240 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
August. 
A. good and cheap eve trough for farmer’s dwellings 
&ud out houses, is very much wanted. Those made 
of hewn timber hollowed out are costly. Zinc plate, 
placed on the roof, turned up in front by a strip of timber, 
and shingled on, are neither good-looking nor very 
valuable. 
In a laborer’s cottage, lately erected, we adopted the 
mode represented in section in the annexed figure, and 
found it by far the cheapest that ever came to our know¬ 
ledge, and quite as good and neat in appearance as any. 
Fig. A, represents the eves of a roof of the very sim¬ 
plest construction, a being the lower end of the rafter, 
resting on the plate b, and covered by the roof-board c, 
projecting a few inches. Fig. B, exhibits the same 
roof with the eve trough attached; which is done by 
placing a sound and durable inch and a half plank d, (or 
even an inch board will do,) directly under the roof 
board, and projecting several inches beyond it, supported 
by a common cornice,—or more cheaply, and, if the 
architecture accords, more gracefull)’-, by brackets, as 
represented by f. The narrow strip of board or plank, | 
e, is added by matching, forming the trough. A coat of 
hot tar, or better, of good paint, finishes the trough. 
It would, however, be better, and would cost compara¬ 
tively little, to get a piece of tin or zinc, a few inches 
wide, and equal in length with the house, bent in the 
shape of this trough and laid into it as a lining. This 
could be brought in a roll from the tin-shop, and bent 
and fitted on the spot. 
A bracket for support, easily made, is represented in 
fig. C, which is cut from a plank without waste, as 
shown by fig. D, where the cross lines show the marks 
for the saw, and the dotted lines the parts separated by 
splitting. 
THE POTATO.. 
In the last number of the Cultivator, I observe an ex¬ 
tract from H. R. Schoolcraft’s “ Report on the Iroquois?” 
in which the opinion is given that “ the potato was 
certa nly indigenous” to this region; and that Sir Walter 
Raleigh took it from Virginia to Europe under the 
original name of openawk. I believe however, that we 
have no facts sufficient to warrant these conclusions. 
None of our botanists have marked down the potato as 
one of our indigenous plants; and it is not presumable 
that one of such magnitude and importance could remain 
unknown to them, if it had been indigenous. 
But it will be proper to inquire if the cultivated po¬ 
tato and the tc openawk ” are identical? In the Library 
of Entertaining Knowledge, part 29, page 125, we have 
the following description of the latter from' Thomas 
Heriot’s account of Virginia, who was amongst the first 
settlers of that colony. “ The roots of this plant are 
round, some as large as a walnut, others much larger— 
they grow in damp soils, many hanging together as if 
fixed on ropes .” Now it is clear that this description 
will not apply to the common potato, but most exactly 
to Apios tuberosa, which Dr. Barton * calls the “ Wild 
Potato-Vine ”—which Elliot f says “ formed an article 
of food to the aborigines ”—and which Pursh J asserts 
to grow sometimes “ to an enormously large size.” 
We have no other indigenous plant that will agree with 
Heriot’s description; and he adds that the tubers “are 
good either boiled or roasted.” So are those of Apios 
tuberosa . It therefore appears conclusive to me that 
in the case referred to, it has been mistaken for the 
common potato. D. T. 
Cayuga Co ., 6 mo. 13, 1846. 
BUTTER-WORKER. 
Mu. Tucker —I have seen in your June Cultivator, a 
communication over the signature of Robert White, Jr., 
giving a description of his Butter-Worker. He states 
that having seen a description in your paper of one ex¬ 
hibited at Worcester, he wrote there, requesting a more 
particular description, but received no reply. In De¬ 
cember, 1844, I received a letter from Mr. White, re¬ 
questing the information mentioned, and in a few days 
after wrote to him, giving a minute description of its 
several parts. I regret that he did not receive the an¬ 
swer sent him, as I am not willing to be considered as 
wanting in that courtesy that is due from one farmer to 
to another. I can only account for the non-reception 
of my letter by the belief that it has arisen from mis¬ 
direction. I addressed him at Shrewsbury N. J., from 
whence his letter was written, and his late communica¬ 
tion bears date from New-York. I should, however, 
not have troubled you with an apology for my imputed 
neglect, except as it furnishes me with an excuse for 
offering some objections to the manner of the construc¬ 
tion of his machine, which I think may be readily ob¬ 
viated, and the instrument improved. The flutes or 
creases are too numerous, and so deep that I think they 
will cause the butter to adhere to the roller, and there¬ 
by occasion trouble, particularly when the butter is 
soft, as it is taken from the churn. Believing my in¬ 
strument, which has been in use for several years, is 
more useful than his, although there is some similarity 
between them, I will give a description, referring to 
the diagram in your June number, and using the same 
letters for the same parts; that if any of your subscri¬ 
bers are disposed to make a butter-worker for them¬ 
selves, they may have, the use of two machines, on 
which to make such improvements as they may deem 
expedient. 
A, a fluted roller, 15.inches long, 6 inches in diameter 
at the large end next the handle, and 3 inches at the 
small end; 8 flutes or creases; the creases are alternate 
hollows and rounds; the depth of the hollows, measured 
by a straight line on the top of the rounds, is only one- 
fourth inch, and this has been found sufficiently deep 
for any useful purpose. My roller has a hole longitudi¬ 
nally through its centre If inches in diameter, and the 
handle, J3, C, is of one piece separate from the roller, 
and on which the roller revolves. The handle B, is 16 
inches Ion 0- and 2 inches in diameter from the extreme 
end to the Shoulder against which the roller turns, and 
27 inches long and If inches in diameter from the 
said shoulder at E ; the ball D is dispensed wdth, in¬ 
stead of which a hole one-half inch in diameter is made 
through the small part of the handle, about two inches 
from the end. E, is a perpendicular iron, \ inch in 
diameter, fastened to the table G, on which the handle 
turns, with small holes made through it, in which a 
wire is passed to keep the handle in place. This will 
be found equally as good as the ball and socket, and 
* Compendium Florae Philidalphicae. vol. 2, p. 82. 
f Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia, vol 2 
P X Flora Americas Septentrionalis, page 473. 
