THE CULTIVATOR. 
chine. The cylinder, A, is studded with wrought iron knobs 
or short spikes, and partially rest on a spring concave bed, C, 
in which are placed round fluted iron rollers, D, which revolve 
as the corn passes through and greatly facilitates the work 
and reduces friction. B, a pulley six inches in diameter, 
which should be driven by a drum or band wheel (attached 
to mill or horse power gearing) of sufficient diameter to pro¬ 
pel it about 700 revolutions per minute. E, and F, the cover 
and hopper thrown up to show the operating part of the ma¬ 
chine. 
We will furnish the above machine at $35. And to those 
who doubt the practical utility, strength of material, and great 
power of this wonderful machine, we will say, that we ex¬ 
pressly guarantee them to be as perfect, and perform as ef¬ 
fectually as represented. 
Yours respectfully, ROBT. SINCLAIR, Jr. & Co. 
Manufacturers and Seedsmen. 
Baltimore, March 12, 1841. 
Culture of the Strawberry, fkc. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker—I have seen with much 
satisfaction several modes described to you, in relation to the 
culture of the strawberry, and although they are much to 
be approved of, yet I prefer my own mode, because I believe 
it to be the more certain way of success in obtaining a good 
crop. Probably our soil may be more congenial, but be this 
as it may, I have succeeded in the one presently to be recom¬ 
mended (as my neighbors all know, having often shared in 
my success,) whereas by the other, annual cultivation and 
not burning, there was frequently a failure upon the same 
spot or spots of ground. I have always succeeded best in 
rich shelly land, and hence I have concluded that calcareous 
earth is the best for strawberries; ours (Back River) is a 
deep rich soil, sometimes black, always more so near the 
woods, which may arise from the increased quantity of vege¬ 
table matter therein, whilst the land bordering on the river is 
of a reddish or chocolate cast, excepting always where there 
are deposits of shell, and there it is almost black, because I 
presume that the lime, although it really gives no nourishment 
to the soil, yet it forces, and prepares even, animal and other 
utrescent substances already there; and thus the color. We 
ave also a greyish soil, and although good, I think the black 
or chocolate decidedly preferable. Now as to my mode : I 
first prepare the ground by deep spading or by the plow 
also deep; the land is then carefully hand raked, and every 
root of all sorts carefully removed; 'the land is asain, if re¬ 
quired, spaded or plowed, and then chopped with a hoe, 
and again raked to level it. I then in the spring, summer, or 
fall, as it may be seasonable , set out the plants a foot square, in 
rows, sometimes by laying the land in beds four feet wide 
with an alley or path way between each bed for the conveni¬ 
ence of gathering the fruit, as well also as to prevent the 
bruising or mashing, which will always shorten the quantity 
by shortening the season of bearing, independent of the loss 
otherways. I have again left the whole surface of the ground 
after due preparation as above, flat, and merely set but the 
plants one foot square throughout the whole plantation. I 
then obtain from the wood yard the finest rotted earth from 
the chips, and spread this around each plant, and after they 
have well taken root they are hoed and kept clean for the 
season, and as the next season approaches, I generally, about 
the 20th February, cover the plantation with dry straw of any 
sort, and then set fire to it; this burns the whole, the object 
of which is to put the blossoming back until there is little 
risk of frost; for as sure as the strawberry in blossom is thus 
caught, a blast almost total and entire takes place. I have 
practiced this ever since 1817, and have not failed more than 
once or twice during the whole time; and I believe the fail¬ 
ure in those instances proceeded from inattention to the time 
of burning. I never, after the first year, have any thing more 
done to the plantation besides the burning, except an occa¬ 
sional sprinkling of wood yard earth in the spring. This 
plantation is continued four years; although I think tSree bet¬ 
ter, because in consequence of the vast accumulation of new 
plants, and the degeneracy of the old, the strawberry deteri¬ 
orates in size, if not in flavor, probably in both after three 
years. I set out every other year a new plantation, and by 
this means have a continued succession, and when the four 
elapses, that plantation is converted to other vegetables. Af¬ 
ter the first year, as above observed, I never have them work¬ 
ed ; I prefer grass to grow with the strawberry, for the plain 
reason that they then are gathered clean, the grass supporting 
the fruit from the naked earth; they never have grit upon 
them in consequence of rain or heavy dews, and of course 
never require washing or cleansing; the washing or cleansing 
by water ruins the fruit; it takes from it all the flavor and 
color. Those who keep their strawberry beds clean are put 
to much trouble to guard against the heavy rains, and of 
course washing, by always keeping around the plants in 
their bearing state straw or something else to keep them from 
the ground; and this is not always successful, because the 
straw, or whatever they may have around the plant, is liable 
to be blown away, and their finest fruit becomes tasteless if 
washed to clean it of the grit; and without washing, those 
who eat of it would soon swallow their peck ; and this is the 
true reason that has induced me to work the plant but for 
one season, and that the first. I think also it is saving useless 
labor. I cultivate two sorts ; their names I am not acquaint¬ 
ed with, further than that they are strawberries of different 
shapes; the one a clear deep red, and something in the shape 
of a small apple, and varying from the size of a musket ball 
to less; occasionally, when not too much crowded,considera¬ 
bly larger. The other a dark red of an oval form, something 
in the shape of an egg, bears later and generally a larger 
strawberry; but I do not think its productive capacity so 
great as the other; as to flavor I discover no difference; all 
are strawberries, and as to quantity I could successfully ap¬ 
peal to my neighbors. As to perpetuating the same bed or 
plantation for a series of years, I shall endeavor to follow out 
your correspondent, Mr. I. Dille, for if it will answer the pur¬ 
pose that he informs that it dops, it will save much in the set¬ 
ting out new plantations, and I can see no good reason why 
his plan is not a good one; it certainly is if successful; and 
as he has for a long time tested it, I for one will not raise a 
doubt until I have tried it and discover error. 
Permit me to give you a recipe handed me by my wife for 
the making of green sweetmeats, handed to her by one of her 
near neighbors, which she has a little altered from the orio-i- 
nal, and which she has tried, of which I have tasted and 
think them equal to any West Indian sweetmeat or preserve 
that I have ever tried. The watermelon rind preserved in 
this way is a beautiful green and most delicious in taste. 
Cut the rind in long thin slices, and scrape off the pulp of a 
ripe or green water melon, (the green is the best) let it be 
put in salt and water and remain seven days; then take it 
out, put it in fresh water to remain three days; then take out 
and boil it slowly in alum water not very strong, with grape 
leaves over it about two or three hours; then take out and 
squeeze it well out of the alum water; then make a syrup of 
white sugar, at the rate of 1| lbs. sugar to 1 lb. of rind, and 
4 lb. ginger (to every 3 lbs. rind) to be added in the syrup, 
and more or less according to quantity of rind; then stew all 
together with rind until it looks clear; then take it from the 
fire until it is cool, and then put in essence of lemon accord¬ 
ing to fancy. I am told that the green sweetmeat may be 
thus made from any good fruit; I can answer for the water 
melon rind (and the green water melon is better than the ripe.) 
For yellow sweetmeats, cut the rind of a ripe muskmelqn 
in thick slices and put it in salt and water and let it remain 
three days; then put them in cold water one night; after this 
boil them in clear water six hours, changing them three times 
during the six hours. Then put them in a rich syrup and 
let them boil slowly five hours, or until the syrup becomes 
quite thick; flavor them agreeable to your taste. 
Irish Potatoe pudding —“ One pound of potatoes well boil¬ 
ed with cream, three-fourths of a pound of butter, ten eggs, 
and one pound of sugar.” 
JNO. C. ROBERTSON. 
Springfield, Va. April 2, 1841. 
Protection of Garden Plants. 
Messrs. Editors —Having tried to no purpose many meth¬ 
ods of exterminating those little black insects which infest the 
young plants of the garden, I at length hit upon the follow¬ 
ing expedient, which I present to you with the hope that others 
may be benefited by it as well as myself. Take cotton bat¬ 
ting, divide it as thin as will hold together, spread it over and 
around the young plants, and fasten the edges with small 
stones or small lumps of dirt. The insects, in their attempts 
to leap upon the plants, are entangled in the fibres of the cot¬ 
ton, and are prevented from doing mischief. 
LEONARD LEWIS. 
Warren, N. Y., May 31, 1841. 
Inquiry. 
Messrs. Editors —Can you or some one of your numerous 
correspondents give me some information relative to the most 
effectual method of putting a stop to the ravages of a certain 
moth? It is in the form of a yellow worm, about three quar¬ 
ters of an inch in length, of about one-twelfth of an inch in 
diameter, and has six short legs near the head. Its body ap¬ 
pears to be formed of ten or twelve bands or rings.. I am 
thus particular in the description, as I am unable to give you 
its entomological name. It proves very destructive to woolen 
goods of every description. 
It is with pleasure that I assure your readers of the efficacy 
of Mr. J. M. Olin’s remedy for bloated cattle, published in 
the May number of the Cultivator; having recently seen a 
cow that was badly bloated cured in a short time by giving 
her a single dose of the powder and lard. 
With respect, L. C. LAWRENCE. 
Inquiry about Woburn Hogs. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Will you or some of your 
valuable correspondents give us the origin and history of a 
very pretty, thin and fine haired fleshy hog, which has been 
recently introduced among us, called the Woburn; what re¬ 
lation they stand to the Berkshires in point of size and dispo¬ 
sition to take on flesh ; how they would cross with the Berk¬ 
shires, or if they would be better without any cross, and how 
and where they can be procured 1 Also, the Belties have been 
introduced among us, and they are said by some to be a cross 
of the Berkshire and Irish Grazier. The origin and history 
of this hog would also be interesting to many of your readers. 
The Woburns which I have seen will certainly lose nothing 
in comparison with the Berkshires we have here at the south. 
Your Cultivator is doing much good among us. Our cot¬ 
ton planters begin to believe that it is not a moneymaking 
business to export all their labor, and buy so important an ar¬ 
ticle of consumption as pork- A. C. 
Gainsville, Alabama, 3d March, 1841. 
25“ Will Dr. Martin of Kentucky, favor us with a reply 
to the inquiries of A. C. ? We should also be gratified if he 
would accompany his reply with a correct portrait of one of 
his Woburn hogs. 
Short Horn Durham Cows. 
Messrs. Editors— The June number of the Cultivator con¬ 
tains a very interesting and valuable article from your worthy 
correspondent, Lewis F. Allen, which communication con¬ 
tains an extract from the Yankee Farmer, where the Rev. 
Mr. Colman speaks against Durham cows as milkers. 
Among others he states that he has had the pleasure of see¬ 
ing the improved Durham stock of the Messrs. Lathrops of 
South Hadley; that he thought them eminently beautiful, &c. 
Now if as observing a man as the Agricultural Commissioner 
of the Commonwealth of old Massachusetts, has passed over 
such a stock of Durham Short Horn cows, without noticing 
their milking properties, I would request of the Messrs. La¬ 
throps to give an accurate statement in the Cultivator, of 
what some of their cows have done; together with the name 
of the cows, pedigree, from whom purchased, and if they 
please the price paid for them; that your readers may know 
they are really Improved Durham Short Horn cows, and not 
of the race that have no pretensions to Herd Book pedigree, 
with which our country is flooded. 
SAMUEL W. BARTLETT. 
East Windsor, Ct. Jane 21, 1841. 
Wintering- Hogs on Sugar Beets. 
. Messrs. Editors —For more than two months we have 
given sugar beets to our hogs, and are well satisfied with the 
result; our only regret is that we have not more. Perhaps 
one reason why our experiment with sugar beets has resulted 
more favorably than the experiments of others, is because we 
have kept them warm, which I consider all important when 
kept upon vegetaoles of any kind. Experience has satisfied 
us of this. Formerly we wintered our hogs in a good pen, 
117 
having a tight plank floor, giving them aplenty of litter, feed¬ 
ing uncooked potatoes and corn in the ear, much the larger 
portion of the latter; for two seasons we have given them an 
apartment in the basement of a sheep barn, with an out door 
yard for them to run into, feeding them sugar beets until they 
are gone, and then potatoes, with a small portion of corn the 
whole time. The result is that much less value of feed will 
carry them through the winter in equally good condition than 
by the old mode, and as a consequence, if the same value of 
feed is used as formerly the gain will be in proportion, instead 
of just carrying them through. M. Y. 1. 
New-Lebanon, N. Y. March, 1841. 
Large Pigs Again. 
Messrs. Editors —It had not entered my mind to make public 
the weight of my pigs (though I had just reason to feel proud 
of them,) until I observed in the Feb. No. of the Cultivator the 
statement of Jabe Pierce’s pig, weighing, at 9 months and 10 
days old, 372| lbs., and of Mr. W. L. Smith’s pig, weighing, at 
10 months and 8 days old, 266 lbs. 
The last season I raised and fattened a couple of half breed 
Berkshires, and slaughtered them the latter part of December, 
at the age of 8 months. The heaviest weighed 260 lbs., and the 
lightest 242 lbs. They were doing finely at the time, and at 
the age of Mr. Pierce’s I have no doubt the heaviest would 
have weighed 300 lbs. They were taken from the sow when 6 
weeks old, and fed through the summer on sour milk with a 
little scalded meal, and during September and part of October 
sweet apples and potatoes cooked together, with same quan¬ 
tity of meal; and say from middle of October to the time of 
killing, on scalded meal with a very little salt, preparing 
enough over night for next day’s use, by which process a slight 
fermentation would take place. And here I would state my 
preference to this mode of preparing Indian meal over that of 
making hasty pudding, as I believe the mass to be lessened in 
nutriment in nearly the same proportion that it is increased in 
bulk. 
In regard to what is called the Berkshire hog, of which there 
has been so much “ said and sung,” I am prepared to “go the 
whole hog” in his favor. But I am not quite sure that one 
cross with sows of fair size and proportion of our common 
breeds, will not produce as valuable swine for the farmer as 
any other breed whatever. 
Hence the propriety of keeping the blood pure, (and I believe 
this remark will apply to most other animals,) for I am a dis¬ 
believer in the certainty of breeding from grade animals. 
I have the sire of the above mentioned pigs, who was bred by 
Mr. Corning, I believe from imported stock, and coming 2 years 
old. His pigs, which are numerous in this vicinity, are first 
rate, and to prevent breeding in and in, which may be regarded 
as the greatest evil, I offer to dispose of him. 
Mexico, N. Y., March 5, 1841. B. E. BOWEN. 
Useful Eeeipes. 
For the sting or a Bee or other Insect. —Take a little mud 
from any puddle, and apply it wet to the wound, (renewing it 
if it gets dry,) for 15 or 20 minutes, or less time if the pain and 
swelling is gone. Amicus. 
Cure for the Scratches in Horses. —With warm soap suds 
wash the part affected, and with a cob or other rough sub¬ 
stance rub off all scabs, then apply oil or hog’s lard just so as 
to moisten the skin, then take a fine powder of hemlock bark 
and cover the parts well with it; a few applications will effect 
a cure. D. E. 
Cure for Murrain.— I have a Durham Bull that was taken 
about a year since, with what is called here, the Bloody Mur- 
rian. 
Symptoms: —Eyes sunk in the head, nose dry, bowels costive, 
the discharge brownish, urine the darkest bloody color, appetite 
gone. 
Treatment: —I gave 1 lb. of salts, 1 oz. of nitre, and 1 cream 
tartar, for one dose; the next day another dose of the same. 
No appetite; the third day gave 1 pint castor oil. 4th day, phy¬ 
sic began to operate, appetite rather on the mend, water still 
the same ; dissolved 4 oz. of alum in 2 quarts of sour butter¬ 
milk for an astringent. It. turned the blood, but made him 
costive ; gave one more dose of salts, and turned him off the 
sick list, perfectly cured. Wm. Kingham. 
Springfield, Ohio, March, 1841. 
Cure for. Sore Teats. —Scarcely a dairy of cows can be 
found in which more or less are not subject to sore teats, and 
from the irritation thus caused, much trouble in milking, and 
loss of milk ensue. The following preparation, if kept on hand 
and applied occasionally to such udders and teats as require 
it, will prevent or cure the disease. Sometimes the flies will 
be troublesome, if so add one ounce of assafoetida or aloes in 
powder, and incorporate it thoroughly with the ointment. 
Some, times the teats are tender only. When this is the case, 
washing with weak salt and water is beneficial, and usually 
sufficient. 
Ointment made of sweet elder, four ounces 
Yellow basilicon ointment, four ounces. 
Spirits ol turpentine, one ounce. 
Mix and well incorporate on a slab or in a mortar, and it is 
flt for use. 
Hoven Cattle. —James Cooper, of New-Jersey, gives the fol¬ 
lowing as a cure for this dangerous complaint in cattle :— 
“Make a twisted band of straw the size of the wrist, and place 
it in the mouth of the animal, drawing it tight, and making it 
first over the top of the head, just behind the horns; this will 
cause the beast to endeavor to rid itself of the inconvenience by 
chewing the band, and the act of moving the tongue and jaws 
will open the gullet and permit the air to escape.” A cow dan¬ 
gerously attacked was treated in this way, and as soon as the 
straw was applied, the air rushed violently from the stomach, 
and the cow was saved. 
Staggers in Swine. —In reference to an inquiry which appear¬ 
ed in this paper, a correspondent of the N. E. Farmer gives the 
following as a cure for the above disease :—“ When it is found 
that one of your hogs has the blind staggers, no time should be 
lost; but you should proceed to give your hog as soon as pos¬ 
sible, something that is warming within. The first remedy I 
ever tried was a mixture of sulphur, hen manure, and Cayenne 
pepper, with milk enough to make it as thick as porridge, given 
to the hog as warm as he can hear it. Now I give nothing but 
new rum and pepper, giving as much as I could make them 
take with a spoon. Before, you give them any thing, it would 
be well to take some soft oil and pour upon the issues of their 
legs, and give them a smart nibbing with a cob. With these 
medicines I have cured those that seemed nearly dead, and if I 
were near, I would agree to cure all entirely of the blind stag¬ 
gers for 25 cents a piece.” 
Cure for Bots in Horses.— I. L. Smith, Fsq., who has been an 
extensive dealer in horses, informs the editor of the Southern 
Cultivator, that as a preventive or remedy for the hots, he feeds 
to his horses occasionally a quantity of the heads of rye which 
he keeps on hand for that purpose. He is convinced that the 
heads and chaff of the rye, cut out and effectually carry off the 
grub, and that if a horse be fed every few days in this way, he 
will never be annoyed by the bots. If preferred, the rye may be 
fed in the sheaf. 
