312 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
April 
which the canvass-back duck has been tamed, though 
we heard that a man in the vicinity of New-Orleans had 
them several years ago. The wood-duck is certainly 
a most beautiful bird, and we presume is not difficult to 
domesticate, as we have frequently heard of its being 
made an inmate of the poultry-yard. The brant goose 
is also one of the most elegant of all water fowls. In 
its color, it is somewhat similar to the wild goose, 
(Anas canadensis,) but is more handsome in its shape 
and general appearance. It is, probably, the least in 
size of any of the goose family. 
FACTS AMD OPINIONS, 
Condensed from various Exchange Papers • 
Forcing Vegetables by Galvanism. —The Prai- 
ile Farmer, (Chicago,) gives the result of his experi¬ 
ments, made by burying a copper plate of about five 
square feet at one end of his garden, and a zinc one of 
equal size at the other, connected by copper wires on 
stakes above ground. Peas, cabbages, beets, carrots, 
pinks, tomatoes, potatoes, and parsneps, grew between. 
“ Thrice a day they were visited, and various were the 
squintings, measurings, and comparisons, to make it 
appear that the galvanized vegetables were outstripping 
their fellows’’—but they showed a most provoking in¬ 
difference to the experimenter’s wishes. The only ex¬ 
ception was a row of beets, far larger than the rest— 
but they happened to be of a different and larger sort, 
in a thin outside row. The statement winds up with 
the opinion that a row of toads, at each end of the gar¬ 
den, winking at each other, w'ould be as effectual. 
Indian Corn in Southern Europe. —Henry Col- 
man thinks, that should Indian corn be admitted into 
British ports free of duty, the supplies of the article 
from the shores of the Mediterranean^ would nearly 
preclude the competition of the United States. 
Soiling Cattle in Summer. —Edwin M. Stone, in ! 
his Essex Address, says, that an Essex county farmer, i 
by giving his cows freshly cut feed, during a severe j 
drouth and hot weather the past summer, kept the milk j 
of his cows undiminished, and found ample remunera¬ 
tion for the trouble in the extra receipts of his dairy. 
Carrots for Hogs. —The great value of carrots j 
for horses and cows, and their superiority for animals 
to any other root with which we are acquainted, we 
have sufficiently proved by exprience. A correspon¬ 
dent of the New-England Farmer, however, gives the 
following statement of their slight value for pigs. “ I 
have no faith in carrots as l'atteners of hogs. I have 
steamed up cartloads upon cartloads, this fall, and fed 
them to a dozen and a half of hogs and shoats, and it’s 
a man’s Avork to keep them from squeeling.” 
Pies of Sugar Beets, may be made by grating the 
beets, and then using them as pumpkins, adding rather 
more salt and spice. We have eaten pies, which we 
could not haA r e distinguished from good squash pies, 
made in this way from carrots. Pumpkin pies made by 
grating instead of stewing, are quickly made, baking 
them a little longer, and have more flavor than usual. 
Subsoil Plowing. —J. M. Weeks, in the Boston Cul¬ 
tivator, says that in plowing loam, about seven inches 
deep for the surface soil, and and eight inches deeper 
for subsoil, the latter was nearly one-fourth easier for 
the team than the surface plowing. But in clay, where 
the surface was loosened six inches, and the subsoil 
eight inches, the latter required nearly one-fourth more 
strength of team. 
Liebig on Potato Rot. —This distinguished che¬ 
mist states that he has found this year a considerable 
quantity of vegetable casein (cheese) precipitable by 
acids, not observed in his previous researches. He 
thinks, from the influence of the weather, or from at¬ 
mospheric causes, a part of the vegetable albumen, which 
prevails in the potato, has become converted into vege¬ 
table casein; and from the great instability of the lat¬ 
ter substance, results the facility with which potatoes 
containing if undergo putrefaction. He can discover no 
solanin in the diseased tubers, and states that an injury 
to health from a use of them is out of the question, and 
that no where in Germany has such an effect been ob¬ 
served. 
Cutting Wheat Early. —A correspondent of the 
London Agricultural Gazette states, that wheat which 
he cut fully ten days before the usual time, and was 
laughed at by his neighbors for it at the time, was de¬ 
cidedly superior in quality to that which had been 
reaped five or six days later. His whole crop was su¬ 
perior, and much prized by bakers and corn dealers. 
Depth of Turnep Roots. —Another correspondent 
of the same paper, says that he has found the fine fibrous 
roots of the Swedish Turnep (Ruta-baga) five feet be¬ 
low the surface on which the plant was groAving, and 
all around it, a less depth, to a distance of three or four 
feet. The experiments of Tull, in which he showed 
the length of turnep roots to be seA^eral feet, by the in¬ 
fluence of loosened soil upon their growth and size, are 
familiar to many readers of the Cultivator. 
Gigantic Tree.—A correspondent of the London 
Gardener’s Chronicle, states that there was a tree 
growing in Penang, Straits of Malacca, much visited by 
strangers, Avhich measured 33 feet round, (about 11 feet 
in diameter,) six feet above the ground; and at the 
height of 110 feet, where it threw out its first branches, 
it measured twenty-seven feet round, (or about 9 feet 
in diameter.) The surrounding forests Avere cleared, 
and the wind prostrated it. It was then measured, and 
estimated to contain 155 loads of timber. From some 
of the properties described, it appears to be some spe¬ 
cies of fig, probably allied to the India rubber. 
Potatoes for the Irish. —Professor-Lindley esti¬ 
mates that the people of Ireland consume 12,607,500,000 
pounds of potatoes per annum, for producing which 
804,000 English acres must be under potato cultivation. 
And that to plant next spring as much land as seems 
necessary to feed the Irish population, (without ex¬ 
porting as usual,) Avould consume for seed above 800,- 
000 tons. 
Cranberries. —Gen. Chandler stated at a late meet¬ 
ing of the New-York Farmer’s Club, that Sullivan 
Bates, of Bellingham, Mass., raises cranberries in 
great abundance, by transplanting them from low 
grounds to high. He plants them in drills, twenty 
inches apart, and seven inches in the drill. His success 
was complete. He gathered from one acre about four 
hundred bushels of cranberries in one season. The soil 
must be such as will not bake. Other gentlemen present 
corroborated the superiority of upland planting. 
Soiling. —T. E. Wallace, in the London Ag. Gazette, 
says that his coavs diminished in milk nearly one-half, 
by being stabled in midsummer, and fed entirely on cut 
grass.' He concludes that hoAveA^er excellent soiling 
may be, close stabling is highly improper in Avarm 
Aveather. On turning his cows out, they regained their 
milk. 
Rata Tree in New Zealand. —This is at first a 
parasite, Avhich winds round and encircles large trees, 
and destroys them; its numerous coils joining and 
forming a hollow trunk, leaving the victim to rot 
inside. When full grown it is the monarch of the New 
Zealand forest. Its form is gnarled and contorted. It is 
of the myrtle tribe, and bears bright crimson blossoms 
in such abundance that the AA’hole tree is in a glow; and 
being abundantly intermingled through the forest, pre¬ 
sents a magnificently variegated appearance. 
Improper use of Guano. —Another correspondent 
in the same paper, states that the use of guano has been 
known to the Jesuits of Upper California, ever since the 
middle of the last century; and further relates, that after 
the use of it for several years, the soil becomes rapidly ex¬ 
hausted; so that v r hile under the influence of guano, the 
crop was in some cases no less than 120 bushels per 
acre, it aftenvards became literally barren. The fer¬ 
tility is partially restored by irrigation, which conveys 
a deposit to the soil. 
Alex. Leeds, St. Joseph’s, Mich., says —“ The same 
quantity saleratus , in place of salt-petre, is far prefera¬ 
ble in curing meats, especially beef. 
