THE CULTIVATOR. 
27 
visaing the works, conceived that improvements might 
be made, that would obviate most of the difficulties ex¬ 
perienced by Mr. Crane, and we are happy to learn 
from the Miner’s Journal, that he has been completely 
successful; his new furnace, worked wholly by anthra¬ 
cite coal, turning out from thirty-five to forty tons of 
good iron per week. As both the quantities of ore and 
coal in that region are apparently limitless, we can see 
no reason why iron to any desirable extent may not be 
produced, and thus our country relieved from one of its 
great sources of foreign dependence. The introduction 
of air, heated by passing through red hot iron lubes to 
a temperature that melts lead exposed to the current, 
instead of the cold air blast, was a great improvement 
in the making of iron, but so far as this country is con¬ 
cerned, it will not produce the effect of the anthracite 
furnace. 
When we look at the immense quantities of iron re¬ 
quired in this country annually, for agricultural pur¬ 
poses, for rail-roads, and the various uses to which it is 
applied in the manufactures and arts, this discovery 
will be viewed as justly a very important one. Illinois 
alone, has lately ordered 500j000 dollars worth of iron 
from Great Britain, for her rail-roads, and many times 
this amount will continue to be required for this use 
alone, in the public works of the stales. We shall be 
gratified if any considerable part of this money can be 
kept at home. __ 
Ktems from our Hotc=J$oott, Ho* 2. 
Butter in Winter. 
We find the following in the Yankee Farmer, andean 
recommend the practice, noticed in it, to the adoption of 
those who dislike butter of the color of lard. We have 
tried the carrot, and know it will perform what is here 
promised. An excess of carrot in the milk, would pro¬ 
bably produce a bad taste in the butter: 
“ When cows are not fed on roots or other succulent food 
in winter, the cream generally produces butter of a light 
color, which greatly lessens the value of the article for the 
market. As the juice of carrots was recommended for giv¬ 
ing a good color to butter, we made the experiment, suppos¬ 
ing that it would be merely a matter of disguise, by im¬ 
proving its appearance, and injuring its flavor; but, to our 
surprise, we found that the carrot juice not only improved 
the appearance of the butter, but added to its quality, by 
rendering it more sweet, rich, and of a finer flavor. There 
was no taste of the carrot in the butter. It may be that 
butter, colored in this way, will not keep as well in hot 
weather, but this can be no objection to the making of win¬ 
ter butter, which is usually consumed in a short time. Al- 
tringham, Long Orange, or any other rich yellow carrots, are 
good for improving butter. Wash them clean, then grate 
them fine, and cover them with new milk; after they have 
stood ten or fifteen minutes, put them into a cloth, and 
squeeze the juice into the cream. Use one carrot, of mid¬ 
dling size, to cream enough for two pounds of butter.” 
Mad Itch. 
In a late number of the Cultivator, there appeared a 
communication from Mr. Harvey Dewey, of Indiana, 
describing a disease which was very prevalent, and very 
fatal among cattle in the west, and which was known by 
the above name ; and requesting, if any cure should be 
discovered, it might be communicated for the benefit of 
the public. We copy, for the information of all inte¬ 
rested, the following, communicated to the Sangamo 
J ournal: 
“ The undersigned takes this method to inform the farm¬ 
ers, and others who raise cattle, that he has discovered a 
cure for the mad itch ; a disease which is often fatally de¬ 
structive to that species of stock. Last winter was two 
years, when I had four cows attacked with the above com¬ 
plaint, and I tried every thing I heard of, to cure them, but 
with no good effect. This wdnter another of my cows took the 
same disease, which I discovered early one morning. And 
as soon as I discovered it, I gave her as much salt and soot, 
as she would lick, and a few hours after, I gave her from 
three-fourths of a pound to a pound of pulverized brimstone. 
In the morning following, I gave her as much salts. The 
cow is now well, and as hearty as any of my cattle. It is 
my opinion that sulphur itself will cure, or sulphur and salts 
given in the way prescribed. The cure was affected in 
about a w'eek. The remedy operates severely, for two or 
three days, as a purge on the animal. 
“ To those who are not acquainted with this disorder, I 
will inform them, that it first comes on with a kind of hic¬ 
cough or jerk, at every breath. The brute jerks itself full 
of wind ; frequently licking their sides and back, occasion¬ 
ally rubbing their heads ; and if not stopped in five or six 
hours, they rub with apparent madness, and continue to 
swell until death takes place, which will be within ten or 
twelve hours after the attack. This cure is from experience, 
and I give it for the good of my fellow-citizens. 
— “ David Simms.” 
Sugar Beet. 
This root promises to become a general favorite, as, 
independent of its value in the manufacture of sugar, 
(of which the possibility and profit, in this country, will 
be pretty fully tested this season,) it is found that for 
the purposes of feeding, it has few rivals. It is, besides, 
on favorable soils, very productive ; 600 or 700 bushels 
being not an uncommon yield. In the vicinity of Phila¬ 
delphia, and in other places, it has been extensively 
used in feeding sheep—making mutton of the first qua¬ 
lity. For milch-cows, experience shows it is exceeded 
by nothing, except the carrot; and the following extract 
from a letter, written by Mr. J. R. Caldwell, of New- 
Windsor, Otsego county, shows they are equally good 
for nigs: 
“ I feel much indebted to agricultural publications for 
the instructions and recommendations laid down in 
them, particularly on the cultivation of roots. I have 
this year 1,100 bushels of ruta baga; 200 bushels of su¬ 
gar beet; 800 bushels of potatoes; and an acre of cab¬ 
bages, which have afforded, and which still afford a 
great deal of the best food for milch-cows. My hogs 
( Berkshires ) are very fond of the sugar beet, on which 
they are fed, and thrive well on them.” 
Buckwheat Straw. 
“A writer in the Farmer and Gardener, says that buck¬ 
wheat straw is better for mileh-cows than the best timothy 
hay, and that they eat it with avidity. But, in order to rea¬ 
lize the above strong assertion, it is necessary that the 
straw be preserved by spiting, housing or stacking, from the 
deteriorating influence ojf rain, &c.”— Practical Farmer. 
The value of buckwheat straw, we are confident, has 
been greatly underrated. If cut as soon as the seed is 
fit for cutting, and well cured, or threshed, and stacked 
while not cured, with layers of dry pea, oat, or wheat 
straw, it will be found an excellent food for cattle or 
sheep, and one which they will prefer to almost any 
other. A friend of ours, who raised a fine crop of buck¬ 
wheat last season, threshed it in the field, and stacked it 
with alternate layers of dry pea straw. At this stack, 
he fed 100 of his sheep, and another hundred on good 
hay. He assured us that the sheep ate the buckwheat 
straw with the greatest avidity, and continued to im¬ 
prove so long as it lasted, but had sensibly fallen away, 
when allowed the pea straw and plenty of good hay. 
Those fed on the buckwheat, were superior in their 
keep, in all respects, to those fed on the hay. The 
buckwheat crop is a valuable one for the seed alone ; 
it may be made still more so, by the preservation and 
use of the straw. — 
Le Conteur on Wheat. 
No individual living, has made as many experiments 
with wheat, has done as much to determine the quali¬ 
ties and worth of the many varieties of this plant, or 
has so well shown its habits, and the soil required for 
its production in perfection, as Le Conteur of the Isle 
of Jersey. His essay on the several topics, connected 
with the management of the wheat crop, is of great 
value to the practical as well as scientific farmer; as 
showing some of the many results he arrived at, in the 
the course of his investigations. He says: 
*• It is perfectly true, however we may account for it, that 
all plants become tired of one soil, and one manure. They, 
like the human race, have their appetites and loathings, and 
a person that would be forced constantly to eat the same 
kind of food, would not only infallibly sicken of it, but 
would, most likely, suffer in his health. So it is with the 
cultivation of wheat, or any other plant. The best cultiva¬ 
tor of Lucerne I have ever known, whose practice extended 
over forty years experience, assured me, that until he adopt¬ 
ed the mode of giving the plant fresh food yearly, he was 
never able to make it produce as he has since done. One 
year it was dressed with decomposed manure ; the next, 
with ashes ; the third, with salt; and the fourth, with lime. 
I have applied this principle, and this system, to wheat. 
That which is grown on land manured from the mixon or 
dung heap one year, becomes seed for land prepared with 
lime ; that again becomes seed for land dressed with ashes ; 
then for land dressed with mixed manures, and so on. Vary 
the food or stimulants of the wheat plant, as much as possi¬ 
ble, hence, giving a good variety every chance of finding a 
new soil, on each occasion, or sowing.” 
Churning Butter. 
Every good housewife knows that at times, from some 
peculiar causes, most generally extra sourness or bitter¬ 
ness of the cream, much difficulty is experienced in mak¬ 
ing the cream into butter. A lady writer in the Indiana 
Farmer, recommends the following course in such cases. 
We have for years used soda, or saleratus, for the same 
purpose, and found them usually successful. 
“ I wish to inform my sister butter makers, of the means 
I used, which so successfully removed the difficulty. I 
churned perhaps three hours, to no purpose, and then tried 
to think of something that I had read in the Indiana Farmer, 
or some other periodical. I could not remember precisely, 
but I recollected the reason stated, was the cream being too 
sour. I then thought of soda, (pearl ash I presumed would 
do as well) and dissolved a large tea spoonful in a pint of 
warm water, and as I poured it in, churning at the same 
time, it changed in a moment, and gradually formed into a 
beautiful solid lump of sweet butler.” 
Hybrid Plants. 
Few species or families of plants show such a dispo¬ 
sition to intermix, and consequently to degenerate, as 
those of the Cucurbitm, or melons, squashes, pumpkins, 
&c. and great care is necessary, where such vegetables 
are grown for seed, or for the market, to prevent such a 
result. When squashes, pumpkins, and water-melons 
are planted in the vicinity of each other, they are sure 
to intermix in such a manner that no dependence can be 
placed on the seeds for producing plants like the origi¬ 
nal one. Last year (1833) we planted on a piece of 
ground, containing only a few square rods, the common 
pumpkin, the seven year pumpkin, the Valparaiso, 
acorn, and crook-neck squashes, and a few hills of wa¬ 
ter and mush-melons. From the seeds of the two fi¬ 
nest Valparaiso and acorn squashes, we have this year 
(1839) grown no less than five different varieties of 
squasites, which are evidently hybrids, or crosses of the 
different sorts that were planted on the piece of ground 
alluded to. This is clear, not only from the color and 
shape of the vegetables, but also from their taste and 
quality, which, with a single exception, are inferior to 
the original ones. In this case, from the number of va¬ 
rieties planted together, it Was difficult to determine 
which kind predominated) Or was the most effectual in 
determining the character of the seeds; still it was suf¬ 
ficient to prove that the utmost care should be taken to 
prevent such mixtures from taking place. 
No where have the effects of these changes or crosses 
in deteriorating vegetables, been more apparent, than in 
the melon markets of our principal cities, particularly 
New-York and Philadelphia. Some of the varieties 
that when first introduced were highly esteemed, have 
become worthless; and the progress of deterioration is 
plainly seen on others. The long striped water-melon 
of Long-Island and New-Jersey, has been one of the 
most delicious of fruits ; but a kind of citron, unfit for 
eating, but in great demand for preserves, has been 
planted with, or near it, until it has been seriously in¬ 
jured. The water-melon has become hard, and has 
lost much of its original flavor, while it has acquired, 
to many individuals at least, the disagreeable odor of 
the citron melon. Gardeners and seedsmen should pay 
particular attention to this point, and, by planting va¬ 
rieties liable to intermix, at great distances, avoid a 
result which threatens to deprive us of some of our 
most valuable fruits. 
Sound Advice. 
The fault alluded to in the following, which we copy 
from an English agricultural work, is not by any means 
confined to that country; and the corrective recommend¬ 
ed, will be found as valuable here as there. It is high 
time the farmer understood that for success he must de¬ 
pend, under providence, on himself, and that, reliance 
on any government for the relief of his wants, is to rely 
on a broken reed. 
Every calm and thinking man must own, that the greatest 
fault at the present day in the English agriculturist, is the 
looking to or trusting to government, rather than each man. 
to his own foresight and laboi. We would assure our breth¬ 
ren of the plow, that it is not in the power of any govern¬ 
ment, to bolster up the state of agriculture.. A wise and 
good government will not enact laws prejudicial to any part 
of the community, and they may be assured that it is not 
forcing wheat to be sold at a sovereign a bushel, or meat at 
five shillings per pound, that will ever make the agriculture 
of the country prosper, or the farmer rich. Is it by the 
manufacturer selling his prints at a sovereign per yard, that 
lie has amassed a fortune ? No— it is the greatest quantity 
produced at the cheapest rate, that makes a prosperous trade. 
If wheat is low in price, let the farmer bestir himself. In¬ 
stead of setting whole evenings, (as many an English farmer 
does) soaking over a cup of cider, ora drop of home brewed, 
while he grumbles, and spells the columns of an old news¬ 
paper, and abuses the government for the 1 great cry and lit¬ 
tle wool’ in the way of help in the agricultural distress, let 
him toss aside the speeches of our would be patriots, and let 
him to the fields and his herds, and see if all be right there. 
Let him remember that if he can grow one or two quarters 
more per acre, he will be in a better position even with low 
prices., than he was before.” 
Cost of Fences. 
“ In a paper in the New-England Farmer, a few years 
since, Mr. Shurtleff estimated the cost of several kinds of 
fences, (and they were taken from his own experiments,) as 
follows :— 
White cedar fence, made of posts and rails, five rails in 
height, three lengths to two rods nearly, cost 91 cents a rod. 
While pine rails sawed two inches by eight, and chestnut 
posts, four rails high, three lengths to two rods nearly, cost 
64 cents a rod. In both these instances the cost was exclu¬ 
sive of the setting. 
Good four and a half feet stone wall varied from $1 to 
$2.50, a rod, according to the ease with which the stono 
could be procured, and the manner in which it was laid, 
whether by trenching or otherwise. 
Hedge fences, made of Virginia thorn plants, ( Crceiegus 
cor data,) set twenty-one to a rod. cost at the end of the 
fourth year, including planting, trimming, &c. 40 cents a 
rod: and this agrees very w'ell with the estimate made by 
Mr. Kiric, of Brandywine, Delaware, who has had more ex¬ 
perience in hedge making, than almost any other man in the 
United States.” 
Fencing materials are becoming daily more scarce in 
large sections of our country, and the best methods of 
constructing fences is becoming yearly a question of 
greater importance. A common rail, or post and rail, 
or post and board fence, will not, on an averge, last 
over fifteen years, the rails decaying, or the posts rot¬ 
ting off at the ground. Red cedar, or yellow locust 
posts, would be more desirable, but they are with diffi¬ 
culty obtained, and cannot be calculated on by the com¬ 
mon farmer for fence. We have found by considerable 
experience with the white cedar or cypress, that, for 
posts, sticks of considerable size are preferable, their 
durability apparently increasing in proportion to their 
thickness. And where gates are to be attached, or in 
other positions where renewal will be difficult, posts of 
eighteen or twenty inches in diameter will be found the 
cheapest in the end. Timely provision for suitable 
fencing materials, is one of the things which no farmer 
can negl ect with impunity. _ 
REMOVAL. 
The office of the Cultivator will be removed early in 
this month, from Washington-streets, to room No. 7, (se¬ 
cond floor) of the New-Exchange, corner of State and 
Market-streets. — 
Cultivator No. 12, vol. 6. 
But a part of the subscribers to vol. 6, of the Culti 
vator, have as yet been supplied with the last number 
of the volume, owing to the delay occasioned by the 
copper-plate printers, who are executing the portrait of 
the late Judge Buel. The subscribers will be supplied 
as fast as the portraits ean be procured. 
