THE CULTIVATOR. 
39 
or six years, having been used as a hospital for sick sheep; 
yet from thence, for several years past, the finest fruit 
sent to market has been picked. While speaking of the 
orchard, the Major said, a few years since I had peaches 
here, when my friends had none; my family ate $300 
worth, after which I sold the remainder for $2,700. 
Mr. Caleb Brinton, of Pequea, Lancaster county, Pa., 
has an orchard, one half of which has been kept under 
constant culture, the other half being meadow. While 
searching for worms the past season, full 20 for 1 were, 
found on the cultivated half; the trees sickly and dying 
of the yellows. 
Mr. Mahlon Kirkbride, of Morrisville, Pa., writes, 
by constant culture and laying lime to the roots of the 
trees, he has been able to keep the worms at bay; but, 
spite of all his care and attention, the yellows have car¬ 
ried them all of£ and he has not now a peach tree on his 
whole estate. 
But none of these gentlemen have tried the effect of a 
thorough system of pruning, commencing with trees in 
health, youth and vigor, and that had not been prema¬ 
turely forced in the nursery—a system which is advoca¬ 
ted as likely to be far more important than the most care¬ 
ful cultivation, and all other “ appliances and means to 
boot.” If at any time, it be thought advisable to refresh 
the trees, this can be done by top-dressing, far more be¬ 
neficially than by the plow, the use of which, in the es¬ 
timation of those who adopt it, “ gives fresh vigor to the 
growth of the tree”—the very thing to be deprecated. 
The peach orchard then, will become a sheep-walk or a 
hog-pasture, affording a profit instead of a loss, in sea¬ 
sons when fruit fails: the sheep performing the labor of 
pruning the lower branches of the trees, on which the 
fruit is always inferior, and keeping down the weeds far 
more effectually than can be done by the plow; while 
the hogs will do all the cultivation that is necessary, and 
clear away the diseased and fallen fruit; all stock being 
removed before the time of ripening. I lately observed 
on the farm of Mr. Bryan Jackson, of Newcastle coun¬ 
ty, Del., that a portion of the peach orchard had been 
thrown into the hog-pasture; here the trees were most 
vigorous; and under each, the tramping of the hogs had 
done, in the way of cultivation, as much as was deemed 
necessary. The trees are four or five years old; and I 
was glad to find that the intelligent owner intends at once 
to lay down the whole orchard to permanent pasture, for 
the purpose of grazing sheep and swine. J. C. D. 
Salem, New Jersey, 12 thNov. 1844. 
A VARIETY. 
Luther Tucker, Esq.—I obtain something from al¬ 
most every number of your paper that is of value to me, 
and in return, could I state a few things that would be 
serviceable to some of your readers, I should esteem the 
teward ample for the trouble of writing. 
To stop the Scours in Sheep or Lambs. —Give them 
a small quantity of salt pork: if administered soon after 
they are attacked, two or three doses will generaly effect 
a cure. I have given it to neat cattle for the same com¬ 
plaint and with good effect. 
To prevent Colts chewing their Halters _Take 
the scab from the wart or issue on the inside of the leg, 
rub the halter thoroughly with that, and they will not be 
caught chewing their halter very soon. I have tried 
pepper, tobacco, &c., but nothing to so good purpose as 
their own or kindred musk. 
To Destroy Ants and Prevent their building 
their Mounds upon Meadows _I take a bog-hoe just 
as the ground is about to freeze in the fall, cut the mound 
off even with the ground, then sprinkle on the spot where 
the mound stood, about a shovel full of unleached ashes. 
The ants having burrowed a little below the surface, the 
lye of the ashes causes their utter destruction. The part 
taken off should then be removed from the meadow to 
the compost heap, or placed in some ditch or hole for the 
purpose of making the meadow smooth and level. 
Coalpit dust I think has proved beneficial to my 
Fruit Trees, by placing a few shovels full about the 
roots of each tree; it keeps away the grass, prevents the 
borer from entering the bark, and withal makes an ex- 
; cellent manure. I am trying an experiment with coal- 
t| pit dust about some young apple-trees this winter, to see 
; what effect it will have in keeping the meadow mice 
5 from them, which are very plenty here, and often prove 
I destructive to young trees, during our long winters of 
deep snow. Last winter I placed ashes about the roots 
, and body of the young trees; they were not injured by 
• the mice, but I found I had made so free use of the ash 
es as to injure the bark of the trees in a number of cases 
The Cause of Rot in the Potato. —Accounts ot 
the disease of the potato differ in different sections of 
the country; some attribute the difficulty to wet heavj 
soils—some to soils light and porous—others to much 
wet, and the extreme heat of the season. The month of 
September in this vicinity, was both warm and dry. The 
farmers here think their potatoes came off best on clay 
and heavy soils—many that harvested early and put them 
in their cellars were obliged to carry them out. I think 
those left in the ground late, generally proved best, the 
weather being more favorable than usual for such expe¬ 
riments, though early digging did not prove fatal in all 
cases. I dug about 50 bushels and put in the cellar on 
the 19th Sept. They were the Leopards, grown <>n a 
heavy sand and clay soil; there was not a dozen infected 
ones in the whole. I put them in an airy cellar; they 
kept well. About the same time I was passing a farmer 
who was harvesting his potatoes in a neighboring town. 
I stopped and went into his field. I found him digging 
on a beautiful fine sandy soil. They were a mixture of 
Leopard and Kidney potatoes, and about half destroyed 
by the rot. There were many hills that had not a sound 
potato in them. About two miles from this place in the 
same town, I found a farmer harvesting potatoes on a 
limestone ridge. He told me he had not found a single 
rotten potato. His were the Leopards. About the 10th 
of Oct. I dug the remainder of my Leopards. They 
came out about the same as those first dug. I then began 
digging my Mercers; here I found more diseased potatoes: 
about one bushel in thirty were lost. They grew upon 
a ridge; the soil a dry gravel. The disease in this case 
I am sure could not be occasioned by too much wet, for 
there had not been sufficient rain here from the 1st of Au¬ 
gust to the 29th of September, to half wet a potatoe hill, 
had it all fallen at one time. They appear to be keeping 
well in the cellar. I found some that were diseased, that 
had become dry and somewhat resembling starch. From 
what information I can gather, and from what I have 
seen, there remains much mystery with me as to the 
cause of the disease. J. N. Smith. 
Chimney Point, Vt., Dec. 1, 1844. 
CORN-STALK SUGAR. 
In our May number of the volume for 1844, we gave a 
communication on this subject from Mr. John Beal, oi 
New Harmony, Indiana. It appears that Mr. B. has 
been still more successful the present year than he was 
last. We are informed that he has made three hundred and 
ninety-five pounds of good sugar this season, from the 
corn stalks which grew r on three quarters of an acre, 
which is at the rate of five hundred pounds per acre. His 
plan is said to be as follows :—“ When the ears begin to 
form they are pulled off. When the leaves are dead 
about half way up, the stalk is stripped of leaves, cut up 
at the root, the top cut off, and then ground in a sugar 
I mill. Twenty stalks will yield about one pound and a 
jhalf, and of this three-fourths is grained sugar. Mr. B. 
imade eighty pounds in a day, with a simple apparatus ol 
his own construction. Five hundred pounds, at four cents 
per pound, is twenty dollars per acre. It would have 
produced, say 5 0 bushels of corn, at 2 5 cents, or $12.50. 
Thrifty and Unthrifty Farmers. —The grand 
difference between a thriving farmer, and one who does 
not thrive, is, the one looks out for the fractions, the oth¬ 
er does not. In farming*, nothing should be lost; nothing 
should be neglected; every thing should be done at the 
proper time; every thing should be put in its proper 
place; every thing should be performed by its propel 
implement. When these rules are observed, the farmer 
will surely prosper—though his gains may be slow, they 
| will be certain and sure.— Proctor's Address. 
