THE CULTIVATOR. 
93 
1 « 47 ; 
sleepy a manner that he needs to read it over again, so 
that when he wakes up, he has a full year’s stock of 
intellectual food on hand. But with all others, argue 
the matter fairly, and probably three out of five will 
subscribe, and in this way, in going over the town, you 
will get up a respectable club, and thereby receive your 
papers at a liberal discount. 
But do not stop talking; carry the idea along with 
you that your business is a topic worthy of considera- 
ration and remark. Keep up the interest when you have 
excited it. and you will find it gaining the strength of 
numbers and of talent continually, and in a short time 
you will find no difficulty in, as often as once a year, at 
least, raising a club to take agricultural papers, and in 
the end, you will see the value of your farms and of 
their stock increased, and the mental energies of the 
farmers around you gaining assurance of strong and 
richly cultivated intellects. W. Bacon. Richmond, 
Mass., January 15, 1847. 
Anthracite Coal Ashes.— Having observed many 
years since, the beneficial effects of Anthracite coal 
ashes as a top-dressing 
for grass, I carefully ap¬ 
ply them in that way. 
For the double purpose 
of separating the ashes 
from the coked coal, 
(which is good fuel for 
stoves and green-houses) 
and avoiding the un¬ 
pleasant labor of hand 
Fig- 00- screening, I have had a 
rough shed constructed in an angle of terrace walls, 
into which the ashes are dumped upon a sand screen, 
and the coal and ashes fall into separate apartments, 
out of sight and the weather, and all danger from fire 
precluded. I annex a vertical section of the contri¬ 
vance. Anthracite coal is an invaluable blessing to this 
cold transmontane region. It is the cheapest, safest, 
and least troublesome fuel in the world. It keeps our 
dwellings and green-houses at a uniform temperature 
during the long winter nights, and what is very 
desirable in the country, the cook always finds her 
fire ready for preparing early breakfast. All labor- 
saving machinery is peculiarly valuable in this country. 
It diminishes the number of our “ helps,” who are often 
no helps, (lucus a non lucendo,) and fills up the country 
with a kind of dumb population, which gives no trouble. 
But whether the ashes are screened or not, they should 
not be thrown away,—for when plowed into stiff soil 
they improve it mechanically and chemically, as incine¬ 
ration would lead us to expect. Evelyn. 
Dr. Lee’s Criticisms. —In the first number of the 
current volume of the Cultivator, an attack of Dr. Lee 
was noticed, showing that he had strongly censured me 
for doing the same thing which the most eminent che¬ 
mists had done, and which he had himself done in a 
more glaring degree; and also glancing at his error in 
asserting that animal excrements were no better as ma¬ 
nure than water and dried vegetables. He has again 
appeared with nearly two columns in his paper, in which 
he avoids the original matter in dispute, and attempts 
to make his readers believe that I hold the opinion, that 
animal substances are secreted 11 out of nothing.'’ He 
builds his argument on this point on the very singular 
assumption, that the terms secrete and create are sy¬ 
nonymous. He must know that I have not advanced 
any such absurd position; and I ask him, candidly, if 
he is not bound, as a just and honorable man, to re¬ 
tract his former censorious and uncalled for remarks, 
now that I have shown their injustice, which he himself 
tacitly admits, by attempting a new issue. J. J. Tho¬ 
mas. Macedon , 2d mo., 4, 1847. 
Unsuccessful Experiments. —In the Cultivator for 
June, 1846, is an account by J. E. Macomber, of his 
success, or rather want of success, in rearing and fat¬ 
tening swine. I was much struck with the details at 
the time, and concurred with him in the opinion, that 
farmers should sometimes favor the public with an ao- 
count of their unsuccessful experiments; for, in farming, 
as in other pursuits, “it is not all gold that glistens.” 
To publish only the enormous products and profits that 
are sometimes obtained, is too much like proclaiming 
the cures effected by quack medicines; while the thou¬ 
sands, yea, millions, that use those medicines without 
benefit, are left nnnoticed. 
Poultry. —In some of your former numbers, I have 
mentioned my success in keeping poultry, &c. I will 
now give you the other side of the picture. Having for 
a few years past, had many more calls for choice breed® 
than I could supply, I determined, about a year since, 
to give increased attention to the subject of breeding 
poultry, and during the last spring and summer I set 
over seven hundred eggs, from some ten different breeds 
and varieties. I took special pains to obtain the best kinds 
of food for the chickens, and to have them at all times well 
taken care of; but the result is, only about one hundred 
lived to grow up. There seemed to be a general con¬ 
spiracy against them among all their enemies, and all 
the elements—such as cats, rats, skunks, weasels, lice, 
cold, heat, rain, sunshine, and innumerable other things. 
In balancing the profit and loss, I find the loss greatly 
to preponderate this year. But, an occasional failure 
should never discourage any man, and past losses should 
only stimulate to increased exertions for the future. H. 
A. Parsons. Buffalo, Dec., 1846. 
Broom Corn. —Noticing a statement in the Maine 
Farmer, that “ the rapid deterioration” of broom corn, 
<( has of late become a subject of universal complaint,” 
with a comment that “ if planted near, or by the side 
of Indian corn, it will inevitably mix, and in a short 
time assume the characteristic features and qualities of 
the former ;” l deem it a duty to give to such errone¬ 
ous views, a positive denial, which I do without hav¬ 
ing ever cultivated it; but I base my assertion on the 
immutable basis of the eternal laws of nature. Indian 
corn is of the genus Zea, a native of our country; broom 
corn is of the genus Sorghum, a native of India, and the 
one can no more be changed to the other, than wheat 
can be changed to chess, or than a horse can be changed 
to a camel, by occupying an adjoining stable. It is full 
time that such silly notions, with all the moonstones, 
witchcraft, ghost, and hobgoblin tales, and all other 
supernatural pretences, should be consigned to oblivion, 
and not render their propagators the laughing stock of 
every well informed mind. I presume the sole cause of 
the so-called deterioration of broom corn, at the east, is 
an improper course of culture. Let them visit the farms 
at the German Flats, on the Mohawk, and take a les¬ 
son for future guidance. Wm. R. Prince. Flushing, 
Jan. 25, 1847. . 
Recent American Patents, reported for the Cul¬ 
tivator, by Z. C. Robbins, Mechanical Engineer, and 
Attorney for procuring patents, Washington, D. C. 
For an improvement in Preparing Grain for Flour¬ 
ing : J. W. Howlett and F. M. Walker, Greensboro, 
North Carolina, October 16th, 1846. This is for a 
process of toughening the hulls of grain immediately 
preparatory to grinding, by passing the same through 
a current of steam. The patentees say—“ the utility 
of toughening the hulls of grain in some way previous 
to grinding, and also the difficulty of effecting this de¬ 
sideratum uniformly, is well known to practical millers. 
When grain is ground in too dry a state, the hulls ar© 
so tender and brittle, that a portion of them are pul¬ 
verized, and pass through the bolt with the flour, dis~ 
