THE CULTIVATOR. 
187 
eradicated, and the liability to further attack greatly 
lessened. But further examinations made during the 
past summer have convinced us that either successive 
depositions of eggs take place, or that the larvae remain, 
in some instances, the entire season in the infected 
branch. We have found them in the plum tree from 
June till the last of September. At this late period, in 
a single infected branch, we found no less than five 
larvae or grubs, and where trees were much diseased 
they were quite numerous. It is plain, therefore, that 
nothing short of eradicating the excrescences or swell¬ 
ings whenever they appear, or during the entire season 
can ensure the destruction of the insect. With regard to 
the insect inself: we believe it is not decided to which 
of the numerous class of depredating insects this de¬ 
structive one belongs. As the branches must be punc¬ 
tured for the reception of the ova, it is very probable it 
is a Sirex, or one of those provided with a borer for 
that purpose. It is hoped this uncertainty as to the pa¬ 
rent insect and its habits will not long exist, and the at¬ 
tention of American entomologists should the more par¬ 
ticularly be directed to it, as it does not seem to be 
known in Europe. The trees liable to attack seem to 
be thus far exclusively such as when wounded produce 
gum. This seems to be necessary, both for the food of 
the larvae, and for the formation of those excrescences, 
within which they live while in that state. The plum 
tree is first attacked, but when these are destroyed, the 
cherry follows, and we have seen fine plantations of this 
tree wholly destroyed. All the cherries do not, how¬ 
ever, appear equally liable to its attacks, and the same 
remark may be made of plums. We have a tree of the 
white magnum bonum, or egg plum, a graft on a white 
plum stock, and which this season bore a fine crop of 
fruit. Not a single excrescence has been detected on 
this tree, though on each side of it, for two or three 
years past, the common white plum has been loaded 
with them, and much injured. We have not, until the 
present season, seen the peafch tree injured, but as 
wounds of this tree produce gum, there was no reason 
to suppose it would escape. In examining some seed¬ 
ling peach trees, we found one that was transplanted 
last fall, and very near where a diseased plum tree was 
standing, was covered with gum which had exuded from 
its stem and branches, and on scraping this off it was 
found to proceed from a series of punctured places, evi¬ 
dently produced by the same insect that was destroying 
the plum tree. Some of the small limbs had the same 
swellings that characterize infected plum branches, hut 
no excrescences, or discoloration had ensued. It seems 
certain, then, the same insect will attack the plum, 
cherry, and peach ; the first in preference, but the others 
when that cannot he found, or has been destroyed. 
Thorough and prompt excision of all damaged branches 
holds out, thus far, the only reasonable prospect of sav¬ 
ing these valuable trees from destruction, whenever this 
destructive insect makes its appearance. 
Making Wine. 
We are under the necessity of omitting that part of 
our correspondent’s paper that relates to the general 
principles which regulate fermented liquors, especially 
as they have been treated by Liebig in his Organic 
Chemistry in a very full and satisfactory manner, and to 
which those who wish to investigate the subject will do 
well to refer. After remarking that all kinds of fruit 
do not contain the same kind of acidity ; that in the 
grape, gooseberry, mulberry, and a few others, the tar¬ 
taric acid is found ; the malic in apples, currants, &c., 
the citric in lemons, &c., and that most vegetable pro¬ 
ductions, whether grains, fruits, or roots, will produce 
wine of some kind, our correspondent proceeds to the 
making of wine from currants, that being the fruit most 
commonly used, next to the grape, for this purpose : 
“ The following is a receipt for making currant wine, 
which, as far as my knowledge extends, is that in com¬ 
mon use : ‘ Take any quantity of currants, express the 
juice, and to every gallon of it add an equal portion of 
water, (or as some advise a double portion,) and to 
every gallon of this mixture add three and a half pounds 
of sugar ; dissolve the sugar, and put in a cask to fer¬ 
ment ; reserve enough to fill up as it works over the 
bung, and when the fermentation ceases, add one-half 
pint of brandy to each gallon, and close the cask.’ 
These are the usual directions followed by the makers 
of currant wine ; but ihey will not produce wine, but in 
its place we shall have the sweet cordial like beverage 
I have described in the first part of this paper. Does 
the error lie in the quantity of the ingredients ? By no 
means ; it is in the process. The excess of acid in the 
fruit requires all the sugar to correct it; and again the 
combination of the juice and sugar demands as much 
water as is ordered, to bring the mass to a working 
mixture. But the quantity of sugar is great and re¬ 
quires a thorough incorporation, by frequent stirring 
and a lengthened exposure to the atmosphere, to pro¬ 
mote fermentation and convert it into wine. This is 
not the work of a day, nor can the change take place in 
a close vessel; instead, therefore, of pouring the liquor 
into a cask or barrel, let it remain in an open tub, or 
vat, and be well stirred three or four times a day, till 
the most active part of the fermentation is over, which 
will take from five to ten days, according to the warmth 
of the weather, and that of the place in which the ope¬ 
ration is conducted. A cool dark cellar is the best; 
cool that the action may not he unduly accelerated, 
and dark to avoid the filth of flies and other insects. 
When the liquor is covered with a clean foam, tinged 
only by the color of the fruit, and when, on being stir¬ 
red, it ceases to make much hissing, and when the taste 
of the liquor has changed from its original fruity flavor 
to that of wine, pour it into the cask which should be 
filled, and a surplus retained to replenish the vessel as 
it works over in the further process of fermentation, 
and the formation of gases. When again the vessel re¬ 
mains full, and no longer gives forth any sign of fer¬ 
mentation, drive home the bung, still, however, leaving 
the small hole slightly closed with a peg, to give vent to 
such air as may continue to be generated for some days 
longer, when the cask may be completely stoppered 
and' the wine left to itself. In the ensuing spring it 
should be drawn carefully from the lees into another 
cask for use ; but no brandy should be added, as wine 
made in this way will keep any length of time in a good 
tight cask. If your readers will do me the favor to con- 
duct their vinous operations according to these direc¬ 
tions, they may rely on being well pleased with the re¬ 
sult. They will each year have an article similar in 
body and flavor, and as different from the produce in 
the old way as can be imagined. I have been a laborer 
in this vineyard for many years with uniform success. 
The Schoolmaster Abroad.” 
Growth of Trees. 
D. G. Weems of A. A. county, Maryland, has furnish¬ 
ed us with the following experiment made by him on 
the annual growth of trees : 
“ Some three years since, I took the circumference of 
some 200 trees, mostly black oaks, and marked upon 
them their size in inches. The soil on which they stood 
was a light colored stiff clay, about fifteen feet above 
tide water. Although I shall not attempt to reduce my 
experiments to a scientific form, hut merely state facts, 
and leave the result to the reader, I hope they will aid 
some more competent person in a full investigation of 
the matter. The measurement, increase, &c. of twenty 
trees here given, will represent the grove fairly, and 
three years should test the experiment sufficiently. 
Kind of Tree. 
Measure in Inches. 
Annual Increase. 
1 black oak,. 
. 160* 
2 
1 
H .. . 
1-2 
1 
tt . 
. 69* 
1 
3-4 
1 
it . 
1 
1-2 
1 
it 
1 
1 
U . 
1-2 
1 
il . 
. 54 
1 
1 
tt . 
. 49 
1-2 
1 
tt . 
1 
1 
a .. 
0 
1 
tt . 
1-2 
1 white oak,. 
. 143 
0 
1 
tt . 
1-2 
1 
a . 
1 
1 gum,. 
1-2 
1 
tt . 
1 
1 black walnut, • ■ • 
1 
3-4 
1 wild cherry,. 
3-4 
1 red cedar,. 
1-2 
“ It will be seen that the annual average growth of 
these twenty trees is less than one inch, or 17-20ths of 
an inch. I next measured six trees that were fallen in 
the same wood, ascertained their circumference in 
inches, and their age by the rings or circles in the tree, 
thereby finding the probable age of those standing, their 
yearly growth, and the capability of the soil to grow 
timber. The results on these six trees were as follows : 
1 oak,.74 inches circumference, counted 57 circles. 
1 “ .72 “ 57 “ 
1 “ 67 “ “ 53 “ 
1 “ 64 “ “ 56 “ 
1 “ 64 “ 11 56 “ 
1 “ . 61 “ 46 “ 
“ The average annual growth of these trees appears 
to be one inch and one-sixth of an inch. I then found 
by examination that these trees had acquired in their 
central part one-half of their whole diameter, in one- 
third of their whole number of years, thus proving that 
trees, when young, growing in a wood, make their an¬ 
nular circles of greater thickness than thejr do after 
they have towered high. I then measured two trees 
standing on the south side of this grove : one black oak 
102 inches and 60 circles ; one do. 80 inches and 55 cir¬ 
cles. In these trees the circles averaged about the 
same number to the foot, from the heart to the bark, in 
every portion of the stump ; thus showing the advan¬ 
tages of sun and air to vegetation. I now measured 
two isolated trees standing on a higher soil, but still on 
clay : one oak 120 inches, 86 circles ; one do. 108 inches, 
43 circles, averaging nearly two inches a year ; and the 
same results were obtained in the measure of some fruit 
and forest trees planted out some ten years since : thus 
proving that trees flourish belter and are more thrifty 
when not crowded, and the roots and branches have 
room to spread.” 
We shall be glad to receive the promised article on 
the culture of tobacco. 
Sagacity of the Dog. 
A correspondent at Cuddebackville, gives the follow¬ 
ing instance of the sagacity and attachment of the dog, 
which occurred a few years since in Delaware county, 
N. Y.: 
“A boy in sliding down hill was carried into the river, 
and conveyed by the current some distance below into 
a deep eddy. The eddy was frozen over with a thick 
body of ice. A number of neighbors collected and 
searched several days for the body, until, I think, the 
third day ; being about to give up the search, one of 
them (Gen. Gregory) observed that a dog belonging to 
the same family with the boy had been almost constant- 
* These trees grew on the margin of the wood. 
ly on the ice, and was always seen to lie down in a par¬ 
ticular spot, and suggested it might he best to cut an 
opening in that place. It was done, and in a depth of 
four feet of water the body was found. Now, when we 
consider the depth of the water, and the thickness and 
nature of the ice, (18 inches and very opaque,) the 
question naturally presents itself, by what sense did the 
dog discover the body of the child ? It would be diffi¬ 
cult to believe that any odor emanating from the body 
in that situation, could pass directly upwards through 
a current of four feet of water and eighteen inches of 
ice. The opacity of the latter would forbid the idea 
that it could have been discovered through the ice ; and 
I can only conceive that the knowledge was derived 
from some sense in these animals of which we have lit¬ 
tle conception. H. Y. K.” 
The Agricultural Art. 
We have received from the author, Arthur St. 
John, an essay with the above title, from which we 
make the following extract, which is all our limits will 
permit: 
“ The pursuit of improvement is not visionary or 
trivial, but has been sanctioned by the voice of time. 
It is far from being a speculation or a dream. The art 
of agriculture, well named the ‘ parent art,’ is coeval 
with human civilization. So long as men roamed hither 
and yonder—living in. tents and removing wherever 
some green spot induced a stay, and had no fixed habi¬ 
tation, they were barbarians : but when they chose a 
place for a dwelling, and scattered a few grains of wheat 
for. the purpose of harvesting, and procuring means of 
subsistence, they had made a step in the march of ci¬ 
vilization. The oldest and the best Book assures us 
that the three first men were a gardener, a plowman, 
and a grazier ; if it be sneeringly objected that the se¬ 
cond was a murderer, let the reply be, that when he 
became such, he turned a builder. The art of agricul¬ 
ture will survive all sneering. It has received the 
commendation of the past, and as a celebrated writer 
has Wittily remarked, ‘ if heraldry were guided bj'- rea¬ 
son, a plow in a field arable would be the most noble 
and ancient arms.’ It is an art which can exist with 
the exclusion of all others. It has been compared to 
speech, without which society would be a dismal chao¬ 
tic jumble ; the other arts are the mere figures and 
trepes, in fact, only ornaments.” 
Bloody Murrain. 
The following is in reply to an inquiry respecting this 
disease among cattle, its nature and cure, at page 143 
of the Cultivator, by Wm. F. Wright. The writer 
thinks his experience in the treatment of diseased ani¬ 
mals in Europe and in this country, enables him to 
speak on the subject with confidence. We do not vouch 
for the correctness of his theory or practice : 
“ The bloody murrain is no other disease than what 
is called in Europe, and in Pennsylvania, the red wa¬ 
ter; but before any animal will die of this, it must have 
been ill for some weeks, perhaps two months with the 
same. The cure is this : Take one quart of blood from 
the animal by bleeding. Give it every four hours one 
ounce of salt petre in water. The feed for the beast 
must be young grass or cabbage leaves. If there is no 
passage, you must give every two hours a clyster made 
as follows,—three liandsful of oats boiled in water, 
three drams of salt petre, and one and a half ounces of 
linseed oil, mixed when milkwavm and used. If no bet¬ 
ter on the third day, take again one quart of blood. 
When the movement of the bowels is difficult, and the 
dung is mixed with blood, it has assumed the form 
which we coll the black blood, but which is nothin? 
more than the red water in its latest and most nggra- 
vated form, generally ending in death. The salt marsh 
where Mr. Wright’s cows have grazed is the very place 
to get this disease, and as proof of this, I refer to the 
experiments which thousands have made, (and which 
every one may make,) showing that cattle from a high, 
dry country never suffer from this complaint. If Mr. 
Wright will keep his cows from this marsh, and not 
feed them with hay made in such places, I will warrant 
his cows safe from this disease. 
St. Lewis co. Mo. CHARLES PIOEFMAN.” 
Among those who contributed largely to the success 
oflthe late Fair of the State Agricultural Society at 
Syracuse, as well as that of the American Institute at 
New-York, none rendered more efficient aid than our 
friend and correspondent Alex. Walsh, Esq. of Lan- 
singburgh, whose numerous contributions to the puplic 
press, mostly under the signature of “ A. of the North,” 
aided essentially in exciting that spirit which drew such 
multitudes and gave such eclat to those Fairs. As the 
premiums for Butter, Cheese, and Field Crops, (for 
which see last number of the Cultivator) are not to be 
awarded till the annual meeting, to he held in this city 
on the 18th January next, we publish the following for 
the purpose of calling particular attention to those pre¬ 
miums, for which we trust there will be a spirited com¬ 
petition. — 
Washington and Rensselaer County Butter. 
The efforts that have hitherto been made for the im¬ 
provement of the different branches of agricultural 
industry, it is to be feared, have not been extended to 
the manufacture of butter. The whole civilized and 
demi-barbarous portion of the globe have been ransack- 
ed to procure the best breeds of horses, cattle, sheep 
and hogs ; art and ingenuity have been nearly exhaust- 
