110 
THE CULTIVATOR 
(Ecufoitssfr Cunroponirsnce & Jlnffitirks. 
THE MORGAN HORSE—AGAIN. 
After, our last paper went to press, containing' the state¬ 
ment of Justin Morgan, Esq. of Stockbridg-e, Vt., that 
his father brought the original Morgan horse from Spring- 
field, Mass., we received a communication from Mr. 
John Morgan of Lima, in this state, confirming the 
statement of Justin Morgan, that the sire of the celebra¬ 
ted Morgan horses of Vermont, came from Massachusetts 
instead of from Canada, as lias heretofore been supposed. 
Mr. John Morgan informs us that he resided in Spring- 
field, Mass., near Mr. Justin Morgan, senior, previous to 
his removal to Vermont, and that the two years old stud 
which he took with him to Vermont, as stated in our 
last paper, by Mr. J.. Morgan, Jr. “wassired by a horse 
owned by Sealy Norton of East Hartford, Conn., called 
the ‘ True Britton, or Beautiful Bay.’ He was kept at 
Springfield one season, by the said Justin Morgan, and 
two years after I kept him two seasons. This horse was 
said to be raised by Gen. Delaney, commander of the 
refugee troops on Long Island, and rode by him in the 
revolution. It was said that one Smith stole the horse 
from the General at King’s Bridge, while the General 
was in the tavern: ran him across the bridge and took 
him to the American army, near White Plains, and sold 
him to Joseph Ward, of Hartford, Conn., for $300. It 
was also said at that time, that he was sired by the noted 
imported horse called the ‘ Traveler,’ said to be kept in 
New Jersey. Ward was a merchant, and kept the horse 
three or four years for a saddle and carriage horse, and 
traded him off to Norton, and Norton kept him for mares 
while he lived. The description of the Morgan breed 
given by Mr. G. Barnard, answers well to the description 
of the stock of ‘ True Britton.’ His stock was all bright 
hays, some inclining to sorrel. I have always under¬ 
stood that Morgan kept the colt for a stud at Randolph, 
and was very celebrated for his stock.” 
PREVENTION OF - BLOATING—IMPROVED SHA¬ 
KER-IMPROVED CHINA PIGS. 
We make the following extracts from the letter of a 
correspondent in Bucks Co. Pa., April, 1842. 
“As the time is approaching for turning cattle to pas¬ 
ture, I will give a plan that was successfully tried here 
last season to prevent bloating on fresh clover, or other 
grass, and I should like to have others try it and report 
the results. It is to put a common bridle bit in the mouth 
of the animal, and fasten it there by a strap or string pass¬ 
ing over the head.” 
“ I think I have made an improvement in the shaker 
to my fanning mill, and will try to describe it on paper. 
The riddle of my mill was shook by a knocker on the end 
of the axle of the blower, which projects two or three 
inches beyond the frame of the mill. This axle being 
square, I put a whir upon it about seven inches in di¬ 
ameter, with two deep grooves for a band turned in it, 
one of them an inch less in diameter than the other. I 
next put an upright shaft with a whir turned on the low¬ 
er end about three inches in diameter, with two sharp 
deep grooves for the band corresponding with the other, 
and as much differing in size, so that the band may be 
changed without altering the tightness. Let the whir on 
the upright shaft be horizontal with the whir on the wind 
shaft, and it will not throw the band. Let the top of this 
shaft extend as high as the top of the riddle, three inches 
in diameter, turned off square and smooth, with a neck 
an inch and a half from the end, and fasten it to the side 
in any way most convenient opposite the front end of the 
riddle. Then by boring small holes in the top of this 
shaft, at different distances from the center and inserting 
an iron in them, a crank will be formed from an inch to 
five inches or more. There should be a small piece of 
good wood attached, or framed across the front part of 
the riddle or shoe, to which the iron forming the crank 
can be attached. Take about a quarter inch round iron 
rod, turn one end at a right angle, one inch, to go in the 
holes bored in the upper end of the upright shaft; flatten 
the other end and punch a hole that will take in a large 
screw, fasten it to the middle of the riddle, and it is com¬ 
plete with the exception of the band, which I have found 
best when made of wool. It turns easy, and you can give 
it any desired shake.” 
“I wish to know your opinion of the improved China 
hog, compared with the Berkshire—which will make the 
most pork with the least expense—and which is the thin¬ 
nest skinned, and the best meat? I bought some pigs 
for China hogs, and they turned out wild, hollow backed, 
thick skinned and unprofitable.” 
Remarks by Eds. of Cult. —We have seen it stated 
that a band of straw placed in the mouth as the bit is re¬ 
commended to be, would relieve the bloat. If the bit 
will prevent it, or will cure it, a great point may be con¬ 
sidered gained. We hope it will be tried. 
We see no objection to the shaker of our correspond¬ 
ent, except that the working of the iron crank in the 
holes in top of the upright shaft, would soon wear them 
too large. If our friend could see some of the mills of 
the farmers in the wheat districts of western New-York, 
we think he would prefer their methods of shaking the 
riddle, for ease and durability, to the one he has described. 
The China is the only perfect hog; and the only way 
he can be improved for the farmer, is to cross him with 
a breed giving more weight and substance. On the breed 
selected for this cross, depends the value or the injury of 
the improvements. The imported Berkshires have been 
produced in that way; and as the original stock of Berk¬ 
shires was a capital hog, the cross with the China has 
given a breed that will be rivaled with difficulty. From 
the account our friend gives of his China hogs, we fear 
that in his purchase, he was, as they say down east, “ a 
leetle sucked in;” as they had not a single point in com¬ 
mon with the Chinese. 
SAW DUST—COTTON GIN. 
A correspondent at Demopolis, Ala. says,—“ My busi¬ 
ness is running a steam mill. Having last year made a 
simple contrivance by which I burn saw dust to much ad¬ 
vantage, I am induced to mention it for the benefit of 
others. I have a door, say sixteen inches square, in the 
side of my furnace, just behind the fire grates. At this 
I throw in the saw dust; here it is brought immediately 
in contact with the flames, and answers a double pur¬ 
pose. Having no fire wall, I make in lieu thereof a wall 
of fire. My furnace has a strong draft which may be ne¬ 
cessary to success. 
A Gin for cleaning cotton has been invented by a gen¬ 
tleman in this place, on the roller principle; which by 
competent judges it is thought will supercede the saw 
gin. Preparations have been made for their construc¬ 
tion, and they will come into use this fall. J. B. C.” 
QUEEN BEES. 
We have received a communication from Mr. H. Pal¬ 
mer of New Marlborough, on the subject of bees, in 
which he says: “ this is the third paper he has sent us, 
to which he has seen no reply or notice.” If Mr. P. 
will turn to the 7th vol. page 152 of the Cult, he will 
find a respectful notice and reply to his first communica¬ 
tion. His second was of a nature, in our opinion, requir¬ 
ing neither notice or reply, and was laid aside. 
Our readers are aware that it is the common opinion, 
that a swarm of bees is divided into three kinds, the 
drones or male bees; the neuters or workers; and the 
queen bee which deposits the eggs from which the young 
are produced. Such has been the opinion of the ablest 
investigators, from the first notice we have of the history 
of bees. So thought Swammerdam, Bonnet, Thorley, 
Reamuer, and Huber; and so thinks Kirby, Spence, Wil¬ 
son, Cuvier, Harris, and what may be thought as much 
to the purpose, so thinks every practical apiarian we have 
heard give an opinion on the subject, either in the old 
world or the new, with the exception of Mr. Henry Pal¬ 
mer of New Marlborough, who stoutly denies the exis¬ 
tence of any such creature as the queen bee. We cannot 
think Mr. P. has followed our advice to make himself 
acquainted with some of the latest writers on bees, par¬ 
ticularly Mr. Weeks, or he would not have hazarded the 
assertion that Mr. W. “ has not said one word about a 
queen, and in so doing has shown his wisdom, for he, nor 
no other man knows any thing about a thing that never 
was.” 
As to proving that which no one (Mr. P. excepted,) 
doubts, we must be excused; but if some of our bee¬ 
keeping friends, should opportunity offer in the course 
of the season, would send us specimens of the several 
kinds of bees, we would endeavor to give Mr. P. an op¬ 
portunity of satisfying himself, by the study of their well 
marked, external characters, that the whole world has 
not until the present time, been in an error upon this 
point. We have supposed that if any point in Natural 
History had been satisfactorily settled, the existence, 
functions, and use of the queen bee was one. Still, as all 
former observers may have been mistaken; and as a 
grain of truth is more precious than the accumulated 
errors of ages, Mr. Palmer may yet claim and receive 
the honor of discovering the grain that belongs to this 
matter. All we have to say is, let the right prevail. 
“BLOOD OF A ELACK CAT.” 
Our correspondent, Eli Westfall of Dutchess co., en¬ 
ters his protest against the classing by ‘ Commentator,’ 
of the use of a black cat’s blood as a cure for the shin¬ 
gles, among « absurd and ridiculous superstitions.” He 
says—“ A few years ago, traveling in the eastern part of 
this county, I happened to be in the company of an old 
experienced physician. I wished him to examine my 
wife’s neck, on which was a spot as large as her hand, 
full of small eruptions, and very disagreeable and pain¬ 
ful. She had tried various remedies without effect, the 
disease constantly increasing. He immediately pronoun¬ 
ced it the shingles, and directed that as soon as we got 
home, we should apply the warm blood of a black cat, 
and she should at the same time take small doses of Ep¬ 
som salts. This she did a few times, and though the ap¬ 
plication was painful, the cure was speedy and complete. 
I might bring a respectable number of persons to testify 
to the efficacy of this method of cure, where the skill of 
the physician had failed, but shall give only one. The 
man that works my farm had this complaint desperately. 
All the doctor did was of no avail; it continued to spread 
until it had nearly surrounded his body, when he made 
use of about three cat skins applied warm with their 
flesh sides to the body, making use of the blood too, and 
a speedy cure was the result. I am not prepared to say 
that the blood of a black eat is any better than that of a 
cat of any other color; be that as it may, it is as easy to 
cut off the tail or the head of a black cat as any. I 
think I can perceive a vast difference in the superstitions 
of the influence of the moon on meat, or of lucky and 
unlucky days, alluded to by * Commentator,’ and that 
of curing the shingles by the blood of a cat. In the lat¬ 
ter case there is a direct and tangible application, and 
unless Commentator can prove that the component parts 
of a cat’s blood are not good for the shingles, I shall con¬ 
tinue to believe my own eyes at least. I trust .Commen¬ 
tator will forgive the liberty I have taken, as I can assure 
him that my wishes for the eradication of all superstition, 
are at least equal to his own.” 
“ I hope Mr. George Woodfin will not fail to make 
public his method of manufacturing manure from night 
soil, and the effects resulting from it.” 
Note by Editors. —Those of our readers who have 
read “ Coxe’s Four Years on the Columbia River,” will 
remember a cure of apparently confirmed consumption 
in a young lady, the daughter of the Superintendent, by 
direction of the Indians, performed in the following man¬ 
ner: A horse was killed, and the viscera, entrails, &c. 
removed with the utmost despatch; and the young lady 
placed in the cavity so formed, in such a manner that her 
head only was free. Here she was kept until the tempe¬ 
rature was sensibly reduced, when she was removed. A 
few repetitions of this treatment completed the cure. 
Coxe does not say whether the horses were black or 
white. 
YAM POTATOE. 
Mr. Horsfield of Wyoming Co., after cautioning 
farmers to beware of paying extravagant prices for new 
things and advising them to avoid another Rohan hum¬ 
bug, adds: “But Mr. Smith’s new Yam potatoes are new 
only in name. He says they are “new to him;” perhaps 
they- are; but from the description which he gives, they 
are an old acquaintance of mine, and I can inform Mr. 
Smith that the same article precisely is cultivated in this 
section of the country, in great perfection; and that I 
will agree to furnish them in any quantity, at one dollar 
(instead of six,) per barrel. I will also join most heartily 
with him in recommending them as highly as he does, 
for their excellent qualities not only, but for their pro¬ 
ductiveness also.” 
Mr. H. has not stated the name by which Mr. Smith’s 
‘ Yam’ potatoe is known at the west, but it appears to us 
to be the same known to some as the calico potatoe, and 
to others as the blue potatoe; the first name arising from 
the appearance of the interior, and the latter one from 
the color of the skin, which is a dark purplish blue. 
They are a first rate potatoe for cooking, of good or even 
large size, and so far as our experience with them goes, 
produce abundantly. It must be remembered, however, 
that local names are not the best marks to distinguish po¬ 
tatoes, they having very different names in different pla¬ 
ces. 
“AN ONONDAGA FARMER,” AND MR. ALLEN. 
We have received from Mr. A. Bickett, a paper in re¬ 
ference to the communication of “ An Onondaga Farm¬ 
er,” in a previous number of the Cultivator, some parts 
of which the writer will pardon us for omitting, as deal¬ 
ing too much in personalities, and apparently founded 
on misapprehension. After stating that he had seen in 
the Boston Cultivator, the paper of “ An Onondaga Farm¬ 
er,” quoting some of his opening remarks, comparing 
him to a “ certain important personage who on the pin¬ 
nacle of the temple, quoted scripture to the wisest and 
best being the world ever saw,” &c. Mr. B. goes on to 
say:— 
“ If this voucher for Mr. Allen, (if the twain are not 
one flesh, in a sense somewhat different from the scrip¬ 
tural one,) had given his real name, and his particular 
whereabouts, your readers would have been more able to 
put a just estimate on the value of his “conviction.” 
There is enough of doubt existing already about the 
soundness of some of Mr. Allen’s statements, (that on the 
subject of Short Horns not excepted,) without adding any 
more to it by the evidence of a person writing under a 
fictitious signature. It is high time that both Mr. Allen, 
and the author of the article referred to, (if they are two 
persons,) should understand that assertions are not proofs, 
whether they are made under real or fictitious names, 
however high authority the person or persons who make 
them may think themselves to be. It is one thing to as¬ 
sert that there is “ only one man’s herd in England that 
can improve our own,” and another thing to prove it; 
and if either Mr. Allen or “ An Onondaga Farmer,” or 
both of them can prove it, they will do more than I 
expect _and I hope for their credit and our information, 
they will try; but I suppose this part will devolve on the 
latter of these two gentlemen, as the former has got more 
to do than he can accomplish to prove some of his own 
assertions. His doctrine about making Ayrshires, beats 
Transcendentalism all hollow.” 
After a series of comments on the remarks of “ An On¬ 
ondaga Farmer,” respecting the danger to be apprehend¬ 
ed from the importation of cattle affected with the pre¬ 
vailing epizoatic disease in Great Britain, denying there 
is any danger to be apprehended from that source, and 
insinuating that such an attempt to alarm the agricultural 
public could only have arisen from selfish motives, Mr. 
Bickett adds:— 
“But I venture to assert, that so long as the frequent 
importation of animals continue, that the interests of some 
of the would-be-monopolist breeders of these animals in 
this country, (does ‘An Onondaga Farmer,’ or Mr. Allen, 
know of any such? I only ask the question, ‘ hope I 
don’t intrude,’) will be in much danger; and if the ‘ da¬ 
mage’ to their interests would not ‘be estimated by mil¬ 
lions of dollars,’ it would be estimated by dollars to some 
extent; and if any bugbear can be got up under a plausi¬ 
ble pretence for the public good, that will prevent mi- 
