116 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
€ O R R K SPOM> E NCE. 
STEAMING APPARATUS. 
We think so well of the apparatus described'below, that we intend to 
have one in operation as soon as our potato crop is gathered. 
STEAMING VEGETABLES. 
J. Burl — Dear Sib —The method of cooking potatoes, turnips, &c 
by means of steam, for feeding hogs, I believe would be universally pre 
ferred and adopted, were it not supposed that the steaming apparatus 
would be too expensive for farmers generally to provide. The operation 
of steaming potatoes can be performed with less trouble than that of boil 
ing. In Vol. II. No. 7, of the Cultivator, is a cut and description of what 
you consider to be a very good apparatus; the expense of which is esti¬ 
mated at about fifty dollars. And you very justly conclude that farmers 
cannot afford so great an outlay for this purpose, who have less than fif¬ 
teen or twenty hogs to feed. 
But, sir, the object may be attained in a much less expensive way— 
Any farmer who begins work in the morning, who can borrow an auger 
and use it, may provide himself a good steaming apparatus in one day— 
We have had one in use two or three years, such as I shall attempt to de. 
scribe. 
Fig. 39. 
A. Furnace door. B. Boiler. C. Steam-box. 
False bottom, with holes in. „ . 
Every farmer has an iron kettle, commonly called the great kettle , 
which will answer very well for a boiler. Let such an one be properly 
set in an arch; tit a cover of inch boards within the rim, and lute it with 
clay to make it tight. A piece six or eight inches wide should be nailed 
across the cover to keep it from being warped. Make a hole in the cen¬ 
tre of the cover large enough to receive a tube of two inches calibre, to 
convey the steam. Another hole two inches in diameter is to be made 
near one side of the cover, through which the boiler is supplied with 
water, and is stopped with a plug. Make a box for potatoes, &c. 
three feet long, sixteen inches wide, and two feet high. This is set ovei 
the boiler, resting upon the arch; the bottom of which should not be more 
than four or five inches above the cover of the boiler. The hole in the 
bottom of the box to receive the tube from the boiler, is made near to 
one side of it; the box covering but little more than half the boiler, leav¬ 
ing a convenient space to fill it through the plug-hole. The tube should 
project half an inch through the bottom, to prevent the drippings from 
the potatoes running into the boiler. The position of the box should be 
a little inclined; the lower end projecting beyond the arch for the con¬ 
venience of taking out the potatoes when cooked. This end of the box 
is male with a slide to draw upwards, when the cover is taken off! There 
is also a closelv perforated bottom within the box, placed an inch and a 
half above the first, that the steam may be. equally diffused throughout-the 
mass. The end of the perforated bottom next to the open end of the 
box, is fastened to around stick passing through the box from side to side 
anil serves a s a hinge to this bottom. On the other end of the perforated 
bottom, let a board of the same width be fixed that shall rise near to the 
top of the box, having a hole in it to insert a hook,for the convenience of 
raisin'' it when it is to lie emptied; if it be required to do so while the 
potatoes are Teaming hot. Thus the box may be readily emptied of its 
contents without stopping up the holes in the bottom, as would be una¬ 
voidably done with a hoe or shovel. The cover of the box should be se¬ 
cured from being warped. 
Should it be required to steam on a larger scale than this, two such 
kettles may be used in an arch, and the steam from both conveyed into a 
box of greater dimension. 
'Ihe method ot placing the potatoes or other food to be cooked, above, 
and very near to the boiler, is manifestly more economical than that by 
which the steam is conveyed the distance of several feet in a metallic pipe; 
as in the latter case a considerable portion of heat is evidently lost before 
it reaches its destination. 
I send herewith a drawing of this simple contrivance, to enable you 
more fully to understand its construction; and if you think proper, you 
can describe it so that othfirs may understand it also. Yours, &c. 
NATHAN LOOMIS. 
Butternuts, Otsego county, July, 1837. 
GRASSES FOR THE SOUTH-WEST. 
J. Boel, Esq.—Dear Sir —I saw by the August number of the 
Cultivator, that Mr Edward H. Bryan, of Vicksburgh, Mississippi, in¬ 
quires, through the columns of your valuable paper, what grasses will en¬ 
dure the climate of that state, and furnish a winter supply for stock.— 
From my knowledge of that part of Mississippi, in the vicinity of Vicks¬ 
burgh, Grand Gulf, Port-Gibson and Natches, I would recommend the 
white clover and gama grass. They both thrive admirably well in the 
southern part of the state of Louisiana. The' white clover grows much 
better in the vicinity of Franklin, New-Iberia, and St. Martinsville, 
(which places are in the same latitude of New Orleans, but in a due west 
course about 120 miles distant,) than in New-Jersey. And the gama 
grass is to be found natural, where the land is kept enclosed,and the cat¬ 
tle kept from eating it, but on the prairies they pick it out so close, that 
it would not be observed unless a person was looking very close for it, 
but the red clover will not stand the heat of that climate. 
Yours sincerely, WILLIAM A. STONE. 
Rahway, Essex co JV J. Aug 13, 1837. 
P. S I have planted a patch of the Buel or Dutton corn, but it does 
not meet my expectations, on account of its bearing but one ear on a 
stalk. I do not think that I have five stalks in the whole patch with two 
good ears on them; it is the earliest corn I ever saw. I discovered the 
tassel on it in two months from the day it was planted. I have it planted 
3J by 2 feet, on my best land. 
I wish you would inform me through the Cultivator, if it generally pro¬ 
duces more'than one good ear on a stalk. W. A. STONE. 
Planted close, the product is generally but one ear to the stalk—planted 
wider, it is commonly more. At four feet apart, we believe__the Jersey 
distance of planting, there would be but 2,722 hills on the acre. If plant¬ 
ed 3J by 2, there would be 6,222 hills^-or mme than double. It is by 
multiplying the hills that the great product is obtained.—[ Conductor. 
SPELT WHEAT. ” 
J. Buel—Dear Sir —Having read, in your valuable paper, and 
other publications, of so many failures of wheat crops in your part of the 
country, I consider it my duty, to call the attention of your farmers to an 
excellent substitute for this (in some places so precarious) bread stuff, 
by stating the following facts:—In the country where I came from, (the 
fertile plains between Heidelberg and Manheim, and the rivers Neckar 
and Rhine, in Germany,*) wheat was universally raised iq former times, 
but as the crops failed frequently, the farmers turned their attention to 
pelt, and succeeded so well in raising this valuable grain, that you can¬ 
not see there, now, one acre of wheat among hundreds of spelt. Spelt 
makes superior flour, and of course, better bread; is not so difficult in 
raising, nor so much subject to losses by cutting over-ripe, and easier 
threshed clean in damp weather. I am in the habit of raising a few acres 
every year, but can only use it as a good horse-feed, for want of a spelt- 
mill. Such an apparatus could easily be added to every mill in a neigh¬ 
borhood where the raising of spelt would prevail. If you think this well 
meant hint worth publication, you may, if you please, dress it in better 
English than I am capable of doing. Your humble servant, 
F. C. SPEYERER. 
Butler county. Pa 96th July, 1837. 
The Spelta, Spelt or German Wheat, spoken of above, is extensively 
raised in Germany, in France, and on the Rhine; its culture has been re¬ 
commended in the north of England, and has been introduced in Penn- 
ylvama, by German emigrants. It nearly resembles barley, though its 
stalks are shorter Its straw is stout and almost solid. From it is manu¬ 
factured the incomparable Nuremburgh and Frankfort starch. It grows 
well on mountainous lands and poor soils, though like every other crop, 
t thrives best on lands that are fertile. ’ This grain cannot he divested of 
ts husks by threshing, but requires the operation of a mill for the pur¬ 
pose. Willich calls it an excellent grain.— Conductor 
' THE ARMY WORM. 
Vermillion, la June 27, 1837. 
Dear Sir —Have you any knowledge of what we call the Army 
Worm?” I have never heard of their ravages in your section, and so I 
ask the question. They sweep through our meadows, timothy principally, 
wheat fields and corn, and generally leave the stalk naked of blades. I 
had about 60 acres of timothy destroyed this year by them. When they 
commenced, the head was just appearing, and in about ten days there was 
Under the 50th degree of northern latitude. 
