1858 . 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
13 
a rich, agreeable, perfumed “ very good ” flavor. Ri¬ 
pens about the middle of autumn. 
Zephirin Gregoire. Inferior to the last as a fine 
grower, but exceeds it in the high excellence of its 
quality. It is very productive—the growth of the tree 
rather slender. Its lateness,—ripening through the 
latter part of autumi*,—increases its value. It is me¬ 
dium in size, roundish-obovate, light green, reddened 
when fully exposed to the sun, stem an inch and a 
fourth long, fleshy at insertion; calyx open, in a nar¬ 
row basin; flesh buttery, very melting, fine grained, 
with an excellent perfumed flavor—“ best.” 
--- 
Western Apples. 
Messrs. Luther Tucker and Son — I send you 
by express a small box of the best apples I ever tasted. 
It is distinguished for its very high aromatic flavor— 
keeps till July—scarcely one rots or decays. We have 
the fruit plenty in this vicinity, but have no name for 
it with which I am satisfied. Some call it the Cumber¬ 
land Spice, but it cannot be that. The tree is vigorous 
—bears in clusters, and rather inclined to bear only 
every other year. The specimens sent are much small¬ 
er than the usual size of the apple. It is hardly fit to 
eat till January and February. Uri Manly. Mar¬ 
shall , Illinois. 
The specimens came in good condition and soon ma¬ 
tured. It is a rather large, light green, roundish- 
conical fruit, about as large or a little larger than 
Peck’s Pleasant as it usually grows here, but more co¬ 
nical. It has a mild, sub-acid, pleasant flavor—not 
equal to some of our best sorts, but worthy of placing 
in the scale of the American Pomological Society, as 
“good” or “ very good.” We do not recognize it as 
any well known eastern sort, but western soil and cli¬ 
mate often exert such a change, as sometimes to ren¬ 
der it difficult to identify sorts. We should think from 
our correspondent’s statement, that it must be a valu- 
ble fruit for the west—it might be of no value here. 
Measuring Corn in the Crib. 
In the Saturday Evening Post of the 21st Nov., a 
rule is given for measuring corn in the crib. It is mul¬ 
tiplying the cubic contents by 4|, which is to give the 
bushels by cutting off the right hand figure That 
rule is certainly not correct. 
A Winchester or U. S. bushel (2,150.42 inches,) is 
nearly a cubic foot (1,728 inches,) and a fourth, (432 
inches.) They make 2,160 inches, or 9.58 inches more 
than a bushel, making a difference of about a bushel 
in 224| bushels, or as corn is measured, two bushels in 
the ear for one of shelled corn, one bushel of shelled 
corn for about 449 bushels, which is near enough for 
all practical purposes. Therefore, a good, simple rule 
is to divide the cubic feet contents of the crib by 5; 
deduct that fifth from the contents, and it will leave 
the number of bushels the crib contains. 
Example. —Suppose a crib 20 ft. long, 10 ft. high, 
and 8 ft. wide. 20M 10=200|xj 8=1,600—deduct one- 
fifth (320) from 1,600, leaves 1,280 as the number of 
bushels in the crib, or 640 bushels of shelled corn; by 
cutting off the right hand figure, gives 128 as the num¬ 
ber of barrels. The true amount in the crib would be 
1,285.7 bushels, or 642.85 shelled corn, or 128.57 bar¬ 
rels, provided there are no projecting timbers inside to 
allow for; but the posts, rails and braces of the fram¬ 
ing are generally inside of the lathing or weather- 
boarding. The rule above gives an allowance of afoot 
in about 224^ for timber, &e. Corn in the crib will 
pack some, but it will shatter also, which, with loss by 
rats and mice, will make up for the packing. W. C.H. 
Pomona , Md. 
-- 
Expense of Raising Corn. 
Messrs. Eds. —As farming is generally carried on 
more scientifically in the northern states than in the 
middle and southern, I shall be pleased if you will in¬ 
form me in The Cultivator, how many acres of the 
“staff of life,” or Indian corn, are generally cultiva¬ 
ted to the person, by the best farmers in the former. 
S. W. Macgowan. Rutherford Co., Tenn. 
The labor of raising corn at the north by good far¬ 
mers, varies from 12 to 15 days per acre. The amount 
of labor depends greatly on the condition of the land 
and quantity of manure applied. If the land is 
clear of the seeds of weeds, so that no hoeing by hand 
is required, and the cultivation is wholly performed by 
a horse often repeated, the expense will be greatly les¬ 
sened, and the crop increased. A good coating of ma¬ 
nure and its application, which should always precede 
every crop intended to be a heavy and paying one, 
will cost from twelve to twenty dollars, and sometimes 
more; but this application will be of more value to 
succeeding than to the present crop, if the soil is reten¬ 
tive, and not gravelly and porous. 
The following may be regarded as about the average, 
for good farming:— 
Manuring 1 acre of land,. 
$15.00 
4 days laoor, with te 
Harrowing the manure be¬ 
fore plowing,. 
1.00 
1 
2 
do. 
do. 
Plowing,... 
2.00 
l 
do. 
do. 
Planting with drill,. 
37 
i 
do. 
do. 
Cultivating with horse five 
times,. 
.2.50 
I 3 
do. 
do. 
Cutting up and stooking,. 
3.00 
.3 
■do. 
Husking,. 
4.00 
-4 
do. 
$26.87 141 days. 
If no manure is applied, the expense would be les¬ 
sened $15 and four days, and one day husking. As an 
average, it would require <12 days labor to cultivate an 
acre, besides horse-work; or ■ one hand would take 
charge of about .11 acres in the 130 working days 
(omitting rains, storms, &c.,) from the commencement 
to the close of the corn season, if he could have help 
in cutting up and husking, in exchange for labor he 
might perform in the hay and harvest field, when the 
corn needed no attention. 
-- 
atal Disease among Cattle. 
Messrs. Tucker & Son —We have a disease among 
our cattle, that we have never known anything about 
before. I saw one opened. The “ smelt” was enlar¬ 
ged. I should say it was as large as twenty natural 
ones, and almost like clotted blood. Some of the small 
intestines were mortified for six or eight inches in 
length in a place I am told all are about the same. 
My nearest neighbor lost ten cattle, one year old past, 
in a week; some of them lived two and three days 
after they appeared sick-.; but since he has lost a pair 
of oxen ; one was found dead in the morning; the other 
one came up with the cows at night well; next morn¬ 
ing at nine o’clock dead. Another neighbor has lost 
cows, well at one milking time and dead at the next. 
He lost an ox yesterday, that was well in the morning, 
chewing his cud, but dead before night. D. B. Rich¬ 
ards. Putnam Co., N. Y., Dec. 2, 1857. 
