THE CULTIVATOR 
101 
ing a meridian line, and a watch set to the true apparent 
time the forepart of the day, and at or near 12 the dial 
set true to the time piece. 
My mode is, (and this is the best where there is a 
suitable instrument,) to take the sun’s altitude the fore¬ 
part of the day, by a theodolite, graduated to minutes by 
means of a vernier, and then by spherical trigonometry 
calculate the true apparent time, and set a clock or watch, 
and at or near 12, to set the dial. The reason for set¬ 
ting the dial near 12 o’clock, is, that should there be any 
inaccuracy in the dial, it will be equally balanced in dif¬ 
ferent parts of the day. S. Moore. 
Kensington, Ct. March 5, 1842. 
SOUND WHEAT GROWN IN A SMUT BED. 
We make the following extract from a letter received 
from H. Ransford, Goderich, U. C. The fact stated is a 
curious one: 
“ Last autumn I was in the habit of bathing behind a 
grist mill just below my house, which I had to pass to 
go to the river. One day observing several stalks of 
ripe wheat growing round the heap of dirt and smut that 
had accumulated below the opening from the smut ma¬ 
chine, on the roof that covered the wheel, full twenty feet 
from the ground, I said to the miller, who was standing 
outside, C I fear your crop will be but a small one.’ He 
replied, £ not worse perhaps than some of my neighbors. 
What will you say if I go and get you a handful from the 
wheel, and you are not able to find a smutty gx'ain among 
it ?’ £ I suppose I must believe it if I see it, but I should 
be afraid to tell it to another person,’ I replied, and walked 
on to the river. On my retui-n, he met me with a hand¬ 
ful of the identical wheat gathered from the roof, roots, 
chaff, smut balls, and dirt, and strange to say, although 
the berry was not plump, yet it was clean and bright as 
any wheat I ever saw, nor could we discover the slight¬ 
est trace of smut in some twenty ears that we carefully 
rubbed out for the purpose of finding some. Here, 
thought I, is the doctrine of homoepathy with a ven¬ 
geance; treat a disease with what will produce the dis¬ 
ease in a Healthy subject, and health will be restored; in 
other words, take smutty wheat, sow it in a smut bed, 
and it will produce clean grain; I will send this to the 
Cultivator for the learned to explain, and believers in 
transmutation to fight over.” 
Mr. R. entex-s his protest against the Rohan, pronoun¬ 
cing them an “ overgrown, yellow, watery kind, fit only 
for pigs, and not containing as much starch or nuti'iment 
as some other sorts that do not weigh one-third as much.” 
timates made out by writers on the great resources of oux 
country, taking the whole amount of production, and 
holding it forth to the people, as being ample to meet 
our great indebtedness, avoiding to show that the great 
bulk of the production is absorbed in supporting our¬ 
selves, and that in some years there has been a large de 
licit. Chester Co., Pa. T. T. W.” 
ADVANTAGES OF AGRICULTURAL PAPERS. 
We should be pleased to insert the communication of 
G. H. Esq. of Middleborough, Mass., as a specimen of 
many we are constantly receiving, were it not for the 
apprehension that by doing it we might be deemed lack¬ 
ing in modesty. If there is any thing which can cheer 
the conductors of an agricultural paper, it is such assu¬ 
rances from their friends and the public, that their exer¬ 
tions are appreciated, and that real substantial benefits 
are flowing- from their labors. The following extract 
will show one of the many instances named by “G. H.” 
in which he has derived important aid from the Culti¬ 
vator : 
“ There is running through my farm a brook of pure 
spring water; and as our well water is hard for washing, 
we were obliged to draw it from the brook in barrels, a 
mode inconvenient and expensive. I was looking about 
for some way to force this water a distance of 300 feet 
and a height of 30 feet, but could find no one who could 
inform me how it could be done, until I saw in the Cul¬ 
tivator Mr. Bement s and Mr. Phelps’ experiments, which 
were exactly what I wanted. I went to work and made 
the proper fixtures, got the required machinei-y of Mr. 
Farnam, and I now have plenty of water for all purpo¬ 
ses; for the house, barn yards, hog pen, and surplus wa¬ 
ter enough flowing over my meadow to increase the crop 
more than a ton annually, which will pay all expenses. 
There is also extra power enough, to work a churn, car¬ 
ry a grindstone, &c. Now had it not been for your Cul- 
tivatoi - , I might have continued to draw water from the 
brook as long as I had lived.” 
We cannot doubt that our correspondent’s new ar¬ 
rangements with regard to his barns, cellars, and manure 
yards, will be as successful as his experiment in bringing 
water to his house; and there are multitudes of farmers 
who if they would follow the example of “ G. H.” in 
reading, and profiting by what they read, would not only 
benefit themselves, but do honor to the farming commu¬ 
nity, and to the country. 
PLASTER-BEES. 
infests the cherry and pear, is quite correct; he is unable 
to determine whether the nidus is laid on the tree or on 
the leaf; on that point I am clear; it is laid on the upper 
side of the leaf, about ten days previous to their appear¬ 
ance in the larvae form, in the shape of a little blister or 
bladder that covers the egg. I have never been able 
with the most untiring and closest scrutiny, to discover 
the parent insect. I have several times, in a close vessel 
filled with earth and covered with glass, attempted to per¬ 
fect the creature, but from some fatality never succeeded; 
a case I never failed in when applied to the curculio, cut 
worm and various other insects. 
They first appeared about Albany in 1820; at Canandai¬ 
gua and Rochester about 1830, and at Buffalo in 1840; 
they are progressive and quite a pest; the only preven¬ 
tive is, after they have hatched out, to use tobacco juice 
or dry ashes and slaked lime thrown freely into the 
tree. 
Rohans _Very many persons are denouncing as use¬ 
less the Rohan potatoe, and in many cases not without 
some cause, mostly as I conceive from the want of infor¬ 
mation as to the proper management. The great failing 
is, that they do not plant them early enough to give them 
time to ripen and perfect themselves. They should be 
planted as early in May as possible, at any rate before or 
by the time of planting corn. Unless they are planted 
early, and have time to pei'fect their tubers, they do not 
yield better than many of our standard kinds, and are an 
unripe, watery insipid article, unfit for the food of man 
or beast. There is but two or three principles of nutri¬ 
ment in the whole vegetable economy. Starch or flour, 
saccharine or sugar,and mucilage or gum constitute nearly 
the sum total. 
The nutritious principles of bagas, beets, carrots, ap¬ 
ples, &c. exist in the saccharine, and in all the grains and 
potatoes, it resides in the starch, principally, and that 
potatoe that contains the greatest quantity of starch with 
the same ability of production, is the most desirable arti¬ 
cle to cultivate; and that is a point that requires exami¬ 
nation, the settling of which beyond cavil, by competent 
authority, would be worthy the patronage of the state 
society, and I admire that the subject has not attracted 
the attention of the committee for offering awards, elici¬ 
ting valuable truths by experiments. 
The Rohan requires a longer period to perfect itself 
than any potatoe we grow in this state that I am acquaint¬ 
ed with, and a potatoe that will not ripen planted from 
the 10th to the 15th of June, is objectionable. 
From the 20th to 30th of May, cox-n planting is usually 
finished, and then commences a period of 10 or 15 days 
usually devoted to the potatoe crop, and therefore a spe¬ 
cies that will not ripen after that time for a stock crop, 
is not as desirable as an earlier and equally prolific vari¬ 
ety. 
Fall Plowing —Your correspondent “ Columbia,” 
has the best of the argument in my view of the subject 
of fall plowing, for which practice there is no other pos¬ 
sible benefit to be derived, than a saving of time and the 
killing of the larvce and chrysalis of destructive insects, 
which in most cases is of doubtful efficacy. If plowed 
early in the fall, the foul grasses during the wet weather, 
will shoot up thx-ough the furrow,like young wheat com¬ 
ing up; if plowed late it does not rot and decompose, 
is beat down close and solid by the winter, and will re¬ 
quire cross plowing while the sods are fresh and alive; 
such a field for any spring crop will be hard to subdue. 
The spring plowing if well done, thoroughly harrowed 
with the manure on the surface, has decidedly the advan¬ 
tage, especially for potatoes, that is, if you want to real¬ 
ize the virtues of the manure for the present crop; if not, 
why plow it under 6 or 8 inches deep and lose nine- 
tenths of its value? L. B. L. 
SUN DIALS. 
Messrs. Editors —In the Cultivator for November 
last, is an article on Sun Dials, from the pen of Wm. P. 
Kinzer of Pennsylvania, that may seem to require some 
notice from me. As a manufacturer of dials, I feel 
thankful to Mr. Kinzer for bringing the subject again be¬ 
fore the public, and I am pleased with his enlarged views 
on the subject. I see no reason however, from Mr. Kin- 
zer’s communication, to change my views, hci’etofore ex¬ 
pressed in the Cultivator. 
As to the kind of dials, I have adopted the hoi'izontal, 
on account of its being the simplest for use when made, 
and the easiest to manufacture from the materials I em¬ 
ploy. I have, on my premises, made by myself, all the 
kinds of which Mr. K. speaks. 
With regard to the best and most convenient mode of 
setting the dial, I am aware that there are different opin¬ 
ions, and that some writers on the subject recommend the 
mode adopted by Mr. K., although I should think more 
are fa voidable to the one I have recommended; yet, as 
experience is a better teacher in such matters than theo¬ 
ry, let Mr. K. ti*y the two modes, and (so easy has it be¬ 
come of late to ascertain the time accurately,) I feel con¬ 
fident he will be satisfied that the mode I have recom¬ 
mended is preferable. Indeed, if there were no more 
convenient way of ascertaining the apparent time, than 
that recommended by Mr. K., (of drawing a meridian 
line by equal altitudes of the sun, and thus obtaining, as 
he says, a 12 o’clock dial,) it would still, according to 
my experience, be the easiest and best mode to draw the 
meridian line on some other place than the pedestal, and 
when the shadow of the wire arrived at the meridian or 
12 o’clock mark, to set the dial to 12 o’clock precisely. 
But in almost all situations, the time may be obtained 
(from a place not far distant,) as accurately as by draw¬ 
PROFITS ON FARMS. 
We have received from a correspondent in Chester co. 
Pa., a communication in reference to this subject, elicit¬ 
ed by our notice of the farms that received the premi¬ 
ums from the Hartford Co. Ag. Society, in the January 
No. Our correspondent dissents from the manner in 
which the estimate of profit in those reports is made up, 
contending that the intei'est on the capital invested, (that 
of the land, and that of the floating capital required,) the 
wages and board of all the persons employed, expenses 
to mechanics, &c., should all be included and subtracted 
from the aggregate of products, before determining what 
the nett profit is. The remarks in general appear to us 
very just, and the subject deserving the consideration of 
Ag. Committees in making up their reports. The closing 
part of the communication we give entire: 
“ I will proceed to show the manner we in Chester 
co. Pa., keep debt and credit, on a farm of 115 acres of 
land worth 100 dollars per acre. Capital in land $11,500. 
Interest $690. A property of 115 acres will require a 
capital of from $2,000 to $2,500 in personal property, 
such as stock, farming utensils, and household and kitchen 
furniture. 
Interest on capital vested in farm,. $690 
“ on floating capital,. 120 
Wear and tear of personal property,.... 50 
For lime annually, to keep land up,........ 100 
Plaster annually,. 20 
The owner of the farm, wages $11 per month, 132 
Wife and girl’s wages, $2 per week,. 104 
2 men hired at $10 per month, each,. 240 
Mechanic’s bills, annually,. 60 
Store bill, consumed in boarding,. 30 
Expense of such a farm,.$1,546 
On this farm we divide our business, feeding cattle. 
raising corn, oats, and barley, or wheat. We plow from 
10 to 12 acres annually. 600 bushels of lime are put on 
previous to planting corn; when it is put into wheat with 
dung manure, and seeded to grass for mowing or grazing. 
The remaining part is mowed or grazed. We do not 
count the amount raised; for we board all the people em¬ 
ployed on the farm, and that should have been another 
item in the expenses, worth $188. The hay is all fed to 
stock. This stock is changed annually, therefore we 
take the profits of our cattle and all the surplus produce 
of the farm to pay expenses, and what money is left, if 
any, we call profit. It is the profit on our cattle, and 
surplus produce sold, that makes up our profit or loss, 
and not the amount raised. 
I have said more on this subject than many may think 
requisite, but it is a subject that concerns us nationally, 
as well as states and individuals; and we ought not to 
deceive ourselves or the public these trying times. Eve¬ 
ry thing should go by its right name, for every rise or 
fall seems now-a-days to depend on the soil, and it be¬ 
hooves us to make correct calculations. I have seen es- 
G. Cook, Esq. of Tivoli, N. Y., has forwarded us two 
communications, one on plaster, the other on bees. The 
first is devoted to the consideration of some remarks made 
by us on a paper of his on the same subject, in the March 
Cultivator; but as he has advanced no new position on 
the question; as we are agreed as to the main points, 
which are the folly of relying on plaster alone to main¬ 
tain the fertility of the soil, and neglecting the prepara¬ 
tion and use of other manures; and as hepi'oposes to give 
us hereafter, his views of the nature and action of plas¬ 
ter, we shall omit this part, and give the one on bees, 
which appears to us to contain some valuable suggestions. 
“In all the systems proposed for the management of the 
bee, it appeal’s to me they are all deficient in one great 
poinj, the best preservation of this industrious little in¬ 
sect. Although, with very few exceptions, the systems 
proposed, contemplate their preservation, yet experience 
seems to establish the fact, that they will not do well in 
comb that is allowed to become old; therefore it appears 
to me, that any contrivance for a hive that will give them 
frequently a change of comb, must be for their interest; 
as breeding in, and running over it so much for sevei’al 
years, seems to render it unfit for the deposit of honey, 
or even the egg of the bee. Now the course I would re¬ 
commend, would be to make two boxes, or half hives, 
say about 15 inches square, and about 13 inches high, 
(but in that respect to be governed by the average size 
of the swarms,) each covered at the top, with the excep¬ 
tion of a hole 3 inches square as a passage for the bees 
out, and when the fir3t or uppermost box is filled, to al¬ 
low them to pass into the lower one to fill that also. In 
most cases, probably in the first year they will have filled 
the first box, (unless the swarm is very weak,) while the 
next year will suffice to fill the second, when the first or 
upper box is to be taken for use. It is not claimed that 
by this method the comb that contains the honey, will be 
as white as that taken in boxes in the other methods, yet 
it will not yield to the other in richness and flavor.* Nor 
is it claimed that this is a non-swarmer; indeed I have 
tried almost every thing to prevent their swai’ming, but 
have found them all inefficient: it seems to be the way 
that nature designed them to multiply, and at the same 
time be provided with sufficient food. One other fact I 
have found out to my cost, and that is, that under all cir¬ 
cumstances they must be ventilated and kept dry. And 
now while on the subject of bees, permit me to give a 
valuable receipt for their sting; it is to bruise the leaves 
of the white ash, put water upon them, and drink the de¬ 
coction. G. Cook.” 
Tivoli, March, 1842. 
* Our correspondent might have added, that honey of the se¬ 
cond year is far more healthy than when new ; rarely produ¬ 
cing those colics and derangement s of the stomach, which fre- 
uently result from eating new honey. The famous honey of 
olehis in Asia Minor, long celebrated for producing delirium 
and madness, a quality derived from the bees feeding on the 
blossoms of a species of laurel, loses this power with ag--: 
and every apiarian knows that new honey partakes sensibly of 
the qualities of the blossoms from which it is derived.— Eds. 
