160 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
May 
as described in the January number of the Cultivator. 
My cellar is deep and dry, and so warm that there has 
been no frost in it this winter. The potatoes are still 
dry, yet they nearly all turn black. They have no 
stench more than any other potato; but nearly one half 
are a dried, black, worthless mass for man or beast. 
I frequently see notices in the papers of the weight 
of hogs. On the 8th of January, 1844, I butchered 
two spring pigs, a sow and a barrow. They were just 
three hundred days old. The sow weighed 440 lbs., 
and the barrow 370 lbs., dressed. I bought them at 
five or six weeks old of my neighbor to try experiments 
on. They were fed with skim milk or whey, ground 
corn and rye, with a dessert of apples, after the latter 
were grown. And I can say that they neither went 
hungry or dry, wet or cold, except when I poured cold 
water on them in hot weather. 
Cheshire, Feb. 21, 1848. Claudius Allen. 
Rat-Proof Granary. 
In your February numbev, it is mentioned that a 
gentleman at Baltimore, Md., wishes for a plan to 
build a rat-proof granary. In the first place, to hold 
the required quantity, it should be twenty feet wide 
and thirty feet long, with fourteen feet pofcts. The 
roof and ends should project over eighteen inches, as 
there should be a window at each end. The projection 
will prevent the ra*s from running up and gaining ad¬ 
mittance at the windows. The sides should be covered 
with slats or planks, four inches wide, one and a half 
inches thick, leaving a space between three-eights of 
an inch to allow circulation of air. The covering be¬ 
low the projection should be of southern hard or pitch 
pine. It may be selected full of pitch at almost any 
lumber yard, and the floor should be laid with the same 
kind of stuff, and by having the door boards and thresh- 
hold as full of pitch as possible, and the latch on the 
bottom as w T ell as the centre of the door to keep it from 
warping, you are sure no rats can trouble you, as they 
cannot get through pine full of pitch, any sooner than 
cast-iron. It fills their teeth in the same manner it 
would a rasp. I have a granary covered w 7 ith southern 
hard pine, and they have not attempted to get through 
the planks, although it has been covered nine years. 
Thomas Andrews. Smithfield, R. I., Feb. 24, 1848. 
Mr. Jacob Ten Broeck, of Greenport, N. Y., writes 
in relation to the above subject as follows: “1 built a 
corn-house fourteen feet square, and raised it on short 
posts on the corners and centre, about two feet above 
ground; and tried for experiment old tin pans laid on 
the top of these short posts, upside down, and I have 
not found a rat to trouble me as yet, which is now 7 
about three years. My barn was completely overrun 
with rats, and I gave them one dose of Punderson & 
Harris’ ‘ Rat Exterminator,’ bought of druggists in 
Hudson, and they have left me.” 
Best Fowls. 
I have quite a flock of fowds of different varieties, 
and am inclined to think the common dunghill as good 
as any breed for layers; but for the table I prefer larger 
varieties. My fowls have given me eggs almost every 
day this month, (December.) They require for food, 
meat as well as grain. They should also have access 
to lime, brick-dust and gravel. J. C. Swan. Calais, 
Maine . 
Draining. —-To ascertain whether a subsoil can be 
benefitted by under-draining, remove the surface soil 
for a small extent, then dig a hole into the subsoil; if 
in this hole water soon collects, then the subsoil will 
be benefitted by draining. 
JOoanestic EcoEtomy, MeclRe § 9 &c. 
Wash for Buildings. 
In one of the numbers of the Cultivator for 1847, a 
subscriber asks—“ Will coal-tar, put on a roof, prevent 
the sparks from a locomotive from catching?” [Yol. 
4, page 227.] 
The following receipe w r as sent us by a gentleman of 
New Orleans, who writes that the wash was satisfac¬ 
torily tested upon the roof of the Phoenix Foundry in 
that neighborhood. It is not only a protection against 
fire, but renders brick-work impervious to water. The 
basis is lime, which must first be slacked with hot- 
water in a tub to keep in the steam. It should then 
be passed, while in a semi-fluid state, through a fine 
sieve. Take six quarts of the fine lime, and one quart 
of clean rock salt for each gallon of water—the salt to 
be dissolved by boiling, and the impurities to be skimmed 
off. To five gallons of this mixture, (salt and lime,) 
add one pound of alum, half a pound of copperas, three- 
fourths of a pound of potash, (the last to be added 
gradually,) four quarts of fine sand or hard w T ood ashes. 
Add coloring matter to suit the fancy. 
It should be applied with a brush. It looks as well 
as paint, and is as lasting as slate. It stops small 
leaks, prevents moss from growing, and renders the 
work incombustible. B. Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 1. 
Cheap Plaster for coarse finish. —Take one 
part clay, three parts of river sand, mix with a portion 
of the sand wdien wet, sufficient quantity of hair—- 
thoroughly mix the whole mass until of a proper con¬ 
sistency, and use as lime mortar. 
The above makes a good hard wall nearly or quite as 
serviceable as lime for inside finish. The above has been 
tried in this vicinity and endured for years. 
Braceville, Trumbull Co., O. F. E. Stow. 
Keeping Dried Fruits. —In answer to the inquiry 
in a late number of the Cultivator, a correspondent at 
Fredonia, N. Y., writes — u Give the fruit a thorough 
steaming, after it is dried, so as to kill the nits of in¬ 
sects; then put them in some secure place where the 
flies cannot get to them.” 
Preserving Eggs. —Pack the eggs to be preserved 
in an upright earthern vessel, with their small end 
downwards, and pour over them melted tallow, while 
it is warm—(not. hot.) The eggs should be completely 
covered, and when the tallow is cold, set the vessel in 
a cool place till the eggs are wanted. A writer in the 
Ag. Gazette states he has kept them nearly a year, and 
were found excellent. 
Raspberry Vinegar or Syrup.-— Put one quart of 
best white-wine vinegar, to two quarts of raspberries, 
not over ripe. Let them steep in the vinegar twenty- 
four hours; then strain them through a sieve, without 
pressing the fruit, and pour the liquor so strained on 
two quarts more of raspberries. In twenty-four hours 
more, strain it off again, and to a pint of juice put one 
pound and a half of very fine loaf sugar. Put the 
above into a jar, and the jar into a pan of warm water, 
and let it stand till all the sugar is melted, taking off 
the scum as it rises; then take the jar from the warm 
water, and when cold, bottle off for use. These direc¬ 
tions are given from a correspondent of the Gardener’s 
Chronicle. 
Wheel-Grease.— Two parts hog’s lard by bulk, and 
one each of black-lead and wheat flour. We have 
heard wagons a mile off on a still morning, uttering 
the most dismal sounds, from the want of a little of 
this material, and which a very little imagination trans¬ 
lated into the words— 1 “ meeze-e-ry, meeze-e-ry, mee- 
ze-er-y!” 
