
oblong bodies, some of which have projections almost like 
tadpoles or powlieads, though they are not animated. 
“ Wheat is attacked with the red rust at different periods of 
vegetation, but more particularly when in the ear. When 
the rust seizes young plants, they are said to suffer less than 
when they are more advanced, often recovering vigor before 
blooming; whereas at a later period they sustain irreparable 
damage, and crops which promise well are often in a short 
time rendered comparatively worthless. In this case the tex¬ 
ture of the leaves is disunited, and presents only longitudi¬ 
nal fibres of a brown colour, while the joints and the tubes of 
the straw between are blackened, as if they had been scorch¬ 
ed by fire, the growth ceases, a portion of the ear becomes 
yellow, another portion remains green, and the grain shrivels 
up in the husk without attaining maturity. 
“The evil, however, is rarely carried so far as this, and 
the yellow spots of rust become chocolate-brown or black, 
without disorganizing the portions of the plants where they 
occur; and the Abbe Tessier says he has seen, after heavy 
rains, the clothes of the reapers stained with this black sub¬ 
stance of the rust as if they had been dipt in ink. But though 
the plants are not disorganized, the flow of the sap is inter¬ 
rupted, the ripening of the grain is prematurely hastened, and 
it is hence light, containing a small proportion of farina, while 
the straw is bad. Sometimes the rust only leaves a yellow 
powder on the husks and upper end of the grains, taken by 
Fontana and others to be a different species. 
“ Sometimes rust prevails so extensively, that few fields 
escape; but for the most part it is observed infields sheltered 
from the north winds by walls, hedges or woods, or where 
vegetation is very luxuriant, on account of fresh soil or abun¬ 
dant manuring. Sometimes one part of the field escaps while 
the other is attacked; sometimes the chief plants, and at 
other times the side shoots tillering from them are affected; 
and sometimes rusty and sound plants grow from the same 
root.” 
OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE BARBERRY BUSH. 
Although it is conceded, that the farmers of Eng¬ 
land, and on the continent, generally ascribe the rust, 
in a measure, to the infection which spreads from the 
barberry bush, and that this notion is sometimes 
strengthened from the rust appearing in patches and 
strips among the grain, as if it had been carried 
thither by the wind from the barberry bushes—and 
although this opinion was sustained by Sir Joseph 
Banks,—the writer nevertheless considers the theory 
as fallacious, and quotes an anonymous authority in 
saying, that the rust which is found on different trees 
and plants is altogether of distinct and separate 
species. 
“ Dutrochet 1 s discovery of the mode of grovith in funguses.— 
In a damp cellar where wine was kept, M. Dutrochet, one 
of the most original observers of the day, remarked, about 
two or three years ago, a white looking net-work of fibres, 
which previous botanists had described as a species of crow- 
silk, (Byssus.) Being struck with its peculiar manner of 
growth, he watched it with careful attention, and got M. 
Tupin, probably the best botanical draughtsman in Europe, 
to take drawings from it in every stage of its growth. The 
general result was, that the supposed crow-silk was not, as 
had been supposed, of the genius Byssus at all, but the ge¬ 
nuine stems, hitherto known as such, of a mushroom, ( aga- 
rims crispus, Tupin,) the mushroom itself being the fruit on¬ 
ly, and not as hitherto believed, the whole plant. According 
to this view, then, it would be as correct to consider a bunch 
of grapes, with their fruit-stalk, a complete plant, as the 
fruits termed mushrooms, puffballs, or puddock-stools, all 
these being but the fruits of plants generally growing under 
ground, in the form of small white or grey fibres of net-work, 
and termed improperly by gardeners, spawn , indicating that it 
is the seed of mushrooms, whereas it is the genuine plant. 
“ M. M. Dutrochet and Tupin, further discovered, that the 
seeds, or, aa they are termed by botanists, sporules, consist- 
