THE CULTIVATOR. 
Mnscanai 
167 
free in my garden. Two oi tne trees prouuceu. cuiuiuuugi viocu, n wm «uuu C <*** “**“ , pr 1 ? contributors to the Cultivator who are so fond of 
HnP Dlums nearly alike • one a large blue plum, tingedSjuring the wood and lips of the wound, where the barkgfindulging themselves in this easy kind of writing, would 
with red late to ripen knd excellent for sweetmeats ;§j must begin to furnish a covering, like the skin on ani-Hgive us more facts,—more results of experiments fairly 
w . ’ , 1 _i_i u.if nflmolo Tftrimmorl in March, nr leftsand accurat.elv made.—and less sneculation. thev would 
mv garden. Two of the trees produced commonfl vised, it will exclude the caustic air and rains from in-||t 
j & , TT _ _ 1 _Ll.,« nrrorl f$3 inri r\ rr itio \xrrtr\H ontl livvc r\f Ttrminrl wVlPVP thp. "harWUll 
and one produced a yellow gage, about half the size ofj 
the parent tree, and of inferior quality. The parent| 
tree stood near to blue plum trees, and the progeny were! 
all hibrids. J 
I planted the pit of an egg plum from a garden ot| 
plum trees of various sorts. The egg plum is nearly?; 
the size of the hen’s egg, yellow, acid, and ripens in| 
September, and probably the best for sweetmeats. Thef 
seedling tree produced plums of similar color and shape, 
of less than half the size of the egg plum, and ripened 
|mals, over the raw place. If trimmed in March, or left’ 
| without a cover of salve or soft cowdung, or something 
I to exclude the air and rains, the wind will dry the raw 
|| wood, it will shrink and crack, and let in rain and pro- 
i|duce a rot, which will always remain in the trunk to the 
ijage of a century, and often cause the trunk to become; 
i| hollow and die. 
N Scions should be cut in February or March, here; or: 
before the buds have swelled by the vernal heat, while; 
in their state of hibernation. Place the scions on the; 
the first week in August. The flavor was sweet, except|jdamp ground of a cold cellar bottom, cover them with 
near the stone it was acid, like the egg plum 
I reared a peach tree in the same garden. The first 
season of bearing, the peaches were large, yellow, and 
very fine; the next season it bore peaches of red blush. 
An early red peach tree stood a short distance east of 
the tree in question, and I presume the east wind pre¬ 
vailed when they were in blossom at one time. 
Most persons who have planted the sweet boiling corn 
near to the hard yellow or white corn, and even fifty 
rods apart, have noticed single kernels of the hard, on 
the ears of the sweet corn; these kernels appear to be 
wholly of the hard corn, studded by the side of the shri¬ 
velled sweet corn. So all the other trees and vegetables 
mix in the blossoms, and produce new varieties. Some 
are inferior; but we are now enjoying some most deli¬ 
cious new varieties of plums, of much larger sizes and 
of superior flavor: they are hibrids. 
Apples are improved in the same way, or are ren¬ 
dered inferior. The flavor of choice apples grafted on 
the stocks of sweet apple trees, is more mild than the 
flavor of those grafted on stocks bearing sour apples. 
If you plant potatoes of one color and kind, which 
were produced near to those of another color, you often 
collect both colors and sorts from the hill planted of the 
one color only.* 
1 have said enough to those who observe the works 
of nature, to establish the proof of the cause of hibrids 
and varieties in fruits. 
It is often asked, which is the best method to trans¬ 
plant trees? The most successful mode that I have 
practised, has been, to open a hole sufficiently wide to 
permit the roots to extend in their natural position, not 
to be cramped. Fill the hole full around the tree with | racoon and squirrel, &c 
| wet straw, and place a pieee of board on to keep themggerops very much 
’wet and from warm air. The scions should be thusfefacron of porn m 
kept till about June, and then grafted. If the grafting 
is performed early, as in the warm days of April, and 
the cold winds from the west and northwest blow within 
a few days thereafter, they will check the supply of sap 
in the stock, starve the scion, dry it, and it will perish. 
The safest time to graft, is after the season is advanced 
so far that the stock receives a full and regular supply 
of circulation of blood, to nourish the scion. After the 
scion has begun to receive nutriment from the stock, it 
will soon starve and perish if the nourishment is stopped 
by cold and dry winds. 
Young plants and animals are prone to life. If scions 
or plants are once wakened from their state of hiberna¬ 
tion by supply of nutriment, they will easily perish if; 
that supply is discontinued. So young animals, if food 
be withheld from their birth, they will not perish for a 
long time; but after they have once fed, and become 
dependent on nourishment through the stomach and 
alimentary canal, they will not long exist if deprived of 
nourishment. The house fly, and other dormant insects 
and animals, will hibernate and lay all winter without 
food, and waken in the spring in vigor and health, but 
soon perish of hunger if deprived of food while in active 
life. 
Some fishes also follow this course. The mackerel 
becomes blind in winter, and sleeps in the deep till 
spring, when the scales fall from their eyes, and they 
come on the shoals to feed. The black fish, or rock fish 
of the rocky places in the sea, hibernate at the com¬ 
mencement of winter, and sleep till spring, like the bear, 
dry and loose earth, such as of onion beds in the garden, j It is best to set young forest trees a mere bare pole, 
and of good quality ; then dash in a pail of water, and 61 * ~ 1 "" J ~ ; ^ ~ J, ‘ 
shake the tree gently. The water converts the fine earth 
to liquid mud in the hole around the tree ; the mud will 
cling to all the roots; the water will soon sink below, 
leaving the mass of mud compact around the roots, and 
no cavities of air. Then fill up ihe hole again with dry 
earth, and press it gently down. 
If the tree is set in dry earth, filled in, it leaves va¬ 
cancies of air under the roots, and they starve and pe¬ 
rish. Many fine trees are lost in transplanting, by saving 
the handsome top. The roots of the newly set tree 
cannot receive immediate nourishment from the loose 
ground, sufficient to support a large top; and while the 
roots are connecting with the ground, the top dies from 
want of nourishment. 
It is best to graft trees immediately after transplanting 
them, because you then cutoff the top to insert the graft, 
and leave but little of the top, that the scion may not be 
starved. The roots will support and nourish the trunk 
and scion, if the season is not too dry. Trees are saved 
by watering the first year, in dry seasons, when they 
would perish with a large top, which is apt to be re¬ 
tained if the tree has been grafted in the nursery. 
Some persons have great objections to cut off the top 
of trees. It depends on the treatment, whether it in-* 
jures the tree. To be perfect, (and we should attempt j 
perfection in all things,) the grafting salve should al-1 
ways follow the pruning knife. The most economical & 
and effectual mode of applying the salve is to get a small 
furnace of sheet iron, of the size and shape of a lump of 
refined sugar, such as the tinsmiths use for heating their 
soldering irons. Let a small hole of about an inch and 
a half in diameter be cut out near the bottom, with a 
slide door piece of the iron to cover it, large enough tog 
be fastened above with a rivet, so as to slide the door jf 
open when heat is wanted, and to cover the hole and | 
shut out the draft when the draft should be stopped.' 
Get a tin or sheet-iron vessel made, of the shape and 
size of a tin quart measure, to fit into the top of thegi 
furnace, with a flange at top to prevent it from sinking | ______„ 
below the top of the furnace, and a wire handle or bail f green state, rather than to steam them ? 
to lift it out by. On the side of the furnace opposite 
except a few buds of the size of a knitting-needle. The 
roots will supply the trunk the first year, and feed the 
| aftergrowth, and the top will grow regular and hand¬ 
some. If a small limb be left on one side, it will take 
the growth, and the tree will be one-sided. Large trees 
of any size may be transplanted, if the earth is permitted 
to freeze around the roots, after digging a trench around 
beyond the small roots, so that the tree may be set in a 
hole prepared. 
Make salve for grafting, of one part tallow, two parts 
beeswax and three parts rosin, to be melted together, 
and thrown into water; and while warm, well worked 
by pulling and doubling and pulling, &c. It should be 
dso hard as not to run off by heal of the sun, and not so 
hard as not to yield to the growth of the scion. 
Most respectfully, 
DAVID TOMLINSON. 
Schenectady, September 5, 1839. 
Queries. 
Essex Co. Va. Oct. 1 , 1839. 
The subscriber will thank Judge Buel, or any of his 
contributors, to answer the following inquiries, if they 
can do it by stating the results of actual and careful 
experiments. He asks not for mere opinion, pro or con, 
—having quite enough of his own, and some to spare, 
—relative to the matters in regard to which he is anx¬ 
iously desirous to be informed by some of his brethren, 
who have more experience than himself. 
1st. What are the indications (if any,) by which we 
can certainly know, when the beet, the mangel wurtzel 
the carrot and the parsnip come to maturity? 
2d. Does either, or all lose any portion of their nutri¬ 
tive properties by remaining in the ground after that 
time ? 
3d. Which (if either,) loses most? 
4th. In digging them up, is there any difference as re¬ 
gards their preservation, between cutting and twisting 
off’ their tops? 
5th. Is it not best to feed away those tops in their 
and accurately made,—and less speculation, they would 
greatly increase the value of your excellent paper, to 
all who seek improvement in the theory and practice of 
husbandry. J. M. GARNETT. 
The Season, Crops, Mode of Culture, &c. 
Salem, Indiana, 9th Mo. 17th, 1839. 
We have had an extreme drought in this part of the 
west, which has extended from the middle to the east¬ 
ern part of this state, a part of Ohio, and the central 
part of Kentucky, which has affected our corn and root 
We shall not realize more than half 
a crop of corn or potatoes, and our crop of turnips, &c. 
will be almost a total failure, though we are not much 
in that line yet. I planted a few ruta bagas last year ; 
11 did not much more than save seed; this year I plant- 
■’ed about one-quarter of an acre, early in last month ; 
they have but lately come up, having lain in the ground 
j|about six weeks, without moisture sufficient to make 
' them vegetate. One of my neighbors, who takes the 
Cultivator, put in one-quarter of an acre early in the 
sixth month, in a piece of new ground, and notwith¬ 
standing the drought, his bids fair to be pretty good. 
We had an abundant crop of wheat and oats; grass 
light. 
I have not used any other plough in my corn crop 
this season, since I planted, than the cultivator, and a 
double shovel, which is similar. I kept them pretty 
constantly moving, and I find that my corn is much bet¬ 
ter than my neighbors. 
I rented a field on my place to a man, and he worked 
it well in his way; that is, with a Carey or bull plough, 
which makes a large open furrow, and there is only a 
lane between his and the piece that I tended, and his 
is on much the best and freshest ground, and mine is the 
best corn. 
I should like to see more frequent remarks of the con¬ 
ductor of the Cultivator, as I rely much more on his than 
the opinions of his correspondents; yet I am well pleas¬ 
ed with the Cultivator, and think that I have been and 
expect my neighbors much benefitled by its excellency 
in the art of farming. I remain thy friend, 
MICAH NEWBY. 
the door, let a small tube be added, or a groove tof 
serve as a chimney for draft, to make the charcoal burn 
in the furnace, to melt the grafting salve in the quartfj 
or pint cup, according to the quantity wanted for few 
or many trees. When the grafting salve is melted to 
a liquid state only, you may dip in a painter’s brush 
and apply it to the wound, like painting, when the limb 
is cut off. It being in a liquid state and warm, it will 
adhere to the raw wood, and shut out the caustic air,, 
like as balsam of fir does in a cut on the finger, applied 
before the air inflames it; it heals by what is called first 
intention, or natural growth of the flesh on the finger, 
or the bark on the tree. 
Some persons prune trees in the month of March, be¬ 
cause they then have leisure time. The best time to 
prune in this climate is about the first of June, or after 
the juices or blood of the tree is in full and steady cir¬ 
culation. Then, if covered with the salve as above ad-j 
* Doubted by the Conductor. 
6th. What is the most profitable distance at which to 
cultivate beets and mangel wurtzel? 
7th. Which is preferable in cultivating any or all of 
these root crops,—to manure broad-cast on a level sur¬ 
face, or to manure in furrows and sow on the ridges 
formed over them,—the quantity of manure being the 
same in both cases ? 
The subscriber believes that he has some good rea¬ 
sons for doubting the propriety of the common practice! 
in most, if not all of these cases, and would therefore^ 
be glad to receive any information which experienced! 
root culturists can give him, since the culture of roots! 
is becoming daily more important throughout the At¬ 
lantic states. 
In stating that he has no wish to receive mere opinions __, _ _ __ 
in reply, he begs not to be understood as objecting to'lpretty fine, and pack it away in casks or in bulk*: 
them altogether, for he is entertained by many which 
he reads in your paper, while some are well calculated 
jto excite inquiry, if not to convey instruction. To all 
such, he always pays due attention; but he must avail ____ r _ „„., . 
himself of this occasion to say, that if that portion of glet it remain hanging until used or taken to market 
Lunar Influence. 
Newby’s Bridge, N. C. 9th month 26th, 1839. 
Respected Friend J. Buel —I have many times 
heard the remark, that pork killed on the increase of 
the moon was better, or would waste less in cooking 
than that killed on the old or decrease of the moon; and 
that corn, beans, peas, &c. would grow and yield better, 
planted on the increase, and potatoes, turnips, parsnips, 
See. were best planted on the decrease of the moon.— 
These things I have usually disregarded in my practice. 
In the tenth number of the 5th volume of the Culti¬ 
vator, Calvin Butler states his experience in regard to 
pork, and on speaking of the subject, among some of 
my neighbors, one observed, he did not care about the 
moon, when he killed his pork ; if the wind blew from 
the south at the time, his meat would not shrink in 
fcooking? Another said “if his pigs were littered on 
|the increase of the moon, it was of no consequence to 
Ihim about the moon or wind when he killed them.” 
I Among my hogs intended for my own use the present 
lyear, were two of the same litter so near alike in colour, 
Ishape, size, and fatness, that it was not easy to see any 
^difference. I therefore determined to try the matter for 
;!my own satisfaction. Accordingly, on the 28th of the 
112th tponth, two or three days before the full moon, one 
jlof them was killed with the rest of my hogs, which 
jweighed 103 pounds, was cut up in the usual manner, 
{marked No. 1, and salted away. Two weeks afterwards 
{the other was killed, weighing 118 pounds, was cut up 
j;and salted as the other was and marked No. 2. About 
jjtwo months afterwards a ham, No 1, weighing 11£ 
.pounds was boiled whole, except the shank, which lost 
(three ounces; two weeks after that, a ham, No 2, weigh¬ 
ting 13 pounds, was boiled as the first, which lost four 
jounces in cooking. About the first of the summer, the 
Jother ham, No. 2, was boiled and lost four ounces; the 
Jother No. 1, was used without knowing when, conse- 
fquently without weighing. Since that time two of the 
Imiddlings have been used in my family, alternately boil- 
ling a piece of one and then the other. I have not. nei¬ 
ther has my family, been able to discover any difference 
in the shrinking of the meat: it was evident that the 
{last killed was the fattest, and if there was any diffe- 
] rence in the flavor of the meat it certainly was in favor 
of that last killed. 
I may here remark that in North Carolina and Vir¬ 
ginia, hogs designed to make bacon for our families’use, 
is preferred that will weigh 100 to 150 pounds each, con¬ 
sequently the greater number of hogs when killed, does 
not exceed the latter weight. Our method of curing 
bacon is, after the hogs are cold, take off the head and 
separate the ribs from the back bone, with an axe, split 
the hog open, take out the back bone, and flakes; then 
divide each side into three parts, ham, shoulder, and 
middling; trim the joints smooth; then to each ham or 
shoulder, put a tea spoon full of salt petre, rub it on the 
flesh side; then salt it well with common salt, made 
>ulk :—in a 
week or ten days overhaul it, arrange the salt on the 
meat again, and if necessary add more salt, and lay it 
|away again; in two or three weeks after, wash off the 
salt and hang it up and smoke it a brown colour, and 
