THE CULTIVATOR. 
343 
FACTS AND OPINIONS, 
Condensed from various Exchange Papers. 
Oats.— P. Fay, of Southboro’, Mass., says the New 
England Farmer, had the present season, a ten acre field 
of oats, yielding about 60 bushels per acre. It was well 
manured, and sowed at the rate of about 4 bushels per 
acre. 
Yellows. —A writer in the Boston Cultivator, states 
several facts to show that the yellows in peach trees is 
caused by too free a tillage of the tree, and gives instan¬ 
ces where a moderate or slow growth secured the trees 
from the attacks of this contagious malady. On the con¬ 
trary, Downing in his work on Fruit Trees, is confident, 
from many observations, that the yellows is a constitu¬ 
tional disease caused by long continued neglected cul¬ 
tivation, and exhaustion by successive crops. Within 
our own limited observations, it has attacked trees of all 
kinds, thrifty and otherwise, and under all circumstances. 
Errors. —New theories are constantly springing up 
from single or very limited observations. Among some 
of the latest are, that nails driven into trees, and holes 
bored through them, prevent blight and other diseases. 
A tree becomes diseased—it is accidentally nailed or 
bored—if not thus greatly injured, it recovers of itself— 
and a theory is immediately established and pertinaciously 
adhered to. 
Deep Plowing. —An English writer, speaking of the 
prejudice against deep plowing, says, “ it would puzzle 
a conjuror to tell why a farmer always digs his garden 
20 inches (where he always gets good crops,) and plows 
for his field crops only 5 inches.” 
Ashes as Manure.— On the farm of Daniel Web¬ 
ster, according to J. Breck, of the New-England Farmer, 
on [part of?] a ten acre lot of very light land, 3000 
bushels of English turneps were raised last season, with 
no other manure than leached ashes, at an expense of 
only seventy-three dollars. 
Canker Worm. —The Indiana Farmer and Gardener, 
gives a method of excluding this insect. A roll or bat 
of wool, evenly carded, is applied round the body of the 
tree and tied tightly with a twine round the middle of 
the roll. The wool rising on each side, the twine is 
buried and hid. The worms ascending, encounter the 
wool, but cannot push through and lay their eggs in it. 
Putnam Russet Apple.— Dr. Kirtland, in Elliott’s 
Magazine, says that after fifteen years acquaintance with 
this apple, he does not hesitate to pronounce it the most 
valuable for extensive cultivation of all late keeping ap. 
pies, in northern Ohio, where the Newtown Pippin does 
not flourish. He also states that Shippen’s Russet, a dif¬ 
ferent variety, has been widely disseminated under this 
name. 
Revolving Horse Rake.— It is singular that scarcely 
an agricultural paper has a correct figure of this imple¬ 
ment. A figure, which first appeared, we believe, in 
some of the Boston publications, and since borrowed 
or copied all over the country, appears to have been 
drawn by an artist, who had never seen it in operation. 
He accordingly represents it as running on the points 
of the teeth, like the old hand rake, a way in which it is 
perfectly impossible for it ever to work. Why cannot 
we see a true figure with the teeth flat on the ground? 
As it now is, it is no better than to picture a bull walk¬ 
ing on his horns, or a boy sliding down hill on his 
nose. 
The Locust.—A farmer in Western New-York, who 
is losing a large number of fine locust trees by the borer, 
wishes to inquire of those in the eastern part, who may 
have hail experience in the matter, whether cutting the 
injured trees down, at the surface of the ground, and 
suffering them to sprout up afresh, will not produce 
good young trees—which would be as likely to escape 
the borer as young trees set out—and of course with less 
trouble? A reply from those who may be acquainted 
with facts, would confer a particular favor. 
Steeping Seeds.— The New England Farmer describes 
some experiments on soaking seeds, made this season 
by J. S. C. Green, of Waltham, Mass. A chemist pre-l 
pared for him a composition of nitrate, sulphate, and mu¬ 
riate of ammonia, and nitrate of soda and potash. In a 
solution of these he steeped corn from 17 to 140 hours. 
When steeped 100 hours, the corn vegetated poorly, but 
when it remained 140 hours, it did not vegetate at all. 
Having tried the seed in pots, he determined on 80 hours 
as the proper time for steeping. He planted a number 
of strips of three rows each, through a large field of 
15 acres, noting the rows on tallies. At the time the 
editor examined the field the corn was in tassel and the 
ears well set. The corn which had been soaked ex¬ 
hibited no advantage over the other; on the contrary, if 
there was any difference, the soaked was not as luxuri¬ 
ant as the unsoaked. 
Plowing marsh land. —The mud being too soft and 
deep to bear oxen or horses, a rope 14 rods long was 
attached to the oxen at one end and to the plow at the 
other, thus enabling the oxen to walk on the hard ground 
adjoining. A plow was made on purpose, turning fur¬ 
rows 20 inches wide. It had to be drawn back at each 
furrow. In one part, the upland not admitting of the 
direct working of the oxen, the rope was made to pass 
round a wheel or pulley, so that the oxen moved at right 
angles to the direction of the plow. It was manured 
with compost and sown with timothy, and produced a 
fine crop. 
Peach-worm Repelled —George C. Dobson, in the 
Southern Planter, gives a method of preserving peach 
and nectarine trees, which has succeeded without any 
failure. Early in autumn, as soon as the young tree at¬ 
tains its growth for the season, the earth is removed from 
the root, and half a pint of soft tar deposited, and rubbed 
on the body of the tree for six or eight inches above the 
surface. The earth is then replaced. This process is 
repeated early in summer each succeeding year, taking 
care that the trunk is thus kept coated. An ovipositor 
would make rather slow headway through a coat of stiff 
tar. 
Influence of the Moon..— A correspondent of an 
exchange paper, states that a rail fence, laid <e in the old 
of the moon,” will sink into the ground from six to 
ten inches in a short time; but if laid at other times it 
would not sink; that shingles nailed on the roof of a 
house “ in the new of the moon” soon throw out the 
nails; that a crop sown in the new of the moon, is more 
affected by that planet, than a crop which grows during alt 
other stages of the moon's changes, through several 
months; and that sheep shear heavier <c in the going up of 
the moon,” than otherwise. He might have added that 
wood drawn at the new of the moon would afford twice 
as many cords as if drawn at other times. 
Saving Urine —Mr. Breck, of the New England 
Farmer, describing Mr. Webster’s farm, at Marshfield, 
says:—“ There is no cellar under the barns, but Mr. Web- 
ster has hit upon a method to save every drop of liquid 
manure, and in the best possible way. The planks com¬ 
posing the floors of the cattle’s quarters, or byre, as the 
Scotch call it, are laid with an opening between them of 
about one-half inch, and so arranged as to be easily 
taken up. The idea is to place about two feet of loam 
or other earth, under the floor; this will absorb all the 
liquid part of the manure as it runs down though the 
openings, and in the spring will be converted into the 
finest manux-e, when it is to be removed and replaced by 
fresh mold.” This is a mode we have seen practiced in 
many instances, and we think it a very good substitute 
for a eellar under the barn. 
Seed Corn —from the tip kernels of the ear, pro¬ 
duced in a distinct experiment, only half as much as ker¬ 
nels selected from the middle of the ear; seed from the 
huts of the ears yielded about fifteen-sixteenths of those 
from the middle. 
Strawberries.— In Ohio and Kentucky, single planta¬ 
tions of strawberries often cover many acres. The past 
season, 235 bushels were offered for sale in Cincinnati in 
one day. The price there is usually three or four cents 
a quart. 
Silk Factories. —There are eight silk factories in 
Mansfield, Conn., the greatest silk manufacturing town 
in the country. 
