THE CULTIVATOR. 
305 
A KITCHEN GARDEN—FRUITS AND FLOWERS. 
Reader, if you want to see something in the vegetable 
kingdom a little earlier, and a little nicer, than you ever 
saw it before in this climate, just drop into the fruit yards 
and gardens of Eleazer Burnham, Esq., and his son- 
in-law, Dr. Alexander Thompson, at Aurora, Cayuga 
Lake. 
Only one mile east of this place*, 400 feet above the 
level of the Lake, nearly every thing of the fruit kind 
has been cut off this season, by a biting June frost; but 
here, directly on Aurora bay, under the warming influ¬ 
ence of this never freezing lake, the tomato, the egg 
plant, the tender grape, and the peach, are in luxuriant 
progress; corn, planted in April, begins on this, 20th of 
July, to glaze; early potatoes, very much pinched by 
drouth, are now ripe; most other kitchen truck is in 
great perfection. 
Here are ornamental trees, deciduous and evergreens, 
and flowering shrubs of every hue and variety; to say 
nothing of the earlier berries, cherries, gooseberries, &c., 
&c.; here is the Bon apple fully ripe, as is also the lus¬ 
cious little apple of Eve, on its tiny, bush-like tree; the 
delicious Seckel pear tree is so thickly beset with its un¬ 
ripe blood-red fruit that its leaves are throvfn into the 
shade. Apricots, nectarines, plums, peaches, and cluster¬ 
ing grapes, are giving an earnest of early fruition, such 
as but few, even in this fruitful land, have it in their 
power to enjoy. 
But bow shall I describe the flower garden, with its 
winding, circular, any thing but straight, gravelled 
walks; with borders of stone crop, Phlox, and Buxus sem- 
pervirens; its concave, crescent-shaped, many sided beds; 
to undertake to name the genus, let alone the legion va¬ 
riety of these beauties of the floral creation, which now 
bloom here, is more than my poor pen can compass; 
suffice it to say, that here are flowers indigenous and exo¬ 
tic, from every clime, 
“ Where woman smiles or sighs.” 
That which occurred to me first, was, how so much 
labor could be done at so little expense; the absence of 
every weed, the finely ameliorated soil, the extreme good 
taste in the arrangement of the flowers and the house 
plants, in their rustic boxes, the picturesque disposition 
of the beds, and the flowering shrubs; above all, the or¬ 
der, beauty, freshness, which pervaded all; was prima 
facie evidence to me, that no mercenary hand, no clod¬ 
hopper foot, had been tolerated here. It was evidence 
positive that the result here produced was the effect of 
that labor, and those combinations, which enthusiasm alone 
Can originate and direct. Mr. Burnham himself is too 
far in the “sere and yellow leaf” to lend his physical 
aid to the work, but Dr. Thompson finds both mental and 
physical renovation in the labors of the fruit yard and 
garden; here is also a single young man, a servant of all 
work, an Englishman; but not the dull, leaden-eyed, stu¬ 
pid, obsequious, serving man of old England; I am told 
that he spends much of his leisure time in Dr. T.’s libra¬ 
ry ; here under the doctors instruction he has learned 
something of geology, agricultural chemistry, and bota¬ 
ny; this “ little learning,” pronounced so “dangerous” 
in the old world, has come to be, under our republican 
institutions, the best « support to the throne ,” the only 
guarantee to popular civilization, the parent of that ex¬ 
alted enthusiasm, without which there is no upward pro¬ 
gress; nothing to separate the intellectual laborer from 
that biped drudge of grossness and ignorance, who has 
too long been honored with the title of a laboring man. 
S. W. 
The Moon out-generalled —A lady of our ac¬ 
quaintance, lately fairly out-generalled the moon. In 
making soap (over which the moon and the witches seem 
to have great power, according to some,) she was parti¬ 
cularly uusuccessful, though her ley was strong, and every 
thing else apparently right. She was promptly informed 
by an experienced neighbor that she had undertaken the 
business exactly in the wrong time of the moon. A 
young chemist, who happened to be present, discovering 
that the ley effervesced strongly in acids, and was there¬ 
fore not caustic enough, applied quicklime in small quan¬ 
tities to the obstinate and half-made soap, when in a 
short time all lunar influence w r as withdi'awn, the planet 
struck its colors, (if it ever had any,) and a fine lot of 
first rate soap was produced. T. 
DRAINING MARSHES AND PONDS. 
Mr. Tucker —Among the many little obstructions 
which nature has placed in the way of the practical far¬ 
mer, none appear more repulsive than those*little swamps 
and marshes which are here and there promiscuously 
seen in the midst of fertile lands, often surrounded by 
high ground, which seem to baffle the industry and defy 
the skill of the agriculturist, to drain or fill up. The re¬ 
sult of an experiment last summer in draining one of this 
kind, I purpose to give for the benefit of those who are 
similarly annoyed by a swamp surrounded by land so 
high that it is impossible to drain it in the usual manner 
of ditching. 
There was situated in the centre of a field a pond of 
water, covering about half or three-fourths of an acre of 
ground, in which water has remained for a great number 
of years past, from three to four feet deep, surrounded 
by ground rising in every direction from the centre of 
the pond, so that it seemed impossible to get a ditch deep 
enough to let the water out. The soil of the surround¬ 
ing field is of a sandy quality, and in the bottom of the 
pond is of muck or blue clay, and for several rods around 
the pond where the water occasionally stood during wet 
seasons of the year. About four or five rods from the 
pond, and a short distance from the clay soil, where the 
ground was perfectly dry and sandy, I commenced dig¬ 
ging a well about eight feet in diameter. After digging 
about two feet from the surface of the ground, the soil 
grew harder, and showed some indication of gravel, and 
continued to grow more hard and gravelly to the depth 
of six feet, where it grew more loose and gravelly; and 
continued to grow more loose and porous to the depth of 
twelve feet, when it began to cave, and was but little 
else than a stratum of loose stones and gravel. I then filled 
the well with large stones, loosely thrown in, and in or¬ 
der to prevent their falling too hard and packing too 
tightly on the bottom of the well, several posts were 
placed slantingly towards the bottom for the stones to roll 
against; and from the well I dug a ditch to the pond, 
deep enough for the water to run readily from the bot¬ 
tom of the pond. This was done in the afternoon, and 
the next morning the pond was perfectly empty of water, 
which the evening before was from one to four feet 
deep, and covering near three-fourths of an acre; thus 
in Jess than fifteen hours this immense quantity of water 
was discharged from the bottom of the well into the 
bowels of the earth. A ditch was then dug leading from 
the well through the centre of the pond, and stoned in 
the ordinary way of filling blind ditches, and the muck 
drawn out upon the high ground and mixed with the 
sandy soil of which the field is composed. 
The ground has since remained perfectly dry and til¬ 
lable, and bids fair to become more productive than any 
other part of the field. I am satisfied, from the success 
of this experiment, that most of the swamps, ponds and 
marshes which abound in our country, and are similarly 
surrounded by sandy soil, may be, with trifling expense, 
drained and made permanently dry in this expeditious 
manner. J. W. Seely. 
Bainbridge, Chenango county, August, 1845. 
BOMMER’S MANURE. 
L. Tucker, Esq. —As lam a friend to the agricul¬ 
tural interests of the country, and wish its improvement 
and prosperity, I send this communication to you. I 
have lately purchased George Bommer’s patent method 
of making manure, and from trial consider it very valu- 
ble, not only in the fabrication of manures, but also in 
its analyses of soils, and other interesting matter to the 
farmer. I have long thought the subject of agriculture 
had been greatly neglected, and am very glad this effort 
has been made to accelerate its interests. I would 
not be deprived of the aid of the knowledge contained in 
the method for five times what it cost me could I not regain 
