1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
22 S 
Fleischmann; the culture of the grape, and the man¬ 
ufacture of wine in the United States, by Mr. Long- 
worth; the hog crop of the United States, by Mr. 
Cist; and experiments in feeding hogs, by Mr. Ells¬ 
worth, (formerly Commissioner of Patents.) There 
is also much valuable matter relating to other subjects, 
which we cannot now particularly notice, but shall 
have occasion to refer to them in future. 
Mr. Burke gives the following in regard to the 
amount of the different kinds of grain produced in the 
United States in 1847: 
Breadstuff's. Bushels. 
Indian corn, or maize, ....539,350,000 
Wheat,. .114,245,500 
Rye,. 29,222,700 
Buckwheat,. 11,673,500 
Grain not used for breadstuff's. 
Oats,.....167,867,000 
Barley,... 5,649,950 
868,008,650 
Other articles of food. 
Potatoes,. 100,950,000 bushels. 
Beans and peas,. 50,000,000 do 
Rice,.103,640,590 pounds. 
Estimated population, 20,746,400. 
Domestic Eteonomy 9 K.ecape§, <&«% 
The Dandelion. 
Dr. Holmes, of the Maine Farmer , says: The dan¬ 
delion is valuable, both as an article of diet and as a 
medicine. “It is eagerly sought for by many as a 
very excellent plant for greens. A very wholesome 
and pleasant beer is made by substituting it (roots and 
all) for spruce. In medicine, it is considered an excel¬ 
lent tonic and corrector of any derangements of the 
functions of the liver, dyspepsia and chronic diseases 
of the digestive organs. It may be used for these pur¬ 
poses in two ways, viz: in decoction and in the form of 
an extract. For decoction, take, say root and herb, 
washed clean, half a pound; water, half a gallon; boil 
down to a pint. The dose from one to two wine glas¬ 
ses full once or twice per day. To make the extract, 
take fresh roots, bruise them, say a pound and a half; 
pure, soft, boiling water, two gallons; let it stand 
twenty-four hours; then boil down to a gallon, strain 
it while hot, and simmer it away gently to a thick 
waxy substance. Be careful not to burn it in the lat¬ 
ter stege of the process. It should be a brown, bitter, 
aromatic substance, and easily dissolved in water. The 
dose of this is from ten grains to thirty grains.” 
Salting and Smoking Hams or Beef. —The pecu¬ 
liar flavor ot the celebrated Westphalia hams is 
partly attributable to juniper berries having been put 
in the brine. Portugal hams and sausages are held in 
high estimation. “D. S. E.,” in the Agricultural Ga¬ 
zette, states that the most simple method of preparing 
these hams, is to rub them daily with a proportion of 
bay and common salt. At the end of this time, with a 
brush, smear all over once or twice a small portion of 
pyroligneous acid, according to flavor, diluted with 
brine. In three or four days, hang it up to dry, or 
beet may be left in pickle. A small quantity of garlic 
is sometimes put in the pickle to give the flavor to 
such as like it. The same writer states that the far- 
famed Portugal sausages, called “ lombo de porco,V 
(loin of pork,) are made of the entire loins cut from 
the bones and rolled together, before being put into 
Total bushels. 
694,491,700 
173,516,950 
the skins; they are well soaked in a port wine brine. 
“ The equally famous Samego hams, so called, though 
made all over the northern provinces of Portugal, are 
cured with sugar, which gives them that peculiar ten¬ 
derness and delicacy, and the brine, (made of Port 
wine, sugar, salt, garlic and sweet herbs.) that pecu¬ 
liar flavor for which they are so renowned. Birch 
wood, myrtle, cistus, and other aromatic herbs, which 
abound all over the country, are used for smoking 
them.” 
Corn Meal Pudding. 
Our correspondent Jethro, of Reclusa, Georgia, 
sends us the following receipt ; “ Seven spoonfuls of su¬ 
gar, yolks of six eggs, beaten very light, with the addi¬ 
tion of the whites, and cut it with a knife to a stifffroth; 
five spoonfuls of coarse meal stirred in lightly ; to be 
baked brown and served with wine sauce.” 
Catching and destroying Rats. -“We have on a 
previous occasion mentioned that the oil of rhodium and 
oil of anise, were sometimes used to attract rats. 
Professional rat catchers in England employ these sub¬ 
stances in enticing rats to their traps. Dr. J. V. C. 
Smith, of Boston, lately stated at one of the agricul¬ 
tural meetings, that he had tried anise alone, and the 
rats came forward immediately while he was present. 
He stated also that ground plaster or gypsum, mixed 
with dry meal, will be eaten by rats, and that it wall 
set in the stomach and kill them. 
Peach eeaves, and sometimes the kernels of peach 
stones, are used to flavor cakes and pies. They con¬ 
tain small quantities of prussic acid, and are often dele¬ 
terious. A whole family were poisoned in Mississippi, 
one of whom died, by eating pies flavored with peach 
leaves. 
Greasing Carriage Wheels.— The best composi¬ 
tion that can be prepared to relieve carriage wheels 
and machinery from friction, is composed of hog’s lard, 
wheat flour, and black lead (plumbago.) The lard is 
to be melted over a gentle fire, and the other ingredi¬ 
ents—equal in weight—may be added, till the compo¬ 
sition is brought to a consistence of common paste, 
without raising the heat near boiling point One trial 
of the paste will satisfy any one of its superior quality. 
Ex. paper. 
HONOR TO THE TOILING HAND. 
AH honour to the toiling hand, 
Or in the field or mine ; 
Or by the hissing steam machine, 
Or on the heaving brine. 
Whatever loom or barque, or plow, 
Hath wrought to bless our land; 
Or wrought around, above, below, 
We owe the toiling hand. 
Then honour—honour to the toiling hand. 
In battles with the elements, . 
It breaks the stubborn sward; 
It rings the forge,—the shuttle throws,— 
And shapes the social board. 
It conquers clime.—it stems the wave,— 
And bears from every strand 
The sweetest, best of all we have, 
Gifts of the toiling hand. 
Then honour—honour to the toiling hand. 
Productive Apple Tree. —Samuel C.^Corwin, of 
Phelps, Ontario county, N. Y., has a tree of the Rhode 
Island Greening, which yielded 70 bushels in 1847, 65 
of which were good and fit for market. 
Irrigation in Mexico. —According to Humboldt, 
irrigated soils in Mexico often yield from 40 to 60 times 
the seed; 16 for 1. is reckoned a middling crop; and, 
taking the whole of Mexico, the mean produce may be 
estimated at from 22 to 25 for 1. 
