190 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
hoeing this wheat, yet I feel confident that where my 
wheat has grass growing with it, it will pay me as 
good wages for hoeing it as my corn will. 
I ought to have said that twenty-five bushels to the 
acre would have been as good a crop as I ever had on 
the same ground. SHELDON BASSETT. 
Recipe for Curing Hams, Pork, &c. 
Schenectady , 8lh December, 1838. 
Sir— In the November number of your Cultivator, 
is a recipe for salting pork and hams. If you are of 
opinion that the following mode is better, and that the 
public may profit from a knowledge of it, you may 
give it a place in the Cultivator. 
I rub fine salt, with molasses and salt petre on hams, 
and pack them as close as I can in a cask. After a 
day or two, add pickle. In a cellar where it does not 
freeze, thirty days is long enough for hams not over 
20 lbs. to lay in pickle. I use iron hooks, made of 
wire l-4th of an inch thick, one end sharpened and 
turned short to hook into the ham; the other end 
turned wide, to hook over a pole of two or three inch¬ 
es diameter, and the hooks are six or seven inches 
long after they are made. 
I hang up the hams a few days to dry, and then 
smoke them. Immediately after smoking, I hang 
them in the larder or store room, and slip over each 
ham a bag made for the purpose, of stout and close 
cotton or linen, and with a string tie it as tight as 
possible round the hook, and above the ham, so that a 
fly cannot enter or deposite her eggs on the ham, and 
the hams remain perfectly free from worms through 
the summer, or any length of time, as fine as when 
bagged. The 1 ooks are cheaper than strings, as they 
last an age, and the bags, if kept for this purpose, will 
serve for many years, if kept perfectly free from holes, 
&c. 
If hams are not bagged till March or April, the flies 
may have deposited eggs on them, and they should be 
examined weekly to learn whether insects are on them, 
to be removed. 
I object to the advice of packing hocks and jowls, 
with the hams, to save pickle, as it will not allow room 
for enough pickle to save the hams. Many years ago, 
I packed pieces of pork among the hams, to make it 
compact, and after the hams were smoked, found they 
had not taken sufficient salt, and were tainted so ear¬ 
ly as the month of March. 
If hams are packed closely, in a cask of much size, 
there will not be too much room for pickle enough to 
save them. 
I use pickle saturated with salt in all cases. When 
it is not convenient to use casks, hams will cure equally 
well, by mixing so much molasses (or sugar) with fine 
salt, and rubbing them together till like pretty dry sugar. 
Lay the hams, skin down, on a wide board, one end 
drooping. Rub on the flesh parts, the salt and salt 
petre thus prepared. After a day or two, the molas¬ 
ses will cause the salt to dissolve and run off; set a 
vessel under the lower end of the board to receive the 
pickle, which you can baste on the hams, after adding 
more salt to the hams, as it melts and runs off'. Thirty 
days is long enough, when pickled as above. I have 
used an ounce of salt petre, and a half ounce to each 
ham of 16 or 20 lbs. and found no difference in the 
hams when used. 
The observations of friend Comfort, in preparing 
and smoking his hams, are very judicious. 
I think pork better without salt petre ; it may be 
packed, skin down, each layer, covered with coarse 
salt, which is preferable to fine salt, except for rubbing 
on each piece ot the pork before packing. After the 
cask is full, cold water filled to cover the pork, provid¬ 
ed salt is put on, so as not to diminish that used in 
packing the pork : or pickle may be boiled, with some 
sugar or molasses, if sweet is preferred. Put some 
pearlash or salteratus in while boiling, as it causes the 
scum to rise, and clear the pickle, and the scum must 
be skimmed off. 
If mice are in the room, they can crawl up the wall, 
over the ceiling, and descend to the ham. To prevent 
them from lodging on the ham, take a smooth and stiff 
paper, make a hole in the centre of the size of the wire, 
and slip it on the hook from which the ham is sus¬ 
pended, to form a cap above the bag. When the 
mouse passes down on the hook to the ham, he will 
slide off the paper to the floor, and must commence a 
new journey on the wall. Most respectfully, 
DAVID TOMLINSON. 
Spring Wheat and Ituta Buga in the Southwest. 
Steubenville, (Ohio,) Dec. 5, 1838. 
Mr. Btjel —While I am writing, I will state to you 
one or two facts, which may be of some interest to 
you. The first is, that the ruta baga crop so far as I 
can learn, failed entirely in this neighborhood, the 
last season. The second is, that the Italian spring 
wheat with me was a very poor crop. I sowed some¬ 
thing over two bushels of seed, fine looking grain, ob¬ 
tained from Mr. Hathaway, of Rome. It was sown 
in a field a part of which was in winter wheat. The 
spring wheat was sown on a rich sandy soil, (Ohio 
River Bottom,)—straw good—ears formed good size, 
but much blasted, and much of the grain shrivelled; 
whole crop 19| bushels. The winter wheat adjoin¬ 
ing 271 bushels to the acre. 
I am afraid that ruta baga and spring wheat will be 
an uncertain crop here on account of the warmth and 
dryness of our summers and falls. The last summer 
was very warm, and the latter part dry. Some sea¬ 
sons, I have no doubt, they will succeed well. 
I intend to try beets, as a substitute for turnips.— 
Beets are as sure a crop as we have. Has the com¬ 
parative value of a good crop of beets and turnips, in 
our country, ever been ascertained 1 If beets will 
afford as much nutriment as turnips, allowing both to 
be a good crop, I suspect very much we must adopt 
beets here. Yours very respectfully, 
J. H. HALLOCK. 
Experiments in Planting Potatoes. 
J. Buel, Esq.—I procured of J. A. Thompson of 
Catskill, in May last, 9 Rohan potatoes, weighing one 
pound, gave a friend one of about the average size, 
planted the eight potatoes, two sets in a hill; the 
8 potatoes planted 75 hills, producing 199| lbs. being 
at the rate of 221 bushels to the acre: I will here 
mention that I have allowed 60 lbs. to the bushel, 
and 5,000 hills to the acre ; the hills a little less than 
3 feet asunder, each way. 
I planted the same number of hills with the com¬ 
mon white potato, 2 sets in a hill, which produced 
186| lbs. being at the rate of 207 bushels to the acre, 
making a difference of 14 bushels to the acre, in 
round numbers, omitting fractions. 
I will here remark, that it took 15 of the common 
potatoes to plant as many hills as the 8 Rohans plant¬ 
ed ; making a difference of nearly half in the quantity 
of seed. 
Planted 20 hills of the common potato, with one po¬ 
tato in a hill, which produced 56| lbs. being at the 
rate of 235 bushels to the acre. 
Planted 20 hills of the common potato, half a pota¬ 
to in each hill, which produced 50£ lbs. being 210 
bushels to the acre. 
Planted 20 hills of common potatoes, with two sets 
in a hill, which produced 48 lbs. being 200 bushels to 
the acre. 
Planted 41 hills pink-eyes, with two potatoes in a 
hill, which produced 99| lbs. being 202 bushels to the 
acre. 
Planted 41 hills of pink-eyes, with one potato in a 
hill which produced 66| lbs. being 135 bushels to the 
acre. 
Each variety of the above potatoes were as near of a 
size as I could judge; were all planted on the 26th 
of May, and all received the same treatment. The 
tops of the Rohans wrnre green when the frost killed 
them, about the middle of October, and I am inclined 
to believe the potatoes had not got their growth, for 
I should think that there was not any that would 
weigh over one pound, although the land was in a 
high state of cultivation. 
"Should the above experiments with different varie¬ 
ties of potatoes, and different quantities of seed, in¬ 
duce any one of your many subscribers to try experi¬ 
ments, and ascertain the proper quantity of seed, I 
should consider myself abundantly paid for my trou¬ 
ble. SHERMAN BASSETT. 
North-East, Dutchess Co. Nov. 15, 1838. 
P. S. The tops of the common potato, with only 
two sets in a hill, sent out laterals, and shewed to 
all appearance nearly as many tops as the hills plant¬ 
ed with the whole and half potato. S. B. 
IIow to Eat your Potato and to Plant it. 
New-Haven, Vt. Nov. 12th, 1838. 
Mr. Buel —Sir—As the potato crop the present 
season has proved, generally, to be very light, per¬ 
haps it may be of use, to some at least, both to plant 
the potato'and to eat it. I will just give you a sketch 
of an experiment I tried on raising potatoes from 
what we call the seed ends. While fattening my 
hogs last fall, (whch was done principally on boiled 
potatoes,) I cut off the seed ends, or 1 took off from 
one-fourth to one-third of the potato, according to 
the shape of it—if long one-fourth is sufficient, if 
round more is necessary, that the piece taken off 
may be thick enough to retain moisture sufficient to 
preserve the chit through the winter. I continued 
cutting off the seed ends until 1 got twenty bushels 
of them, boiling the remainder of the potato for the 
hogs. When cold weather came on, I buried them 
on°sandy soil, and let them remain until about plant¬ 
ing time. I then took them out, planted in hills, each 
three feet apart, put one piece in a hill, generally, if 
very small, two. To satisfy myself that they were as 
good as the whole potato, 1 planted four rows of the 
whole potato, of good size, by the side of the seed ends. 
When I dug them, I found those from the seed ends 
to eaual the other in measure, and to beat them in 
size J. L. ELDREDGE. 
The method of planting the eyes, and eating the po¬ 
tato, has long been practised in some parts of Europe. 
In this case the eyes are taken out with a scoop, some¬ 
what resembling a salt spoon, though larger.— Cond. 
Proper use of Clover Leys—Advantages of Agri¬ 
cultural Periodicals. 
Gt. Barrington, Mass. Dec. 12, 1838. 
Mr. Editor—I often hear the remark from intelli¬ 
gent men, that such and such soils are not very strong; 
that they require a great deal of nursing, otherwise are 
soon exhausted. For my own part I claim but little 
knowledge of the properties of soils for retaining fer¬ 
tility ; but it does seem as though some labored un¬ 
der a very great misapprehension in this matter. 
Undoubtedly there are some soils so porous—so much 
exposed to the operations of heat and frost, wind and 
rain, that they are sooner exhausted of their fertility 
than those that are more compact and more adhesive. 
Still let there be a fair representation of facts, and 
I imagine there is not the difference in the properties 
of soils, in the same neighborhoods, that some sup¬ 
pose. For instance, in the valley of the Housatonic 
there are many farms that extend from the river to the 
adjacent hills, embracing three varieties of soil—the al¬ 
luvial, which is sandy; the table land, which is a gra¬ 
vel ; and the upland, or hilly, which, perhaps, may like¬ 
wise be termed gravel, but of a different texture from 
the former, and is stony, and very rough and uneven. 
The first are natural meadows, and, when annually in¬ 
undated, very productive of grass and requiring no ma¬ 
nure. These are often permitted to remain undisturbed 
by the plough for years in succession, and, notwith¬ 
standing, yield a great burthen of hay: still, accord¬ 
ing to Professor Hitchcock’s analysis, they contain 
but a very small proportion of geine, or vegetable 
food, less than most other soils in the county; the 
annual inundations restoring the fertility exhausted 
by continual cropping. The second variety, the table 
land, or gravelly, are light, dry, and requiring but little 
labor and strength of team to cultivate; and, in con¬ 
sequence, are exhausted by a succession of crops, with¬ 
out any regard to judicious rotation. But the rough, 
s f ony uplands and hills are more difficult to plough, 
and are allowed to remain in grass or pasture much 
longer, and thus recover their exhausted strength— 
hence they acquire the character of stronger soils. 
There are lands, in this vicinity, of the same charac¬ 
ter as those which require so much “nursing,” which 
are, every year, improving in fertility and value, and 
it is a remarkable fact that these lands which are 
thus improving, were, a few years since, considered 
as very inferior and hardly worth the cost of cultiva¬ 
tion. The proprietors of these lands, in some in¬ 
stances, have hit upon a course, which, if varied in 
some respects, appears to me the proper one lor such 
lands. Almost uniformly clorer, (with plaster,) is 
used as an ameliorating or enriching crop; yet the 
land is but little benefitted thereby. For as soon as 
the clover has attained to such a height that cattle 
can “get a good bite,” while the herbage is tender, 
and before the stalk becomes in the least indurated, 
the cattle are turned upon it, and continued there as 
long as they can get a living. Then comes the turn 
for colts or sheep, which continue the spoliations till 
the field is a complete waste, and almost as barren of 
herbage as the Lybian desert. And now, perhaps, 
it is time to put in the plough for a winter crop ; so 
the soil is turned over, and if ten bushels of sye, or 
fifteen or twenty bushels of oats per acre are obtain¬ 
ed the proprietor is entirely satisfied. 
Now, Sir, it strikes me that this is a mistaken po¬ 
licy. It is true that the stock that takes the first 
clip fares most daintily, and the land is somewhat 
benefitted by the manure left upon the surface ; but, 
in the case of a dairy farm, where the cows are often 
driven a considerable distance from the pasture to the 
yard, there is a great waste; though many never 
think of that. But the root of the clover thus shear¬ 
ed of its lungs can never attain to much size; and as 
hardly a leaf or a stalk is turned under, the soil can 
be but little benefitted by the green crop; and if it ■ 
does not degenerate it does not improve. 
About three years since, in July, 1 called on a gen¬ 
tleman in the north part of this town, who makes use 
of clover “ according to my notion” of the right way. 
He went with me over a considerable portion of his 
farm, and through fields which he intended to sow 
with wheat or rye. The soil was a gravel, and, by 
nature, not the most fertile. In these were horses, 
swine and cows, up to their eyes in clover in full 
bloom, and of most luxuriant growth: and 1 assure you 
it gave me pleasure of no ordinary degree to witness 
such a feast—a feast for the eye, for the brute and 
for the soil. I remarked, “ Indeed Mr. T. your stock 
fare sumptuously.” “Yes,” was his reply, “and that 
is the way I manure my fields. When the clover is 
pretty well rolled down—I don’t allow the cattle to 
eat it all up —I go in with my harrow and com¬ 
plete the levelling process by drawing it in the same 
direction that I plough, that in the latter operation 
