THE CULTIVATOR. 
207 
GALT’S CHURN. 
This is one of the best churns ever made. Any quan¬ 
tity of butter, from one pound to twenty-five pounds, can 
be churned at one time. It works easily, without wast¬ 
ing- any cream, is easily cleaned, is very durable, and 
brings the butter in a short time. 
Manufactured by R. Sinclair, Jr. & Co., Baltimore, and 
also by the principal implement establishments at Bos¬ 
ton. 
EFFECT OF DROUTH on the MATURITY OF 
PLANTS. 
The last year was remarkable for its unusual high 
temperature, particularly the months of August and 
September, and scarcely less so for the want of rain which 
had been experienced in many sections of the country. 
The spring months were cold and vegetation backward. 
Planting was of course late, and the planted crops did 
not come forward as rapidly as seemed necessary to en¬ 
sure perfection. This was especially the case with corn 
and potatoes. In July the temperature changed: from 
being wet and cool, it became dry and hot, and in some 
places this dryness became a drouth of great severity. 
During the early part of the hot weather, planted crops 
grew with rapidity, but the want of rain soon checked 
the growth, and for a month or more the plants seemed 
nearly stationary. In some places the potato stopped 
growing, the vine died, and the appearance of a mature 
plant was exhibited; but the root showed that the sus¬ 
pension of the growth, had at the same time checked the 
approach to maturity, and though the vine might be dry 
and dead, the root remained green and immature. We 
had a field of some twenty acres of corn, that was just 
beginning to silk at the time the drouth set in most se¬ 
verely. For nearly a month there was not a day, except 
one or two on which slight showers occurred, in which 
the leaves of the corn did not curl from the heat more 
or less- During this time ears set, the corn silked, but 
the kernel did not form, and more than double the usual 
time elapsed between the throwing out of the silk and 
the having ears fit for roasting, that usually does. It be¬ 
came evident that unless the month of September was 
unusually favorable the crop of corn would be small, and 
its safety from frost much endangered. Fortunately our 
fears in that respect were unfounded; that month was 
favorable, our corn the first of October was untouched by 
the frost, and an average crop of full sound corn was 
secured. 
From our experience and observation, however, we 
are convinced that plants make very little approach to 
maturity or ripening, no matter what may be the tempe¬ 
rature, unless a plentiful supply of water be present at 
the same time. Heat and moisture are the indispensable 
conditions of the growth and maturity of plants, and ei¬ 
ther, alone, will be found ineffectual or destructive. The 
rains of September aided the ripening of potatoes 
where the vines had not dried up; but where this took 
place duringthe drouth, they proved watery and immature. 
We are certain tne ripening of corn and potatoes was 
delayed some three weeks at least, on our farm by the 
drouth; and nothing but the favorable weather of Sep¬ 
tember, and their exemption from the frosts so gene¬ 
ral in the northern states, gave them their chance for 
maturity. 
Since the above was written, we have noticed a paper 
from a correspondent of an eastern paper, in which the 
same views are taken of this matter that we have ex¬ 
pressed. The writer says,—“My early potatoes which 
were planted and up in good season, were not riper, if 
so ripe, Aug. 30, as they have generally averaged in fa¬ 
vorable seasons at the 30th of July. My corn was like¬ 
wise nearly a month behind its growth, and so pf most 
other vegetables we harvest in the fall, and it appears 
that vegetables which do not require but four months in 
favorable seasons to come to maturity, will this year re¬ 
quire nearly five; and it is not because we have not had 
a sufficiency of sunshine and heat, for I think we have 
had a fair average compared with seasons in past years.” 
Next to corn and potatoes, apples appeared to be stop¬ 
ped in their growth and their maturity more checked 
than other plants or fruits; and we have rarely witnessed 
more rapid changes than occurred in what should have 
been early fruits, such as the Sweet Bough and White 
Harvest apples, where after the great heat and drouth, 
the earth was again saturated with water by rain. We 
have seen some curious results from this suspension of 
growth in the potato. Where rains supervened, shoots 
put out from the tubers of those vines longest dead, as 
they would from roots planted in the spring. 
EARLY SEEDLING PEARS. 
There is an impression abroad which has had a great 
tendency to prevent the general introduction of that ex¬ 
cellent fruit, the pear, and that is, that the man who 
plants the young tree, must be fortunate indeed if he lives 
to partake of the fruit. That this impression is a mista¬ 
ken one is evident from the experiments of Van Mons, 
who has grown thousands if not millions of pears from 
the seed to fruiting in from six to eight years, and in ma¬ 
ny instances in even much less time. His object has 
been by cross impregnation to produce new and finer va¬ 
rieties, and early fruiting was essential to the success of 
this plan. The result is well known to every orchardist 
and fruit grower in the country, in the rich fruits he has 
produced, and distributed to every part of the world. 
We find in the New Gen. Farmer, a proof that such ear¬ 
ly fruiting is not confined to the old world. At the last 
Agricultural Fair at Canandaigua, a basket of beautiful 
pears were exhibited, raised from seed , and the tree only 
four years old. Four years since the grower, John Cro- 
foot, took a fine pear of the variety called Catherine, 
and planted it entire in a rich spot in his garden. Seve¬ 
ral young trees came up from it, and grew vigorously. 
Taking some leaves from the parent fruit, he selected the 
shoot most resembling the original, and pulled the oth¬ 
ers. Stimulating manures were applied to the tree, and 
it grew vigorously. Last year, being four years old, and 
about six feet high, it blossomed finely, and produced 
about two dozen of beautiful pears, more resembling the 
St. Germains than the Caterine, and equal if not superior 
to the latter fruit. This is certainly a remarkable in¬ 
stance of precocity in a pear tree, and should induce fur¬ 
ther attempts at this kind of culture. 
Crops in N. Carolina.— From a letter to the editors, 
dated Red House, May 25—“ The crops of corn, wheat 
and oats, were never more promising. We have ha\J 
the earliest spring ever known-in this region of country. 
This section is adapted to the culture of corn, wheat, 
oats, cotton and tobacco. The corn and wheat crops ara 
very forward. Some of our farmers are now preparing 
to cut wheat, and will be in the midst of harvest next 
week.” 
To preserve iron FROM rust. —Heat the iron to red¬ 
ness, just perceptible in the dark, then cool it in tallow* 
