THE CULTIVATOR. 
353 
as stallions, viz: the Sherman Morgan, the Woodbury, 
or Burbank, and the Chelsea. Of these the Sherman 
Morgan was greatly the most distinguished. I have 
ascertained to a certainty that he died in the winter of 
1835. Black Hawk was sired by him. The Chelsea 
Morgan is the only one of the three yet alive. He is 
said to be yet full of vigor.” 
ELECTRICITY ON VEGETATION. 
The Syracuse Daily Journal, in noticing some experi¬ 
ments detailed in our September number, has arrived at 
an erroneous conclusion in one particular. He says we 
stated wrongly in saying that the electric fluid passes 
through the lightning rod, and adds that “ it passes along 
the surface of the rod, and not through the body of the 
metal.” Hence he infers that poor conductors, brought 
into contact with the surface of the rod, may be influenced 
and become electrified. Perhaps the subject' would be 
better understood, if it were stated that the fluid passes 
through the surface. We all know that it cannot pass 
through a solid non-conducting substance (without break¬ 
ing a way for its passage,) yet if a conducting rod be 
solidly encased in glass or any other non-conductor, the 
latter offers not the slightest obstruction to its progress, 
which could not be the case, if it passed on the surface, 
as the Daily Journal seems to understand. That it is 
confined to the surface of conductors is demonstrated by 
many experiments, not necessary to state here. 
When we said that a man might clasp a lightning rod 
in a thunderstorm, (in ordinary cases,) without injury, 
we spoke from experience. We have many times held 
a metal rod in contact with the hand, while a discharge 
from the electric battery passed through the rod unfelt, 
sufficient to have knocked the senses out of any man. 
But previous care had been taken that the communica¬ 
tion through this rod was perfect. We have also ex¬ 
amined a lightning rod, the point of which was melted 
into a bullet, by a discharge from the clouds so loud that 
a cannon would be a mere pop-gun to it, yet the wooden 
supports of the rod, which it passed through in contact, 
were not visibly affected in the slightest degree. It is 
only when the conductor is too small for the discharge, 
shown in this case by the melting of the point, and in 
others by the rod becoming red hot, that surrounding 
bodies receive a portion of the fluid. But in none of the 
experiments mentioned, to show the influence of elec¬ 
tricity on plants, was this the case. 
Green trees are conductors of electricity, yet we do 
not find that plants grow more rapidly at the foot of tall 
oaks and hemlocks, than elsewhere. 
The Journal mentions the case of a grape growing 
more rapidly and maturing its fruit earlier at the foot 
of a lightning rod. We knew a similar case; but the 
superiority was then owing to the large bed of loose 
earth made in digging the hole for the reception of the 
rod six feet info the earth. In the present case some 
other cause may have operated, with which we are un¬ 
acquainted. 
Electro Culture —We have heretofore cautioned 
our readers against a sanguine belief in promoting vege¬ 
tation by means of electrical apparatus. We have heard no 
well authenticated case, among the many experiments 
which have been made this season, where vegetation 
has derived the least benefit from wires or stakes de¬ 
signed to govern or direct the electric principle. A 
like failure has, so far as we have heard, attended the 
trials in England and Scotland. The London Agricul¬ 
tural Gazette, states that—“all the experiments which 
have been heard from, show that no influence is exerted 
on the growth of plants by an electro-conducting con¬ 
nexion between elevated and buried wires, or according 
to other plans which have been tried. The word electro- 
culture, in fact, must for the present be considered a mis¬ 
nomer.” 
In relation to the failure of attempts at electro-culture, 
the writer of the article from which we have quoted the 
above, asks—“Has all this labor then been lost? That 
depends,” he continues, “ on the object of those who un¬ 
dertook it. Doubtless, some, believing in the evidence 
which before existed, have speculated in electro-culture 
as a means of profit —their labor certainly has been 
useless, and they must now blame either their own care¬ 
lessness in not having previously sufficiently examined 
that evidence, or their own credulity in reference to 
what we must consider the imperfect observations of 
others. But wherever the subject has been tested by any 
one anxious merely to determine for himself the accura¬ 
cy of a theory, the expense and labor which have been 
incurred cannot be considered lost, for the object of their 
outlay has been attained. An intelligently planned and 
carefully executed experiment, if its results be ascer¬ 
tained and recorded, cannot fail; it is simply a question 
asked of nature, and what the experimenter wants is— 
an answer; and thus the success of an experiment de¬ 
pends not upon the character, but upon the obviousness of 
its results. Now the results of the experiments we al¬ 
lude to have been most unequivocal, and accordingly 
those who performed them ought to be perfectly satis¬ 
fied.” 
CURING HAMS. 
Mr. Editor— In the last Dec. No. of the Cultivator, 
page 374, we’re published certain directions for curing 
meat, which I consider worth double the subscription 
price to any person who wishes to cure and preserve 
meat for family use. The directions there given for 
curing hams, I have followed out to the very letter, 
(with the single exception of suspending them with theij 
shanks downwards while smoking,) and the result is, 
that more delicious ham than I now have I never tasted. 
I had followed a course of my own, which was almost 
invariably the same till last year, but the mode recom¬ 
mended by you is so much superior to it, that no slight 
cause will ever again induce me to be indifferent in re¬ 
gard to the method of curing my hams. I cheerfully 
bear this testimony to the value of your receipt, knowing 
that those of your readers who choose to follow it will 
be amply repaid for the slight sacrifice of time and 
trouble, consequent upon so doing. A Subscriber. 
Hoosick Falls, N. Y., 1845. 
At the request of several correspondents, we here re¬ 
publish the receipt for curing hams above alluded to. 
We have practiced according to this mode for several 
years and have found it superior to any other with which 
we have been acquainted. 
For every one hundred pounds of meat, take five pints 
of good molasses, (or five pounds brown sugar,) five 
ounces saltpetre, and eight pounds rock salt—add three 
gallons of water, and boil the ingredients over a gentle 
fire, skimming off the froth or scum as it rises. Conti¬ 
nue the boiling till the salt, &c., is dissolved. Have the 
hams nicely cut and trimmed, packed in casks with the 
shank end down, as the pickle will thus strike in better. 
When the pickle prepared as above is sufficiently cool, 
pour it over the hams. They may lie in pickle from 
two to six weeks, according to the size of the pieces, or 
the state of the weather—more time being required 
in cold than in warm weather. Beef or mutton hams, 
or tongues intended for smoking and drying, may be 
cured according to this mode, and will be found excel¬ 
lent. 
There are other modes of pickling hams which are 
much esteemed in various countries. In that excellent 
and agreeable work entitled “Farming for Ladies,” we 
find the following directions for preparing the celebra¬ 
ted “Hambro’ Pielde,” which is said to be equally 
applicable to beef, pork, tongues, &c.—« To each gallon 
of water, put one pound and a half of common salt, a 
quarter of a pound of coarse brown sugar, and one ounce 
of saltpetre; boiled, and to be carefully scummed. After 
standing in a proper vessel until quite cold, the meat 
may be immersed, and will be fit for use in ten days, 
and improve for months; but it must be carefully kept 
pressed down by means of a cover, and a clean heavy 
stone. The pickle must be watched, and when any scum 
begins to rise, the meat must be taken out and the liquor 
reboiled, and scummed and cooled as before; at the same 
time half a pound more salt must be added; but no raw 
salt is to be applied at any time. The meat is to iH 
