1817. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
347 
leather from the usual effects of acids on coloring 
matters. 
Sumac is also used in Britain as a dye for slates, 
and various neutral colors, especially by calico printers; 
also in dyeing black cloth to save galls, and to give a 
certain degree of softness to the shade—a slight tinge 
of yellow, in fact. It answers many of the purposes 
for which nut-galls are required. 
An article that sells nearly at as high a price as 
wheat, at one-tenth the cost, deserves consideration. 
It might form an important export. The American 
Sumac, I am told, is inferior to the Sicilian—owing to 
its not being the right kind. Surely some seed could 
be easily procured through the U. S. consul at Palermo. 
Madder, Weld, and Woad, ought also to be cultiva¬ 
ted extensively on this Continent. The soil and cli¬ 
mate are both fully as favorable as in the countries 
whence they are imported. Woad might be so pre¬ 
pared as to surpass the finest Indigo—indeed, a real 
Indigo of far finer color than any now to be procured, 
could be made from it. These are points deserving 
every attention. Zea. Hamilton, Canada West, 24 th 
December, 1846. . 
Preservation of Cabbages. —A correspondent in 
the May number of the Cultivator, inquires touching 
the best mode of preserving cabbages through the 
winter. I have a plan which ten years’ experience has 
shown to be a very good one; but whether it is the 
best, or even a novel one, to most of your readers, I 
will not pretend to decide:— 
I let my cabbage stand until late in the season, and 
(if I discover no symptoms of rot) until we have un¬ 
mistakable signs of the appearance of winter. I choose 
the dryest part of my garden, or field, and with spade 
or hoe dig holes in rows, say two feet apart, just.large 
enough to receive about two-thirds of a cabbage head. 
I select one of the largest and most solid heads, pull it 
up by the roots, wrap it up in the large coarse leaves, 
that grow to the stalk, and chuck it into one of the 
holes, with the stump inclining upwards, at an angle 
of 45 degrees, or even placed vertically. Nothing now 
remains but to shovel on two or three inches of dirt, 
and press it down upon the head and around the stump, 
a few inches of which may be left above ground, to 
mark the spot, and serve as a handle to pull the cab-' 
bage up by. Treated in this way, I have found them 
finer by far—fresher, tenderer, sweeter—than when 
gathered in the fall, and have never lost a sound head. 
I have gone out in March, when tfiere was three feet 
of snow on the spot, and with shovel and crow-bar, 
have exhumed such cabbages as would have made your 
correspondent’s mouth water, and long after the frost 
was out of the ground, I have found them equally good. 
This mode is attended with some more labor, than that 
of huddling them into large holes or trenches, or hano - - 
ing them up in the cellar, but to those who are fond of 
fresh cabbage in the spring—and I confess to an espe-' 
cial fondness for the same, having spent many years in 
the capacity of a tailor —the extra pains is labor well 
bestowed. N. H. Ballston Spa, June, 1847. 
Proper time for cutting Timber. —In the June 
number of the Cultivator, I notice a few remarks from 
“ Agricola,” on the subject of cutting timber, in which 
he says, that early in March, 1846, they cut timber 
(chestnut) which was frozen hard, and that sprouted 
well the ensuing summer. He also inquired what could 
make the difference between his experience and that of 
my own, in the article to which he refers. 
In reply to our observing friend we will say, then, 
that as his own remarks go to show the early part of 
March, 1846, partook very distinctly of much of the 
character of mid-winter—at any rate his chestnut tim¬ 
ber was frozen hard when he cut it—that was the case 
with timber in our own surroundings; and more, the 
snow was from three to four feet deep upon a level with 
us, until, probably, the 10th or 15th of the month. Of 
course there was no great amount of freezing and 
thawing about those days; but, on the contrary, the 
temperature savored more of that of December than 
of March. 
The fact h^ notices was observable with us. Con¬ 
siderable chestnut and other timber was cut down, while 
frozen, early in March, and from those stumps, made 
under all circumstances like those of trees fallen in the 
heart of winter—except that the days and nights to 
pass away before the time, of the expanding leaf, were 
to be fewer than when the chopping was done at an 
earlier season—sprouts started and grew vigorously 
the coming season. 
Nor is this, in any way, derogatory to the fact that 
we then asserted in 1846, but merely a different result, 
arising from different circumstances. Had his timber 
been in a condition like that of ours, when he cut it 
down, we think it very probable the same effect would 
have been produced. But when timber is frozen hard , 
and bleeding takes p.ace at the time of cutting—for 
there is very little, if any, circulation of sap at that 
time in the timber, more than there is in the flow of 
water on the surface of a river, when it is thoroughly 
converted into a mass of ice. Perhaps we may ven¬ 
ture to suppose, that previous to the process of thaw¬ 
ing in the timber or stump, the sap vessels, at the 
point of disintegration, became seared, or so callous as 
to prevent a serious loss of the sap. At any rate, the 
tubes or vessels through which the sap ascends, cannot 
be in that perfect state for rapid action in which it is 
found when the root is sending up materials tor new 
foilage and new growth. 
Since we are upon the subject, we will say, as it 
often happens that timber must, for convenience if 
never from necessity, be cut in seasons when the sap 
is in full flow, to those who are careful of their timber 
lands, it must be a desideratum to use efficient means 
to prevent the loss of sap by excessive flowing, and 
consequently tire loss of new shoots, which should be 
sustained and nourished by the old roots until they can 
prepare themselves to draw nourishment from their 
own resources. To do this effectually, it is only ne¬ 
cessary to cover the stump with some substance—no 
matter what—that will close the pores, and thus pre¬ 
vent the waste which ends in total loss. We have ef¬ 
fected this object by simply smearing the surface of 
the stump with muck in its naturally wet state, and 
clay is very good, when worked to a salvey consisten¬ 
cy; but the best panacea of all that has come within 
my observation, is to take soft manure from the cow 
stable, and mix it in equal parts with almost any loamy 
earth, and worked so as to spread freely but firmly 
over the wounded part. Of the healing qualities of 
the former substance there can be no mistake in the 
minds of those who have witnessed its efficiency, and 
the latter seems to give it a consistency which renders 
its continuance on the parts where applied as durable 
as necessity requires. 
Notwithstanding the almost boundless forests in 
many parts of our country, there is no question but 
the protection and preservation of timber lands is yet 
to become a great question in our national economy. 
Indeed, it may well be so now in many sections of al¬ 
most every one of our lovely sisterhood of States, and 
with our increasing population, rolling like a great 
flood in every direction, and our manufacturing enter- 
prizes, building cities by every waterfall, and explor¬ 
ing the earth for its secret treasures under every moun¬ 
tain and along every valley, its importance must in¬ 
crease. Prudence, then, dictates that, although an 
abundance await us from that already grown for every 
