254 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
August, 
lutions. A person with the freshly cut and pared fruit 
stations himself at a, and as each successive shift or 
sieve slowly descends, spreads a single layer over them. 
They operate like the weight of a clock in keeping up 
the motion of the pendulum; and the velocity of their 
descent is accurately regulated by means of the rela¬ 
tive sizes of the wheels placed on the axles of c and e, 
and also if necessary, by using different lengths for 
the pendulum rod. 
| §3F = ‘ The great advantage of this contrivance is the 
following : The dry and freshly heated air first enters 
the bottom of the shaft at & and strikes the fruit when 
the drying process is nearly finished, and completes 
it; as this air rises, it receives additional portions of 
moisture from each successive shelf, until finally it pas¬ 
ses off at the top,—the driest portions being needed at 
the bottom, tc complete the prooess, and those most 
charged with vapor only coming in contact with the 
freshest fruit at the top, where only it could be useful. 
The velocity, must be so regulated, by experiment, 
(according to the height of the shaft, heat of the air, 
and time required for drying,) that the drying process 
shall be just completed by the time the fruit reaches 
the bottom, where it drops off from the revolving shelves 
into baskets or boxes placed there for this purpose. 
This apparatus may be placed in a tall narrow build¬ 
ing erected for the purpose, and built cheaply by ver¬ 
tical boarding on a wooden frame, to the whole of 
which a handsome architectural exterior may be im¬ 
parted bj- giving it the aspect of a square Italian tow¬ 
er or campanile. 
An apparatus of this sort will dry fruit with great 
rapidity, certainly, and independently of the most un¬ 
favorable changes in the weather; and it will come 
out white, clean, and perfectly dried, retaining all the 
peculiar flavor of the fresh fruit, and prove incompara¬ 
bly superior to the common half-decayed, smoked, im¬ 
perfect article. When known, such dried fruit must 
command almost any price in market. Drying estab¬ 
lishments, well managed, would give a great impetus 
to peach planting in this country; and we unhesita¬ 
tingly predict a large trade in the finest dried peaches 
in European markets, to which they can be so cheaply 
and safely conveyed, and where, as fresh peaches can¬ 
not be easily obtained, they cannot fail to be very 
highly appreciated. 
Black Warts on Plum Trees. 
I have come to the conclusion that this disease in 
plum trees is contagious; therefore if it is not check¬ 
ed at the commencement, it will soon affect every tree 
in the orchard, and in a short time destroy them. The 
best remedy that I have tried is to cut off the branch¬ 
es affected, as soon as the disease makes its appear¬ 
ance. These warts made their appearance on my 
plum trees about ten years ago; I immediately cut off 
all the branches affected, and burned them ; the trees 
then affected, are now in a healthy condition. If the 
warts should make their appearance the next year, 
the same practice must be persisted in, for without 
perseverance we can not expect much success in any 
undertaking. Elihu Cross. Hoosick, N . Y. 
The Wheat Weevil. 
Near Geneva, .Tune 30, 1854. 
Dear Sir —I find on inquiry through this county 
and those adjoining, that the weevil or wheat midge 
is not near so destructive to the wheat this year as last, 
and last year not half as bad as the year previous; 
yet owing to the remarkable hard weather the latter 
part of March, wheat, over the whole of western N. 
York, is a very thin crop, and much of it entirely 
worthless. The recent drouth, say from about the 25th 
May, has had a bad effect upon the wheat as well as 
other crops. My forty acre field, that I plowed after 
harvest so very deep, and sowed with wheat from the 
11th to 14th Sep. to last, with once plowing, did not 
show as well last fall and this spring as some wheat 
on other farms. .This was undoubtedly owing to the 
very deep plowing; but latterly, during the whole 
drouth, it grew luxuriantly ; and now I don’t think 
there is the same quantity of Soules wheat on any one 
farm in 100 miles to surpass it nor to equal it. While 
other fields failed from drouth, it did not appear to 
suffer so much for deep plowing. Hay, oats and bar¬ 
ley, must be a very short crop. Some few showers of 
late, have been greatly in favor of the corn crop, but 
on clay soils it came up very badly. John Johnston. 
“ Is the First Milk Poisonous ?” 
Messrs. Ed’rs —In the 77th number of the “ Coun¬ 
try Gentleman,” you copy an article from the “Maine 
Farmer,” showing the first milk of the cow to be poi¬ 
sonous to swine at least. But they are not the only 
animals capable of being injuriously affected by the 
injudicious use of the first secretions from the udder of 
the cow. One of the worst eases of colic, simulating 
inflammation of the bowels, that it has fallen to my 
lot to prescribe for, occurred in an Irishman, which 
was caused by a copious draught of the first milking 
of the cow. 
The first secretions from the udder, contain Colos¬ 
trum ., the properties of which are not yet fully known; 
but it is supposed to be a cathartic, provided by nature 
and well adapted to the wants of the offspring, remov¬ 
ing the viscid contents of the intestinal canal. 
Diarroeha, convulsions and death, have been pro¬ 
duced in young children, by the too copious and long 
continued secretion of colostrum in the mammal se¬ 
cretions of their mothers. 
Colostrum is not a secretion peculiar to cows, neither 
is it poisonous to swine alone. 0. C. Gibbs, M. D. 
Splendid Specimens of the Magnolia. —A late 
number of Hovey’s Magazine, in giving an account of 
the specimens of the magnolia growing on the grounds 
of John A. Kenrick, which are admitted to be the fin¬ 
est in the vicinity of Boston, states that a tree of the 
M. Soulangiana produced from 1500 to 2000 flowers 
the present season, and a plant of the Conspicua pro¬ 
duced 3000 flowers. When the large size and the rich 
and showy appearance of these flowers are considered, 
our readers may form a faint idea of the splendor of 
I a tree covered with them. 
