THE CULTIVATOR. 
33 
may be sown the fore part of this month, in warm borders. Take care 
to cover the seeds just enough to keep them moist, and to press the soil 
moderately upon them. If the ground, becomes dry, it may be occa¬ 
sionally watered. If a frame is at command, it is better to start the 
tender annuals, and indeed all that it is desirable to bring early into 
flower, under glass, about the middle of the month, and to transplant 
into the border as soon as the season will permit. A single sash will 
serve for twenty kinds. Most of these flower best when transplanted. 
They should not be crowded in the border. A good assortment of seeds, 
embracing twenty of the best varieties, will cost at Thorburn’s one 
dollar. 
It will still do to transplant roses and flowering shrubs, and also her¬ 
baceous perennials. Dahlias, ferrarias", tuberoses, and tyger flowers 
may be planted out. 
We would recommend to every family to cultivate medicinal plants, 
as bam, tansey, mint, hysop, rue, wormwood, &c.; they are often use¬ 
ful and necessary, are all perennial, and require little trouble when 
once planted. There are also herbs employed in the culinary depart¬ 
ment, which should not escape notice, such as sage, parsley, thyme, and 
rhubarb. All these may be raised in a garden with about the same 
trouble that it often costs to beg them, when wanted in a neighborhood. 
Egg plants, tomatos and peppers, may be planted in a warm border, 
or under glass, to be planted out when the season is sufficiently advanced. 
Onions, beets, carrots and parsnips, should be planted early this month, 
if not already done. Plant a few hills of corn very early, and when it 
breaks the ground, you may plant Lima beans and melons. It will be 
of little use"to plant these before the ground is warm enough to sprout 
corn. Sow cabbages for a winter crop from the 25th to 30th of May. 
As soon as plants have good hold of the soil with their roots, the sur¬ 
face should be broken up, and the oftener it is stirred the better, not 
only to destroy weeds, but to open it to the influence of the air, heat 
and dew. 
THE HOUSE-WIFE.—PRESERVING BUTTER. 
Believing that butter may be kept sweet and good, in our climate, 
almost any length of time, if properly manufactured, and well taken 
care of, in order to test the validity of this opinion, we had two pots 
put down, one in June, and the other in August, 1834, more than twenty 
months ago; and on probing them with a tryer, While penning this ar¬ 
ticle, the butter is found perfectly sweet, and seems to retain most of 
its original flavor and freshness. We design to send both pots to Bos¬ 
ton next fall, with a view of having its mode of manufacture, and me¬ 
thod of preservation, judged of by the butter tasters of that notable 
city. 
In the manufacturing process, no water is permitted to come in contact 
with the cream or butter —because it is believed that water, and particu¬ 
larly soft water, dissipates much of the fine flavor that gives to butter its 
high value. The Orange county dairy women say, “ give us good hard wa¬ 
ter and we will make good butter” for the reason, probably, that it ab¬ 
stracts less of the aroma from the butter than soft water. The tempera¬ 
ture of the cream may be regulated by cold or hot water put into a tub, in 
which the churn may be plunged. If the cream is clean, it needs no 
washing; and if the butter is dirty, water will never clean it. 
Nothing but good well pulverized salt is used in preserving the but¬ 
ter ; this is all mixed, and all dissolved, in the mass, before the butter 
has its second, thorough and final working with the butter ladle, and 
which is not finished till all the buttermilk is expelled. 
To avoid all taint from the butter vessels, and the better to exclude 
it from the air, which soon injures it, the butter is packed close in clean 
stone jars, and when nearly filled, is covered with a strong brine, ren¬ 
dered pure by previous boiling, skimming and settling. In twenty 
months this brine has been twice renewed, on the appearance of a film 
upon the surface of the old pickle. To preserve butler, air and water, 
and heat above 65 or 70 degrees, are to be guarded against as much as 
possible. The brine upon the surface does not penetrate the mass, nor 
while sweet taint it; but it thoroughly excludes the air. 
To Encourage Agriculture, a bill has been reported in the Maryland 
legislature, for loaning to farmers, on landed security, and at long terms, 
one million of dollars. The loans to bear six per cent interest, paya- 
bly semi-annually; with the further provision, that such sums as shall 
be expended in the melioration of lands by drainage, by the application, 
of mineral manures, or in planting the mulberry and the production of 
silk, shall only pay an interest of four per cent, thus virtually paying 
a premium of two per cent upon the capital employed in these improve¬ 
ments. 
NOTES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
P. S. Diehard, of Winchester, Ten. who has the highest claims to 
our regards, for he has sent us thirty-three subscribers, and payment in 
advance, has sent to us a number of queries in regard to sheep hus¬ 
bandry, to which he has solicited our written answers. Although we 
might refer him to the communications of our correspondents in this 
Vol. III. 5* 
and the two preceding numbers, for excellent i- struction in sheep hus 
bandry, we dare hardly disregard his request. We therefore select the 
prominent queries, and subjoin answers in our brief way. 
1. What sheep are the most profitable ? The Saxon and Spanish me¬ 
rino for fleece ; the South Down and New Leicester for mutton. The 
fleece would probably be the most desirable object in Tennessee. 
2 . What is their cost? Fair merinos may be had, after shearing, bucks 
at $8 to $12, ewes $4 to $6, New Leicester at $25 to $30 for bucks, 
and $12 to $15 for ewes. South Downs are scarce, and we can hardly 
quote their price. Select animals will be higher than the prices quoted. 
3. Where can they be had? All, except the last, in the counties 
about Albany, and elsewhere, probably in Ohio. 
4. What is best time to move them? In September. 
5. What pasture best suits them, and how many can be kept on an 
acre? Sheep want a dry pasture, and if hilly and stony, the better. 
Although they will thrive best upon good herbage, such as other'farm 
stock, like they will live where other animals will starve. They bite close. 
An acre of good pasture will summer six sheep. 
6 . How many should be kept together ?—what shelter do they require, 
and what food, in winter? The number in small enclosures, or in a 
yard, or in a shed, should not exceed 100—when in large pastures, it 
may exceed 100—sheds are only necessary to protect them from storms 
—to keep them dry. They want air and exercise. See Cultivator, No. 
2, of this volume. Sheep are kept upon hay and straw in winter—some 
add oats, or corn, or roots, either of which are serviceable in keeping 
them in good plight. One quart of grain may be given to a dozen sheep 
per day, beginning to feed with a less quantity. In Tennessee sheep 
will get much from the pastures in winter, where they should be per¬ 
mitted to range in dry weather. 
7. How is wool managed for exportation—the time of shearing, &c. ? 
The wool is carefully rolled up, each fleece separate, and tied, and sent 
to market in bales like those used for cotton. Shearing is generally 
performed here in June, after the cold rains have subsided. It is con¬ 
sidered bad policy to sheer lambs the first season, as they want their 
fleece to protect them during our cold winters—and it is found that no¬ 
ting is gained by early shearing. It is advisable to tag ewes in spring 
and autumn. Sheep enrich the land on which they run. A good shep¬ 
herd and his dog can take care of 1,000 to 1,500 sheep, or more, and 
feed them in winter. 
8 . Can a practical common sense man, one that is well acquainted 
with the management of sheep, be had, and for a term of years, and 
at what salary ? Such men may no doubt be had, at a salary of $200 
per annum, and board. {JCy* Should any one who reads this be disposed 
to engage, and can bring evidence of his qualifications and character, 
he may advise us of the fact, or address Mr. Diehard. 
From the representation given of the country, we feel a strong con¬ 
viction, that the district described is well adapted to sheep husbandry, 
and that it might be rendered there a profitable business. 
F. I. Fenn seriously asks our instructions for cultivating white beans: 
and we give them. Plant as early as. you do Indian corn, or 20th May, 
in hills or drills; the rows two and a half feet apart—the hills eighteen 
inches asunder, four beans in a hill; or if in drills, one plant may grow 
in every six inches or less; keep the crop free from weeds, and the sur¬ 
face of the soil open—and harvest when the crop is ripe. The soil de¬ 
scribed will do to try, and it may be improved by dung, and possibly 
by plaster. Note down the treatment of the crop, the expense, the 
product, and the profit or loss: and improve your second year’s prac¬ 
tice by the errors of the first. Take counsel from your experience. 
White beans will not improve any soil, though they are often a profita¬ 
ble crop. The poorer the soil, the lighter the crop. Coarse dung is 
adapted to this crop, and should be buried; and a grass ley, once 
ploughed and well harrowed, will add much to the product, 
_ 
Is the matter of heat, in contradistinction to the sensation which it 
produces. It is an imponderable fluid, which exists in all terrestrial 
bodies, however cold to the touch, in a greater or less degree, as in air, 
water, wood, iron, &c. and is chemically combined with them. It is 
often termed latent heat. It is interposed between the molecules or 
atoms of matter, tends to separate them from each other, and when ac¬ 
cumulated beyond its natural quantity, the excess acts as heat, chang¬ 
ing solids into liquids, and liquids into vapor—as ice into water, and 
water into steam. “ Matters which exist naturally in a gaseous state, 
and which are rendered solid by being brought into combination with 
other substances, return to their natural state as soon as a sufficient 
degree of heat is applied to destroy the force of affinity which unites 
them to their base. This is illustrated in the burning of lime, and boil¬ 
ing of gypsum—the acids, or rather the gases united with their base, 
are expelled by the heat. But those which are not originally gaseous 
in their form, as oils, water, and some minerals, pass through all the 
degrees intermediate between their natural state and that of impercep¬ 
tible vapor.— See Chaptal, p. 10. Whatever brings the atoms of mat¬ 
ter violently and closely together, be it compression, percussion or fric- 
