THE CULTIVATOR. 
and a saving of thirty per cent, in feeding it to cattle thus sheltered, be¬ 
sides more or less of their lives. Yours, etc, 
Johnson, March 7th, 1837. H. WHITING. 
NEW SPRING WHEAT. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Sir—I send you enclosed a small sample of Italian 
spring wheat. This sample is taken from a parcel I purchased a few 
years since, and is part of the four years’ crop since the introduction of 
the original importation. The seed was brought to this country in 1832 
by Signor J. B. I. Carbonai, from the city of Florence, Italy. The cask 
was sold for charges ; I bought it, and finding it a heavy and beautiful 
grain, prevailed with several of our farmers to sow it; the result was 
most gratifying. Sowed side and side with our country spring wheat, 
it exceeded it two feet in height, standing on the ground, and yielded 
double the quantity, weighing sixty-three pounds to the bushel. It has 
succeeded well every year since, producing from twenty-five to thirty- 
five bushels to the acre; grows well on every variety of soil on which 
it has been sown. Very few of our farmers will now sow winter wheat, 
finding this wheat a sure crop. Your ob’t, 
Rome, N. Y. March 24, 1836. JAY HATHAWAY. 
MODE OF RAISING CUCUMBERS, &c. ON CLAY SOIL. 
Sherburne, March 22, 1836. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Dear Sir—I take a good deal of interest in horticul¬ 
ture, and my most pleasant hours are spent in cultivating a small gar¬ 
den. The soil is a stiff clay loam, resting upon a loose gravel. I car¬ 
ried on sand and manured it highly, but for several years was unsuc¬ 
cessful in my attempts to raise melons and cucumbers. I became quite 
discouraged and concluded I must give it up; but still thought it worth 
another trial. T prepared a spot of about forty feet square, by cover¬ 
ing it with sand to the depth of six or eight inches, and a heavy coat 
of manure; it was then spaded about twelve inches deep, and well mixed 
together. On this spot I made eight hills by digging holes eighteen 
inches deep, and two and a half feet diameter, these I filled with fresh 
stable manure (in which was considerable straw,) even with the surface 
of the ground, well pressed down. I then brought from the woods a 
load of rich black mould, formed from decayed vegetables; with this 
was mixed an equal quantity of sand, and the hills covered to the depth 
of six or eight inches. The seeds were soaked between wet sods of 
grass, laid near the fire for about twelve hours, and then planted. I 
put over each a box of eight inches deep, of sufficient size to take four 
lights of ten by eight glass. In about thirty-six hours after planting, 
they began to show themselves above the surface. The growth of the 
plants was rapid beyond any thing I had ever witnessed, and the seed 
leaves looked like those of pumpkins or squashes. As the weather be¬ 
come warmex-, I removed the glass and substituted a covering of single 
foundation muslin, to prevent the l-avages of insects. I succeeded be¬ 
yond my most sanguine anticipations, and had as fine melons and cu¬ 
cumbers as are grown on Long Island or elsewhei-e. I have no doubt 
now that they may be cultivated with as much certainty of success as 
any other vegetable. There may be many subscribers to your useful 
paper who would be benefitted by the above information. It is written 
in much haste, and my time so much occupied, I am not able to revise 
it. If you deem it of any consequence, you are at liberty to make any 
use of it you think proper. 
Respectfully yours, H. N. FARGO. 
ON THE PRESERVATION OF TIMBER. 
In the year 1801, I built a ware-house on my lot in Union-street, in 
Schenectady. The cellar was dug about four feet deep, and the stone 
wall a foot or two deeper. I left no opening for door or window. The 
floor beams were of excellent pitch pine timber, of twelve by twelve 
inches, slit, and were six by twelve inches when placed in the wall, and 
about eighteen inches above the ground. I laid a floor three inch oak 
plank loose, neither jointed nor nailed, although they were square edge 
and lay close to each other. Five years after, I observed a jostling in 
a place in the floor, and raised one of the plank to learn the cause, and 
found one of the six by twelve beams rotted off, and fallen on the bot¬ 
tom of the cellar. The plank was rotten below, except about an inch 
sound on the upper side. I lifted the whole floor, found most of the 
plank rotten, except a shell on the top ; and the timbers were rotten, 
and so decayed, that I took them all out and put in oak, after making 
windows and a door in opposite sides of the wall. I thought the depth 
of the cellar would have prevented injury to the timbers, but found it 
the cause of the destruction, as shavings of pine boards, and pine sli¬ 
vers lying on the bottom of the cellar, were perfectly sound, while the 
timbers were beautifully ornamented with curtains of white mould, 
hanging in festoons to nearly the depth of the cellai-, as white as snow, 
very thick, and appeared as if of bleached muslin. 
In 1817, I took down an old kitchen on the same lot, the floor had 
lain on saplings of oak, six or eight inches over, such as are used for 
scaffold poles. They were bedded in the ground, so that the pine floox - - 
ing came nextYhe ground, and excluded air. They had lain there from 
1794, and both the timbers and flooring were very little injured by rot. 
I concluded, that a free circulation of air must be allowed, or air must 
be entirely excluded, to save timber from decay. 
If you think the within may be of use to builders, worthy a place in 
the Cultivatoi’, you may insert it. Respectfully, 
Schenectady, March 24, 1836._D. TOMLINSON. 
CORN—GRASS SEEDS—MANGEL WURTZEL. 
Schenectady , 23d March, 1836. 
Sir —If anything in the following communication is worth publishing, 
it is at your service. 
The two last years, corn has been raised in theTollowing manner, on 
the Mohawk Flats, near this city. If in grass, the land is ploughed 
and well harrowed, lengthwise of the furrow, without disturbing the 
sward. The ground is then prepared for planting by being marked out 
two and a half feet one way, and three feet the other. The last season, 
the field was rolled after being planted, with evident benefit, as it made 
it level. When the corn is three inches high, the cultivator is passed 
through both ways; and twice afterwards it is used in the same man¬ 
ner ; no hills are made, but the ground is kept level. Neither hand hoe 
nor plough are used, after the corn is planted. Fields manured with 
coarse manure have been tilled in the same manner. Corn tilled in this 
way is as clean of weeds, as when tilled in the usual way ; it is no more 
liable to be blown down, and the produce is equally good. It saves a 
great deal of hard labor, which is an expensive item in the usual cul¬ 
ture, of corn. Last October, ten rods were measured out, in two dif¬ 
ferent places, in a corn-field, on grass land—the one yielded ten, the 
other nine, bushels of ears. In one corn-field after the last dressing in 
July, timothy and clover seed were sown, and in the fall the grass ap¬ 
peared to have taken as well as it had done in adjoining fields where it 
iiad been sowed with oats. 
The following is the result of a comparison of your Dutton corn with 
the common yellow eight-rowed : 
1834 —Oct 2 2d. Inches. oz. dr. oz. dr. 
; ear of Dutton corn measured 
10 £ 
grain weighed 
7 h 
cob 2 
5 
do. 
do. do. 
11 
do. 
6k 1 
“ n 
k 
do. 
eight-rowed, do. 
104 
do. 
5 k 
“ 1 
1 
do. 
do. do. 
104 
do. 
54 k 
“ 1 
k 
do. 
do. do. 
10 
do. 
5 k 
“ 1 
k 
Jan. 14, 1835.—Half a bushel of ears of Dutton corn weighed 20 lbs. 
The grain when shelled, weighed 15 lbs. 11 oz. The cobs weighed 4 
lbs. 4 oz. The grain measured nearly nine quarts. 
Half a bushel of ears of the eight-rowed weighed 20 lbs. 11 oz. The 
grain weighed 17 lbs. 1 oz. The cobs weighed 3 lb. 10 oz. The grain 
measured nine quarts.* 
Our grass seed is sown in the following manner:—After the oats or 
barley are about four inches high, the grass seed is sown, and a roller 
with a hush fastened behind it, is immediately passed over the field, 
which covers the seed sufficiently, and makes the field very level, with¬ 
out injuring the barley or oats, which in three or four days are up as 
straight as ever. 
Last spring half an acre of lucerne was sown in this manner on bar¬ 
ley, and when the winter commenced, it was as thick as it could stand, 
and nearly two feet high, while the common i-ed clover in the same field 
was only one-third of that height. 
On the same farm, the last season, six hun ’red bushels of mangel 
wurtzel were raised from half an acre and eight perches of land, being 
at the rate of 1,088 bushels per acre. The ground was manured with 
coarse manure ; three pounds of seed were sown in rows, two feet apart, 
and tilled with the cultivator only. The hand weeding in the rows was 
amply compensated after midsummer, by the thinnings out, which kept 
eight pigs till corn was ripe. The expense of cultivation was about the 
same as if the ground had been planted with potatoes. 
Respectfully yours, CHARLES H. TOMLINSON. 
ON THE UTILITY OF SAVINGS BANKS IN THE COUNTRY. 
Hamptonburgh, Orange. Co. Feb. 17, 1836. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Sir—Having for a long time been of the opinion, that 
it would be a desirable thing to have established in the sevei'al towns 
of the state, Banks for Savings, where the poor and industrious of all 
classes, the mechanic, the day laboi-er, the house servant and many 
others, could safely deposite their earnings, and where they could re¬ 
ceive an interest on their annual accumulations, I venture to make the 
suggestion through the columns of your publication. It strikes me, 
that it would hold out strong inducements to all, to be more provident 
and industrious. At present, the greatest number of some of the classes 
referred to, spend as fast or faster than they earn, in useless extrava¬ 
gance, or in some other way still more objectionable, and consequently 
always remain poor, and in case of sickness or accident, become a pub¬ 
lic charge. Whereas, could they conveniently and safely de.osite in a 
Savings Bank, all surplus earnings, a large poportion would probably, 
* The important inquiry is, which variety produces the most grain in a row, 
or on an acre—which ripens earliest?— Conductor . 
