1853. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
843 
aa elastic and expansive as the mind of the professional 
man. We lack in reading; we rank below our call¬ 
ing ; we ought to elevate the theory and practice of 
farming, and make it a scientific study. No farmer 
should shrink back at the expense of taking an agri¬ 
cultural paper; he should have a well stored choice 
farming library ; ha should make himself familiar with 
geology and chemistry. Treat and study farming as a 
science, and you will at once see farmers’ boys study¬ 
ing to elevate their standard of character, and assume 
that position that the importance of their calling re¬ 
quires. B. T. East Glenville, Sept. 12, 1853. 
To Make Butter Come. 
Messrs. Editors —That, in converting cream into 
butter, it should sometimes require little, and at others, 
great labor, is incomprehensible to most persons, and by 
the ignorant is not unfrequently imputed to witchcraft. 
It, however, may be laid down as a general rule, that 
whatever disquiets a cow, not only lessens her milk, but 
renders its churning less easy. This may be observed 
when cows are not regularly salted, or when changed 
from young to old pastures in the fall, or when fed on 
frost bitten grass, or suddenly changed from grass to 
hay, or from good to poor feed during winter. Under 
some of these causes it is sometimes impossible to pro¬ 
duce butter in the usual way. The difficulty, however, 
is easily obviated, and most easily by using Crowell’s 
Thermometer Churn. When the butter manifests a dis¬ 
position not to come, a gallon of boiling water should be 
put in the lower chamber of the churn, and the crank 
turned from five to ten minutes. If there-are buttery 
particles in the cream, they will appear to be melted. 
The hot water should then be drawn off and cold water 
substituted. A churning of about five minutes will then 
most assuredly fetch the butter. S # uch butter, when 
worked with judgment and care, may be made to be 
nearly as good as that produced in the ordinary way. 
A Farmer. —■«>— 
Drying Fruit. 
[The following suggestion may be a good one, but 
we always feel most confidence in such as have been 
tested by actual experience. Objections often occur on 
trial:] 
I have thought of a method to diminish the labor 
and expedite the business of drying fruit. To save the 
trouble and expense of making scaffolds, which is the 
great reason why so much fruit which rots in the fall 
and winter is not dried and saved, I would tie loops in 
the corners of a sheet, or cloth of any suitable kind or 
size, and drive stakes, at a. proper distance, into the 
ground, sharpen them at the top, hang it on the stakes 
and spread on the fruit. On the approach of rains, 
they can at once and easily be gathered up and taken 
under cover. As cold weather approaches, six or eight 
sheets, one under the other, can be hung up over head 
in the kitchen, on little fastenings prepared for the 
purpose, and fruit spread on them. Thus the whole 
ceiling may be occupied until all the fruit devoted to 
the purpose, or beginning to decay, is dried. T. H. G 
Sand Lake , October 24, 1853. 
The Tomato. 
Will you please give information through the Coun¬ 
try Gentleman of what country the Tomato is a native, 
and how long since it was introduced into the United 
States 1 
Did you ever eat a tomato pie 7 They are very good, 
made like an apple pie, or like a lemon pie, but better 
as a custard. In making tomato preserves, and espe¬ 
cially in making 'tomato figs, there is much juice or 
syrup left; this is sufficiently sweet, and added to beat¬ 
en eggs as one would add milk, makes a pie of fine 
relish. Yours, E. E. Taftsville, Vt. 
The Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, and belonging 
to the same genus as the potato and egg-plant,) is a 
native of South America, and was first introduced to 
cultivation in Europe in 1596, but how long it has been 
used for soups, sauces, ketchup, and pickles, we are 
unable to say, or when It was introduced into the Uni¬ 
ted States. Our impression is that the French and 
Italians first adopted its extensive use, as it is said 
that during the early part of the present century, whole 
fields were seen covered with the crops, especially in 
the vicinity of Rome and Naples. 
V/ater-procf Paint. 
A writer in a late number of the Scientific American, 
who gives the initials of S. C., and dates at Lebanon, 
Ohio, supplies the following information with regard to 
paints, that may be useful to the readers of our paper: 
Cheap and useful paint for roofs, walls, fences, out¬ 
side plastering, etc., may be made by Uoing tar—com¬ 
mon tar or coal tar, made thin with spirits of turpentine. 
Let this be used instead of linseed oil, and to form the 
body add fine earthy matter, such as dried clay or soft 
burnt bricks ground fine in a plaster mill. 
The soft shaly slates of different colors, like the “Ohio 
Paint, 55 also answers a good purpose when finely pul¬ 
verized, to form the body of the paint. For the coarsest 
kind of work, dry fine sandy loam may be used as a 
body. Any of these earthy bodies, when made suffi¬ 
ciently fine, can be used to good purpose in painting 
either with the tar mixture or oil. Plastered walls on 
the outside of buildings may be thus rendered water¬ 
proof and lasting by using the above cheap paints, and 
after one or two coats it will take but a small quantity 
of-oil paint with lead, to make a fine finish with a single 
coat of any desired color. Whenever a surface thus 
rendered impervious by this cheap means, is painted 
over with oil^ and lead, a single coat upon the surface, 
instead of being absorbed, will dry in a thin tough film 
on the surface, and be more effective than three coats 
of the same paint upon an unprepared surface, which 
like that of common wood-work, absorbs the oil from 
the lead .—Ohio Farmer. 
To Preserve Ripe Tomatoes. —To each quart 
skinned and pressed down tight add a quart of brown 
sugar, and boil them together for an hour and a half; 
then to each quart of tomatoes add one lemon in slices, 
with some ginger tied in bags, or you may use the ex¬ 
tract, and boil it another hour and a half. Then take 
it from the fire, and cool it before putting it into the jar. 
Tie it up tight, and keep it in a cool place. 
