152 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
iDork for tl)E Jitontl). 
Some of the most important labors of the year, are to 
be performed in October, and though they relate more 
to the preservation than to the production of crops, in¬ 
attention to any of the essential things, will detract 
much from the comfort as well as the profit of the 
farmer. 
Potatoes. —Good potatoes may be spoiled by care¬ 
lessness in digging and preserving. The sun should ne¬ 
ver shine on a potato. A few hours’ exposure to the 
sun, turns the surface more or less green, and gives the 
root a bitter unpleasant flavor. When putin the cellar, 
they should be shut out from the light: and if there is 
earth enough mixed with the roots to prevent any circu¬ 
lation of air, they will be the better. Be not over anx¬ 
ious about a little dirt on your potatoes when housed, 
if they are dry, and no root should ever be put in the 
cellar or in a pit when wet, for a covering of earth is 
one of the best methods of keeping potatoes fresh and 
in good order, when in the cellar. Some farmers who 
pride themselves on the quality of their roots, line their 
potato bins with thick turf, grass side out, and when fill¬ 
ed, cover them in the same way. Pitted potatoes are 
fresher and better in the spring than those put in the cel¬ 
lar, for the reason that light and air are excluded by the 
covering of earth. All roots pitted early, undergo a slight 
heating process, which renders it necessary that holes, 
closed with a wisp of straw, should be made in the top 
of the heaps to let the heated air escape. This must be 
thoroughly closed before severe frosts occur. Turneps 
and carrots require this opening more than potatoes, 
though the latter are essentially benefited by the pre¬ 
caution. 
Seed Corn. —Do not trust to chance for your seed 
corn. More failures occur in this most valuable crop, 
from bad seed, than from almost any other cause. Corn, 
especially all those varieties with large cobs, is rarely 
so dry, that when cribbed or piled in masses it will not 
heat to such a degree as seriously injure, if not destroy, 
its vegetative powers. Experience taught us a lesson 
in the matter, a few years since, we shall not soon for¬ 
get. We had a beautiful field of corn which averaged 
between 70 and 75 bushels of corn to the acre, all appa¬ 
rently sound and dry. In gathering it, when a particu¬ 
larly fine ear was noticed, or more than one such on a 
stalk, the husks were stripped down, and when the corn 
was unloaded at the barn, all such ears were thrown in¬ 
to a large tub containing some 15 or 20 barrels, standing 
on the floor. No danger from any source was appre¬ 
hended, and when the whole was gathered, this corn 
intended for seed, was traced up by the husks, and kept 
dry through the winter. On shelling the corn, some 
discoloration of the cob was observed, and planting 
showed to our regret, that while shut from air in the 
tub, the corn had heat to such a degree as to destroy 
its value for seed wholly, and a loss of our crop was 
the consequence. We say, then, gather your seed corn 
carefully, the ripest and best ears, trace it up at once, 
and hang it where air circulates freely, and it will dry 
fully. 
Winter Apples are to be gathered this month, and 
on the manner of performing it, very much of their du¬ 
rability is depending. To keep well, apples should be 
ripe, not bitten by frost, and perfectly dry and clean 
when gathered. The temperature of the place where 
they are kept, should be low, and the air dry. Cellars 
are usually too damp, causing speedy decay. Packed 
in barrels with clean sand, or powdered charcoal, has 
been found one of the best methods of preservation ; 
but there are some apples, such as the Roxbury Russet, 
Baldwin apple, and some of the pippins, that placed in 
bins, in ordinary cellars, will keep until April or May. 
A good winter apple, fresh and crisp, is one of the 
greatest delicacies of our country, and their preservation 
should receive a corresponding degree of attention. We 
may add too, that as the use of steam shortens the time 
of sea voyages, our apples will be in great demand for 
exportation, and may in time become no trifling item in 
our shipments to less favored countries. 
Planting Trees may be performed in this month 
with success; indeed some distinguished nurserymen, 
prefer the fall to the spring for this purpose. Trees 
can be removed in safety after the terminal buds on the 
main branches are formed, as this is a sure indication 
that growth, and the circulation of the sap has ceased. 
In transplanting, trees do better when the ground is 
moist, than when it is either too wet or too dry. When 
too wet, the ground becomes stiffly compacted around 
the roots; when too dry, the young roots become ex¬ 
hausted of their juices, and the tree suffers, if it does 
not perish. 
Manures. —Farmers who have the means, will find 
their account in adding to their stock of manures, by 
carting into their barn yards, muck from swamps or 
places of deposite in woodlands, or even good common 
earth, scrapings of ditches or wash of highways, to 
spread over their yards, to mix with the dung of cattle, 
and absorb and retain the salts that are too frequently 
lost by the waste of the liquid manure. In foreign coun¬ 
tries, the gathering of leaves to spread over the yards 
and litter stables, is extensively practiced, for the want 
of better materials. Here in our deposites of swamp 
muck, we have the vegetable remains of centuries al¬ 
ready decomposed to our hands, and only requiring im¬ 
pregnation with animal salts in our yards, to become 
the most valuable of manures. To increase his ma¬ 
nures by every possible way, is for the interest of the 
farmer, and experience proves there are few methods 
more feasible than this. 
Roots, such as beets, parsnips, carrots, vegetable 
oysters, &c. are frequently thrown into open bins in the 
cellar, and soon become wilted, and deprived of their 
flavor. They should be packed in barrels or bins, and 
the interstices between the roots filled in with sand, 
or sandy loam. In this way their freshness is preserved, 
and they can be kept good throughout the season. When 
used out, the sand may remain for use another year. 
Fire wood. —Is the wood house filled for winter’s use ? 
If not, a loss is certain, first of comfort and patience, 
both of which disappear before a fire of green wood; 
and secondly of time and money in getting and using 
such wood. It is bad policy in every respect, not to 
have wood ready for burning, without being obliged to 
cut and draw a stick at a time, whenever wanted. 
Stock. —October is a month in which such of the 
stock of a farm as is not deemed proper to winter upon 
it, is disposed of; and no little attention is necessary to 
determine this point advantageously. The price to be 
obtained, the cost of keeping, the gains of growth, &c.. 
are to be considered ; as a farmer not unfrequently finds 
that he has disposed of animals he should have kept, or 
wintered such as a moment’s consideration would have 
shown him could give no profit. Animals that are fat¬ 
tening, demand continual care; and an occasional change 
of diet will be found useful when any disinclination to 
food is observed. A small quantity of charcoal given 
weekly to hogs shut in pens, is found to greatly improve 
their thrift and propensity to fatten. 
Fall Plowing is practiced to a considerable extent in 
most parts of the country, and is proper on all soils that 
are heavy and hard to work when wet, as such lands 
usually are in the spring. It is useless to put seeds into 
the earth, when the whole is in hard lumps of several 
pounds weight, and there is no pulverizer of such soils 
equal to frost. When heavy lands are plowed in autumn, 
many weeds and insects are destroyed ; the work is done 
when a farmer’s teams are usually in better condition for 
labor than they are in the spring; and advantage can be 
taken of the first favorable season to put in seeds, a 
thing frequently of great consequence in securing a good 
crop. 
Inquiries, vHorresponhence, #t. 
Barilla or Soap Boiler’s Waste. 
“ Having purchased lately 200 bushels of Barilla from 
a soap maker after he was done with it, paying him $20 
for the same, or ten cents per bushel—I wish to inquire 
of you the best way to apply it as a manure. I want 
to sow six acres of land to wheat, on which I have this 
year had oats, and which is already once broke up. I 
had corn on it last year, and it was limed two years ago. 
You will also oblige me by stating where I can obtain 
some Mediterranean wheat. Job Squier.” 
“ Plainfield, N. ,/.” 
Barilla, or soapers’ waste, has never been much used 
in this country, but in England has for many years been 
one of their most esteemed manures, and vast quan¬ 
tities of kelp, barilla, and soapers’ waste are annu¬ 
ally used in the vicinity of large cities. According to 
Davy, barilla contains of 
Calcareous matter or lime,. 91 
Gypsum,. 5 
Common salt,. 1J 
Carbonate of soda,. 11 
And the principal value of soapers’ waste may be at¬ 
tributed to the lime present from the use of barilla. 
In England, it is principally employed by spreading 
it over grass lands, and is found to be one of the most 
valuable dressings so used. When applied to arable or 
tilled lands, it is considered best made into a compost 
with earth and dung. Some agriculturists reject the 
dung in the compost, as they think the mixture of quick 
lime -with the manure has an injurious effect on the latter. 
When dung is used, that which is fermented is best, and 
one part of this mixed with four parts of good mold, 
and four parts of soaper’s waste, and the whole incor¬ 
porated by repeated turnings. When used alone, it has 
been found most serviceable on lands rather heavy than 
light: and the quantity used varies greatly, ranging from 
50 bushels to 200 per acre. Large quantities of land 
are, however, manured by direct application of the ba¬ 
rilla, or waste, to cultivated crops, or to the lands on 
which seed is sown. According to the British Husband¬ 
ry, the value of a ivagon load of the soaper’s waste, 
is considered by some about equal to five loads of rot¬ 
ten dung. 
In some experiments made by order of the Board of 
Agriculture, the effect of different manures on the po¬ 
tato crop was as follows : 
Plat No. 1, no manure, produced.-. 134 lbs. 
“ 2, stable dung and soap ashes,.... 298 
“ 3, stable dung alone,. 315 
“ 4, soap ashes alone,. 383 
We are unable to inform Mr. Squier where the Medi¬ 
terranean wheat can be procured. 
The Sugar Beet. 
W. S. of Compton, R. I., who makes inquiries respect¬ 
ing the value of the sugar beet, will find numerous tes¬ 
timonies to their utility in feeding cattle, swine, sheep, 
&c. in the preceding volumes of the Cultivator, and oth¬ 
er periodicals of the day. The communication of Mr. 
Guthrie, to Avhich he alludes, is the only case which 
we recollect where their use had not been satisfactory. 
We have fed few of them ourselves, but from the exten¬ 
sive cultivation they are now receiving in Europe for 
sugar and for feeding stock, and the general approba¬ 
tion given them where tried in the United States, we 
have been induced to think very favorably of them. It 
is doubtless true, that when fed to animals, they will re¬ 
quire a mixture of other food, as is usual when other 
roots are given ; as hay to cattle, or corn to swine. Fed 
in this way, the constituents of the roots themselves 
would indicate, that, as experience seems to have pro¬ 
ved, they may be profitably grown and fed to stock. 
Partial failures with all new articles, or in new modes 
of culture, may be expected ; but the skill and perseve¬ 
rance which has enabled the farmer to succeed else¬ 
where, will not fail us here. 
Renovating Grass Lands. 
Messrs. Editors —As your valuable paper purports 
to have particularly in view the instruction of the farm¬ 
er, and having for a long time been gratified with its 
many sound articles, I venture to request of yourselves, 
or some of your contributors, an article upon a theory 
in farming which has for a long time been supported by 
the Editor of the Boston Cultivator (Mr. B.) Mr. B, 
goes on the broad principle that New England cannot 
raise grains, potatoes, beef and pork to advantage, or 
rather, that she can do something else to more advan¬ 
tage, for instance, the great staple of hay: and this he 
thinks, can be done with little or no manure. Mr. B. 
thinks from experience, that grass lands turned once in 
three years, in September after having been mowed, and 
seeded down, will grow richer and better yearly. This 
is what we wish to be satisfied upon. The principle 
that grass does not impoverish land, can it fee supported 
on sound reasoning ? Can fair lands be made to cut 
two tons of hay with the simple enriching of the green 
sward once in three years ? 
Springfield, Aug. 1840. 
Remarks. 
As a general rule, it may be said that the exhaustion 
of any soil is in proportion to the quantity of vegetable 
matter taken from it in cropping. The state in which 
the crop is cut, is however, not without its influence ; 
thus if plants are allowed to ripen their seeds, the ex¬ 
haustion will be efl'ected sooner than if cut green. 
Grass lands return to the earth considerable vegetable 
matter even when mown annually, and generally still 
more when pastured; and we should have little doubt 
that a naturally good soil, might, by the process of 
plowing and reseeding alluded to, be kept in a fine con¬ 
dition for any term of years. We should however ques¬ 
tion whether such a course would be the most profitable 
on lands capable of producing grain, or a rotation of 
crops. We have found that the quality and quantity of 
grass has been materially improved on meadows that 
had been “ bound out,” as the phrase is, so that the 
grass was poor and light, by turning the sward, giving 
a slight dressing of compost manure, and putting on 
with the grass seeds, some spring grain, such as wheat 
or barley. It has been uniformly found in these cases, 
that the grasses were more vigorous, and the crop great¬ 
er after each plowing, and remained so until the clover 
had disappeared, and the sward had become close and 
compact. The roots of the perished clover, and the de¬ 
composed sward when turned, furnish the best pabu¬ 
lum or food for the new sown grasses, and repeated, as 
proposed by Mr. B. would doubtless produce the effect 
anticipated. But we do not advise our New England 
friends to give up the culture of grain, or roots, or de¬ 
vote their “farms to any single crop exclusively; nor 
have we understood Mr. B. as advising this course. 
Exclusive farming is admissible in very lew cases ; 
while a judicious course of convertible husbandry will 
be found the most ameliorating to the soil as well as 
the most profitable. — 
Cement for Buildings. 
“ A subscriber inquires what kind of cement is the 
most durable and best adapted for the outer finish of a 
building, and also the method of its composition.” 
If some of our builders, who are in the habit of 
using such stucco or cement, will give us an account of 
its preparation and use, we shall consider it a favor, as 
the subject is one with which we have little acquaint¬ 
ance. — 
Swarming of Bees, Ac. 
We have received from Mr. Palmer of New-Marl- 
borough, Mass, a paper on the subject of bees, contain¬ 
ing strictures on the article in the July number, on the 
same insect. Its length and desultory nature prevents our 
inserting it entire, but the following extracts will show the 
points on which he differs from ourselves, and most mo¬ 
dern apiarians; and first, on the s warming of bees. He 
says:— 
“ Experience teaches me that a swarm never comes 
out without a place to go to looked out long before 
hand ; for I have myself seen bees clearing stuff from 
a hollow tree, when there was no swarm there at the 
time, but afterwards a swarm occupied the place thus 
cleared out.” 
In the matter of queen bees Mr. P. is altogether a 
disbeliever in their existence; after describing the an¬ 
cient method of destroying bees with the fumes of sul¬ 
phur, hesavs:— 
“ I have time after time looked over the bees that fell 
from the hive into the pit, one by one, and then those re¬ 
maining in the comb, and I never could find but two 
kinds of bees, the common working bee and the drone; 
of course I am convinced there is no such bee as the one 
