The Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1852-1853, 1853-11-30


any trees within miles. Now do not stand
here to MAINTAIN that soap-suds will al1ooyS
insure An abundance of fine grapes. not that
a coating Of yarnish, sessonably applied,
will 0i,Oays save girdled trees; for l do not
know such 10 be the fact. trust further
experience and inquiry will cast light on
both points--tbat soap-suds will be withheld
from the door-yard and given to the grape
vines; and that every tree that any prowl-
ing rascal may girdle will be promptly coat
ed with varnish--unti! we shall determine
under what circumstances, and with what
limitations, potash or soda is beneficial to
grapes and varnish an antidote for girding.
The point | make is this, that no sane far
mer, having heard this relation, will hence
forth throw away his soap-srds or neglect
vanishing his girdleG trees, unless he learns
some reason for doing otherwise; and that
if he would do so on the strength of my
mere narration, he ought MANY times rather
to do SO had he found these same recipes in
an Agricultural paper or manual, where the
chances are ten to one thatit would not
have foun | a place unless on the strengta Of
testimony more reliable than mine, because
founded on wider and more varied expe-
rience, and subjected to a more rigid scru-
tiny. ...F.... ar.. ..lI ....usr r.t
Take another case: Ny friend Dr. r. Z.
Underhill was physician in extensive prac-
tice some twenty years ago, when, in the
prime of life, having be come heartily tired of
gallipots and bone-sawing, he shook OF the
dust of our city from his feet, and resolved
henceforth to live an honest life as grower
of fruits. He went forty miles UP the Hud-
son, bought aneck of land and commenced
the cultivation of Grape, which he has since
prosecuted with scientific knowledge, unit
ring energy, and at length with decided sue
cess. He has probably assigned more suf-
ferlng with his grapes than he ever created
by his drugs; he has growa considerably
younger by his twenty years farming, and
is now taking his place among the most brisk
and genial of our youth--An admrabla spe-
cimen Of that BRANCH Of Young America" "
which does not hate to work nor long for
opportunity to steal. ....E. as. .--.....
Well; The Doctor, since the untime ly death
Of the lamented Downing, stands, probably,
at the head of our fruit. growers, with whom
one knotty problem OF the last few years has
been--how to counteract the rayages of the
Curculo, which is nearly ro6bing us ot
plumbs, for which his taste is equal to o>trs,
while in the matter of gratifying it he is de-
cidedly ahead ofus. BY the time he has ta-
ken his quota, the plumbs left on Il tree, OF
nf urA worth trnt hnrIpp
But Doctor Unlerhill, by long study and
careful observation, has discovered the
means of completely outwit!ing him. He
has found, by watching and noting hen
naAvements, that the female Curculio will
not deposit her eggs where they, when the
plumbS containing them. drop, will fall in.o
water, her instinct teaching her that they
will thus be drowned. Taking advantage
of this fns tnct; the Doctor plants his plum.
trees on the bank Of IL stream or pond, and
gives the trunks such an anincIination sAat a
their branches overhany the water. Thu,
the desolater is checkmaled by his own in
stnct, and the fruit presel we'd from | is, ia
wages. / know nothing cleyerer in this way
than this advice. .....s.. -....t.... .
Now | suppose there is no contemner o
Book farming SO mulish or SO dull that ht
would not, afleg hearing of this device, take
advantage ofany brook or pond he NIGH
haze on his premises, and set his plum tree;
where they will be safe from the Curaulio
But suppose the discovery had been made
by some fruit-grower Of the last century ,ant
duly recorded in a book, had since beel
subjected to thousand ordeals, and hat
passed triumphant through them all--woul(
il have ben less acceptable or less valua
Bile than it is now? II it be worth our while
to learn at all, what Difference can be I'M,
agined between the knowlenge founded OF
Ia neighbours experience aud that contained
in a book? If there be any, are not thc
obls altog9teer r favor of that prescrlptioi
which has undergone the wider scrutiny
and been subjected to the more rgoHou
csticisms2 ......., ..... ........ ... ......
! And heye let me speak Of another VIII,
more recently shook oil The dust Of our.eity'
pavements to spend the latter half Of hi
life on a farm, / allude to professor Jame
j. Mapes, whose fame as, an Agriculturis
must have reached very many among you
1t cannot be many yearS-it seems TO M
but five or six-sinc Prof. Mapcs, who wa
extensively engaged in Sugar Refining an'
had heavy dealings in Sugar--eame 10 deat
halt, OF rather dead smash, Stripped o
means and of credit, be felt too old to Iauncl
again on the dangerous sea of Commerce
whose waves had so lately and so deeply en-
gulphed him; so, he hired "a bit Of land il
New Jesrey. removed his family thither
and resolved to turn the chemical and othe
scientific knowled.5 .5e which had SO little a
vailed him rs o sugar retner, to i,ccoant IL
the novel vocation of farmer. He wa
was very destitute, and of course got O
but slowly at first; and when he first under
took to'leeture in ILLUSTRATION of Farming a
a Science ! well remember how very gen
eraI was the pre- judice and deIision he en-
countered. But he perseyered both in far
ming and l2ctnriny; an he has gloriousl
succeeded. presume there were many el
rors ia bis earlier incplcatons; there ma
be some yet for he is u genius, and geniu
tis too apt to leap hastily to sweeping conclu
hsions from inadequate premises, But, whai
lever his faults. the root Of the matter was i
fhim, aud his career has proved it, AS
Lecturer. an Editor, and as a Practical Fal
mer, h. is enrichiny the vocation he ha
chosen ard. BY no meaas imPoveriSbipg hin
self. Beginning with nothing, he caunc
have clearsd less than $4,000 in the Ia.
six years, and his income must now be
least $1,000 per anpum. Aud this is NJ
all made by merely talking and writing {
i hout Earminy. hut a 1ood mart by actin;