170 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Ilohan Potato. —In our July number, we spoke of the remarkable 
properties of this new variety of the potato, and stated that an es¬ 
teemed friend had obtained a few of these tubers, at considerable 
expense from France. A letter before us advises He received fif¬ 
teen, of the size of common potatoes, very much grown on their pas¬ 
sage, and planted them about the first of June. They were gather¬ 
ed in October, the vines still green, and the product was two bar¬ 
rels; but the crop had suffered from cows, from pigs, and from 
drought; but for these drawbacks our friend thinks he should have 
had five barrels, from the fifteen seed potatoes. He proposes to 
make all the crop he can next summer, and to send the product to the 
seedsmen, that they may be extensively propagated, considering 
them a great acquisition to our husbandry. We have been kindly 
furnished with a brace of tubers, by Mr. Van Benthuysen, who 
brought them with him Tom France. 
Cutting up com. —We find in the Genesee Farmer notable proof 
of the superiority of cutting up corn, over topping if, as is yet the 
common practice, furnished, we believe, by Mr. Gaylord. “ We 
know,” says the narrator, “of two pieces of corn, owned by the 
same individuals, planted nearly at the same time, and both equally 
promising, when their progress was stopped by the frost of the 5th. 
One of the pieces was immediately topped, and the other was, as 
soon as possible, cut up by the bottom and stacked. They were 
both husked a short time since, and the owners assured me, that, 
contrary to the expectation of many who witnessed the different 
modes of curing, they should get at least one-third more sound corn 
from the cut up, than from that which was topped and left on the hill.” 
How much sound corn has, according to this test, been lost to the 
state, by persisting in the old mode of topping corn, and how many 
thousands of dollars might have been saved by a different course ! 
A little hook farming would have explained the cause of this wonder 
—would have satisfied our farmers, that the true food, which en¬ 
larges and matures the corn, the elaborated sap— always descends, 
but never ascends: that by topping corn, no secretion take place in 
the grain after the leaves above are cut off-—and that we immediately 
deprive it of further nourishment, while by cutting up the entire 
stock, the grain continues to draw sustenance, for some days, from 
the leaves and stock above it. A plant can never increase in size 
above its upper leaves. Strip the leaves from a branch, and you 
stop its growth until new leaves are unfolded, and if there is not 
vigor enough in the plant to unfold them, the limb dies. As a fur¬ 
ther proof that the stock feeds and ripens the grain, after it is cut 
at the ground, we state a fact recently communicated to us. Mr. 
Hoyt, of this city, cut some corn at the ground for experiment, last 
fall, while the grain was in the milk, and before it had become even 
partially glazed, and after it had been cured in stook, he planted some 
of it, and ten-twelfths of it grew. 
Potash from the Beet. —M. Dubunfaut, a French chemist, has dis¬ 
covered that the beet, after extracting the sugar and molasses, will 
yield good potash, but whether from the residuum of the molasses, 
after distillation, or from the pommace, we do not understand. The 
product is about one pound from 100 pounds of the beet root. At 
this rate of yield, the beets annually manufactured into sugar in 
France would afford about 15,000,000 pounds potash, worth from 
eight to nine millions of francs, or from one and a half to one and 
three-quarter millions of dollars. So say the prints. 
Fine Arts at Geneva. —M. de Condolle, the celebrated Botanist, 
had borrowed from a Spanish gentleman a very valuable collection 
of drawings of American plants, from which he was lecturing. He 
announced to his hearers that the collection had unexpectedly been 
sent for, and expressed his regret at the circumstance ; on which 
the ladies, who attended his lectures, offered to copy the collection. 
The drawings, 860 in number, and filling 13 volumes, were actually 
copied in a week, by 114 female artists ; this number volunteering 
in a city containing a population of but 14,000. The fact speaks 
highly favorable of the progress of this elegant art among the Ge¬ 
nevese, and of the spirit and taste of the female portion. It is well 
enough to say here, that drawing constitutes a branch of education 
in Prussia, Bavaria, Wirtemburgh, and in many other of the Ger¬ 
man states, even in the primary or common schools. It is not only 
an elegant, but a useful accomplishment, in every department of life, 
and it is one which might, with great propriety, be more extensively 
cultivated among us. It affords instructive recreation to the young, 
in hours of relaxation, when the mind most wants light and useful 
employment. 
CONDENSED ARTICLES. 
Inventions. —At the late Kennebec fair, several new implements 
and machines were exhibited, which are favorably spoken of. We 
abstract from the Maine Farmer a notice of the following. 1. Pitt’s 
Sttme Cutler —a machine moved by water, steam or horse power for 
dressing stone—which performs the work well, and greatly abridges 
manual labor. 2. Two Cultivators. The committee speak highly 
of the utility of these upon the farm. We are pleased to see them 
coming into more general use. 3. An Augur for boring for marl. 
Whatever tends to the discovery and application of marl, promises 
to be useful. 
Rat Stopper. —A correspondent in the Maine Farmer recommends, 
having efficiently tried it, the deposit of a stratum of blacksmith’s 
cinders where rats make their holes in cellars or under walls. They 
cannot penetrate it. 
To relieve cattle choked with apples, Ape. a correspondent in the 
same paper recommends drawing out the tongue of the animal and 
putting a small quantity of gunpowder down the throat. It causes 
the animal to cough violently, and throw out the obstruction in the 
passage. 
Bee-hives, on improved models, so constructed as to enable the 
proprietor to take honey at pleasure, without destroying the bees, 
are so common, as to leave no excuse for longer employing the old 
hives, which render it necessary to destory the bees in order to get 
the honey. We have heretofore spoken of Perkins’ patent. A 
swarm of bees put into one of these in June, has accumulated, by 
computation, 150 pounds of honey. We have received a pamphlet 
on the management of bees, comprising tl e description of a patent 
hive, invented by Mr. John M. Weeks, of Salisbury, Vt., which 
! evinces, in Mr W. a familiar acquaintance with their habits, and 
| the best modes of management. 
Sugar is said to contain more nutriment in a given bulk, than any 
, other known substance.— Parkes. 
Buckwheat straw. —A writer in the Farmer and Gardner insists, 
that buckwheat straw “ is better for milch cows than the best timo- 
j thy hay, and that his cows eat it with equal avidity.” Of course, 
to be palatable and nutricious, it should be taken care of and housed 
or stacked, and not left exposed to the wasting influence of storms, 
in the field or yard. 
Product and proft of a crop of Ruta Baga. —R. Gordon tells us, 
in the Farmer and Mechanic, printed at Cincinnati, that he has, the 
last year, raised 1,510 bushels on an acre ; that he has fed his cat¬ 
tle upon them; that he fed one pair of working oxen with two bu¬ 
shels of ruta baga, and another pair with a bushel of Indian com, 
(we presume a bushel of ears,) per day ; and that he is satisfied two 
bushels of the Swedes are better than one bushel of corn for working 
oxen, or other neat cattle. Here then an acre produces of cattle 
food what is equivalent to seven hundred and fifty-five bushels of corn 
in the ear, or 3771 bushels of shelled corn ! If after this our farmers 
do not believe in the profit of the ruta baga crop, why then—let them 
disprove it in practice. We often miss in our corn crop, and other 
crops ; but this does not prevent our trying again, because we know 
we can succeed. Let us show the same perseverance, though we 
fail once, in the culture of a crop, which there is much evidence to 
believe, will ultimately become very profitable. We have kept six 
oxen more than three months, and in the mean time fattened them, 
upon ruta baga and a little hay—they would eat nothing else. 
They did not even require water. 
We invite an attentive perusal of Mr. Ball’s communication in 
to-day’s Cultivator. Mr. Ball is a young men, and we believe was 
brought up to mercantile business. It will be readily seen that he 
has taken hold of his new business in the right spirit, and with the 
prospect of brilliant success, and that mind, and system, and capital 
are all made to combme to increase the profits of farm labor. Mr. 
B.’s method of keeping a journal, so that he can at once ascertain 
the profits of any field or any crop, is worthy the adoption of all who 
have any ambition to excel. Mr. B. has rendered a valuable public 
service in making this communication. We accept, with great plea¬ 
sure, Mr. B.’s offer, and shall look, with interest, for its fulfilment. 
In speaking of the short summers in the higher regions of Swe¬ 
den, a traveller remarks, that “ when the snow begins to dissolve, 
the inhabitants are in the habit of strewing charcoal over the snow, 
with the view of attracting the rays of the sun, and thus hastening 
the preparation of the soil for seed.” 
