THE CULTIVATOR. 
50 
Discordant Subjects among the Farmers. 
The Use of Lime. 
Messes. Editors— Although the agriculturists of the 
other great divisions of the earth, have availed them¬ 
selves for centuries, (Pliny informs us that lime was 
used as a manure by the Romans, the Gauls and the 
Britons in his time,) of the extraordinary virtues of this 
mineral, to improve the soil or prevent exhaustion, and 
it-is now being applied lavishly by the very best farm¬ 
ers of our country, with incalculable advantage on every 
variety of soils, yet the mass of the people of the United 
States, are obstinate skeptics with regard to its fertili¬ 
zing properties. We admit some agricultural districts 
continue very productive without any application of 
lime ; but these soils all, either are found to contain a 
due proportion of carbonate of lime, or they are plenti¬ 
fully supplied by their owners with animal manures, 
which contain the necessary alkaline substances for ve¬ 
getation ; however, the addition of lime, still would 
produce wonderful effects eventually. Lime being an 
essential constituent of the pabulum of plants, none per¬ 
haps requiring in their organization a larger proportion 
of lime than wheat; without lime being contained in 
the soil, gluten, an important component property in 
the grain of wheat, cannot be formed ; hence the ne¬ 
cessity of supplying soils which have been exhausted, 
or have been in their natural formation destitute of car¬ 
bonate of lime. It is just as necessary as to furnish fowls 
with lime and silex, in the absence of which their eggs 
would be laid without shells. Why then, is it, that the 
farmers of New England, and indeed many in this and 
other States, cannot grow wheat on soils now, which 
yielded golden harvests to their orignal pioneers ? The 
reason is plain and incontrovertible ; the farmers have 
exhausted their soils of the necessary constituents of 
wheat, and especially lime ! So let them supply the de¬ 
fective material at any reasonable expense, and their 
lands will produce as formerly. Eventually the farm¬ 
er’s success and prosperity will almost hinge on the 
regular and judicious application of lime, or other alka¬ 
lies, in its absence. — 
Beets or Boots for Stock. 
On this subject, our farmers appear to be fairly con¬ 
fronted. I too, have been prejudiced in their favor, 
and gave them a fair trial, using them as a collateral 
food, in addition to plenty of other feed. I valued them 
fed with corn fodder and timothy hay,to act as an aperient 
with dry fodder. But I have since substituted the aug¬ 
menting for the depleting system, so far as hay is con¬ 
cerned ; I now make nearly all clover hay, on the highly 
improved method adopted by Judge Buel, and the same 
mode has been still longer adopted by an old obscure tho’ 
discerning and extensive German farmer in this county, 
west of Lancaster, whom I could wish sufficient educa¬ 
tion to record his experience in the cultivation of the 
soil. I can bear ample testimony to the superiority of 
clover hay thus made, preserving the flower, blade and 
stem sweet and fragrant without waste. It requires no 
opening medicine like timothy, to keep the hide from 
adhering and growing to the ribs, to say nothing of its 
superior ameliorating properties to the soil. The idea 
of an acre of land which would make two tons of hay, 
producing from fifteen to twenty tons of beets, held out 
bewitching inducement to “ go in” for beet culture, but 
finding that they afford a mere condiment to stock, and 
relying on the representation of chemists, that the com¬ 
mon sugar beet contains 85 per cent of pure water and 5 
of pithy or ligneous substance to 10 per cent only of nu¬ 
triment, I have concluded that a very large quantity of 
beets afford a very small quantity of real nutriment, 
and that they have a fictitious value. Potatoes contain 
20 to 25 per cent of nutritive matter, carrots and pars- 
neps 9 per cent, and ruta baga 6 to 7 per cent of sac¬ 
charine matter. So that potatoes will actually afford as 
much nutriment although they yield less quantity. And 
here I may be permitted to draw a parallel; the farmer 
who extirpates the necessaries of life from his grounds 
to make room for the operations of silk culture, certain¬ 
ly substituted the luxuries for the necessaries of exist¬ 
ence'; so with the present mania for root culture, (pre¬ 
supposing present expectations will be realized,) we 
find the effort actually made to force mother earth, to 
produce exuberant root crops, in addition to the usual 
crops of corn, in order that the farmer’s stock, which 
usually subsisted on a portion of the corn crop, may 
now live on roots, to make the whole corn crop a sur¬ 
plus, and the quantity then, necessarily in market, pro¬ 
duce such depression in the price that instead of being 
used as formerly, it will be abused in distilling that mis¬ 
chievous liquor, called blue ruin or whiskey ! Now, I 
verily believe that the farmer who will take the same 
liberal means to force a large corn crop, on an acre, will 
obtain as much and a “ leetle ” more, solid nutriment, 
than can be obtained from beets on the same ground, 
and that too, with far less expense and trouble. The 
truth is evident, that if the agriculturists of Europe 
could raise Indian corn (it will not mature in Europe,) 
with the same facility we do, we should hear nothing 
from the other side of the water, on the importance of 
their root culture. — 
Mildew. 
Theorists, from Sir Humphrey Davy down, generally 
adopt the opinion that mildew or rust, is produced by a 
parasitic plant; here, until more tenable argument he 
advanced, or additional discovery made, T am compell¬ 
ed to join issue. Having cultivated for ten years, up to 
the present time, a wheat farm, to the exclusion almost 
of other grain, I profess to be as familiar with the 
growth and every thing attending that crop, as it is pos¬ 
sible for experience and close observation to make us. 
I hold, that rust or mildew, in addition to atmospheric 
influence, is the effect of a forced maturing or ripening 
process. Wheat late sown, or that grown consecutive¬ 
ly on exhausted land, as well as all wheat which is in¬ 
jured by the Hessian fly, is most exposed ; in the latter 
case, the main stock, though injured, puts out at its 
root, tillered branches, which mature in favorable sea¬ 
sons, but in unfavorable, become the certain victims of 
mildew, being backward, the sap vessels are ruptured 
by forced ripening ; then if wheat be in any case injured 
by a parasitic fungus it may supervene more as the ef¬ 
fect than the cause ; because, a flourishing crop, sea¬ 
sonably matured, always escapes. Low grounds too, 
are exposed to mildew, merely because the crop is al¬ 
ways late ripening. Here, if I stand solitary and alone 
in my opinion, I am prepared to dispute my ground inch 
by inch. Having disagreed with the former memorable 
and esteemed conductor (whose portrait, very intellect¬ 
ually developed, hangs encased in a neat frame as a 
monitor before me when I write,) on this subject, I 
adopt the concluding clause of his comments on my ar¬ 
ticle, contained in the very last number of the Cultiva¬ 
tor he issued, and being among the last acts of his life. 
“We invite liberal criticism ; ’tis the collision of flint 
and steel that elicits light.” Respectfully. 
W. PENN KINZER. 
Springlawn Farm, Pequea, Pa., Jan. 12, 1841. 
Making Fork. 
Messrs. Editors — I am favored occasionally with an 
opportunity of looking over different agricultural jour¬ 
nals, and in a late number of the Boston Cultivator, I no¬ 
ticed a statement on fattening hogs, part of which I copy 
for your paper, adding some remarks, and a little of my 
experience in the same business. The statement is by 
Mr. Smith, of Duxbury, Mass. 
“ I killed two hogs, one sow, and six pigs which the 
sow raised ; their weights were, the two hogs 631, and 
566 lbs., the sow 509, the six pigs 1,200 lbs. Total 
2,906 pounds. 
“ They have eat 250 bushels of corn at 60 cts. $150 ; 
and 200 bushels of vegetables at 30 cents, making in 
the whole $210. 
“ My manner of feeding them was as follows : From 
the first day of September to the first day of March, 
their breakfast was raw potatoes ; their dinner raw tur- 
neps, beets or carrots ; their supper one quart of corn 
each. The first day of March I filled their trough with 
corn and water, and kept it so until the day I killed 
them. I had a warm place for them to sleep in ; and a 
yard where I make my manure 36 by 20 feet, with a 
stone bottom, and have now in it, which I have made 
this summer, 125 horse loads. I care not what the 
breed of a hog is, if they will eat well, and we do our 
part, and give them plenty of corn.” 
Now for my experience. Last year I fed six hogs, 
about 18 months old. They had the run of pasture, 
and the slops of the kitchen in the summer, and were 
put up for feeding the middle of September. To feed 
them, I put in my hog house 150 bushels of potatoes, 
and 150 bushels of apples. These were cooked in a 
steamer containing about 15 bushels, and the propor¬ 
tions used were about equal. All the grain I fed them 
was not equal in value to five bushels of corn. They 
were killed the first of December : Lightest 345, heavi¬ 
est 430, average 375, total weight 2,250 lbs. Mr. Smith 
does not say what his pork was worth, perhaps $4, per¬ 
haps $8 per cwt. If the first, it was worth $116.24 ; if 
the last, $232.48. At the same rates mine would have 
been worth $90 or $180. Now for the expense of feeding. 
My potatoes were worth eighteen cents per bushel, my 
apples perhaps 10 cts., certainly not more ; making for 
both potatoes and apples, a value of $42 ; call the grain 
$3, and the value of the whole food is $45. Forty-five 
from two hundred and ten, would leave one hundred and 
sixty-five as the difference in the cost of feeding the 
two lots ; comparatively the operation would stand as 
follows : 
No. 
Total 
Cost of 
Value 
of pigs. 
weight. 
feeding. 
at $4 or $8 
Mr. Smith’s,.. 9 
2906 
$210 
$116.24 232.48 
Mine,...6 
2256 
45 
90 180 
Difference,... 3 
656 
$165 
$26.24 $52.48 
Thus it appears that at the least price Mr. Smith lost 
in feeding $93.76, and atthe highest gained only $22.48 ; 
while at the lowest rate mine exceeded the cost of feed¬ 
ing $45, and at the highest $135. It must be remem¬ 
bered, however, that the value of the hogs, and the la¬ 
bor of feeding is omitted in all these estimates, and 
should be deducted to ascertain the true profit or loss 
of the feeding. 
I cannot agree with Mr. Smith that the breed of hogs 
is of no consequence so long as there is corn enough. 
I am satisfied by experience that there is a difference 
among our swine (excluding the pet breeds of Berk¬ 
shire and China,) so great, that at the same age, the 
same quantity of food will make 50 per cent more pork 
in one breed than in another. I have been led to be¬ 
lieve that the true criterion of value in a hog, was, not 
in the quantity of food he could eat, but in the flesh the 
food would make. I am sure my brother farmers must 
love raising corn better than I do, valuable as the crop 
is, if they prefer feeding pigs a year on the strain un¬ 
broken, and the roots raw, to using one-half the quan¬ 
tity of corn so required, when ground and mixed with 
the same roots, or a larger quantity steamed. In my 
opinion cooking food for animals is one of the greatest 
improvements in modern husbandry, and feeding grain 
as was done by Mr. S. a downright waste; and I am 
glad to perceive, by his comments or Mr. Smith’s let¬ 
ter, that Mr. Buckminster is of the satie opinion. 
In one thing the statement of Mr. S. has my most cor¬ 
dial assent; and that is in the value of hog manure and 
the propriety of increasing it as much as possible. ’pNg 
are excellent workers at that business,if the proper mate¬ 
rials are provided. I have a yard like Mr. il. but with¬ 
out his stone bottom. Into this, straw, w°eds and 
muck, are put as wanted, or as most convenient and 
are thoroughly incorporated with the manure and '’trine 
by treading and rooting. These materials absorb e, n d 
retain the parts that would be most likely to escap? 
and the whole mass applied to a corn or root crop in the 
spring, will give an increased crop in many cases equi¬ 
valent to half the ordinary product, and nearly defray¬ 
ing the expense of feeding. 
_An Onondaga Farmer. 
A Remedy for the Grain Worm, 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Western Vermont 
was very noted for raising grain, especially wheat, from 
its first settlement until about the year 1820, when the 
grain worm was first discovered in rye, barley, summer 
and winter wheat; its ravages were more confined to the 
wheat crop of the winter variety. This formidable enemy 
came more and more numerous, until after repeated 
trials we were obliged entirely to abandon wheat raising. 
No remedy appeared to present itself whereby we could 
gain any success. It is but a few years since those who 
have cast their wheat upon the ground in the fall have 
been successful. The spring varieties are now more 
generally sown ; which happens about the fifteenth of 
May, to carry the ripening process beyond the reach of 
the fly, and summer fallows are going out of date. 
In 1837, I tried an experiment which proved success¬ 
ful in avoiding the depredations of the grain worm ; 
since then I have not cultivated the winter grain, and 
therefore have not again tried the remedy. As soon as the 
calyx or envelope of the kernel was formed and while 
the wheat was in blossom, I prepared some boys with 
traps and hired them to catch an animal well known 
in these parts by the name of skunk. They caught 
two of these noxious animals, which I hung up in two 
different parts of my wheat field about the height of 
the grain heads ; and the result proved on strict exami¬ 
nation that within a circle of several rods around these 
animals, no larvae or grain worms could be found, and 
at the same time in other parts of the field, some con¬ 
siderable intrusions of the worm were noticed ; but they 
did not infect this field of three acres to that extent 
that they did others in the neighborhood. The con- 
trast as I suppose was occasioned by the strong effluvia 
that spread in all directions over it, I have also no- 
ticed that flies never prey upon the carcass of this ani¬ 
mal as they are well known to do upon other dead flesh ; 
and I should suppose that all animals that were en¬ 
dowed with but a small share of instinctive common 
sense, and were blest with but small olfactory organs, 
would shun the powerful weapons of this animal with¬ 
out one salutation. 
The skunk is an animal which we frequently find in the 
fields, probably the same species and about the size of 
the pole cat; its hair is long and shining, with one or 
two stripes from the head along the back and tail, 
clouded with white, the remainder black ; it has a long 
bushy tail; lives and burrows in the woods and hedges, 
and often under barns and outhouses. When undisturb¬ 
ed, this animal is without any ill scent, or disagreeable 
effluvia ; but when attacked, the skunk discovers his 
singular but effectual method of defense. It emits a 
fluid of the most nauseous and intolerable scent that has 
ever been known : so odious, subtle, penetrating is the 
ill-scented matter, that there is no animal that can long 
endure it, or will venture to approach him when he is 
throwing it out; it infects the air all round ; with the 
wind it may float a mile or more. No method has ever 
been found to extract the scent on which the fluid has 
been thrown; time, earth and air, after a long period 
afford the only complete remedy. This ill-scented 
fluid is an unctuous yellow matter contained in two tu¬ 
mors or bags attached to the abdomen, at the termina¬ 
tion of the back bone, and surrounded in such a manner 
by circular muscles that on contraction the fluid is forced 
out with great velocity and force. 
I have taken out these bags, and have no doubt they 
may be preserved any length of time by drying, or put 
them in glass jars in which any quantity of twine might 
be enclosed ; by pressing the sack, the cord would be¬ 
come incorporated with the matter ; then at, or just 
previous to the appearance of the wheat fly , which is 
about the last of June, while the grain is in the blos¬ 
som, or milk, string this scented cord around and 
across the grain fields in different directions, and it 
would thoroughly incorporate the whole field, and I 
have no doubt form a safe and effectual barrier in pre¬ 
venting the encroachments of the wheat fly, and many 
other winged insects. 
The above, I cheerfully present for your considera¬ 
tion with liberty to publish, hoping it may be of some 
use to the public directly or indirectly, by leading the 
way to a more pleasant if not efficacious remedy to 
prevent the ravages of so formidable an enemy. 
Yours. SOLOMON W. JEWETT 
Middlehury, Vt. Jan, 1841. 
