1846. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
345 
heard of no wheat being lost by weevil, last sum¬ 
mer, which was threshed out early, say in July; after 
tint I believe all suffered more or less. Some saved 
thfir wheat without any care after threshing; and all who 
todc the pains to cool their grain before it became much 
heated, had the pleasure of eating good bread. 
1 recommend my course of management, because the 
means are within the reach of all those who are willing 
to bestow the labor. 
Yours, most respectfully, Sam’l Bolton. 
Mr. Fleischmann, a highly intellectual gentleman, 
formerly engaged in the Patent Office, and now just re¬ 
turned from a visit to Europe, (a tour expressly devo- 
tedto the collection and diffusion of useful scientific in¬ 
formation, ) has brought with him a new method of pre¬ 
serving grain for seed, which he suggests might also 
projrably prevent the hatching of insect eggs. A hard 
crust is formed round the grain, w r hich is thereby almost 
hermetically covered, yet readily dissolves when in the 
groijnd, and serves, at the same time, as nourishment for 
the tender roots of the young plant. 
I shall conclude this article, by pointing out a few 
typographical errors, in the printing of my former com- 
munication, [see July number Cult.,] which I mention 
because, in some cases, those errors entirely altered the 
idea intended to be conveyed. On the first column of 
page 209, fifteenth line from the top, “ oral ” occurs, 
instead of “ oval again, 2d column, page 210, 37th 
line from below, “correct” is printed instead of “ in¬ 
correct ;” then on the 2d column, 29th line from the bot¬ 
tom, page 211, “pays his rent—a bushel—” should read 
(! pays his cent a bushel ” or per bushel. 
Perhaps I am more particular in wishing to see this 
subject correct in all its details, than the matter may ap¬ 
pear to justify; at all events, to citizens of the eastern 
states. But with us in the west, these insects are even 
now a serious evil, and (although this year found only 
in hundreds where they were formerly found in millions) 
the evil may hereafter increase, if not arrested. If, 
therefore, any of my suggestions should prove useful, I 
shall be highly gratified. Richard Owen. 
New-Harmony, la. } 28 th August , 1846. 
A correspondent of the Greenville (S. C.) Mountai¬ 
neer , having read Mr. Owen’s article on the Flying 
Weevil, in our July number, makes the following re- 
marks in regard to protecting wheat from this insect. 
“Get the wheat out at least before the 1st of August, 
and as soon after it is out as possible, sun it until it is 
perfectly dry, and put it up in hogsheads while hot as 
the sun in a hot day can make it, and have the vessels, 
into which it is to be put, fire-heated as hot as they can be 
made. Wheat put up this way will at least keep per¬ 
fectly well one year, and perhaps several. I have a 
few bushels of my last year’s crop now on hand, as free 
from weevil as when it was first put up. Whether it 
is the heating that destroys the weevil egg, or whether 
it is the drying of the wheat, I can’t say, positively, but 
am inclined to the opinion that the drying has the 
principal influence, for I have seen hogsheads of wheat, 
after being put up in this way, left in the field with a 
mere covering of loose clapboards, which permitted the 
top of the wheat to absorb moisture, and the top of the 
wheat thus exposed became affected with weevil, while 
the wheat m the bottom or lower parts of the hogs¬ 
head remained still perfectly free from their ravages. 
At our mill, in this village, there is a large rock, very 
convenient, on which I usually sun mine before putting 
it up, and I have frequently had flour made from wheat 
a year or more old as good and as fair as could be de¬ 
sired.” 
Ox - Tail Soup.—Prior to 1685, the butchers of 
London, in disposing of bullock-hides to the felt-mon¬ 
gers, were accustomed to leave on the tails. The 
French refugees, however, bought them up, and in- 
trpduced into use that nutritious dish called ox-tail 
soup. 
THE DISTRICT SCHOOL HOUSE. 
Mr. Tucker —In one of our recent excursions, we 
chanced to pass through a region, which has for a long 
time been more than ordinarily (even for the present 
progressive age,) celebrated for its intelligence and ag¬ 
ricultural enterprize. The broad and beautiful street 
through which we passed, was separated from the ad¬ 
joining fields by substantial fences, along whose line, 
tall trees of rich variety were scattered in unbroken or 
der as far as the eye could trace the windings of the 
graceful avenue; and their firm arms gave assurance, as 
theywextended themselves into the nether atmosphere, 
that they would ere long meet their fellows and join in 
an umbrageous union until the whole range of their do¬ 
minion should be transformed into a proud alcove with 
verdant canopy. The neighboring fields were arrayed 
in rich habiliments; the dwellings rose pleasantly from 
well filled parterres where fruit trees ami shrubbery ot 
all varieties beautifully blended. 
There was one object in this parapharnalia of beauty 
and prosperity which in a particular manner attract¬ 
ed my attention, inasmuch as it gave more decisive evi¬ 
dence of a provident care for the future than any we 
have noticed. This was the “ district school house .” 
Smile not, ye sons of affluence, who disdain to have 
your children mingle with the crowd around you, 
and who must, if they obtain an education, receive it 
in a more voluptuous way. Throw not aside your pa¬ 
per, gentle reader, nor venture the unpremeditated re¬ 
mark that you “ wish to hear nothing on the subject of 
common schools.” The topic, however unmanageable 
and unmanaged it may be in our hands, is one of vital 
interest to the wellbeing of succeeding generations, and 
the growing prosperity of our whole country. Yes, 
despise the humble abodes where knowledge in its most 
unpretending character unlocks the mind, and sheds its 
humblest, mildest rays, if you choose; they are the 
fountains of knowledge after all, where the great mass 
must come and take their earliest draughts, if they drink 
at all. Annihilate them, if you will, and you destroy 
one of the firmest pillars that support the loftiest dome 
of our country’s glory—the intelligence of the whole 
people. 
But we have digressed from the proposed subject— 
that school house , located in the midst of rural thrift and 
loveliness. It was the central stone in a rich inlaying 
of choice diamonds. Its external appearance gave assu¬ 
rance of comfort, and so much neatness revealed by its 
freshly painted white walls, erected in true gothic style, 
its large windows adorned and protected by light green 
blinds, that we felt an inclination to view its inter¬ 
nal arrangement. Permission being granted, we went 
in, and found that a principle beyond outside show, had 
been carried out in the completion of the building. 
The seats and desks were arranged in a manner admira¬ 
bly adapted to the comfort and convenience of both 
teacher and scholars. The walls neatly papered, and 
adorned at intervals with maps and historical paintings, 
gave a fitter semblance of a picture-gallery, than of 
many of our modern school houses, with broken and 
smoky walls. On one side of the building stood the 
school library, in a neat but simple case, contain¬ 
ing books enough on various topics to furnish the chil¬ 
dren of any neighborhood with what would once have 
been termed a finished education, after the art of read¬ 
ing was once acquired; and what was very agreeable, 
these books gave decidedly more appearance of having 
been read , than of having been carelessly handled and 
thrown aside. Directly opposite the library, and in a 
similar case with glass doors, was a small but choice 
collection of minerals, with which, as I was informed, 
the teacher was in the habit of talking to the whole 
school, in explanation of the sciences to which they re¬ 
late, for a few minutes at the close of the school, 
once or twice in the week. What valuable funds of 
knowledge may thus be gathered up by the way-side, 
as it were, it may be an act of folly to predict! 
But one thing in the external arrangement of this es¬ 
tablishment, in our zeal for a view of the internal, has 
