THE CULTIVATOR. 
C.- ri^TJ 
timely aid ; but it is bad fortune that we need them. The calamities 
resulting from bad seasons, though not to be averted, may be sensi¬ 
bly lessened, by intelligent industry and forethought; and the fact 
that a nation of farmers are now in a measure dependant upon for¬ 
eign countries for bread, should humble us, and admonish us, that 
we lack either in intelligence to guide our labors, or have not appli¬ 
ed the latter with sufficient diligence. 
Great sale of Short Horn cattle .—The Ohio Company for import¬ 
ing English cattle, sold off their stock on the 29th ult., consisting of 
about 50 head. 21 bulls brought an average price of $824— 
the highest selling at $1505; 22 cows, some of them with calves, 
sold at a little higher average, one of them, with her calf, being bid 
in at $2225. This sale is unprecedented, we believe, for high 
prices, in any part of our country, and speaks greatly in praise of 
improved short horns. 
Chinese Mulberry trees .—We find in one page of the Silk Cultu- 
rist, the following quantities of this tree advertised, as also about 
two millions of plants of the white Italian mui berry. Truly we are 
a propagating people. 
75,000 by W. G. Comstock, Hartford. 
50,000 do. do. 
100,000 by W. Prince &. Son, Flushing. 
75,000 by W. Kenriek, 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 
Joseph Davenport of Colerain. Now allowing each plant to occu¬ 
py 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.— 
The 2,000,000 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. 
J. L. Davison, of Groveland, Ill. is referred, for a figure anil description of 
a Cultivator, to page 49, vol. 2. We expect soon to give a figure and descrip¬ 
tion of Bement’s Cultivator. We shall be glad to obtain the result of Mr. D.’s 
experiments. 
A correspondent, who signs “Orange County,” writes us, as the result of 
his observation, “ that where sward is ploughed early in the spring, and per¬ 
mitted to remain for a length of 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 w'here the sward is in a fresh or green state, they prefer it, 
and the corn crop thus escapes. 
R. W. D. who dates from Chatham, is referred to page 50, vol. 2, for a list 
of agricultural books most deserving his notice The maple, white ash or 
chesnut are adapted to his hill planting—or the apple, to feed his swine and 
SlUCIV. 
T. C. of Lewis, N. J. wishes instructions for fining cider. Will some cider- 
making correspondent give them 1 We can only refer him to our article, on 
cider, in No. 7, vol. 2, of the Cultivator. 
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 germi¬ 
nating principle having been destroyed by frost, before the cob, and conse¬ 
quently 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 at¬ 
mosphere. The pest that Mr. H. describes, is the quick or quack grass, a va¬ 
riety of the agrostis stolonifera. It generally disappears on being pastured 
four or five years. We do not think trench ploughing would eradicate it.— 
The common method 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. 
The letter of Mr. Hawley, inserted under Correspondence, was addressed 
to a respected friend, who kindly lent it to us for publication. It was inad¬ 
vertently omitted in our last. 
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, w hen 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 eaton—when 
157 
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. 
Our young correspondent “ Franldin,” must excuse us for not answering 
his queries Upon self-instruction. The answers might require a volume, and 
at present we should not have time to condense them. He will find most of 
his queries solved in the biographies of Franklin, Fulton, Roger Sherman, 
Ferguson, Herschell, and other self-taught men. They have left a rich legacy, 
in their example, for all young men who aspire to wisdom and usefulness.— 
We commend the spirit which prompted the inquiry; and if persevered in and 
nurtured, it will tend to make our young friend a good if not a great man. 
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 dia¬ 
gonally, 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 opi¬ 
nion of it, vve 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 mak¬ 
ing butter. He keeps his milk in a cool cellar, skims it when clotted, and 
when the butter begins to separate 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 fir¬ 
kin, 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 kitch¬ 
en fire-place, under which a current of air is heated, which passes to his milk- 
room, and imparts to it a proper temperature. 
Silk Spinner. —Adam Brooks, of South Scituate, Mass, a member of the so¬ 
ciety of Friends, writes us that he has invented a silk spinner, which spins 
perfectly well, directly from the cocoons, and that he manufactures 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 for it. The spinner is spoken of by the Maine Far 
mer, as being a very valuable improvement. Mr. Brooks proposes to exhibit 
his machine at Albany, and asks our opinion as to the proper time. We ad¬ 
vise him to exhibit here on the first days of February, as the State Agricultu¬ 
ral and Medical Societies convene then, and the Agricultural Convention, 
should one assemble agreeable to resolution. As regards the latter part of 
Mr. Brooks’ letter, we can offer him very little encouragement. 
_CORRESPONDENCE._ 
Alton, (III.) October 10, 1836. 
Deab Sir, —Through your kind agency, as 1 presume, I received 
the August number of the Cultivator, and the September number of 
the Common School Assistant, for whicli 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 
1 have been unable to bestow much thought on the various and inte¬ 
resting subjects of which they treat, and the few observations that I 
shall take the liberty to make at present, will be confined to two ar¬ 
ticles in the Cultivator, viz: that which relates to beet sugar, and 
that in which agriculture is spoken of as an art, a trade, and a sci¬ 
ence. Since I had the pleasure of conversing with you last May re¬ 
lative to beet sugar, and viewing the very fine specimen which you 
were so kind as to exhibit to me, I have thought much on the sub¬ 
ject, and have availed myself of every opportunity that has occur¬ 
red, (which have been few,) to obtain information on the subject, 
and cannot doubt for a moment, 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 im¬ 
mense 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 maybe 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 consideration the price at which the ar¬ 
ticle 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 a sugar, suitably combined with the fruits, both native and cultivat¬ 
ed, 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 reasonable 
extent, if the beet will produce sugar to the amount, and with the 
