THE CULTIVATOR. 
199 
to be among the first objects of such a fair ? A good 
milker, if not the first quality among good cows, is 
certainly the second. Beauty and usefulness combined, 
constitute the highest consideration in farm stock. 
If it could be said, with truth, that the most beautiful 
cow gave more and richer milk than any other cow, she 
would be of greater value than any other cow. The pre¬ 
ference with daily men would be, for the cow that gave 
the most and richest milk—hence, those qualities should 
be the object of the exhibitor. Respectfully, 
David Tomlinson. 
Schenectady , Oct. 3, 1842. 
domestic (Economy. 
PRESS FOR WORKING OYER BUTTER. 
Smooth, as perfectly as possible, a piece of hard wood 
plank, 18 inches wide and 24 long. On both sides and 
end, nail pieces of board, rising one inch above the sur¬ 
face. Near the open end screw in a small ring-bolt; or 
what is better, three; one at each corner and one in the 
center. Let the ring on the bolt be one inch in di¬ 
ameter. Make a brake 30 inches long, 9 inches of which 
is for the handle. Let it be 3j> inches wide, 1^ thick; 
one edge made sharp, and the other rounded. On the 
end to go next the eye-bolts put a ring, and in the cen¬ 
ter screw a bolt with a head, which will just slip through 
the eye of either of the ring-bolts.* 
Need I say more? The rest is plain. Give the end 
next you a slight elevation; and by using the brake as a 
faraker does his, and by changing as occasion requires, all 
the milk may be worked from butter with a trifling la¬ 
bor. 
A marble slab would be preferable, as the butter 
would stick less to the surface. A small wooden shovel 
3 inches square, with the edges perfectly straight, should 
be at hand to keep all in place. James Bates. 
CURING HAMS, PORK, &c. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —As the time is drawing 
nigh when the farmer is again to secure his stock of meats 
for another year, and as I consider the knowledge of 
curing meat for “home consumption,” very essential 
to a farmer, and as the many receipts, &c. which are 
already extant are more or less expensive and laborious, 
permit me to give your readers my method. 
We kill our family pork about the last of December, 
leave it hanging upon the shambles until the next morn¬ 
ing after killing, being careful that it does not freeze. 
It is then cutup, by first taking off the head; 2d, split 
the hog through the back bone; 3d, take out the lard; 
4th, cut the ham and shoulders; 5th, cut off all the flank 
or belly pieces, (for sausage meat;) 6th, divide the re¬ 
mainder of the side in pieces 6 inches wide. We then 
cut off the legs from the hams and shoulders, and cut 
holes in the rinds ready for hanging on the hooks, and 
place them in a cask, (molasses hogshead if a good one 
can be procured,) not packed too close, without salt. 
We then make a strong brine in the lollowing manner; 
the caldron or some other large kettle being properly 
cleaned, we put in it about 3 pecks of clean Turks Isl¬ 
and salt, to about one barrel of soft water; heat it 
gradually to boiling point; it is frequently stirred, and all 
the scum is carefully removed from the surface; it is 
then dipped out into a barrel or tub, and permitted to 
cool down to about blood heat; we then add half 
pound salt-petre, and again stir it well; we then add half 
a gallon of molasses, well stirred, and immediately 
put it upon the ham until it is fully covered. A weight 
is placed upon the meat, so that all in the cask is fully 
immersed. It is permitted to stand until about the first 
of March, when it is hung up in the smoke house, from 
which it is not taken until and only as required for use. 
My smoke house is fen by five feet, double boarded 
side and top, shingle roof, brick floor, and inside laid 
up with brick about two feet high; in the center of the 
floor there is a vault about two feet deep, one foot square, 
laid up in the form of a chimney, the top even with the 
surface of the floor, in which a shovel full of coals are 
thrown and then filled with corn cobs; a small cast iron 
plate covering about two-thirds of the top is thrown over 
it, which will make a dense smoke for several hours. 
This is repeated once every day for several days, or until 
the meat begins to have a brown color, when it is per¬ 
mitted to remain until warm weather; a smoke is then 
made at least once a week, and in excessive hot weather 
as often as once in two or three days. I have followed 
this practice for the last ten years, and have never lost 
a pound of smoked meat, and have it in September as 
sweet and clean as in May. 
Some may ask why is your smoke house of this length 
and width ? I will briefly state that a farmer has diffe¬ 
rent kinds or grades of meat. 1st, I hang the smoke 
beef and chops, &c. at the extreme end—2d, the shoul¬ 
ders in the center as they are required to be used first— 
3rd, the hams on either sides of the shoulders. As to 
the size, I must say it is none too large, as no one piece 
should touch the other; and as to the plan and the ma¬ 
terials, I have only to say that from experience, I pre¬ 
fer a wood to a brick or stone smoke house, because meat 
with the foregoing treatment does not mold; and as to 
its being double boarded all over, is first to prevent flies 
from having access, and 2d, the immediate action of the 
atmosphere is prevented by the thickness of it upon the 
* The bolts should be screwed into the plank, so that when 
the brake is attached its edges will exactly fit to the surface 
the whole length. 
meat; as to the brick sides and floor, the rats and mice 
are prevented from doing their wonted mischief. 
The smoke-beef, chops, &c. may all go in the same 
cask with the hams, if care is taken to have them well 
cleansed of blood. The side pork, or summer pork 
as it is generally termed by farmers, we pack down in 
layers, upon the edges, around the cask, as close as pos¬ 
sible, with good Turks Island salt, about a bushel to a 
barrel, proportionally divided between the layers; and 
put one-fourth lb. salt petre, one quart molasses to as 
much water as will cover a barrel of pork packed as 
above. I would farther state, we preserve our beef in 
the same manner as our hams, and preserved in the cask 
with the same brine. I would also remark, that we in 
no case use any other tools for cutting up our meat but a 
good sharp hand saw and knife. Ein Landsman. 
Schaghticoke, Oct. 8, 1842. 
MAKING VINEGAR. 
We have on hand a number of pipes of the juice of 
apples, manufactured last fall, exclusively for vinegar; 
and since fermentation took place there has been little or 
no change in regard to the acidity of it, although it has 
been placed during the winter in the cellar, and in the 
summer under an open shed exposed to the air. 
Is there any process by which it may be rendered more 
acetous while it remains in the pipes? 
What effect would boiling produce, and mixing with 
it a small quantity of molasses, or some other saccharine 
substance? S. E. T. 
We have never found any difficulty in making good 
vinegar from cider, when we have drawn it from the 
lees after the fermentation was wholly over, and placed 
it in a place where the temperature was higher than it is 
in the cellar. Left on the lees, or in a low temperature, 
the acetous fermentation is rarely complete. If our cor¬ 
respondent will place his cider where the temperature is 
from 65 to 80 degrees, and draw a pailfull daily from 
each cask, to be returned by the bung hole; or if he will 
procure from a cask of good vinegar a quantity of the 
substance called mother of vinegar, and add it to a cask, 
we think he will soon have vinegar. There are in Lon¬ 
don extensive vinegar factories managed in this way. 
The casks are placed on end, and the tops made full of 
holes. On each is placed a bucket or tub, containing 
about half a bushel of inferior, or Malaga raisir.s. A 
man is constantly employed in passing around the rooms, 
which are heated to 75 or 80 degrees, drawing a pailfull 
from the bottom and pouring it upon the raisins, from 
which it enters the cask. This gives the wine-flavor 
and body. If the cider is too weak, sugar and a little 
tartar is added. The vinegar is first rate in a fortnight. 
Boiling would do no good. —Eds. 
Pine Apple Jam. —Pare your Pines; cut them up in 
small pieces; add to six pines, 3 lemons, cut in slices; 
to a pound of fruit, add half a pound of sugar; boil one 
half hour. S. 
®l)£ (Emritett cmfr tl)£ QDrdjarfr. 
THE ROSE BUG ON THE GRAPE. 
To the Editors of the Cultivator— I have seen 
a communication in the “Cultivator,” signed “H. W. 
S. C., Burlington, N. J.” describing the injurious effects 
of the rose bug on the grape vines, the failure of the 
whale oil soap to destroy them, and asking information 
of you as to the effect of planting rose bushes near the 
vines, for the purpose of attracting the bug to the for¬ 
mer, and in this way preserving the grape from their 
depredations. In reply you remark, “ we are unable to 
answer the request of our friend satisfactorily, and hope 
some of our subscribers acquainted with the fruit, will 
favor us with the results of their experience in the mat¬ 
ter.” I am unable to communicate to you any informa¬ 
tion in regard to the effect of planting rose bushes among 
the grape vines, not having made the experiment, but 
will describe the course which I have pursued, and with 
great success, for the extermination of this troublesome 
and destructive pest of the vineyard. The labor and ex¬ 
pense of planting rose bushes would be very great, and 
should not be incurred, when other means of accom¬ 
plishing the same end, successfully, can be resorted to at 
a very trifling cost. 
I have cultivated the grape, particularly the Isabella 
and Catawba, on a pretty extensive scale, for a number 
of years, at my vineyards on “ Croton Point,” near Sing- 
Sing, N. Y; and among the difficulties and enemies with 
which I have had to contend, and which experience I 
may add, has enabled me to overcome, the rose bug has 
not been the least. Several years since, when my vine¬ 
yards were smaller than they are at present, I found the 
rose bug a formidable enemy. They appeared on the 
vines when they were in blossom, or just as the blos¬ 
soms were falling off and the young grapes forming, and 
devoured them with the greatest avidity. This feast con¬ 
tinued from eight to twelve days, or till the cherries on 
the trees in the vicinity began to ripen, when they, with 
one accord, flew to them for a change of diet, I presume, 
or from some other cause. I was quite familiar wdth the 
habits of the caterpiller, and had been in the practice 
of clearing them from my orchards in the spring, before 
they had destroyed scarcely a leaf. This I did not con¬ 
sider a great or difficult matter; for they were enveloped 
in a web early in the morning, and one man in a few 
days, was able to clear many hundred trees, by twisting 
them off web and all, with a bushed pole, and carefully 
placing them under his foot. 
The rose bug, however, did not, like the caterpiller, 
make their appearance in clusters or in webs, but in 
small numbers at first, and scattered through the vine¬ 
yards, increasing rapidly every day. Though taken from 
the vines on the trellis every morning, they continued 
to multiply till the eighth or twelfth day, when they sud¬ 
denly left for the cherry trees, as above stated. I was 
at a loss, at first, to know where they came from, till at 
length I discovered the ground perforated with nume¬ 
rous holes, through which they made their way to the 
surface. 
I observed when they first appeared on the vines, they 
were so feeble as to be unable to fly even for a few yards. 
Having surmounted all other difficulties, I was deter¬ 
mined not to be defeated in the vineyard cultivation of 
the grape, by this insect, and consequently resorted to 
the following means for their destruction. I directed 
my men to take each a cup, with a little water in it; and 
go through the vineyards every morning, removing 
every bug from the vines; and this was done quite ra¬ 
pidly by passing the cup under the leaf and merely touch¬ 
ing it, when the bugs instantly dropped, and were re¬ 
ceived in the cup containing the water. When the cup 
was full, they were soon destroyed by pressing the foot 
upon them on a hard surface. After all of them had been 
taken offi on the following morning there were ten on 
the vines were we had found but one; and on the follow¬ 
ing morning, after having been removed as before, there 
were one hundred where there were but ten before; and 
so on. I was not discouraged, however, and directed 
my men to persevere in the work of destruction, and we 
should thus, perhaps, prevent the formation of an other 
progeny for the next season; for it is very easily shown 
that they do not migrate to any great distance; and by 
thus destroying the present race, I am convinced that 
we ensure ourselves from their further depredations to 
any injurious extent. When a person of some energy 
has cleared them from his vineyard or garden, he is pret¬ 
ty certain to enjoy the benefit of his labor another sea¬ 
son as well as the present, though he may have a few 
from his less resolute neighbor. Pursuing the course I 
have mentioned, I very soon lessened the rose bug so 
much that they gave me very little trouble. 
I also tried plowing my vineyards just before winter 
set in, so as to expose to the weather the insect in the 
larva state, which will certainly destroy all the young 
tribe, that have not descended below the reach of the 
plow. For two years past the number has been so small, 
that I have omitted this process for their destruction. 
Such is a brief account of the course I have pursued 
for the destruction of the rose bug, and I regret that my 
professional duties do not allow me leisure to treat on 
some other subjects, connected with the culture of the 
grape the present time. Should these observations en¬ 
courage those who have entered upon the vineyard cul¬ 
tivation of the grape, a fruit that has excited the live¬ 
liest interest from the earliest ages of the world, to per¬ 
severe in this most delightful occupation, until their ef¬ 
forts are crowned with success, as they assuredly will 
be when they are properly directed, I shall feel that I 
have not labored in vain. Vhurs respect’y, 
R. T. Underhill, M.D., No. 400 Broadway. 
New- York, Sep. 13, 1842. 
ROT IN THE RARE-RIPE PEACH. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Have you or any of 
your numerous correspondents noticed the rot in the 
rare-ripe peach? and can there be any good reason given 
for the cause of this destruction of this most delicious 
fruit? 
We have a number of trees of this excellent fruit 
which are great bearers, young and healthy, standing in 
a good soil, which is well adapted to the peach, aad 
which were loaded with fruit the past season; and it also 
attained a good size. But just before it began to be fit 
for use, nearly every peach commenced decaying; and 
scarcely a solitary one came to maturity. 
As I have a “ peach-tooth ,” I was congratulating my¬ 
self upon a sumptuous repast; but prematnre decay of 
these delicacies of nature blasted my anticipation. I 
have examined scores of them with great care, and am 
unable to discover the least vestige of an insect. Not¬ 
withstanding, I then attributed this mischief to them. 
Still, may it not be owing to the superabundance of 
rain which has fallen this fall? and to the damp, un- 
wholsome state of the atmosphere which has generated 
disease in the tree, and thus imparted decay to the fruit? 
Scarcely a tree has escaped in this section; and no one 
is able to assign for this cause a valid reason. 
S. E. T. 
We have never observed the disease of the peach of 
which our correspondent speaks, and as it is noticed by 
neither Kendrick or McIntosh, we presume the cause to 
which he ascribes it, is the correct one. Plums, this 
year, have uffered much from the same cause, and on a 
fine Magnum Bonum, the fruit of which has rarely fail¬ 
ed, standing in our garden, there was hardly a dozen 
sound ones. Draining, where water exists in the soil to 
excess, might remedy the evil; but where it depends on 
the weather, the case is hopeless. —Eds. 
Large Pear Tree. —In the last Magazine of Horti¬ 
culture, the Rev. Mr. Beecher of Indianopolis, gives an 
account of an extraordinary pear tree, on a farm about 
ten miles north of Vincennes. It is said to have sprung 
from a seed planted some 35 or 40 years since. It now 
