THE CULTIVATOR. 
135 
humble us, andmonish us, that we lack either in intelligence to guide 
our labors, or have not applied the latter with sufficient diligence. 
Great Sale of Short-Horn Cattle .—The Ohio Company for importing 
English cattle, sold off their stock on the 29th ult. consisting ol' about 
50 head. 21 bulls brought an average price of $324—the highest sell¬ 
ing at $1,505; 22 cows, some of them with calves, sold at a little higher 
average, one of them with her calf, being bid in at $2,225. This sale 
is unprecedented, we believe, for high prices, in any part of our coun¬ 
try, and speaks greatly in praise of improved short horns. 
Chinese Mulberry Trees .—We find in one page of the Silk Culturist, 
the following quantities of this tree advertised, as also about two mil¬ 
lions of plants of the white Italian mulberry. Truly we are a propa¬ 
gating people. 
75,000 by W. G. Comstock, Hartford. 
50,000 do do 
100,000 by W. Prince & Son, Flushing. 
75,000 by W. Kenrick, near Boston. 
20,000 by A. Row, near Rochester. 
320,000 
and a great many thousands more by D. Stebbins, of Northampton, 
Mass.; C. B. Mallory, Westfield; Thomas J. Bestor, Suffield, and Jo¬ 
seph Davenport, of Colerain. Now allowing each plant to occupy a 
space of three feet by one, which is the fair nursery distance, 320,000 
multicaulis trees would fill, in nursery order, about 40 acres, which 
would average to the five proprietors, eight acres each; and if planted 
in orchards, at 15 feet apart, would fill 1660 acres. The2,000,000 white 
Italian would plant, at the same distance, something more than 10,000 
acres. We seem in a fair way to have at least mulberry trees. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
A correspondent, who signs “ Orange County,” writes us, as the re¬ 
sult of his observation, “ that where sward is ploughed early in the 
spring, and permitted to remain for a length ol time before planting, 
the first and second, and sometimes the third crop, is entirely cut off by 
the grub ; and that where the sward is turned over late in the spring, 
and immediately planted, and the grass is permitted to grow up with 
the corn, it generally escapes the ravages of the grub.” The inference 
that we draw from the fact is, that sward abounds more with the grub 
than tilled ground; the worms find abundance of food in the grasses ; 
and that where the sward is in a fresh or green state, they prefer it, 
and the corn crop thus escapes. 
Abel Hoyt, of Elkland, Pa. ascribes the failure of the seed corn, last 
spring, which it seems was a general complaint in the northern states, 
to the germinating principle having been destroyed by frost, before the 
cob, and consequently the germ of the grain, had become dry; severe 
cold having intervened in most cases before the crop was housed, and 
preceded by a damp muggy atmosphere. The pest that Mr. H. de¬ 
scribes, is the quick or quack grass, a variety of the agrostis stolonife- 
ra. It generally disappears on being pastured four or rive years. We 
do not think trench ploughing would eradicate it. The common me¬ 
thod of subduing it in tillage lands, is to summer fallow, to collect the 
stollens or roots with harrows and rakes, and to dry and burn them, or 
to feed them to neat cattle, who devour them greedily. 
Winter Melons .—We tender our thanks to James Mather, of New- 
York, for a brace of winter melons, imported from Spain, the quality, 
and excellence of which we shall be better able to judge of next year, 
when we purpose to taste them. These melons are raised in Spain, 
and great quantities are exported to England by steam-boats. They 
are said to eat well, though probably inferior to the finer kinds which 
are in eating in August and September. If not found to grow well in 
this latitude, they will undoubtedly prosper in the south. They are 
often kept sound till March. 
The Autumn Marrow, which was kindly sent us by John M. Ives, of 
Salem, Mass, is all he describes it—the best autumn squash we have 
eaten—when boiled (the way we tried it,) with pot-luck. Mr. Ives 
will please accept our thanks. A portion of the seeds of the melons 
and squash will be distributed among horticultural amateurs. 
Mr. John Low, of Milford, has sent us a drawing of a machine for 
pressing cheese, washing and churning, which consists of a spring 
pole, disposed diagonally, and put in motion by a tread-board, operated 
upon by children or other persons. If a sight of the machine should 
justify Mr. Low’s high opinion of it, we should be induced to have a 
cut of it made for the Cultivator. The drawing is too crude for a copy. 
Mr. Low commends his mode of making butter. He keeps his milk in 
a cool cellar, skims it when clotted, and when the butter begins to se¬ 
parate in the churn, he washes down the inside of the churn and throws 
in a few quarts of cold spring water. The butter is salted and worked 
when it comes from the churn, set by till next day, and then reworked, 
salt-petre and loaf sugar added, the mass deposited in the firkin, and 
covered with salt, or with a strong brine. No hot water is ever used. 
He makes his winter butter with the assistance of an iron hearth in his 
kitchen fire place, under which a current of air is heated, which pass¬ 
es to his milk-room, and imparts to it a proper temperature. 
Silk Spinner .—Adam Brooks, of South Scituate, Mass, a member of 
the society of Friends, writes us that he has invented a silk spinner, 
which spins perfectly well, directly from the cocoons, and that he ma¬ 
nufactures them on a small scale, for family use, and also of a larger 
size for manufactories. We see by the Maine Farmer, that Mr. Brooks 
exhibited his spinner, in operation, at the fair of the Kennebec County 
Agricultural Society, and that he received an honorary premium .['or it. 
The spinner is spoken of by the Maine Farmer, as being a very valu¬ 
able improvement. Mr. Brooks proposes to exhibit his mach ine at 
Albany, and asks our opinion as to the proper time. We advise him 
to exhibit here on the first days of February, as the State Agricultural 
and Medical Societies convene then, and the Agricultural Convention, 
should one assemble agreeable to resolution. As regards the latter 
part of Mr. Brooks’s letter, we can offer him very little encouragement. 
CO « KSPONDENCE. 
Alton, ( III .) October 10, 1836. 
Dear Sir —Through your kind agency, as I presume, I receiv ed the 
August number of the Cultivator, and the September number of the 
Common School Assistant, for which I thank you. I deem both of 
great value, each in its department. 
My time has been so closely occupied since I received them, that I 
have been unable to bestow much thought on the various and interest¬ 
ing subjects of which they treat, and the few observations that I shall 
; take the liberty to make at present, will be confined to two articles in 
j the Cultivator, viz: that which relates to beet sugar, and that in which 
j agriculture is spoken of as an art, a trade, and a science. Since I had 
the pleasure of conversing with you last May, relative to beet sugar, 
; and viewing the very fine specimen which you were so kind as to exhi- 
I bit to me, I have thought much on the subject, and have availed my¬ 
self of every opportunity that has occurred, (which have bee n few,) 
jto obtain information on the subject, and cannot doubt for a liioment, 
] that the manufacture of sugar from the beet, is to be the means of 
enlarging the boundaries of American agriculture, and increasing the 
resources of our country to an immense extent. Sugar, although it 
cannot perhaps be said to be the staff of life, may, I think, without 
any impropriety, be considered the staple of it; it enters innocently 
into a thousand combinations for culinary purposes, and I believe it 
may be laid down as a general rule, that a fondness for sugar in its 
simple and untortured state, and for those articles of food in which it 
predominates as a part, creates a distaste for alcohol, or what may be 
termed the evil spirit of sugar. The general impression among those 
who are obliged to economise closely, is, that the article of sugar 
should be used very sparingly, and perhaps if we take into considera¬ 
tion the price at which the article is sold in the interior portions of our 
country, that view of the subject may be correct. It may be necessary 
to consider it rather as a luxury than an article which constitutes a 
part of ordinary food; but suppose a house-keeper could purchase or 
produce a pound of sugar as cheaply as a pound of beef, or other meat, 
would not the former be substituted for the latter to a great extent ? 
Would not the sugar, suitably combined with the fruits, both native 
and cultivated, that so much abound in our country, really constitute 
a greater portion of nutrition, and is not the combination of sugar 
and fruits, eagerly sought, and devoured with avidity, as a luxury? 
May not that which is now deemed a luxury, be enjoyed to any rea¬ 
sonable extent, if the beet will produce sugar to the amount, and with 
the facility we have every reason to believe it will, from demonstrations 
which have already been made? On my part, I promise you that I 
will use every effort in my power to aid in developing this subject, and 
as I am practically acquainted with the culture of the beet on a pretty 
large scale, so soon as I can obtain the right kind of seed, and the ne¬ 
cessary information as to the process of making the sugar, will ascer¬ 
tain the result of a trial. 
In our conversation on the subject, if I am not mistaken, you in¬ 
formed me that the kind of beet of which the sugar is made, is mangel 
wurzel, or scarcity root; but it appears by a letter addressed by Mr. 
Iznard, to the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, which you have, no 
doubt, seen, that the variety of beet cultivated for sugar, is the white 
beet, (Beta Alba.) I mention these circumstances as I wish to obtain 
the seed of the true kind as early as possible, and am desirous that 
there should be no error. Having said much more than I intended on 
the subject of beet sugar, I will not tax your patience by extending 
my observations on the other subject adverted to. Permit me to say, 
however, that nothing can be more correct, profound, or judicious, than 
the remarks contained in that article. I have long thought the combi¬ 
nations there spoken of, were essential to constitute a good cultivator. 
An immense amount of labor is saved in agriculture, by a union of art 
manual skill or dexterity and science; the products of the earth are 
yielded in triple fold, to the individual who has a thorough knowledge 
