THE CULTIVATOR. 
145 
11 forty feet one way and forty feet back again, but not 
built yet.” The Doctor never sat his foot in Florida 
until Ion? after the commencement of the Indian war, 
and his colony consisted of plants sent from Campeachy 
to the light house keeper at Cape Florida, who planted 
them in his own vegetable garden, on the mainland, 
ten miles from the island, where he lived, and still far¬ 
ther from any other inhabitant. These plants were left 
to themselves when the war commenced. But the in¬ 
habitants who lied from their houses at that time, were 
as unconnected with Dr. Perrine and his plans, as were 
yourselves. 
The Tropical Plant Company originally consisted of 
three directors, to wit: Dr. Perrine and two others, one 
of whom now lives in Texas, the other at Indian Key. 
And the Doctor is now not only the superintendent of 
the company, as he styles himself, but literally the com¬ 
pany itself. 
Neither had the Doctor any agency in the improve¬ 
ment of Indian Key; and it is but justice to Capt. Hous- 
maist to say, that he, unaided, and at great expense, 
made Indian Key what it is—a beautiful little island 
village, long before the Doctor ever saw it. 
In conclusion, I must observe, that my remarks apply 
to the islands and not to the main land of South Flori¬ 
da ; for there is a vast difference between the two in 
soil and native productions, as well as the amount and 
frequency of rains. Yours, &e., 
July 25, 1840. L. W. SMITH. 
THE RYE CROP INJURED BY RUST. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— Throughout the whole 
county of Burlington, N. J. the rye crop is seriously in¬ 
jured by the rust. It was promising in the early part 
of the season, indeed the old saying was rife “ that it 
was too forward to do well.” The stalks are generally 
large, as well as the heads, but they are very uneven, 
denoting imperfect or irregular filling. It was in early 
bloom, the dust or pollen was observed to be meager, 
as Avell as at long intervals. We have had much wet 
and cold weather, one cause of this, and which is ge¬ 
nerally injurious to this grain crop. But the greatest 
evil that has befallen it; is the rust, by some called 
the blight. I am induced to believe there is not a sin¬ 
gle isolated acre of rye in the whole county, exempt 
from it; as far as my observation extends, it is to be 
found on almost every stalk, whether of sporadic growth 
or otherwise. It is estimated that the average crop will 
not be more than a half one, (seven bushels per acre.) 
It exists upon the leaves, stalks and heads, taking from 
the plant the substance necessary for the ripening of the 
berry. For this end, it is important that the leaves and 
stalks should be healthy. 
Should the leaves only be injured, then seed will be 
produced, but not in such a perfect state; but whenever 
any plant is deprived of nourishment, or its healthy func¬ 
tions interrupted, we may naturally suppose that the 
fruit will be imperfect and in no great abundance. It 
has been the means of hastening harvest, near a fort¬ 
night sooner than usual. Ten weeks since our rye 
fields looked as if they had been scorched; the leaves 
mostly destroyed. 
Rust is of fungus growth, a parasite, subsisting on 
living plants, and when too numerous, destroying or 
consuming the vital substance of the plant. It is the 
Uredo linearis, (yellow grain rust) and appears general¬ 
ly in June. Botanists give the following specific cha¬ 
racters of the genera Uredo: epidermis of the leaf, form¬ 
ing a pseudo-peridium. Seeds one celled, free, mostly 
globose: And of the species linearis linear, very long ; 
stained yellow, at length but obscurely colored. Found 
on the culms and leaves of rye, barley, oats, wheat, &c. 
It is annual,and forms its sporules in June. The seeds 
are very minute, are distributed by the winds, adhering 
to the plants tenaciously, grow with an amazing rapidi¬ 
ty, becoming perfect for reproduction in a few days, 
multiplying abundantly. It is in its simplest form, “ lit¬ 
tle articulate filaments, composed of simple ailetus, 
placed seed to seed.” It is also leafless, and flowerless, 
(at least not visible, and has no cotyledonous seeds, 
but a grain like body as a substitute for seeds,) lying in 
the substance of the plant, (called sporules) without 
any covering analagous to cotyledonous seeds. 
The aphylas or fungus tribe of vegetables is a re¬ 
markable one. They grow in air, on decayed animal 
and vegetable productions. From their singular appear¬ 
ance, quick succeeding growth, vast quantities, extend¬ 
ing over a great surface of country, appearing suddenly 
after a heavy thunder shower; they have been consi¬ 
dered by some as meteoric, by others as fortuitous de¬ 
velopments of vegetable matter, called into existence by 
special agents, air, heat, moisture, earth, &c. They 
certainly grow with a rapidity unknown in other plants. 
But this theory has been exploded by the array of facts 
and argument of M. Tiers, the celebrated cryptoga- 
mist of Sweden. That able writer contends, that repro¬ 
duction is produced by means of the sporules of the 
plants, but that certain conditions of air, heat, moisture, 
soil, &c. is necessary for their germination; indeed such 
appears to be the case in the appearance of rust fun¬ 
gus. This year it is universal through this county, 
when years prior it was seen only in spots. What defi¬ 
nite state of air, heat, &c. or combination of elements 
is positively necessary for reproduction in this singular 
species of plants, science has not yet defined to us. 
Can you give any information respecting a tribe (by 
far too numerous,) of insects, vulgarly called rose bugs. 
It has not yet been my fortune to meet with any infor¬ 
mation, touching their organization or habits ; they are 
very destructive, and attack our early fruits: they ap- 
appear to be partial to sweets, preying on the rose, 
hence I suppose their name, rose bug. With me, the 
cherry, grape and honey locust, are the most injured ; 
the fruit has the preference. Respectfully yours, 
J. N. KEELER. 
Mulberry Farm, June 14, 1840. 
EXPERIMENTS IN THE USE OF PLASTER. 
Esteemed Friends —The 7th No. of the 6th Vol. of the 
Cultivator, contains a letter from me on the subject of ap¬ 
plying plaster to clay lands, and a recommendation that at 
least one individual in each of the Senate districts of this 
state, and as many more in the United States, as felt dis¬ 
posed to do so, should, during the present year, try an ex¬ 
periment with a view of settling some of the questions in 
dispute, respecting the circumstances under which plaster 
is beneficial to clay land. I hoped that some of your ac¬ 
tive and zealous correspondents, who know the necessity 
of more accurate knowledge on the subject than we possess 
at present, would have been induced to try the experiment 
in the manner proposed in the letter above referred to ; but 
as I have seen nothing in any of the agricultural journals 
on the subject, I fear the plan has not attracted that at¬ 
tention from farmers, which in my opinion, it richly merits. 
As a single experiment is liable to so many fallacies, it is 
obvious that a general law cannot be deduced from it; yet 
I have thought that my results might be worthy of record, 
as a means of comparison to future experimentalists. 
Last fall, I measured with a surveyor’s chain, on a piece 
of clay land, ten square rods, as in the annexed diagram, 
each square containing one rod : 
West. 
South 
1 
3 
5 
7 
9 
North. 
2 
4 
6 
8 
10 
East. 
The ground slopes from south to north, 2 feet 3| inches, 
and from east to west, 1 foot 6 inches. 
On the 18th of 3d mo., nine hours and fifty minutes af¬ 
ter the full moon, I sowed half a pint of plaster on No. 1. 
The frost w T as entirely out of the ground, and a moist snow 
had fallen the day before, and remained on at the time of 
sowing ; the wind at the time of sowing, was south. 
4th mo. 3d, twenty-two hours and four minutes after new 
moon, sowed half a pint of plaster, on No. 3 ; ground wet, 
wind strong from N. W. 
4th mo. 16th, six hours and one minute after full moon, 
sowed half a pint of plaster, on No. 5 ; ground much drier 
than when No. 3 was sowed—a gentle breeze from the 
north. 
5th mo. 2d, thirteen hours after new moon, sowed half a 
pint plaster on No. 7; ground drier than before; wind 
south. 
5th mo. 18th, forty-eight hours after full moon, sowed 
half a pint of piaster, on No. 9 ; ground quite dry ; wind 
N. W. 
7th mo. 18th.—This afternoon mowed the 10 squares as 
closely as possible, care being taken that all the grass was 
kept in its own square. 
21st.—Early this morning, weighed the hay as follows: 
No. 1, 19 lbs. No. 
2, 184 lbs. 
gain 
from plaster, | lbs. 
No. 3, 254 “ No. 
4, 22i .. 
*4 
44 44 
3 “ 
No. 5, 23i “ No. 
6, 214 “ 
44 
44 44 
24 “ 
No. 7, 22£ “ No. 
8. 21| “ 
44 
44 44 
4 “ 
No. 9, 28 “ No. 10, 21 i “ 
44 
44 44 
64 “ 
118i 
1054 
Gain, 
134 
At the first glance, it would appear that No. 9, which 
was plastered at the time of full moon, in the 5th mo., gave 
the most favorable result, but the result is rendered ambig¬ 
uous by the fact noted at the time of sowing, that the 
ground was much drier than it was at the time when the 
previous squares were plastered. A multiplication of simi¬ 
larly conducted experiments would settle this question con¬ 
clusively. 
It appears from the above, that every square that was 
plastered, produced more hay than those which were un- 
plastered. I have not yet been able to spare time to ana¬ 
lyse the soil, but shall do so before long, when I will send 
you the results. I have not deemed it necessary to bur¬ 
then your columns with a meteorological register; as each 
academy in the state is obliged by law to keep one, there 
will be no difficulty in obtaining one hereafter, should it be 
required for comparison with future experiments. 
Very respectfully your friend, N. N. D. 
Stockport, 8th mo. 10tA, 1840. 
Gapes in Chickens—Treatment of Fowls, &c. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I was absent from 
home two weeks in June, and on my return, found one 
litter of my chickens had the gapes. While absent.I 
saw a friend giving chickens assafoetida for the gapes, 
which he assured me, he had used successfully for two 
seasons. On examining, I found the diseased chickens 
all had more or less lice upon them. By applying lard 
as before recommended, and giving a quantity of assa¬ 
foetida, pounded fine and mixed with Indian meal—pur¬ 
suing my usual course of treatment with chickens in 
feeding &c.—I had the satisfaction of soon seeing all of 
the litter entirely free from gapes, except one, which 
was nearly dead on my return, and which died soon af¬ 
ter ; that, on examination I found had a red worm, much 
resembling the common earth worm, nearly an inch in 
length in the wind pipe, and perhaps more, had I ex- 
I amined deeper. 
The remedy of your correspondent, Mr. Westfall 
must be the only successful one, if indeed that is, when 
the strength of the chicken is nearly exhausted. 
If fowls are from necessity kept housed in the sum 
mer, they will continue to lay nearly as well as when at 
liberty, if they have access to sand or gravel and wa¬ 
ter, provided they are well supplied with corn, oats, 
boiled potatoes, &c. and have thrown to them egg shells, 
fresh grass, burdock leaves and the like, to afford ma¬ 
terial for shells. This fact I know from demonstration. 
My hen house is without a floor, and the ground within 
I occasionally spade up, to give the fowls worms, with 
which they thrive far better than without. Fowls that 
have been shut up, if properly attended to and fed the 
same quantity of food as when at liberty, will be found 
to be, when killed, much the fattest. 
Yours, &c. J. R. S. 
BLOODY MURRAIN IN CATTLE. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— In the Cultivator for 
July, I observe a communication by J. Baxter, M. D., of 
Ohio, on the subject of “ Bloody Murrain in Cattle.” 
Farmers generally have but little knowledge of the dis¬ 
eases of cattle, hogs, or horses, and more frequently kill 
than cure, when they attempt to apply a remedy. Rela¬ 
tive to the bloody murrain, it is considered a fatal disease 
in most, if not in all cases, and attempts at a cure, howe¬ 
ver desperate, are therefore not unwarrantable. 
Some years since, a likely cow of mine was violently at¬ 
tacked with this disease, and I applied what had been re¬ 
commended to me as a dose that would kill or cure in one 
minute’s time ; this was clear cold water poured down her 
throat in as large a quantity as could be forced down, say 
two or three common buckets full. In this case the relief 
was immediate, and the cow walked off at once, to all ap¬ 
pearance perfectly restored. This circumstance took place 
in the heat of summer, say in July or August, and we 
continued to milk the cow until late in the fall. Early in 
the winter she failed to come up, and our searches for her 
were fruitless. In the spring her bones were found in a 
bottom prairie. Whether her death was occasioned by a 
return of the same disease or not, we had no means of de¬ 
termining. 
This case, however, may be considered as corroborating 
Dr. Baxter’s theory, the cold water giving relief by check¬ 
ing the effusion of blood. In a disease so desperate, there 
can be no hazard, however, in applying this remedy, by 
such as may have confidence in it. 
Very respectfully, yours, WILLIAM S. WAIT. 
Greenville , III., August 6, 1840. 
Chimneys and a Substitute for Brick. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —If ymu please, you 
may insert the following description of a kitchen fire¬ 
place ; the back four feet in width; jambs, two feet in 
depth at the bottom, and ten inches flare in each jamb ; 
the mantel piece four feet high from the hearth ; the 
back to be carried one foot higher than the lower edge 
of the mantel piece, with an inclination forwards of ten 
inches in five feet; the inside of the mantel piece to 
fall back ten inches in one foot, which will bring it level 
with the back; this forms the flue and dralt. Com¬ 
mence the tunnel by contracting the sides a little if ne¬ 
cessary, and carry the front wall straight up ; fall square 
back eight inches with the back, and then carry it 
straight up, and you will have a chimney that will be 
convenient, give out the heat well and will not smoke. 
To those who have not brick handy, I would say 
that a chimney, equally good and durable, can be made 
of dry clay, in its natural state. I have built a number, 
though a farmer; and will tell you how it is done. 
Make a strong frame on the outside of the back and 
jambs, and the inside of the tunnel, and then secure the 
inside as you proceed ; that is for a jamb, for instance 
setup a strong plank in front of the required width; 
take a piece of plank two feet long, one foot wide, and 
place it in the shape you want the jamb; secure it 
strongly ; throw in clay that will pack by pounding, and 
not be sticky or soft, three or four inches in depth at a 
time, and pound it solid; then throw in more and pound 
it till you get as high as the tunnel; you will then work 
outside in the same way. When done and dry, you may 
take down your frame and burn out the chimney smart¬ 
ly, and you will have a good chimney. Ten dollars will 
build a good loghouse chimney, if the clay is handy. 
Hadley, Mich. 1840. R. C. 
RHUBARB FROM SEED. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker—I am of opinion that who¬ 
soever relies upon getting rhubarb of any particular kind 
from seed, will assuredly be disappointed. I am led to 
this remark, by observing in a late number of the Cultiva¬ 
tor, an inquiry as to where seed of the Giant Rhubarb, 
can be obtained. I have seedling plants of rhubarb pro¬ 
ceeding from the seeds of a. single plant, and there are none 
of the plants that resemble the parent, nor are there two 
among the about two hundred, that are precisely alike, and 
this circumstance, together with information given me, as 
to this point, by a most intelligent friend and neighbor, in¬ 
duced me to import rhubarb roots of the Giant and To¬ 
bolsk sorts, from London, last spring. They grow very 
finely, and will have some seed next year, and this I shall 
give to any body who may desire some; and from it, some 
good and valuable plants may be produced, but none, I ve- 
rily believe, that would satisfy any man who desires the 
true sorts. G. W. 
Brooklyn , N. Y. August 12, 1840. 
