140 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
our late crops. The moisture was literally baked 
out of the earth. Com crops must be light. 
A friend the other day brought me the branch of 
an apple tree, on which there were two very large 
cocoons, and a green worm about five inches long, 
three-quarters of an inch diameter, just commenc¬ 
ing his cocoon. Such mammoth silk-worms must 
be great feeders as well as great producers. 
ISRAEL DILLE. 
Remarks, —We either misunderstand what our highly re¬ 
spectable correspondent terms blight, or we are obliged to 
dissent from his opinions as to the causes which produce it. 
That the aphides, and all other parasites, animal or vegeta¬ 
ble, which abound upon plants, are prejudicial to their health, 
and often destroy them, is a position not at all doubted—for 
these parasites subsist on the juices, or sap, which is destined 
to nourish the plant ; and the injury is in proportion to the 
quantity of sap which is abstracted. But what is termed 
blight in the pear, and often in the apple, and other trees of 
the Pyrus family, cannot, we think, be caused by an aphis, 
for this insect seems ever to be with us, while the blight of 
the pear often intermits for years. 
Substitute for Spaying. 
Ivanhoe, Campbell Co. Aug. 18, 1838. 
Dear Sir — I have been for some time an atten¬ 
tive reader of your valuable paper ; from each page 
information is to be gained. In your last number, 
you instruct us how to perform the operation of ca¬ 
poning cocks, before which I knew not. And it is 
the above which prompts me to give you the follow¬ 
ing information : 
The old method of gelding sows is not only very 
cruel, but quite disagreeable to the operator, as 
well as dangerous to fat animals. Now sir, the mo¬ 
dus operandi in this neighborhood, as practised by 
myself lately, but much longer by others, is simply 
this: For convenience use a common goose quill as 
a tube, cutting off smoothly the small end, the 
other shaped as for a tooth-pick, to be used as a 
handle ; then pass the small end down the vagina 
two inches or more, (according to the size of the 
animal,) through which drop six or seven shot, say 
No. 3, and your work is complete. Nothing can 
be more simple, innocent, or efficacious. 
Should you think the above worth making known, 
you can publish it. Very respectfully, your ob’t 
serv’t. EDWARD B. WITHERS. 
The greatest enemy to the beds is white clover, 
which, in old lands, after the first year’s bearing, 
generally gets possession of the beds and eradicates 
the plants. Land lately cleared is not often trou¬ 
bled with this grass ; the great danger is from sor¬ 
rel, but this is less destructive. Our beds cover the 
whole ground ; there are no alleys, no clipping of 
runners, no digging the paths, no burning with 
straw, as recommended by some gardeners, for it is 
doubtful whether these operations would answer our 
purpose, whether they would be profitable and pay 
cost. At all events, our experience leads us to 
adopt the plan I have described. The only atten¬ 
tion which I have found necessary and advantage¬ 
ous after the first year, is to pull up and destroy the 
weeds and grass, and to run a light harrow over 
old beds, early in the spring, when matted too thick 
with plants. As for manure, it is not customaiy for 
us to put any on. I once read an account of plaster 
being highly beneficial, which I tried, but it failed 
in improving them. Lime might aid in destroying 
sorrel, but have not tried its virtue. 
Much has been written about male and female 
plants, and of the necessity of mixing them in the 
beds to make them fruitful. Now all this may be 
necessary with some varieties, but with the one we 
cultivate I can assure you it is not; no cultivator in 
my neighborhood, from which the New-York mar¬ 
kets are principally supplied, that I have ever heard 
of, does it. I once tried an experiment, which ap¬ 
pears to me conclusive. I planted a small bed in 
my garden at the time when the fruit commenced 
ripening, taking only such plants as had good and 
fair fruit on them, and no others. This bed produc¬ 
ed the next year abundantly; they were all female 
plants, and no males in their vicinity to impregnate 
them. The male and female blossoms of this vari¬ 
ety must be on the same plant, although to the eye 
no difference is presented in their appearance. 
If you deem these remarks worthy of notice, you 
may insert them in your valuable journal; and if 
you desire it, I may at some future period describe 
the manner in which cucumbers, melons, &c. are 
cultivated among us for the supply of the New-York 
markets. Yours, TUNIS G. BERGEN. 
We shall be glad to receive the proffered communications. 
— Cond. 
tice. I myself have known it for nearly, or quite 
half, a century; have often seen it tried; and with 
such invariable success, that it is surprising it should 
not be general. But it must be done immediately 
after the vines make their first appearance in the 
spring, and no more straw should be used than suf¬ 
ficient for spreading the flame equally over all the 
plants. This process not only benefits the soil in 
some degree, and kills the seed of weeds scattered 
on the surface, but it retards the bloom, and there¬ 
by often saves the fruit from destructive frosts. It 
also secures a succession of fruit, which is better 
than cultivating an inferior kind for the purpose. 
I can likewise vouch, from long experience, at 
least in regard to the claret-coloured hautboy, that, 
if you would have any fruit, you must plant male 
among female vines. This is the only variety 
known to me, which leaves the male and female 
blossoms on different plants ; although others may 
do so, but I have never noticed it. As to the best 
proportion of male to female plants, I cannot speak 
with certainty, having tried only that of one male 
to 12 or 14 females. By the way, can you inform 
us what are the distinctive characteristics of the 
hautboy, and what the derivation of the name ?* I 
know of only the following peculiarities, viz. leaves 
of a yellower green, with a rougher and more cor¬ 
rugated upper surface, than any other variety; fruit 
of a spicy flavor, a very fragrant smell, and scarce¬ 
ly any perceptible acid in the taste. The claret co¬ 
loured and white are the only hautboys I have ever 
seen that answer this description. All the other 
kinds known to me, amounting to six or seven, have 
leaves of a deeper green, and smooth on the upper 
side ; while the fruit, however variant in taste, is 
much more acid than the hautboys, has quite a dif¬ 
ferent odour, and is invariably of a red colour, al¬ 
though exhibiting various shades of scarlet and 
crimson. In some of our Virginia gardens, one of 
our wild varieties has been introduced, which has 
this peculiarity: in pulling the berries, when ripe, 
they separate entirely from the stem, which saves 
the subsequent picking, which must be performed 
on all the others. In flavor none are generally 
deemed better, except the old fashioned, round, 
scarlet kind, which was almost the only kind culti¬ 
vated in “the ancient dominion,” forty or fifty 
years ago, and which may claim a preference, by 
prescriptive right, over all others—even in opposi¬ 
tion to the long established dictim —“De gustibus 
nil disputandum.” 
Among the varieties mentioned by yourself, you 
speak of “ the Methven and you say—“you had 
many that measured over four, and one that mea¬ 
sured five and one-quarter inches in diameter.” Is 
not the word diameter , in the foregoing sentence, a 
typographical error ?f 
As to the culture of this delicious and wholesome 
fruit, I can only say, that some is indispensable to 
the production of the best and greatest quantity, be 
the variety what it may. The “ let alone” system, 
so fatally pursued by congress and our state legisla¬ 
tures in general, towards agriculture, which may 
truly be called the life-blood of every trade, profes¬ 
sion and calling in society, is equally fatal to— 
straiuberries, (if small things may be compared to 
great;) they must have some culture, or they can 
never be brought to their highest state of perfection. 
But in regard to this, each pursues his own fancy, 
for the fact is, that we have scarcely any thing 
among us which has the slightest pretension to be 
called system, either in gardening or general agri¬ 
culture ; our sons having been usually brought up 
to entertain a most ineffable contempt for that great 
bug-bear, book farming, which, of course, com¬ 
prehends gardening amongst the things not to be 
taught by books. The fatuity on this subject may 
be reduced to a sort of syllogism, thus: 
Our fathers and great-great-gandfathers farmed 
and gardened pretty well without books. 
But we, their sons, and great-grandsons, are ten 
times as wise and clever as they were ; 
Ergo, we are amply qualified to farm and garden 
it too, ten times better than they could,—unaided 
by, and independent of, any and every thing that 
bears even the semblance of a book. 
But thanks be to you, sir, and to all your able 
brother editors of agricultural papers, for the zea¬ 
lous, constant and judicious efforts which you and 
they are now making, in every part of the country, 
to awaken the Rip Van Winkle’s of our class, from 
their long and deadly sleep. The fatuity I have 
* The distinctive botanical character of the hautboy is— 
“ Calix of fruit reflexed, [no other species possessing this cha¬ 
racter but the wood strawberry,] pubescence of peduncks 
and petioles much spreading," The specific name hautboy 
(elatior in botany) is supposed to be derived from its high 
growing habit. The hautboy is often termed the musky straw¬ 
berry, from its musky fragrance.— Cond. 
f This was an accidental error in the manuscript. It should 
have read “circumference," instead of diameter. 
Modes and Profits of Strawberry Culture. 
Narroivs, L. I. Aug. 15, 1838. 
Mr. Buel— Having noticed an article in your 
August number, on the cultivation of strawberries, 
to which my attention has been directed for a num¬ 
ber of years, and wishing that the public should re¬ 
ceive all the light upon the subject which can be 
diffused, induces me to communicate what little 
knowledge I possess of the matter. The kind gene¬ 
rally cultivated on Long-Island (where I reside) for 
the supply of the New-York market, I believe to be 
the early scarlet, and of these I have at present 
about three acres under cultivation. We generally 
transplant, and form our new beds in the beginning 
of May. Formerly the universal practice was, to 
transplant in rows from two to two and a half feet 
apart, the plants single from one to one and a half 
feet from each other in the rows. My pi-esent prac¬ 
tice, and that of many others, is to plant them in 
hills about three and a half or four feet asunder each 
way, placing four plants in a hill, two and two to¬ 
gether, about three inches apart. By planting in 
hills there is a great saving of labor, for it takes less 
time in transplanting, they are more easily kept 
Clean by running the cultivator through them both 
ways, and there is less labor in hoeing; whereas, 
by the old method, when planted close, the cultiva¬ 
tor could not be used in them at all, or at most only 
one way. The cultivator is run through them as 
late as it can be done without serious injury to the 
runners, hoeing them each time, and it is seldom, 
when judiciously done, they require it over three 
times. I have always, in my practice, found them 
when properly managed, to cover the ground with 
a sufficient number of plants to produce a good crop 
of fruit the next season. A piece covering less than 
a half acre, of last year’s planting, produced this 
season over 3,000 baskets, containing nearly a pint 
each, which were sold in the New-York markets 
for $200. This, however, is an uncommon yield, 
and is seldom equalled or excelled. New beds al¬ 
most invariably yield better than old ones, and pro¬ 
duce larger fruit, although apt to be sandy after 
showers. It took nearly two acres of my old beds 
to yield the same quantity the half acre of new did. 
The soil I prefer for strawberries, is light sandy 
land newly cleared, on which no animal or vegeta¬ 
ble manure has been used. On land of this kind, 
which has been prepared by previous crops, and on 
which weeds have not been suffered to go to seed 
and take possession, they will last four or five years, 
while on old land they are seldom profitable over 
two, and often but one. 
Early Varieties of Corn. 
Hebron Centre, Aug. 27, 1838. 
J- Buel, Esq.—I send you two ears of corn, 
picked this day from a neighboring field. Both va¬ 
rieties have been cultivated in this town for many 
years ; the twelve rowed has been the most produc¬ 
tive, until the two last seasons; the early frosts cut 
off the most of it before it had ripened. The corn, 
when ripe, is very hard, and weighs three or four 
pounds in the bushel more than the common flint 
corn; it is very compact on the cob, hard, and 
when ground produces the finest meal; it may be 
called the Rhode Island flint. 
The eight rowed is a fine variety ; planted in the 
same field, on the same day, and manured and ma¬ 
naged in the same manner, ripened eight or ten 
days earlier than the Dutton corn, and now promi¬ 
ses a production of twelve or fifteen per cent more. 
There are now standing several hills (planted for an 
experiment,) of this year’s growth, without more 
than ordinary care, that are six inches high. Will 
you be pleased to give the three varieties a fair trial, 
and in due time report the result in your very use¬ 
ful periodical publication ? My only object in mak¬ 
ing this communication, is to give the greatest re¬ 
ward to the laborer who cultivates the ground, and 
best obeys the command of God given to our first 
parents—go “ dress the garden .” Could our citi¬ 
zens be induced to return to their primeval inno¬ 
cence and simplicity, the whole earth would be¬ 
come an Eden. With great respect, 
J. S. PETERS. 
0 = The samples noticed above, have been received.— 
They are, as represented, beautiful samples of yellow flint 
corn, the grain covering about nine inches of the cob. We re¬ 
gret that Gov. Peters did not note the day on which they w T ere 
planted, as we can only judge of its comparative earliness by 
knowing this fact. Some of our Dutton variety was planted 
on the 19th May, and the crop harvested on the 22d Aug. 
being 93 days. In Maryland, and elsewhere, it has matured 
in less than 90 days.— Cond. Cult. 
Culture of the Strawberry. 
Loretto, Va. Aug. 18, 1838. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Dear Sir—The perusal of your 
interesting article on strawberries, induces me to 
offer my testimony in confirmation of some of the 
facts and opinions therein stated. Not that I can 
suppose any of your readers would desire better au¬ 
thority than your own; but because the value of all 
statements whatever, as to practical matters, will 
always be increased in proportion to the number of 
credible experimenters who testify in support of 
them. 
The burning of stmvberry beds is a very old prac¬ 
