92 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Communications* 
Robinson’s Improved Root Steamer.—[Fig. 59.] 
1. Plan of mouth of furnace. 
2. Furnace 4 feet long by 1-J wide outside. 
3. Chimney led off from one side of furnace. 
4. Steam chamber, 4 feet long, 2 high, and 2 wide, made 
tight, of two inch plank, well clamped, and the bottom 
of sheet iron, nailed air tight. 
5. Door, 4 inches shorter than the height of chamber, that 
space being for water. 
6. Car, made just large enough to fill the chamber above the 
water; the wheels should be of iron, and run in a cas¬ 
ing inside of car ; the bottom of car to be made of slat or 
wire work, and hinged to open down ; an iron handle is 
on an outer end of car to hook on to, to draw it from the 
chamber. 
7. The rails laid in the steam chamber and extended out 12 
or 15 feet. 
8. A trough or vat 4 feet long, 2| wide standing directly un¬ 
der the rails, and into which the whole contents of the 
car are emptied, by a single blow knocking the bottom 
open as soon as drawn from the steam chamber. ; 
9 & 10. (not shown). Same kind of troughs. 
Messrs. Editors of Cultivator- —Enclosed I send 
you a very rough draft, of what I hope may prove a 
very useful invention My drawing is necessarily rough, 
for the school in which I got the most of my education, 
had but one scholar and one teacher, and him not ca¬ 
pable of giving many useful lessons in self-teaching, 
and this draft is my first lesson in that most useful and 
most neglected branch of education, which ought to be 
taught in every school. 
The benefits of my “ Rail-Road Steamer” are, that 
all of the very hard and unpleasant labor of handling 
the beet, potatoes or other roots, is saved; and much of 
the labor of filling the steam tub or box in common use 
is also saved. The rails should extend from the steam 
chamber to the potatoe bin, and all the potatoes or other 
roots to be cooked before freezing weather, could be 
kept on a floor raised just high enough for the car to 
run under, and then be filled through a trap door. Hav¬ 
ing three or more receiving troughs under the rails, into 
which the contents of the car would be emptied, would 
enable us to always have one of them cool. 
Whenever it could be so arranged, these cooling 
troughs should be right along side of the feeding troughs, 
only having a passage between. When this is not prac¬ 
ticable, put wheels to them, so that they could be r un 
upon the floor, on rails extending out of the steam house 
to the hog pen. A pump should also stand near the 
steamer, whenever it can be so arranged. The steam 
chamber must also be furnished with two guage cocks, 
one close to the bottom, and one just at the top of the 
water line. 
The plan of this steam chamber, is recommended for 
the cheapness of construction, but steam may be gene¬ 
rated in any other way, and conveyed to a similarly 
constructed chamber. This chamber may be extended 
to any required size, even so that 100 bushels may be 
cooked at once. It will require no extraordinary me¬ 
chanical skill to construct it. The joints should all be put 
together with white lead. The bottom should be made 
of sheet iron, of about 16 to 20 lbs. to the sheet, nailed 
on with broad headed wrought 4 inch nails, so that the 
heads will nearly touch each other. The bottom part 
of the clamp, must be an iron rod of course. If the 
sides of the chamber project 3 inches over the outside 
of the brick work of the furnace, the wood work will 
never burn while there is water in the chamber. While 
in daily use, water must be kept constantly in the cham¬ 
ber, and when out of use, it must be carefully cleaned, 
and a pound of tallow would do no harm, to keep the 
iron from rusting. The door should be made to shut 
into a rabbet, which must be listed with woollen list or 
cloth, which willmake it steam tight. The fasteningof 
the door should be the weakest part. I would recommend 
a weight and pully, so that in case of excess of steam, 
it would act as a “ safety-valve.” The quantity of 
weight, experience would soon give. T he bottom of 
the car may be made of wooden slats, thus,! —1~i —I—I—i 
though I would recommend wove wire, on a frame like 
the sieves of a winnowing mill. The wheels of the car 
must run in a casing on the inside of the car, so as not 
to take up any space outside, and require only a short 
pin for axles. They should not project more than an 
jnch or two below the bottom, and may be of wood or 
ron. The rails may be of narrow inch and a half plank } 
with strips nailed on the sides for flanges, to keep the 
wheels in the track. 
Now, gentlemen, I hope by this description and the 
drawing, you will be able to understand my meaning, 
and that you will conceive the plan to be of sufficient 
importance to induce you to procure an engraving, 
showing the machine and the appurtenances much more 
extensively than I have done, and publish the same in 
the Cultivator, for the universal benefit of mankind. 
I also enclose ten dollars, with which I wish you (if 
you think the invention worthy of it,) to procure a small 
working model of the machine, to be kept in your of¬ 
fice, or such other public place as you may designate, 
for the benefit of those who wish to build. As I do not 
intend to take any patent, and as I am not abundantly 
able to bear the expense, I recommend to all who are 
able, who make use of the improvement, and find it to 
answer a valuable purpose, to contribute sufficient, and 
place it in your hands, to reimburse my expense for the 
above model, and also to make two elegant working 
models, one of them to be deposited in the Patent Of¬ 
fice, and the other to be exhibited at the annual fairs of 
the American Institute. If I may be permitted, with¬ 
out incurring the charge of egotism, I would suggest 
that the machine may he called “Robinson’s Improved 
Root Steamer.” “ With affectionate regard,” 
SOLON ROBINSON. 
Lake C. H. Ind. March 14, 1840. 
FENCING. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —As the spring of the 
year is the time when farmers usually repair their fen¬ 
ces, I have been led to reflect much upon the subject of 
fencing, and the various utensils used for the purpose. 
The state of New-York and our whole country, with, 
perhaps, few exceptions, is greatly deficient in all kinds 
of materials for fence. Stone, in sufficient qualities on 
our best lands, are not found; posts and boards are 
scarce, and at too high prices, and the timber of our fo¬ 
rest have almost wholly disappeared. Hedges, wherever 
tried, has, almost without exception, proved a failure. 
Surely, then, it becomes an inquiry of much importance, 
What are -we to do for fence? My own opinion is, that 
our country must rely principally upon rails, as being 
the most easily raised, and the most durable. The dis¬ 
cussions which have been going on for years, with re¬ 
gard to the best time for cutting timber, have brought 
to light many facts concerning the duration of rails. 
Unquestionably there are now a vast many rails in 
western New-York, which have been in use thirty or 
forty years, and these, too, not of the most durable 
timber. Even basswood rails may be found, which are 
now tolerably sound, that have been laying in fence for¬ 
ty years. If the rails of the least durable timber, by 
being cut at the proper season of the year, will endure 
twenty and thirty years, surely then it is not unreasona¬ 
ble to expect that rails of cedar, locust, and chestnut 
may last even a hundred years. 
Many experiments and suggestions have been pub¬ 
lished in agricultural papers, respecting the raising locust 
and chestnut from seeds, and black ash from sprouts, for 
fence, and the quantity of land requisite to supply an 
ordinary sized farm, and the time necessary for their 
growth. I believe most writers consider twenty-five 
years sufficient. I will set down the quantity of land 
at five acres, to supply a farm of one hundred. Sure¬ 
ly, then, a little forethought and providence for our suc¬ 
cessors may secure our country from that most desolate 
appearance of a land without hedge or fence. Being a 
native of western New-York, and having my earliest 
associations with log houses and worm fences, I confess 
a preference for a rail fence over all others for farming 
purposes. 
My object is not, now, to urge farmers to set apart 
land for raising fencing timber, but to make some sug¬ 
gestions with regard to rail fence, manner of building, &c. 
There are two prominent faults with the rails split by 
the first settlers. They are too small, and many of 
them crooked. I have found an advantage in having 
rails ten and twelve feet in length, as many trees will 
cut to better advantage ten feet than twelve. Rails, 
to be durable, should be sufficiently large to require 
but seven for the highest fence. The manner of laying 
fence is most important to its duration, appearance 
and usefulness. The best rule I have ever known, is 
as follows—Let the line be sufficiently designated by 
ranging stakes; and fiat stones, ol four or five inches 
in thickness,procured for the corners to rest upon. To 
•five a uniform crook to the fence, provide a pole seven 
or eight feet long, well sharpened at the butt end and 
pointed with iron. At about eighteen inches from the 
pointed end, fasten a rod at right angles with the pole, 
and extending three feet four or six inches for rails 
twelve feet long ; but for ten feet rails three feet, or 
thirty-eight inches if much exposed to winds. Place 
this pole in a line with the ranging stakes, and the end 
of the rod will designate the place for the corner. Lay 
the bottom rail which should be large and straight, the 
butt end forward, and the other end crossing the pre¬ 
ceding rail, at the end of the rod of the ranging pole, 
so that the corners on each side be in exact line. Let 
the five following rails be laid the smallest end forward, 
and notched, if "necessary, to make them lie steadily. 
Rails are many times injured by notching. A very 
slight notch will usually be found sufficient. The top 
rail should always be laid like the bottom, the butt end 
forward, and when the fencs is not staked, should be 
large and heavy. A new method of staking fence is 
becoming quite common, and I think it a great improve¬ 
ment. The stakes are placed perpendicular on each 
side of the corner, and united by a cap as it is called. 
This cap is made of plank six inches wide and sixteen 
inches long, having two three inch holes bored through 
it, eight inches apart. 
The cap should be placed on the fourth rail, and the 
rails above it will bind between the stakes, so as to 
render the fence firm and immovable. I have seen 
fence slaked in this way, taken entirely off the ground 
on which it stood, by high winds, and yet had not lost 
its upright position. As a general rule, I think that 
new rails should not be taken to repair old fences, but 
rather let the poorest part of the old fence be entirely 
removed, and its place supplied by a new one. There 
is much advantage in laying over old fences, raising up 
the corners and taking out the defective rails. Many 
an old fence which is now almost useless, by raising 
the corners out of the ground, and putting it in a per¬ 
pendicular position, might do service for years. 
The most prominent objection to worm fence is, that it 
takesup toomuchland. But this is more imaginary than 
real. One mile of fence, even when you own the land 
on both sides of it, only occupies one acre; and this 
acre is far from being lost, as the grass is usually the 
sweetest and most abundant in the corners of it. It is 
true, worm fences, as frequently seen throughout the 
country, present a slovenly appearance; rails poking 
out here and there two or three feet from the line ; 
stakes leaning hither and yonder as if pitched from the 
clouds. Such is not the fence I advocate. 
A fence whose rails are of equal length, whose cor¬ 
ners are in exact line, whose height is uniform, well 
staked with cedar stakes and white oak caps—such a 
fence will add beauty to the landscape; at least will fill 
the eye of every well bred farmer. Yours, &c. 
MYRON ADAMS. 
Ontario Co. April 25, 1840. 
Apple-Tree Worms. 
Caterpillar or Larvce —The worm-like state in which 
insects appear on quitting the egg. 
The species which I shall here treat of, are the two 
brown varieties, inhabitants of this state, which fre¬ 
quently do great injury to the apple and other fruit 
trees, by stripping them of their foliage, and prevent¬ 
ing the setting of the fruits. 
The two kinds which are the most destructive to 
our apple-trees, nearly resemble each other, of a brown¬ 
ish color with two white stripes on the back, a short 
and thin coat of hair, beset with ramified spines. 
When full grown, they vary from two to two and a half 
inches in length, and about the size of a goose quill. 
Both kinds are generated from the ova of a grey but¬ 
terfly, of an oblong shape, cemented together in a band 
by a gluey substance around the twigs of the trees in 
the month of July. The eggs are about the size of the 
silk worm’s, of an oblong form, arranged in a regular 
compact, which forms a band around the small limbs, 
from one-half to three-fourths of an inch in length. 
They remain in this state until April, from which in¬ 
sects about one-eighth of an inch in length, are gene¬ 
rated, as the buds begin to burst, and new leaves are 
putting forth. 
One of the above varieties, rather the smallest in 
size, forms, immediately after hatching, a web or net, 
to protect them nights, and from cold and wet. The 
other variety makes no permanent web or shelter, but 
congregate side by side in one compact. When they 
retire from the foliage, they, like the first variety, let 
themselves down by a fibre from one limb to another, 
or drop to the earth on being disturbed. 
In order to remove the gregarious sort of caterpil¬ 
lars, which are enclosed in great numbers in nets or 
bags resembling strong cobwebs, on the branches of 
trees, take a long, light pole with a band of flannel on 
the small end, and after twisting it in the net, crush 
them on the ground: by this method, vast numbers or 
nearly all of them may be destroyed. If the sxvab be 
dipped in spirits of turpentine, it will destroy all that 
it may come in contact with. The caterpillar which 
forms no web, I have had more experience wiih than 
was pleasant or agreeable to me. In the spring of 
1825, I devoted my whole time with three more hands 
in destroying these worms, from their first appearance 
until they wound up. In an orchard of about one hun¬ 
dred and twenty-five apple-trees, what we killed in the 
space of six weeks, it was estimated that, if they had 
all been full grown, would have filled more than two 
hundred bushel measures. 
This variety had not been noticed with us more than 
two years previous, probably on account of their small 
numbers, and because these nearly resemble those that 
make nests or webs. 
Their direction of travel, when full grown, was north¬ 
wardly. Some of them would traverse over more than 
one mile of departure, no doubt, before they changed 
into the chrysalis. 
These worms, before they were half grown, by jarring 
the tree, or by any sudden noise, would all commence 
wagging their heads, and, if repeated, would swing off 
by a small thread or fibre. 
We commenced, when they first hatched, by destroy¬ 
ing them on the twigs and young leaves, by pressing 
them with the hand, and as they advanced in size, they 
would congregate on the larger branches—we then 
crushed them with paddles. 
When those in the adjacent woods had entirely strip- 
ped it of its foliage, they made a bold attack upon the 
orchard. We were obliged to lay a band of fresh tar 
