160 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
the pumpkin crop. 
Messrs. Editors.— -The pumpkin may be justly called 
one of the best articles the farmer raises. There are 
many different varieties of this vegetable, but we think 
there is none equal to the old-fashioned, yellow, field 
pumpkin, for yield and goodness. For producing rich 
milk, it is one of the very best articles that can be given 
cows. Fed raw to hogs, they are useful by increasing the 
appetite. They will fatten young fall beef, and give fat¬ 
ting oxen a better start in the fall than either potatoes or ' 
turneps. 
The cultivation of the pumpkin is thought by many 
farmers a secondary affair. Hence the idea that they can 
be grown only in extraordinary seasons, when everything 
is favorable. But that this crop can be successfully 
grown with corn, we have abundant evidence—having 
never raised them separately but one season. The 
pumpkin will grow, and generally succeed well in any 
soil that will produce the corn crop successfully. They 
like a rich, warm soil, with plenty of stable manure to 
feed on, and will stand drouth as well as any crop. But 
there are some difficulties to be overcome in getting the 
crop up and out of the way of insects, (bugs, &c.) We 
have generally planted them at the time of planting corn; 
but there is an objection to this early planting, and that 
is, they may be cut off by a late frost. This was the 
case the two last seasons—frosts occurring about the first 
of June. After the young plants are up, and the danger 
from frosts is past, then comes the “ tug of war” with 
the bugs. The little striped bugs come in swarms, and 
will in a short time, if left to themselves, destroy the 
crop. But in this case, “ prevention is better than cui-e,” 
and to prevent their attacks we sprinkle the plants, as 
soon as up, with plaster, and find the “varmints” do not 
like to meddle with anything that is whited with this 
substance. In case the plaster is washed off by rain, we 
sprinkle again, and continue to do so as often as is neces¬ 
sary till the plants are out of the w r ay of these “ pestifi- 
rous critters.” Our crop the past season was planted 
with corn, and had just got finely up, when, on the night 
of the first of June, they, with the corn, were cut down 
by frost. The corn started again, but the pumpkins were 
a “ dead set” at that business. We had a few seeds left, 
and a few days after the frost we stuck them down be¬ 
tween the hills of corn. They came up well, and we 
took care to keep them covered with plaster, so that the 
bugs did not trouble them much. The space covered by 
the vines could not have been much over an acre, yet we 
gathered from it six large cart-bodies heaping full. To 
escape late frosts, we think the farmer would do well to 
delay planting till about the first of June, in this climate. 
The spaces at which they should be planted is impor¬ 
tant, as the vines extend a good distance. If planted 
with corn, we think every alternate hill in every third 
row will be thick enough—the vines will then cover the 
ground. Care should be taken not to obstruct the vines 
after they begin to run. If weeds spring up, pull them 
out by hand, or cut them out with a hoe. We have been 
in the habit of raising pretty large crops of pumpkins. 
Seven or eight years ago, the seed which we saved from 
one crop measured ten bushels — which we sold to Mr. 
Leman Stone, the seedsman, at a dollar and a half a bush¬ 
el. The seed saved from the last crop was two bushels, 
which sold readily at two dollars a bushel. 
Now if any of your readears can tell a tougher pump¬ 
kin story than this, which, by the way, is no less true 
than tough, I shall be glad to hear it. L. I)- d. 
Derby, Conn. Jan. 22, 1844. 
THE CUT-WORM. 
Messrs. Editors —I see in the October No. of the Cul¬ 
tivator a writer says, that a “ burdock leaf wound around 
the stem of a cabbage will prevent the cut-worm from de¬ 
stroying the plant.” But the writer seems to think every 
farmer is not fortunate enough to have that plant on his 
ground. Where burdock cannot be obtained, perpaps a 
hickory leaf can, and that I think v/ill answer every per- 
pose. I have seen a hickory leaf repeatedly used, and 
never knew it fail to preserve the plant. If the leaf is 
put on narrow, and the plant set low, the worm will 
sometimes crawl up and cut off the plant above the leaf; 
but it is not common. Jacob Hitchcock. 
Dwight Mission, March 20, 1844. 
TO DESTROY NUT GRASS, &c. 
Messrs. Editors— I see that a subscriber asks for in¬ 
formation how to kill nut grass. If he means by it, that 
which has proved so great a curse on the coast of Louis¬ 
iana, I would suggest as an experiment that a small plot 
of ground, say a square perch, be taken, and sow on it at 
the rate of 40 or 50 bushels of salt to the acre, and mark 
its effect, if it has that desired. I think that thousands of 
acres on both sides of the Mississippi would be reclaimed 
and be made even more fertile than at present. This 
much I can venture to assert: that it will not only kill 
that or any other grass that appears for some distance be¬ 
low the surface of the ground, but whether it will extend 
its salutary effects to the bulb or not must be proved by 
the experiment. It has this advantage: that it can be 
tried at but little expense. 
Acclimating Cattle. —Whilst I am scribbling, I 
might suggest to a Southerner who requests information 
in last year’s vol. about acclimating the improved breeds 
of cattle, that my opinion of the great difficulty that oc¬ 
curs, does not arise so much from the change of food or 
climate as the state of irritation and fever that they are 
kept in by the incessant attacks of the horse flies and 
mosquitoes, so that they can get no rest by day or night. 
Now I think that may be obviated by sponging them in a 
steep of the leaves of the black-walnut, tomato vine, or 
many other strong and pungent leaves, or a solution of 
soot might answer, as any man in the south knows how 
repugnant the smell of soot is to the insect tribe, partic¬ 
ularly to the mosquito. Mago. 
Elementary Instruction in Chemical Analysis, by Dr. C. R* 
Fresenius, chemical assistant in the Laboratory of the 
University of Oiessen, with a preface by Professor Lie¬ 
big, SfC., published in New York by D. Appleton Co., 
8 vo. pp. 284. 
This work comes before the public with the sanction 
of Professor Liebig, whose scientific labors in behalf of 
Agriculture are spreading far and wide, and doing much 
good. Since his attention has been turned in that direc¬ 
tion, we find that other chemists, in Europe and in this 
country, are devoting themselves to the improvement of 
agriculture by means of the science of Chemistry. We 
wish them success, and hope they will continue their la¬ 
bors, until they awaken the whole agricultural commu¬ 
nity to the importance and dignity of the art they prac¬ 
tice, and the necessity of improving it by the union of 
practical skill and scientific knowledge. 
The work before us, however, is not strictly agricul¬ 
tural, though it has an indirect bearing on the subject. If, 
for instance, we want to analyze the soil of a field, an 
earthy substance found on a farm, or a metallic substance 
from beneath the surface, it directs the practical chemist 
how to proceed; how to prepare, and how to apply hk 
tests. To the student of chemistry it is a treasure, and 
one of the best works of the kind that has of late issued 
from the press. 
A neighboring farmer was lately expressing a wish 
that we had some chemist in this part of the State who 
would undertake the analysis of soils. I referred to 
Dr. Torrey, Dr. Chilton, and Issachar Cozzens, of New 
York, who were fully competent to the undertaking. But 
at present, the applications would be so few as to afford 
an insufficient compensation. If, however, the wish of 
my neighbor was more general, and the applications of 
farmers for the analysis of soils were sufficiently nume¬ 
rous, the expense could be reduced, and make it an object 
for a chemist to apply himself to the subject. The Ame 
rican Institute, in the city of New York, might designate 
a chemist for the purpose. Or if an agricultural school 
should be established, a professor of chemistry should be 
appointed, embracing mineralogy, geology, &c., in hif 
course. To the student or the professor, the work of Dr. 
Fresenius would be highly valuable in the analysis of 
soils or other substances. A Practical Farmer 
