THE CULTIVATOR. 
183 
is spread out on so large a surface, and the iron thin, it heats so as to 
throw off steam in a few minutes, and continues to throw it off in large 
quantities, with only a small fire. ' . , 
3d. The vegetables are all steamed alike, the steam being thrown off 
from the whole surface of the water, passes up through the false bottom, 
to every part of the box alike. 
I have also very little doubt but the apparatus will be durable. 
If you consider this improvement of any advantage to farmers and oth¬ 
ers you can give such a description of it in the Cultivator, as will enable 
them to take advantage of it. Though not a farmer myself, I conceive i 
the duty of every one to do all that he can to promote and encouiage that 
all important branch of human industry, especially at a time when the 
rage for speculation , or other less important pursuits has drawn off so large 
a portion of young men and others from the cultivation of the soil, that 
our rich and agricultural country cannot raise her own bread stuff. 
Yours respectfully, A. MARKS. 
P. S. By having the box made water tight, it may serve a very valua¬ 
ble purpose for heating water .to wash, or for scalding hogs, &c. the water 
heating remarkably quick, and at little expense of fuel compared with 
heating it in common kettles, over stones and fire-places. 
ITALIAN vs. SIBERIAN WHEAT. 
Judge Buel— Dbar Sir: I have seen the Cultivator for December, 
and notice a letter bearing Doct. Goodsell’s signature, announcing his re¬ 
sult in raising the Siberian wheat, and speaking in very disparaging terms 
of the Italian spring wheat. I would not in an ordinary case trespass up¬ 
on your time or columns, but feel that this attempt to put down the repu¬ 
tation of the Italian wheat, is unjust and unsustained by the experience 
of one in a thousand. 
The public have a deep interest in this matter, and would doubtless 
have read his letter with satisfaction, were it not apparent that it was 
written with the view to establish a character for his favorate, at the ex¬ 
pense of a favorite with them:—which of these varieties of spring wheat 
shall best deserve the title of best, is yet to be proven, and that, not by an 
isolated case, but by general experience. It is a matter of moment, 
that the farming interest should not be put upon a wrong track; but in 
this instance, the Doct. will have an “ uphill business,” to convince them 
of the worthlessness of an article hitherto highly prosperous, an article 
that has been grown by more than 4000 of them the past season, in this 
county, and now actually furnishes excellent bread to more than half our 
whole population, and that too, in numerous cases, from impoverished lands, 
that would not yield a crop of oats. This property alone should give the 
Italian spring wheat a name above every other, as no other in this country 
possesses one so valuable, except such as are in common; none other will 
o-row well, and produceagood cropupon a poor and wornout soil. Ithas 
been grown for five seasons in this county, and has not failed in any, it 
rarely ever rusts, although winter wheat is ruined all around it; it has just¬ 
ly obtained an enviable popularity, as the Doct. knows, as a sure crop, a 
good crop, and a larger;—it is the only article about which there was 
scarce a difference of opinion, until the letter in question—here it will ef¬ 
fect little—abroad it may prevent a million from enjoying a certain good 
which unlike the other, has not yet to establish a reputation. A “ single 
swallow does not make summer”—nor the yield of a single field fix un¬ 
qualifiedly a character. Many folks make wild guesses ; the Doct. says 
his Quaker friend “ thinks ” that he shall thresh nearly or quite 40 bush¬ 
els Siberian from one bushel sown. Now this is great, if he has guessed 
truly; yet I can tell him of a man who says he sowed but half a bushel of 
Italian wheat on an acre of land, and that it yielded him 30 bushels after 
threshed, and his account is-not guess work. 
4 Italian wheat is somewhat shrunk this season, but far less so than win¬ 
ter wheat, and it is only that which was blown down and lodged, so far as 
I have heard, that was much shrunk. The Siberian, it seems, shrinks al¬ 
so, by the account given in the letter, and like other wheats, is liable to 
. “ the thousand ills that wheat is heir to”—saving and excepting the bug, 
which looked so like a “ bed-bug,” a harbinger of “ weal or woe”—per¬ 
haps to nobodv- We shall look for the honest result next year. 
v J. H .of Oneida. 
TRAINING VINES.- 
New Haven, (Conn.) March 13th, 1837. 
Jesse Bued,Esq._ Sir: I have had the Isabella Grape in my gar¬ 
den since 1819; but the crop of fruit has not been good and full, oftener 
than once in three years. The failure has usually been caused by the 
rotting of the green fruit, about the time it attains its full size, Every 
means of prevention that I could .find any where suggested, has been 
faithfully tried; such as long and short pruning and no pruning—thick 
and sparse, upright and horizontal training—topping the fruit branches, 
thinning them out, plucking the leaves, &c—without any perceptible be¬ 
nefit. 
■But having read, or been informed, (I cannot say which) that in the 
vineyards of Madeira, the vines are trained on a horizontal arbour, about 
three feet high, in such manner as completely to shade the whole ground, 
it occurred to me that it might be important, where the summer sun is 
very powerful (as with us) to shade the roots of the vines. To ascertain 
the effect of such a protection of the roots, in the fall of 1834, I pruned 
about 20 young vines, which had grown at random, so as to leave from 5 
to 8 branches, spreading all ways from the centre or root, like the spokes 
of a wheel, about 4 feet. These I tied up to stakes set in a circle around 
the vine, leaving the branches from 12 to 18 inches from the ground. The 
vines were left in this state to grow as they would—and by mid-summer 
(1835) they completely shaded the ground, for 6 or 8 feet from the centre. 
No fruit rotted on these vines. The experiment was continued upon 
the same vines through the last season, and with the same result. Dur¬ 
ing both seasons the fruit on vines trained upon an upright trellis, (the 
roots of course exposed to the sun,) has been in a great measure lost by 
rotting. 
This experiment I should consider decisive, but for one circumstance; 
the vines first mentioned were young and the others. old. Whether this 
has affected the result, is yet to be determined. 
I ought perhaps to remark (what I was not prepared to expect) that the 
fruit ripened on the vines, shaded as before described, a fortnight earlier 
than on the others, and was in every respect better. N. D. 
October 10th, 1837. The experience of another season gives the same 
result stated above, except that none of the grapes ripened, being des¬ 
troyed by the frost, October 4th-5th. To ascertain the effect of the vine’s 
age upon the fruit, I trained a vine upon a trellis, last spring, of the same 
age with those whose roots have been shaded, and the fruit upon it has 
been much mildewed and considerably rotted, while the fruit on the other 
vines has been bright and sound. . 
TO .DESTORY- .GRUBS. 
Killingly Centre, Ct. November 28th, 1837. 
Judge Bued, —I have seen a question asked in the Cultivator what 
would kill the grub worm, the answer was salt, lime and soot. I profess 
no skill in agriculture; but one day last summer I saw one of my early 
bush beans was destroyed by the grub worm, the next day there was 
about twenty eaten pff. I then thought I would kill or cure; so I went 
into the house and took one pint of .beef brine, made of clear salt, and 
added four-quarts of water, which I put at the roots of about forty hills of 
beans; after that there was not another bean eat off. Now could not salt 
be mixed with manure, that made use of for corn, to keep off the worms. 
If there could be such a thing, it would be well, I think, to publish it, but 
not make use of my composition. J. FIELD. 
The beans I salted flourished and bore well. 
inquiries Relative to draining. 
Jesse Bued,— Dear Sir,—Without compliments I address you, so¬ 
liciting information on the cultivation of a certain piece of ground, a par¬ 
ticular description of wRich I will give, and in so doing, I shall undoubt¬ 
edly give a description of other land within the circulation of the Cultiva¬ 
tor. The piece of land contains 55 acres 105 rods, north and south; 80 
rods east and west, sloping to the west, falling perhaps six inches in a 
rod, and a little descent to the north. The soil I should call a clay loam, 
with but very little sand in it, very retentive of water, quite full of small, 
flat, soft stone, with some hard grey stone, and I presume not a limestone 
on the piece. The soil is from eight to twelve inches deep, resting on a 
subsoil of clay and stone, impervious to water. On these high lands we 
are subject to very heavy showers, in which water will fall several inches 
deep in a few hours, which, together with the spring and. fall rains, and 
the melting of the snow, occasions a considerable part of it to be so wet 
with surface water, that it is unfit for ploughing. Now I will give my 
opinion of the best manner to carry off this surface water, and if I am 
wrong, my object in writing is to be corrected. It is this: make open 
drains north and south, say twenty or twenty-five rods apart, four or five 
feet wide at the top, and deep enough to go into the hard-pan five or six 
inches, with underdrains at proper intervals, and places to take the w’ater 
down the hill to the west. The object in making the open drains so wide 
and shallow, is that the banks may not cave and, so that I can drive 
through them with a team. 
I wish to inquire what effect lime will have on such a soil, as it is de¬ 
stitute of it? If thought to be good, how is it to be applied? And what 
will be the effect of marl, such as was sent you from Cortlandville, con¬ 
taining in 100 parts, 65 carbonate of lime? and how should that be appli¬ 
ed ? 1 know from experience that the Onondaga plaster has a good effect, 
and think every ton used worth thirty or forty dollars. And I can from 
experience recommend to farmers, to use their manure in their spring, 
and not let it ferment and rot in their yards. 
I had thoughts when I began to write, of making several other inquiries, 
but I fear I shall tire your patience, so I shall conclude. 
Yours respectfully, LUMAN BARBER. 
P. S. The above communication was written before receiving the last 
Cultivator, in which my inquiries respecting my piece of ground are almost 
answered, but not quite; -my piece is destitute of springs,, except near the 
west side. The strata is different; the soilis very light and mellow when dry, 
very sticky and clammy if worked when wet. The subsoil is very hard, 
and rests upon a rock five or six feet below the surface. The rest of my 
