130 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
HILLING POTATOES. 
Messrs. Editors —In one of your late numbers, 
(March, I think it was,) you were pleased to notice a 
remark that I had made in a former communication on 
the disputed question of hilling or not hilling potatoes, 
in which I said that both sides were right, and both 
wrong ; the propriety of either practice depending upon 
the kind cultivated, and requested some farther expla¬ 
nation with reference to the different varieties. I am 
acquainted with but few of the numerous varieties now 
before the public as candidates for general preference, 
and therefore my observations must necessarily refer to 
such as I am acquainted with. In order to exemplify 
my position, I will take those two of them which I con¬ 
sider most dissimilar in their habits and manner of 
growth, the Kidney and the Black. It has been obser¬ 
ved and truly, that potatoes do not grow from the roots 
proper, but from fibers or laterals shooting out from 
them; and the great difference consists in their tenden¬ 
cy to form their tubers at longer or shorter distances 
from the parent stem. The Black potato seems possess¬ 
ed of the very spirit of emigration: it is a wide wan¬ 
derer from home. The Pink Eye has the same charac¬ 
ter, but not to the same extent; and yet in them I have 
often observed in digging, the fiber from one hill run 
slightly under the surface and form its bulb in the next. 
(I make small hills, about 2£ feet apart.) But the 
Black is often found 2 feet or more from the stem, so 
that it has almost gone into disuse with us on account 
of the labor of digging. It must be obvious then, that 
with potatoes having such a tendency, drawing the soil 
away at about a foot or a foot and a half from the main 
stem, must be taking it away where it is most wanted. 
Very different is it with the Kidney: they are no wan¬ 
derers ; of short fiber, a sociable family potato, attached 
to their homestead, they are fond of clinging together 
in one dense mass in its center; nourish them there then ; 
give them all the support your soil will afford; ifyo.; 
do not, they wild not wander abroad for it, but will push 
each other till some are thrust out at the top, and with 
their green eyes stare you reproachfully in the face 
I remain yours, WM. BACHE. 
Wellsboro, Pa. April 18, 1840". 
FOWLER, SPARE THAT BIRD ! 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I know of few things 
more calculated to disturb the equanimity of mind, and 
ruffle the feelings of a humane man, one who lives 
among animals and birds, and feels as if they were all 
personal friends, than to see a shock headed, straddling 
thing, calling itself a man, with rusty musket or rifle, 
creeping about our highways, woodlands, or orchards, 
and popping away at the harmless little creatures, that 
give to the landscape half its charms, and to the eye and 
the ear half their pleasures. 
I knoAV these men cannot look upon birds as I do, or 
they would not have to be guilty of homicide, to know 
what the sensations of a murderer are, when they wan¬ 
tonly destroy these creatures of the air. I plead not 
for the hawk or the crow; but for the beautiful song¬ 
sters, that greet the morn with a hymn, flutter over and 
through our meadows and orchards, and exhibit an in¬ 
stinctive happiness that would reconcile the most mor¬ 
bid misanthropist to life and its cares. I never hear 
the song sparrow, that with us is usually the first har¬ 
binger of spring, without a feeling of gladness u that 
the winter is over and gone, and the time of the singing 
of birds is come ;” and this feeling is increased, as day 
after day, the blue bird, robin, tree sparrow, yellow 
bird, bob-a-link, brown thrush, oriole, and swallow, 
successively arrive, and enliven the woods and fields 
with their presence, and fill the air with their music. 
Tell me not that birds have not memories ; that 
when the mysterious instinct compels their migration 
from us, they never return to their loved haunts, or 
again build in the same grove, but go whither accident 
or chance may direct. Only a few days since, I was 
standing in the field, and suddenly I heard the far off 
twitters of the barn swallow, of which not one had 
yet appeared. Away up in the blue sky, I at last des¬ 
cried him, as he slowly and on weary wing descended 
from his long flight, and with a song which could not 
be mistaken but for one of joy that his journey was over, 
he resumed his accustomed place on the ridge of the 
barn. In a few minutes he was joined by his mate, 
and during the hour in which they were resting from 
their weary way, many were the congratulations that 
passed between them. On the spot where for years 
they have built their nest, and reared their young, they 
are now building, and their absence is like the absence 
of friends. 
And what is the crime charged upon these beautiful 
birds, that they are doomed to death by every boy or 
man, who is disposed to show his prowess in shedding 
their blood? Why they eat our cherries, or perhaps 
occasionally peck our trees or our sweet apples. This 
charge is true; but only a very small part are guilty, if 
guilt there is about it; and must all the acknowledged 
harmless species suffer for the act of one or two? 
Where is the man who can accuse the sparrow, yellow 
bird, blue bird, swallow, thrush, bob-a-link, lark, and a 
multitude of others, of preying on his crops or his fruits? 
Yet these are sought after and destroyed with as 
much avidity and hot haste, as the most, predatory ones. 
The urchin or the ragamuffin raises his weapon, and 
the half-warbled song, remains unfinished forever. I 
have a lmitted the charge, but if true in its fullest ex¬ 
tent, would it justify extermination? Is there no good 
dec 1 performed—no services rendered to the gardener 
or the cultivator, which may be plead in extenuation or 
mitigation? I think there are many, and that the good 
they do over-balances many fold, as a strict matter of 
profit or loss, the trifling injuries they produce. The 
robin, the cedar bird, and the wood-pecker, are the three 
of the small birds most destructive to fruit, but these are 
far from being useless. I this morning saw in my gar¬ 
den, a robin hopping along on the ground; soon I saw 
it seize a black grub or cut worm, and in a few mo¬ 
ments another. Those two worms among my melons 
or cucumbers, would have done me more»injury than a 
dozen robins in my cherry trees, and yet these two 
formed but a small part of the worms of various kinds 
this single bird would devour in a day. Of all birds, 
the cedar bird is to me, perhaps, the only one positive¬ 
ly disagreeable; yet I owe to a flock of these birds, that 
made my orchard their home last year, many a bushel 
of beautiful apples, as they fed continually on the can- 
kerworm that at one time threatened the total destruc¬ 
tion of some of my choicest fruit and trees. And the 
woodpecker, while you think he is only amusing him- 
self, by hammering away on your trees, will, if you ob¬ 
serve him closely, be seen ever and anon to thrust his 
long barbed tongue into a hole, and extract a grub that 
was perforating and destroying inch by inch your tree. 
Depend upon it, the woodpecker will not hurt your 
trees, if there are about them no inseets, or decayed 
wood, that requires excision. 
Before you destroy a bird on your premises, or per¬ 
mit any one else to do it, be certain that you are not 
about to destroy one of your most faithful friends. 
Carefully weigh the good and evil they occasion against 
each other; think of the pleasure and instruction they 
afford ; rise on one of our beautiful mornings before the 
sun, and hear from copse, and orchard, and grove, the 
thousand voices of joy and melody that are rising and 
mingling, and if you have a single feeling that belonged 
to man in Paradise, it will not be necessary to repeat to 
you—Fowler, snare that bird ! 
A FRIEND TO BIRDS. 
WOOD LAND. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker—W e can grow wood 
much faster than is by many imagined; and the best 
method is to enclose the wood lands, that the younu 
growth may not be plucked by cattle or sheep. It is 
the common practice with us, to select and cut only the 
decayed trees, which is not so fast nor so good a method 
as it would be to take by rotation on one entire portion 
where an attack is made. The new growth has an equal 
advantage of sun and air. If a man has,20 acres of 
wood land, let him cut clean one acre each year, and at 
the expiration of 20 years, the first cut will be covered 
with a heavy growth, again ready for the axe. But if 
this should be permitted to remain many years longer, 
the food to nourish each tree would not be increased, 
and of course, a struggle would be the result among the 
trees ; the weaker would be compelled to give up to the 
stronger, and the whole growth would be retarded. I 
have observed that the second growth advanced faster 
in an old country, than in a new. The reason that I 
Avould assign, is, that the Avood land, having a chance to 
rest in most soils, a different variety springs up from 
that Avhich Avas preAuously taken off' the same ground, 
and this neAV variety requires different properties, which 
are deposited in the earth to feed upon. If the wood 
recently cut Avas beeclp the young growth may be chief¬ 
ly maple, pine, &c. The different varieties extract dif¬ 
ferent neutralizing qualities from the earth; one pro¬ 
perty being exhausted by clearing the land, it gives 
neAV vigor to another A r ariety. They also reccwe more 
light and heat, and collect more deAV; those vessels by 
Avhich it absorbs the air and moisture on which it feeds, 
are better supplied. In an old country, timber is less 
abundant; that portion remaining also receh'es a better 
supply of the electric gases; electricity being one prin¬ 
cipal agent in fructifying and in the adAancement of 
the A r egetable as Avell as the animal kingdom. 
* In New-England, in those portions of the states Avhich 
haA r e been settled the longest, Avood comes forward 
much faster and of a better quality, than in the neAV 
districts. It has been observed, that trees groAV one 
third faster in the oldest portions of this state, noAv, 
than they did thirty or forty years ago. Nearly all of the 
pine timber has been destroyed in this state ; and it is 
considered a fallacy by most people, to let young groA r es 
remain, with the expectation of being any benefit even 
to the second generation. 
A Massachusetts farmer Avho settled in this town, has 
a quantity of thrifty young pines, Avhich cover a poor 
piece of land ; he has been advised lime and again, to 
cut them doAvn, but he has ever insisted that they Avere 
as profitable, or more so, than any other young groAvth 
that could occupy the ground. TAventy years ago, they 
were all small bushes ; now, many trees stand in this 
grove, which are nearly or quite large enough to saAV 
into fence boards. 
I have a grove of about five acres; the common height 
is from tAventy to forty feet, and as thick as they can 
conAumiently stand. The same grounds were resorted 
to by myself and other children tAventy years ago, as a 
berry lot, with now and then a pine bush. 
Woods intended for timber, should be of the second, 
not of the primitive or forest groAvth ; and those grow- 
ing in thick shade and moist airfare not so hard and 
tough as those Avhich receive the light of the sun and 
free air. The growth of trees should be encouraged 
upon all poor and stony lands, unprofitable for tillage. 
The best timber trees are from isolated clumps and 
belts along permanent division fences; wood and tim¬ 
ber trees, propagated by the road side and along side 
permanent enclosures, is an economical mode of obtain¬ 
ing timber and fuel; gh'ing shelter to cattle and crops, 
and imparting beauty and health to the larm and land¬ 
scape. The rock maple is the sweetest tree in the Green 
Mountain states; the second groAvth has a very hand¬ 
some top, and is profitably cultivated for sugar. 
Glass and grain crops are especially benefited ad¬ 
joining the south side of Avood lands, by the shelter 
they afford in cold winds; and cattle are benefited by 
their shade in the summer. As wood is advancing in 
Amlue for timber, and the fire at home, and as an article 
of commerce, I hope the above hints will draw out 
from other correspondents corrections and valuable in¬ 
formation. Your friend, 
SOLOMON W. JEWETT. 
Weijbridge, Vt. Feb. 23, 1840. 
PREPARATION OF SEED WHEAT. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker—W ishing to render 
some service to the cause of agriculture in this section 
of country, I will state my experiment with wheat. In 
the summer of 1837, having harvested a crop of very 
smutty wheat, and havdng been troubled in the same 
way for several previous years, I determined to try a 
recommendation I had noticed in the CuJliva.or. I ac¬ 
cordingly used the same seed, which Avas A r ery smutty, 
and, folloAving the recommendation, I washed it in strong 
brine, made as strong as salt Avould make it, and then 
rolled it in lime, by laying it in a heap on the barn fleer, 
and sifting the lime on it, and stirring it Avith a shovel 
till I’could make no more stick to it. I soAved about 
nine acres in this Avay, and Avhen I came to harvest it, 
very little smut could be found. I haA r e continued the 
same process every year since, with the same wheat, 
and have neAV eradicated the smut from it. I have re¬ 
ceded more benefit from the experiment than the Cul- 
tHalor cost me. 
The ruta baga is beginning to be raised pretty exten¬ 
sively in this section of country, and is fed to all kinds 
of animals. Hogs eat it in preference to potatoes when 
boiled together. SALMON MUNSON. 
Exeter , Luzerne Co. Pa. April 20, 1840. 
THE PEA BUG. 
Messrs. Editors —Having seen some description of 
the pea bug in the Cultivator, a more particular descrip¬ 
tion of the manner in Avhich they gain access to the pea, 
may not be uninteresting, as erroneous opinions have 
been formed respecting it. The pea bug, it is well 
knoAvn, comes out of the pea in the spring, before or af¬ 
ter planting, and flies about like other winged insects, un¬ 
til the season for them to deposites the nits, thatis,when 
the pea is formed in the pod. The bug thendeposites 
the nits (Avhich are small and yellow,) on the outside of 
the pea pod, which adhere to it by the adhesive mois¬ 
ture they contain. When the pea is about half or two- 
thirds groAvn, these nits hatch a small while worm with 
a black head ; these make their Avay through the pea 
pod, and enter a pea if directly against one ; if not, they 
craAvl on the inside of the pod until they come to one. 
They may be easily discovered before the pea is hard, 
by the small speck on the pea where they have entered, 
Avhere they remain until their transformation. The en¬ 
suing spring they emerge from the pea a per ect insect, 
to continue the general round of propagation. Yery 
early,’or very late peas, seldom have anv bugs in them. 
DAVID KIRBY 
Rye, Westchester Co. N. Y. June 25, 1840. 
CURING HAMS. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —From the commence¬ 
ment of the publication of the Cultivator, I have been a 
constant reader of that valuable paper, and have received 
both pleasure and profit therefrom. 
An article in the January No. of the present volume, on 
page 19, from your correspondent “W. S. T.” on “ Preserv¬ 
ing Hams,” has attracted my notice. 
Your correspondent (probably through inadvertence,) 
does not inform us how much meat his pickle was intend¬ 
ed for, although he says “ and so on in proportion for a 
less or greater quantity, as you may have to save.” 
As I have had some experience in curing hams, as well 
for my own table as for market, and my hams have al¬ 
ways been sought for by those Avho have once purchased 
of me, I will inform you of my method of preparation, 
which is as follows: 
For 100 pounds of ham, I take 6 pounds of Turks Isl¬ 
and salt, 4 ounces saltpetre, 1 quart molasses, or 2.pounds 
sugar—having added water enough to dissolve them, place 
them in a vessel over a slow 7 fire and stir till dissolved and 
brought to the boiling point, carefully skimming off what¬ 
ever impurities may arise; set it away until cold; the 
quantity to be increased or decreased, in proportion, for a 
greater or less quantity of meat. 
As soon as the meat has become perfectly cold, (but not 
frozen,) I pack it as close as possible, in a sweet, and clean 
barrel, and immediately pour the pickle to the meat.; if 
the meat is closely packed, the pickle will cover it. Should 
the pickle not cover the meat, add pure water until it will. 
In four to six weeks, the hams will answer to put into the 
smoke-house, if wanted; if not w r anted so soon, it may, 
Avithout injury, lay in the pickle as many months. 
When taken from the pickle to be placed in the smoke¬ 
house, I by vo means allow a drop of water to touch it, 
but it may be wiped with a dry cloth. I have used com 
cobs for smoking meat, and think them very good, but I 
