92 
March. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Mattisou’s Apple-Seed Washer. 
We have often received inquiries for the best mode 
of washing apple seed from pomace, to sow for nursery 
tre-es. One of the best modes we have met with, is that 
adopted by James M. Mattison of Jacksonville, Tomp¬ 
kins county, N. Y., which he has recently described to 
us. He assures us that by this method, two men will 
wash from half a bushel to a bushel of seed in an 
hour , without inconvenience, or without becoming wet 
in the operation. 
Make a, box 5 feet wide, 8 or 9 feet long, and 10 in¬ 
ches deep ; leave the lower end f one inch lower than 
the sides, for the water to flow over. Place this box in 
the bed of a brook or stream, on crossbars or scantling, 
with a dam above to collect the water into a trough, 
carrying the water into the box, and projecting six in¬ 
ches over it. This trough should be made of boards 12 
inches wide, nailed together, and the stream should bo 
large enough to nearly fill it when flowing gently. To 
prevent the water from dashing into the box too furious¬ 
ly, 'wo boards are first nailed together as shown in Fig. 
2, one board being 18 inches by 2 feet, and the other 
18 inches by 1 foot. The longer board is placed on the 
top of the spout, and the shorter at right angles across 
the lower end of the spout. This serves to throw the 
water perpendicularly downwards into the box, and at 
the same time serves to spread it out into a thin sheet. 
By moving this board up or down the spout, the quan¬ 
tity of water pouring into the box may be easily con¬ 
trolled. 
One man stands on the board e which extends across 
the box ; and the other carries and deposits the pomace 
(well pounded to pieces,) into the box at d, one or two 
bushels at a time. The man on the box then stirs the 
pomace rapidly with a four-tiped fork, and throws out 
the straws. The pomace floats over the lower end 
(which is an inch lower than the sides,) and the seeds 
fall to the bottom. A few back strokes from the lower 
end of the box assist in the separation of the remaining 
pomace. In washing a “cheese ” that contains a bushel 
of seed, it is usual to wash it two or three times, by 
using a scoop-shovel. Afterwards, the last cleaning 
process is given to it by placing the whole in a box, 
and then scratching a four-tined fork through it a few 
times. A fcttle experience will enable anyone to judge 
accurately of the proper quantity of water to turn on, 
so as to make rapid work, and not carry the seed over 
the box. 
The pomace, fresh from the cheese, should be drawn 
and placed on a board-platform beside the box, and 
then plenty of water thrown upon it, until it is thorough¬ 
ly soaked. This will render it easily beaten to pieces 
with a hoe. The pomace should never remain in the 
cheese over twenty-four hours, as it soon ferments and 
the seed is spoiled. 
Plants of the Dielytra spectabilis raised from seeds, 
are much more prolific of flowers than from cuttings. 
Flat Stone for Drains. 
Messrs. Editors —Is it possible to successfully un¬ 
derdrain exclusively with flat stone, of all shapes and 
thickness, varying from the size of a hand to one foot 
square, one-half to three inches thick; and what is 
the best and cheapest manner of using in the construc¬ 
tion'] A Subscriber. Sin cl earsv illc, Ckautauque 
Co., N. Y. 
The kind of stone mentioned may bo used to great 
advantage in underdraining, by a proper selection of 
sizes. The slaty rock belonging to the Chemung group, 
which we suppose to be the kind alluded to, answers an 
excellent purpose. 
ing stone drains where the stone are nearly round , as 
shown in fig. 1, made by just laying a row of small 
stones on each side of the bottom, leaving an open 
channel between them about three inches wide, and 
then covering this channel with flat stones, and filling 
the ditch with small ones promiscuously thrown in, to 
within about 15 or 18 inches of the surface, so as to be 
below the reach of the plow—and the remainder with 
earth. It is hardly necessary to remark that the up¬ 
per surface of the stone must be either covered with 
coarse gravel or small flat stone, and then with straw 
or inverted sods, to exclude the earth from the stpnes; 
and if the soil is nearly free from clay, more care in 
this respect will be needful,—and perhaps a covering 
of hard-wood slabs will be necessary to keep the earth 
to its place. If the bottom of the drain inclines to 
quick-sand, a layer of flat stones must be first laid on 
the bottom. We mention this common mode of con¬ 
structing stone drains, in order to show the superiority 
of the flat stones spoken of by our correspondent. 
For the chief objection to the mode just described, is 
the necessity of cutting a ditch nearly a foot wide at 
the bottom, to allow laying the channel. The flat stones, 
on the contrary, obviate the labor of cutting a wide 
ditch ; the channel being constructed by placing three 
flat stones together, as shown, in fig. 2. The bottom of 
the ditch is cut with a pointed spade, so as to have an 
angular trough ; flat stones are then selected, all of the 
same width, and fitted into and meeting each other at 
the bottom, and then covered by a third flat stone 
reaching across them. The ditch above this is partly 
filled with irregular fragments of stone, and covered 
as already described. 
A still better way, where the earth is hard and the 
quantity of water not large, is shown in fig. 3. The 
ditch is cut with the narrowest kind of spade—a mode 
familiar to English ditchers, and which they execute 
with great expedition. Flat stones, without regard to 
their exact width, are placed against the sides, open at 
the top. Into this opening, ono or more thicker flat 
