THE CULTIVATOR. 103 
tude to the parent; and this in so nice a degree, as utterly to 
forbid the introduction into their structure, of the fluids of oth¬ 
er genera. 
Could I overcome the conviction with which I am impressed 
that there are others of an education and train of study far 
better fitted to the occasion than myself, I would, with your 
ermission, if none better should be found to attempt it, broach 
owever imperfectly, some of the analogies of vegetable, ani¬ 
mal, and human formation. The divergencies in their charac¬ 
teristics, and those principles of embryotic origin, alimentary 
development, pathological derangement and vitality which 
connect themselves with each in their relative comparisons to 
one another, not however, without copious reference to better 
authority, and a deliberate conviction that more physiological 
acquirements than I possess, or have the means of attaining, 
are requisite to such an attempt, accompanied with a sincere 
wish that some one better qualified would attempt it. 
Wheat Sheaf Farm, Staten Island, Feb. 10. W. A. SEELY. 
Salmagundi, or Odds and 3Snds”»No. L 
Messrs. Editors— It is my intention to present to your read¬ 
ers, from time to time, as convenience permits, my views on 
divers and sundry subjects connected with my profession, in a 
fragmentory way, under the above caption. The adoption of 
this plan will enable me to condense, with due regard to full¬ 
ness, however, when required, and thereby often avoid the pro¬ 
lixity of formal essays. It will, for the most part, be merely a 
discharge of small arms, but if a bomb-shell should now and 
then burst and break some shins, why—let them be mended 
again as soon as possible, together with the ways of those to 
whom the aforesaid shins belong. Peradventure the war should 
not come up. to this brief manifesto, it will not, most certainly, 
be the first time in the history of nations or of individuals. 
The first thing which will claim my attention, is to supply 
some deficiencies which were, not inadvertently, but for want 
of space, omitted in my last chapter, and somewhat connected 
by common usage, with shearing of sheep. And first, 
Castration of Lambs. 
Inasmuch as this is usually attended to at shearing time, it 
would be wholly unnecessary to advert to it, were it uniformly 
performed, as it should be, with reference to humanity and in¬ 
dividual interest. The time I have chosen, as well as method, 
have been sanctioned and approved by some years of personal 
experience, and therefore I hope will be acceptable,as well as fol¬ 
lowed. The ewes of my flock, by the 20th of May, are through 
folding; and soon after, provided the weather is suitably warm, 
they are washed; and some cool day between this and shear¬ 
ing, the flocks are got up, and the lambs docked and castrated. 
Provided this is not done when the weather is cool, it should be 
attended to early in the morning, for the reason, that when the 
temperature is low, there is less flow of blood, and consequent¬ 
ly less exhaustion: a.contrary course will endanger the lives 
of many lambs, especially if the breed is of the finer grade of 
Saxony. The modus operands is thus :—one strides a scantling 
or narrow plank, which is placed in an inclined position, and on 
this the lambs are rested; this is a good way, because they can 
be more firmly held. Another with a sharp knife cuts about 
two-thirds of the testicle bag off: if left too long it will bother 
the tagger and shearer ; if cut too short, it will prolong the pro¬ 
cess of healing, and often jeopardizes life, especially if no use 
is made of an ointment similar to the one which I shall pre¬ 
scribe and recommend. The testicles are then drawn out suf¬ 
ficiently far to reach the connecting cords, and instead of then 
giving a violent jerk, as is usual, the cords are divided by fric¬ 
tion of the thumb nail. This is certainly more gentle and 
humane , because,, apparently, attended with less suffering. 
After this the tail is docked, and if you wish to save yourselves 
the trouble of tagging often during the year, let it be cut as 
short as possible; besides, what looks more ungenteel, and ab¬ 
solutely vulgar, than a sheep with a long dock, or indeed with 
any dock at all. The ointment above alluded to, is composed 
of, say, one pound of lard, half a gill of tar, and a small por¬ 
tion of spirits turpentine, or in these proportions, warmed to a 
liquid, and applied by means of a swab, about the mutilations. 
This not only possesses healing virtues, but keeps at a distance 
the maggot fly. The great majority of farmers use none, and 
the loss in consequence, is always more or less, yearly, by neg¬ 
lect of it. Year before last, by using this ointment, I did not 
lose a lamb. Last year I docked and castrated 540. and but 
two or three died of this large number. After the whole pro¬ 
cess is through with, which with the skilful is momentary, they 
are placed in a separate pound, for the sake of quietness, and 
there remain until the blood ceases to flow, to prevent the wool 
of the ewes from being stained.—Allied to this subject, is the 
Destruction of Ticks, 
a most disgusting kind of vermin, which impoverish and in¬ 
jure materially the health of sheep, as well as the appearance 
of the wool. A mode was recommended by one of you, Messrs. 
Editors, in a late number of your paper, which was stated to be 
the result of actual experiment, and proved an effectual reme¬ 
dy. As near as my memory serves—and if I am wrong you can 
correct me—the process was performed at washing time, and 
the material was a liberal use of soft soap, which was rubbed 
upon the fleece before the sheep was immersed in water ; and 
after a few were washed, being in a vat, the soap would so 
combine with the water as to produce strong suds; and the 
lambs were served in a similar way. This mode is not uncom¬ 
mon in England and Scotland, and the philosophy of it is very 
obvious, for, independent of the deadly ingredients of the soap, 
it produces thorough cleanliness, this being the greatest of all 
foes to the generation of vermin of similar description. This 
method is feasible—and I have no doubt efficient—where soft 
water abounds; but the stream which runs through my farm is 
strongly impregnated with lime, consequently the water is hard, 
otherwise, I would be disposed to adopt it, for, aside from ac¬ 
complishing so desirable an object, it must make the wool 
beautifully white and clean, a sight always good for sore eyes ! 
Please remember this prescription, my brother wool-growers 
when you are troubled in this way, it being more efficacious 
far, than half the nostrums invented; and moreover, will “ put 
more money in thy pockets,” when thrown into market. In 
common with many.others, I have used most successfully for 
the destruction of ticks, a decoction of tobacco water , and the 
process is as follows : buy at the stores, say for 100 lambs, four 
pounds of poor plug tobacco, or of stems ten pounds, and boil 
the same about two. hours in order to extract fully the strength- 
and then pour the liquid into a half barrel, or washing tub In 
about a week after shearing, all the ticks will have left the 
ewes and fastened upon the lambs; then immerse them in this 
decoction up to the ears, care being taken not to remove them 
from over the vessel until the liquor has been rubbed or squeez¬ 
ed from the wool. There are other objects attained besides this 
m the use of tobacco water, namely : curing irritations or ir¬ 
ruptions, caused by johnswort; and if a little’tar is dissolved in 
the water, it will serve as a guard, for a while at least, against 
the attacks of flies, .for we are all well aware how abhorrent 
the effluvia of tar is to insects of all kinds. If this plan is 
adopted, every wool-grower may rest assured that in two years 
scarcely a tick will be found in his flock. 
Humanity to Brutes, 
There, is yet another small matter which should have been 
noticed in my last, chapter, and which I deem of sufficient im¬ 
portance to mention here, namely: a practice very common 
shearers of kicking and cuffing sheep, with a view to make 
them lay still when shearing them! Something so silly, so con¬ 
temptible, and so brutal, will seem almost incredible to some 
of your readers; nevertheless, it is too true. But for humani¬ 
ty’s sake, I inform them that nothing of this kind is allowed in 
my shearing house, and on a repetition of the offence with my 
shearer, he receives due “notice to quit,” accompaniedwith an 
Uncle Toby blessing. What, maltreat an animal when it is 
yielding its harvest, which the God of Nature has provided for 
our use and benefit! Why, me thinks, “ I had rather be a toad 
and live upon the vapor of a dungeon^” than ill-use so in¬ 
teresting an animal, at such a time, or indeed under any cir¬ 
cumstances. Let man ever keep in view that wise and hu¬ 
mane proverb, “ a merciful man is merciful to his beast,” forits 
observance will confer a two-fold benefit; to the mind pleasure, 
the invariable concomitant of the discharge of duty; to the 
pockets, an increased reward, which I have fancied sometimes, 
aside from the obvious and known consequences of kind atten¬ 
tion to stock, was the grateful return on the part of animals 
to man, for the exercise of humanity towards them. Enough 
said—more anon of the salmagundi dish. 
Lansing, Tompkins co., N. F. L. A. MORRELL. 
The Mohan Potato. 
Editors of Cultivator— I agree with Messrs. Grove, Guthrie, 
and others of your correspondents, that the farming commu¬ 
nity have been imposed upon and gulled by unprincipled seeds¬ 
men and others, by the publication in agricultural and oth¬ 
er papers, of the successes (generally under the most favora¬ 
ble circumstances) which have attended the culture of some 
new importation of roots, grains, &c.; while the numerous 
failures, with the trouble and expense required in their suc¬ 
cessful cultivation, are too often kept out of view. It is an old 
saying, that “ murder will out;” give us the plain ungarnished 
results, the dark as well as the bright side of the picture ; for 
be assured that the farmer’s good judgment, and practical 
sense, will condemn every attempt at imposition, while he is 
ever ready to patronize and reward the introducer of the use¬ 
ful or valuable. I would condemn all impositions; so far I 
agree with the above named gentlemen; but the Rohan potato 
I highly value, and believe them to be a great acquisition. 
I purchased in the spring of 1839, one barrel of Mr. Thompson, 
of Catskill, containing 303 potatoes; these were cut in pieces, 
containing one eye each, and planted about the 20th of April, 
on a rich, warm piece of land, highly manured with stable ma¬ 
nure. The same land was dressed with salt the year before, 
at the rate of 8 bushels per acre, and planted to corn. I men¬ 
tion this, as I intend hereafter to give the readers of the Culti¬ 
vator the results of my experiments in the use of salt as a ma¬ 
nure. The Rohans covered about two-thirds of an acre. The 
yield was 340 measured bushels, at the rate of 610 bushels per 
acre; a great many of the tubers weighed from 2 to 4 3-4 lbs. 
each. The summer was dry and hot, and potatoes generally, 
in this vicinity, were a light crop. I offered last spring to fur¬ 
nish my neighbors with the Rohans for seed, if they would give 
me half of the extra yield over any other kind that they chose 
to plant on the same soils. But one of them accepted the offer 
and he paid dearly for them. The others knowing what my 
crop was the year before, preferred purchasing them at $2 per 
bushel. I have the pleasure of knowing that they are general¬ 
ly satisfied with their bargain. The partial failures can all be 
accounted for—late planting in some cases, want of manure, or 
moisture in the others. A neighbor of mine, a good farmer, 
who does not spare the manure, had 94 bushels from 3 pecks 
of seed. My crop last year was good, and, like Mr. Grove, I 
can compare their yield with the Merino and other potatoes. 
I planted rows of the Merinos, Mercers, Irish Whites, and 
Orange potatoes, (all reputed good yielders,) by the side of my 
Rohans. They were all planted with the greatest care, to test 
accurately the result. The Rohans came off triumphant, beat¬ 
ing the Merinos by more than one-third, and yielding nearly as 
much again as any of the other varieties. You will readily ob¬ 
serve that my experience has led me to differ with the above na¬ 
med gentlemen, as to the yield of the Rohans. My success I can ea¬ 
sily account for; I wish the gentlemen had tried to account for 
their failures. I planted good seed upon a good soil, well manu¬ 
red, planted early, and put but two eyes in a hill, which I am sat¬ 
isfied is seed enough, and is the quantity recommended by Buel, 
Thorburn, Thompson and others. I am not acquainted with 
Mr. Guthrie. Mr. Grove I know and respect, and am satisfied 
that I could account for his failure. 
So much for the yield. I have a word or two to say about the 
quality. I think the Rohans the best of all the coarse varieties 
of the potato for feeding, and nearly as much better than the 
Merinos, as they are better than good well-soaked bass¬ 
wood chips. I have fed hundreds of bushels of them to 
all kinds of stock except sheep, and they all prefer them 
to the Merinos. I supplied a number of Irish families with 
them last fall, and they all liked them better than any 
other kind except the Pinkeyes. I can sell all I have on 
hand in this village for a table potato. If an Irishman is not a 
good judge of potatoes, no other man is; they say the Rohans 
are firm, hearty, and more nourishing than the other kinds. I 
am informed by good authority that they make more starch 
and command a better price at the Bennington Starch Manu¬ 
factory than any other potato. Mr. Grove says they do not 
keep well, are hollow, and smell bad. I have raised nearly 
two thousand bushels of them and never knew one to rot ex¬ 
cept it got frozen, and frozen potatoes generally smell bad. It 
is not my intention to attack Mr. Grove, or any other gentle- 
man but to defend the Rohans. And to show your corres¬ 
pondents who have condemned the Rohans that I am sincere, I 
offer any of them a small wager, from $25 to $100, that I can 
grow more Rohans than they can Merinos on one acre, and that 
the same potatoes boiled and fed alone will make one-fourth 
more pounds of pork than the Merinos. The winner to pay the 
money to the Treasurer of the County Agricultural Society to 
which he belongs, as a donation for the benefit of said society 
So much for the Rohans. Mr. Thorburn has been repeated¬ 
ly attacked in the Cultivator for selling his China corn—it has 
been called a humbug; the old man denounced, and almost 
cursed as an imposter, and all for what ? Why for doing the 
very thing that should entitle him to a nation’s gratitude, and 
for which he should be lauded as a public benefactor. It seems 
too, that if the old man has sinned, he is not allowed to repent 
as other men do; he has offered to pay back the money to any 
person that will call on him for it, and still the fault-finding 
correspondents of your paper will not let him alone. I have 
planted the China corn for two years, and think it one of our 
best varieties. I observed a number of rows of this corn last 
fall, in the western part of this state, all well matured, and 
yielding a most abundant harvest. In my opinion, Grant Thor¬ 
burn can safely set this down as one of the best acts of his life, 
and he has not been deficient in his endeavors to do good to the 
agricultural and horticultural community of this country. Two 
shillings an ear would pay him for his trouble, I admit, but the 
corn was valuable, and by asking that price he got it sooner and 
better distributed than in any other way. 
Schaghticoke, March 22, 1841. JOHN C. MATHER. 
. The importance of associate effort, in advancing any cause 
is conceded by all classes; for it is self-evident. Yet how small 
a portion of so large a class as are the agriculturists of the 
United States, take advantage of it, by combining their efforts 
to support societies and journals established for the sole pur¬ 
pose of improving the condition of the cultivators of the Ame¬ 
rican SOll. Q D 
Lake C. H., May, 1841. 
Building- Mill Dams. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— Having observed in the Cultiva¬ 
tor for March, a communication from W. J. W., wishing in¬ 
formation respecting the building of mill dams upon a durable 
or permanent and cheap plan, and as I have had some experi 
ence in that business for the last four or five years, I feel wil¬ 
ling to communicate my mite of information. In the year 1836, 
I determined to erect a mill dam across Stony Creek, which is 
a continual running stream, with banks and bottom quite pre¬ 
carious, as we have no solid rock in our region. Consequent¬ 
ly I made my abutments secure by means of sawed flukes, 
and piling with suitable plank—then commenced felling my 
trees that grew on the banks of the stream, and rolled them in, 
brush and all, commencing at one abutment and so on to the 
other, one tree by the side of another, as close as possible to 
each other, tops up stream, having the huts even below, laid 
on the close bottom of the stream; then laid on a pole, say 4 
or 6 inches through, across the buts of the trees, (which were 
about the same size,) and pinned them fast on each tiunk near 
the ends; that being done, another layer of trees was laid on 
as before, breaking the spaces as well as we could, letting the 
ends rest on the pole, on which they were pinnea as before; 
then another pole as the first, and so on up to the top of the 
dam. I should have remarked that the second pole should be 
laid on the buts some two or three feet above, (or up stream,) 
from the other, the object of which is to form a proper slope 
for the descent of the water, so as to prevent its boiling back 
and undermining the work. About this time or at this stage of 
the work, we commenced weaving in pine or cedar brush as 
closely (from the bottom jip) as possible, to prevent the earth, 
stones, clay, &c. (or the materials used) from washing through; 
then commenced wheeling on earth, stones, &c.—all being done 
in the water, because the water is found to be the best agent 
in making the work solid and water-tight. The slope should 
he made easy, or long, so as to prevent the water’s washing, 
which can be determined by the builder, and the slope accord¬ 
ing—trees, poles, brush, and earth alternately, till the dam is 
made as high as wished. I then, about 6 or 8 feet below the 
dam, piled down a sill, which is done by a mortice 3 by 4 inch¬ 
es, and scantling driven through into the bottom of the stream; 
above this sill, I piled closely with narrow plank; (secure this 
sill by means of short sills fastened to the foot of the dam.) 
The box which is thus formed, is then filled up with the best clay 
and stone, or gravel, and then sheeted over very closely. This 
6 or 8 feet is horizontal. I then pile sills fyom bottom to top 
of the slope at proper distances, (driving the scantling or piles 
through or into the tree and brush work.) This being done, 
fill all the interstices or crevices with the best or most tenacious 
material possible; then cover over or sheet with thick strong 
plank, taking care to pin them well—8 or 10, or more feet above 
the top of the dam, sill and sheet as before, sloping up stream 
or sloping down from the ridge, from the upper part of which 
dig down some 3, 4, or more feet, and spile down closely to pre¬ 
vent leaking—then put on as much clay, stones, &c., as will 
be sure to make a long slope, remembering that it is this which 
will add permanency to the work. 
My dam has now been in use nearly five years, and has with¬ 
stood during the time some of the greatest freshets that have 
been known here, for the last half century. My opinion is. 
that this is the most permanent dam that can he constructed 
upon a precarious situatioH. All who have examined it believe 
it to be perfectly durable. Yours, &e., 
F. TUCKER. 
P. S. Fell the trees with all their foliage. 
Tuckersville, Sussex county, Va., April 12, 1841, 
Editors of the Cultivator —For ten years past, I have had 
considerable experience in the construction of dams, and other 
water works, and I find the common brush dam to be inferior 
to no other in point of cost, durability, and effect. Hemlock 
brush are preferable to any other, but if not convenient, al¬ 
most any kind of brush will answer. The building is simple 
and the labor can be performed by any common laborer. 
The commencement in a strong current is the most difficult, 
which can be effected by placing the body of a tree across the 
stream for the brush or trees to rest upon, with the tops up 
stream in all cases. When a good foundation is laid, coat U 
with stone, then another layer of brush and stone, and so on 
alternately, until the required height is produced, reserving 
the largest stones and the lightest brush for the last coating. 
Make tight with gravel, or clay, and stick bank willows every 
two feet throughout the whole course, and you will soon have 
a dam that will want but little repairing, and which will be du¬ 
rable and permanent, and no floods can move it. A. S. R. 
Butternuts, N. Y. March 20, 1841. 
Messrs. Editors— Having seen in the Cultivator an inquiry 
relative to the best method of putting up dams, I have been in¬ 
duced to offer the method which my experience suggests as com¬ 
bining the two most essential points, durability and cheapness. 
There can be but little doubt that stone dams, for almost all 
situations, have claims to superiority over the frame dam, and 
I shall, therefore, point out some few of the particulars which 
I think necessary to insure the durability of the work. 
The first essential requisite is, to secure a good foundation • 
the next, to obtain a good stone layer; and the third, the size 
and hardness of the stones. Lay your foundation of the same 
width of the proposed hight; that is, for a dam of ten feet high, 
there should be a ten feet foundation. In laying your stones 
lay them the longest way across the dam, and be careful to fill 
the interstices in the middle, as compact as possible with small 
stones. If your foundation is rock, it will add to the durability 
of the wall, if the down stream face should retreat or fall back 
from a perpendicular line one foot, in ten. On your up stream 
face, lay in some durable timber about four feet from the bot¬ 
tom as a fastening to your plank, and another in the wall after 
it has reached the proposed hight, as a fastening to the up 
stream plank, as well as the feeder plank. The timber should 
be hewn or sawed so as to have a bevel to suit the inclination 
of the plank on the up stream side. The top of the dam should 
be perfectly level, thereby avoiding, in a great measure the 
danger of having the dam uneapt by the ice, which every one 
must see at a glance is the life of the dam. In order to secure 
the cap plank as fast as possible, I would recommend having 
three timbers laid on the top of the stone work, one forming a 
face on the down stream side, the other in the middle, and the 
stay timber of both the cap and the up stream plank. As a fas¬ 
tening to the cap, nails may be used, but I would prefer pins 
made of some durable wood, as nails are liable to be broken bv 
the frost. There should be at least five pins in each plank, and 
the cap plank should be jointed to each other and to the face 
plank so as to be as near tight as possible, in order to prevent 
the water from running down among the stones and freezing 
during winter. The face plank should come up a sufficient 
hight above the upper timber, to be even with, and a protection 
to the cap plank. The slope or inclination should be such as to 
leave about four feet width at the top. The plank should be 
good, sound, and thick, for the face as well as the cap and 
should have their edges beveled so as when put together there 
will be an opening on the upper side of an eighth of an inch 
They should also be neatly scribed so as to fit the rocks at the 
bottom, as it is an experiment that has often been tried that wa¬ 
ter cannot be cheated. Some have tried the method of filling in 
earth, on the up stream side, to answer the purpose of plank 
but I have never seen a dam that had been filled in that did not 
leak. q 
Germantown, N. Y. March 15, 1841. 
