THE CULTIVATOR. 
241 
Care must be taken that the rods be not left too long. 
When bringing the divisions together, a short rod must 
be used and the joints closed up with a length or two of 
bricks. When any stoppages afterwards occur, and they 
will sometimes happen, by taking off the top brick in 
these joints it can be ascertained in which direction the 
obstruction lies. Then, by boring with a small gimblet, 
or some similar tool, the exact position can be ascer¬ 
tained. When the pipe is opened, and it is removed, a 
thin wooden pipe can be inserted and plastered over with 
a thick coat of mortar, and the pipe be as sound as be¬ 
fore. These stoppages are extremely vexatious, and the 
head of the pipe should be well guarded with a tight 
box, and punched tin or sheet iron on three sides. Some¬ 
times small tadpoles or frogs, and other water vermin, 
get within the tube, where they may grow larger, till 
they cannot get out, and are a moving obstruction from 
place to place, which it is exceedingly difficult to re¬ 
move, without taking up the whole pipe, or one of the 
divisions at least. The holes in tin or sheet iron should 
be of the smallest practicable size, and very numerous, 
that the entrance of these intruders may be prevented. 
In digging the trench endeavor to have no part lower 
than the point where it runs out, even if it must be a 
little farther distance round. This is necessary in order 
to have a straight, strong current right through to carry 
out any sediment in the water, lest it settle in the lowest 
part, of the tube and prove a stoppage. I erred in this 
matter, having come across a hollow to save distance. 
Where this cannot be avoided there should be a joint or 
opening from which the sediment could be removed from 
time to time as it collects—say once a year. 
A short story will tell the tale of expense. With a 
bushel of lime to every rod, a like quantity of sand, and 
a man to mix and carry mortar, I am satisfied I can lay 
more than twenty rods per day. The bill is as follows: 
20 bushels of lime and sand,... $3 00 
1 hand to tend,. 75 
Preparing apparatus and laying 
down pipe,... 1 25 
$5.00=25 cts. per rod. 
Our mechanics here want 60 cents per rod for putting 
down logs, with timber, hands, board, &c., all found 
them—in all, probably about $1.25. I have made no ac¬ 
count of digging the trench, for that is about the same 
in all cases, whether wood, lead or cement be used. 
My experience has made me the warm advocate of 
cement pipes, and I can see no reason why any farmer 
should be without running water in his yards, if there is 
a spring or stream within a quarter of a mile. Even 
where water-lime must be had, the expense need not 
much exceed fifty cents per rod. 
And now, Mr. Editor, if this statement shall induce 
any of the readers of the Cultivator to avail themselves 
of the advantages of cement pipe, I shall enjoy an extra 
satisfaction, over and above that experienced during the 
past winter, in seeing our stock so conveniently provided 
with this great essential to their thrift and comfort. 
A. R. D. 
Ha ; kettstoion , N. J. July 2d, 1845. 
ERROR CORRECTED. 
In the last volume of the Transactions of the State Ag¬ 
ricultural Society, the opinion is advanced, in the essay 
on the Cultivation of the Apple, that all the varieties of 
this fruit originated from the native species in England, 
known by the name of the crab. This opinion, it is true, 
has the authority of the most of modern botanists to sup¬ 
port it, and nearly all horticultural writers; but errors 
are often copied from one to another, without sufficient 
examination. Great men sometimes make great mistakes; 
and Professor Lindley, one of the highest botanical 
authorities in Europe, not only considers the apple as 
an improved variety of the crab, but speaks of the Green 
gage and other plums as having originated from the 
“Savage sloe,” although the cultivated plum, or Prunus 
domestica , is a species totally distinct from the sloe, or 
Prunus spinosa . 
Ray considered the English Crab as a distinct species 
from the cultivated apple. And those who regard them 
as only varieties, give distinctive characters more strik¬ 
ing and permanent than many which separate species 
universally admitted as distinct. They are the fol¬ 
lowing :— 
Crab Tree. Leaves ovate, acute, villous underneath; 
styles bald; fruit the size of a chestnut, acerb, astringent, 
austere. 
Apple-tree. Leaves ovate-oblong, acuminate, gla¬ 
brous; styles villous ; fruit more or less sweet. 
Whether these characters be admitted as sufficient for 
separate species or not, one fact must be admitted, that 
although the crab has grown in England from the 
remotest antiquity, no variaton in it yvhatever has taken 
place; while the cultivated apple appears to have been 
unknown there until it was introduced by the Romans, and 
is well known to be subject to interminable changes. 
It will be borne in mind that the American crab is a 
totally distinct species from the common apple, and from 
the English crab. J. J. Thomas 
Maccdon, 6 mo., 1845. 
DAIRY—QUALITY OF MILK. 
In many parts of the country the dairy is such an ob¬ 
ject, and it is so desirable to have a living machine that 
can convert, in abundance and perfection, the food it 
consumes, to so useful, so profitable, and so essential an 
article, as milk, that the breed the most distinguished 
for that property must always be in great demand. But 
whether a particular breed should be kept entirely for 
that purpose, or whether it is preferable to have stock 
partly calculated for the butcher, and partly for the dairy, 
is a point well entitled to the most deliberate considera¬ 
tion. It is probable a breed might be reared by great 
attention, the males of which might be well calculated, 
in every respect, for the shambles; and the females of 
which might when young, produce abundant quantities 
of good x*ich milk, yet when they reached nine or ten 
years of age, might be easily and quickly fattened. This 
would be not only the most desirable, but the most valua¬ 
ble breed that could be propagated, and from an expe¬ 
rience of fourteen years, we have found the Durham 
Short Horned breed as aproximattng the nearest to that 
point; but they require as a condition, an abundance of 
rich, succulent food, and warm, comfortable quarters 
in winter. 
One good cow full fed is worth more for the dairy 
than four ordinary half starved ones. As an illustration 
of the truth of the above fact, we quote the following 
from an English publication. “ A farmer, some years 
since, kept eighteen cows upon a common, and was often 
obliged to buy butter for his family. The common was 
enclosed, (which deprived the farmer of his pasture;) 
and the same person supplied his family amply, with the 
milk and butter from four cows well kept.” 
An ordinary cow fed on young clover should give for 
the first three months after calving, from fifteen to 
eighteen quarts of milk per day, which will produce, if 
of good qualitv, l^lbs. of butter—or nearly 9 lbs. per 
week. Where the number of cows is greater the ave¬ 
rage will be less, because where there is only one or 
two cows, a deficiency in one of them is immediately 
noticed; the cow is got rid of, and a better one substi¬ 
tuted. 
The excellency of a dairy cow is estimated by the 
quantity and the quality of her milk; and the quality of 
the milk is estimated by the quantity of butter that it 
will yield. Much depends on the quality of the food, 
but more on the animal. The writer has known one 
cow whose milk would not produce butter, and never 
was discovered while milked with the herd, but was 
soon apparent when separated and milked alone. 
There is a simple instrument, called the Lactometer, 
used for measuring the relative qualities of cream which 
the milk of different cows, at the different seasons of the 
year, affords. It consists of a mahogany stand, support¬ 
ing six glass tubes of equal length and diameter. These 
tubes are marked ten inches from the bottom, and gradu¬ 
ated down in 10ths of an inch for three inches. Now, 
the milk from the different cows is poured into each tube, . 
