K' 
THE CULTIVATOR 
15 
whether detached, as in the tiger lily, or contained in 
tubers, as in very numerous plants, just as natural and 
successful a way as any other 7 Is there not a fault 
in the Divine plan and management of vegetation, if 
a system of reproduction is established which contains 
in itself the elements of subverting whole races of 
plants 7 
Besides, if we admit that the potato is deteriorated, 
can we hope to renew it by raising plants from the 
seed 7 Does like cease to produce like under these 
circumstances 7 Can the seeds of a potato, the con¬ 
stitution of which has been broken down, yield us 
healthy plants 7 Of course not! is the answer of com¬ 
mon sense, and the complete failure of all the numer¬ 
ous attempts that have been made, both at home and 
abroad, to regenerate the potato by seedlings, are suf¬ 
ficient support for this verdict. 
If the potato has degenerated by bad culture, it 
must be regenerated by good culture. But what is 
bad—what is good culture 7 
While I am unconverted by Mr. C.’s article to a be¬ 
lief in the supreme efficacy of salt, either as & fertili¬ 
zer or vitalizer , and do not r cognize in the rule to 
bury strong manures below the seed, a law of agricul¬ 
ture, and find no support for the idea that seedlings are 
to regenerate the potato plant—not meeting with facts 
sufficient to prove these positions, or that cannot be oth¬ 
erwise explained—I agree with him most fully in ad¬ 
vocating the advantages of thorough-draining, and 
hope he and all practical thinking farmers will give 
freely to the public, their facts and views, their criti¬ 
cisms too, so that the truth may be attained. Yale 
Analytical Laboratory, Nov., 1857. 
How to Staunch Bleeding in Wounds, &c. 
Farmers and rural residents of all kinds would find 
it of advantage to be provided with some book con¬ 
taining directions as to the best modes of management 
in cases of accidents, (as wounds, poison-swallowing, 
&c.,) and other emergencies. Before medical aid could 
be procured from the distant city or village, the best 
season for remedial applications would usually have 
transpired. Losses and sufferings of various kinds 
might, in such cases, be prevented, by having at hand 
a good book of reference of the above-named descrip¬ 
tion. 
A very common defect in many of the directions 
w r hich have been prepared for the use of persons re¬ 
mote from medieal and surgical aid, in cases of acci¬ 
dents and similar emergencies, consists in prescribing 
the use of articles which are not kept in every family, 
and which are not easily obtainable. The articles to 
be used should be such as are usually to be found in 
every house, or such as may be obtained without send¬ 
ing to a village, or even to a neighbor who may be 
provident enough to keep a supply of materials useful 
in domestic medicine and surgery. 
As an instance illustrative and confirmatory of this 
common defect, let any one examine such directions as 
he may have access to, for the the staunching of bleed¬ 
ing in cuts, wounds, and other injuries. He will be 
likely to find mention made of a great many articles 
which are not to be found in one house in a hundred, 
such as blue vitriol, alum alcohol, tannin, kino, cateehu, 
and tinctures and balsams of various kinds. Perhaps not 
one of these could be found short of sending to a store, 
in nine cases out of ten, or in ninety-nine out of a hun¬ 
dred. Even agaric or puff-ball, which we found named 
along with the above, is not always at hand, and might 
be searched for in the woods quite a while without be¬ 
ing found. It seems surprising that any one writing 
directions for the staunching of bleeding should not 
think of the indispensableness, in most cases, of hav¬ 
ing the article prescribed such a one as might be found 
in almost every house. A very little knowledge of 
chemistry would suffice to have suggested to any wri¬ 
ter of directions on this subject, the employment of 
two articles which may be found in every house, green 
tea powdered, and leather scraped or rasped. Next 
after applying a ligature or compression, where such 
means are applicable, there are few articles which 
would be more effectual than one or other of these, re¬ 
duced to as fine a powder as possible, and bound down 
upon the mouths of the bleeding vessels,or applied close¬ 
ly in any other way. The virtue of both consists in their 
containing tannin. But their principal recommenda¬ 
tion is that they are always at hand, as old shoes and 
green tea may be found in every house. When leath¬ 
er is used, the .scrapings should be from the inner sur¬ 
face. 
Big Head in Horses. 
E. M. Gruffin, Iowa, is informed that from his de¬ 
scription, his colt has undoubtedly got the Big Head,—a 
disease, I believe, peculiar to the west—caused, we all 
think, by feeding on dry hard corn, and in some cases 
over-heating in addition. It was very prevalent in this 
neighborhood some thirty years ago, and young horses 
that received extra feeding with corn, and we had then 
little else to feed with, were most subject to it. It 
consists, as Mr. G. describes, of a hard callous swelling 
on the upper and lower jaw bones outside the grinders 
—in a short time causes stiffness in the limbs, inability 
to rise without help, and, if not checked, is always 
fatal. 
Some years ago I examined the jaw bones of a horse 
that had died of the disease, and found the excrescen¬ 
ces quite as solid and hard as the hones. Mason, in 
his excellent work, is the only writer on farriery (and 
I have consulted some half dozen,) who mentions the 
disease. The cure is arsenic, inserted in fine paper on 
the swelling. This I have seen tried; it is efficient 
and safe, but severe, and causes ugly sears. One of 
my sons has in this plaee a horse under treatment for 
it now—is using a decoction of roots of rattle-weed or 
carpenter’s square, found growing in old fence rows— 
one peck of the roots boiled down with three or four 
pounds of old bacon, for 8 or 10 hours, strained and 
rubbed well into the affected parts, and driven in with 
a hot iron every day for a week ; then every other day 
for a fortnight, which, though troublesome, is, I be¬ 
lieve, an effectual cure. Some use puncturing with an 
awl in several places, and rubbing corrosive sublimate. 
It is an ugly disease, and a horse scarred with it loses 
more than half his value, and is seldom active after it. 
Sydney Spring. White Co., III. 
P. S. Severe blistering for the Big Head is no use. 
I have tried it. 
The N. Y. Horticultural Society is down for a 
bequest of $10,000, in the will of the late Seth Gros- 
yenor, Esq. - 
Look on the bright side of everything. 
