THE CULTIVATOR. 
63 
W. Murphy, of New-Scotland, asks our advice with regard to planting 
an orchard of peaches, pears and plums. His soil is clay, somewhat in¬ 
termixed with gravel, sloping to the south-east, and sheltered on the north¬ 
west by high ground and wood. The soil seems adapted to the pear and 
plum, more than to the peach; the aspect is good, and the shelter benefi¬ 
cial He should plant varieties that come in succession, sufficient for fa¬ 
mily use, and select a good variety of each for the main market crop.— 
The holes should be dug three feet in diameter and eighteen inches deep, 
and filled, when the trees are planted, with the best surface mould. Cat¬ 
tle should be kept from the enclosure, and Ihe ground about the trees 
kept clean and mellow. For varieties, we refer to the nursery catalogues, 
where the time of ripening and quality of the fruit are generally noted. 
CORRESPONDENCES. 
ON STEEPING SEED CORN. 
Cedar Brook, Plainfield, Essex county, J\T. J. 27</?. May, 1837. 
J. Buel, Esq.— Dear Sir —Having closed my business in the city 
of New-York, I last year purchased a farm in this place, about 100 acres 
of which is very uniform in quality, nearly a smooth gentle declining plain 
to the south, except where Cedar Brook passes through it from north to 
south, which is a remarkable stream for its purity, permanency and uni¬ 
formity of temperature, not freezing when the thermometer is ten degrees 
below zero. The soil is uniformly a dark brown loam, in some parts 
mingled with pebble stones, from six to eight inches deep, none too moist; 
the subsoil is dark yellow and tenacious, from nine to twelve inches deep, 
with a preponderance of alumina, resting on a loose gravel, several feet 
in depth. I have thus briefly described the soil, as I think always ought 
to be done, when experiments and facts are stated for public use. 
f commenced taking several useful publications on agriculture, none of 
which I esteem'more valuable than the Cultivator. Not getting posses¬ 
sion of my farm until late in the season, I did little the past year. To 
hasten the vegetation of my corn, planted after the middle of May, I en¬ 
deavored to follow the recommendation of soaking and preparing the seed, 
and about one-half only germinated. About the first June, I replanted; 
had a great growth of stalks, but the corn from the la'ter planting was all 
cut of! by the frost, before jt was at maturity. I attributed the failure to 
a long cold storm, while the grain was in the earth. Having this year 
about twenty acres that had been twice mowed, and after being seeded 
with clover and timothy, I spread upon about half, twenty loads of good 
manure to an acre. It was then well ploughed, rolled and harrowed 
twice, raising a fine mellow soil. My seed corn, mostly of the Jersey 
white, was selected with great care, was soaked in water over night, with 
five spoonsful of tar to a bushel of seed, at about 130 D of heat, when the 
water was applied. In the morning it was drained and sprinkled with 
ashes and plaster, and generally planted the same day. We commenced 
. the first week in this month, and finished in about eight days, the weather 
being very fine for the season. At the end of two weeks, not one seed 
in twenty had germinated, except a few rows planted directly from the 
cob, which came up well. We planted about half an acre of the large 
eight rowed Connecticut yellow, about half an acre of the Dutton, half 
an acre of golden Sioux, and several small pieces of varipus kinds for trial 
The Dutton and Sioux have vegetated the best. Where we spread no 
manure, we added about a spoonful of ashes and plaster to every hill as we 
planted, and perceive no difference in germinating. We have replanted 
about four acres with dry seed, and calculate to go over the whole, though 
probably the crop will be nearly a total failure if we have early frosts. 
I have been thus particular in what I have done, that others may guard 
against my mistakes. Being well satisfied that the failure has been owing 
to the preparation of the seed, as the rows planted unprepared have come 
up well, and my neighbors planted about the same time, the same kind of 
seed, on similar land, which has come up remarkably well. I shall be 
greatly obliged for your free opinion of the cause of my want of success. 
I am making some experiments on recommendations which are yet to be 
tested. I am however satisfied that more attention is requisite in de¬ 
scription of location and soil, by those who give recommendations for the 
public. 
I would beg leave to request your correspondents to give their names, 
the state and place of their residence, ihat inquiries may be made of them 
by mail There have been some I should have written to had I known 
where to address them. I am, with great respect, yours, &c. 
DAVID L. DODGE. 
Remark.— Our practice, for sixteen years,has been to steep our seed 
corn in the manner we have recommended, dissolving half a pint of erude 
salt-petre in the steep—and the seed has never failed to grow—except in 
one case, where a part of the corn, after steeping, was left exposed a day 
or two to the sun, by accident. That which was planted immediately 
from the steep grew well—that which was exposed did not do well. 
THE WHITE GRUB. 
Dear Sir —Being a constant reader of your yseful paper, and do not 
recollect reading much concerning the destruction of the large white 
'grub with a reddish head. Our county is very much infested with them, 
jto the injury of many of the crops, and are increasing rapidly. 
I think some knowledge on the subject ought to be solicited and diffus¬ 
ed, and exertions made for their destruction. It appears that the grub 
changes into the bug every two years, and then deposites its eggs in the 
earth for their future progeny. This year they will be in the bug, and 
then an exertion ought to be made, to destroy them, before they deposit 
their eggs, which may be done in a great measure, by keeping up a stea¬ 
dy flame in the fore part of the evening, (for they do not fly more than 
an hour,) and they will fly from one to two hundred rods to get to it, and 
are sure to find their end. I witnessed the effect of it in 1835; one of 
my neighbors made a fire of dry brush, and kept a flame steady for three- 
quarters of an hour, and it was inoredible to witness the number that flew 
into it. The fire was over one hundred rods from my house, and as soon 
as the light was visible, the bugs all left thumping at my windows, where 
they were attracted by the light of the candles, which gave me just rea¬ 
son to believe they went to the fire, and the land has been clear from the 
grub for the same distance around the fire. 1 am confident that if far¬ 
mers would agree, and make fires of some light materials, as brush or old 
rails, in the fore part of the evening, from one to two hundred rods apart, 
for two evenings in a week, when the bugs fly, they would destroy the 
whole race of them, and save the destruction of their crops. 
Rutland, Jefferson county, 1837. C. P. KIMBALL. 
Remark.— We are not aware that the grub above described, is of any 
serious injury to crops, not having ever discovered that it preyed upon 
plants. All insects were created for wise purposes; some, perhaps, to 
put in requisition the constant vigilance and industry of man—some to 
prey upon the more destructive families of insects—as the ichneumon 
upon plant-lice. The injury ought to be palpable and serious, before we 
wage a war of extermination against any class of animated beings, which 
we have reason to believe were not created but for purposes of good.— 
Cond. 
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING CURRANT WINE. 
Our Tennessee correspondent, who communicated the following, says 
—“ We are now using some wine, made according to this recipe, and 
find it decidedly superior to any foreign wine for the table. The import- 
l ed wines are all too strong.” 
{ Gather your currants when fully ripe; break them well in a tub; press 
them through a sifter; then strain them through a flannel bag, and mea¬ 
sure the juice. Add two gallons of water to one of juice; put three 
pounds of New-Orleans sugar; stir it till the sugar is quite dissolved. In 
straining the juice of the currant, use a hair sieve, and not one of wire; 
then use a close tow linen bag, and afterwards a flannel one, to pass the 
juice through. The juice must not be permitted to stand over night.— 
Observe that the cask be sweet and clean, and such as has never 
been used for beer or cider, and if new, let it be well seasoned. Do 
not fill your cask too full, otherwise it works out at the bung, which is 
injurious to the wine—rather make a proportionate quantity over and 
above, that after drawing off some of the wine, you may have enough to 
fill up the cask. Lay the bung lightly on the hole to prevent flies. Sec. 
from creeping in. In three or four weeks the bung hole may be stopped 
up leaving only the vent hole open till it has done working, which is ge¬ 
nerally the middle or last of October. It may then be racked off if you 
please, but I think it best to leave it on the lees till spring, and if not 
wanted for present use, it may be left on the lees for two years with¬ 
out damage. 
When you draw off the wine, bore a hole an inch at least from the tap 
hole, and a little to one side of it, that it may run off clear of the lees.— 
Some put in spirit, but I do not think it advisable. Do not suffer your¬ 
self to be prevailed on to put more than one-tlnrd juice, for that would 
render the wine hard and unpleasant, nor too much sugar, as that would 
deprive it of its pure vinous taste. It improves by age. 
HINTS ON DIET. 
Stephentown, March 7, 1837. 
Dear Sir —In the present [March] number of the Cultivator, I notice 
“ Hints on Diet,” and am rejoiced to see you take up the subject, for I 
do believe that seven-eighths of the diseases which our country is subject 
to, and that seven-eighths of the premature deaths, originate in the indul¬ 
gence of the appetite. By overloading “ the stomach, fermentation is 
checked;” disease must and will necessarily follow. People are ignorant 
of this; few look into this subject. Why is it so? I answer in the words 
of Adam, “ The woman thou gavest me” cooked, and I did eat; they 
cook so many kinds at once, and are sure to set on the poorest first, 
and we eat until satisfied with that part, then comes something more 
tempting, then another dish, and another; in this way, we in almost all 
cases eat too much, and disease follows. Now, if instead of having these 
different kinds at one meal, we should take them separately, breakfast on 
one, and dine on another, it is not probable we should eat too much. 
Mothers love their children so well that they kill them with kindness 
