1852 
THE CULTIVATOR 
287 
ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES. 
Wire Pences, &c. 
Eds. Cultivator- —I am desirous for information on 
several subjects, which I think will be interesting to many 
©f your readers., I hope that you or gome of your cor¬ 
respondents, will be kind enough to give answers to the 
following queries; Wire Fence —What size of wire is 
now considered best in respect to strength and durabili¬ 
ty? (1.) Might not the lower wires be smaller than the 
upper. What plan of making It is generally adopted as 
being best? (2.) Is wire for this purpose made in the 
U. States, and at what price per ton can it be had, and 
where? (3.) Weather Board— -In cottage designs, 
published occasionally in the Cultivator, the . weather¬ 
board appears to be put on perpendicularly, instead of 
horizontallyj as formerly. Is the perpendicular better, 
or cheaper, or more durable? What width and thick¬ 
ness of plank, and how put on? (4.) C. M. Sylva 
Grove, North Carolina, May 10. 
(1.) We have used No. 7 wire for the upper and lower 
wires, and No. 9 for the intermediate, where less strength 
from less exposure is required. If of the best telegraph 
wire, cattle cannot break them. 
(2.) Figures and description of the mode of construct¬ 
ing wire fences were given in a late number of this jour¬ 
nal. 
(3.) We cannot give the desired information, except 
that we believe good wire for this purpose is kept at most 
of the principal agricultural warehouses in our cities. 
(4.) Vertical weather boards, matched and battened, 
make not only a more durable siding, but being thicker 
and completely excluding the air, form a warmer cover¬ 
ing from the cold of winter, as well as shut out the heat 
of summer. If nailed on the horizontal timbers of the 
building placed near each other, an inch and a fourth, or 
an inch and a half, are sufficiently thick. But if, as 
sometimes occurs in small buildings, or in wings of large 
ones, the only timbers are the plates and sifls, they should 
be two inches thick, and need not be matched, but bat¬ 
tened on the joints, both outside and inside. On the In¬ 
ner battens, the lathing is nailed. This constitutes a very 
substantial and good exterior covering for a house. The 
width is not essential, but should not exceed a foot, and 
should be uniform. The battens may not exceed an inch in 
thickness, nor three inches wide. All are put on with 
nails. Ed. 
Loss of Plum Crops. 
I should like to ask whether any of your numerous 
correspondents can give a cause why some very thrifty 
plum trees of different sorts blossom well, and when the 
fruit gets about half grown, they all fall off. They are 
perfectly clean and free from canker, and always have 
been. They are from six to eight years growth. Robert 
Sanford. Clinton, Oneida co., N. Y., May 15, 1852. 
This is unquestionably caused by the sting of the cur- 
culio, the small beetle whose crescent-like marks on the 
surface of the young fruit, distinguish it from any other 
depredator. For a full description of its habits, and of 
the. remedies, our correspondent is referred to any late 
standard work on fruits, and to former numbers and 
volumes of the Cultivator. Ed. 
Garget in Cows. 
Eds. Cultivator— In answer to further inquiries as 
to the Garget in milch cows, I can say that I have used 
the garget root, or pokeweed as it is commonly called, 
(Phytolacca decandra,) with success. A piece of the 
root as large as a kernel of corn, given with their food, 
cut fine, and fed twice a week, has always proved suc¬ 
cessful in two or three weeks. B. H. M. Morris , N. 
Y., July 12, 1852. _ 
Domestic Thermometers. 
Messrs. Editors— Will you please inform me whether 
there is such an instrument as a cream thermometer to 
be had. I wish one to try the cream in the churn before 
churning; I do not like the common thermometer, as it 
is too complicated and difficult to clean and subject to 
injury. 
I have written to A. B. Allen of New-York, and he 
says he knows of no such thing, 
I think it ought to he one with the scale marked on 
the tube, and so protected as to make it durable and 
easily cleaned. 
If such an Instrument could be had, I think it would 
soon come into general use, as it would emphatically be 
one of our labor saving instruments. C. H. Powell. 
Poughkeepsie, May 22, 1852. 
We give the above inquiry an insertion, with the hope 
that it may attract the attention of some of our maim- 
facturers, not knowing of any such instrument in market. 
For ordinary purposes, however, thermometer churns 
may obviate its necessity. Chemists, who find it neces¬ 
sary to determine frequently the temperature of liquids, 
some times employ a thermometer, the scale of which has 
a hinge joint just above the bulb, so as to be folded back 
or upwards, leaving the bulb entirely bare and exposed, 
whenever It is to be plunged into the liquid. Such an 
instrument would doubtless be frequently found quite 
convenient In various domestic operations, such as the 
management of milk, cream, the manufacture of cheese, 
butter, &c., and lead to the removal of much of the 
guess work which now so greatly retards accurate, skil¬ 
ful, and successful farming and home economy. Eds. 
Instrument for Milking. 
Eds. Cultivator — -I take this method of applying to 
you for information concerning an article for milking 
cows. There is a a cow milker” for sale in New-York 
city, but I have not seen it recommended by any agri¬ 
cultural work. If you know anything concerning them, 
you will confer a favor on one of your readers, by in¬ 
forming him. D. Middletown , N. Y., May 26, 1852. 
We do not know the nature or operation of the instru¬ 
ment referred to by our correspondent. If it consists 
of tubes, which are thrust into the orifice for the flow of 
the milk, and held there by gutta-perelia cases, we would 
advise him to have nothing to do with it, as using it a 
few times so opens the orifice that the milk will run of 
its own accord and waste, whenever the bag becomes dis¬ 
tended. We have known this method of withdrawing 
the milk to be used thirty years ago, and since, and al¬ 
ways with this result. Ed. 
