132 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
a height of two or three feet. On the top of the stalk 
is a scaly spike, from each of which scales a blue flower 
appears. When arrived at maturity, the root is taken 
up, and forms the ginger of commerce. It is afterwards 
ground in flour or other mills.for use. 
Nutmeg and mace are the produce of the same plant. 
It has its male or barren flowers upon one tree, and fe- 
male.or fertile flowers upon another, being a dioecious 
plant. The flowers are white, bell shaped, and grow 
at the extremities of the branches, two or three toge¬ 
ther. The embryo fruit lies at the bottom of the fe¬ 
male flower, like a little red knob, which afterwards ex¬ 
pands, and at the end of nine or ten months it has the 
appearance of a peach. The outer coat is fibrous and 
hard, about half an inch thick; and when arrived at 
maturity, this bursts, and a membraneous covering of a 
fine red colour is seen, enveloping the thin black shell 
which encloses the kernel or nutmeg. This covering is 
the mace of commerce. The mace resembles a verdant 
net work; and, when collected, is left in the shade to 
dry, after which it is pressed closely in bags and export¬ 
ed. The shell of the nutmeg is hard, and is subjected 
to the heat of fire before being broken. The kernel 
thus shrivels up, and is then subjected to the action of 
lime and sea water to destroy the vegetating principle. 
Honey-Dew. 
George W. Johnson, in the Quarterly Journal of 
Agriculture, after enumerating, and, as he supposes, 
disproving the several theories which ascribes the ho¬ 
ney dew upon plants, to insects and to the atmosphere, 
traces it, we think correctly, to a morbid state of the 
sap. He says— 
“Heat, attended by dryness of the soil, as during the 
drought of summer, is very liable to produce an unnatural 
exudation. This is especially noticed upon the leaves of 
some plants, and is popularly known as honey-dew. It is 
somewhat analogous to that outbreak of blood which in such 
seasons is apt to occur to man, and arises from the increased 
action of the secretory and circulatory systems to which it 
affords relief. There is this great and essential difference, 
that in the case of the plants, the extravasation is upon the 
surface of the leaves, and consequently in proportion to the 
extruded sap, is their respiration and digestion impaired.” 
The remedy which Mr. Johnson prescribes for this 
disease, for such it evidently is, is a solution of common 
salt and water, applied to a soil in which the plant is 
growing. For, says he, 
“If we admit that the irregular action of the sap is the 
cause of the disorder, then we can understand that a portion 
of salt, introduced into the juices of the plant, would natu¬ 
rally have a tendency to correct or vary any morbid tendency, 
either correcting the too rapid secretion of sap, stimulating it 
in promoting its regular formation, or preserving its fluidity. 
And that, by such a treatment, the honey-dew may be en¬ 
tirely prevented. I have often myself witnessed in my own 
garden, when experimentalizing with totally different objects. 
Thus I have seen plants of various kinds which have been 
treated with a weak solution of common salt and water to¬ 
tally escape the honey-dew, where trees of the same kind, 
grow'ing in the same plot of ground, not so treated, have been 
materially injured by its ravages. I have noticed that stan¬ 
dard fruit trees, around which, at the distance of six or eight 
feet from the stem, I had deposited, at the depth of twelve 
inches, a quantity of salt, to promote the general health and 
fruitfulness of the tree, according to the manner formerly 
adopted to some extent in the apple orchards of cider coun¬ 
tries, that these escaped the honey-dew, which infected ad¬ 
jacent trees, just as well as those which had been watered 
with salt and water. I am of opinion that one ounce of salt 
(chloride of sodium,) to a gallon of water is quite power¬ 
ful enough for the intended purpose.” 
Economy of Fuel. 
We published in our second volume an abstract of 
Dr. Bull’s experiments with fuel, showing the quantity 
of heat produced by the several kinds of wood and coal, 
with many other facts of interest to the buyer and seller. 
Of Dr. Bull’s work, Prof. Silliman remarked, that it 
was “ one of the most important contributions of science 
to the arts and domestic economy, which had been made 
in a long time in this country.” Mr. William Yates, 
of Troy, has just published, on a broad sheet, a “ Guide 
to economy in Fuel,” in which he has comprised in a 
tabular form, the result ofDr. Bull’s experiments, and ad¬ 
ded a scale of prices, which shows at a glance, the relative 
value of the different kinds of fuel, and which will ena¬ 
ble the purchaser to decide correctly which it is the 
most economical for him to buy, at the market prices. 
Say, for illustration, that if hickory wood is $8 the cord, 
the relative value of other kinds of fuel are as follows: 
White oak $6.88, white ash $6.54, white beech $5.52, 
hard maple $4.80, white elm $4.64, soft maple $4.32, 
button wood $4.16, pitch pine $3.65, white pine $3.59, 
Schuylkill coal $7.79 the ton, Lehigh $7.48, Lackawana 
$7.48, Rhode Island $5.41, Worcester $4.46, Liverpool 
coal $18.27 the 100 bushels, Richmond coal $17.42, 
hickory charcoal $14.11, maple $9.69, oak $9.01, pine 
$6.37, &c. &c. The scale is graduated for the prices of 
hickory from $6 to $12 a cord. The table will be of 
great use to every buyer of fuel, who wishes to study 
economy in his purchases of this article, and is for sale 
at the bookstores. It should be recollected by the seller, 
that wood, upon an average, loses 42 in 100 lbs. by dry¬ 
ing. Hence the disadvantage of taking green wood to 
market. And the buyer should remember, that he loses 
13 per cent of the value of his wood by burning it when 
green. See vol. ii. p. 122, Cultivator. 
Sowing Evergreens. 
A correspondent on Rock River, Ill. writes us as fol¬ 
lows “ In the month of April, 1838, I took about half 
a bushel of Red Cedar seeds* to my garden, poured them 
down, and mixed them with about four bushels of earth. 
This pile I mixed up and turned over four or five times 
during the summer. In April, 1839, I planted these 
seeds, dirt and all, in drills; every seed vegetated, and 
came up as well as wheat. Many of the plants died by 
the dry weather, but millions were growing finely in 
July. 
“The white cedar ( Thuya orientalis,) seed, sown in 
the fall, vegetates and comes up the following spring.” 
This tree is usually called the Chinese arbor vitae, and 
differs somewhat from the American species, bestknown 
by the name of white cedar. The American species 
grows to the height of 45 to 50 feet, has a beautiful foliage, 
and the timber is valuable for a great many purposes. 
The seed may be obtained in any quantity, and would 
be a valuable acquisition to the prairie west. The tree 
likes a moist cold soil. 
* Probably cones, containing seeds. 
Crops, &c. in Virginia. 
A correspondent writes from Columbus, Ya. July 29: 
“Our crops in this section, (Fluviana county, in the 
valley of James’ River,) are chiefly corn, wheat and 
tobacco, which are cultivated on the three field rotation. 
Thus corn or tobacco, wheat and a year of rest in clo¬ 
ver, applying our manure in the spring to the corn or 
tobacco crops. The wheat crop just harvested is an in¬ 
ferior one, in quantity and quality, having been much 
injured early in the spring, by the Hessian fly, and af¬ 
terwards more seriously attacked by swarms of the 
chinck-bug, together with rust in the late wheat, gave 
the crop the ‘ coup de grace.’ Great apprehensions 
were entertained for the corn crop, from the swarms of 
the chinck-bug, which have always been one of its 
worst enemies; but they have fortunately passed off 
without much injury to it. The corn and tobacco crops 
are unusually promising.” 
Another letter, dated Greene C. H. July 15, says:— 
“The crop of wheat in this section, I do not think an 
average one. Oats and grass very heavy. Clover of 
last spring’s sowing failed, owing to the drought. Corn 
very promising at this time.” 
A New Implement, 
Which promises to do the work effectually of a sub¬ 
soil plough, taking only half the draught, and stones 
being little or no obstruction to it, has been announced 
in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, by Lawson & 
Son, as having been invented by a shoemaker. It is 
simply a heavy metal wheel, of about five feet in dia¬ 
meter, with slightly curved iron spikes or teeth inserted 
in its broad rim. It is drawn by a pair of horses, 
while a man steadies it behind with a pair of stilts, simi¬ 
lar to those of a common plough, the which is fixed in 
a frame similar to that of a roller, but without support 
on either side. Messrs. Lawson suggest, that a pair of 
light wheels might be added with advantage, as tending 
to relieve the man considerably. 
Furrow-Draining. 
This modern mode of improving lands is coming into 
extensive use in Scotland, as will be seen by the follow¬ 
ing quotation from the Quarterly Journal of Agricul¬ 
ture. 
“ One cannot go a distance from home without observing 
the extent to which furrow-draining is now practised. Al¬ 
most every stubble and grass-field that is intended to be 
ploughed up, especially at the commencement of a lease, 
presents, by cuttings, stones and tiles, a pleasing scene of 
industrious enterprise, and of determined desire of improve¬ 
ment. At some places drains are cut in every furrow, [be¬ 
tween the ridges,] from 15 to 18 feet asunder, at others in 
every other furrow, the distance no doubt, being regulated by 
the nature of the subsoil. Stones are entirely used in some 
places, but, in general, we should say, tiles alone are used, 
though in others, stones are used in conjunction with tile. 
This last mode is perhaps the best for filling drains, and is 
certainly preferable to tiles alone; but where stones are re¬ 
ally scarce, much rather use tiles alone than neglect drain¬ 
ing.” 
* * * “ We are too apt to argue as if the properties of 
thoroughly drained land remained the same as undrained.— 
It is difficult to find an object to compare land with; but we 
may compare undrained land to a sponge containing a 
considerable quantity of water; a small addition to which 
makes the sponge overflow, and it is ever ready so to 
do. Drained land, on the other hand, may be compared to 
a sponge recently squeezed out and dried on the surface, 
which is ever ready to receive a considerable quantity of 
water, without making much difference on its appearance. 
Thorough-drains become almost dry in a few years; never¬ 
theless, theyarein constant requisition, and, butfor them,wa¬ 
ter would be retained in the soil; but they are only com¬ 
pletely tried as water-runs after heavy rains. Thorough- 
drained land may be laid perfectly flat, in which case water 
enters the drains from every quarter.” 
Economy of Power. 
There are a great many operations on the farm which 
may be economically performed by a stationary power, 
that is, by water, by wind, by horses or oxen, or by 
steam. The same power that is applied to the thrashing 
of grain, or to the grinding of apples, may, if properly 
adjusted, and with a trifling additional expense, be ap¬ 
plied to the crushing of grain for farm stock, or even 
grinding it for family use—to the cutting of hay and 
straw—to the sawing of wood, slitting boards, &c.—to 
turning the grindstone, pumping water, and various 
other stationary uses. A friend, whom we visited on 
Staten-Island, applied, he told us, his wind-mill, to ei¬ 
ther fourteen or eighteen different purposes. There is 
no doubt in our mind, that a vast economy of human 
power is capable of being made, and will be ere long 
saved, by a stationary power about the farm buildings. 
The thrashing machine is an indication of what may be 
done, in other branches of farm labor, in economizing 
time and money. A stationary power which can be 
applied to the various opeiations of the farm and out¬ 
buildings, must be a desideratum with every farmer, 
whose business is on any thing like an enlarged scale. 
T-he Highland Society of Scotland, fully appreciating 
the importance of determining the most economical 
power to be employed in propelling the thrashing ma¬ 
chine, offered a premium for the best essay upon the 
subject; and Mr. Robert Bridges became a competitor 
for the prize. In discussing the merits of the different 
moving powers, we find some data which, though not 
exactly adapted to our practice, are nevertheless worth 
recording in the Cultivator. 
1. Mr. Bridges estimates the expense of a substan¬ 
tial water-wheel, including mason-work of fall or mill- 
race, from £70 to £110—average £90; reservoir, water 
course and tail-race, say £150. 
2. The cost of erecting a wind-mill, of the best mate¬ 
rials and construction, including tower, at £350. 
3. The expense of a horse-wheel, including the build¬ 
ing to cover it, at £120; and the annual expense incur¬ 
red by a pair of farm-horses, taking the average of half 
a dozen estimates of the best authorities, at £112.7.7. 
And that, 
4. A four-horse power steam-engine, on the high pres¬ 
sure principle, which Mr. B. considers sufficient for 
farm purposes, will cost £1 10; engine house and chim¬ 
ney about £70; making a well from £5 to £7. 
The cost of the several powers, including 10 per cent 
on the outlay, and the expense of driving them 42 days, 
the estimated time of thrashing yearly, are stated as 
below. 
Water Power —Cost,...£240 0 0 
' Yearly expense, inc. int.. 30 0 0 
£270 0 0 
Wind Power —Cost,.£350 0 0 
Interest and attendance,.. 39 4 0 
£389 4 0 
Horse Power —Cost,.£120 0 0 
Yearly expense,. 130 17 7 
£250 17 1 
Steam Power— Cost,.£187 0 0 
Yearly expense,. 33 18 6 
£220 18 6 
Mr. Bridges draws the following inferences from his 
estimates. 
1. That water, where it can be obtained, is the cheap¬ 
est moving power that can be applied to the thrashing 
machine; and that the advantage, in point of economy, 
is so obvious as to warrant the outlay of a much greater 
sum than that specified in the comparative estimate. 
2. That next to water power, steam is the cheapest 
and most economical; and, in absence of a sufficient 
supply of water, nothing but the total want, or high 
price of fuel, can prevent its universal adoption. 
A Horticultural Exhibition 
Will be held in Albany on the 18th of September, at 
which prizes will be awarded for the finest flowers, 
fruits and vegetables, and the competition unlimited. 
There are five dahlia prizes, of 20, 15, 10, 5 and 3 dol¬ 
lars, to the exhibitors of 25 flowers. A like exhibition 
will be held at Philadelphia on the same day, and at N. 
York on the 12th . _ 
Clayed Maple Sugar. 
We have received from Henry Muzzy, of Rutland, 
Vt. 10 lbs. of maple sugar, of very superior quality, 
equal to sugar which sells at fourteen to sixteen cents 
per pound in the cities. Mr. Muzzy is a competitor for 
our premium for the best sample of this domestic su¬ 
gar. We would hope to have many such competitors. 
By the bye, will Mr. Muzzy be so kind as to favor us 
with his mode of manufacturing and refining the arti¬ 
cle, with the estimated cost, for the benefit of sugar¬ 
boiling customers? 
Pitt’s Thrashing Machine 
Is highly commended in the American Farmer, by R. 
I. Jones. He states, that in the presence of his neigh¬ 
bors, he got out in fifteen minutes, ten bushels of wheat, 
“ as clean as could be done by passing it through the 
fan three times, if got out in the ordinary way.” He 
also got out in 4| days, 1,081 bushels of wheat, and 336 
bushels of oats, making an average of 240 bushels per 
day. The wheat was so thoroughly cleaned in the pro¬ 
cess, that it brought three cents per bushel above the 
market price. See our account of this machine in our 
Feb. No. of 1839, and Oct. No. of 1838. 
Agricultural School Books. 
There are two works in the course of publication, 
which we hope to see published in volumes, and intro¬ 
duced as class books for the senior boys,. in our com¬ 
mon schools. They will effect more, in inculcating a 
taste for rural pursuits, and in advancing the substan¬ 
tial interests of the commonwealth, than all the English 
Readers, Columbian Orators, and such like books, which 
