% * UMASS/AMHERST * 312066 0308 0380 9 FIVE COLLEGE DEPOSITORY MASSACHUSETTS STATE COLLEGE m SPECIAL COLLECTIONS * ARCHIVES LIBRARY C PER S 1 G4 OY £ Vol »o ;' T,i mi rf I THE GENESEE FARMER, A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE & HORTICULTURE, ©0111873© MB tBtS[E&!L tSS®El©tffl¥. ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRANINGS OF is, lflirbiiMHis, DOMESTIC ANIMALS FRUITS, FLOWERS, SHRUBS, fcc. EDITED BY DANIEL LEE AND D. D. T. MOORE. P. BARRY, CONDUCTOR OF THE HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. VOLUME X. — 1849. ROCHESTER, N. Y. D. D. T. MOORE, PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR, TALMAN BLOCK, BUFFALO-STREET. 1849. SeilO INDEX TO VOLUME X. Address of the Parmer to its patrons, Zadoc Pratt icultural Writers, fable for — Associations, importance of,. 17, — Schools in Prance ... — Press, duly of, duration,... », 179, ' — I 'air of Si n< ca county, N. — School, '.it. Airy " — I' i of.. 166, — Clubs', suggestions for...- — Shows, English /... for 1849 — Chemist - on, — Society, N. Y. State. 29, 53, 131, !■';„,• of, 203, 228, 232, 254, ->^- — Monroe Co .wnonds in the South, American Fruit Cuhurist, review of Anira ding — .. — Rearing, feeding'and fattening,. Apple Custard,.- — borer, f. Apples, Bailey Sweet, ....51, 100, — Clyde Beauty, — Eustis or Ben, — .Melon — selected list -.220, — cooked on the tree, — as food - -- — Gravenstein and Hawthornden, Arithmetical Questions,. . .54, 103, B Baking, invention in, - Barley, value and cultivation of, .. — for pigs and ewes, — — black skinned - . * Baby Machine, Beans for field culture, Beehive, cheap Bees, management of, — earliest food for, — to quiet, .- Beeswax, to separate, Birds, effect of taming, . — plea for Boiling meats, Bone Dust, — meal for cows, Botanical terms, Botany, rudiments of, 30, 53, 78, 99, Breeding, principles of, Bridle, safety, 46, Building, facts in, — new mode of. Butter, sweetening, — and butter making, •_ — making and preserving, — American in England, .. — hint about cream, 9 II 12 23 275 84 283 190 2 1 5 221 226 148 258 29 29 212 46 153 78 170 244 5] 52 193 237 239 265 266 172 119 87 111 184 272 112 187 65 71 71 OO.) "71 146 222 70 108 209 171 110 95 133 191 30 36 190 239 263 Cabb&ge, analysis of, 35 Camomile, uses of, . 268 Carrots, good crop, 89, 112 — carrots, value of, 95 Cast,r Oil Plant, 231 Cattle Earl Spencer's prize ox, 44 — shorthorn, 45, 90, 188 — to find the weight of, 46 — Ayrshire 69, 141 — bloating or hoven in, 282 — choked , remed y for 95 — salt for, Ill — blackleg among, 113, 137 — Devon, 131 — native versus Durham, 138, 182 — in Chautauque county, .-. 164 — recent importation of short horns, 1 83 — Chapman's bull, 188 — Holderness, 207 — bloated, 215 Cattle trade of the west, 214 — Bates' Bale of,. 239 Cedar, Japan,. 147 Press, Collins iV Stone's,., 19 — new kind of... 264 — in London 113 — manufacture of, 142, 166 — factories in Ohio, 161 Cherry, Heine Ilnrtense, . 196 Chess, transmutation, 132 Cherries, late, 216 — notes on, 244 Chimneys, rule for constructing, .. 239 Chinese Hemp, 119 Cholera, to prevent, 191 Chums, descriptions of- 36 — i:i Mexico 47 Clover, seeding with, 18, 87, 96 — with buckwheat, 119 Coalfield, extensive, - 167 Corn bread, 54 — Cultivator, Wright's, 137 Cost of being governed, 89 Cow worth having, 215 Cows, most profitable, 43 — lame, 79 — feeding and managing, 160 — warts on teats of, 214 — sore teats cured, 214 Cottage, cheap, view and plan, 20, 69 Cotton, new species, 142 Cream, often spoiled 78 Crop of 1848 in U. 8'., amount,. 23, 24 Crops and season, 180 — in Southern States, 204 Crows, to repel, 143 Cuttings, how made 73 D Dairy business, 106 — house, construction of,.. 204 Dairymen, hints for,. 83 Deodar cedar, 145 . prevention of, - 249 Domestic accomplishments, 222 Draining, deep and shallow, 34 — benefit of. 70 — thorough, 229 — interesting anecdote, 254 Drill husbandry. 40, 215 Dwarf apples and cherries, 101 E Eating, directions for, 191 Education, domestic, 172 — of farmer's children, 206 European correspondence, 49, 77 Exports from the United States, .. 96 — and preservation of bread-stufis, 201 F Fallows, bastard,.. 59 Farm implements, improvement,.. 165 — house, design of, 260 Farmers, prosperity of, 36 — laboratory, 115 — boys, condition of, 31, 54 premiums for, 79 suggestions to, 79 example for, 132 Farming. improved system, hints, 81, 177 — economy of, 107 — science and practice in, 281 — successful, 134 — in Western Pennsylvania, 135 — system in, 141 — in Wisconsin, 163 — profits of, 215 — lands of Eastern Virginia, 234 and W. N. Y. compared,. 235 for door yard, 63 Fences in United States 165 Fish, singular mode of keeping, 167 Flannel, to prevent shrinking, 264 Flower stands, ornamental, 25 Forests, alarming decrease of, [39 Pounder, curefbr, L07 Fountains, ornamental, 212 riticism, 242 Fruit culture, remarks on, 19, 193 retarding the growth of, - . 77 — i ', aid lie merged, 194 u'den crops,. _ 216 — trees, management of,.. 218 — convention at New York,. 26 — outlines of, 145 — for foreign markets, 197 Calls, from harness and desirable,. 282 Gardening, a hint, 25 — an old digger's hints, 28 — suggestions, 73 — hints for April, 100; May, 121 June, 144; July, 169; Aug., 196 — for ladies, 103 — practical hints, 186 Geddes Harrow, 84 Genesee Farmer, change in, 273 Geology for farmers, rudiments, '.'1 . 1 57 Gestation; 240 Golden dreams and California, .35, 67 Good culture; important, 17 Grafting wax, superior, 77 — chisel, 119 — degeneracy by, 170 Grafts, preserving, 52, 74 < J rapes in Missouri, 28 — dish water good for, 29 — curious grafting of, 71 — in Ohio, 184 — grafting, 193 — culture of, 267 Gravel fence, 86 Guano, to apply, 190 Gutta percha, 45 H Hams, how to smoke, 23 — to Cook, 78 Harvest in Canada,.. 237 Hawks, how to catch, 71 Heaves to cure 70, 160 Hedges versus wire fence, 139 — honey locust for, 147 — remarks on, 160, 186, 235 Hens eating their eggs,- 96, 159 Hints for October, 232 I lugs, keep them at home, 112 Horse, pasterns of, 190 — stilled cure of, 263 Horse cart, improvement in, 23 — power, Wheelers Patent, ....65, 137 Woodbury's .' 181 Horses, shearing, . 46 — physicking, 70 — breeding, 91 — to cure botts in, 95, 156, 191 — spavin and ring bone, 95 — improvement in breeding, 158 — Morgan Hunter, 189 — shoeing, 239 — biting, to euro, 240 Horticultural society of Buffalo, — 77 Genesee Valley, 77 — matters in Canada, 217 — exhibitions, 220 — party at Dr. Brinkle's - 267 Horticulture in Europe, progress of, 97 Hot-beds, how to make, 74 I Ice houses, how to make, 219 Imitation wax candles 222 Indian Corn, cultivation of, 59 analysis of, — 225 selecting -eed for, 110 culture of a heavy crop, 115 increased export of, 209 Insects, fecundity of, 137 IV INDEX TO VOLUME X. J Jumping at Conclusions, 255 Labor cheapest, if well directed,.. 38 Lambs, rearing, 46, 67 Lard lamps, - 240 Leadwort, 193 Lightning rods, 162 Lima beans, cultivation of, 102 Lime, value of, 83, 159 Limestone soils, 154 — test for, 1 215 Locust, seventeen year, in Virginia, 22 LuCerne, a failure, 18, 42 Lunar influence, 43, 94, 136 M Manure, new, , 167 — saving 10 — peat, muck, lime, plaster, ashes, 19 — poudrette in France, 23 — making and preserving, 57 — saw dust, 162 — effect on plants, 205 — application of, 206 — hemlock and tan, 257 — experiments with, 264 Maple, cultivation of, 156 Maple sugar, 71 Matrasses, relative cost of, 71, 215 Meteorology, agricultural, 11 — variations of climate, 118 Meteorological observations, 64 Milk strainers improved, 71 ."-Hiking, 115 Mold in soils, - 105 Moore's Rural New-Yorker, 289 Mowing Machine, Ketchum's, 88 Munificent bequest, 239 Mutton, to have fine, 191 N Nemophila. 169 Niagara Falls, geology of, 116 North Am. Pom. Convention, 122 O Onondaga Salt,.. .- 237 Oranges, American, 191 Orchards, culture of. 170 Osage Orange for hedges, 75, 210 Oxen, vs. horses, — 259 Our country, area and resources,.. 9 Oxalis Crenata, 250 P Page's improved mills, 47 Paint cleansing, 264 Patent office circular, 238 Pax ion's Magazine, 122 Pea bugs, remedy, 34, 87, 16t Peach, effect of the cold on, 169 — culture, 265 Pear, Le Cure,-. 26 — the Forelle or Trout, 281 — Beurre Oris d' Hiver Nouveau,. 287 Pear, remarks on, 102; new, rare,. 123 — Swan's Orange on Quince, 26 — Summer Bon Chretien, 121 — tree blight, ..244, 281, 288 Peat, important discovery, 237 Phloxes, notice of new sorts, 27 Plants, geographical distribution of, 92 — instinct of, 189 Plaster and clover, 113 Plow, rotary mould-board, 23 — side hill, 23 — history of, 61,85,108, 236 — Burra'll's Shell Wheel, 254 Plowing by steam, 96 — deep and shallow, 202 Plum culture, 122, 209 244 Plums, new, 211 Poison, remedy for, 143 Pomological reform, 25 — Convention at Syracuse, 241 at New York, 265 Plows, trial of, 257 Pork trade, 24 — science of, 36 Posts, reversed most durable, 119, 210 Potato disease, - - 117 Potatoes, smoking for the rot, 191 Poultry, management of, 23, 47, 69, 191 — best way to kill, 23 — feeding hoppers, 45 — rules for raising, 167 Pratt Zadoc. memoir of, 13 Preaching, good subject for, 71 Premium crops, . - 130, 143 Profits of fruit, 26 Pruning, directions for, 73 Pumps, improved,'. 181 R Raking platform, raking, 88 Rats, to repel, 113 Reaping machines, -- 255 Red Root, 135 Review, retrospective, 42, 136 Rice, to dress, 172 Road Scraper, 47 Root and bush puller, 16 S Salt as man ure, 95 Sandwich Islands, letter from, ... 114 Sausage cutting machine, figure of, 22 Scare crows, 119 Season, hints for, -- - 236 Sheep washing, -- 119 — marking, 119 — singular mortality among, 214 Slug, to destroy, - - - 170 Snow flakes,.. 41 Soils absorb odors, 191 Southern correspondence, 178, 185 Sowing machine, Seymour's, 164 Spongecake, -- 264 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. F.arl Spencer's prize short horn, ox... . 44 A yi hire cow 69, 141 Chapman's short horn bull. 188 Horn- Morgan Hunter 189 Ilolderness Cow 207 IMPLEMENTS MACHlHESj StC. Straw ami b talk cutter, RugglesSiCo.'s, 12 Hay Cotter, Towers' 39 Root and bush puller 16 Collins and Stone's Cheese Press, 19 Sausage Mincer, 22 Lact iter 30 Churns, Kendall's Gault'/J, Ike, 37 Wheeler's Horse Power 66 Oeddes Harrow 84 Mould boards 85 he 1. bum's Mowing Machine 88 Rat ing rut form 89 rlaohine 93 Side-hill. Subsoil and other Plows 109 Palmer's Wheat Drill 133 w i' i pht's c,,rn i ultivator 187 ur's Drill 164 Improved Pumps, 181 ; Water Drawer, 165 Yoke for breaking steers, 185 Draft of the Plow. 236 Plow attachments 237 Steamer for* ooking Km. d for Stock... 282 RURAL ECONOMY, Cheap Cottage 20 Suburban Cottage, 68 Dairy House 205 Ornamental Fountains, 212, 218 ice House 219 Klliott' ( uttage 260 MISCELLANEOUS. Figures of stratified rocks 21. 157 — — snow Hakes 41 Poultry hppper 45 i taage Orai 75 I all- no Ram I4u i in-- sections of wood magnified,. . .. 171 of under-draine 229 Smith's Vertical Gate 288 IIOHTICUI.TURAX. FRUITS. Le Cure Pear, 26 Steers, breaking, 185 Stock, salting of, 280 — Cooking food for, 282 Straw and stalk cutter, 12, 39, 61 — burning in the field, 210 Strawberries, new, 192 — remarks on, 216 Striped bug, H9 Stump machine, cheap, 93 Subsoil plowing, 208 T Tea plant in U. States, 47 — substitute for, 264 Texas wheat, 83 Tile for under-drains, 93 Tillage, philosophy of, 251, 277 Tomato Culture, 222 Tomatoes, to preserve, 198 Top dressing protects from the sun, 36 Transplanting on clayey ground,.. 101 Transplanting peach trees, 27 Tree planting, 98, 120, 194 Trees and shrubs, half-hardy 29 — hardy, 168 Trees, effect of the winter on, 170 — remarks on, 195 — cleaning, 269 V Vegetables, new, 209 Vegetation in Mississippi, 121 Vinegar, to make, v.. 167 Vinery at Clinton Point,description, 267 W Warts and tumors on animals, 240 Water-proof cloth, silk, &c.,...95, 240 — ram, described, 140 — drawer, new, 165 Weather, unfavorable, 60 Weeds in Gravel Walks, 171 Wheat, Mediterranean, 237 Wheat, new kind, 94 — harrowing in Spring, Ill — at the South,... 165 — drilling in, 209 — salt on, 214 — and chess, 63 — flies notice of, .21, 283 — drill, Palmers, 133 — crop, 180 Winter, prepare for, . _ 25Q Wintering tender plants, 265 Wire fence, 18, 39, 62, 86 — inquiries and suggestions, 235 Wire worm, sulphur for, 23 Wool, heavy fleeces, 159 Wool growers, premir.m to, 185 Wool growing in the South, 82 in U. States, 129 large fleeces, 187, 21 1 and weight of fleece, 211 in Western Pennsylvania, .. 215 Bailey Sweet. Clyde Beauty, 51 Reine Horter el lurry loo Mamelonee and Reine Claude Plums,.. '.Ml Gravenstein and Hawthoruden Apples, 266 Forelle or Trout Fear 287 Beurre (iris d'llivcr Nouveau 287 TREES, Deodar Cedar 145 Japan < iedar 147 1-1 \:s IS AM) FLOWERS. Phlox Van Houti 27 Organs of Flowers, 30 ; Koots 99 Nemophila 179 Lead Plant 193 IMPLEMENTS &0. Grafting Chisel '. no. Flower si. Minis gg Pruning Knife ami Shears 7.'! Hot-bed 74 (lard D Fork and Trowel 103 MISCELI ANEOI S. l-'ruit and Seed 53 i "ii df Seed 78 Altitudes of Plants 92 Section of Vinery, 268 ^g^1^, wm:simwm:^ m, Agriculture is the most Healthy and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. VOL. X. ROCHESTER, N. T. — JANUARY, 1849. NO. I. THE FARMER TO ITS PATRONS AND FRI.Sh DS. In presenting the first number of our tenth volume, dressed in a New Year's suit, we extend the congratulations of the season to all who have contrib- uted toward furnishing us with an outfit so elegant and becoming. Gratefully appreciating the favor bestowed upon our labors during the past year, we enter upon the duties of the present with increased means and facilities, and a firm determination to render the Genesee Farmer sufficiently valuable to MKRtT an augmentation of its already unparalleled patronage. We desire to render it useful to all who may make its acquaintance — and to extend its useful- ness by increasing the number of its patrons and readers. With this object in view, we have been more liberal in our expenditures than many deem prudent, in order to present a volume eminently worthy of support. The reader can best decide whether we have succeeded, after examining the appearance and contents of this issue, which however is not so complete as we intend to make future num- bers of the volume. Relying upon the generosity of that shrewd and well informed portion of the Rural Population of America who read and think as well as work for themselves, we present the Farmer to its friends at the East and West, North and South — not unmindful of the fart that, whatever merit it may possess, or however worthy the cause it seeks to advance, its mission will be comparatively useless without the approval and influence of those who possess clear heads and energetic spirits. It has heretofore been our good .fortune to receive substantial assistance from almost every section of our widely extended country — and may we not bespeak a continuance of the kind offices of our friends, at home and abroad, now that we are using every proper effort to enhance the interest and value of this journal ? We respect- fully solicit all into whose hands this number may fall, — whether subscribers, casual readers or borrow- ers, — to lend us their aid in behalf of its objects, cither by extending its circulation or furnishing appropriate matter for publication in its pages. This No. of the Farmer is sent to many persons who are not subscribers. May we not confidently ask those who approve of the character and objects of the work, to lend their kind offices toward giving it a general circulation in their respective localities ? OUR COUNTRY -ITS AREA AND RESOURCES. As a New Year's Salutation to thee, kind Reader, we desire to hold a little pleasant talk touching the present area, resources and prospects of our common Country ; and indicate some of the interests of Amer- ican Farmers, in shaping and controlling the d • of this young and magnificent Republic. A wise and good Providence has imposed on the Freeholders of the United States responsibilities and duties, and conferred corresponding blessings and advantages, which stand out in this the latest age of the world, wholly without a parallel in its long history. We can not rightly judge of the future by the past ; because Human Progress and ever Expand- ing Intellect have made discoveries and inventions, infused into Society a thousand new elements and potent influences, the like of which were i before felt or known. New agents and new causes, as subtile as thought, as diffusive as steam and elec- tricity,, must work out results alike unknown and incomprehensible, to our defective knowledge of men and things. Blind and ignorant as we are, and incapable of looking far into futurity, yet Gfed has made us not only the parents, but the guardians of all woman-bom, who are to succeed us on this planet. It is a great thought, a happy discov^rv that a two legged, talking animal has anxj duty to" perform. — But having made the discovery, no matter by what means, its solemn requirements will permit no eva- sion. It is a wonderful and curious fact, that every year's advancement of civilized, christian nations, increases the power of Morality to punish wrong- doers. Witness what is transpiring in the > cultivated nations of Europe. Below all these popu- lar upheavings — this vast intellectual volcano — (In re is an unseen Providence silently evolving some mighty problem in which the tillers of American soil are destined to perform a most honorable and distinguished part. Including Texas, New. Mexico, California and Oregon, the United States dow '-over an area ol 3,252,574 square miles. Estimated in acres, our freehold estate measures, according to tBe most careful estimates at the Genera) Land Office in Washington, 2.081, 647.:i. Allow one half for forests and waste lands, and the other moiety will, with skilful tillage, feed and clothe a population two or three times larger than the whole number of human beings now on the globe. What a platform for a republican theatre ! 10 THE GENESEE FARMER. Jan. Is it too much to say that the great Husbandman above has planted us here, as christian, moral, reason- ing beings, from whose government and good seed a a glorious harvest may be reaped in the coming autumn of this Western Nation % Call it weakness or what you please ; such is our faith. Hence our cheerful labor to encourage the wise culture of the farmers, whom Providence has so recently located on American soil. If these come to nought, where is the hope of the world ? Heaven has kindled a vestal fire on our hills and mountains. It has appointed, not Roman Virgins, but iron-palmed hus- bandmen to protect, keep alive and ever glowing, the sacred flame. Farmers ! you have great and most responsible public duties to discharge. It has long seemed to us that your sterling good sense and honesty of purpose were too little felt in directing aright the affairs of your State and Federal Gov- ernments. Your Educational, Agricultural and Eco- nomical Interests are not so strictly attended to, nor so faithfully studied and promoted as they ought to . be, if you would impart to your whole country the highest attainable prosperity. We advocate no untried Utopian schemes. We preach not a disor- ganizing war of class against class. But, we do urge the importance of thoroughly educating, in the largest and best sense of the term, the whole Mind of the nation. From a lamentable delect in mental culture, more than half the hands employed in rural pursuits in the United States, not only misdirect and lose much hard work ; but, they render the soil which is tilled, less and less productive, less and less capable, (without long delay or large expense,) of feeding and clothing a population which is ever adding to the number of hungry stomachs and naked backs, by an abiding law of Nature. This exhaust- ing system of planting and farming, is truly a national calamity. Very few good farmers at the North, have any knowledge of the extent and depop- ulating influence of this abuse of the bounties of God, in large districts of our country. If the reader attributes this impoverishment of cultivated lands to a " peculiar institution" in that portion of the Union, where the desolating effects of ignorant husbandry are most conspicuous, he will be mistaken in his opinion. Well-educated, scientific planters find no difficulty in improving their estates with such laborers' as till cotton, rice and sugar plantations. Educate properly the Minds that direct rural industry, and all the rich resources of American soils, whether north, south, east or west, will bo hus- banded and turned to the best possible account for the Union as a whole. This is what we most desire ; and we are pained to know that so many politicians, who enjoy an ephemeral reputation as statesmen, enact our laws and control all educational institutions, flon„i ' - ' and care not to investigate this momentous subject. Suppose the vast public domain of the United States were wisely managed, and the whole of its nett proceeds sacredly devoted, in all coming time, to the wise development of the great Soul and Heart of the American people? What a mine of moral and intellectual wealth lies unsurveycd, unexplored, in the heads of .the toiling millions'of ibis land, where the People rule ! What is the value of California gold to a Nation of Freemen, compared with sound morality, cultivated reason, true science in every head, and social contentment in every heart 1 If Heaven had withheld our present known capacity to improve our race, and denied every sense to enjoy all other pleasures than those we share in common with the meanest brutes, then we should be justified in regard- ing the animal man as everything, and the spiritual man as nothing. Let each be estimated at its true value. First, deal justly by American Mind, and its power over the phy^cal elements of nature, to con- solidate, enrich and elevate our whole population, whether on the shores of the Pacific or Atlantic — whether on the great Gulf of the South, or the great Lakes of the North — will be all that the most ardent patriot could desire. Our agricultural, mineral, manufacturing and com- mercial resources, are altogether beyond computation. The danger is, that we shall prove unworthy of bless- ings, so numerous and transcendant. Unmerited wealth and undeserved prosperity have ruined millions of individuals, and induced the speedy downfall of many powerful nations. As our form of government makes -°very voter a minister of state, he should study to infoTm himself in all matters of public policy. ■ A sovereign that reads little and studies less, might do well in some parts of Africa or Asia, but he is out of his kingdom in the United States. The larger the number of immigrants that flock to our happy shores, from disturbed and bleeding Europe, the more urgent is our duty to watch closely all demagogues, and provide ways and means for the settlement and improvement of all new comers. We confidently expect soon the annual arrival of a mil- lion of foreigners to reside permanently, and multiply rapidly in this country. It is indeed a land worth coming to ; and not a few of the two hundred and fifty millions in Europe have already found it out. Wake up, young man ! — prepare yourself to act well your part in this wonderful drama. Tell us what can poor, limping Ignorance do, in a race with Science, with its locomotives, its steam-ships and its telegraph wires ? Common people fail to appreciate the value of Science, although not a year or month passes in which it does not double the productive power of human muscles, either in the field or the workshop. Study, then, the uniform and unerring laws of nature ; which, if well understood, will add four fold to thy happiness as a rational being, and place thy name among the honored of the land. LIME, ASHES AND GYPSUM. WiNTtR is a favorable season, when there is good sleighing to procure such fertilizers as lime, gypsum and ashes from a distance, if it be necessary to go far to find them. As a general thing, when a farmer live s some distance from lime rock and kilns, there is a lack of this mineral in his soil. He does not reside in a large wheat-growing section. Next to good stable manure and the contents of the vaults of privies, ashes, bones, gypsum, common salt and lime are the most valuable food of cultivated plants. Pro- cure and husband these with all reasonable care. Much as has been written on the subject of saving manure, particularly the liquid excretions of all domestic animals, the matter is still sadly neglected, as well as that of collecting lime, ashes, and other mineral elements of corps. Such neglect is not creditable to those that practice it. At the South, good farmers take great pains to collect forest Leaves, as bedding for horses, mules, cattle and hogs. They form a valuable material to absorb urine and add much to the manure heap. 1 849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 11 AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY Il.v im; discussed in former volumes o( this work many subjects, particular!} the nature nvnl properties of the organic and inorganic elements of plants, as they exi-t in soil- and the atmosphere, we shall advance a slop or two in the volume for 1849 ; and endeavor to explain more fully than we have hitherto done, several meteorological phenomena, which arc of equal importance in the practice and the study of Rural Economy. Rain and snow-water, dews, and the hygrometric condition of the air, have an important and controlling influence on the growth of all vegetables. The clearing of forests, tillage, drainage and other opera- tions of civilized man, affect the humidity, dryness and temperature of well settled and cultivated regions far more than is generally supposed. The most careful measurements of the volume and velocity of the Mississippi have resulted in establishing the interesting fact, that it now annually discharges from twenty to twenty-five per cent less water into the Gulf than it did twenty-five years ago. At the meeting of scientific men in Philadelphia last September, Professors Dickerson and Brow of Mississippi read an elaborate report on the Sediment and Water of the Mississippi : giving the results of daily observations for eighteen years. The Mississippi Valley is found to contain a super- ficial area of very little short of fourteen hundred thousand square miles. The inquiry therefore here suggests itself, what may be the relative difference between the annual quantity of water falling into this valley and the annual quantity discharged out of ii by the rivfcr Mississippi ? It is found by examina- tion of the meteorological register of the late Dr. H. Too ley, of Natchez, that the mean annual quantity of water which falls at Natchez is between fifty-five and fifty-six inches ; but as such has been taken at the southern extremity of the valley it may be regarded as an over estimate for the whole area. The mean quantity is therefore assumed to be fifty- two inches, and then by calculation we will have 169,128,960,000,000 cubic feet as the quantity which falls annually in the whole valley, which is within a fraction of being twelve times the quantity which is discharged by the river. Our own opinion is, that " fifty-two inches^' is too high an estimate for the whole area drained by the father of waters. It cannot, however, be less than an average of forty-two inches ; so that nine-tenths of all this water evaporates where it falls, in the course of the year, and on the surface of the streams before they reach the lower valley of the Mississippi. Millions of acres of low lands, once long submerged every season, are now dry and cultivated with but comparatively slight assistance from art in the way of embankments ; and these such as would not have at all been available against the overflowing effects of former floods and the length of time of their continuance. The river seldom rises to the same elevation as formerly, and when it does it is of much shorter duration, and the waters are almost exclusively confined to the channel of the river, in place of being spread over almost all the bottom lands the whole spring and early part of the summer. All these advantages are progressively but rapidly extending themselves, while the causes remain unsuspected or overlooked, but none the less secure. As a further evidence of the altered condition of this river, we may mention the circumstances, that, in former ti 1 1 i « - steamb inding or descending the river, were detained about hall their time by d while now hardly* any such obstructions pervad . that packets succeed in making their trips to an hour, with no tears of such ;i retardation. Assuming that tin' diminution of the waters will continue in some- what the ratio they have recently done, the time camiot be far distant when all apprehension from inundation will in a g>eat measure pass away. We further remark, as an evidence of change, that the quantity of floating timber or drift wood pa annually down the river has diminished in a far greater ratio than that of the water, so that the aggregate quantity cannot now be over fifty per cent, of licit which formerly passed down. Let us suppose that Europe shall soon send a mil- lion of hardy emigrants a year into this magnificent country ; and that we shall so deeply and thoroughly till the earth as to make it absorb and retain foi nourishment of plants nineteen -twentieths of all water, to escape into the atmosphere, whence it descended, by solar evaporation through their leaves. What wonderful changes must follow^, in the drying and shrinkage of all creeks and rivers in the I States ! In its feeble infancy, American Agriculture thousands of miles above Louisiana and Mississippi, is now conferring blessings of incalculable value on those States. Nor will the great Lakes escape the effects of increased evaporation from the felling of forests, deep plowing, and other new influe around all their borders and tributary streams. In connection with this subject we desire the reader to bear in mind that, any broad ves lei sot out to catch and hold all the water which falls in rain and snow, and exposed to sun and wind, will be dry from solar evaporation much of the fifty-two weeks in a year. This we regard as an interesting meteo- rological fact, x^nother fact of equal importance is, that all or nearly all cultivated plants, like grasses, grains, tubers and roots, contain while growing an average of some seventy -five per cent of their whole weight of water. To supply one's crops with this abundant and indispensable element, and in a way to avoid an excess at any time, is a matter that should be studied with the utmost care and diligence. A good husbandman should know how to husband the fertilizing rains, snows and dews of heaven, as they fall on his fields. The water that runs off from plowed land on its surface, is apt to carry with it more or less of the soil. That which sinks deep into the earth and comes out in springs, takes with it, not only salts of lime, potash, soda, magnesia and iron held in solution, but carbonic, crenic, apocrenic, nitric and other ac»ls, and ammonia. In other words, rain-water in passing through soils dissolves out of them both the organic and inorganic (so called) food of plants. Krene is the Greek word for a spring ; and Berzelius finding two organic acids in spring water, gave them the names "crenic" and "apocre- nic,'- as indicative of their origin. It is no bad test of the fertility of a soil, to fill a clean barrel with it and see how much of bone earth (phosphate of lime.) gypsum, common salt, opsom salts, potash, and what we call dissolved mold, it will yield to warm rain-water. These being the constituent elements with which Nature builds up all vegetables we deprecate their waste as a national calamity. No matter how deeply they sink into the earth, if they remain in one's field, and rise again to 12 THE GENESEE FARMER. Jan. deep, pervious soil can only be formed by nature or man. in which a great deal of .water may be stored up for use in seasons of drouth, by a peculiar mechanical condition of the earth, that permits the atmosphere with its oxygen and carbonic acid, to penetrate the same. Fertility can only result from chemical action and changes in the several sub- sl Mnes in the surface of the earth. Without change, and, clay, iron, lime, mold and plants are alike insoluble, and worthless to feed and nourish a new generation of vegetables. Man must study nature and imitate her example if he will make in a cheap and economical way, a rich soil that can endure protracted dry weather with little injury. On this head we shall have more to say. In closing this article we desire to admonish our readers, that the felling of natural forests has already been carried too far in many portions of the United States ; and that excessive tillage in growing cotton, tobacco, corn and wheat for export, is fast leaching, wasting and consuming millions of acres of the best lands in the (Taion. There is neither wisdom, moderation, nor ■< ■-■ it benefit in this popular system of agriculture. We will talk about Dews and the Dew Point in our next. HAY, STRAW, AND CORN STALK CUTTER. The above is a figure of Ruggles, Nourse, k. Mason's Straw Cutter, to which was awarded the first premium at the State Fair at Buffalo, in Sep- tember last. Though we are not prepared to say it is the best cutting machine extant, we believe it to be one of the most perfect and durable. The knives are set upon the circumference of the cylinder, and cut against a roller of raw-hide, as represented in the engraving. The manufacturers claim that this machine possesses the following named advantages : •• First — The knives !»'iii!.',- straight, are readily ground or sharpened by the purchaser or operator. Second — They can be replaced by a common blacksmith when worn out or broken. Third— The knives are made heavier, and attached to the cylinder without sloats or screws ; confined at both cuds, and supported in the middle in a manner much stronger and less complicated, thus leaA ing th< strength nf the knives unimpaired, and avoiding the great liability to twist, cripple, and break. Fourth — The manner of attaching 1 knives to the cylinder admits of their being plac each other, so as to cut as short as is desirable. Fifth — The bide roller, when used with straight knives properly set, will last much longer than when used with the spiral knife." Some of the machines are made large and strong, and rigged to go by horse power. They vary in price from $10 to $28, according to size — and may be obtained at most of the Agricultural Warehouses. Rapat.je fa. Briggs, of this city, have recently received a very large and superior assortment. A FABLE, AND ITS APPLICATION. BY T. C. PETERS. A rain drop during a shower crept under the cornice, and stood looking very demurely at his fellows, who went laughing and dancing along in the gutter, as full of frolic as a tlock of lambs in June. " Why don't you join us ?' said a gay fellow, as he went leaping past. " Can't do any good," said the drop ; " besides, there are enough of you without me, and I don't see how I can make myself useful in that great black cistern you are all tumbling into. I shall get along by myself and can do a great deal more alone than mixed up and lost as I should be in this great stream." While thus musing the shower ceased, the bright warm sun came out and in a moment drank up our little drop. Gentle reader, you and I are but drops in the shower of human life. If we mingle in the great stream, and contribute our mite to add strength and force to the current, to swell the brimming banks until they are overflown, and the fertilizing properties of thought, experience, and observation are spread upon the surrounding country, we are useful, and thus fulfill a portion of our duty to ourselves and to our fellow beings. But, if we stand aloof, unwilling to be lost amid the flood — that ceaseless flood that ever pours on, and can never cease — doing nothing, because we do not at the moment see the good that may come of it — saying, as is so often said by you and others, " somebody else will do it better than I can, therefore I will not bother with these things," we do but represent the -little drop, and evaporate, leaving no trace behind. In agriculture more than in any oilier pursuit, improvement is only to be made by slowly and patiently gathering facts, and these facts are only to be obtained over a large extent of country. The experience of every farmer has something that is important to some other farmer, and if each could have the benefit of the experience and judgment of all, the sum of knowledge would be great beyond all that is now known, and greater and better improve- ments would be the result. For, as you increase knowledge you increase man's capacity for greater knowledge, greater improvement. Alone, my friend, we are but solitary drops ; but if we would do good, we must mingle together and make a strong force. I do not intend to be found under the cornice, and you see me now already mixed up in our friend Moore's great cistern, with a great many other and better drops than myself. The sun, when he comes out, will not find me alone. I shall. life and health permitted, tumble into this cistern through the year, carrying therein whatever I may gather up that I think can be of the slightest interest to you. And I shall expect to meet you here also. And I must ask you further to do me the favor to introduce me to all your friends and neighbors. Let us do all we can to make the Genesee Farmer worthy of the farmers of Western New York ; and if we do that, it will be worthy of any body. u You will write as much as I na! council, and shows 'how much thai is really important to the people no ij I e pi rformed by our man, \\ hen he i< in. .re anxious in act than to speak.' His speeches were " d to i lain st ten* iiis of important fcu i which lie had thoroughly investigated. Il is to Mr. Pratt, is i m oi t'lr eongri sionaj committi e on public buildings, thai the I is indebted for the beautiful General Post Offici "in..-,.; but f„r his exertions, it would have been ei "' the poro ind-stone which in process of time crui like wet gingcrbr< id, instead of the admirable marble oi n it is constructed. He was an early and ardent advo- f the cheap postage reform; of the improvement of the lie grounds at Washington ; he introduced the resolution for the Branch Mint at New York ; for the publication and engraving of all the important inventions patented at Wash- ington, to be distributed throughout the country ; torequin . once every two years, an inventory of the public property in the hands of public agents ; for the establishment of n Bureau of Statistics ; and various other important measures, which we have not space to enumerate, being over fifty in all. indeed, the reports made to Congress by -Mr. Pratt cover more than a thousand pages, during his career in that body, to which he declined a re-election, in an able address to his constituents, giving a faithful account of his stewardship. At first a poor boy. yet always true to the " dignity of labor ;:' energetic and persevering; living with and not upon his neighbors, as he advanced in means ; liberal and true-hearted, in private as in public life, Mr. Pratt presents an example which we hope will be lost upon no young reader of these pages. We are glad to know that he is still in the prime of life, and in the full enjoyment of his bodily and mental vigor ; a fact, indeed, which is sufficiently evinced by his portrait, which combines, in no ordinary degree, the appearance of health, self-possessed dignity, firmness and kindness. In looking at this picture, in hearing the original converse, and in reading the sketch of his life. we have been confirmed in a long-settled belief that that man is scarcely half-educated who has not in his early years had something to struggle for, and who has not at some period of his life lived among " the people" in the country. There is scarcely one of our most eminent public men whose private and public history is not an illustration of this undeniable feet ; and it is a fact full of encouragement and hope to the toiling, self-denying, self-respecting country boy. In whatever position we view the character of Col. P., whether as a farmer, tanner, legislator or banker, he has been eminently successful, without impeding the progress of others — developing those rare qualities which are so happily united in him. of sound judgment, prompt and efficient action and execution and far reaching sagacity, blended with the kindest and most benevolent impulses. Such is a brief history of one who has thus far lived only to do good", and whose life we trust will long be spared to bless his country and the world. We close by mentioning the highly honorable fact thai Col. Pratt is the first self-taught farmer and mechanic in our country, who has received the honorary degree of Master of Arts, from one of our highest literary institutions — an honor richly mer- ited by him, and reflecting credit on the distinguished insl itution (Union College) by which it was conferred. ROOT AND BUSH PULLEE. This implement is very efl'ective in tearing out stools or clumps of small bushels, which grow in wet. boggy land. It is made by inch and inch and a half bar iron, with two. three, or four prongs, weighing from twenty to forty pound.-. The ground is first, if the roots are large and thick, loosened around the hushes, when the claw or pull is fastened ■ side, and a pair of oxen attached by mean oi a chain to the implement. At the word given, the bushes are torn out by the roots. One man, with a smart and well broken pair of oxen, will thus do the work of ten men. Price from $2 to $5, Manufac- tured by Ruggles, Nourse & Mason, Boston, and for sale at the Albany and other Ag'l Warehou.es. 18ii>. THE GENESEE FARM Eli. 17 AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS. BY LGBICOl \. Tmk importance of Agriculture as a pursuit is acknowledged by all, although but few, compara- tively, appreciate it as they should. Its successful prosecution requires mental us well as physical energy, and it is nol among the least of the favorable indications of the times, that the importance of ••duration adapted to a progressive and enlightened system of farming, is exciting public attention. My object at present is to offer your readers some con- siderations in favor of Agricultural Associations, as connected with improvement. Since 1841 State and County Societies have been in operation in this State, and the question arises, '•Have they been the means of advancing the true interests of the farmer? — What is the tendency of these Societies V The farmers in any county, as a body, have few opportunities of mingling together, of exchanging opinions and learning the results of the efforts of each others mode of operations. Once a year, however, through these associations they are brought together : every improvement which has been made, every experiment tried, becomes the subject of conversation, and many a farmer has returned to his farm, with new incentives to action, and with new resolutions that his course shall be so changed as to advance the interests entrusted to him. A spirit of emulation is aroused, and the appearance of the farms in many of the counties of this State, affords the best evidence that a spirit has been aroused to some good and valuable purpose. The mere assembling together of a body of intelligent farmers, for a common purpose, relating to their profession, cannot fail to arouse a spirit of inquiry in every right mind. The importance of his profession is more deeply impressed upon the farmer — and he feels that he has interests at stake that take a far wider range than the limited spot where he dwells. But the influence of these associations are by no means confined to their annual meetings. The pub- lication of their proceedings — the valuable articles from practical farmers which find their place in the Agricultural Journals of our country, are exercising continually a most salutary influence. Every new discovery made by the farmer is, through his asso- ciation, or by himself, directly spread before the public — and the example of one man, it may be, in this direction, will in the end induce many others to make new and vigorous efforts to advance the cause. Can any one doubt that the improvements in the various breeds of animals in this State, which to the most common observer must be apparent, have not Jirisen in a great measure from the influence which Agricultural Societies have exerted. What has induced our farmers in so many instances to adopt an entire new system of farming, by which their products are increased, their farms cultivated in a much neater and more systematic manner ? Is it too much to say that here, too, the influence of these associations has been felt ? Have not these Asso- ciations done much for the improvement in the cultivation of fruit in our State — a branch of the farmer's business of no ordinary importance ? The experience of the year which is now past, so far as the information has reached the writer, has proved most bountiful in proof of the value of these societies. More and deeper interest is apparent among all classes of community, and the Annual Shows are now the holidays not only of the farmers and their u ives and daughters, but of every class in community . How few indeed can be found, who do not desire to have it understood, thai they take a deop interest in the success of the farmer* Many professional men and merchants cv.u be found in ("very village in our State, who delight, to give attention to the cultivation of fruit, and to appear as competitors al the shows, and thus plainly indicate that they have been made to feel thai the farmer's pursuit i's one of no little importance. There are many other considerations which are apparent to every one, which (night he urged, bul those already adduced are sufficient to satisfy your readers of the importance of these Associations. Shall they, then, be sustained? Will the farmers more generally come up to their aid, and give their influence and exert them -rives to extend far mare widely their benefits, and make them, in every respect, what they should be ? These are questions which come home to the bosom of every farmer, and may I not ask that each ponder them well, and let them receive the attention which they deserve. Let no one imagine that I undervalue the labors of the Agricultural Journals of our country. I most cheerfully award to them great merit. They have done nobly for the cause, and I could wish that they might find a lodgment in every farm house in our land, instead of a comparative small proportion, as they now do. The language of the editor of one of these journals at the West, a journal that is freighted monthly with blessings for the freemen of that new world, expresses much on this subject. After giving a very interesting account of the Show of the State Society at Buffalo the past season, he says : — "I am confident, since being here, that this Society does as much as any one thing, rf not more, to keep alive the cause of improvement. If it should be said, that its influence is not equal to that of the Agricultural Journals, I will reply that the Agricul- tural Journals are themselves sustained by it. Could such an institution as this, or even a dozen smaller ones — well distributed — be kept in vigor, in the region of circulation of the Prairie Farmer, its circula- tion would be quadrupled, if not more, in three years." Such are my views, and I ask, do they not com- mend themselves to every mind, upon a moment's reflection ? If then you would encourage improve- ment— if you would sustain liberally the Agricul- tural Journals of the country — if you would do most for the cause which I doubt not is dear to you — encourage and sustain the Agricultural Asso- ciations around you, by your own personal efforts, and by encouraging your neighbors with you to go forward and sustain them and increase their influence and their usefulness. Never grow anything carelessly. If it be worth growing at all, it is worth growing properly. Jeru- salem Artichokes and Horseradish are both treated ill, but there is no comparison in their quality when treated as weeds, and when cultivated as they should be. Both ought to be planted in clean ground every year, though horseradish i-s better two years old or three ; and as they come ready, clear the ground of them. Artichokes may be cleared out once a year. Never buy any quantity of seed without knowing the party you buy of; and before you depend on it for a crop, put a hundred grains in a hot-bed, and see what proportion is alive and what dead. 18 THE GENESEE FARMER. Jan. WIRE FENCE -MODE OF MAKING, EXPENSE, ETC. •: by airitoN adams. Messrs. Editors: — Having lately completed twenty-four rods of wire fence, and knowing that many farmers intend building such fence if it is°found to answer a good purpose, I am induced to give a detailed account of if, that others may profit by my experience. In the first place I would premise that this fence extends from my house (which is situated on a con- siderable elevation,) to the highway, and is therefore more expensive than ordinary fences upon the farm. At each end of the fence I set a large cedar post three feet in the ground, and brace it firmly in the direction of the fence. The brace is about eight feet long, and extends from the top of the post to a large stone placed firmly in the ground. Two other cedar posts are placed at unequal distances between the outside posts, on account of the irregular descent of the ground. All the other posts are of band iron 1| inches wide, | inch thick, and placed one rod apart. Intermediate posts are placed between these, extend- ing only to the fifth wire, and made of half-inch band iron. All of these posts are punched with holes for the wires to pass through. The long posts pass through large fiat stones and are clinched on the under side. These stones are firmly bedded in the ground. The posts should be fastened in these stones by pouring around them melted lead or brimstone. The wires used are Nos. 10 and 12, and I am confident these are the best sizes where a strong fence is required. In building, I commence by run- ning the upper wire through first, which is four feet from the ground. The second wire is ten inches below the upper, both of which are of No. 10 wire. The third wire is eight inches below the second and of No. 12 wire. The fourth wire is six inches below the third and of No. 10 wire, and so alternating the two sizes of wire to the bottom. The distances of the remaining lower wires apart are 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, inches. The wires, after passing through the lower post, are fastened firmly, which I did by passing them through a strap of iron and coiling the ends. ° I don't know that I can describe the manner of straining the wires intelligibly, but I will try. At the upper end of the fence, after the wires have passed through the post, they also pass through a plank of the sa me width and height. Each wire is then passed through a roller 1| inches in diameter and 6 inches long, having one end tenanted for a crank. A board of the length and width of the plank is placed upon these rollers. After each wire is strained by turning the rollers, a pin is passed through the board and roller into the plank, which fastens them firmly. The wires will contract some in cold weather and should not be drawn too tight, at first. As to the expense, I can not be as definite as I could wish, as some of the wire purchased was too small. I have used about 110 lbs. of wire, costing 0. Twenty iron posts at 6 cts. each, $1,25 • 20 short, posts at 3 cts. each, 60 cts ; 4 cedar posts ftl, making $4; painting $1 -making an amount of Since the fence was completed I have had it broken through once by an ox racing with a horseman— I have found that the wires break only where the ends are looped together. I have sinee joined them by flattening the ends, laying them together and winding them for four inches with a small wire' This is the manner of joining them at the Niagara Suspension Bridge. The wires of this bridge are boiled in linseed oil, which forms an impervious coating, and probably toughens the wire As to the strength of the fence, I think it sufficient to withstand any ordinary pressure. Wires of the same size at the Suspension Bridge are each strained to a tension of 1500 lbs. The great objection to this fence, in the minds of many people, is its beino- invisible. This is why I like it, as it does not mar the beauty of the landscape. In conclusion I would say that I like this fence because the winds make no impression upon it — no snow banks form beside it— it occupies no space- costs less than the painting of a good board fence and, although invisible, looks beautifully when the ground is covered with snow ; and as to its durability, rf wire bridges will endure, surely wire fence* will last an age. East Bloomjield, J\\ F, Dec, 1848. SEEDING WITH CLOVER.- LUCERNE. BY F. W. LAY. Messrs. Editors :— As this is the time of year in which farmers are, or at least should be, making calculations and plans for the coming season, it may not be amiss to state one fact in relation to seeding with clover. & I believe it is not generally known among agricul- turists that when wheat is sown in the fall with one plowing, as in wheat after oats or barley, or a clover sod turned over, that clover will not grow and live if sown on the ground in the spring after. It will vegetate and seem to start well, but will soon wither and die. I have noticed this in repeated instances, both among my own crops and those of my neighbors. Why it is, I leave with those who have more time to examine the subject to determine. (Can t Dr. Lee tell us ?) I think this of considerable importance to be known, as many lose not only the trouble and expense of procuring and sowing the seed, but are also disappointed in their calculations ot crops and rotations. It may be that on some soils and under some circumstances clover may grow, but in my observations for the last six years I have never known it to come to any thing. I see by the last Farmer that you think Lucerne can be cultivated and made profitable. Have you ever seen it tried to any extent in this country » borne time since I visited the farm of Mr. Robinson in Ilartlanu, Niagara county, an English gentleman! and one of the best farmers and most successful experimentalists that I have ever seen. He told me that lie had considerable experience with Lucerne, bom in this country and in Europe, and had entirely abandoned it as not adapted to our soil and climate. I should like to see statements from any person w ho has tried it extensively, together with 'the result.— Greece, JY. F., Dec, 1848. Drain all your lands, that the surface may be laid level. Never resort to open or surface drains if you can help it; they create much water, espe- cially in grass lands. Some meadows are absolutely spoiled by surface draining. Ground that is to be vacant in winter time should always be left rough or in ridges. The more the frost can penetrate it, the better it is. If the whole depth of a spade could be frozen through, it would be as good as a coat of dung. is I!). THE GENESEE PARMER. in PEAT MUCK, LIME. PLASTER, AND ASHES. Bl S. B LRRI I I. Messrs. ElsrroBfi : — Having a little snow, and wishing to improve the "sleighing," (though rather out of season,) I have commenced hauling muck, for the purpose of increasing the manure heap. — 1 think I have a pretty good supplj of the raw mate- rial. Some twenty rods from my barn I have a pit of muck. It covers about three-fourths of an acre oi Burface, and is from two to six feet in depth. It is o[' a dark brown, when thrown up, but most oi" it turns black on exposure to the air. 1 had a man from the "land of bogs" to throw it up for me. He cut a large ditch across two sides of it. which answers the double purpose of bringing up the muck and draining the water off, so that the remainder will bear good grass. Some of it, he said, looked very much like the peat they burn in the "ould counthry." At the bottom, it appears to be composed mostly of leaves ; their form is very distinctly to be seen, but is very rotten. How long these substances have lain there it would be difficult to conjecture. Trees of two feet over or more have grown upon the ground. The properties of this muck, I suppose, could not be ascertained without a chemical analysis ; but its effects on lands I intend to test in various ways, and after a careful series of experiments, you may expect to hear from me again. To-day I have thrown some in my hog-pen and put some by my horse stable ; and when our winter gets a little bigger, and I have a little more leisure, I shall put a larger quantity in my barn yards, and let the cattle, sheep and hogs have the pleasure of mixing it well with straw and litter. And now I want to put in an inquiry or two, which is the object of this communication. It is about the use of lime, plaster, and ashes. I know not when nor how to use lime ; my land I think evidently needs it. especially for the production of wheat. But I have seen some statements of lime being used in compost, where it was a positive injury. As for plaster, is it better to put it into the heap, or to sow it on the land ? And leached ashes, whether a farmer can, with profit, draw them four or five miles ? — and if so, wThether he had better put them in the yard, and then load and haul them out again ? As for lime, which would be economy, in drawing it eight or ten miles, to buy that which is air-slaked and pay some five cents per bushel, or take the real article fresh from the kiln and pay double that price ? If you will give us some light on these subjects, you will not only oblige the writer, but, as he thinks, confer a favor on many of your readers. Ridgeway, JY. Y., Nov., 1848. Remarks. — The description our correspondent gives of his ''muck,'' shews it to be pure decayed vegetable matter, having undergone the last stages of decomposition, and is the material known as peat. It possesses none of the properties of manure alone, and can not be stimulated into fermentation by any of the mineral salts or earths. If charred it becomes a kind of charcoal or coke, and is highly carbona- ceous and a capital absorbent of ammonia and the other gasses and salts of animal manure. In a raw state, it is valuable to distribute in manure heaps, and in sheds and among composts. In open barn yards it is objectionable, as it produces a very unctious and disagreeable black mud. Mixed with clayey heavy soils it has a good effect mically, it uot ohemii ally, in rendering il - light, and pervious to water and air. It is entu different from the Bediment of | . thii recent vegetable and some animal matter, lime. and . arths in a very line and conunin and is a strong stimulating mam soil. If the soil needs lime, apply it by spr< sowing on the surface; m i il withrecentor fermentable manure . Air Blaked i- just as valuable ■fore it can act; if one bushel of quick lime will make two when slaked, it is of course worth twice a- much. Plaster for wheat should be dragged in, in the fall at sowing, and for all other en atop dressing. Ashes may be used in any and all ways : it never comes amiss. As well as plaster, it may be mixed in the manure heaps, in stables and sheds ; or used as a top dressing. If you can buy in your own neighborhood fresh ashes lor eight or ten cents, don't think of drawing the leached article four or five n They are worth more than plaster, for any crop — particularly en sandy or loamy soils — although its ! are not as lasting. A bushel of plaster w i about 100 lbs., for which we pay at the mills 12 j per hundred, and good house ashes can be purchased at 6 to 10 cts. If our readers think as we do of the value of ashes, the question is easily settled as to their relative value. * COLLIN'S AND STONE'S PATE'NT CHEESE PRESS. The annexed figure and description of this very valuable implement, we copy from the Catalogue of the Albany Agricultural Warehouse : "This cut is a correct view of the press in actual use. It is constructed by means of double or com- pound levers, which are so arranged that the weight of the cheese or curd is the power which pr< itself, and as they are usually made, press in a ten or twelve fold ratio. This is found enough for the commencement of the process, but when more is required, it is added by simply placing on the plat- form an extra weight, as a brick weighing four pounds would give forty to forty-eight pounds of extra pressure.0 It is sufficiently strong to hold a cheese of 150 or 200 pounds weight. The press is loosened in an instant by a small lever, about four or five feet long, and a child can loosen it. P>y hooking down the lever, the press answers every purpose table to turn and trim the cheese upon. The \ weighs from thirty to fifty pounds complete, and occupies a space of about two feet square. There are three sizes now made : No. 1, smallest, $>5,00 ; No. 2, second, §6,50 ; No. 3, largest, $6,00." 20 THE GENESEE FARMER. Jan- llurctl Slnljitccture. a ELEVATION. FIRST SECONU FLOOR. PLAN OF A CHEAP COTTAGE. Messrs. Editors : — In planning' onr dwellings we men of small means find it prudent to consult more the length of our purses, than our desires for the ornamental or even the most perfect convenience. But we are glad if, in such approximations toward the latter as our means and knowledge permit, we can at all gratify our sense, vague and crude it may be. of the picturesque and beautiful. I am not sure that trie least possible expenditure necessary to the production of a comfortable dwelling is not entirely compatible with the most classical correctness of parte and proportions, and adaptation to site and scenery. However this may be, it does not seem to me to be often done. I do not flatter myself that I have done it in the plans and perspective elevation which I send you herewith. But when fatigued by a hard day's labor, I take my seat in the front or parlor end of our one room, (A,) and while listening to, and being rested, by the prat- tle of the wee ones, or talking with a guest, i am under no apprehension of being disturbed by the needful opening of some door ; and, looking across the cooking stove," sec my good wile busied iii pre- paring pur evening meal, with the pantry door, door to the wood-house, cellar door, and door side of the stove, all in her own end, where husband, children, andguesl are out of her way— ] think I have hap- pened to make a pretty large room of lot feet in the clear, by 18, to say nothing of the recess, A\ by 8 The stove i- placed .lirrrily under the chimnrv. which is built from the ch imber floor. feet, where, in an emergency, we can quite conve- niently place a bed, though we have two comfortable bedrooms {a a) up stairs, 9 by 10 J, and 9 by 13 feet, with closets, where the bed-places are not against doors or windows. Our entry (B) is only 3 feet 9 inches bv 8 feet 2, but it does very well to hang overcoats and hats, and save wife and children from the cold blast of an open door in a stormy day. The pantry (C) is of the same size ; but having shelves 14 inches wide running the whole length of the right-hand side, and a broad shelf across the end to roll the doughnuts on, with its little flour and meal bins underneath, we think it very convenient. Our wood-house (D) is 12 feet square, and 8 high ; d°, in the chamber plan, repre- sents the roof of it. I mean, in the spring, to put in it a cistern close to the cellar wall, and cover it with rough boards, which extend over one-half the area of the wood-house, which, with the addition of a sink and pump, will make us a good summer kitchen. Now, Messrs. Editors, when I take an outside look at our cottage, I cannot help thinking that the pro- portions, 16 by 19, with 12 feet posts, and its brave little rectangular roof, (it looks steeper, more gothic, in the house itself, than in the drawing ; I don't know why, the proportions are the same,) its little addition for hall and pantry of 10 feet 8 inches, by 4 feet, 10 feet posts, with its gable end, are pretty fair. And though it is built of rough, upright planks, battened, (it is battened also on the inside, and the laths nailed to the battens ;) yet, with its terraced foundation, its projecting water-table, its perfectly plain though somewhat prominent cornice, and its tessillated windows, with their rough casings, as well as the cornice battens and water-table, lime-washed a slightly lighter stone-color than the planks, the effect is to me rather pleasing. And when we get our little Chinese verandah, 4 by 4 — built on the foundation for it, -which you see I have marked on the ground plan — to shelter the front door, and our fruit trees shall have grown, (by-the-bye, please ask your engraver to anticipate a few of them, for I can't draw trees,) we think the tout ensemble will be quite an advance upon the Yankee-cheap architecture that we see every where about us. G. 8. ( i . Remarks. — There is a sad lack of appropriate- ness and convenience, as well as of taste, beauty and true economy, in most of the dwellings occupied by the rural population of America. We vote for an entire and thorough reform in this matter, and intend to do our share to consummate an object so desirable and beneficial, As an initial step in this reformation, we commence at the foot of the ladder, by giving the preceding plan of a Cheap Cottacu: for tenants, laborers and freeholders of small means. Such a cottage as our correspondent describes will cost from $1,50 to $2,25 — according to finish, cost of mate- rials, (which varies in different localities.) and whether built on the cash or "dicker" system. Wo like the design much, and think our readers wilt unite with us in our admiration of iis combined con- veniences and attractions. In future numbers we shall give original plans oi larger and more expensi\e dwellings, suitable lor farmers. If any of our readers have any snifirestions or plans which they think will benefit the public, we shall be happy to hear from them. We desire to communicate light upon the important but sadly neglected subject of Rural x\rchitecture. ISIS). THE GENESEE FARMER. 21 1 SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE." - GEOLOGY. Last month we briefly noticed a work entitled "Scientific Agriculture," by Dr. M. .M. Rodoers, recently published by E. Darrow, of this city. Since then we have given the volume a more careful ex- amination) and find thai its pages contain a large amount of valuable scientific information. It em- braces the elements of Chemistry, Geology, Botany, and Meteorology, as applied to Practical Agriculture ; and each subject is discussed in a brief, plain, and comprehensive manner. The work is a good one for the young, or new beginners in these sciences. The annexed extract is from the department devoted to Geology : — GEOLOGY. — DEFINITION OF TERMS. Rocks are divided into two great classes, viz : si rut fed and unstra'ifed. Strut -/cation consists of the division of a rock into regular parallel planes or leaves, varying in thickness from that of thin paper, to several yards. Strata are often tortuous and variable in thickness in different parts of the same lamina or layer; "nevertheless, the fundamental idea of stratification, is that of parallelism in the layers." "The term stratum is sometimes employed to designate the whole mass of a rock, while its parallel subdivisions are called beds, or layers." So also of sand, clay, gravel, fee. The term led is used to designate a layer or mass of rock more or less irregular, lenticular or wedo-e shaped, lying between the layers of another rock such as beds of coal, gypsum or iron. Fig. 1. Without lamina. With waved lamina. Finely laminated. Coarsely laminated. Obliquely laminated. Parallel lamina. " A seam is a thin layer of rock that separates the beds or strata of another rock, as a seam of coal, limestone, fee." A joint is a separation of rocks, both stratified and unstratified, into masses of some determinate shape : joints are more or less parallel, and usually cross the beds obliquely. Cleavage planes are divisions in rocks, which do not coincide with those of stratification, lamination or joints. They are supposed to result from a crys- taline arrangement of the particles of the rock. Fig. 2. Cleavage Planes. d A A A A a B [Fig. -! exhibits the planes of stratification, B, B, — the joints A, A, A, A, and the slaty cleavage, d, d. ] Horizontal strata are those which have little 01 00 inclination, but lie parallel with the horizon : this position, however, is rare, almost all strata being more or less inclined. Fig. 3. Horizontal Strata. winch they The dip of strata signifies the a form with the horizon. Outcrop. — When strata are uncovered above the surface, or protrude from the side of a hill so as to be visible, they are said to crop out. Fig. 4. Dip and Outcrop. An escarpment is formed when strata terminate abruptly, so as to form a precipice. A fault in a rock is the dislocation of strata, so that their continuity is destroyed, and a series of strata on one or both sides of the fracture are forced from their original position, and raised one above another, or, moved laterally. Faults are generally filled with clay, sand and fragments of other rocks. A gorge is a wide and open fissure or fault : when still wider, with sloping sides and rounded at the bottom, it is called a valley. A dyke is a mass Fig. 5. A Dyke. or wall of rock inter- ^^m^^m^^^^m^m^ posed between the |§| ends of a disloca- tion, so as to break their continuity : — dykes rarely send off branches. Veins are portions of rock smaller than dykes, proceeding from some large mass, and ramifying through a rock of a different kind. Metallic veins were originally melted metals, which were injected into the fissures and crevices of rocks by some subterranean force. Fossil. — This term includes those petrified re- mains of plants and animals which are found in alluvium, or imbedded in solid rock, and constituting part of its structure. Formations. — The term formation is used to designate a group of rocks having some character in common — either in relation to age, origin or composition. Every formation consists of several varieties of rock, all agreeing in certain qualities, and occupying such relative situations as to indicate that they were formed during the same period and under the same circumstances. Thus we speak of graywacke formation, gneiss formation, coal for- mation, fee. Wheat Flies. — We collected from a bin of wheat a number of flies, on the 10th day of December, which appeared to have recently hatched out in the same. They are not the Cecidomyia trilici, nor the Hessian fly, nor the wheat wcavil ; all of which we have col- lected in Georgia. Wc know not what to call these last. Some will be sent to Dr. Fitch, of Salem, N. Y. A good deal of wheat has been sown in this State within the last two months. Seed sent us from Wheatland has come up well. Augusta, Ga., Dec. 22 THE GENESEE FARMER. Jan. NEW SAUSAGE OK MINCING MACHINE. Having been furnished by Mr. H. L. Emery, of the Albany Ag. Warehouse, with the accompanying cut and description of this neat and valuable machine, we give it to our readers in the belief that it is a great labor-saving article for farmers, pork packers, and hotel keepers. We are informed that the machine is extensively used in the eastern portion of this State, and very generally in the New England States : JYew Sausage or Mincing Machine. One machine, by the power of a man, is capable of cutting readily from 80 to 100 lbs. of meat per hour — the person turning the crank feeding the machine, thus leaving the mass cut sufficiently fine and uniform. It is constructed of blocks of hard wood about five inches thick, nine inches wide, and fifteen inches long, connected together by hinges and hasps. The two faces of the blocks are carved or bored out so as to form a hollow cylinder or barrel extending through the length of the blocks, excepting enough at each end to form a head or cap. -In this cavity is suspended a wooden cone on an iron shaft, running lengthwise, and one end of the shaft extending through and connecting with a crank outside. In this cone are placed three rows of wood or iron pegs, so arranged spirally as to form a kind of screw, running length- wise— the pegs being smaller, snorter, and closer together as they approach the large end of the cone — making the mean diameter of the pegs the same at each end of the cone, and just filling the space or cavity. Each block has a set of triangular knives fixed stationary, and so as to allow the pegs to pass between them. The process is simply putting in the meat at the small end of the cone, through the kind of hopper or funnel, and by turning the cranS the meat is passed round, through and between the knives, and forward to the large end of the cone by the combined act inn of the pegs and knives, and finally discharged through an aperture in the bottom at the large end of the cone or opposite the hopper end — the fineness being guaged by the size of this discharging aperture. The machine is warranted to cut fit for use fnnii 80 to 150 lbs. per hour, according to the power applied — one man being sufficient to turn it con- stantly. Several hundred have been sold during the pant two years, am] given entire satisfaction. A good machine, warranted, can be afforded at from $12 to $1-5 — and may be obtained at Mr. Emery's Ware- house in Albany, or at his Depot in Rochester. THE AMERICAN LOCUST IN VIRGINIA. BY YARDLEY TAYLOR. In the 6th month number of the Genesee Farmer is a communication by David Thomas, written it seems in 1831 and republished in 1848, asking for information from other sections of the country respecting the American Locust as it is called, or the Cicada Septcndecem of Linnaes ; and concluding with several queries to which answers are requested. To several of these queries I have no answer to give, but to this one, " What has caused the locusts in one district to differ in regard to time from those of another district"?" I reply, that I have no evidence that they do so differ. There may be in other places, as there is here, two sets of them, but they regularly observe the period of 17 years in their appearance. These two sets have different boundaries for their districts, and consequently overlap each other, and such circumstances as these may lead the casual observer to suppose there is an irregularity in their appearance, when there is not. By noticing the public papers we hear of the locusts being numerous in some sections of our widely extended country almost every year. In this county, (Loudon, Va.,) they have appeared in regular intervals of 8 and § years for upwards of 50 years. It is said that they have appeared here in 1792, in 1800 and in 1809. Since then I recollect them myself, to wit : in 1817, in 1826, in 1834, and 1843, and we look for them again in 1851. In 1826 and 1843 they extended to the north, east and south of this county for a great distance, but did not extend but very little to the west of the Blue Ridge, which bounds this county on that side. In Frederick county, Va., there were no locusts those years, though only 30 miles west'of this, while in 1817 and 1834 they were numerous in that county, and at the same time extended to the north and east and south of this place as well as to the west. They were more numerous in the latter than in the former yoars. Whether these boundaries in other directions are the same, I do not know. If I remember right Dr. Gideon B. Smith, of Baltimore, is collecting materials for a map of the United States, showing the different districts of the locust as they appear in different years. Such a map, with the history of this singular insect, would be interesting. The great length of time they remain in the ground renders it very difficult to ascertain their history exactly, yet their appearing in the immediate vicinity where their eggs were deposited, shews conclusively that they do not travel far in a lateral direction. And they sometimes appear in situations where we might reasonably conclude they could not descend into the earth many feet without coming in contact with water at all seasons. What their food is in this long interval il is difficult to say. I have never seen any injury to the roots of plants done by them, and seldom ever see them except a short time previous to their appearance. There are a few solitary ones to be met with every year, and I see no good reason to suppose them a different species, as has been in- timated. London Co., Va., 11th month, 1848. Plants that are grown too fast cannot be hand- some. The more rapid the growth, the further apart arc the leaves, the longer the bare part of the stems. Flowering plants arc better grown too slow than too fast. lSli). THE CENESEE FAliMKR. 23 Spirit of tl)c Agricultural tyttss. In each number of this volume we design to give a page (ir two under the above heading. It will be our aim to condense and extract from our exchanges in such a mannor ■s to convey, in a small space, much valuable information — thus giving a collection of items that may !«• appropriately termed tin* Spirit of the Agricultural Press. Rotam Mould Boabd Plow. — The Scientific American snys, that nt the lair Fair the most novel agricultural imple- ment was a Revolving .Mould Hoard Plow, the invention of Mr. Page, of Baltimore. The mould was a circular concave shield revolving from the point with tho sod of earth. This mould hoard was movable, and could he taken off and put on at pleasure. Whether its complexity will prevent its general introduction or not, remains yet to be seen. Its principle is the combination of a revolving apron to move with the earth, and perform tho same office as a friction wheel in a shaft box. SniK-lIiLi. PloWIITO. — Plows aro now made to go forth and back in the same line, and to turn all the furrows down hill. This is convenient when the land lies in such a position that one side of the hill is inaccessible. When one side only can be plowed, the side-hill plow turns the whole in one direction, and no lands are marked off Some farmers object to turning the furrows all down hill, because they would not expose the high parts to barrenness or dead furrows. But plowing furrows up-hill is decidedly up-hill work, and should be avoided if possible. When we have a circular piece of land, rising in the middle to a peak or a knoll, we begin to plow at the base and make the dead furrow on the' ridge. It is so much easier turning furrows down-hill than up-hill, that we prefer to cart a larger share of manure on to the peak, and make up the loss. — Mass. Ploughman. Advice is Poultry Keeping. — The principles upon which I rely for success in keeping hens, are, first, to have two breeds — a few to hatch and rear the chickens, and twice the member of everlasting layers, as eggs are more profitable than chickens ; second, to get a hatch as early as possible in spring, and to keep them well ; these never cast their feathers like the old birds, and if they begin to lay in autumn, lay more or less all winter ; third, never to keep old fowls, (none but favorite fowls ought to be kept more than two years ; ) old birds lay larger eggs than pullets, but not nearly so many ; fourth, to give them the best barley I could get, and as much as they could pick up, once a day in summer, and twice in winter ; they are not only more profitable, well kept, but the eggs are better. The two breeds I like best are the spotted Dorkings for sitting, and the pheasant breed for laying. — Agricultural Gazette. The best Breed of Sheep. — Let it be assumed that the best breed of sheep is that which produces the greatest net profit in money from a given quantity of food. — lb. Westphalia Plan of Smoking Hams. — A room in a garret ; fire in the cellar ; smoke gathered in a tunnel, and led to the smoke rooms by a small pipe ; by the time it gets there all the heaviest part of the pyroligneous acid has condensed, and the smoke has become cool. Nothing touches the hams but a pure, light, cool smoke, which is allowed to pass off by a number of small apertures, about as fast as it is supplied. Wire Worm. — A successful farmer in this vicinity, Mr. D. D. T. Moore, states that he has tried various substances for preventing the ravages of the wire worm, none of which, excepting sulphur, proved of any use. An Irishman told him that sulphur had been used with advantage in Ireland. Before planting his corn, Mr. M. wet it and rolled it in flour of sulphur, and afterw:ards coated it in plaster to prevent the sulphur from wasting. He saved a crop by this means, where he had failed for three years before. We see no reason why the sulphur might not be ccpually effective for any other grain. — Cultivator. One-Horse Carts. — A great improvement has been made in attaching the horse to the. cart, to prevent the sudden descent of the weight of th load upon the animal's back, after mounting obstructions. A half elliptic spring is fas- tened under each shaft, the centre of which 'is connected to the lower ends of the staple, which passes freely through a hole bored in the shaft, and connects with a chain that passes over the back of the horse. — lb. The Crops oi i::i::.— We invite attention to a valuable table which we give below. It baa been compiled by the editor of the New Orlei as Commercial Times, and is accu- rate as anything of the kind can be mad- under exi circumstances. Under the head of crops, thirteen different i are included, on each of which tin ■ value lias been adjusted to the several States, with the necessary advance on the same items, as they were reported in 1840; thus affording the approximate value of the crop of 1848, together with the sums invested in manufactures and merchandise, respectively. In making up the " ■ . have been assumed as follows :— Cotton, at 6 conta per pound: sugar, 4; rice, :{ ; tobacco,"; wheat. 60 cents per bushel; com, 30; barley, .'50; oats, 25; rye, 40; buckwheat, .',11; and potatoes 30 cents ; hay, $10, and hemp I iO per ton. These are the home prices before transportation to market, and apply to the first column of the following table: Estimated value of the crops of 1S4S. and the sum- Invested in manufactures and merchandise in each State. , Crops. Manufactures. Maine $13,000,000 $10,000,000 New Hampshire. . .. 9,000,000 12.000,000 3,000,000 Massachusetts 1-1,000,000 $% 1.000 10,000.000 Rhode Island 1.500.000 13,0 0 Connecticut 9 000.000 17,000^000 8^000,000 Vermont 15,000,000 5,000,000 1.000,000 New York 79.000.000 09.000.000 53.000.000 New Jersey II OOO.OOO 14,000.000 5.000,000 Pennsylvania 55,000.000 50.000,000 -!■">.' Delaware 1.800.000 2.000.000 1,300,000 Maryland 10,000. -i^iuoOO 13.01 Virginia S^OOoiOOO la.uuoOOO 21.000.000 North Carolina 19.000.000 5,000.000 6 000.000 South Carolina 14000.000 4^000.000 10 000.000 Georgia 21,000,000 4.000.000 11.000.000 Alabama 17,000,000 3,000 000 8.000.000 Mississippi 14.000.000 2^000 000 7,000.000 Louisiana 19,000l000 8^000 000 20.000.000 Tennessee 40.000.000 5,000.000 !).$5 for crop of Mangel Wurzels, averaging at 60 lbs to the bushel, 1311 § bushels per acre. (According to the requirements of the State Society, 50 lbs. to the bushel, this crop would be equal to 1574 bushels per acre.) The meeting was an unusually interesting one. 30 THE GENESEE FARMER. Casks' Department. Ja.w The following article is appropriate for this depart- ment, and we insert it with an assurance of more, if not better, extracts from the same valuable work. It is from a new and handsome volume by Dr. M. M. Rodgers, of this city, entitled " Scientific Agricul- ture" — embracing the elements of Botany, &,c. ORGANS AND STRUCTURE OF THE FLOWER. The essential organs of a flower are three, viz : the stamens, the pistils, and the receptacle. These are nil the parts necessary to the perfection of the seed— they, therefore constitute a perfect flower: to these, however, is added in most flowers, the perianth, consisting of the calyx and corrolla. ^ The stamens are slender, thread-like organs within the "flower" or perianth, around the pistils : their most common number is five ; hut this varies from one to a hundred. Their office is said to be the fertilization of the seed. The pistils are usually slender, larger than the stamens and occupy the center of the flower : " they are destined to bear the seed." They are sometimes numerous, but in many cases there is only a single one. The receptacle is placed at the end of the flower stalk, and constitutes the basis upon which the organs of fructi- fication are usually placed, in such manner as to encircle it. The corolla is the interior part of the peri- lanth, consisting of one [or more circles of color- ed leaves of various hues and delicate texture, sit- uated upon the recepta- cle : these leaves are called petals, ( Fig. 3, a, a, ) and they may be nnited at the edges, constituting a bed-form flower (Fig. 2, ) or they may be separate, constituting a wheel-form flower, (Fig. 1.) Fig. 3., Fig. 6. Fig. 2. as petals into stamens, flowers into leafy branches, &c I he stamen consists of three distinct parts, viz • the Pament (Fig. 5, a ) the anther, (Fig. 5, b,) and the pollen. The hlament is the thread-like part which supports the anther at its summit : the pollen is a fine yellow dust of various forms contained within the cells of the nther, until discharged through its pores into the air. ^Thc pfstil consists also of three parts, viz : the ovary, the style, and the stigma. The ovary is the base of the pistil which contains the young seeds, and which ultimately becomes the fruit. (Fig. 6, d.) The style is a prolonged column arising from the ovary, and supporting the stigma at its top. (Fig. 6, e.) The calyx is the external part of the perianth, consisting of a circle of leaves, the same in number as those of the corolla, in some cases distinct, and in others united : they are usually green : theso leaves are called sepals. (Fig. 4, a.) We see now that a complete fiqwer is made up of four regular Bets of organs, viz: the stamens. pisti ceptacle, and perianth; these organs or* arranged in concentric whorls, or rings : some of them may be absent or suppressed, some superfluous ones may be developed, and some degene- rated mto those of a different set The stigma is the upper extremity of the style, usually of a globular form : it may be either simple or compound, according to the structure of the ovary and style. (Fig. 6, f.) The ovules arc minute globular bodies in the cells of the ovary, which become the seeds of the matured fruit. The placenta is a fleshy ridge within the cells of the ovary, from which the ovules are developed, and to which they are attached. There are several other secondary and minute part-. belonging to the flower, which it is not necessary or prac- ticable to describe here, as it would only burthen the memory with technical terms which would convey but little useful knowledge. Training of Children. — The instruction of your chil- dren cannot commence too early. Every mother is capable of teaching her children obedience, humility, cleanliness. and propriety of behavior ; and it is a delightful circumstance that the first instruction should thus be communicated by so tender a teacher. It is by combining affectionate gentleness in granting what is right, with judicious firmness in refusing what is improper, that the happiness of children is promoted^ and that good and orderly habits are established. If chil- dren are early trained to be docile and obedient, the future task of guiding them aright will be comparatively easy.— Nicholls. Sweetening Butter.— Mr. Trevelgan has communicated to the Mechanics' Magazine the following item of dietetic, improvement. Whilst making some experiments, it occurred to him that butter, either fresh or salt, possessing a dis- agreeable effluvia and flavor, might li« rendered perfectly svyeet by the addition of a little carbonate of soda. On trial this surmise proved correct. The proportions are, carbonate of soda, two and a half drachms to butter three pounds. In making fresh butter, the soda is to he added after all the milk is washed out, and is ready for making up. The unpleasant smell is produced by an acid, which, i neutralized by the alkali, disperses at the same time the disagreeable flavor. This acid is generated by peculiarities in the constitutions of some cows, by the condition of certain fodders, by the length of time the cream is kept before being churned, but too often by the dairy utensils not being kept thoroughly clean. Soda produces tie'- same results when added to the culinary greases — as drippings, lard, To Purify Honey.— Expose the honey to frost for three weeks, in a place where neither sun nor snow can reach it. and in a vessel of 'Wood or other substance which is not a good conductor of heat. The honey is not congealed but becomes clear. Ci.kaning Silk, — The following directions for cleaning silks are by one of the first Parisian dyers: Haifa pound of soft soap, a teaspoonful of brandy. 'and a pint of gin; mix ail together: with a sponge or flannel, Bpread the mixture on each side of the silk, without greasing it ; wash it in two or three waters, and iron it on the wrong side ; it will then look as good as new. ls|!>. THE GENESEE FARMER. 31 Hems' Department. It was our intention to occupy at leaat one page of this number with matter interesting to our young friends — but the Bpace devoted to other departments Compels US to contract our anticipations, as well as articles. We have hardly room to begin to ttilk with the thousands of hoys who, we hope, are constant and attentive readers of the Farmer — and who, if they act well their several parts in the pathway of life, will soon become intelligent, useful, and honor- able men. But it shall be our endeavor to make amends, in future numbers, for the lack of instruction or amusement in the present. Premising thus much, we wish our youthful readers a " Happy New Year;" trusting that they will so improve the hours, days and months of 1849, as to acquire the sound prin- ciples, industrious and systematic habits, and mental wisdom necessary to constitute capable and intelli- gent cultivators, good brothers, husbands and fathers, and worthy citizeirs. Farmer's Boys. — There is a wholesome change going on in public sentiment, which promises to do much for the improvement of the country, and the condition of the people. We mean the change which is taking place among the young in relation to the great work of tilling the soil. A lew years ago, and the young men left their father's farms as soon as thej could get away from them — and the fathers themselves not unfreiiuently encouraged them in it. A hard hand and a sunburnt face were deemed poor recommendations in life ; and more genteel modes of getting a living were sought by the young. But they are beginning to look at the matter in a different light. The dull times through which we have passed, have opened their eyes to the fact, that after all there is nothing like a farmer to stand through all times, and they are quite content to stay at home. The result will be, that our farms will be to a very great extent better cultivated, and produce more — that large farms, which are not half cultiva- ted, will be divided, and well husbanded — and that we shall have a large and virtuous population scattered all over our fertile hills. — Nashua Tel. The appetite for sensual pleasures palls with enjoyment. With moia] and intellectual pleasures, the reverse is true. Books on Agriculture, &c. — The Publisher of the Farmer keeps constantly on hand a large assortment of the most popular and valuable works pertaining to Agriculture, Horticul- ture, and Rural and Domestic Economy, which will be sold at the lowest cash prices. The names and prices of a portion of the books are annexed : — American Farmer's Encyclopedia. $3 50 in leather— cloth $3. American Shepherd, by Morrell. $1. American Agriculture, by Allen $1. American Poulterer's Companion, by Bement. $1. American Veterinarian, by Cole. 50 cents. Burst's Kitchen Gardener. 75 cents. Bud's Farmer's Companion. 75 cents Chaptal's Agricultural Chemistry. 50 cents. Downing's Fruits and Fruit Trees of America. $1 50. Domestic Animals, by R. L. Allen. Cloth, 75 cts. ; paper, 50 cts. Farmer's and Emigrant's Hand-Book. $1. Fruit Culturist, by J. J. Thomas. 50 cents, (iardener's Farmer's Dictionary. $1 60— leather. $1 75. Horse's Foot— and how to keep it sound. 25 cents. Johnson's Agricultural Chemistry. £1 25. Loudon's Ladies' Flower Garden. ^1 25. Liebgig's Agricultural Chemistry, (new edition -r$l— paper, 75 cts. Liebgig's Agricultural and Animal Chemistry, (pamphlet edi- tions.) 25 cents each Parson's on the Rose. $1 50. Prince on the Rose. 75 cents. Rural Economy, by Boussingault. $1 50. Stable Economy, by Stewart. $1. Scientific Agriculture, by Rodgers. 75 cents. Smith's Productive Farming. 50 cents. Treatise ou Milch Cows. 38 cts. Treatise on Guano. 25 cents. Youatt on the Horse, (new edit m.) $1 75. Youatt ou the Pig. 75 cents. (QJ= Orders from a distance will receive prompt attention, and the books-forwarded by mail or Express as desired. Address to D. D. T. MOORE, Jan. 1, 1849. Rochester. N. Y. A limn y Agricultural Warehouse mill Seed Store.—, The subscriber being a sufferer by fire, tn common with a large portion of the citizens of Albany, (bavin).' losf his .-lore ami stool on Che 29th of October la - u Bd for a term of ▼ears the new and exten Broadway, as old Market-street, a few d - Bouth ofthePosI Office. Tin i Lfi feet deep and four stories high. i< much larger than hii former one, running throu I dwaytothel anal I and Broadway being the principal thoroughfare in the city between the Boat Landings and the Depots, the location is readily found. These advantages, with the u i lliUes, will onabic him to transact many times the - tofore done by him. and more convenient for the trade generally. '" ' lectton with these changes, he is erecting an extensive mi factory in the central part of the city, sufficiently large t<< accommodate over one hundred mechanics, and a proportl amount of labor-saving machinery, which will enable him at all times hereafter to execute orders with despatch. A continuance of the very liberal patronage heretofore bestowed upon his establishment is solicited. II. L EMERY' January 1, 1849. Agricultural Warehouse ami Seed Store at Buffalo. — At the request of numerous friends, we have opened an Agri- cultural Warehouse and Seed Store, and have made such arrangements as will enable us to keep on hand a large and full assortment of implements of any useful kind. We have also arrangements, for Trees and Seeds equal to any other establishment in the Union. Orders and patronage solicited. Manufacturers are requested to send us samples of their imple- ments and machines. T. C. PETERS St BRO., Corner Washington aud Exchange-sts. Buffalo, Jan. 1, 1848. [l-.,i] Scientific Agriculture, or the Elements of Chemistry. Geology, Botany, and Meteorology, applied to practical Agricul- ture : by M. M. Rodgers, M. D.. with the approval and of several practical and scientific gentlemen The work is illus- trated by a large number of engravings, and is published in a neat style, well bound, and sold cheap. NOTICES QF THE WORK. " The general correctness, brevity, clearness, and multitude of its principles applicable to practical agriculture, that first and best of arts, commend the work to the youth of our land, as well as to its older aud younger agriculturists.*'— Pro/. Chester Dewey, Principal Rochester Collegiate Institute. " This is an interesting and much needed volume, well ad to the wants and taste of that intelligent portion of the com- munity for whom it is more particularly adapted— making com- bined a complete system of agriculture, easily understood and readily defined." — N Y. Farmer and Mechanic. " It appears to be exceedingly well adapted for the purpose of instruction. It is concise and plain— neither too much nor too little."— Hon. Zadock Pratt. ERASTUS DARROW. Publisher and Bookseller, Corner Main aud St. Paul-streets. Rochester. 0t7= For sale by the Publisher; also, at the office of the Genesee Farmer, and by Booksellers generally. [1-1'J Genesee Seed Store and Ag. Warehouse— Irving Hall, opposite the Eagle Hotel. Buffalo st.— Having purchased the Agricultural and Seed department of Messrs. Nott, Elliott St Fitch, we intend going more extensively into all the branches of our business. We shall keep constantly for sale, all kinds of Imported and .American Field and Garden Seeds, and a large assortment of the most approved Implements and Machines used by the Gardener and Farmer. We .manufacture Pennock's Wheat Drill, (the most perfect and substantial Drill in u<<- ) the celebrated Massachusetts Eagle C Plow. Drags. Cultivators. &c, Stc. all of the most approved patterns and construction, and keep a full supply of all the Boston and Worcester Plows, Sub-soil, Delano, Burrall's Shell Wheel. Anthony's Patent Index. 8co., Sec Straw and Hay Cutters. — We keep all the approved patterns of Straw ('utters, and would especially invite particular attention to our assortment of RuggleB, Nourse Si and Mason's Patent, to which was awarded the 1st Premium at the late State Fair at Buffalo, and for which we are the sole agents in Rochester.— There are 14 sizes of this cutter, varying in price from $10 Corn Shelleis.—AXl the different sizes of Burrall's celebrated Sheller. Also. Clinton's and other approved patterns. Rochester. Jan. 1, 1849. RAP VLJE St BRIGGS. Mt. Hope Garden and Nurseries, Rochester,, IV. Y.— The proprietors of this Establishment solicit, the attention of Amateurs, Horticulturists. Nurserymen and dealers in trees, to their present large stock of well grown, thrifty and healthy FRUIT TREES — comprising the very best varieties of Apples, Pears. Peaches. Cherries, Plums,and all other fruits. Their stock of DwarJ Pairs. Apples \ < lurries, for garden culture, is the largest in the Union. The stock of Ornamental Trees and Shrubs is also very large. and can be furnished at low prices. Also, Hedge Plants, such as Buckthorn. Privet. Osage Orange, Norway Spruce. Hemlock, Keil Cedar, American Arbor Vitse, &c, Stc. All orders promptly attented to, in the best manner. Cata- logues forwarded to all post paid applicants. Jan. 1, 1848. ELLWANGER St BARRY. 32 THE GENESEE FARMER. Jan. CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. The Farmer to its Patrons and Friends, Our Country— its Area and Resources, Lime, Ashes and Gypsum. Agricultural Meteorology, Ruggles & Co.'s Hay. Straw and Corn-stalk Cutter. A Fable, and its Application, Memoir of Zadock Pratt, Root and Bush Puller Agricultural Associations Wire Fence — mode of making, expense, &c. Seeding with Clover ; Lucerne, Peat Muck, Lime and Ashes Collins' and Stone's Cheese Press, Plan of a Cheap Cottage Definition of Geological Terms, New Sausage or Mincing Machine, The American Locust in Virginia Side-hill Plowing ; Rotary Mould Board Plow '...'..' Poultry Keeping ; Westphalian plan of Smokins Ham's. ';"/.". . Wire- Worm ; One horse Carts ; How to kill Chickens.. The Crops of 1848 ; Ag. Schools in France, Editor's Table— Notices to Correspondents, and various Notes for the Month N. Y. State Ag. Society ; Monroe Co. Ag.' Society.'.'.'.".'.'.'.'. '. HORTICULTURAL. DEPARTMENT. Pomological Reform ; A Word about Gardening 25 Ornamental Flower Stands, " 25 Le Cure Pear, ! .' 26 Swan's Orange or Onondaga Pear on the Quince.. . . '. '. . .'.'" 26 Profits of Fruit Growing— Northern Spy Apple '..'.. 26 Transplanting Peach Trees '...'. .27 Description of 25 new varieties of Phloxes ".'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. 27 Practical Hints to Amateurs : Grape Culture in Missouri '." 28 Culture of Half-Hardy Trees and Shrubs .'..'. 29 American Almonds ; Liquid Manure for Grape Vines'. . . .' .' .' .' 29 ladies' department. Botany— Organs and Structure of Flowers 30 Sweetening Butter; To purify Honey; Cleaning Silk.!!.'.'.'.' 30 ILLUSTRATIONS. Portrait of Hon. Z. Pratt, (steel plate,) Perspective view of Cottage, 20 First floor of Cottage.. . ... 20 Second '• •■ 20 Straw Cutter, 12 Root and Bush Puller. 16 Cheese Press, 19 New Sausage Cutter, 22 Geological. 1. Mass of Rock 21 2. Cleavage Planes 21 3. Horizontal Strata, 21 4. Dip and Outcrop, 21 5. Dyke, 21 Horticultural. Ornamental Flower Stands, 25 Le Cure Pear 26 Phlox Van Houttii 27 Botanical. 1. Wheel-form Flower, ... 30 2 Bell-form Flower 30 3. Oorrola, and Petals, 30 4. The Calyx, 30 5. Stamens, 30 6. Ovary, 30 Market Prices of Agricultural Products. N*cw Yorls, Dec. 26. Fix uR-Extra brands, $6.12a6,25 ; pure $5,6'2^a5.87 ; common and good, $5,37>£a5.50. Meal, $2.87«2.94. Rye fleur, $3,06a GRAiN.-Genesee wheat, $1,25 ; good western held at $1.10. t orn. old Southern at 56a59 ; new northern 60a61 ; old mixed 64. Oats, 33a36. Provisions.— Pork market steady, and old held at $10,75al3 ; new sold to arrive in January at $11«14. Beef dull at $5 65o7 and$9,(5all. Lard quiet at 7 '.i^c. Fair business in Butter and Cheese— the latter at 6>£a7c. Rochester, Dec. 27 Flour nominally $5. Wheat, $1,06. Corn, 50c. Rye 00c Barley 50. Oats 26. Provisions.— Pork in hog $5 per hundred; mess, $13«14 per barrel. Beef $3.50 same rate. 0= All subscriptions to commence with the year, and the entire volume supplied to all .subscribers. Advertisements.— A limited number of :diort and appro- priate advertisements will bo given in the Farmer, at the rate of $1,50 per square or folio (ten lines or 100 words) for the first insertion, and $1 for each subsequent publication — in advance. No deviation from these terms. IfFJ^jiMEo, Agriculture is the most Health}- and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. VOL. X. ROCHESTER, N. Y.— FEBRUARY, 1849. NO. 2. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. It gives us especial pleasure to notice the strong recommendation of Gov. Fish to the Legislature, to endow an Agricultural School. A whole generation has passed off the stage since Judge Bukl reported a bill in the session of 1822-3, to establish such an institution as is now for the first time commended by an Executive of the Empire State. How sure, but slow is the progress of public opinion ! Mental training and professional study are deemed by every body necessary to qualify a man to be an officer in the army, the captain of a ship, a clergyman, lawyer, surgeon, or any thing else of the least pretensions to science, but farming. The professional agriculturist is thought by many to need no particular knowledge of the origin, composition, and capabilities of the various soils which he cultivates. For him to study the chemical difference between granitic, syenitic, felspathic, slate, sandstone, and limestone rocks, by the weathering and disintegration of which all the minerals in his lands were derived, would be, in the opinion of some, as waste of time. Thousands of practical farmers know that wood ashes are excellent fertilizers, and contain considera- ble potash and other valuable minerals, but they would not permit their sons to attend an agricultural school provided with a good laboratory to extract from the parent rocks and soils every atom, whether potash, lime, soda, magnesia, iron, chlorine, sulphur, phos- phorus, flint, carbon, nitrogen, or the elements of water, taken up by a forest tree or a cultivated plant. They seem to cherish a kind of morbid, hydrophobia dread of an increase of knowledge on the part of the great agricultural interest of the country. Such men would not take an agricultural journal on any account; nor read a book on any rural topic, nor permit their children to study one, lest some new light should dis- turb their profound Rip Van Winkle sleep in after years. Fortunately, the absolute rule of this class of far- mers is drawing to a close. They have had their day, and it has been a long and gloomy one. A new era has dawned upon the world to bless the children who are to follow the plow in after life. Unlike their fathers, they will be taught to know what changes the plow, harrow, cultivator and hoe effect in tilled land. Every man sees that these imple- ments which have been in use so long without a why or a wherefore, neither add to, nor take away from the soil. What chemical changes in the elements and combinations of earth do the plow and the hoe bring about, so beneficial to the husbandman ? Who can say that no farmer applies too much, none too little labor, to give the most profitable return ? Who dare assert that he adapts each fertilizer to the par- ticular wants of every crop 1 and never fails to bow or plant the kind of vegetable with the elements of which his soil is most abundantly supplied 1 Who is certain that he makes the best practical use of the mold, manure, lime, potash, gypsum, bone dust, and other substances appointed by Providence to form every cultivated plant 1 Think of these things. Alas ! that so many should believe that they are too wise to learn any more about the natural laws which regulate the organization and growth of all crops and domestic animals. Such have not begun to study. Establish one good school, and the fact will soon be apparent, that at least half a dozen more should be added to the list. Indeed, we fear that there may be so many sections, each eager to get the institution located in its neighborhood, as to defeat the scheme altogether for the present. This will be the height of folly. Considering the efforts that were made in that behalf in 1843, 4 and 5 by the friends of the measure in Western New York, it would seem to have a pretty strong claim to the honor. But we care infinitely more for the advance- ment of the cause, than for the location of the school. We hope to live long enough to see honest manual labor and high intellectual culture fairly united ; just as God has united in the same person both hands to work and a mind to reason. Science needs but to be fairly understood to secure an enduring place in the popular heart. Encouragement — Thanks. — During the past month we have received abundant evidence of the high estimation in which this journal is held by all classes of citizens — farmers, mechanics, and mem- bers of the learned professions. Though its chief patronage is derived from agriculturist-, the Farmer receives a large portion of its support from, or through the influence of, men of other professions and occupations. Many clergymen, physicians, me- chanics and merchants in all sections of the Union, are actively engaged in extending its circulation. We would fain tender suitable acknowledgments to all who are laboring to promote the cause of im- provement in this manner. And we invite others to present the Farmer to the attention of their friends. 34 THE GENESEE FARMER. Fer. DEEP AND SHALLOW DRAINING. It is loss of time to discuss whether deep or shallow drains are best, till you know what kind of strata you are going to cut through. Both are good when the soil is adapted for them ; and nothing but experience and great practical know- ledge con tell what depth, what distance, and what direction they should bo cut in ; and not then, till he sees what form the land is in. and what kind of strata lies under. There can be no uniform system for draining. The process must be entirely governed by the nature of the strata and how it lies. In the length of my practice, which is upwards of forty years, I have drained almost all kinds of lands from 2 ft. and 2 ft. 6 in., to 3 ft. 6 in. and 4 feet. The different kinds of subsoil rule these, and what depth they lie, and whether they are porous above and retentive below, or retentive above and porous below. A man cannot tell which of these depths are best until he comes to execute the work. I have found them all to answer when the strata is adapted for them. Respecting the distance, that depends upon the form the land lies in, and what kind of strata lie under. I cannot find any- body that can give a reason why drains should be cut 5 feet deep in stiff clay, and the clay put on the bare pipe or tile again. In the course of my practice I have seen one of clay put upon the brushwood which was put upon the tile ; and which prevented the drain from having the desired effect. Every farmer that is a little acquainted with the spirit level, considers himself competent to the drainage of his land, without the assistance of a practical man ; and in cases applying solely to clay and surface water the object is gen- erally well effected ; but where the land is springy, the strata varies, and the water breaks out at different levels, the spirit level must be used with great care, and with the aid of a practical man. In these cases I consider parallel drain- ing of no use, as it would double the cost of the land, and not have the desired effect. But these tilings would require a practical man, and he must have the knowledge and use of the spirit level, or else he cannot make an estimate of what the draining of an acre of land will cost. In the course of my practice I made an estimate to the amount of £1,921 18s. u'd., and contracted for that sum before a drain was cut. VY henever I find it necessary to cut to any depth in clay, I always fill the drain up again with some kind of material that will admit of free access for the water to the tile, and spread the clay on the land. I have known a piece of land drained from three to four feet deep, and the clay put in again, and the land was none the better.— Cor. of Chester (England) Chrou'u ie. Coming from a practical man of large experience, vre regard the above brief remarks on deep and shal- low draining, and also on the impropriety of filling a ditch with compact, impervious clay, over a stone, tile, or brushwood drain, as exceedingly valuable. The writer says that he has had 40 years experience in draining lands, and made estimates and contracts in single jobs of £1,921 18s. 6d., equal to nearly $ 10,000 our currency. The practice of carting off the clay excavated in digging ditches, after it has undergone the mellowing and chemical influences of sunshine, frost, oxygen and carbonic acid, above ground one year, and spread- ing it as a fertilizer over the field, we have seen performed with great success at the South. It may be removed as fast as the clay is dug out in making the ditch ; and some planters have horse carts at hand for that purpose— each shovelfull of earth being thrown into a cart, rather than on the ground by the side of the excavation. Others use a scraper, and with it haul the clay thrown out back into any low places that may exist in the vicinity. Whether the soil and subsoil thrown out in digging a ditch be taken off immediately, or allowed to dry, freeze, and more or less decompose, before it is carried away to be used as a fertilizer, or to fill hollows and depressions, is, probably, not very important. It may not however be amiss to inform our young readers why such soils often partake of the character of marl, and are of far more value as a top-dressing than would be an equal quantity of dry upland surface and subsoil excavated in a similar manner. The elevated position and per- viousness of the latter, naturally favor the washing away of all their soluble salts of lime, potash, soda, magnesia, alumina, &c, and all decomposing, soluble mold, by the rains and snows that fall in the course of the year. Low grounds are less exposed in this way. On the contrary, the surface of the earth in such places is often saturated with water that has leached through the fertile soils of uplands, and dis- solved out of the same not a little of both the organic and inorganic food of plants. This water evapora- ting in natural basins, or on level surfaces, leaves its fertilizing lime and other elements behind. The cream of high rolling lands, and especially when cul- tivated, is constantly flowing, both in limpid springs and turbid surface streams, into the basins and over the flats of lower levels. The same causes which render the ocean and seas salt, and furnish an abund- ance of nourishment for the support of myriads of marine plants and animals, operate to enrich all low lands. Valuable as these generally are when well drained, they are usually worthless without it for agricultural purposes. Having intimated the impropriety of filling up ditches over wood, tile, and stone drains, with Com- pact clay, it follows that they should be covered with sand, gravel, or some earth through which water can easily percolate. It is proper to remark in this con- nection, that Englishmen of large experience are not agreed in regard to the propriety of using the clay dug from a ditch to fill the same over the conduit for carrying off water at its bottom. Maliy adopt this practice and say that it answers every desirable pur- pose. Others fill with small round stones, gravel, sand, or loose earths. To prevent the filling up and stoppage of the drain, no surface water with its mud and sediment should be permitted to flow into it. All water should filter through soil or sand before it enters the subterranean passage. This alone will prevent the necessity of taking up and opening the drain anew, and often. A drain well made will last for ages and need no repair — operating as a perennial spring. As one means of promoting the health of the human family and domestic animals, the drainage of swamps and all wet, low grounds, deserves far more attention in this country than it has yet received. Pea Bugs. — Various remedies have been suggested to get rid of the pea bug — such as scalding the seed, putting it in bottles hermetically sealed, &c. The first has its objections, and the second retards the growth and exit of the bug until after planting time, but does not in all cases destroy it unless more air is abstracted from the bottles than can well be done without apparatus. A certain way is to gather in one year your seed peas for two, put them in separate bottles, and leave the bottles for the second year corked up until you want the peas to plant. Peas lose none of their vitality by being kept, (they have been found to grow taken out of an Egyptian mummy,) and it is a question whether, like melon seed, they are not all the better for keeping. A. H., Meadville, Penn., 1848. Never allow the seeds of any weed to ripen on the ground. If this were always attended to, a garden or farm would soon be cleaner, and in time clean. 1840. T11H CEXKSKi; F.\KMi;|{. 35 ANALYSES OF FIVE VARIETIES OF CABBAGE. Mr. J. U. Salisbury, assistant in the Laboratory of Prof. Emmons oi' Albany, has made a valuable contribution to the farming and gardening interest of the United States, through the pages of the December number of the American Journal of Agriculture and Science, by publishing the results of ten analyses, five of the organic ami five of the inorganic elements of as many varieties of cabbage. This is a most nutritious vegetable : and we believe it can be grown with suffi- cient economy to aid in making butter, cheese, and wool, with a fair profit to the husbandman. Every tanner knows that cabbage needs rich land ; Mr. Salisbury has demonstrated the reason why. The varieties examined by him are the Drumhead, Savoy, Red cabbage, Cauliflower, and Turnep cab- bage. They all contain a good deal of water. 100 parts of the head of the common white or large Scotch Drumhead gave only 11.335 dry weight and 88.665 water. The Savoy, contains about 2 per cent, less of water, or 13.475 parts dry matter in 100 of the fresh head. The Cauliflower contains still less water, having 14.300 per cent, of dry substance. The Tur- nep-rooted cabbage has nearly as much water as the common turnep itself, giving 91.140 parts of the pure liquid in 100 of the plant. Estimated dry, the Drumhead contains 6.969 per cent, ash ; Savov 6.605 ; Red cabbage 7.695 ; Cau- lirlowei 10.629 ; Turnep cabbage 9.086. They all abound in phosphoric and sulphuric acids, combined wiJi soda, potash, magnesia, lime, and iron. They are quite an exhausting crop. Supposing an acre of choice land to yield, as it has done, 36 tons of the Drumhead variety, the crop would take from the soil in pounds, the following minerals: Silicic acid, 2.958 lbs. Sulphuric acid, . 56.134 " Phosphoric ncid, G3.784 " Phosphate of per oxide of iron, 5.916 " Lime 14.484 " Magnesia,.. 17.986 " Potash, 142.448 " Soda 1G1.772 " Chlorine, 3.978 " Total, 468.450 " Of these 468 lbs. 304 are pure soda and potash, and 120 lbs. phosphoric and sulphuric acids. Cabbage is found to contain a large amount of organized nitrogen or azote. Calculated dry, i. e. after the water is all evaporated, Drumhead gives 17.899 parts in 100 ; Savoy 20.281 ; Cauliflower 20.763; Red 16.212; Turnep-rooted 19.052. Dry lean beef and dry blood contain within a fraction of 15 parts in 100 of nitrogen. Skin has 18.72 per cent.: wool, hair and horn a little less than IB per cent. From the above statement it will be seen that the plant under consideration is remarkably rich in nitro- gen, phosphorus and sulphur ; and when cabbage decays or rots, it smells not unlike decomposing meat or eggs. A cow can elaborate a good deal of cheese, and a turkey organize eggs, by eating cabbage. — That healthy children can be raised in a good degree oil this food, other countries beside Holland and Bel- gium can bear witness. A vegetable so abounding in the elements of bone, skin, brain, and all flesh, demands a soil pretty thor- oughly saturated with (ihhnal manure. The* liquid excretions of animals, common salt to yield soda, wood ashes to furnish potash, bones to supply phos- phoric acid, and gypsum to add sulphur and lime, Will -.ill (-nnie in play. With rich well-plowed land, industrious beys can raise and house, or bury in the lot, a good many dollars worth of cabbage, and not greatly interfere with their other duties. Si e the seed is sown early, and every thing attended to in season. Perhaps the large pcr centagc of water in this crop will deter some from trying to grow 36 tons on an acre. It should not. There are 75 lbs. of water in 100 of fresh lean beef. Near cities where night soil can be had, cabbage seed mighl be drilled like turneps in fields, and cultivated partly with a small plow, or some other implement drawn by a horse. GOLDEN DREAMS. California Gold, its effects on business and black legs— Ad- vance in land and digging Haters — Beggary of Mortgagees and Silk Stockings — Considerable of a Shower — All the tvorld mad and in straight jackets — The wise all rich, S,"\ What will be the result of the recent discovrey of the precious metals in our new acquisitions from Mexico, on the business, morals, and politics of our country ? If only a moiety of the reports arc true, and there can not be a rational doubt indulged on the subject, there is a revolution at hand in all of our preconceived notions, habits, and pecuniary relations, such as the world never experienced. If gold was as plenty as iron, it would be worth no more than iron, nor would a pound of it buy any more belly timber than a pound of iron. Real estate, farming lands, and labor, being the only real produ- cing agents, the primum mobile of wealth, must advance with giant strides : and all those who now live on the representative of the "almighty dollar"-- on the dividends, or interest of bonds, mortgi government stocks and others of fixed value, and all who subsist on salaries, annuities and pensions, will become beggars. The time is at hand when a bar- rel of flour will cost $20, a pound of meat and butter 50 cents, and other necessaries in proportion : a half eagle will not buy as much as a silver dollar will now ; the dividends and salaries that now support the wealthy in luxuries and extravagance, won't buy Johnny-cake and salt to support nature. If gold becomes extremely plenty, it must of neces- sity depreciate in value, or rather every article of production will advance in price, as it always did and ever will, at every great inflation of the currency. No man ever got five dollars very easily, but what he did, or was tempted to play the fool with it : what has been, will be, to the end of time. Land, machiney, and labor, will be the great levers that will move the world, and before one year passes, if the clouds of the golden shower continue to rise from the western horizon, there will begin an inquiry for real estate, and monied capitalists will resort to that investment as the only ark of safety for their funds ; so old square toes, hold on to your acres and bide your time — don't be fooled with the idea that " it is not going to be much of a shower." Now, is there any foundation for believing any of these predictions ? Let us see. The accounts that we receive is, that gold is found in various localities embracing 10 to 20,000 square miles of surface — say 10,000, that is 640,000 acres, which at 10 acres to a person, which is a mineral lot in the U. S. lead mines, would allow a lot to 64,000 persons. Each one procuring an ounce per day, which is a low rate, is considerably over a. million of dollars per day, and 36 THE GENESEE FARMER. equal to 300 millions a year, and lee-way for the rainy season and other casualties. The bullion of the -world does not probably exceed 1000 millions of dollars, and at the above rates it would be doubled in about three years ; to say nothing of the diamonds, platina, silver, lead, and quicksilver which are found in that region, in which case the result is inevitable, we shall all go mad under the new dog star. So be it. We are willing to trust our individual luck at catch- ing larks when the sky falls. The wise will grow rich and the fools poor ; but whether temperance, honesty, charitableness, morality, content, happiness, home made coats, and stogy boots, and hard hands, and honest hearts, will prevail in this happy land, under this state of things, is another affair — which this deponent at this time sayeth not. # NOTES FOR THE MONTH. BY 8. W. Prosperity of Farmers. — It is universally ad- mitted that the farmers of Western New York are by far the most prosperous moneyed class of our citizens at this time. What the Erie Canal has not done to produce this result, the Railroads have at length accomplished. Slaughtered hogs now bring 5£ cents the pound, and sheep $3 a head, to take east on the Railroad. Thanks to the drovers, beef is hardly to be had at any price : and poultry is not. Farms all alluvial (as our formations are,) are now in demand at improved prices. Our farmers — at least some of them — begin to learn that it is easy to have a new farm beneath an old one ; ditching and draining are two items now added to the routine of farm labor. If the more obtuse of our rural pop- ulation still resist modern improvements, they no longer scoff at them. Slow as farmers have been to embrace the late new theories and improved practice in farming, in this age of universal progress and astounding discoveries, they no longer hang back, but are up and doing. Top Dressing. — The London Farmer's Chronicle has along, interesting article on "top dressing fruit and garden grounds." If the advantages of top dressing are so manifold in the cool and humid climate of England, how much greater benefit may be derived from it during our hot dry season ? It is not generally known argong farmers, but such is the fact, that a newly planted tree may be often saved alive, by a top dressing of straw for several yards around the tree, when watering alone will have no power to save it : this covering keeps the soil both loose and moist. Subsequent top dressing with long manure, turning the same under and planting potatoes, will very much accelerate the growth of the trees ; the crop of potatoes being clear gain. One of the great advantages from not feeding meadows and pastures too closely, is the top dressing or shade of the surplus grass. The theory of the "fertilizing effect of shade," is no new theory. Some of our shrewd Cayuga County farmers have long since eschewed the practice of summer-fallow- ing for wheat. Fattening Beef and Pork. — Whenever I see a farmer peddling half fatted pork, I ask the age of the hogs. Strange as it may seem, such animals have generally starved through two or three winters ; and it requires no exercise of faith to believe the farmer's story, that it took fifty bushels of ears to get them started, or on the lift. The science of making the most pork with the least feeding, is to keep the hog growing from the start given him by his mother's milk. 'Twas but the other day that I saw a farmer who disports himself on 150 all arable alluvial acres, hawking about a few quarters of lean cow beef; am I in the wrong for saying that I instinctively felt as though all the fat of that animal had been lost, without one cent of corresponding gain to the farmer. I once knew a farmer who suffered his sheep to eat out one side of a stack of hay, when it fell over and crushed several sheep to death. This farmer averred with a smile that the surviving sheep were enough better for their extra feed to compensate him for the loss ! But the man who essays to fat a half starved animal from fall to Christmas, has not even the excuse of the sheep storv. BUTTER AND BUTTER MAKING, WITH NOTICES OF VARIOUS CHURNS, &c. BY HORACE L. EMERY. Butter making is becoming more generally under- stood as the farming public become convinced that it is governed by, and in fact depends upon, certain fixed principles, the knowledge of which enables the farmer to produce with certainty more and better butter, and that with uniform if not less expense. In the first place, the cows of a butter dairy should be selected with special reference to that purpose ; for every dairyman has learned by observation that the cow that gives the most milk is often worth little or nothing for making butter. This selection is greatly facilitated by means of the Lactometer. — (See figure.) It is simply a series of glass tubes open at the top and set per- pendicularly in a frame. These tubes are some 10 inches long, and graduated in inches and eighths from the bottom upward. In using it each tube is sup- plied with an equal quan- tity of milk from a sepa- rate cow, and all allowed to stand until the cream is risen ; then, by examining the tubes before a strong light, the comparative quality of each cow's milk is instantly known by the proportion of cream it con- tains— thus showing the dairyman at once which cow is most profitable for butter and which for milk. The next thing, in order to succeed, is to obtain the greatest possible quantity of cream from the milk. To this end it should be allowed to stand without being disturbed in a cool, ventilated place as long as it remains sweet, when it should be taken off and churned — the sooner the better. Many churn the new milk — others the cream and milk together, even after it has become sour. The objection to churning new milk is that a less quantity of butter is produced, and unless the sweet butter milk can be profitably used, a loss of butter, as well as of labor, is the con- sequence. The objection to churning milk and cream together is the unnecessary labor caused by it, and the objection to keeping it too long before churning, is, that it becomes more and more acrid until it will produce but indifferent butter, at best, and that will remain sweet but a short time even if it is so at first. This last fact may be accounted the principal cause of the great proportion of poor butter in the market. The next thing in order is to churn the cream in the most simple and direct manner. To this end it is necessary to know the structure of cream and in 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 37 what state the butter exists in it before the operation. Having carefully examined with a powerful micro- scope sued milk, cream, and butter, in the various stages of the operation, 1 have found the particles oi butter in the form of minute globules existing in each and every case without the least perceptible change. In milk the particles appear independent of each other, floating in the fluid. In cream they appear to have partially collected together, not being compact hut the interstices filled with the more Quid parts of the milk. In butter they appear closely compact, the fluid being entirely expelled. By vari- ous experiments it is ascertained that these particles unite more readily at some temperatures than others, producing at a proper temperature more butter and that of a better quality. If too warm, the adhesive power of the particles is in a measure destroyed and a portion only can be secured, while what is collected is soft and colorless. If too cold, the particles become hard and refuse to unite, though often brought in contact, the result is as before — only a part of the butter is secured and that hard and crumbling. The proper temperature for producing the most and best butter is from 58° to 60° Fahrenheit. The continued agitation of the cream or milk is the means commonly used to promote the separation of butter from the fluid. This is a simple process and is performed in various ways — in some countries bv placing the milk in leathern bottles upon the hacks of camels, where the motion of the animal agitates the milk. In this country the ordinary upright dash or barrel churn has been longest known, and produces, under equal circumstances, as much and as good butter as any other kind in use. The Cylinder Churn known as KendalFs Patent (see figure) is probably as extensively in use as other, if more so. principal vantages the dash churn are, that it pro- duces an equal and uniform action by means of a c rank, the |& any not Its ad- over Kendall's Cylinder Churn. most natural mode of applying manual power. The paddles are readily removed to take out the butter and it is easily cleaned. The Thermometer Churn is similar in its construction to Kendall's, except it has two metalic cylinders — one within the other, and the cream is tempered by introducing hot or cold water between them — the temperature being at all times indicated by a thermometer permanently set in the cylinder. The prin- cipal difficulty with this churn arises from the butter adhering to the inside of the metalic cylinder. Were it not for this objection, it would be the most com- plete churn in use. Another kind much in use and highly ap- proved is Gcmlt's Cylin- der Churn. (See fig.) Gault's Cylinder Chum. The principal difference between this and Kendall's is that it opens in the middle and never can he more than half full; this would make it i; B large and more ex- pensive article for the same dairy. Still another kind has been recently introduced, called the Atmospheric Churn. (See figure.) Its i is square and it has a perpendicu- lar hollow shaft in the center termina- al the bottom in two horizontal hol- low arms. By means of crank and gear this shaft is made to revolve rapidly in the direction of the arrows, (B15,) caus- ing the air within the horizontal tube (D) to be thrown Atmospheric Clan;,. Qut fay centrifugal force at the open ends. The fresh supply of air rushing in the upright shaft at c, c, c, c, to supply the arms D, thus causing a commotion by the combined action of the tubes, air, and square form of the churn. The inventors of the churn last named claim that, by the aid of the oxygen absorbed from the atmos- phere, butter is produced in less time and with less labor: but experience shows that the separation is caused by the agitation which forcibly brings the particles in contact where they unite and collect in large masses, if the temperature is favorable. In a public trial of the Atmospheric Churn under different temperatures, at the N. Y. State Agricultural So- ciety's Rooms in this city, in September last, it failed to produce butter at all at a temperature of 78° Fahr. After reducing the temperature by ice to 58° and dividing the cream equally between this and Kendall's Cylinder Churn, both were put in motion at the same time. At the end of seven minutes the Atmospheric Churn produced one pound of butter, and the temperature of the cream had risen to 68° Fahr. In ten minutes the Kendall's Churn had pro- duced one pound seven and one-half ounces of butter, and the cream had risen only to 62°. The extraor- dinary change in temperature in the atmospheric churn was caused by the absorption of heat from the air of the room, (it being quite a warm day,) which was constantly passing through the cream. Ken- dall's churn being almost entirely shut from the air, the cream was very little affected by it — thus proving conclusively that the presence and absorption of oxy- gen by the cream is not only unnecessary, but its introduction is often attended with much disadvan- tage. Could the air where the churn is used always be of the proper temperature, (which is impossible,) the atmospheric churn would undoubtedly become extensively used. It may" be remarked that, other circumstances being equal, the time occupied in churning makes no difference in the amount of butter produced : and consequently where done by do;r or water power, the ordinary dash churn can be used to as good advantage as any other. But when manual labor is applied it is important that the process should require as little time as possible, :i:d may be sooner and easier accomplished with either of the cylinder churns above described. Albany, A". V- January, 1849. Note. — For figure, &c, of Crowell's Thermome- ter Churn, see vol. ix, page 69, of this journal.— Ed. 38 THE GENESEE FARMER. Feb. "LABOR WELL APPLIED IS PRODUCTIVE OF PROFIT." BY AGRICOLA. Farmers should ever bear in mind that "well directed labor" will ensure its reward. Of all classes of men, there is none upon whom this truth needs to be enforced more than the farmer. How many -of our farmers are year after year toiling on, over- whelmed with their business on an immense estate, and at the close of the year the accounts are about balanced, and again the same toil and vexation must be renewed. If right directed effort had been put forth, no more land farmed than could be done to per- fection, what a saving of labor, what an increase of profit, what a reward in every point of view, would be received ! In traveling through the best farming districts of this State, we often find illustrations of this truth most striking. I have in my eye a farm of medium size, which, a few years since, was any thing but neat and in order, and which gave sad indications that labor had not been " well applied." But a change has come over •this scene. A new occupant takes possession, fixed in his principles — determined that he would carry out this great maxim, on which depends the prosper- ity and success of the farmer, that " What is worth doing, is worth doing well." Now how soon the farm begins to assume a new appearance. The fences are repaired, the land is drained where needed, the buildings are neatly repaired and arranged ; manures are obtained best suited to the soil and crops which are adapted to this region ; a new and improved stock of cattle, sheep and swine are secured, and in short every thing characteristic of the good farmer appears year after year, under the direction of him who knows how to apply labor. Instead of having, at the end .of the year, to resort to loans to make up deficiencies, this same farm yields a return that gladdens the heart of the farmer. As years roll on, each succeeding one finds a larger balance in favor of well directed labor ; and now, in addition to the ordinary append- ages of a farm, there is reared, out of the profits of this well regulated concern, a neat and tasty cottage, in the midst of shrubbery the most tasty and luxuri- ant— all the work of him who started with the deter- mination to do all things well. And this is not all, as the well regulated expense book is balanced ; a profit which would gladden even the hearts of some of our bankers on the capital invested, is found on hand, to be applied as may best conduce to the com- fort and welfare of an interesting family. There is no complaint of means to educate the children. They are brought up practically to appreciate the maxim that, " What is worth doing, is worth doing well," and their education prepares them to carry out in all the varied scenes of life this all important but too little practiced truth. Let me then urge upon the farmers who read this paper, — and I am glad to know they are many, and among the most intelligent in our land, — to put in practice, if they have not already done so, this simple but effectual method of farm labor, which brings with it the most abundant reward, and without which they will in vain struggle on, never securing the end of their toil. Order is Heaven's first law — and let it be yours in every thing relating to your farm. — Remember you belong to a noble profession, and one that is destined to exert a mighty influence on the destinies of a world. As one man, then, let the American Farmers adopt as their motto, ".111 things relating to my farm shall be well done'' — and no more should be undertaken than can be thus done — and soon he will be found to occupy that exalted position that will cause his influence to be felt the world over. Surely it can not be necessary to urge upon the enlightened, the intelligent, the hard working Amer- ican Farmer, further considerations in support of a principle that must, on a moment's reflection, commend itself to every right-minded, reflecting man. In the London Gardener's Chronicle I find the fol- lowing anecdote which the celebrated Robert Bake- well used frequently to relate — he whose name is familiar to almost every one for his extraordinary success in breeding cattle and sheep, and to whom probably Great Britain as well as this country owes as much as to any one individual, for that system of breeding which has secured the choice breeds of ani- mals which are now to be found. It is to our purpose as it gives the history of an old farmer, and one of olden times too, who was renewed by adopting the principle laid down as the heading of our article — " Labor well applied is productive of profit." Mr. Bakewell said : " A farmer who owned and occupied 1000 acres of land, had three daughters. When his eldest daughter married, he gave her one- quarter of his land for her portion, but no money ; and he found, by a little more speed and a little better management, the produce of his farm did not decrease. When his second daughter married, he gave her one- third of the remaining land for her portion, but no money. He then set to work, and began to grub up his furze and fern, and plowed up what he called his poor, dry, furze land, even where the furze covered, in some closes, nearly half the land. After giving half his land away to two of his daughters, to his great surprize he found that the produce increased ; he made more money, because his new broken up furze land brought excessive crops, and at the same time he farmed the whole of his land better, for he employed three times more laborers upon it ; he rose two hours sooner in the morning ; had no more dead fallows once in three years — instead of which he got two green crops in one year, and ate them upon the land. A garden never requires a dead fallow. But the great advantage was, that he had got the same money to manage 500 acres as he had to man- age 1000 acres ; therefore, he laid out double the money upon the land. " When his third and last daughter married, he gave her 250 acres, or half that remained, for her portion, and no money. He then found that he had the same money to farm one-quarter of the land as he had at first to farm the whole. He began to ask himself a few questions, and set his wits to work how he was to make as much of 250 as he had done of 1000 acres. He then paid off his bailiff", (who weighed 20 stone,) rose with the larks in the long days, and went to bed with the lambs; he got as much more work done for his money ; he made his servants, laborers, and horses move faster ; broke them from their snail's pace ; and found that the eye of the master quickened the pace of the servant. He saw the beginning and ending of every thing ; and to his servants and laborers, instead of saying, " Go and do it," he said to them, "Let us go, my boys, and do it." Between come and go he soon found a great differ- ence. He grubbed up the whole of his furze and his ferns, plowed the whole of his poor grass land up, and converted a great deal of corn into meat for the sake of the manure and preserved his black water (the essence of manure ;) cut his hedges down, which 1819. THE CJENHNKE FAIIMEK. 39 had not been plashed fol 40 or 50 years ; straightened his zig-zag fences ; cut bis water courses straight, and gained a great deal of land by doing so ; made drains and sluices, and irrigated all the lands be could : he grubbed up many of his hedges and borders covered with bushes, in some places from 10 to 14 yards in width — and threw 3 and more closes into one. He found out that instead of growing white-thorn hedges and haws to feed foreign birds in winter, he could grow food for man instead of birds. " After all this improvement, he grew more and made move of -it) acres than he did from 1000 ; at the same time he found out that half of England, at that time, was not cultivated, from the want of means to cultivate it with. 1 let him rams, and sold him Long Horned bulls,'' said Mr. Bakkwell, "and told him the real value of labor both indoors and out, and what ought to be done with a certain number of men, oxen and horses within a given time. I taught him to sow less and plow better ; that there were limits and measures to all things ; and that the husbandman ought to be stronger than the farmer. I told him how to make hot land colder and cold land hotter, light land stiffer and stiff land lighter. I soon caused him to shake off his old prejudices, and I grafted new ideas in their places. I told him not to breed inferior cattle, sheep, or horses, but the best of each kind, for the best consume no more than the worst. My friend became a new man in hi6 old age, and died rich." Is it not true that, " Labor well applied is produc- tive of profit V WIRE FENCE.-HOW TO MAKE, CHEAPNESS, &c. BY T. C. PETERS. The experiment of Mr. Adams with wire fence, as detailed in the last number, is worthy of notice. The fence was more costly than it need to have been, and upon the whole would not be the thing for a long line. I can not do better than to ask you to copy an arti- cle on the subject, in the January number of the American Agriculturist — premising, however, that I do not think it best to heat the wire, as I notice by an- article in a late number of the Prairie Farmer, that when the wire has been heated it is apt to get bent, and gets out of shape. Perhaps Mr. Adams' suggestion as to the alternate use of a larger and smaller strand is worthy of adoption. It would enhance the price but slightly. A further improve- ment might be made by training the Prairie Rose, or any other climbing rose, among the wires. " I am glad to see the attention of farmers turned to this subject, as I believe at no distant day wire fence must become the leading kind generally over the Union. It is true that there is a difficulty in fencing against hogs, but even that can be overcome without much trouble as is hereafter suggested. " I have never yet had any made, but intend to make a sample next spring. I have given the subject, however, a good deal of thought, and made inquiries and figures thereupon. From some small experiments I have made, there can be no doubt but my figures are mainly correct. I shall use No. 1 1 wire, cedar posts, as they are the most durable, and shall set them six rods npart, making the fence five strands high. The post being set, I should begin by boring an inch hole through each, at eighteen inches from the ground ; then another hole eight inches from that, the next ten inches, then twelve inches, then fourteen inches; making the fence five feet, two inches high. After the wive- have been drawn through and strained tight) drive plugs into the holes at each side to hold them in their place-. Between each post, and one rod apart, drive down a stake, saw into it opposite each wire, perhaps an inch, lay in the wire, and drive in a Bhingle nail to keep ;1 in its place. It would be less trouble to drive a small sp:ke into the post and wind the wire round it by one turn, vat her than to bore the holes: though the expense would even be more. "The wire ought to be prepared in the same man- ner that it is for bridges, boiled in linseed oil for a quarter of an hour, and then dried, and the same pro- cess repeated three times. This anneals and at the same time coats the wire, and saves painting it. If, however, there be but a small quantity to put up. it would be better to heat the wire, and afterwards paint it. Coal tar would also be an excellent substance for that purpose. Now for the expense: A strand of No. 11 wire, 80 rods Ion?, weighs 25 lbs. 80 rods of fence would weigh 12-3 lbs., at 7 bents, $10.75 14 red-cedar posts. tl~> cents each. 3.50 85 stakes, 1 cent each, 0.85 Preparing wire and painting, ! .00 Setting posts and stakes, 0.50 Putting up fence, including spikes, or boring posts,. 1.00 Contingences, 1.00 Outside cost for 80 rods of wire fence, ~ $17.60 This would be 22 cents per rod ; but the actual cost to the farmer would not be 20 cents. " On most farms, where there is plenty of timber for posts, it would not cost but about 16 cents per rod. But allowing for all contingencies, and that it costs 25 cents per rod, it is then by far the cheapest fence that can be built. u In order to fence against hogs, I would drive down short posts and put on boards about two feet, and put the wires above, but nearer together. I think that no hog that ought to go at large would ever get through. For all other kinds of stock, it would be impenetrable. A neighbor of mine, who is compelled to fence against a whole village of street cows, pat but two strands across a stream, where his fence was washed away, and it has proved a perfect protection. I have seen the cows walk up to it, but have never yet known one to attempt to get through, although the temptation between a fresh pasture and dry streets was very great, I have no doubt. T. C. P. Darien, J\\ Y., November. 1848. Towers' Hay Cutter. — This machine, like Ste- vens' and Hovey's, is constructed with a cylinder of knives cutting against a hide roller, with this differ- ence,— the knives are straight, but placed diagonally upon the cylinder, and confined by movable cast iron heads, which receive the ends of the the knives, and when these heads are confined, all is held firm. This is a comparatively late invention and prom- ises to work well. The manufacturers hold that this form of knife is best, as, being straight, it is more easily ground by farmers in general. Want of light to plants makes them pale, want of air makes them draw up long and slender; plants orrown in the dark would be quite white. 40 THE GENESEE FARMER. DRILL HUSBANDRY. The broad-cast system of sowing wheat, oats, barley, rye, and peas, generally prevails in this country. It is not practiced because it is the best, but has been handed down from father to son, like an heir-loorn, for many generations, and indeed is the only system of which the great mass of our farmers have any knowledge. The intelligence and enter- prise of American farmers have become proverbial throughout the entire civilized world, and it is natu- ral to infer that it is only necessary to point out an improved system of managing any branch of the ancient and noble profession of Agriculture, to at once enlist in its favor all those whose circumstances and means would admit of its profitable introduction. A portion of the agricultural press of this country have recently made favorable mention of drill hus- bandry, and in some instances the knowledge thus imparted has been seized upon and practiced in a manner highly creditable to the parties concerned. In various portions of the United States may be found very sensible and enterprising farmers who originally migrated from those countries of Europe where drill husbandry has been long successfully practiced ; but, strange to say, as if by common con- sent, it has almost invariably been the ease that this as well as many of the'other acknowledged improved systems of farm practice in general use in those countries, have been pronounced inapplicable to the agriculture of America. The system of passing wholesale opinions, and looking merely at the surface of things, does not answer a wise purpose at this enlightened period of the history of agriculture. — That drill husbandry can be profitably practiced in this country, has been thoroughly proved by the writer and scores of other American farmers, and when accompanied by horse hoeing, at least twenty per cent, may be added to the yield of those crops enumerated above. From a number of trials, some of which were made upon a pretty large scale, an additional average of five bushels of wheat per acre from drill husbandry alone, was produced ; and when horse hoed, a still further additional average of five bushels per acre was the result. So large an extra yield as this should certainly be a sufficient induce- ment to influence every thinking man to make some effort in becoming acquainted with this or any other system of agriculture adapted to produce so favorable a result. Some of the most prominent benefits to be gained by drill husbandry are, a saying of about one-fourth in seed ; the regular distribution of seed in rows to a uniform depth ; the free admission that is given to the air and rays of the sun, between the rows of the plants ; the excellent opportunity that it affords the farmer for the eradication of noxious weeds that may appear in the growing crops ; and for the use of the horse hoe in the early spring and summer months, by which a much larger growth of straw and yield of grain will be produced on most soils, and besides the ground will be thoroughly cleaned and improved in texture for the succeeding crops. The saving in the quantity of seed is not an object that should influence a change of system in the mode of farming in this country, so much as that of obtain- ing a greatly increased yield ; but nevertheless, when a large breadth of land is sown, a saving of one or two pecks of seed per acre is an item of some impor- tance. When the seed is sown in rows, the roots of the plants, especially of winter wheat, become inter- woven in each other and hence are not so likely to be thrown out and destroyed by the action of winter and spring frosts as if sown broad-cast, and besides the tops of the plants spread and cover the roots, which afford a natural protection to them during the most critical period in the growth of the wheat plant, in the northern sections of our country. If a portion of a field be sown with a drilling machine, and another portion be sown broad-cast, that which is drilled will not suffer • nearly as much by severe frosts as that sown broad-cast. After an extremely cold winter, or a cold backward sprint, wheat sown in the ordinary method will in most cases have a sickly and stunted appearance : whereas that sown with a proper drilling machine will scarcely be affected by the frost. There may be exceptions to this rule, but after many years experience with both systems it has been found the case in almost every instance where drill husbandry has been efficientlv tested. The regular width between the rows should not be less than nine nor more than twelve inches. Where drilling grain crops is practiced with a view of em- ploying horse hoes to clean the ground, the rows should be about eleven inches asunder ; a less distance than this would be advisable, if the crops are not intended to be hoed ; but if the rows be much less than a foot apart, it will be fouud difficult to efficient- ly work the land with hoes while the crops are in a rapidly growing state. Horse hoeing a crop of wheat or other grain, once or twice in the early part of summer, will promote a very strong and healthy growth of plants, and land that ordinarily produces only fifteen or twenty bushels per acre, will, under favorable circumstances, yield from thirty to thirty- five, and even as high as forty bushels per acre. — While this statement will be found to fully accord with the practice of most of those who adopt drill husbandry and horse hoeing, yet it must not be for- gotten that there are soils which do not possess a sufficient amount of the requisite elements or food for the wheat plants, to produce so large a product, and hence a much less average increased yield must be taken in the aggregate. A smart plow -boy with the aid of a horse, and a single drill horse hoe, will find no difficulty in clean- ing three acres per day, in the long days of the month of May or' June. Two such hoeings would not cost more then one dollar per acre, which is a very trifling expenditure, when the advantages re- sulting therefrom are carefully taken into account. By the use of the improved English self- expanding horse hoe, one man and a horse will clean in a more perfect manner than can be done by employing hand hoes, from eight to ten acres per day : but as these machines, being constructed entirely of wrought iron and steel, are very expensive, their use in this country is not likely to become very general. The increased quantity of straw produced by horse hoeing a crop of wheat, barley, peas, oats or rye in the manner described, may be safely calculated at an average of thirty per cent, on the amount that would be produced by the ordinary method of sowing those grains broadcast. The value of this straw in many parts of our country, especially, near large cities would be an object, and where it is not a marketable article, it will be found worth at least as much as the outlay in hoeing the crop, for the purposes of fodder and manure. The extra cleanliness of the ground ISIS). THE GENESEE FARMKK. 41 produced by the frequenl use of horse hoes among growing crops, is an advantage that must not be slightly passed over. The extra large yield of straw, the proportionably increased yield of grain, and the superior tilth or cleanliness imparted to the soil by the practice of drilling and horse hoeing the ordinary field crops grown in our country, am of such great magnitude that no intelligent cultivator should for a moment neglect to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the subject. Every one acquainted with the science and practice of agriculture must have observed the importance of thoroughly disintegrating or pulver- izing the soil, and who is there but must have observed the powerful influence that a single hoeing has upon the growth of a crop of garden or field vegetables ? No one would think of obtaining a full average of corn without previously pulverizing the ground for the crop, and also, would frequently employ the hand or horse hoe in keeping the ground clean, for the pur- pase of loosening it, so that the lateral and fibrous roots of the plants might have a perfect freedom in searching for the requisite supply of food to bring them forward to a full and healthy state of maturity. An equal benefit will be found in hoeing field crops, which work cannot be done unless the seed be sown in regular rows. There are various methods of sowing grain in drills, and the variety of machines used for that pur- pose in Europe have become so numerous that a clear description of them wrould scarcely be found interesting to the American farmer. The ingenuity of our mechanics has within the few past years been happily turned to the investigation of this branch of agricultural mechanics, which has resulted in the production of machines for drilling grain that are in many very important particulars superior to the best in use in Europe. These machines are cheap and simple, and before we bring our series on "Drill Husbandry''1 to a close, shall be described, so that their particular merits may be understood and ap- preciated. Although horse hoeing is not indispensable to drill husbandry, still, on the score of economy, it should rarely if ever be neglected, and hence in discussing the merits of the latter, we shall invariably press upon the attention of our readers the importance of the former. DESCRIPTION OF SNOW-FLAKES. BY L. WETHERELL. " Snow is the frozen moisture that descends from the atmosphere when the temperature of the air at the surface of the earth is near, or below, the freezing point." The size of the snow-flakes depends upon two causes: when the atmosphere abounds in vapor and the temperature is near 32° Fah., the flakes are large; and as the moisture diminishes and the cold increases, the snow becomes finer. In the former condition of the atmosphere it is not uncommon to see flakes that are an inch in diameter. The lower the temperature the less the diameter of the flakes. At 10° Fah. snow-flakes rarely exceed seven-hundredths of an inch in diameter. Snow has been known to fall with a temperture that caused the mercury to fall 12° and even to 20° below zero. But this is not common. The snow-flakes have a great diversity of form, which, as every accurate observer will testify, con- stitute beautiful and regular crystals; and it is the copious reflection of lighl caused by these, thai gives snow its brilliant u hit. The bulk of snow, just fallen, is ten or twelve times greater, (more or le . depending upon the temperature and moisture of the atmosphere,) thai, that of the water produced by melting it. Kv^^BBH \\Vj//^H HoB 53y ■ IS *<\ txSwswi • *? _-,r-r- ■■■ i % s Forms of Snow-Flakes. Isolated crystals unite under angles of 30, 60 and 120 degrees. These by their different modes of union form several hundred distinct varieties of snow- flakes. Scoresby, an arctic navigator of great celebrity has enumerated six hundred : and these are all comprised under five classes. According to Scoresby the starred figure, (fig. 4) in the diagram given above, is observed when the thermometer «s near the freezing point. The hexaedron, (fig. 2) is seen both in moderate and very low temperature. The diagram given above presents only eight of the ninety-six figures delineated by Scoresby. From it, however, the reader may be led to observe for him- self, the great variety of forms which Infinite Wisdom has given bodies of so small a bulk as snow-flakes. Red Snow and Green Snow have been known to fall in the Arctic regions. The cause of this is said, from examination, to be an infinite number of a certain class of microscopic plants which flourish at a very low temperature. But with regard to the worms .which are reported to have fallen in this vicinity with the snow last December, I say as a dis- tinguished naturalist of the age said to some one who told him that he had seen a shower of animals with his own eyes : " It is fortunate,*' said he, " that you have seen it, for now I believe it : had I seen it myself, I should not have believed it." The uses of snow are too well known to the intel- ligent farmer to more than need naming. It has been properly styled, "the poor man's manure." It forms a warm covering for the soil, and thus defends vegetation from the severity of the winter. It also diminishes the intensity of the darkness during the long winter nights, and furnishes a favorable oppor- tunity for the farmer to replenish his wood-pile, to move his fencing materials, and to carry his surplus produce to market. 42 THE GENESEE FARMER. Feb. REVIEW OF THE. JANUARY NO. OF THE FARMER. Mr, Moore : — I have been looking over your Jan- uary number, and am much pleased with its appear- ance, both as to matter and manner. I admire that so few among your 20,000 subscribers become con- tributors to its pages. There is probably no one single individual among them but what knows some one fact that accident, experience or reason has taught him, that would be interesting and valuable to perhaps nine-tenths of your readers. I can hardly conceive of a person who has the good taste to take and read your paper, but what has the ability to com- municate his experience through its pages. In my voyage of life I have never yet found that sober per- son that I could not dig something out of that was worth knowing. All useful facts, communicated in howsoever homely style, with your correction of grammatical construction and orthography, are of paramount importance. I am convinced that it is impossible for an editor — a single mind, to be able to amuse and instruct his readers, for years and years together, unassisted : his pond of thought, ideas and facts, will eventually run out — to use a homely phrase, his barrel will run emptyings; therefore, those interested in multiplying facts, and sendino- forth the knowledge and experience of years, in the different operations and effects of the great science of agriculture, ought to lend a hand. You, reader — yes, you — as Nathan said to David, " Thou art the man," who can thus render some important benefit to your fellow laborer in the great battle of life ; which, like the tears of the recording angel, may blot out some of your short comings, with the congratulation of saying, I have not lived in vain; a satisfaction that many, I fear, in this breathing world, who have heaped up the acres and the paltry dollars, will not arrive at and who will cease to be without being able to say, I have left one valuable fact or discovery for the benefit of mankind. Per- haps, Mr. Editor, I shall come broadly in that cata- gory ; but if so, it shan't be for lack of good will. There is a saying that Doctors never take their own medicines, and that they try it on a dog first ; but with your leave, I propose to take mine and to try it on you, by looking over your monthly numbers and telling you plainly what some folks think of your articles — mechanical execution, errors of the printer, &c, &,c, a kind of fire-side review, with the notions and views of one of the million. Messrs. Editors:— In your opening article for the January number, in speaking of the exhausting sys- tems of planting and farming, you seem to be growing very tender footed on the subject of the " peculiar institution" of our southern brethren, in that its effects are not deteriorating and fatal to the soil it cultivates. It has been said that the foot of the slave was rank poison to the soil. This is not true, literally, and only co-relatively as a result. The system is fatal to the continuance and permanence of the soil's pro- ductibility. The cotton, rice, and sugar crops, can not at the present rates be made except by slave labor ; all of these crops impoverish the soil, as there is no return — no rotation of grass, or other grain crops to enrich it ; and in those warm climates, animals are not housed and fed to make manure, the land is soon exhausted, soon run down, and there is no remedy but a different system, different crops, and an intelligent population. The pecooliar institution must be abandoned, or new worlds discovered for its use. Artichokes.— The article recommending that what- ever is worth growing, is worth growing properly, is a truism not to be controverted, and which is applied to Horse-Radish and Artichokes, which I consider a nuisance and not worth growing at all. It would be a good operation to exchange them for Canada this- tles—any thing but Red Root ; and as to clearing them out yearly, it would take Father Miller's uni- versal conflagration to do it, and nothing short. Wire Fence.— -Mr. Adams' manner of trettin o -C . .. I 2 a U & W ° I Si • I ~ « -s? fags I tfJ 2 « ^ 2 i "> tu * i id 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 45 SHORT HORN OATTLE. We propose giving] in the present volume of the Fanner, portraits of animals of the various unproved breeds. It will be our aim to presenl figures which shall convey as correct an idea of the distinguishing points of each breed as possible, in order to instruct our young readers and others unacquainted with the subject. With this object in view, we present the accompanying portrait of a properly shaped Short Horn, with explanations of the particular points of the animal, which must prove highly interesting to young farmers. For this engraving we are indebted to Lewis F. Allen, Esq., author of the American Herd Book, in which work it originally appeared. In the introduc- tion to his work, (which contains a history of Eng- lish and American Short Horns,) Mr. Allen says: "It is a mooted question with many of our American breeders as to what extent short horns can be profitably substituted for our native breeds. In this, circumstances must measurably govern. So far as climate is concerned, they have flourished equally well in all the northern, middle and the upper southern states. That they will equally suc- ceed in the southern states, including Florida, Lou- isiana, and Texas, provided they be supplied with an abundance of their natural food, and sheltered from the extreme heats of the summer sun, is not yet a settled problem. Time will investigate this. A good, and a productive soil, yielding an abundance of pasturage in summer, with a fair quantity of winter forage, will content them. True short horns are moderate consumers, compared with their ca- pacity to yield both milk and flesh. There is an economical question connected with Short horns, which to the American breeder has great importance. If we are to become a beef and tallow, as well as a butter and cheese exporting country, as from the complexion of late events in Great Britain, it would appear, it is of the last importance that we produce a race of neat cattle wrhich will give a high quality of beef, and that in the greatest quantity, as well as those possessing large dairy properties. Now, no animal whatever, is more strongly developed in the choice beef and tallow-bearing points, than the short horn. To illustrate our position we present a cut of a properly shaped Short horn, with desig- nations of the particular points of the animal. This was drawn from hints by Mr. Rotch of Otsego county, New York, than whom few have a more accurate judgment in neat cattle." POULTRY FEEDING -HOPPERS. BY C. N. BEMENT. It is the practice with most farmers to feed their fowls grain, by strewing it on the ground from the hand. This is, however, considered by many as a slovenly and wasteful mode, and well calculated to invite rats and mice. From experience we have found it more economi- cal to keep grain constantly before them, where they can help themselves at all times ; and for that pur- pose constructed several kinds of feeding-hoppers, but have been constantly annoyed by the depredations of rats and mice. Soi.'e of the patriarchs, grey with age, would not only help themselves sump- tuously, but actually drive the fowls from their food. Now, to obviate this difficulty, and to render them rat -proof, we present a plan, a figure of which accompanies tins, which is so simple, that any man or boy who can handle a saw, a plane and a hammer, with a tew nails, could make one in a few hours that would cost little or nothing. Poultry Feeding - Hopper. First make a platform of boards, say three feet square, then make a square sixteen inches in diam- eter of strips of an inch and a quarter plank, and three inches wide ; nail this in the centre of the platform ; saw four strips one and a quarter inches square, for the posts, which should be about eighteen inches high ; nail strips of plank two inches wide to the posts at the top, to secure and steady them ; then take common sawed lath, or thin strips of board one and a half inches wide, and nail them to the top and bottom, up and down, leaving a space of two inches between each slat, which will enable the fowls to insert their heads to pick the grain. The roof may be formed four square like the figure, or may be made flat, or pitched on two sides, like the roof of a house, and should be detached, so that it can be moved when grain is to be put in. Now, to make it proof against rats and mice, it will be necessary to elevate it a few feet from the ground, and this can be done by suspending it with wires, or setting it on a post firmly set in the ground, as rep- resented in the figure. The wires being small and smooth, they could not pass down on them, and the platform projecting so far from the post, they would find it rather inconvenient to climb over the edge of the platform. The fowls will soon learn to leap upon the plat- form, and feed from the grain-box between the slats. From ten to twelve fowls can feed at the same time. This may be made self-feeding, by setting a funnel shaped box within, the small end reaching down to within half an inch of the bottom. The size or capacity may be varied according to the number of fowls kept. The foregoing is calculated for about one hundred fowls. — Amer. Jour, of Agriculture. Gutta Percha — What is it ? — This question is asked by thousands who have heard the name. It is a gum, similar to that of the caoutchouc or India rubber, but susceptible of more varied uses. It is thicker and heavier. Hose and gas pipes, boot and shoe soles, book bindings, canes, buckets, bags, cloaks, coats, and various other articles are made of it ; and, altogether, it may be considered the most valuable vegetable gum ever discovered. — Ex. See that all your domestic animals are properly attended to " about these days." 46 THE GENESEE FARMER. Feb, TO ASCERTAIN THE WEIGHT OF LIVE CATTLE. This is of the utmost utility to all those who are not experienced judges by eye. By the following directions, the weight can be ascertained within a mere trifle : Take a string, put it round the breast, stand square, just behind the shoulder blade ; meas- ure on a foot rule the feet and inches the animal is in circumference ; this is called the girth ; then, with the string, measure from the bone. of the tail which plumbs the line with the hinder part of the buttock ; direct the line along the back to the fore part of the shoulder blade ; take the dimensions on the foot rule as before, which is the length ; and work the figures in the following manner ; Girth of the bullock, six feet four inches ; length, five feet three inches ; — which multiplied together, make 31 square super- ficial feet ; and that multiplied by 23 (the number of pounds allowed to each superficial foot of cattle meas- uring less than seven and more than five in girth,) make 713 pounds. Where the animal measures less than 9 and more than 7 in girth, 31 is the number of pounds to each superficial foot. Again, suppose a pig or any small beast should measure two feet in girth, and two along the back, which multiplied together, make 4 square feet ; that multiplied by 11, the number of pounds allowed each square foot of cattle measuring less than 3 feet in girth, makes 44 pounds. Again, suppose a calf, a sheep, fcc, should measure 4 feet 6 inches in girth, and 3 feet 9 inches in length, which multiplied together makes 15 1 square feet; that multiplied by 16, the number of pounds allowed to all cattle measuring less than five feet, and more than 3 in girth, makes 265 pounds. The dimensions of the girth and length of horned cattle, sheep, calves, or hogs may be as exactly taken this way as it is at all necessary for any computation or any valuation of stock, and will answer exactly to ' the four quarters, sinking the offal, and which every man who can get even a bit of chalk can easily per- form.— Chamber 's Information for the people. Patent Safety BiunLE. — Mr. Henry Seitz, of Marietta, Lancaster county, Pa., is the inventor of a very ingenious Bridle for which letters patent were recently granted, whereby it is impossible for a spir- ited horse to kick or run away, and perfectly safe for a lady to drive or ride. The principle on which it is constructed is to hold the horse by the application of a pully around which the reins are made to pass at the side of the horse's mouth, which enables the rider to exert a great deal of lever power to control the mouth of the animal, to check him at any moment. We consider this a very useful improvement, as with some horses, especially when they are young, the old curb when pulled makes them to rear and pitch, to the great danger of the rider. This bridle effectually remedies this evil. Shearing or Clipping Horses. — We have seen specimens of this recently in the city, that would quite astonish the uninitiated. A long-haired, shabby- looking beast, after being a few hours under the hands of the shears, comes out with a close, smooth, shining coat, quite to the taste of the admirers of horse flesh. There are some advantages' in this practice irrespective of the looks. The horse does not sweat so easily, and when once wet he dries more readily, and the tendency to colds is thereby materi- ally lessened. — Am. Agriculturist. REARING LAMBS. Like all other young stock, lambs ought to be kept steadily growing, without getting too fat. Where a healthy, strong, and young ewe has a good range of pasture, the lamb may acquire so much fat as seri- ously to interfere with its thrift, when taken away and put upon its winter's food. Experienced flock masters say they have frequently lost lambs from this cause, and that when an ewe has twins, and the milk is divided between the offspring, this loss never occurs. This is an important fact for the practical man. It is well to have the lambs accustomed to dry forage before they are put up for the winter. If good sweet hay, dry clover, or oats in the sheaf, or threshed, be thrown out to a few old sheep, surrounded by all the lambs, while the latter are in fine condition, brisk and lively, they will at once begin to nibble at the dry food, and soon will be entirely familiar with and enjoy it. If left, however, till weaned, and they have become pinched by the snows and frosts of approach- ing winter, and the scarcity and insipidity of autum- nal forage, their stomachs are in a weak or diseased condition, they have no appetite for their new dry food, they stay away from the racks, and daily become weaker and more indisposed, and soon have become too far reduced to recover, or if they survive, it is with a constitution permanently impaired. — Am. Ag. Unnatural and Injurious Over-Feeding or Animals. — At very many of the meetings and gath- erings of the president, vice president, and members of council, as well as at the yearly, general, and country meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society, and, in short, at most agricultural societies, you will find this subject discussed, and correct views on it most strongly and urgently recommended, and in- structions given to the judges are not to take into consideration the fatness of animals in awarding prizes to stock intended for the purpose of breeding. In the face of these instructions what is the gene- ral result 1 Why, that year after year, and meeting after meeting, the premiums are still given to a most unnatural and (to breeding stock,) very injurious fat- ness. Fat is sure and certain to carry away the palm whenever placed in competition against rational and fitly-fed animals of every class and description, and that are in a natural and much safer condition for breeding, both as regards themselves as well as their produce, but they are not made almost immovable — most unwieldly, by their joints and sinews being, as it were, rendered of no effect by useless and injurious fat. Bear in mind that I confine my observations wholly and solely to breeding stock, and if the judges would, in awarding the premiums, take into consider- ation the aptness and fitness of condition for breeding, combined with shape, make, and quality, and give these their proper and right, and all-important place (even to the discarding of over-fed breeding animals,) they would be doing greater, truer, and stricter jus- tice to the intentions and objects of the society, and confer a much greater benefit on those engaged in the breeding, not fattening (for they should be viewed and considered separately, ) of animals, than by encouraging, as the awards mostly do, the great and injurious evil of feeding breeding stock so over and preposterously fat. Never attempt to save seed from two sorts of Cabbage at the same time — they spoil each other. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 47 Spirit of tl)c rigriniltural JJvcsi Prophecy. — The Hon. Johs Lowell, in an address before the, Massachusetts Society for promoting Agriculture, in l!'.l!!. made the following remarks in reference to the connection of chemistry with agriculture. They evince the wisdom and sagacity of an able mind: — "There are few persons who hove read the lute1 able and interesting work on agricultural chemistry, by Sir Humphrey Davy, who do not perceive its intimate connection with this important art, or who do nol feel a prophetic com iction of its future use- fulness." Mr. Lowell went on to Bay, that though ho regarded tin- as a subject with which the practical farmer need not trouble himself, lest he should become "confused and bewildered,'" yet he thought there was "reasonable ground of hope, that men of leisure and seienec would he led to more aeeurate and philosophical views of agriculture, and that from their experiments their neighbors would derive grent ultimate advantage." — Cultivator. Agricultural Publications are among; the most useful printed, and it is quite important to- an improved .system of farming, that they be widely disseminated. They add vastly to the productive wealth, comfort, and happiness of the country, and tend greatly to enlighten the minds of those engaged in cultivating the soil. It is the duty, therefore, of all to exert themselves in their dissemination. ^No man can well do a greater good to his country. — Am. Ag. Vkhv TRUE INDEED. — Somebody says, when you see a man who curses when it rains, frets when a fog occurs, and smiles only when the sun shines, be sure that such a one can never bear up with fortitude against the attacks of misfortune, nor stand with equanimity the marvelous changes of our daily life. Poultry — Hen and Chickens. — A writer on this subject (and let no one say it is not an important one) in the Providence American, gives the results of his experience in eoonomizing the time with hens, and we think them worthy of being communicated to our readers. All who are familiar with rearing chickens, know that there are verjr few hens that will allow newly hatched chickens to be committed to their care, when their own are a few- days old. This the writer attributes to the fact that the hen has become acquainted with her own chickens, from color, marks, &c., and considers the new-comers in the light of intruders, which she too frequently punishes with death. To obviate this, he puts the first hen that hatches into a coop, and keeps her there with her chickens till another hen hatches, when he substitutes the second hen for the first, leaving the charge of the former ; and when another hen hatches, she is put in place of the second, with all three broods — if the aggregate number do not exceed thirty, which he says she will take care of affectionately and efficiently. Profits of Hens. — Dr. J. Barstow, of Chicago, kept an account of the expense and income of fifty hens, for one year. The cost of keeping on corn, was about twenty-five cents for each ben. The hens averaged ninety-one eggs each. One of the editors of the Prairie Farmer states that he has kept forty hens the past year ; that the cost was about tho same as given by Dr. Barstow ; but the fowls averaged only sixty-live eggs each. The fowls in both cases were confined to a yard, but one lot of them were allowed to have their liberty for a part of each day. They were fed with fresh meat occasionally. — Cultivator. The Tea Plant in the United States. — The planters and farmers of the Southern States will be gratified to learn that seven cases of black and green tea-plants, Chinese stock, have just arrived from London in the ship American Eagle, shipped by Dr. Junius Smith, during his late visit to that city. There are 500 plants, of from five to seven years' growth. All are designed by the Doctor as seed plants. A small quantity of tea-seed was brought out by him in the steamship Britannia, which was received in London overland from the northwest provinces of India. Wo understand the Doctor designs to proceed soon to the South, with a view of forming a plantation. More plants and seed are expected from India and China this season, and if we may judge from the progress already made, we have now the means in hand of extending lea plantations through- out such sections of our country as may be found adapted to their cultivation. — Journal of Commerce. A bright plowshare is the cheapest commodity ever used by a farmer. — Cobbett. Improved Road Scraper. — Messrs. <\ Schofield andG, J. Johns, of Albion, ftlinpif, have made a very useful im- provement on a Semper lor making ami repairing common roads, winch should In- adopted and employed by all our farmers in every township. It isespeciallj useful for new settlements. The improvement consist! in combining the scoop with a plow and having the scoop fixed to the standard by a swivel joint, so that by a catch lever connected with ii. the scoop can be emptied with the greatest ease without tumbling over the scoop, which has to be done with the scrapers at present in use. Improved Cider Mill. — At Madison. Ww Jersey, there is a cider mill which consumes about 1200 bushels of apples per day. The apples are not ground, or broken by squeez- ing between nuts as in the common cider mill, but they aro cut into very thin slices by sharp knives around two revolv- ing cylinders, and then pressed in a machine from which the juice comes out entirely free from the pulp and other things which are found in new cider at the old mills — the cider retaining its sweetness a longer time. The price of apples was perhaps never lower than this year. The farmers bring them by the wagon load 10 or 15 miles, and sell them at the mill for five cents a bushel. Improvements on Windmills. — Mr. Charles B. Hutchin- son, of Waterloo, Seneca Co., N. Y., has recently made some valuable improvements on windmills both for self-regulating and reefing the sails. A common governor is used for the regulating of the angle of the sails to the wind, but this is employed in a most judicious and novel manner, for retain- ing the ends of the booms in slot when necessary, at an angle reverse to the allowing of the sails to present the square of their surfaces to the blast. This mode of self-regulation has been completely successful in practice during the most fitful windy days of this autumn. Page's Portable Windmill. — This contrivance, con- structed upon entirely new principles, is capable of producing great power with light winds, with no danger of being blown away by those that are heavier, as the sails are so constructed as to set instantaneously, and throw off any surplus that may occur. It has also a vane so arranged as to counterbalance the power used below, always keeping the wheel square to the wind. It is capable of being applied as a locomotive power — the one on exhibition having been so used, placed upon a common buggy wagon. — lb. Page's Patent Portable Saw Mill. — This mill has been extensively used, and has fully recommended itself to the public. Mr. Page has made several important improve- ments upon it, and it is now very generally considered the very best mill extant for sawing lumber. Mr. Page (who is from Baltimore, Md.) has in his possession certificates from gentlemen of undoubted character, saying that with this machine they have cut 8,000 feet of inch boards in one day, with eight horses. He has moved his mill, after sawing 200 boards in the morning, thirteen miles in one day, and was sawing again before eleven o'clock the next morning, without any extra help other than in use at first — six horses and two men. — N. Y. Farmer and Mechanic. Big Sheep. — It is stated that some of the sheep exhibited at the last show of the Royal Agricultural Society, were estimated to weigh as follows : Leicesters, of 16 months old, 46 lbs. per quarter ; of the same breed, 3 years and 4 months old, 56 lbs. per quarter. Long-wools, (not Leicester,) 16 months old, 52 lbs. per quarter ; of the same breed, 3 years and 4 months old, 72 lbs. per quarter. South-Downs, 16 months old, 36 lbs. per quarter ; of the same breed, 3 years and 4 months old, 46 lbs. per quarter. — lb. The Atmospheric Churn Outdone ! — Tho following description of a mode of churning practiced in Mexico, we think goes a little ahead of tho "atmospheric" wonder: " Two tin cans are enclosed in a green cow-hide — the size to correspond to the quantity of milk. The hide, on drying, will shrink, and adhere to tho cans. These cans are partly filled with milk, and placed like saddle-bags on a hard- trotting horse ; a person then mounts the horse, and rides seven or eight miles into the city. The motion of the horse effects the separation of the butter from the milk, and the rider has only to pocket tho cash for his butter and butter- milk, and wend his way home at his leisure." Tools and Implements. — Let every description of tools and implements be examined, have those requiring it re- paired, and those not in use carefully put away under cover. Such attention saves both time and money. 48 THE GENESEE FARMER. Feb. (£totor's (liable. To Correspondents. — Communications have been re- ceived, since our last, from Agricola, T. C. Peters, S. W., Horace L. Emery, *, L. Wetherell, A. G. P., Oscar Warren, I. A. Clark, A. H.. D. Kingman, C. J. V., A Subscriber, H., S. C. Lee, R. H. Hoyt, M. D., S. Heston, C. H., A Young Farmer, N. VV. H., H. Eaton, Nathan Marble, Buck- eye, and A Friend to Ag. Improvement. Pamphlets, &c, have been received from many known and unknown friends. If we get time to examine them, we will " report progress" in cur next. We have been so con- stantly occupied, during the past month, with the business affairs of the Farmer, that we are also compelled to defer answers to many inquiries. Indeed, orders for the* paper, requiring immediate attention, have reached us in such abnndant and unexpected profusion, that we have not even found leisure to peruse the numerous complimentary notices of the Farmer which are being "thrust upon us" by our brethren of the Press. While we feel duly grateful for these favors, and strive to bear the "blushing honors" with becom- ing humility, we must ask the indulgence of those whose communications, inquiries. &c, are not inserted or responded to in this number, or by letter. The Agricultural Journals for January come to us teeming with the choicest emanations of thought and expe- rience-rernbracing abundant material from which wealth and happiness might be coined by the millions of American Far- mers. 'Would that these journals were better appreciated and more generally read by those most designed to be bene- fited in their publication. At present we can only notice some changes and improvements, and one or two new recruits. The Ohio Cultivator is changed from a quarto of 8 to an octavo of 16 pages— a decided improvement. R. L. Allen, Esq., author of " American Agriculture" and " Domestic Animals," (two of the best practical agricultural works ever published in this country,) has become associate editor of the American Agriculturist ; and the January num- ber of that always excellent publication gives evidence of the additional strength. The Valley Farmer is the title of a new monthly hailing from St. Louis. Mo. It is edited by H. Gates, (former editor of the Iowa Farmer, recently discontinued,) and E. Abbott. Published by Pickering, Penn & Co.— 20 pages quarto— at .$1 per annum.- — rWe regret to learn that the " American Journal of Agriculture and Science," published at Albany, N. Y,, has beeu discon- tinued for want of proper support. It was ably conducted by C. N. Bement, Esq. ; but the price, ($2 per annum.) prevented the work from obtaining such a circulation as it deserved. We trust the editor will meet with abundant success in other pursuits. Devon Stock in Michigan. — Among the published proceedings of the Kalamazoo Co. Ag. Fair, held at School- craft, in October last, we observe the following item, and copy it for the benefit of our western readers : "The executive committee were also much gratified at the exhibition of some full blood Devon Cattle by F. V. Smith, Esq. of Coldwater, Branch county, and would recom- mend them to the notice of breeders." We understand that Mr. Smith's Devons were bred by E. P. Beck, of Wyoming county, from stock obtained of Wm. Garbutt, Esq., of Wheatland. Our western friends will find them worthy of attention. Genesee Co. Ag. Society. — The Annual Meeting of this Society will be held at the American Hotel, in Batavia, on the second Tuesday, (13th) of February instant, at 10 o'clock, A. M. — for the election of officers and making out a premium list for 1849. A general attendance is particularly requested. Too Much by Half. — In a notice of this journal, the Prairie Farmer says our terms are $] per annum. "Nopthcr paper has the news." However we presume brother WlGHT considers it worth the amount mentioned — and he is not the first person, or editor, that has voted the Farmer "too cheap by half." He is not far wrong about its having "a large circulation" — though in proportion to the expense of publi- cation, it probably affords the least profit, per copy, of any periodical in the country. Immense Exportation of Chef.sk. — Last Friday one house in this city cleared at the Custom-House, for Europe, 16,319 boxes and 287 casks of cheese, weighing 983,445 lbs. and valued at $68,841. This is an immense shipment for one day, and by one establishment. — N. Y. Express. To Advertisers. — A large number of advertisements have been received for publication in the present number, which we could not insert. We shall issue an advertising cover next month, (on a separate sheet,) and will then en- deavor to accommodate all who desire to avail themselves of its advantages — providing our terms are complied with. Amqng the advertisements received, which we cannot pub- lish in full, we give below an abstract of the most important ones : — Ayreshire Cattle. — C. N. Bement, of Albany, will sell at public auction, at Three Hills Farm, 34 miles west of Albany, on the 14th of March next, his choice herd of Ayrshire Cattle — consisting of the imported Cow Alice, her daughter Fairy, [for which 1st premium was awarded at State Fair in 1847:] Lassie 3 years old ; Moggie, 2 years ; Norma, 1 year old ; and Jenny Deans 9 months old. Two year old bull and bull calf. Also several head of cows and heifers, a cross of Ayr- shires and Durhams. Two young boars and several breed- ing sows of the Medley breed. Sanford P. Chapman, of Clockville, Madison county, sends us an advertisement from which we extract as follows : — " Durham Bull Beuna Vista for sale. Bred by Mr. Vail; calved April 10, 1845 ; got by Meteor, f 104 Amer. Herd Book.,/ Dam got, by Chas. Henry Hall's Meteor, out of Queen I, ('page 219. ) He possesses a first rate pedigree, is an excellent bull in appearance, and a good and sure stock getter. He is orderly, not vicious, and easily managed. He was awarded the 1st premium at the Madison Co. Show in 1843. Having another young bull I should like to dispose of Beuna Vista, as I do not need both. Price $200." Jno. P. Jewett & Co., of Boston, send us an announce- ment of The American Fruit Book, by S. W. Cole, author of "American Veterinarian," — to be published about the 10th of this month. Price 50 cents. We have likewise receieved an advertisement of "A good book coming, " from a publisher in New York — but as he did not even pay postage, we do not think it worth while to give his name, or the title of the work, to our hundred thou- sand readers. The Hon. Lewis F. Allen's Address to the N. Y. State Agricultural Society on Wednesday evening, on resigning his place to his successor, received from the Assembly a marked compliment. A copy of the Address, on motion of Mr. Pardee, was requested for publication and distribution, in advance of the Society's volume of Transactions. This is a compliment as rare, as it was deservedly bestowed. — Albany Argus. Combustion. — Combustible bodies will not burn' if dipped in a solution of potash or phosphate of lime, or muriate, sul- phate, and phosphate of ammonia, with borax. The alkaline substances arrest the hydrogen, or prevent its combination with oxygen. Cloth made of Pine Apple Leaves. — At Singapore in the East Indies, there is quite a thrifty branch of business in preparing the fibres of Pine apple leaf for exportation to China, where they are manufactured into cloth. Fly in the Wheat. — The Howard District (Md.) Advo- cate of Saturday says " Our farmers are loudly complaining of the ravages by the fly in the wheat. In many parts of the District they say some of the fields look sear and yellow. But we think they are croaking a little too soon." Dog Power. — The Scientific American contains a notice of a dog power, consisting of a wheel 11 feet in diameter, inside of which the dog works like a squirrel in his cage. The gudgeons turn on friction rollers. This power is applied to a circular saw, a lathe, and several other operations, such as churning, pumping and washing. It is said to be much superior to the old one so long in use for churning. Two Crops of Raspberries the same Year.— Mr. William E. Lyman picked upwards of half a pint of rasp- berries from his garden in this city, the past week, being the second crop of this year's growth. The berries were of fine size and flavor. — Buffalo Commercial. Pork — Use of Charcoal. — The Richmond Whig has the following : " We alluded the other day to the very general loss of pork sustained by the people in every part of the State in eonwequence of the weather. We would suggest to such persons, as this paper may reach in time, that the free use of charcoal upon meat which has been tainted has suc- ceeded in many instances in restoring it." TnE next Fair of the N. Y. State Ag. Society, ir to be field at Syracuse, on the 11th, 12th and 13th of September. 1819. THE GENESEE PARMER. 49 HORTICULTURAL I ;EPARTMENT. EDITEP T'.Y p BARRY We are happy to hear from all parts of tlic Union the cultivation of fruits is attracting universal in. North and south] oust and west, almost . individual who owns a lot of ground is alive i n the subject, The emigrant who goes to* the far would rather go without money than without trees ; and it is a noble idea, for what hotter monu- ment could a man erect than the planting of a tree ? The question will naturally arise, how did such a sudden change come about ? The Horticultural pub- lications of the day will answer this question, and among them we will mention some of those which have been most active in the battle — "Downing's Fruit and Fruit Trees of America," "Hovey's Fruits of America," " Kenrick*s American Orchardist," ■• Thomas' Fruit Culturist ;" and among the monthly publications, "The Magazine of Horticulture," "The Horticulturist," the Albany and Boston Cultivators, and "Prairie Farmer." These publications have been and are continually passing through this vast coun- try, like mighty engines, "clearing the way" of superstition and ignorance, and scattering broad-cast the choicest fruits in every direction ; so that an indi- vidual who was but three or four years ago satisfied with a Choke Pear, a Sour Crab Jlpple, and a Fox Grape, will now have his Swan's Orange, Bartlett, Seckel, and White Doyenne Pears ; Early Joe, Melon, and Northern Spy Apples ; Black Hamburgh and Royal Muscadine Grapes, &,c, &c. In this great struggle for improvement the Gene- see Farmer has not been an " idle spectator." — Every important advancement of Horticulture has been timely and duly noticed in its pages ; and the choicest fruits have been figured and described^— par- ticularly our native varieties. In taking a retrospec- tive glance of our past labors, however, we feel ible that we have done but little. This is an age of improvement, and we shall endeavor to keep pace with its advancement. The horticultural exhibitions have also been instru- mental in bringing about this great changes ; and our Pomological Conventions, with leaders of the first talent and experience in the land, what may we not expect them to accomplish ? The interest manifested at the first general Pomological Convention ever held in this country, (in Buffalo,) gives us reason to hope that the spirit which moves the mass (somewhat similar to the great political excitement in times past,) will be exhibited at our future Conventions. Where and how could an intelligent individual spend a day or week more interestingly and profitably than among a choice collection of fruits, and a combination of talent only to be met with at such gatherings ? Another cause, and not the least, is the profit arising from the sale of fruits. The many articles which have appeared the past year in the public prints will be ample demonstration on this point, and there- fore we forbear further comments. It will be seen, in a communication from the Editor, that there is an unfailing market for good fruits in England. If poor apples sell readily for 3 and 6 cents each, what may we not expect of choice varieties, such as the North- ern Spy, Roxburry Russet, Esopus Spitzenburgh, Swaar, Pomme Gris, fcc, he1 EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE FARMER. -'■ ason in England — Flowers, Sec. — American '< in Europe — French Peart in London Market — Vi^eiabh ami /., ,;., Markets — Show of Smtthfield Club, embracing Fat Cattle, Field Roots, Implements, Sec., Sfc. — Gutta ■ !ui — Glass Mil/. Fans, fyc. London, Dec. 14, 1848. My Dear Sir: — As tin- Europa sails to-morrow from Liverpool, I thought I would Bend you a short gossip touching a few of the more interesting matters thai have caught my attention since I arrived in England. The winter, so far, has been remarkably mild. — The lawns are as bright and green as ours in the middle of May, and the gardens are yet gay with Roses, Chrysanthemums and Laurustinus, and other flowers. I am delighted, at every step I take, with the profusion of evergreens that fill up every little space throughout the cities. Laurels, Bays, Yews, Cypresses, Aucubas, Hollies, Junipers, Rhododen- drons, Ivys, &c, clothe every wall and door yard with a verdure as fresh and luxuriant as we could hope for in the month of June. This is some com- pensation for the muddy streets and rainy, murky weather that continually prevails. I have not seen the sun half a dozen times since I have been here, and then only glimmering through a fog. I eat breakfast at eight in the morning, by candle-light, and dine at four in the afternoon by candle-light ; we are hardly aware of its being day, till night returns again. It takes three or four days to accomplish the work of one. Large quantities of American apples have been brought into Liverpool recently, but the most of them have been of indifferent quality, and badly gathered and picked, and hence they do not command high prices, nor do us any credit, — nor can the shippers gain by the operation. There is an unfailing market here for our orchard products, but to make the ship- ment of them profitable, it is absolutely necessary that select varieties be sent, that they be carefully hand-picked and packed in the best manner. One barrel will then sell for as much as three or four ; and the frieght, which is the great item, will be no more on a barrel that will sell more readily for $5, than one that will bring only $2. Many of the apples I see here cried up as " nice American apples," "beautiful American apples," fcc, would scarcely sell at all in our market, yet they are sold here at 3 to 6 cents each. The English people have fairly given up growing apples for market, unless it be Codlins, he, that come in early for cooking, and Beaufins, he, lor drying. They see it will be impossible for them to compete with American orchardists. Yesterday I examined two or three hundred varieties in the fruit rooms of the London Horticultural Society, and among them all there was not a single large, clear colored fine looking specimen. One would suppose, at first sight, that they were all wind-falls gathered from under the trees" last August. The Roxburj Russet, Fall Pippin, and Rhode Island Greening, were among the best specimens, and they were not half the size we grow them. The most esteemed varieties pointed out to me by Mr. Thompson, such as Pearson's Plate, Warmsley Pippin, Pomme Royal, (not our Pomme Royal) Golden Harvey, Sturmrr Pippin, he, are small inferior lookiDg things, — in size from that of a small Pomme Gris 50 THE GENESEE FARMER. Feb. to that of a Siberian Crab, — but they are generally harder and richer than ours. The Newtown Pippin and Roxbury Russet come nearer the English taste than any other varieties we cultivate. I had some Northern Spy and Melon with me, that I have here now in London in fine condition. They have elicited the admiration of all who have seen them. There are indeed no such apples to-day in England. The Northern Spy may be sent to Covent Garden market, just as well as to Fulton or Washington markets, New York. The pears in the markets here now, are from France or the Island of Jersey. They come in half-bushel baskets, containing 50 to 100, according to the size of fruit. They are packed in very dry soft meadow hay — a layer of this hay two or three inches deep is laid on the bottom, then a layer of fruit, then another of hay, and so on to the top, — the fruits are not allowed to touch, and in this way they go any distance with entire safety. I saw at Liver- pool little baskets of Glout Morceau and Chaumontel, 50 in each, sold for $3 to $4 each to the confection- ers and market-women to retail. In Covent Garden Market, which is head-quarters for all rare and fine garden commodities, I see fine St. Germains, (the old one,) Marie Louise, Passe Colmar, Winter JVWts, Beurre Ranee, Easter Beurre, &c, sold at 12£ to 18| cents each. If we ever succeed in raising pears beyond what may be required for home consumption, they will find market and good prices here. Not one person in a thousand, I might say five thousand, ever tastes a fine pear. — There is also a fair supply of new potatoes from Holland, sold at about twenty-five cents per quart. There is plenty of Asparagus, Brussels Sprouts, Rhubarb, Mushrooms, and all other vegetable luxu- ries. The Flower Market is very rich. Boquets are made up very tastefully by women who buy the flowers from the Florists and make a business of preparing and selling the bouquets. You can have a nosegay for a penny — a single rose and a leaf. For a shilling (25 cents) you can have a pretty Bouquet of Roses, Primroses, Heliotropes, Asaleas, k.c. Go higher, and you get Camillias, Heaths, Epacris, h,c. — higher still, and you get Orange Flow- ers, Cape Jassimines, Cyclamens and Euphorbias ; and if you offer half a guinea ($2,50) you get a gem of beauty, combining all these, arranged with exqui- site taste. So much for fruits and flowers, and I find that I must close on that head. I found on my arrival in London that the Smith- field Club was holding its Annual Christmas Show of Fat Cattle. I embraced the opportunity to see it. The animals were all enormously fat, even to a down- right deformity, — in many cases huge, unwieldly masses of fat, not inappropriately termed by some, "animated oil-cake and beet-root machines." The fattening process in the case of these animals appears to be carried to an extreme ; no market requires it, and no profit can result from it, nor is any expected, I believe. The purposes of the Club are to induce experiments that will test the capacities of the various breeds for fattening, and the effects of different sorts of food and modes of feeding. It undoubtedly brings out results that will be highly useful to the breeders and feeders of animals. Those who are engaged in these exper- iments are able to carry them out to any extent, and the public at large have the benefit of them. No testrictions as to feed are imposed ; but the articles oJ food must be certified, as well as the age of the animals. The oxen and steers are divided into si-x classes, according to age, weight, &c; cows and heifers into three classes, according to age ; sheep into ten classes, according to breed and age ; pigs into four classes?., according to age. In the first class of oxen and steers, three premiums, amounting to £50 ($250) were awarded ; in the second the same : in the third $225, and so on. From this you will see how considerable, I ought to say how princely, the premiums are ; and so they ought to be, for most of the competitors are Princes, Dukes, Earls, and other nobles. His Royal Highness Prince Albert, the Queen's husband, is an active member of this Club, and is showing masterly skill in the breeding and feeding of various sorts of live stock. He carried off the first prize of £30 ($150) in the first class of oxen and steers, for a Hereford ox 4 years and six months old, fed on oil cake, roots, bean meal, hay, and green food. The animal was very attractive. When I saw him, three of the best artists were taking his portrait. He was a low, small animal, of a dull red color, with a >vhite face and chest. He belongs to what is called the white faced, or new Hereford breed. There were specimens of Short Horns, Dev- ons, Scotch, Welsh, &c, all the most perfect of their kind. The show of sheep and pigs was varied and highly interesting ; but I will not trouble you now with further details. There was also a fine show of field roots. I saw extraordinary globe beets of yellow and red — Skir- ving's improved Swedes, some of them weighing 26J pounds. Mr. Skjrving carries on the nursery and seed business extensively at Liverpool, and continues from year to year to improve this valuable root. Our seedsmen will do well to supply themselves with his pure and genuine seed. Messrs. Gibbs & Co., of London, have the Globe Beet seed alluded to. There was a large display of implements, such as Drill Machines, Manure and Seed Drop Drills, Iron Plows and Harrows, Hay, Straw, and Chaff Cutters, Root Slicers, Oil-cake and Seed Crushers, Pipe and Tile Making Machines, and, in fact, all sorts of imple- ments. Gutta Percha, that new and wonderful pro- duction, figured largely. An entire room was filled with articles manufactured from it. I noticed cart, carriage, and plow harnesses of all descriptions, water pipes, pails, riding whips, bowls, canes as pretty as rose-wood, and an endless variety of useful and fancy articles. Glass milk pans are coming into general use among the dairy people. A great variety was exhibited. I saw patent sack holders on wheels, answering for a holder and barrow at the same time. Our millers and grain dealers ought to have it, and indeed farmers. I have seen a multitude of things that I should like to tell you of ; but I have already drawn this out too long. You will not be anxious to hear from me again for some time. The newspapers will tell you how the curious, impossible people of France have dis- carded their Cavaignacs,Lamartincs, Marrasts, Ledru Rollins, and all their patriots that formed and pre- served their Republic, and have placed Louis Napo- leon, who has said something, but done nothing for them, almost by acclamation, in the Presidential chair. Yours, P. B. The exhaustion of moisture by a plant is in the ratio of the surface of its leaves and stalks presented to the sun and air. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 51 DESCRIPTION OF TWO FINE NEW NATIVE APPLES OF WESTERN NEW YORK Wk take pleasure in pre- senting QUI readers two new Apples of the highest excel- lence. We been acquain- ted with the Bailey Sweet fol two years, and do not hesitate in Baying that it is the finest looking and richest sweet apple of it- season. Mackik's Clyde Beauty possesses all the good qual- ities of a lirst rate Desert Apple. It comes in at a season when good apples are very scarce, and hence it is particularly valuable. Both of these apples com- bine beauty and good quality. Bailey Sweet — Pater- son Sweet. — This is a splen- did Sweet apple, received from E. A. McKay, of Na- ples, Ontario Co., who called it the Paterson Sweet, and ie said by him to have been introduced from the east by Peter Paterson, of York, Livingston Co. Since then we have been informed from good authority that it origi- nated with Calvin P. Bai- ley, Esq., of Perry, Wyoming Co., N. Y., and hence its name. Size very large, roundish oblong, slightly ribbed. Stalk about half an inch long, slender and in a deep cavity. Calyx closed and nearly covered with folds of the flesh that grows in around it irregu- larly, giving a peculiar appearance here. Skin smooth and fair, ground color pale yellow sometimes striped and mottled with bright red and stripes of Mackie's Clyde Beauty. Bailey Sweet. darker, and some specimens entirely covered, except at the stem and eye, with bright red and clouded with small gray specks. Flesh yellow, fine grained and tender, with a rich saccharine flavor unequalled in so large a fruit. In form, color, size, &c, this fruit is admirable, and distinct from any we know. November and December. We kept some specimens until April last year. Mackie's Clyde Beauty. — A beautiful seedling Apple, from Mathew Mackie, of Clyde, N. Y. It originated in a seedling orchard of his father. The tree has been in bearing 12 years, and is a fine grower and bearer, size large, 2 \ to 3 inches in diameter; form in- clining to conical, broadest at the base, and tapering to the crown; slightly ribbed. Skin smooth and glossy — ground color of a pale greenish yellow, crimson in the sun, striped and mottled with light red in the shade. Stalk quite short and slender, in a deep and broad cavity. Calyx moderately deep, closed in a lurowed basin. Flesh white, fine grained, juicy and ten- der, with a splendid sub-acid flavor. In use October, November and December. This apple is far bet- ter than the Autumn Strawberry and keeps later. Indeed, taking size, beauty and quality into the account, it must soon take its appropriate rank among the very best. 52 THE GENESEE FARMER. Feb. THE EUSTIS APPLE. BY H. EATON. Mr. Editor: — I see in the February number of the Farmer, (Vol. IX, p. 58,) a notice of several New England apples, one of which is the Eustis. You say you believe it originated on the farm of James Eustis, Esq., of Southboro, Mass., which is a mis- take, as it originated on the farm of Francis Smith of South Reading, one of our first settlers, and is known here by the name of Ben Apple. It is thus noticed in a poem delivered by the Hon. Lillet Eaton at a Bi-centennial Celebration of the town of Reading in 1844: " A son of Francis, Ben, by name, First raised that apple, known to fame, So juicy, rich, of flavor fine That still for him is called the ' Ben.' " It is one of the best apples that we have in New England ; a late fall or early winter apple, but I have a friend that says he keeps it until July. It has been introduced of late years into Essex and Middle- sex county nurseries quite extensively by a distin- guished fruit culturist, James Eustis, Esq., of this place — hence the name of Eustis. So. Reading, Mass. Jan., 1849. Preserving Buds and Grafts. — The mode sug- gested by T. G. Yeomans of Walworth, N. Y., of preserving the scions of fruit trees in moist saw-dust, has proved superior to any other. It is better than damp moss in the facility with which the scion may be perfectly embedded in it, leaving no interstices, and it excels most sand in being lighter, more spongy, and entirely free from a grit which may injure a knife. We have without any difficulty preserved scions, which were cut in the summer, for budding, till the following spring, and inserted them as grafts with entire success ; and we have kept winter-cut grafts till midsummer perfectly fresh, and employed them successfully in budding. A bushel of saw-dust will retain its moisture for many weeks nearly unaltered ; but water must not be applied too copiously, or water soaking and decay will be the result. The north side of a building, or a cellar, is the best place. — Farmer $* Mechanic. M. Masson, the head gardener at the Luxembourg, has lately grown a new root called the Ulucco, which can very well it is thought, replace the potato. It originally comes from Peru, and grows perfectly well in the open air ; the flavor is very nearly the same as that of the potato. In addition, the part above ground furnishes a very agreeable vegetable, something like the bean in flavor. Three crops of the green part can be obtained the same season. — Paris Paper. The Melon Apple. — Among the remarkably line fruits shown at the Pomological Convention in New York, some specimens of this new apple, described in our last volume, were greatly admired. They were from Rochester and Macedon, N. Y. Its beauty, as well as its unusual juicyness and freshness of flavor, will make it much sought after as a dessert fruit. — Horticulturist. At Cheshire, Mass., there is an apple tree meas- uring thirteen feet in circumference, which has borne from ninety to one hundred and ten bushels of apples in a season. iJrocccbmga of Agricultural Sorictks. N. Y. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. The Annual Meeting of this Society, held at the Assembly Chamber in Albany on the 17th and 18th of January, was well attended by delegates from various sections of the State. The proceedings were very interesting, and characterized throughout with much harmony and unanimity ; but we have only room to give a synopsis of the most important. The Society designated Syracuse as the location of its next Annual Fair — provided security be given to the satisfaction of the Executive Committee, that the local expenses of the Fair, (not exceeding $3,500) be discharged by the inhabitants of that city. Officers of the Society for the ensuing year were elected as follows : — President — John. A. King, of Queens. Vice Presidents — 1st district, Jas. Monroe of New York ; 2d, Saxton Smith, of Putnam; 3, E. P. Prentice, of Albany; 4, Le Roy Mowry, of Washington ; 5, Wm. Fuller, of On- ondaga; 6, David Maine, of Madison; 7, John Delafield, of Seneca; 8, Henry W. Rogers of Erie. Corresj>onding Secretary — B. P. Johnson, of Albany. Recording Secretary. — John McD. Mclntyre of Albany. Treasurer — Luther Tucker, of Albany. Executive Committee — 4 B. Burnett, of Onondaga ; P. N. Rust, of Onondaga ; Henry Wayne, of Oneida ; J. J. Viele, of Rensselaer ; Samuel Cheever, of Saratoga. PREMIUMS AWARDED. On Farms. — 1st premium to H. F. E. Foster, Lakelands, Seneca co., silver cup, value $50. (Hon. P. Crispel, jr.. of Ulster, having received the 2d premium last year, and being assigned the same position this year, the certificate of the Society and a set of transactions is awarded, pursuant to the rules of the Society.) 2d, E. C. Bliss, Westfield, Chautau- que co., $30; 3d, McCullock &, Kirtland, Cantonment farm, Greenbush, $20; 4th, John Carpenter, Wales, Erie county, Set Transactions. Experiments for three years, with successive crops, to test the value of manures. — W. D. Osborn, Port Byron, $20 Management of Fine Wooled Sheep. — Hon. D. S. Curtiss, Canaan, Col. co.. $50. J. S. Randal, Clay, Onon. co., statement recommended for publication. Farm Crops. — Winter Wheat, 2 acres. — 1st, Amos Mil- ler, Vernon, Oneida co., 44 bush, per acre, $20; 2d. Ira Apthorp, Riga, Monroe co.. 43 26-60 bush, per acre, $15; 3d, E. C. Bliss, Westfield, Chau. co., 43 bush per acre, $5. Indian Corn, 2 acres. — 1st, Hon. P. Crispel, Hurley, Ulster co., 90-5 bush, per acre, $20; 2d, Benj. Enos, De Ruyter, Madison co., 89-14 bush, per acre. $15; 3d. Levi F. Marshal, Vernon, Oneida co., 86-38 bush per acre, $5; Wm. Wright, Vernon, Oneida co., 114-36 bush per acre. (Mr. Wright had only one acre measured : as by the rules of the Society two were required, no premium could be awarded. From a statement furnished by Mr. Wright, it appears he had in the same field about ten acres, of which the yield was nearly equal to the acre measured.) Parley, 2 acres.— lst: Melos Adams, Martinsburgh, Lewis co., 62.J bush, per acre, $15; 2d, Elisha M. Bradley, Bast Bloomlield, Ontario co., 60-9 bush, per acre. $10; 3d, Benj. Enos, De Ruyter, Madison co., 54-25 bush, per acn Oats, 2 acres. — 1st, Elisha M. Bradley, East Bloomfield, Ontario en., S9£ bush, per acre, $15; 2d, Daniel Jenison, Galen, Wayne CO., 87£ bush, per acre, 10; 3d, Benj. Enos. De Ruyter, 86j bush, per acre. 5. Beans, 1 acre. — 1st, E. C. Bliss, Westlieid, Chautouque co., 33j bush, per acre, $10. Timothy Seed. — E. C. I'.liss, Westfield, Chautauque, $5. Flax.— E. C. Bliss. Westfield, 1 acre 24 rods, 18.J bushels seed, 431 lbs. lint, $5. Root Crops. — Potatoes for table use. — 1st, Samuel H. Church, Vernon, Oneida county, 269.J bush, per acre, $15; Wm. JVewcomb, Pittstown. Rensselaer co., experiments, 10. Mangle Wurtxel, £ acre. — 1st, John Row, Riga, Monroe co., 1489 bush, per acre, at 50 lbs. per bush., $S. Carrots, J acre. — 1st, Wm. Risley, Fredonia, at the rate of 1081 bush, at 50 lbs. per bush., $8. liiita Baga, 1 acre. — 1st, Joseph Hastings, Brunswick, Rensselaer co., I too bush., at ">o lbs. per busn., |10. liiini; Daxrizs.— 1st, John Holbert, Chemong, silver cup, value $50. I'.i iter. — 1st, John Holbert. Chemung, $15; 2d, Hon. II. C. Tuthill, Cayuga, 10. (The above butter, comprising 5 mils, wns sold readily to gentlemen in this city n t 25 • ts. per lb., and had many more been exhibited of like quality the same price would have bean paid.) I'kii i.— Si - Uine Winter Apple. — 1st. ("has. Lee, Pcnn Yan, Sfates co., Wegener Apple, $5 and diploma. An* analysis of Indian Com, tor which the Society had offered the sum of $300, was presented byJas. II. Salisbury, and the same lias been referred to a committee for examina- tion, nml their report will be announced as soon as received. Asa Fitch, M, I)., of Salem, Washington county, has fin- ished his survej of that county, for which the .sum of $200 was appropriated, and it will be received in time for the transactions to be submitted to the Legislature. Designs fob Farm Dwellings. — F. R. Elliot, of Cleve- land. Ohio, presented a design of a farm dwelling with description, plan, and elevation, which were examined and are entitled to special commendation, and, although no pre- mium was offered the present year, a diploma and silver medal is awarded. J. W. Ball, of Exeter, presented a description and plan of a farm house, which was very much approved, and a diploma is awarded. EXHIBITION OF FBUITS. From out of this State. — Montreal Horticultural Society, 20 choice varieties. Contributors, J. Frothingham, Esq., W. Lunn, Mrs. Mcintosh, G. Shepherd. Cleveland. Ohio, F. R. Elliott and Prof. J. B. Kirtland, 16 varieties; J. Gallup, 17.. J. C, Holmes. Esq., of Detroit, forwarded from A. C. Hubbard. Troy. Michigan, 15 varieties, and from Judge Hub- I ard, Plymouth, Michigan, 8 varieties. Michael Gander, of Canada West, by Master Cleveland Allen, of Black Rock, 10 varieties. The thanks of the Society were tendered to each of the contributors as well as to the Montreal Horticultural Society, and the Secretary was directed to forward to each the Diplo- ma of the Society. From oi/r own State. — J. H. Watts, Rochester, fine speci- mens of the Northern Spy, and a beautiful painting of this fine fruit, and through Mr. Watts, from the following con- tributors : Thomas Johnson, Brighton, 5 varieties; H. JR.. Brown, Greece, 7 ; H. Hooker, Brighton, 11 ; C. K. Adams, Ogden, 6 ; T. Rhoorback, Greece, 12 ; J. C. Campbell, Rochester, 6. C. Paulk, Honeoye Falls, Seedling Pear. John Delafield, Oakland, Newtown Pippins, and from Waterloo, through Mr. D., 24 varieties ; from Tyre, 11 ; Romulus, 3 ; Junius, 1 variety, the King Apple. Judge Miller, Rochester. 2 varieties Winter Pear. John Donallan, Greece, Monroe county, 7 varieties Apple. Joseph Cary, Albany, Isabella and Catawba Grapes, very- fine and as fresh as when picked. B. Hodge, jr., Buffalo Nursery, 5 varieties and Stannard Seedling Apple. Ellwanger & Barry, Mt. Hope Nurseries, fine specimens of Northern Spy and Melon Apples. W. R. Coppock, Buffalo, 4 varieties. B. P. Johnson presented, (from Cayuga co.,) 5 varieties. Justus Harwood, United Society of Shakers, Niskayuna, -1 varieties. Samuel Rose, same Society, Watervliet, 6 var. Herman Wendell, M. D., Albany, 4 varieties Winter Pear; 1 Apple, and 5 Painting Seedling Cherry. T. C. Peters, Darien, Genesee county, 14 varieties. Lewis F. Allen, Black Rock, 6 varieties apples. H. Snyder, Kinderhook, 8 varieties. Wilson, Thorburn & Teller, 13 var. Apple, 2 Pear. A. Marks, Greene county, 4 varieties. Dr. J. M. Ward, Albany, 7 var. from his farm in N. J. J. M. Lovett, Albany, splendid Bouquet of natural grasses. Fred. W. Lay, Greece, Monroe co.. by J. Alleyn, Roches- ter, 12 varieties Apple. W. D. Osborn, Port Byron, 2 var. James Wilson, Albany, splendid display of Camelia-Jap- onicas, &c, in full bloom. Prof. Emmons. Albany, beautiful specimen of Painting of Currants. Hon. F. Bellinger, Herkimer, Middle Apples. P. H. Warner, Columbia, Herkimer co., do. Sheldon Goodrich, Aurclius, Cayuga co., 8 varieties. __ A beautifully arranged box of Indian Corn, by Mrs. B. B. Kirtland, Greenbush. The thanks of the Society were tendered to the Contribu- tors, and a volume of Transactions to each. Cables' Department. BOTANY. -FRUIT AND SEED. Fig. 1. [Continued from page 30] The Fruit. — The ultimate object of the whole vegetable organization appears to be the production of fruit ; which is the agent through which the reproduction of the species is accompli bed. After the seed is perfected in annual plants, therj soon wither and die: the flower always precedes the fruit, and is necessary to its development and perfection. The fruit consists of two parts, viz; the pericarp and the seed, or the seed-covering and the seed : the pericarp is wanting in some plants, but the seed is essential in all. lu tin coniferous plants, as the pine spruce, &c., the seed is naked a ml destitute of the pericarp. The pkricarp is the part which envelops the seed, whatever be its substance or structure. Fig. 1. In the peach and plum, this is u ileshy, pulpy substance, — in the oak and Fig. 2. walnut, a dense hard shell: (fig. 2.) thus the structure and composi- tion of the pericarp va- ries in different plants, from a soft watery pulp to a dense shell. The process of the ripening of fruit consists of certain chemical changes produc- ed by the action of light, heat and air, and perhaps other agents. Peri- carps have received specific names, according to their form and structure : Fig. 3. that of the pea and bean is call- ed a pod, — that of the walnut &s butternut is called a nut, — that of the apple and pear, a pome, — that of the cur- rant and whortleberry, a berry, &c. — Fig. 3. This figure represent the pericarp, or seed capsule of the Oenothera. The Seed. — The seed contains the rudiments of a new plant, and is the final product of all the complicated and beautiful processes of vegetation. The essential parts of the seed are, the integuments, the albumen and the embryo. The integuments are composed of several distinct layers, which constitute the immediate coverings of the other parts. The albumen lies next to the integuments, constituting the principal bulk of some seeds ; it is a whitish substance com- posed mainly of starch, which, by the chemical changes which it undergoes during the process of germination, serves to nourish the embryo plant. The embryo comprises all the rudiments of the new plant: it consists of three parts, viz: the radicale the plumule, and the cotyledon. The radicale is the part which forms the root, — the plianule forms the ascending portion of the plant, — the cotyledon is the bulky part of seeds, and forms the first leaves of young plants, which in the garden i bean, cucumber, some of the late num- bers of the Farmer arithmetical questions for farmer's sons : and as some may have leisure during the long wintereve- nings to solve a few more, I send you the following. Some hard nuts for farmer's hoys to crack : — $5 Premium. — On the side of a mountain grew a lofty fir, which, being broken by the wind but not severed, the top [ C,] struck'below the foot of the tree [ 15.] 50 feet, and a right line [ B. E,] from the base of the tree to the body is 30 feet. What is the length of the pieces — the height of the tree [ I?, C,] being 150 feet ? $3 Premium. — In two right angled triangles A, B, E, and D, B, C, right angled at B, we have the side A, B, = 40, B, C, =50 and D, E, =30 ; required D, B, and B, E. 1849. Tl li: GENESEE FARMER. 55 |9 Premium, — If 7j oxen i at LJ acn a of i^mss in 9 wei h • . and 1'.' oxen eal I 2-5 acres in S weeks, li >w many oxen will eat 60 acres in 8 weeks 1 — tin- ^rass being at first equal on ever] acre and •.■ r.>\\ iim unifonnly. The iabove questions are found on tin' lTiith page of the •• Prussian Calculator," and the premiums for the beet solu- tions will be paid in luniks. The solutions can besenl to your office or to my address, "Lakeville, Livingston Co., N. V." Fours truly, Isaac A. Clark. Ac i rami 1 1- w 'In 8TI0S 3. — We wish those who furnish us with Questions for this department not only to make their questions perfect, hut to furnish us with the answers, as no question will be inserted unless the answer accompanies it. Hoys, if you would be respected, try to be what you would have others think you arc — if you would be happy yourselves, try to make others happy. «^ Books on Agriculture, &c. — The Publisher of the Fakmer keeps constantly on hand a large assortment of the most popular and valuable works pertaining to Agriculture. Horticul- ture, and Rural and Domestic Economy, which will be sold at the lowest cash prices. The names and prices of a portion of the books are annexed :— American Farmer's Encyclopedia. $3 50 in leather— cloth $3. American Shepherd, by Morrell. $1. American Agriculture, by Allen $1. American Poulterer's Companion, by Bement. $1. American Veterinarian, by Cole. 50 cents. Buist's Kitchen Gardener. 75 cents. Bud's Farmer's Companion. 75 cents. i haptal's Agricultural Chemistry. 50 cents. nd Meal. — Fair business in flour. Transactions reach 4000 at $5,50 a 5,65, for common to desirable. Not easy to get fair parcels below 6, 56— included were 500 bbls. New Orleans at $5.50— pure sold at $5.87a6. Meal $3 for Jersey. Rye Flour $3.25 a3.37>2. Grain.— Nothing doing in wheat, except small parcels Long Island at $1.08al,10. Corn in moderate demand— sales 15,000 bu. at 57a58 for N. O. and new white— 69 for old, and 64a6a for yellow. Oats 35a36. Provisions.— In Pork not much movement— Ohio is $12,50al3,50 —sales 400 bbls. state at $12.50al4 and 150 bbls city prime at $1.3,50. Beef steady, with sales 300 bbls. at $12,50«13 for mess. Lard 6%a7. Pickled meats quiet. Sales 20,000 pounds greese Lard at 5}£- Dressed Hogs $6a6%. Tallow— sales 20.000 lbs. at S?.-f, cash. Ashes dull— small sales at $6,75 for Pots. Pearls $7,87)a. Cotton— business to fair exte'nt at steady prices, with sales 1600 bales. Fair upland 1?ja7}£— Orleans 7%o8. Rochester, Jan. 23, 1849. Flour $5.50. Wheat $1,15. Corn44cts. Oats 25 a 28. Rye 53c. Barley 50c. Provisions. — Pork in hog $5.25— mess $13al4. Beef, cwt. $3.50a $4. Hams 7 cts. Butter 12ol5 cts. Cheese $a%\i eta. Seeds.— Clover $3,50a4. Timothy $1,25«2. Flax $1. Bound Volumes of the Farmer. THE NINTH VOLUME OF THE FARMER, for 1848, just oompleted, and for sale bound or in numbers, as preferred. It contains a larger amount of matter pertaining tu \gricult.ure and Horticulture than any similar work of the same price ever pub- lished— and is illustrated with over eighty engravings Price. 02% cents bound in boards and leather — or 50 cents in marble paper, with cloth backs. Also — complete sets of the Farmer from its commencement, (except the 2d volume.) substantially bound, which we will sell at 50 cents p«r volume. These volumes are not suitable for sending by mall— but we have copies of vols. 6. 7. and 8, bound in paper covers, which may be mailed. THE GENESEE FARMER, A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE, ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS OF Farm Buildings, Domestic Animals, Implements, Fruits, &c. The Tenth Volume of this Journal will commence on the 1st of January, 1849. In making this announcement to his Agents and the Farmers and Fruit Culturists of the country, and again asking their support in behalf of the work, the Publisher has the satisfaction of stating that the Genesee Farmer now has a circu- lation exceeding, by several thousand, that of any similar period- ical published in America. This fact, alone, furnishes abundant evidence of the real value and superior merit of the work — for no journal, however cheap, can become and continue so universally popular, unless actually worthy of the substantial support of an intelligent community. The Genesee Farmer is, beyond dispute, the cheapest Agricul- tural and Horticultural Paper in the Wo'.ld '. — and the, Proprietor is determined to make it the neatest and best. We confidently ask for it that support which it merits from the Farmers, Gard- eners and Fruit Culturists of the United States. Terms — Invariably in Advance — as follows: Single Copy, 50 Cents. Five Copies for $2, and any greater number at the same rate, if directed to individuals. If directed to one person, Eight Copies for $3, and any additional number at the same rate. The entire volume sent to all subscribers. (pj=- Post-Masters, Agents, and all friends of improvement, are respectfully solicited to obtain and forward subscriptions. Subscription money, if properly enclosed, may be sent (post- paid or free.) at the risk of the Publisher. Address to D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester, New York. Competitors for our Premiums. Below we give the names of the principal competitors for our January and April Premiums. The three first are entitled to the January premiums of $20, $10 and $6. The dames are given in regular order— commencing with the person sending the largest number. Those in parenthesis are equal, or tie : Silas H. Swetland, V. W. Sunderlin, E. C. Bliss, Apollos Kent, J. D. Stone, J. H. Stanley. Silsby & Keeler, O. Warren, B. Farr, (H. J Ray, E. F. Munson, W. Lyman,) H. Fr'isbie, W. L Booth, (E. S Marvin, D. P Chamberlain.) Moses Eames, S. Heston, (S. Lee, L. Strobridge, L. A. Miller, R. Clark, C. H. Carter,) (W. Churchill, A. Eaton John White.) W. Hadley, (Jo. Wykoff, C. L. Young, Luman Shepard, John Davis, R. Sears,] [Wm. Chamberlain D. M. Smith, H. Munson.] J. M. Trowbridge, E. W. Gerrish. Farmer Office, Rochester, Jan. 25, 1849. To Agents, Post-Masters and Subscribers. Agents. Post-masters and other friends of the Farmer will bear in mind that we offer Premiums amounting to OVER TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS (in Agricultural Books. Implements, See. at cash prices.) for subscribers obtained before the 20th of April next. We have not room to publish the list of Premiums in this number, but will send it. together with show bill, specimens, Stc., to all who wish to compete. We hope that all of our present patrons will renew their sub- scriptions, and get as many new subscribers as convenient. If each of our readers will take the matter in hand— and we earnest- ly invite all so disposed to obtain and forward subscriptions- much may be accomplished in every section of the country. Friends, will you show the Fabmer to your neighbors and acquaintances, and invite them to subscribe ? THE GENESEE FARMER, Published on the first of each month, at Rochester, N. Y., by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE & D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. P. BARRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. Fifty Cents a Year, In Advance. Five Copies for $2, and any larger number at the same rate, if directed to each subscriber. Eight Copies for $3,- if addressed to one person only — ond any larger number, directed in like manner, at the same rate. \£y All subscriptions to commence with the year, and the entire volume supplied to all subscribers. Advertisements. — A limited number of short and appro- priate advertisements will be given in the Farmer, at the rate of $1,50 per square or folio (ten lines or 100 words) for the first insertion, and $1 for each subsequent publication — in advance. No deviation from these terms. STEREOTYPE!) DY JEWETT, THOMAS AND CO., BUFFALO, N. Y. 61 ItlllWilFr BMHQfi Agriculture is the most Healthy and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. VOL. X. ROCHESTER, N. Y. — MARCH, 1849. NO. 3. .farm itjusbanforg MAKING AND PRESERVING MANURE. Few things are more stale than the popular talk about making and preserving manure. Every prac- tical man thinks that he understands the art to per- fection : and every babbler in chemical jargon believes that he has attained to the fifth story of rural science when he repeats in fair parrot imitation, the words of Johnston, Liebig, Boussingault and other standard authors. In all this, there is a lack of vigorous, independent reasoning, and of original research, which we can not commend. Let us arouse ourselves to the task of making a little investigation which is not the reproduction of other men's thoughts and language, but our own by legitimate paternity. Why is the carcass of a dead sheep which contains thirty pounds of dry matter, better for manure than a like weight of dry grass or other herbage, similar in kind to that consumed by the animal to form its flesh, bones, brain and nerves ? This is a plain and important question ; and one that every farmer's son who is twelve years old should be able to answer correctly, in a moment. Give us the true expla- nation of this phenomenon, and we will proceed a step farther in the same direction. The solution of the problem is this: The atoms in the carcass of a sheep which weigh but thirty pounds have been extracted during the growth of the animal, from a small beginning up to full maturity from at least 2,000 pounds of grass or other forage. No 300 pounds of dry hay contain the samje quantity of phosphate of lime, sulphur and organized nitrogen, which exists in the carcass named. But this fact would be of no importance, if it were not for another, which is almost universally overlooked in collecting and preserving fertilizers. To bring it out fairly, permit as to inquire: why a pound of bone-earth, (phosphate of lime,) or a pound of available sulphur, or one of nitrogen, is worth more as a manure than a like weight of carbon, pure lime, or oxygen ? In a pound of wheat or corn, there is ten times more carbon and oxygen than of phosphorus, nitro- gen or sulphur. Why then should the last named elementary bodies be so useful, and peculiarly valuable as food for corn and wheat plants ? There are two reasons for this. One is, the extreme scarcity of salts of phosphorus and sulphur, and of available nitrogen, in old, well drained fields, which have been often plowed. The other, and more noticeable reason is, the almost universal ignorance that prevails throughout the country in relation to elementary - in- stances in soils, without which not the first kernel of corn or wheat can grow. Every body knows that all kinds of matter in the earth will not do to make bread of; nor will every thing do to make into grass or potatoes. If 100 pounds of common sand, clay, iron or lime would form by any tillage an equal weight of human food, we could all live with little labor and without cultivated reason. A snake can live comfortably in a cage a whole year on a single meal. If our race could thus subsist, we should not be the industrious, inventive, moral and improving beings we now are. The time is coming when every child must be taught a knowledge of the things and laws which its Creator has appointed to transform simple minerals into good bread, by the harmonious union of science and physical labor. At present this knowledge is despised; these elements of bread are thrown away; and the natural productiveness of our parent earth is assailed by four or five millions of powerful semi- civilized men, who are eagerly running a race to see who shall coin into grain, tobacco, cotton and other crops, the most of the virgin soil, for exportation and loss to the country. More of the valuable elements of corn and cotton is wasted through ignorance in raising those great staples than is consumed in organizing the same. In this remark allusion is made to the dissolved vegetable and animal mold in soils, and their incombustible salts, which never enter into the composition of the plants in cultivation, but are lost, partly by evaporation, and partly by washing and leaching. When tillage decomposes mold and inorganic matter, if no vegetables are growing to imbibe tho volatile and soluble elements of crops, they are apt to be lost. We now return to the consideration of the art of making and preserving manure. Any element, or substance, which can aid in making a ripe and per- fect wheat plant, is a fertilizer. Fertilizers or manures exist in nature in two distinct conditions. The one is, in that of organized atoms, as we see them arranged in the tissues of vegetables — in their seeds and tubers — as in wheat and potatoes: and as we find them in lean meat, fat, brain, bones and membranes. The other condition is that, in which the elements of plants and animals are wholly disor- ganized, or mineralized. For illustration : a slice of 58 THE GENESEE FARMER. Ma bread, a potato and a beef-steak are fertilizers in an organized form. "Bum these completely, and the wa- ter, air and ashes into which they will be transformed by combustion, are to all intents, and for all purposes in nature, minerals. They will combine chemically with metals and earths, and exist for indefinite centu- ries as solid unchanging rocks. To make and pre- serve manure, implies the skillful collection and hus- banding of the elements of bread and meat, both in their mineral and in their organized state, as in the dung and urine of animals, in common vegetable mold, in salts of lime, potash, silica, soda, magnesia, iron and alumina. In order to collect and preserve the elements of hu- man food and clothing to the best advantage, the operator should have a clear idea of the natural pro- cess by which both plants and animals groic, come to maturity, die, and are dissolved into their original elements, preparatory for a new organization. In a study so wide as this, we can only serve as a guide- board to point the way. Know then this truth, that no animal from man down to the fish and worm, can subsist on disorganized matter, like the gases, vapor and ash of a loaf of bread, when entirely consumed by fire, or fully decomposed by fermentation and rot- ting. These elements of bread can only be re-or- ganized by a living plant under the influence of 3olar light, heat and electricity. From this it follows, that plants are older on our planet than animals ; and that if all vegetation were to cease for a few years, all ani- mals must inevitably perish. Plants may have flourished for ages on the globe before an insect or molusca was created : but as all animals mineralize their food, not completely, but in a degree, and can- not live on the carbonic acid which they all form, it follows that, without plants to decompound this car- bonic acid, and reorganize its constituent atoms, to serve again as food for animals, they would soon be- come extinct, from the lack of nutriment. The works of God are full of interest. They are unfolded in a peculiar manner before the vision of an intelligent, reasoning farmer. He cannot fail to no- tice the wonderful proclivity of all living things, whether vegetable or animal, to multiply in number, and gain, at the expense of the mineral kingdom, in the aggregate weight of organized matter on our giv- en area of land. It is the every day business of the husbandman to organize the most useful plants and animals out of the atoms which Providence has ap- pointed for that purpose. Has God made provision for the large increase of these through the instrumen- tality of that talking, reasoning biped, on any little sppt of the earth's surface, which by courtesy is called a farm ? If a larger weight of plants and of animals, can live on thy farm, kind reader, than it has at this time, think for a moment, and tell me where thou wilt get the food, the manure, to be organized into more grass, grain, roots, wool, mutton, milk and beef? These things have a market value. Providence fa- vors their increase in thy hands ; but thou, strange lump of contradictions, wilt not extract pure gold from the subsoil and the atmosphere. Thou art re- gardless of its loss from the vault of the privy, the pig-stye — the barn yard in winter and the cow yard in summer. Thy heart lusteth for more land, when thou hast so much already, that no acre of it yields two-thirds of its maximum. Thou hast not duly test- ed the advantages of soiling cows, nor the benefit of deep tilth, of close planting and seeding. Spires of grass stand too far apart on thy pastures and on thy meadows. Some of these fields can be improved by turning little rivulets over them for irrigation. Oth- ers need draining, and a coat of caustic lime to sweet- en the sour muck and neutralize the mineral acids. Manure derived from cat-tails and bull-rushes is worth something ; but that which clover and peas draw from the earth is worth five times more, pound for pound. One hundred pounds of rye harrowed into the earth in a cornfield at the maturity of the crop, has organized more than a ton of fertilizers by April, to be plowed in, and feed a summer crop. For ewes with lamb, or while nursing their offspiring, a mode- rate allowance of green rye early in the spring, is capital. Have valuable plants always growing the year round, so far as you can, on every rod of land, to feed domestic animals, unless it is thought best to sell the crops. To make the most out of vegetable vitality, it must ever be kept at work accumulating manure, which should all be saved somewhere. A pea can work wonders in the way of storing up fer- tilizers in an available form. A carrot seed has a gift in the same line ; but the little clover seed is a perfect gem. Small as it is, the growing plant can not live on air alone. It consumes a good deal of sulphur and often requires gypsum to supply it. Good farmers at the South make great use of forest leaves and leached ashes in their compost heaps. These leaves are generally rich in potash and other earthy salts as well as in organic matter. Suppose you raise sheep for their wool, meat and tallow and sell them when three years old. The ma- nure that can be made by a sheep in three years, with the aid of good plants to draw minerals from the sub- soil and gases from the atmosphere, will be about equal to the production of food for two sheep at the end of the term. Nothing is plainer than the fact that, organized matter consumed and voided by a sheep will greatly favor the growth of food for anoth- er animal. And, although about 60 per cent, of the matter eaten, escapes from the lungs in the form of carbonic acid and vapor, and through the pores of the skin by insensible perspiration, yet the other 40 per cent, voided by the bowels and kidneys, adds more to the soil in the way of mold than was probably con- sumed in making the plants fed to the sheep. The quantity of mold dissolved in organizing a crop, is very unequal. It is a point in rural affairs, which we have studied with some care. On another occa- sion we will attempt to elucidate the laws which gov- ern its consumption and increase, on both tilled and untilled land. Rural industry is very generally spread over too much surface, to be profitable in the highest degree. This occasions a great waste of travel in man and beast. It also leads to a bad system of husbandry by robbing remote fields of their fertilizing atom?, not a few of which cows and other domestic animals drop in the highway. A farm being a sort of chemical laboratory, it is miserable economy to have it ten times larger than one has any use for. Less land, and more money drawing 7 per cent, annual interest, which will double the principal in 10J years, would be an improvement in the circumstances of more than one reader of this journal. Dairy Cows. — The excellency of a da-iry cow is estimated by the quantity and quality of her milk. The grand desideratum is to discover a breed alike useful to the grazier, dairyman, and small farmer. 1S1!> THE GENESEE FAIIMEK. 59 BASTARD FALLOWS The system of making trammer fallows, by allow- ing land to lay a whole year in a naked and unpro- ductive state, for the purpose of preparing it for autumn wheat, is extensively practiced in all the wheat growing districts of the United States. The process of making naked fallows, when the loss of a whole year's rent of land — or interest on the value thereof — is taken into account, under the most favorable circumstances is expensive, and may be in most cases dispensed with, without in the most trifling degree detracting from the annual pro- ductiveness of the soil. If this proposition can be sustained in practice, by the entire mass of. the wheat growers of our country, then may the over populated portions of Europe have confidence in being able at all times to get a supply of bread stuffs from America. Naked fallows are expensive and useless, and that a much more profitable system of managing land for fall wheat can be adopted, are opinions which are gaining ground, and are believed by many of the most enlightened cultivators of this country. The great bulk of the farmers, however, have not given the subject much consideration, nor do they yet understand the best and cheapest method of keeping up the fertility of their soil, and at the same time, increasing its annual products without subjecting their land, in periods of four or five years, and in some instances much more frequently, to the old fashioned and extravagant practice of summer fal- lows. With a view of promoting the interests of agriculture, an attempt will be made by the writer, to minutely discuss the subject in all its bearings, during the succeeding six or eight numbers of the Farmer. The ordinary practice of making fallows cost at least eight dollars per acre; in this calculation is included the rent of land a twelve month, and the plowing and harrowing required to bring the land into a clean state of culture. The expense of manuring, draining, laying the ground into ridges, and seed, fee., would be the same in one case as the other, and therefore on the score of expenditure or economy need not be included in the calculation. In the term bastard fallows may be included the various modes of preparing land for fall wheat by which the loss of a whole summer or crop is not required to effect that object. It has already been shown that if land be summer fallowed, a direct charge of about eight dollars per acre must be put against the wheat crop, and as will be presently proved to the satisfaction of every reflective mind, without affording an equivalent return for such an extravagant outlay. The system proposed to be practiced will be based upon the soundest principles of economy, nor will it require a large capital to carry it out throughout the various ramifications of a well managed arable farm. One of the most im- portant features of the system is this : the green or other crop grown upon the land with a view of pre- paring it for fall wheat will be of such a description, and grown upon such a scale, that in most cases the proceeds thereof will pay the rent of land and the entire expense of managing both the summer and winter crops — thus leaving the latter clear profit to the cultivator. The average yield of wheat, extend- ing over a period of ten or fifteen years, on the best managed wheat farms in this country does not exceed thirty bushels per acre. Now, it is quite certain that even when this high average is obtained by superior cultivation and by the aid of naked fal- low s, quite as groat a yield of wheat may be had without summer fallowing the land as with it, and therefore, why. should such a practice be longer tole- rated by American farmers. The Chinese, who are noted for the superiority of their Agriculture, have not found it difficult to "keep up the fertility of their soil by annually growing heavy crops, without giving it any rest. In the best cultivated portions of Eng- land farms and even whole parishes are in great abundance in which the yield of wheat, extending over a long period of years has equalled forty bushels per acre, and during the whole course of cropping a naked fallow has not been made. Indeed, the en- lightened and scientific portion of the farmers of Great Britain have long since exploded the semi-bar- barous practice of making naked fallows, and there appears to be no valid reason, why a similar view of this important question should not be favorably received by the wheat growing farmers of America. To enlighten public opinion regarding the various systems of cultivation adapted to secure this object, and at the same time keeping in mind the climate, soil, the high price of labor, scarcity of capital to be employed in agriculture as compared with Great Britain and some portions of the continent of Europe, and other prominent features that have an influence to a greater or less degree upon the character of American Agriculture, are the real grounds that have induced the writer to take a bold stand in dis- cussing this somewhat intricate subject, which in many of its features will be found opposed to the practice of many of our very best farmers, with whom on many other points of husbandry we perfectly agree, and the contributions of whose pens we shall be pleased to receive, on this or other subjects. whether their opinions and practice correspond with ours or not. Without further prefatory remarks, we shall briefly at this time take up the subject in a tangible point of view, and in our next resume it in several of its practical bearings. INDIAN CORN. The maize plant may be profitably cultivated in nearly every portion of this great Republic. In the most northern sections, where it is grown as a prepara- tive crop for fall wheat, an early variety should be se- lected, and by liberally manuring the land, and clean culture, it may be pushed forward to full maturity by the first week in September, after which it should be cut up and drawn off, and the land plowed and pre- pared for fall wheat. By planting the hills of corn in rows about four feet apart both ways, and by pas- sing the steel tooth cultivator twice in each direction between those rows, the land will be in as good a condition for fall wheat as if it had been summer fal- lowed. Besides, the manure applied to the land for the corn crop will have passed through its various stages of fermentation, and the juices having been partially absorbed or extracted in giving strength and vigor to the maize plants, there need be but little ap- prehension on the score of having a fallen or rusted crop, as would probably have been the case had the manure been applied to the land whilst being summer fallowed. This influence however operates only on soils where there is a great depth of decayed vege- table matter on the surface, and where a strong and luxuriant growth of straw is produced without extraor- dinary means being used to secure that result. There are but few soils on which unfermented barn-yard manure can be applied immediately before the sowing of wheat, without doing more or less injury to hat crop On soils where this is not toe case, it will be found that human or vegetable mold forms a very small proportion of their ingredients, and doubtless on soils of this kind, crude and unfermented barnyard manure may be applied without producing the iore- xroine results. In those cases where vegetable de- posits form a small proportion of the active soil, un- fermented barn yard manure, buried in the soil to a depth of six or nine inches with the plow, will aid materially in bringing into action such inert proper- ties as will promote a vigorous growth of plants and vegetables. Manure thus applied has a powerful mechanical action on soils, and the beneficial or pre- judicial influence produced, may be attributed as much to this agency as to that of affording a direct supply of food for their sustenance. The mechanical action of manures on soils, of course greatly depend upon the quality and condition of the soils on which they are intended to act. I his fact should be duly considered in connection with the manuring of land for the wheat crop. The wheat plant is decidedly the most precarious to cultivate, ot the cereal plants, and hence a greater degree of judgment should be employed by those who engage extensively in its cultivation. In northern Europe, the heat of summer is less severe than in the same decree of latitude on this continent, and consequent- ly "a much longer period is given the wneat crop to mature and ripen, and hence the disease known among us by the appellation of rust, is scarcely known in the best wheat growing districts of Europe. It is well known by all wheat growers, that cool dry weather during the month of July, and up to the pe- riod of wheat harvest — or from the time that the wheat plants come into ear, until they arrive to full maturity — is most favorable for an abundant harvest of wheat. Such weather has just the opposite in- fluence with Indian Corn and most of the other cereal plants. The cause of this somewhat strange phe- nomenon, may be tolerably correctly reconciled by examining the peculiar habits and constitution ot the wheat plant. A minute enquiry into this matter, will probably be made in discussing another branch of this subject— and in the mean time the fact should be remembered, that the plants of wheat have strong roots, which strike to a great deph into the ground, and send forth an abundant supply of food through the sap vessels, which impart either a healtny or sicklv growth, just in ratio with its quality and adap- tation for this class of plants. Warm humid weather is the most favorable for a vigorous growth of plants, and vegetables— when weather of this kind prevails to a considerable extent, between the periods that the wheat crop cornea into ear and ripens, the consequence will be a strong growth of straw, and probably dis- ease The disease produced from the foregoing pe- culiar state of the atmosphere would be either mildew or rust. The latter, by far the most prevalent on this continent, is mainly engendered by too great a flow of juices or food through the sap vessels of the wheat plants. The outer covering of the straw being of very weak structure, when the sap vessels become overcharged with food, rupture and premature decay immediately follows. The state of the atmosphere and climate doubtless has much to do in effecting this work, but the soil also has a great influence, in pre- venting or promoting this disease. It is for this reason* that Indian Corn may be profitably grown as a preparative crop for either fall or spring wheat. The manure applied to the soil for the corn crop, will have undergone a thorough state of fermenta- tion during the process of cultivation, and as the maize plant requires a different quality of food to bring it forward to maturity than is required by the wheat plant, the latter will be more apt to be free from disease, if sown after a well cultivated crop of Indian Corn, than if the land had been summer fal- lowed purposely for that crop. A clover or timothy sod well plowed, and liberally manured, is the best possible state that the soil can be in for Indian Corn. If the hills be planted in rows four feet apart both ways, there will be no difficulty in cultivating this crop entirely with the horse cultivator, and shovel plow, By the free use of those implements the ground may be made as clean as if it had been sum- mer fallowed, and besides the profit of the corn crop will pay the whole expense incurred in the cultiva- tion and management of the wheat crop. An acre of Indian Corn managed in the manner proposed, will yield in an average of cases upwards of 40 bushels of marketable grain per acre. This at the lowest calculation is worth 50 cents per bush- el, as an article of export, which, in addition to the corn stalks for winter provender for horned cattle, would give a net profit of twelve dollars per acre. When it is intended to sow wheat after corn, the latter crop should in all cases be harvested and drawn off the ground, a short time before the crop is thor- oughly ripe, by which means more time will be giv- en to prepare the land for the wheat crop, and the fodder will also be much more valuable than if al- lowed to get dead ripe before being harvested. When the proper season arrives for the practical operations on the farm, suited for the cultivation of the maize plant, full directions will be given, for the proper per- formance of the business in all its details. In our next issue, the cultivation of the clover plant as a preparative crop for fall wheat will pro- bably receive attention at our hands. UNSEASONABLE WEATHER The past month (December) has been seven degrees warmer in Philadelphia and farther south, than any previous December in 57 years. This hiffh temperature, (now the 16th January, it is up to summer heat,) in Augusta, Ga., has caused a good deal of vegetable and animal matter to decompose in this warm climate, and induced Cholera and other bilious diseases. Very few duly appreciate how laro-e a portion of sickness in the United States springs directly or indirectly, from noxious gases diffused in the water drank, or the air inhaled into the lungs. Farmers are nowhere particular enough to collect all the volatile and soluble elements of plants and animal excretions, which are lost in rivu- lets and poison the atmosphere, and use them as manure, by fixing them in the surface soil. A dead sheep cut up and buried a small distance under loam or earth will not smell offensively, because the soil condenses and holds for a time at least the mephitic aases. In all cities there is a prodigious waste ot most concentrated and valuable fertilizers, which too often breed pestilence. Charcoal, leached ashes and gypsum mixed with night soil will do wonders on all crops. The winter is a good season to collect the raw material for abundant harvests. Study the defi- ciencies in the land, and remedy the same. 1849. THE GENESEE FAKMKR. to attend divine service on that day.' It w ould be a good subject for preaching in this coun- try, by men who can preach truth and duty without the stimulus of a premium from vested funds. Large Production. — Mr. Allen Dyer, residing in By- icrry. this county, gathered and thrashed this season, from five bushels sowed, ninety-three a/id a half bushels of wheat. exclusive of the gleanings. The wheat was of the variety known as the Genesee white wheat, recently introduced into this neighborhood by George 31. Ivins, and weighed sixty-six pounds to the bushel ! With such a result as here recorded, this must be a most valuable variety of wheat, and ought to be generally known to and used by our far- mers.— Germantoum Telegraplu Duty on American Wheat. — After the 1st of February, 1849, the fixed duty on wheat in England is to be one shil- ling per charter, or about three cents per bushel ; on flour it is to be four pence half-penny per cwt., or nine pence per barrel, of 200 pounds — equal to about eighteen pence per barrel. Effect of Domestication on Birds. — Professor Low, in speaking of the effect of domestication on birds says, "They lose the power of flight by the increase of size of their ab- domen, and the diminished power of their pectoral muscles and other parts of their body are altered to suit this confor- mation. All their habits change ; they lose the caution and sense of danger, which, in their native state they possessed. The male no longer retires with a single female to breed, but becomes polygamous, and his progeny lose the power and the will to regain the freedom of their race." Curious Mode of Grafting the Grape Vine. — A gen- tleman in the neighborhood of Oporto, split a vine shoot, (white grape,) very carefully down the middle, cutting the bud in half, and then split a corresponding shoot on a black vine, and united them as in common grafting, and after many experiments, succeeded in making the graft grow, and the produce of the vine was white and black fruit on the same bunch, and on others variegated fruit. — Foreign paper. A Great Product. — The Newark (New Jersey) Adver- tiser states that a farmer has raised this season on his farm at Clinton Place, in that vicinity, 603 bushels of white, or Belgium carrots to the acre — an amount of produce never exceeded in that climate. To Quiet Bees.— A correspondent of the Ohio Cultiva- tor says that a little alcohol or almost any kind of ardent spirits, placed on the bottom boards around and under a hive of beligerent bees, will idlay their fury, and cause them to cease fighting. If an article which sets the human race by tlie ears, will produce peace and harmony in a hive of bees, the fact certainly is anomalous. I!m .iiivK Cost of Mattresses. — //air Mattresset — These are generally sold by weight, and cost from GO to 75 cents per pound; 30 or lo pounds will cost si S to | Wollen Mottresti , — 30 pounds of wool] at 80 cents per pound, $9 , IS yard* oi ticking, at L2j cents per fatd, si 50 labor, thread. &c., $ S.75 — total, $13.25. I '■ ither Beds. — lo pounds of feathers at 30 cents a pound, $12.00 15 yards of ticking, at L2J cents per yard, $1,874. labor, thread &c., $2.73— total, $16.62}. Moss, or Corn-shuck Matin tea. ready made, $12. The labor of properly preparing the shucks constiutes its mnin cost, and which cannot be done for less than the above price, all materials furnished. Cotton Mattresses. — 30 pounds of cotton, even at 8 cents per pound, $2.40; 12 yards of ticking, at 12J cents per yard. $2.50; labor, thread, &c, $2.75— total. $6.65.— JV. O. Papei. Rich Dairies. — The Prattsvillc (Green Co.,) Advocate says : " One day last week, no loss then 280 butter wagons passed through our village ; and one day this week as many more — making in two days 560. The average number of firkins was 20 for each wagon making a total of 11,200 firkins of butter. This multiplied by $15, the average value of a firkin of butter, amounts to the large sun of $134,000 — and all from the dairies of Delaware and Otsego, Improved Strainers for Pails. — Mr. William Cooley, of Geneva, N. Y., has invented and applied for a patent for a new and useful improvement of attaching a strainer to milk pails, which appears to be as valuable as the improve- ments lately made on churns. His plan is to have the strai- ner fit on to a tube or spout on the pail by a screw or slide, so that it can be put on and taken off at pleasure, thus ren- dering the strainer easier cleaned, and at the same time one strainer will answer a number of pails better than a sieve, and at one-fifth the expense. Cultivation of Cotton in Africa, — It is said that an association formed at Graham's Town, in the Brirish colony at the Cape of Good Hope, for the purpose of promoting the growth of cotton in the colony, intends to send immediately to the United Statssfora few of the most approved gins, and to provide also a supply of those varieties of seeds which are supposed to be most suitable to the soil and climate of the colony. Weeds in Gravel Walks. — For more than 10 years I have used salt (but not in solution) for destroying aud keep- ing down weeds in my gravel walks, with perfect success, and without perceiving that the application acted as a stim- ulant to reproduction. The contrary is the case. I sow the salt by hand :" dry weather, and sweep it about thin, and as regularly as por; '<•' I have seldom occasion to do this more than once in tweivc months. — English Paper. How to Catch Hawks. — The following method for de- stroying these pests to the farmer is given by S. Webb, Esq. of Waldo county, Maine : " Erect a pole, twelve or fifteen feet high, in a place where there will not be anything else near for them to light upon, and upon it set a common fox-trap on which they will alight. A strong rat-trap will answer the purpose, by tying it to the pdle lengthwise, with the jaws raised above the end, the pole being a little leaning, so that the jaws will not fall together. When the hawk is taken, tie it on the ground near the pole, and its mate will be in the trap in a short time. The season is near for the hawks to re-appear, and if far- mers do not wish to have their chickens destroyed by them, they will do well to adopt this method of putting a stop to their depredations. — Scientific American . How it is Done.— The editor of the Mass. Plowman, speaking of the progress of improvement among the farmers of the Old Bay State, thus explains the manner in which it is done : — " Farmers read vastly more on the subject of farming than they have ever done. The prejudices against written agri- culture are fading away as fast as farmers of practical know- ledge are coming forward and giving the results of their own experience. They hold meetings and reason together on various matters relating to their business, and none can fail to improve by intercourse and free converse on any branch of farming." To. teach a Horse to Lie Down. — First with some soft handkerchief or cloth tie up one fore leg ; then with a stick lap him on the other and say " kneel/' Sometimes by rubbing him on the head and patting him on the leg, you will induce him to lie down. — Domestic Animals. 72 THE GENESEE FARMER. Mar. (EbitorV ^Table. To Correspondents . — Communications have been re- ceived, since our last, from Myron Adams. H. Y., H. S. Chase, M. D., Horace L. Emery, R. B. Warren, Adin Man- ley, *, C. Paulk, E. P., Alvin Wilcox, S., L. Wetherell, B. Allen, Utilitarian, E. Hurd, B. F. Sweet, L. E. B., John Sheldon, F. W. Lay. W. E. W., J. Wells, J. H. Beech, M. D., F. Hurd, W. Hodge, S. W., J. A Pease, J. B. Ellis, Subscriber, J. G. Anthony, J. W. Dickinson. A. W.. D., Clark Glidden, Arista, S. P. Chapman, Fenner, P. Palmer, R. K. Taft, Jas. P. Knowles, Henry C. Stoddard, W. B. Wheeler, J. Frye. jr., A. Western Farmer, W. S. Tupper, B. S. Crofoot, L. H C, Spencer Daniels, W. J. Pette. W., J. H. W., A Subscriber, J. Gibbons, and C. L. Chappell. Several articles from correspondents, in type, but neces- sarily deferred — and a large number on file for publication. Acknowledgments. — We are indebted to J. W. Lincoln, Esq., of Worcester, for a copy of the " Transactions rf the Agricultural Societies of Massachusetts for the year 1847" and for the transactions of the Worcester County Agricultu- ral Society for the year 1848 ..To Col. B. P.Johnson, for a copy of the Address delivered by Hon. L. F. Allen at the recent Annual Meeting of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society To Munn & Co., publishers of the Scientific American, New York, for a pamphlet copy of the American Patent Laws To J. R. Powell, Esq., for " Catalogue of the Mt. Airy Agricultural Institute, Germantown, Pa. ; also an Essay on "Lime and Marl ; their Agricultural uses" — by Jas. Hyatt, Chemist of the above named Institution. To Wm. Wood, Esq., of Canandaigua, for "Report of the Meetings of the Association to promote Spade Hus- bandry, and Stall Feeding, on the estates of the Earl of Dartmouth, in Yorkshire, England." Also to Members of Congress, Officers of Agricultural Societies, and several unknown friends, for various documents, pamphlets, &c. Wool Growing and Stock Raising in the Mountains.— The article on this subject, in the December number of the Farmer, has caused considerable inquiry. We have been unable to answer, by letter, the various' inquiries propoun- ded, for the want of .both time and proper information — but have receieed from the senior editor, now at the South, an article in answer to those who have inquired upon the sub- ject. The article was received too late for insertion in this number, but will be given in our next. An Example. — A young man thus writes us from the Green Mountain State :—" Having been a subscriber the past year, I wish to continue the Farmer, as I am fully aware of its value. I am a young man ; farming is the occupation I have chosen, and I wish to become a good and successful farmer. I think your journal will aid me very much, and I enclose you $1, the subscription for two years in advance, I am a hired man on a farm, and will inform you if I change my residence." We predict that, extraordinaries excepted, the writer of the foregoing extract will, ten years hence, be the possessor and intelligent cultivator of a farm worth more than a trifle of California sand. We wish young men* of the same views were more numerous in this nation of farmers. There is undoubtedly a " better time coming" in this particular— but the apathy and prejudice of many fathers, on the subject of printed light, precludes us from specifying the period. Direct Testimony.— A subscriber in Oakland County, Michigan, writing relative to his last crop, says:— "I shall have of wheat, barley corn and oats, (principally wheat,) on 43 acres, about 1750 bushels.— For the continued increase of my crops, / am mainly indebted to the agricultural works and journals. My neighbors say it is luck, but they have the same sun, soil and rain. They think they can cheat the land, and not have it cheat them in return— but in this they will be mistaken." This " lucky" farmer usually grows from 40 to 43 bushels of wneat per acre, and other crops in proportion ; while the crops of his " unlucky," anti-book-farming neighbors are annually decreasing— becoming "small and beautifully less." Comment is unnecessary. Read the advertising department, or cover of this number. iU ^l 5« something interesting, and which may prove valuable. The cover does not increase the postage on the I'armer— which please bear in mind. The postage on both sheets, unstitched, is the same as on a single newspaper. Encouragement— Progress.— The accessions to the sub- scription list of the Farmer, during the past month, indicate that the cause of improvement is making rapid progress throughout the country. Agricultural books and periodicals are receiving favor with the most prominent and intelligent persons engaged m rural pursuits ; and such works are cre- ating a salutary influence among those who, through ignor- ance or prejudice have hitherto denied their usefulness. We might fill this whole paper with extracts from letters recently received, in favor of Agricultural publications, societies, #c., and containing gratifying evidence of the onward march of improvement in numerous sections of our widely extended country. Among various similar epistles, received within a few days, (written by gentlemen of differ- ent professions, but principally farmers,) we extract the fol- lowing from a distinguished Clergyman now residing in Central Michigan— the Rev. Anson Tucker : " Enclosed I send you two dollars for the Farmer, for 5 years in advance. Though not engaged in Agriculture, yet I look monthly, with great interest for the appearance of your exceedingly interesting and valuable journal— and as the science you are laboring to promote constitutes the grand basis of our national prosperity and glory, I hope you may be so sustained by an intelligent public that you shall never falter, never tire. I am convinced that not only every cul- tivator of the soil, but every mechanic and every professional man, should, as a matter of principle, as well as interest, take at least one well conducted Agricultural paper. Far better were it that such papers as the " Post" and the "'Courier' should die, if possible, a thousand times over, then that one such journal should perish." From California! — The publisher acknowledges the receipt of $5 from California, not in gold dust, however. No doubt the volumes of the Farmer ordered will be of great service in procuring gold— provided their contents are carefully noted and properly applied in using the plow, hoe and spade, instead of the pick-axe. So mote it be. Speaking of sending the Farmer abroad, we will add, par parenthesis, that those who wish to send copies to their friends in distant sections of this country, or Europe, the Canadas, &c, can be accommodated "on reasonable terms." In such cases we only ask the club price (40 cents per copy) — adding postage if sent to foreign countries, which is 12 cents on each volume. Several of our readers hereabouts are sending the Farmer to distant friends— having somehow obtained the impression that Western New York is the source and location of the handsomest, cheapest and best farmer's journal on this continent. As to the accuracy of such an impression, which is apparently becoming quite prev- alent among the readers of the Farmer, we express no opinion. It is a subject on which we beg to remain sub rosa. Broome County. — In a recent letter, enclosing $10 on subscription to the Farmer, Mr. Silas S. Sage, of Windsor, writes us as follows :— " We have not in this section, until quite recently, enjoyed the facilities for market which are desirable for an Agricultural community. During the con- struction of the N. Y. and Erie Railroad, all kinds of pro- duce have commanded good prices ; and now we are within 12 hours travel of N. Y. City, so that if the citizens of this county turn their attention to dairying, as they probably will, I think the time is not far distant when Broome County But- ter will not be many hours behind the far famed Orange County. I hope we may gain some hints from your truly valuable journal, to aid us in the selection of cows, the con- struction of buildings, and in procuring all the paraphernalia necessary for .producing the gold, without going to dig for it in the sands of California." — And which it shall be our constant endeavor, as it will be our pleasure, to furnish thee and all other kind friends and attentive readers of the Farmer. A Suggestion and Request. — We wish to remind those of our readers who are interested in extending the circulation of the Farmer, that the approaching Town Meetings and Elections will offer a favorable opportunity for efforts in that direction. Those of our subscribers who can consistently do so, may aid the cause materially by taking their numbers with them to the Election, and obtaining subscriptions. It is a good time to " show the papers" to those who ought to subscribe — and we will cheerfully supply extra numbers to all whose copies are soiled or given away, on such occa- sions. Think of this, reader, and see what you can do for the benefit of your fellow townsmen, in thus promoting the circulation of the Farmer and similar journals. 1849. THE GENESEK FARMER. 73 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, EDITED in P BARR1 THE SEASONS CAliL. •• The works of a person that builds begin immediately to decay — while those of him \\iu> plants begin immediately to improve." Shenstone, the poet and lover of rural scenery, was the author of the above truthful quotation. As soon as the work of the builder is completed, from that momenl commences the Blow, yel sure work of decay. Every year, every day, its beauty diminishes and its value lessens, until the new has become old, and the costly edifice is a heap of ruins. But, lie who plants may see the work of h;> bands constantly improving until his eyes have become dim with age: he raises a monument under the shade of which future generations may repose, and bless his memory. The acorn planted in boyish sport may shade and shelter declining manhood, and sing its sad requiem while dust returns to dust. He who not only plants, hut takes good care of what he lias planted, does much by his example to spread a taste for horticul- tural pursuits, and to correct the bad habits of his neighbors. "With this month commences the work of the Gar- dener and the Horticulturist. The true lover of fruits and flowers begins his work with increased knowledge and new zeal, after the long repose of winter. The " foliage, fruits and flowers," he loved when he beheld their beauty, appear now even more lovely, as he sees naught around him but leafless trees and half-frozen earth — drear as a new made grave. He considers how much even the violet and the daisy, and their companions in beauty, add to the happiness of man — and as he contemplates, sighs for their return. To such we have nothing to say — their inquiring minds — their cultivated tastes — their watchful eyes — will note The Season's Call. But there are those, who when admiring the neatly kept and productive gardens of their neighbors, and contrasting them with their own, resolve that another season shall witness an improvement in their own practice. The rich pass the humble cottage of the poor, and feel proud in contrasting its whitewashed planks with their own stately walls — and yet, its neat flower yard — its running roses, and honeysuckles, covering its sides and shading its windows — give it a look of beauty and a sweet-home air that all their wealth, so lavishly expended, has failed to procure. They thus learn that there are pleasures wealth cannot purchase, and determine to learn that art which can make a paradise of the poor man's cot. There are those too, who have considered them- selves too poor to attend to aught save the neces- saries of life. They pass the cabin of the poor widow — the abode of the fatherless: they behold her otherwise unsightly abode rendered pleasant by the masses of white and scarlet runners that not only hide its deformity, but characterize it as the abode of refinement. The poor thus learn there are pleas- ures of which povertv cannot rob them, and go home in love with the art that can make pleasant the abode of poverty, and beautify the widow's hut. It is such we would remind of The Season's Call. Much depends upon commencing with the season. The following matters « laim attention the present month . PRl mm;. Although this operation can be performed at any time during winter, yet we consider the beginning of March the moel favorable season, particularly for peaches and apricots. All gardening should be done with neatness, but above all things, lei your pruning be ueatlj dune. We have seen trees "pruned?' that looked as though cattle had been "browsing" among them. When you wish to remove a shoot, do so by means of a clean sloping cut, at the back of a bud, as seen in the figure. A soon as the hud pushes this wound i.- readily hi To do this, well, how the operator must have a keen knife. We give a figure of a proper Pruning Knife. "Those things." says Thompson, of the Lon- don Horticultural Society, " which some men call pruning knives, blunt and notched, a sort of cross between a file and a handsaw, used for grubbing up weeds, drawing nails and trimming roots, are never seen in the hands of a man who understands his business or attends to it. To a gardener his pruning knife is as much an object of solicitude as his razor. In- deed, of the two, he would rather hacki his chin than his plants." We give also a figure of Priming Scissors, so well adapted topruning roses, shrubs, and for cutting flowers. We would particularly re- commend them as a useful and convenient implement for ladies.* If trees are properly pruned from the beginning, a pruning knife will perform all the necessary thinning out, &c, annually, and the butchering system so much practiced, of cutting off large limbs', will be avoided, and the trees will not only present a more pleasing appearance, but will produce a finer crop of fruit. The "shortening in" system, recommended by Mr. Downing, and others, and which we have seen practiced in the South of Germany as long as wTe can remember, answers well for Peaches. Grape Vines that have not already been pruned, should be attended to first ; and nothing will repay a judicious pruning better. The crop will be larger, and the flavor of the grape much improved. Currants and Gooseberries should be pruned rather close, in order to get perfect fruit. Deciduous ornamental trees, shrubs and roses should now be pruned. Orna- mental trees only require the decaying and irregular branches to be cut away. With few exceptions, decideous shrubs and roses require annual pruning. (For particular and specific directions for pruning, see former volumes.) CUTTINGS. Cuttings of hardy trees, shrubs, &c, should now be made. The following will grow with proper treatment, and will save much valuable time which would be necessarily required in propagating them by layers in the summer — besides, cuttings, as a general thing, make the best plants. They may be * These implements may be obtained of Rapaljce & Briggs, Rochester, II. L. Emery, Albany, S. T.. and at most of the Agri- cultural Warehouses- 74 THE GENESEE FARMER. Mar. kept in a cool cellar, covered with sand until time to plant them. Cuttings of evergreens should be prop- erly shaded, and kept in frames. Trees, Shrubs, Vines, ^c— Quinces, Grape Vines, Gooseberries, Currants, Platanus, Populus, Salix, Kerne, Cornus, Deutzias, Euonymus, Hibiscus, Hy- drangeas, Privet, Loniceras, Ribes, Spireeas, Vi- burnums. Evergreens. — Cedrus Deodora, Juniper, Arbor Vitae, Yews, Aucusas, Box, Evergreen Euonymus, Laurels, inc., &c. Roses.— Boursault, for stocks; almost all the Climb- ing Roses, Hybrid Perpetuals, Hybrid Chinas, Noi- sette, and other Chinese varieties. SCIONS. Scions should be cut now. Apple, pear and plum scions will keep best covered with moist sandy loam, or sand, in a cool situation. Cherry scions we have found would grow better by laying them on the cellar floor, even should they get slightly shrivelled. We hardly ever miss one kept in this way. We cannot agree with the article published last month, and which inadvertently passed without comment, headed "Preserving Buds and Grafts,'" by T. G. Yeomans. We have seen thousands of scions ruined kept in saw dust ; and we also saw a statement to the same effect in the Albany Cultivator, by our friend Hil- dreth, whose opinion and judgment can be relied upon. There may be some instances where scions keep well in sawdust, but we would not recommend it as a safe mode of preserving them. GRAFTING, TRANSPLANTING, &c. As soon as the weather will permit, cherries should be grafted. Last year we performed this operation before the frost had left the ground, with entire success. Plums should be done next, and then fol- low pears, apples, fee. Root grafting should be fin- ished as soon as possible, before the busy season commences. Transplanting of trees, &tc, should be commenced as soon as the ground is in proper order. Currants, gooseberries, and cherries should be attended to first; and among the ornamentals, Daphne, Pyrus Japonica, Indus Trees, Magnolia Conspicua, and Saulangiana, Spiraeas, Lonicera Tartiraca, Lilacs, fee. Coverings of bulbous roots, herbaceous plants, strawberry and raspberry beds, as well as any thing else that had any protection during the winter, should be removed as soon as the frost leaves the ground. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Hot Beds. — Every one should have a hot bed, if it were only to forward plants for the garden. The too prevalent opinion is, that they are expensive articles and difficult to manage, requiring the skill of the professed gardener. Both suppositions are entirely erroneous. A hot-bed may be constructed by any man of ordinary ingenuity. A frame of about 12 feet long and 6 wide, which will allow of 3 sashes, each 3 feet wide will be found large enough for any family. It should be made of common two inch plank — the back about 3 feet high, the front about half that, the ends having a regular slope from back to front. This will give an angle sufficient to throw off rain, and give the full benefit of external heat and light to the plants within. If the beds are narrower, the front must be higher in proportion. The sides and ends are simply nailed to a strong post, four inches square or more, placed in each corner. For the sashes to rest and slide upon, a strip 6 inches wide is placed across the frame, the ends morticed or sunk in the sides of the frame, so as not to cause a pro- jection. The sashes are made in the ordinary way, but without cross bars ; and in glazing, the lights are made to overlap an eighth or quarter of an inch, to exclude the rain. Such a frame, costing but a mere triflle beyond the labor will last for years, and furnish all the cabbage, tomato, celery, cauliflower, egg, pepper, melon, and cucumber plants needed — with a sprinkling of early radishes, &,c. Where so large a frame may not be wanted, an old window may be used for sash, and all expense of glazing be avoided. The annexed figure will convey an idea to those un- acquainted with it. One of the sashes is moved down as in admitting air and the other laid off entirely Hot beds should occupy a dry situation, where they will not be affected by the lodgment of water during rains or thaws. They should be exposed to the east and south, and be protected by fences or buildings from the north and northwest. Where it is intended to merely grow plants for transplanting to the garden they may be sunk in the ground to the depth of 18 inches, and in such a case require not more than 2 feet of manure ; but when forcing aud perfecting vegetables is designed, a per- manent heat must be kept up, and the bed must be made on the surface, so that fresh and warm manure may be added when necessary. A depth of three to four feet of manure will in such cases be wanted. Manure for hot beds requires some preparation. It should be fresh stable manure, placed in a heap, and turned and mixed several times, promoting a regular fermentation. It is thus made to retain its heat a long time ; otherwise it would burn and dry up, and become useless. The mold should be laid on as soon as the bed is settled, and has a lively regular-tempered heat. Lay the earth evenly over the dung about six inches deep. Radishes and lettuce require about a foot of earth. After it has lain a few days it will be fit to receive your plants, unless- the mold has turned to a whitish color or has a rank smell, in which case add some fresh mould for the hills, at the same time vacancies should be made to give vent to the steam, by running down stakes. " Those who wish to force cucumbers, fcc, should begin, if the weather is favorable, by the first of March. For raising plants, the middle is time enough. Having been requested to furnish information in regard to the construction of hot beds, we think we have presented the matter in so plain a manner that the mere novice in gardening may construct one. Lettuce and Early Peas may be sowed as soon as the ground is open. Poles for Beans and other Climbers should be made ready for use. 1S49. THE GENESEE FARMER. 75 OSAGE ORANGE FOR HEDGES. It is pleasing to observe that with the general advancement of horticulture, the unsightly rail fences are rapidly disappearing, and making way for the various kinds of hedge plants. As yet the majority of farmers are not convinced of the economy of ■•clearing away" their favorite "land-marks," not- withstanding they require) every two or three years, as much outlay, (taking time and cost of timber into consideration.) as would the purchase of seeds and planting a hedge — and nothing adds so much to the beauty and value of a place as a well planted and properly kept hedge. We consider the outlay better than bank or railroad stock. The Osage Orange has within the past year been the subject of much discussion in the horticultural and agricultural publications, and we have of late received several communications making inquiries as to the best mode of sowing, planting, 8&c, and we present such facts on the subject as our space permits. The vigorous growth, bushy habit, shining leaves and strong sharp spine of this plant are well calcu- lated to make it not only a very ornamental, but also a very resistive body. Our experience does not war- rant us as yet to recommend it for extensive planting in the Northern States, although it is said there is a hedge near Boston that has proved quite hardy. The appearance of the plant or tree, is not unlike the true Orange. The above engraving, (from the Horticulturist,) is a correct representation of a small branch. It is not an evergreen, but during the whole summer, and until late in autumn, the leaves are of a brilliant and shining green. The wood is very hard and strong, and the thorns so sharp and numerous that no animal will attempt to get through The following directions for Sowing the Sj.i d, cut from the Prairie Farmer, corresponds so well with our experience, that we cannot do better than to recommend them to the perusal of our readers — if strictly followed, almost every seed will vegetate. " All that can be done now about the seeds is to wait till spring unless they should be covered with damp sand in a box and exposed to the weather; but we doubt if any considerble advantage would be gained by this, as the seed does not need to be frozen at all. We made some experiments last spring in sowing the seed of the Osage Orange, and also of the Buck- thorn— for they are similar in their habits of germina- tion, and require to be treated alike, and we are satis- fied the best way to manage them is this: when the ground becomes well warmed — say during the last half of May in this latitude, and proportionally ear- lier further South — pour npon the seeds warm water, of the temperature of 140° farenheit, or as warm as that the finger can be held in it, and let it stand in this water about thirty-six hours. Then pour off the Water, and let the seeds remain wet in a warm room, for a week. If a little earth be mixed with them they will be kept damp somewhat easier, for they must in no case be allowed to dry. Then sow in a seed bed, covering them about an inch in depth ; care must be taken that the seed bed does not dry, or the seeds will be killed. If the seed is old it will not all vegetate, the mode above sketched will bring up all that will come — the first season at all events. We used boil- ing water on one lot of seed, but it failed to come as well as that treated as above. This mode of managing all seeds with thick shells, may be followed. Many plants may be killed the first winter, in this latitude, but we are assured they will start again." The following directions for Planting and Train- ing we copy from the Ohio Cultivator: "The ground where the hedge is to be planted, should be plowed in the fall, if hard or in grass, so as to be mellowed by the frosts of winter. Set the plants in a single straight line, eight or nine inches apart ; or if a very close hedge is desired, set them in a double line, one foot apart in each — six inches between the two rows, and the plants in one row to stand opposite the vacant space in the other, thus: When set, cut off all the tops within about two inches of the ground. This will cause two or more shoots to spring up. The next year these are to be cut off within about six inches of the ground — which will cause many lateral shoots to form, and thus make the hedge thick and close. Or, if the plants are set in a single line, the following is a good plan: When there are two or three stems to each plant, cut to within six inches of the ground all but one to each plant, which leave eighteen inches, then bend down the first to a curve not exceeding eight inches in height — fasten it with a peg, and then twist the top of the next plant under the curve of the first, as seen in the engraving." 76 THE GENESEE FARMER. Mar. EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE FARMER. A RAMBLE IN PARIS. New Year Holidays in the French Capital — The Revolution — Louis Napoleon — The Jardin des Plants, audits collection of Trees, Slurubs, SfC. — Jardin d' hiuer Paris, January 5, 1849. The change that has recently occurred in the political affairs of France, seems to have had no effect whatever in Paris. It continues to be the same splen- did city — the great resort of science, fashion, and taste. The fearful conflicts and bloody struggles, at which we shuddered in America, but a few months ago, are, in the main, entirely forgotten, and Paris seems as beautiful, polite, and gay as ever. Her glittering shops and cafes are fitted out with a taste you will find nowhere else. The theatres, promenades, and other places of amusement, are still thronged with gay and fashionable pleasure seekers. I have spent the Christmas and New Year Holidays here; and have had an opportunity of seeing nearly the whole population of Paris in the streets and promenades — a mode of enjoyment that we rarely see in America. The fine trees that were unmercifully hewn down along the boulevards, are replaced by others. The only thing that forces the remembrace of war or revolution upon one's mind, is the army of soldiery that are stationed in every nook and corner of the city, making it, throughout, a complete barracks. In every shop and cafe, you will see soldiers; in all the public squares companies are being reviewed; in the suburbs of the city, juvenile bands are practicing their music; and every public building is not only guarded but surrounded with soldiery. I believe it is estimated that the guard in this city alone nearly equals in num- bers the immense standing army of Great Britain. How France can bear such a weight beside so many other great public institutions of arts, science, charity, &c, is a problem for her most sagacious politicians to solve. Louis Napoleon is fairly installed as first President of the Republic; and the National Assembly is quietly and industriously pursuing its legislative affairs. Very little is said of politics, except by mere politi- cians. How long matters may continue peaceable as at present, no one can say. The French are an un- certain people ; and Louis Napoleon may, in six months, find himself as unpopular as any man in France. He has not selected for his cabinet such men as it was expected he would. He has given the preference to men no way prominent in State affairs. Perhaps in this he was wise. Guizot has just published a small work on " De- mocracy in France," that meets with a good deal of approbation. Among the multitude of attractions presented to the stranger here, the Jardin des Plants, has been to me the most interesting. The immense collection of trees, plants, and ani- mals here has been accumulating for upwards of a century — since the days of Louis XIII. I spent a day in it; and I could have spent a week delightfully. Indeed, I had but a passing glimpse at the vari- ous departments. I have visited no botanic garden so satisfactory to the student or visitor as this. In those of England they usually aim too much at pro- ducing a fine landscape, instead of arranging plants in such a way as to be readily seen and examined by all. Here each family of plants occupies a separate bed or compartment ; and all are legibly labelled. The original plantation of trees occupies a beautiful hill, commanding a prospect of the whole houses and gardens of the institution, and the adjacent parts of the city. Here is a noble cedar of Lebanon, planted by Jassieu, in 1735 ; it is about 12 feet in circumfer- ence. There are also many young ones, ten or fif- teen years old, that are very fine. I also saw many fine specimens of the new and rare pines, such as ex- celsa, sabiniana, &c; also a beautiful tree of the new and much-admired taxodian sempervirens — one of the most elegant evergreen trees I have seen. The lar- gest and oldest Pawlonia in Europe is here. It is now twelve to eighteen inches in diameter, and cov- ered with blossom buds. I noticed, also, fine speci- mens of several of our American oaks — of our White Pine, Buttonwood, Hemlock, &tc. I saw a Weeping Sophoro here that is remarkably graceful, and must occupy a prominent place among such elegant pen- dulous trees as the Ash, Willow, Birch, fee; and, by the way, I have seen a new Weeping Birch, Weep- ing Willow, Black Weeping Thorn, Weeping Euony- mus, and some others that will give us a most inte- resting collection of trees of this habit. In the Con- servatory and Green House of the Jardin des Plants, are fine specimens of rare Palms, &tc; but I had lit- tle time to see them': and cannot now give you a de- tailed account of them. In the fruit department I was much pleased with the pear garden. Indeed, the pear trees are famous all over France and England, amongst cultivators, as being the best managed spe- cimens known. The superintendant of this depart- ment, M. Cappe, has had the honor of managing his pear trees, as pyramids, better than any other in Eu- rope ; but I have seen better managed trees than his, and shall speak of them in future. These are, certainly, beautiful models, and cannot fail to please all who see them. They are just what all garden pear trees should be in shape. They are planted in rows ten feet apart, and eight feet apart in the rows ; between each drill is a small plot of straw- berries ; and between each bed is a walk of three feet ; so that the bed itself is about six feet wide. The trees are, perhaps, eight or ten years old ; about a foot in diameter ; most of them ten to twelve feet high. The first tier of branches are within a foot or less of the ground ; the next, two or three inches above it ; and so on, forming a symmetrical pyramid. They are all on quince stocks. Another of the lux- urious and delightful places of public amusement, is the Jardin y any means affecting their roots only? Straw, coarse manure, &c, laid round the roots in w inter will retain the frost in the ground several days, and perhaps several w eeks after it is out of the ground not so covered. But will the blossoming of the tree he thereby retarded I If the blossom buds are in a temperature sufficiently ele- vated, will they expand fully and independently oj thecon- jition of the roots'? II' they will, then the first and second questions must be answered in the negative. In the latter part of March or lore part of April last, the end of a peach limb was covered up in a pile of fermenting horse-stable manure, which was thrown into my garden. In a few days after I extricated the limb, and it was in full bloom. The blossoms appeared to he perfect, though somewhat compres- sed from mechanical pressure. Not a blosom appeared on any other part of the same tree, (or any peach tree in the garden. ) till more than ten days after. C. Paulk. — Honeoye Falls N. Y., 1849. Remarks. — As the immediate effect of heat will rouse the vital forces of regulation, so in the same degree will frost retard it. By covering the roots with straw, leaves, or saw dust sufficiently to exclude the heat from penetrating, the vital actions will of course be retarded for some time, and thereby the blossoming. Blossom buds will expand fully inde- pendent of the roots. We have cut branches of Peaches, Apricots, Almonds, Cherries, and even Lilacs, and put them in water in a temperate room, (the water must be changed regularly,) and in three or four weeks the blossoms were fully expanded. Of course they are not perfect. A branch of a tree can be forced with a very good effect, independent of the temperature of the roots, (extremes excepted.) For instance, we have seen Apricots and Peach trees trained against a wall, and in order to get a succession of fruits, part of the trees were covered with glass, (common hot bed sashes were placed against the wall,) and by the time those parts that were not covered were in flower, that part under glass had fruits nearly half grown. The ground where the trees stood was not much frozen. The heat of horse manure caused the excitability of vegetable action on your Peach limb, independent of the situation of the roots. We may as well mention here for the benefit of those who are unable to raise Apricots, Nectarines, inc., on account of the ravages of the curculio, that trees planted against a house or wall, and glass placed before them, (during the time the curculio is in exist- ence) will prevent this " great destroyer" from opera- ting, and a sure crop of fruits may be expected. The fruits will be earlier and often larger. Superior Grafting Wax — The following mix- ture, viz: 1 pint linseed oil ; 6 lbs. rosin ; 1 lb. bees-wax, makes a better and cheaper wax, than any I have used made from rosin, tallow and beeswax. The oil will admit of a much greater proportion of rosin than the tallow. This wax will give entire satisfaction to those who use it — T. G. Yeomans, in Horticulturist. Return of Mr. Barrv. — We learn by Telegraph, just as this number is going to press, that the Editor of this department of the Farmer, has arrived at New York, on his return from Europe. He will conse- quently soon be "at home;" and will probably make amends, in future numbers, for any lack of attention to inquiries of correspondents during his absence. BUFFALO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. At the Animal Meeting of the Buffalo Horticultural So- ciety, held at the Secretary's Rooms on Wednesday, Feb- ruary 1 i tli, 1849, the President in the Chair, it was— Resoltfea, That the Society proceed to the election of offi- cers for the ensuing year. Messrs. J. R I.ee. IS. Hodge, and ('. F. S. Thomas were named a Committeo to nominate officers. Mr, \\ . K. Coppock, in a neat and appropriate ad respectfully declined being a candidate lor re-< lecti President Mr, W. B. Coleman also declined being a candi- date for the office of Secretary. The Committee reported the following list of officers, which were unanimously elected: President — William R. Coppock. Vice Presidents — Lewis Eaton, Orlando Allen, H. P. Pot- ter, G. F. Pratt, H. W. Rogers, Abner Bryant, Joseph Dart, jr., W. W. Mann, Charles Taintor. Treasure) — John R. Lee. Corresponding Secretary — Benjamin Hodge. Recording Secretary — C. F. S. Thomas. standing committees. On Flowers and Flowering Plants — Messrs. C. F. S. Thora- mas, J. Dart, jr., and J. W. Brown. On Fruits — Lewis Eaton, C. Taintor, and Lewis F. Allen. On, Vegetables. — H. W. Rogers, J. D. Shcppard, and H. A. Parsons. On motion, it was resolved that the Gold Medal awarded to the Society by the State Agricultural Society, remain in the keeping of the President, to be handed over to hi- suc- cessor in office. Resolved, That the Society's first and second premiums for the best display of Vegetables during the season of 1848, be awarded as follows: — To Mr. J. Keel, first premium, $5. Robert Dickinson, second, $3. The propriety of offering premiums for the ensuing year was discussed and concurred in. The list will be published in due time. Resolved, That the sum of $10 be paid to the publishers of the several daily papers and of the Western Literary Messenger, providing they publish the proceedings, reports and notices of the Society. Adjourned C. F. S. Thomas, Rec. Sec1]/. GENESEE VALLEY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. At a meeting of the Horticultural Society of the Valley of the Genesee, held February 5th, 1849, the following officers and committees were elected for the ensuing year. President — Levi A. Ward. Vice Presidents — John Williams, Rochester; Alfred Fitch, Riga; H. P. Norton, Brockport; Asa Rowe, Sweden; Zera Burr, Perinton. Corresponding Secretary — Leander Wetherell. Recording Secretary — J. A. Eastman. Treasurer — James H. Watts. Committee on Fruits — P. Barry, chairman; M. G. Warner, J. W. Bissell, S. Moulson, F. F. Backus. J. J. Thomas, Isaac Hills, Edward Roggin, Samuel Miller, H. P. Norton. Committee on Trees, Shrubs and Flowers — Geo. Ellwanger, chairman; Francis Brown, jr., Wm. King, S. G. Crane, Henry Billings. Committee on Vegetables — Jason W. Seward, chairman; James P. Fogg, J. Rapalje, S. E. Alden, L. B. Langworthy. Committee on Botany — Leander Wetherell, chairman; ii. H. Smith, J. W. Seward, J. M. Whitney. Committee on Entomology — N. Goodsell. Executive Committee — Levi A. Ward, John Williams, P. Barry, Geo. Ellwanger, J. W. Seward, L. Wetherell, N. Goodsell. Wire Fence.— Our Seneca Falls friend, who inquires for information on this subject, is referred to the articles of Mr. Adams, in this and the January number of the Farmer. We think his plan the best we have received ; and we are of the opinion that it \\\\\pay. It is best, however, for those who have any doubts to try the experiment on a small scale at first. It is our intention to test the matter the present sea- son, or have it tested in this vicinity, and shall of course take notes in order to report the result for the information of our readers. In Grafting take care that the bark of the graft anil the bark of the stock meet and join on one side. 78 THE GENESEE FARMER. Mar. iCafobfl' ^Department. BOTANY. -GERMINATION OF SEEDS [Continued from page 53.] Germination consists of the first chemical changes and vital action, which take place when a new plant is about to be produced. " When the seed is planted in a moist soil at a moderate temperature, the integuments gradually absorb water, soften and expand. The water is de- composed, its oxygen combines with the carbon of the starch which has been stored up in the tissues. Thus, losing a part of its carbon, the starch is con- verted into sugar for the nourishment of the embryo, which now begins to dilate and develope its parts. Soon the integuments bursts, the radicale descends, seeking the dark and damp bosom of the earth, and the plumulule rises with expanding leaves, to the air and light. The conditions requisite for the germi- nation of the seed are, heat, moisture, oxygen, air and darkness." This cut represents a young dicotyledonous plant, with its radicale, a, developed ; its cotyledons, c, c, appear in the form of large, succulent leaves ; the plumule is just appearing as a minute point between the cotyledons. — Rodger^ Scientific Agriculture. Children— Every romp with them is death to a score of gray hairs. Their games, moreover, present such a contrast to the rougher contest of bearded children, in the game of life, where money, power, and ambition are the stake, that it is refreshing to look at them and mingle with them, even were it only to realize that human nature yet retains some- thing of its divine original. — Selected. Twenty years ago it was common to trim straw bonnets with artificial wheat and barley in ears, on which the following lines were written:' Who now of threatening famine dare complain, When every female forehead teems with grain ? See how the wheat sheaves nod amid the plumes ! Our barns arc now transferred to •drawing-rooms ; And husbands who now indulge in active lives, To fill their granaries may thresh their wives. The Mother.— A writer beautifully remarks that a man's mother is the representative of his Maker. Misfortune, and even crime, set up no barriers be- tween her and her son. While his mother lives, he will have one friend on earth who will not listen when he is slandered, will soothe him in his sorrows, and speak to him of hope, when he is ready to despair. Her affection flows from a pure fountain, and ceases only at the ocean of eternity. To Young Ladies — I have found that the men who are really the most fond of the society of the ladies, who cherish for them a high respect are sel- dom the most popular with the sex. Men of great assurrance, whose tongues are highly hung, who make words supply the place of ideas, and place com- pliment in the room of sentiment, are the favorites. A due respect for women leads to recpectful action toward them — and respectful is usually distant ac- tion, and this great distance is mistaken by them for neglect or want of interest. — Addison. Useful Knowledge. — The education of our chil- dren is never out of my mind. Train them to virtue, habituate them to industry, activity, and spirit. Make them consider every vice as shameful and un- manly. Fire them with ambition to be useful. Make them disdain to be destitute of any useful knowledge. — John Adams to his icife. Apple Custard. — To make the cheapest and best every day farmer's apple custard, take sweet apples that will cook, (such as every farmer ought to have through the summer, fall, winter and spring,) pare, cut, and stew them ; when well done, stir till the pie- ces are all broken ; when cool, thin with milk to a proper consistency, and bake with one crust, like pumpkin pie. Eggs may be prepared and added with the milk if handy, though it will do without. No sweetening is necessary. It may be seasoned with any kind of spice to suit the taste— the less the better. — H. — Ohio Cultivator. Cream that has been suffered to stand until rancid, or slightly mouldy, which is often the case, should never be churned; it may make very palatable cream eheese, but abominable bad butter. Cream never rises from the milk after thirty-six hours standing. This may be proved by the lactometer. It becomes more solid, and thus appears thicker, but nothing is gained in quantity, and much lost in quality, by suf- fering it to stand too long before skimming. Sago Cream. — This article, so grateful to the sick is prepared in the following manner : Take a desert spoonful of good sago, and boil it in pure water till it is reduced to a jelly. Add a cup of sweet cream, and boil again. Beat up a fresh egg very light, and pour the sago on while hot. Swee- ten and spice, with sugar and nutmeg, to your taste. To Cook a Ham. — Boil a comman size ham four or five hours, then skin the whole and fit it for the table ; then set in oven for half an hour, then cover it thickly with pounded rusk or bread crumbs, and set back for half an hour. Boiled ham is always im- proved by setting it into an oven for near an hour, till much of the fat fries out, and this also makes it more tender. 184! THE GE.XESEE FARMER. 79 I3cms' Department. SUGGESTIONS TO FARMER'S SONS. BY " ctilitarian." Mb. Moore : — Feeling a deep interest in the ad- vancement of the present tillers of the soil of onr beloved country, and especially for those who are soon to compose the bone and sinew of the American na- tion, I am constrained to give a passing hint to the thousands of boys who may do themselves the honor to read your valuable paper — which hint was called out by a failure to obtain, as subscribers to the Far- mer, men who will spend dollars annually for that kind of reading herein contemplated, and who still have the effrontery to call themselves farmers. Our country is, at present, flooded with a newspa- per and periodical circulation unequaled by any other country on the earth — and if the whole of the mat- ter thus poured out upon our population were of a character calculated to give such information and instruction as should be of a truly beneficial nature, what amount of good might we not rationally expect would be realized from it ? But, when we examine a large proportion of the reading thus circulated, do we find such as is calculated to be of any real benefit to our rural population, from which by far the grea- test pan of the patronage of the press is received ? The farthest from it possible. Instead of such mat- ter as shall inspire a love for the useful and praise- worthy, or furnish such information as will fit them for a noble discharge of the public and private duties of life, they are furnished with the sickly productions of imagination, which are often not only useless, but polluting to the minds of youth, while they create a distaste for the more substantial productions of more worthy authors — and the only reason for their extensive circulation is, that they cost but little. But do we look upon a thief, who steals from us a penny, with any more respect than if he had taken a hundred dollars ? This kind of trash, however, not only takes from us the trifling change we give to come into possession of it, but it steals our time, and that true force of character which constitutes the in- trinsic wreath of a community, or a nation. Will not the farmer's boys, who are soon to become the sovereigns of our extended country, strive to be- come men prepared to rule an enlightened nation with that wisdom which can never be drawn from works of fiction? February 13, 1849. How to Live Long. — A venerable minister who had preached some sixty -five years, being asked what was the secret of long life, replied, "Rise early, live temperately, work hard, and keep cheerful." Another who had lived to the great age of one hun- dred years, in reply to the inquiry how he had lived so long said, " I have always been kind and obliging, have never quarreled with any one, have eaten and drank only to satisfy hunger and thirst, and have never been idle." Above all things avoid law suits ; they impair your health and dissipate your property. He that has never known adversity, is but half ac- quainted with others, or with himself. Constant success shows us but one siue of the world ; for, as it surrounds us with friends, who will tell us only our merits, so it silences those enemies from whom alone we can learn our defects. PREMIUMS FOR THE BOYS. During the past month we have received remit- tances from quite a numberof young friends. While we tender them our thanks for their efforts in behalf of the Farmer, we may be permitted to remark that the fact that their influence is exerted in favor of a work like ours, in preference to the tempting and too often senseless literary trash which is flooding the country, gives us greater pleasure than the receipt of the subscription money they have forwarded. It proves that their minds contain the germ, and a trifle of the fruit, of good sense and wise forethought— and certainly indicates enterprise and progress in coming manhood. As an incentive to such of our youthfnl readers as are or may become agents for the Farmer, we make the following proposition : — To every boy or young man under 20 years of age, who will obtain 5 sub- scribers to the present volume of the Farmer, remit- ting payment according to our club terms, we will send a copy of Johnston's " Catechism of Agricul- tural Chemistry and Geology" — or any other work of the same price (25 cents,) which we offer in our advertisement of books. The Catechism is a valu- able work of 75 pages, illustrated with engravings, &c. And to each one who obtains 8 or 10 subscri- bers, and forwards pay according to our club terms, (37£ cents per copy if sent to one address, or 40 cts. if the papers are directed to each subscriber,) we will give a volume of the Farmer for 1848, bound in marble paper covers and cloth back. The books can be sent by mail to any part of the country. BOOKS ON AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, &c. For Sale at the Office of the Farmei: The Publisher of the Farmer keeps constantly on hand a large assortment of the most popular and valuable •works pertaining to Agriculture. Horticulture, and Rural and Domestic Economy which will be sold at the lowest cash prices. The names and price<= of a portion of the books are annexed :— American Farmer's Encyclopedia. $3 50 in leather— cloth S3 American Shepherd, by .Worrell. $1. American Agriculture, by Allen. SI. American Poulterer's Companion, by Bement. $1 American Veterinarian, by Cole. 50 cents. Buist's Kitchen Gardener. 75 cents. Buel's Farmer's Companion. 75 cents Chaptal's Agricultural Chemistry. 50 cents. Downing's Fruits and Fruit Trees of America. $1 50. Domestic Animals, by R. L. Allen. Cloth, 75 cts. ; paper. 50 cts. Farmer's and Emigrant's Hand-Book. $1. Fruit Culturist, by J. J. Thomas. 50 centc. Gardener's Farmer's Dictionary. $1 50— leather, $1 75. Horse's Foot— and how to keep it sound. 25 cents. Johnson's Agricultural Chemistry. $1 25. Loudon's Ladies' Flower Garden. SI 25. Liebgig's Agricultural Chemistry, (new edition.) SI— paper. 75 eta. Liebgig's Agricultural and Animal Chemistry, (pamphlet edi- tions.) 25 cents each Parson's on the Rose. $1 50. Prince on the Rose. 75 ceut.- Rural Economy, by Boussingault. $1 50. Stable Economy, by Stewart. $1. Scientific Agriculture, by Rodgers. 75 cents. Smith's Productive Farming. 50 cents. Treatise on Milch Cows. 38 cts. Treatise on Guano. 25 cents. Youatt on the Horse, (new edition.) $1 75. Youatt on the Pig. 75 cents. Catechism of Ag. Chemistry and Geology. 25 cents The Gardener and Complete Florist. 25 cents. Knowlson's Comple Fairier, or Horse Doctor. 25 cents *** These books can be safely forwarded by mail, to any part of the country. (KJ=- Orders from a distance will receive prompt attention, and the books forwarded by mail or Express as desired. Address to D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester. N. Y. THE NINTH VOLUME OF THE FARMER, for 184S, just completed, and for sale bound or in numbers, as preferred. It contains a larger amount of matter pertaining to Agriculture and Horticulture than any similar work of the same price ever pub- lished—and is illustrated with over eightv engravings Price. 62}£ cents bound in boards and leather — or 50 cents in marble paper, with cloth backs. It can be sent by mail. 80 THE GENESEE FARMER. Mar. CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. Making and preserving Manure, . . . . . ' Bastard Fallows, and Culture of Indian Corn, 59 The Plow, its history and improvements, V Smith's Hay, Stalk and Corn Cutter, ™ Another Chapter on Wire Fence, «| Door Yard Fence " " 63 Wheat and Chess,. . . . . ■■••• • '■' £&;- ■ 64 Meterological Abstracts of 1847 and 1848, ™ Wheeler's Horse Power and Thresher, ™ NSrF^Na-GoidenDreams.-Butt^-and- Suiter Making', Pea Bugs, Wire Fences, and Drill Husbandry, 66 Golden Dreams, Geologically considered. °' Page's Wind Mill ; Rearing Lambs, °< Plan of a Farm or Suburban Cottage, °° Ayrshire Cattle •• •• •• • fiQ Management and Profits of Poultry,. w Benefit of under Draining ; Bone Dust,. .. l— Sales are to a small extent. 3,000 bbls. at 5 56 a 5 69 and 5.76. For pure 69 is freely paid. Included were 500 barrels in store at 5.50. , Some inquiry for Western for the East. Meal is a little higher, $2.94 a 3$ for Jersey is asked. Rye Flour 3.44 a 3.50. ^ Grain— Wheat moderate inquiry. Sales 4,000 bu. Ohio at 1.15 and some Long Island at 1.10 a 1.15, Genesee 1.30 a 132. Corn 10,000 bu. N. O. at 52 a 55 for white southern and 62 for yellow. 65 for northern- Oats 40 a 42. Provisions— Market for pork rather heavy. Sales 6 or 1 00 bbls. mess at 10.75 a 11. Prime mess is nominal at 9.87. A. sale of 500 was made yesterday at 10.25. Beef is quiet. Sales 80,000 lbs. smoked beef at 15 a 11. Lard is heavy. No change m butter and cheeee. Tallow %% and quiet. AsHEs-Sales 100 bbls. Pots at 6.37. Pearls, 7.50. Wool— Market firm and quiet. Rocliestcr, February 24, 1849. Flour and Grain.-FIout $5.50. Wheat, $1.12^ per bushel. Corn 44 cents ; Rye 53 ; Barley 50 ; Oats 30. Seeds. — Clover seed. $3.50a4; Timothy, $2a3; Flax $1. Provisions.— Pork (mess) $13 a 14 per bbl.— in hog 5.50 per cwt. Beef, per cwt. $5 -barrel 7 a 8. Butter 13 a 14 cents; Cheese 6 a 6%. Hams (smoked) 7 cts. Poultry 6&. Eggs 16. SuNDRiEs.-Hides (slaughter) 3}^— Calf 10-Sheep Pelts 40 a 75 Salt, bbl. $1.25. Potatoes, bush., 37 a 50. Apples, bu. 3 1— dried 623^. Beans, bu., 75 cents. Hay, ton. $7 a 11. THE GENESEE FARMER, A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE, ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS OF Farm Buildings, Domestic Animals, Implements, Fruits, &c. The Tenth Volume of this Journal will commence on the 1st of January 1849 In making this announcement to his Agents and the Farmers and Fruit Culturists of the country, and again asking their support in behalf of the work, the Publisher has the satisfaction of stating that the Genesee Farmer now has a circu- lation exceeding, ey several thousand, that of any similar period- ical published in America. This fact, alone, furnishes abundant evidence of the real value and superior merit of the work— for no iournal however cheap.xan become and continue so universally popular' unless actually worthy of the substantial support of an intelligent community. The high reputation which the Farmer has acquired through- out the United States will be maintained, and if possible aug- mented, during the ensuing year. To accomplish this object, no effort or expense will be spared by the Editors or the Publisher. Their aim is to furnish a reliable and independent journal -one which shall avoid and condemn humbug in whatever guise it may appear, and impart correct practical and scientific information on all subjects pertaining to Agriculture and Horticulture. It will be issued on NEW AND CLEAR TYPE, and superior paper, and printed in the best style of the art-NEAT and correct. Its ILLUSTRATIONS — embracing Portraits of distinguished friends of improvement on steel and wood, and Engravings of Farm Buildings, Improved Implements, Domestic Animals, choice Fruits, Trees, Flowers, &c. -will be more numerous and expensive than those of any preceding volume. J@- Each number wiU contain at least 34 Royal Octavo Pages! makmg a large and handsome volume of several hundred pages at the close of the year. . The Genesee Farmer is, beyond dispute, the cheapest Agricul- tural an! Horticultural Paper in the Weld I - and the -Proprietor is determined to make it the neatest and best V, e confidently ask for it that support which it merits from the Farmers, Gard eners and Fruit Culturists of the United States. Terms — Invariably in Advance — as follows: Single Copy, 50 Cents. Five Copies for $2 and any greater number at the same rate, if directed to individuals. If directed toTne Person. Eight Copies for $3, and any additional number at the same rate. The entire volume sent to all subscribers. ftn- Post-Masters. Agents, and all friends of improvement, arc respectfully solicited to obtain and forward subscriptions. * P * The .January, February and March numbers have been stereotyed, which enables us to promptly supply those num- bers to all new subscribers. Subscription money, if properly enclosed may be sent (post- paid or free.) at the risk of the Publisher Address to D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester, New York. Agricultural Books.-A large assortmentof Books on Agriculture, Horticulture, &c, for sale at this Office, bee list of works and prices on preceding page. Also -complete sets of the Farmer from its commencement (except the 2d volume.) substantially bound, which we will sell at 50 cents per volume. These volumes are not suitable for sending by maU-tout we have copies of vols. 6, 7, and 8, bound in paper covers, which may be mailed. [rj» Competiors— See advertising department for list. THE GENESEE FARMER, Published on the first of each month, at Rochester, N. Y., by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. To Agents, Post-Masters and Subscribers. Agents. Post-masters and other friends of the Farmer wiU bear in mind that we offer Premiums amounting to OVER TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS (in Agricultural Books, Implements, &c. at cash prices,) for subscribers obtained before the 20th of April next. We have not room to publish the list of Premiums in this number, but will send it. together with show bill, specimens, &c, to all who wish to compete. . We hope that all of our former patrons will renew their sub- scriptions, and get as many new subscribers as convenient. If each of our readers will take the matter in hand— and we earnest- ly invite all so disposed to obtain and forward subscriptions— much may be accomplished in every section of the country. Friends, will you show the Farmer to your neighbors and acquaintances, and invite them to subscribe? DANIEL LEE fc D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. P. BARRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. Fifty Cents a Year, in Advance. Five Copies for $2, and any larger number at the same rate if directed to each subscriber. Eight Copies for $3, [f addressed to one person onht-and any larger number, directed in like manner, at the same rate. ITF All subscriptions to commence with the year, and the entire volume supplied to all subscribers. Advertisements.-A limited number of short and appro- nriate advertisements will be given in the Farmer at the rate onS 5 Per square or folio (ten lines or 100 words) for the first insertion, and $1 for each subsequent publication -in AD0=NThe Farmer is subject to newspaper postage only. STEREOTYPED BY JEWETT, THOMAS AND CO., BUFFALO, K. Y. Agriculturo is the most Healthy and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. VOL. X. ROCHESTER, N. Y. — APRIL, 1849. NO. 1. •farm ijnsbanLirn. IMPROVED SYSTEM OF HUSBANDRY. BY AGR1COI.A. When shall we see improvement among all our farmers ? We do not despair of seeing it general, if not universal. We see it already in many towns throughout the State — and what is the result ? In many of these towns already, an advance of from ten to twenty bushels per acre of the various crops raised. This is encouraging, and should induce every farmer to lend his aid. But perhaps some readers of the Farmer will say, " what do you mean by improvement?" We answer generally — first of all, know what is your soil ; if grains are your main dependence, what grains are best adapted to it. See if draining is needed — and here let me say it is much oftener necessary than farmers who have not paid attention to the subject generally suppose. If needed, see that it is done with as little delay as practicable — and we will venture to assure you, your crop from this source alone shall be increased from one-quarter to one-half. If you doubt, try it care- fully on a small piece of land, beside your land on which water stands more or less during the season,1 and if you do not realize at least one-quarter advance, we will admit that for once, land that needed drain- ing has not been improved. Select your manures judiciously and apply to the crops that need the variety you make. Wonld not this add much to your crops ? Who does not know that often a wheat crop is ruined almost by an appli- cation of fresh manure directly to the crop, which if applied to a preceding corn or root crop would have been of great value, and would have been sufficient for a wheat crop to succeed. Keep your land thoroughly subdued and let not the weeds master the grain. It costs no more to raise grain than weeds — and which is the most profitable for the farmer ? Improvement then can be had by carefully extirpating your weeds, and giving the grain an opportunity to obtain all the nutriment. Be careful in the choice of your seed. No man ever succeeded well who neglected this. It is a small matter perhaps you think. Is it? Let us see. Good and perfect seed will usually vegetate and pro- duce much larger return*, than poor half formed seeds. It will not fail to prove true as a general rule that like will produce like, and what a man sows that shall he also reap. Let your implements be of the best kind, and wherever labor-saving implements can be introduced to aid you, have them: all helps to cheapen the of production and increase the profit of the farmer. And don't forget to have every thing on your farm needed for work in its place when not in use, so that half the time of your men may not be taken up in running after the utensils, which have beer' where last used, instead of being in their proper place. Would not this be improvement, if properly attended to ? Keep an account with your farm — yes, with every field — and let it be carefully charged with every expense and credited with its avails, so that you can at any time know what is your condition, whether advancing as you desire, or whether the result is a loss. Change your method, if the latter is the case from year to year, and soon you will find the crop and the system of management that will pay: at all events you will know where you are, and it will be your own fault if you do not bring your books to show the balance on the right side. Is your land suited to fruit ? Then let the best kinds for yuur locality, adapted to market, be selected. The trees will grow while you sleep. It will be but a little time before they produce, and soon your fine apples will yearly find their way to the sea-board — across the ocean, it may be: and the balance sheet will be all right, and you be in the enjoyment of the good fruits of improvement. Is not this well worth trying ? Is the dairy your business ? How much cheese and butter do you make per cow ? Those who attend to their dairies as they should, and select cows suited to them, are realizing from 500 to 600 pounds of cheese per cow, and from 200 to 300 pounds of butter. Have you reached this standard ? If not, is it not worth your while to make the inquiry and ascertain what is the difficulty ? Now is not that an improve- ment which secures the return above given ? And now let us look at this matter personally. Improvements are needed — can be made — and shall they not be made ? What say the farmers ? — what say the boys ? An answer such as would be worthy of an American farmer would be — I will try; and if you try with all the lights which experience as well as science suggest, we venture the prediction, you will succeed — and then an answer will be found to the question which commences our article. 82 THE GENESEE FARMER. April Editorial Correspondence of the Farmer. WOOL -GROWING AND STOCK-RAISING IN THE MOUNTAINS. The article which was published in the December number of this journal under the above heading has excited a good deal of inquiry, and induced the writing of not a few letters both to the office of the Farmer and the writer in Augusta, Georgia. The subject is one of national importance; and will be generally acknowledged as such, when maturely considered. From the Highlands on the Hudson to the Tenessee Bluffs, on the Mississippi, there extends a range of mountains, hills and elevated plains, whose agricultural capabilities are little known, and less appreciated -by the great mass of American far- mers. This remark applies with peculiar apposite- ness to the high dividing ridges, plains and valleys southwest of Pennsylvania, which divide the waters that flew into the Ohio on the north, from those that fall into the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico on the south. The tobacco, corn, cotton, rice and sugar planter from Maryland and Louisiana have had little occasion to work far up-stream and settle on the table lands, and in the gorges of the Alleghany and Cumberland Mountains. The emigration of planters has set steadily in a south-westerly direction, and spread itself over the the rich bottoms and diluvions of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. A large portion of Virginia, and parts of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Ten- nessee and Kentucky present the most inviting field for rural industry and enterprise to be found on the continent. The writer has now spent two winters and one summer at the South: and has travelled over and studied the country with all the attention to its natu- ral advantages and disadvantages, which he could command. So soon as one rises above the exclusive planting region on the Atlantic slope, he comes at once into a district where pure air and pure water with a mild and most agreeable climate, promise him good health and every physical enjoyment. As a general thing the soil is not rich, for if it was, the excessive growth of vegetation and its rotting on the surface of the ground would cause much sickness. If any one is so foolish as to desire a very rich soil, and is willing to pay the imminent hazard of his life, and jeopard the lives of his family to cultivate the same, it can be found anywhere along the coast from Chesapeake Bay to the Rio Grande. By going back into the highlands, you find a region perfectly healthy, where all useful grasses flourish in great luxuriance; where crystal springs and noisy brooks abound on every side; and where the husbandman can raise grapes and all other northern fruits, and at the same time escape at least two-thirds of the winter of Massachusetts and New York. Wheat, rye, barley and oats grow in the coldest weather. Wheat sown in December here, is har- vested in May; so are oats and barley. We have in our office a stalk of corn that has six good sized ears that grew upon it; and round turneps that weigh over 16 pounds each. That a high degree of solar light and heat is favorable to the rapid organization of all plants, when properly fed, either by nature or art, few readers have occasion now to learn. The skilful farmer can turn this increased power to organ- ize grass, grain, roots and tubers, to a most profitable account. The northern man should have nothing to do with legitimate planting. Leave that to the worthy citizens who understand the business; but know nothing about wool-growing, making butter and cheese, nor any mixed agriculture. We are now paying two dollars a bushel for northern Irish potatoes. They are also brought from Tennessee. We have fine apples from Knoxville. Northern hay sells here at $20 a ton, when it can be raised at one fourth of the money. One can buy fair farming land within forty or fifty miles of this city on the railroad toward Nashville at from $2 to $5 an acre. These lands have some buildings and fences upon them. They belong to planters who want to emigrate with their "force" to the richer virgin soils of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas. This tide of planting emigra- tion, setting so constantly westward, creates, a va- cancy for a new race of legitimate farmers. The latter uniformly do well; for they get their land for a song; they have an excellent market at their doors, and purchase all their groceries, dry-goods and hard- ware as cheap as the farmers of Western N. York do. Sweet potatoes and peaches are raised here by free white labor at a cost not to exceed six cents a bushel. Three crops of figs grow on the same tree in a sea- son. Although Augusta is too far north to make a business of growing oranges, yet we never saw finer ones than grew in the open air in this city the past year. The man that makes pork and beef in the Cherokee country for European consumption has about 2,000 miles freight advantage over the pork and beef at Cincinnati, which has to be sent 1500 to N. Orleans, and 1000 more round Cape Florida, before it reaches Savannah or Charleston. In 24 hours the Georgia farmer can have his on ship board hi either seaport. Count up the difference in time, interest on capital, freight, insurance, danger of spoiling in the hot Gulf; and you will see the advantage of being near the sea-coast. Wool growing can be made profitable on the table lands of Tennessee; as it can be in this state. Tanning and currying leather, and getting out timber and boards in our pine forests, are truly profitable in the hands of men that understand the business. One that understood the trade of making plows and all agricultural implements, might realize a fortune in this city. It has a water power nearly equal to that at Rochester. These things are named in answer to private let- ters. Manufacturing and mechanical pursuits are regarded with favor — all seek to encourage them. As a general rule money is made easily and spent freely. There is a large number of northern men here, and especially in mercantile business. Very few of them are planters. A few days ago a slave paid $2000 down for himself, wife and two children, in this city. There are scores that own good houses and lots, who are yet slaves. One in the city of Macon owns two slaves. On being asked why he did not buy himself, he said his master asked $1,700 for him; and he had purchased two men as good as himself for $1,300. All this class of negroes hire their time by the year; usually at about $75 or $80; and have all they"can make by keeping horses and drays, snd doing job work, which often amounts to $1000 per annum. Every change made is for the better. Both races are working upward, and will, we hope, come out right at last. Augusta, Ga., 1849. 1819. THE GENESEE PARMER. 83 HINTS TO DAIRYMEN. Four years ago the number of cowa milked in the State of New York was within a small fraction of a million. It now considerably exceeda even that high figure; for the dairy business has been greatly extended since the census of 1845. No branch of rural industry present- greater facilities for improving a farm, for increasing its capacity to keep more cows and enlarge' the annual receipts of the husband- man. By carefully saving all the manure, both solid and Liquid, made by domestic animals, it will be easy to raise an immense amount of excellent food for cows, on a comparatively small surface. For this purpose, corn, carrots, potatoes, pumpkins, clover and herd's grass are among the most available crops which we have seen cultivated. The dairyman, by uniting skilful tillage with grazing, will experience little difficulty in feeding a much larger number of cows than is now generally kept in New York and Ohio. Of course, he will need more funds to purchase more cows, and more help to milk and take care of them. Many, however, who do not lack the wherewith to procure either labor or cows, fail to see their way clear, how to raise six or eight tons of sweet nutritious forage an acre, by planting corn quite thick in drills for that purpose. Like all other farming operations, this must be practiced repeatedly to be well understood. We have seen some failures, but more cases of the most satisfactory results. There is some trouble, particularly in wTet weather, in curing a luxuriant growth of green maize. Being cut when most suc- culent, just as the kernels begin to form when the whole plant abounds in saccharine matter, it needs to be exposed to the sun, turned over, like thick new mown grass, and thereafter to be bound in small bun- dles and set up to make in small bunches or stooks. The Rochester City Milk Company, and other milk- producing establishments with which we have been acquainted, have found the raising this kind of forage as well as carrots, profitable. At the South green rye, oats and peas are fed to mules, horses and cows. On good land, the expense of growing additional feed for dairy cows, i. e. something beside common pas- tures and meadows, is much less than one who has never tried it would suppose. A top-dressing of lime and gypsum spread .over pastures and meadows in the spring of the year will often impart new vigor to the grass, and add greatly to its yield for the season, if not longer. Sometimes more grass seed should be sown, and the ground well scarified with the harrow. Ashes are particularly valuable to scatter over all fields where a good crop of grass is desired. Swamp muck sweetened with caustic lime in the form of compost, is generally worth more than it will cost, to be used as a top* dressing on meadows and pastures. Applied to hoed crops it is also valuable. As first rate dairy cows are always in demand at fair prices, every farmer should bec"careful to raise all calves, particularly females, from a family remarkable for good milkers. In this way the dairies of the country will improve rapidly* Much depends on the keep of calves and heifers, and the way in which the latter are treated during the two first years they are milked, in fixing their productive value for dairy purposes. Perfect regularity in feeding, uniform kindness and gentleness, as well as milking reason- ably fast and quite clean, are matters of practical importance. A young cow which is much inclined to elaborate a large flow of milk will secrete more, it it he draw ii three times in twenty-lour hours, and at eight hours between each milking than she would it milked hut twice b day. Salt eons regularly, or have it under a shed where the\ may eat what will, after having been restricted a little, till accus- tomed to a full supply by d Have your pas- tures as near the milk house 08 practicable that your herd be not taxed with a long walk to and from their fields to the yard or cow house. TEXAS WHEAT. -VALUE OF T.TMT, It is stated by a gentleman from Coroicana, in Limestone county, that about forty thousand bushels of wheat been raised in Limestone and Navarro counties this se A part of this u.,. harvested as early as the 9th of May, and it is of nn excellent quality. The grains are plump and and the wheat, it is believed, will average over sixty pounds to the bushel. A large quantity of wheat has been raised in Trinity Valley above Daliis, The experiments in the culture of this grain, indicate that the whole region, watered by the Trinity and its tributaries above Smithfield, is as well adapted to the culture of wheat as the best wheat growing regions in the middle .States. The soil, in that section, contains a large proportion of lime, and it is probably owing to the presence of this mineral that it is better adapted to the culture of wheat than the soil near coasts. There is a belt of country extending quite across Texas from the Red River to the Rio Grande, and including most of the undulating region of that country, that is as well adapted to the culture of wheat as any portion of the Union. This section com- prises at least thirty millions of acres, and may at some future day, yield breadstuffa sufficient for the consumption of more that ten millions of people. We clip the above from a Texas journal for the purpose of impressing on the mind of every reader the importance of lime in all soils, not merely for the production of wheat, but of all other cereal plants. it is most striking to note the difference in general fertility, between limestone and ordinary granite lands. The average crops of the latter, especially after a few years' cultivation, do not exceed a third of what are grown on common calcareous soils. Lime seems greatly to improve the mechanical tex- ture of all cultivated lands, as well as furnish plants with their appropriate mineral food. It is instruc- tive to study the reasons why such soils accumulate near the surface, so bountiful a supply of potash, soda, magnesia, sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, soluble flint, and rich vegetable mold. Lime is not transmuted into any of these substances; but this mineral serves in a remarkable degree, and in more ways than one, to prevent their loss in premature solution, and by washing and leaching. Alumina, (the basis of pure clay,) possesses similar properties to an equal and perhaps greater extent. Hence, the strongest and most durable soils in the world, combine the two ad- vantages of lime and clay: i, e. they are calcareous and argillaceous in their leading chemical and me- chanical characteristics. Now, whilst all know that subsoils lack vegetable and animal mo''' and that this cold earth is peculiarly lifeless, still, there are few who are wholly ignorant of the fact that, sub- soils usually contain more pure clay and lime than the pervious, and apparently richer ground above. To bring lime and clay up to the light and heat of the sun, to the chemical action of atmospheric gases, and to the fertilizing influence of rains and dews, deep plowing is the thing. If the intelligent reader has reason to believe that his land lacks lime, from the scarcity of that mineral in his neighborhood, and the softness of the water 84 THE GENESEE FARMER. April in springs and wells, its application can hardly fail to improve the soil. If it can be had at a small price, the dose should be often repeated in the course of successive crops, that the lime may be thoroughly incorporated in the whole texture and mass of the earth. With all needful facilities for its cheap transportation, lime is so abundant in this country, that before many generations pass away, no farming district will do without this important element of fertility. The mineral which makes the Cherokee country in Georgia, the Trinity valley in Texas, and that of Genesee, in New York, so famous for yielding wheat, will be applied in due quantity, to the free sand stone and granitic soils of other regions. It is a mistake to suppose that the application of one or two small doses of lime will form a truly calca- reous soil. Such a result can be economically effected only as the work of years, and after much mixing by tillage with the plow, harrow, cultivator and hoe. A regular system of liming carried through many seasons, on a moderate scale, will doubtless bring about a most salutary change in the strength and productiveness of the land. Farmers should investigate the peculiarities of every kind of husbandry ; and be able to distinguish closely between all practices which impair and all that improve the soil. Nothing is easier than to be mistaken and disappointed in these results. Extreme caution in trying experiments on a large scale is the only safe course; but a little experimenting will harm no one, and often brings to light some important im- provement. There are many millions of acres that greatly need improvement: and still other millions whose natural fertility should be saved from any deterioration. A DROP FROM THE CORNICE. Messrs. Editors :— As I have recently become a GEDDES' HARROW. subscriber to your valuable paper, I have, of course become one of its readers. Although a Mechanic, and not " a Farmer," I esteem its contents of greater value than its subscription price. Now, though I may be but a .small drop in the stream, if I chance to get into it, I will accept the invitation friend Peters has given in his fable of the Raindrop, in your Janu- ary number, and come out from raider the cornice ; yet I have not the vanity to think that he had me " in his eye'' when he gave the invitation. As great things cannot be expected from so small a drop as I am, I will put myself in motion by trying to answer a small question, suggested by your cor- respondent, "G. S. G.," in your January number, though I am not an Architect. He says, in a paren- thesis, "that his house looks steeper and more Gothic than his drawing ; thongh he don t know why, as the proportions are the same." He has undoubtedly drawn the end in exact proportion with the exact an- gle of the roof. Had he drawn a view of the end only, the roof would then have appeared as steep in the drawing as in his house ; but as he has to this added a view of the side, it indicates that the point of observation is not in front, but at one side of the front, and from this position the end of the house itself must appear narrower while the height appears the same, consequently the angle of the roof would appear more acute. If these laws had been observed, the drawing and house would have appeared to have the same proportions. I will close by hoping to say something in my next to interest more directly the Horticulturist and Farmer. D.— Albion, JV. Y. " The Geddes Harrow, so called from the inventor, George Geddes of Tyler, Onondaga County, in this State, is considered by those who have used both, to be superior to the square harrow, inasmuch as it draws from a centre, with- out an uneasy and strug- gling motion, and is of course easier for the team. The accompanying cut is so simple that it needs no description. Being hung on hinges, it is easily lifted when in motion, to let off collections of weeds, roots and other obstructions. It can be doubled back, and is of very convenient form to be carried in a wagon about the farm. Some have teeth put in as in common harrows, simply by being driven in from the upper side • others have the teeth so made as to be let through the timber from the under side, with a washer below, and a nut and screw on the top; this avoids the loosing of teeth, by preventing them from drop- ping out, as in the common harrows. There are several sizes containing more or less teeth as required. The following table shows the number of teeth in the several sizes, and their prices: 14 teeth, for one horse, - ~""^q'm! 18 teeth, for one or two horses - - -j-^" 22 teeth, for two light horses, - - - ^-"" 26 teeth, for two heavy horses, - - - *£•"" 30 teeth, for two or three horses. 10-"u The work performed by this harrow is better, with one operation,' than can be done with a common A harrow by going twice over the ground. ' This Harrow may be obtained at the Albany Ag- ricultural Warehouse, Albany, and at the Genesee Seed Store and Ag. Warehouse, Rochester. _ A so of the principal manufacturers and dealers in imple- ments throughout the country An Agricultural School. — We are credibly informed that Mr. Wilkinson of Germantown, Fa., seven miles from Philadelphia, has an Agricultural School for the instruction of young gentlemen in Scientific and Practical Agriculture, and that a thorough English education, with four modern lan- guages, is given as an adumctto the scientific course. Every branch is thoroughly and practically taught. The school is called the Mount Airy Agricultural Institute. Its location is proverbial for health. It is said that the character and advantages ot this school are not excelled bv any in the Union. 1 he Tuition year is divided into two terms of five months each: the summer term commences on the hrst Thursday of April, and the winter term on the first Thursday of October. The charge for tuition, board, washing, fuel and light is $100 per term, payable in Persons wishing further information relative to this school, will address the principal, John Wilk- inson, Germantown, Pa. Reference is also given to the following gentlemen: Gen. P. S. Smith, Phila- delphia; Thos. McElrath. Esq., N. Y. Tribune N Y • Hon. Thos. Baltzell, Tallahasse, i a., and Richard Peters, Esq., Atlanta, Ga. - Southern Cultivator. 1849. mii: <;i;\i;ski; kaiimkk. 85 THE PLOW -ITS HISTORY AND IMPROVEMENTS. r,Y HORACE I. EMRRV. Friend Mqorr: — With what cuts I have been enabled to obtain in time, I resume the subject commenced in your March number. [ c! ing of the improvers of the plow. Among others, it is hut justice to name E. ti. Matthews as one of the most ingenious of the later improvers] but more particularly as an in- by which the wood work of the plow is made with perfed uniformity and precision not otherwise attainable, and by the aid of which six to twelve men are enabled to make more and better plows Chan three or four times the number could make in the usual way. The effect of the use of this hinery has been to give a character to the plows Id to establish the confidence of the public in I Hence. It has, also, in a great measure, been the key to the success of some of the st establishments engaged in their manufacture. With regard to the form of plows, much improve1 ment has been made by combining more perfectly the power of the wedge and screw, (which, by the way, are the only two natural powers combined in the I boaTdof the plow). Very many patterns pre- sent a broad and thick, stunt wedge, with too much of a cross cut to the edge, not unlike that shown in Fig. 1, (of plow in- verted,) while others, of later and more approved model, are thinner and more pointed, as Fig. 2. shown in Fig. 2. This dif- :.> is observable between the American and the ap- proved w7rought iron English and Scotch plows. One great <■■ )» A\% obstacle in making plows after this form, as shown in Fig. 2, has heretofore been the deficiency in the strength of cast iron when made thin and pointed and sufficiently hard. Such, however, have been the improvements in the combination of the various iron ores, as to obtain strength, with less weight and thickness, nearly equal to malleable iron. Although rather soft, this iron bears the hardening process to a lmost any degree, and can be used in those parts most- ly exposed to wear, without endangering the strength. As this fact has become known, the cast-iron plow has become more pointed and wedge form, and the ap- proved modern American plow will not suffer by a comparison with those of England or Scotia ml. Much depends upon the curves given to the mould- board. They should be so formed as to bear the earth equally and lightly over the whole surface, and these curves carried so far as to completely invert the soil. In grass or sod land it is not desirable to break the furrow slice, and good length of mould- board is required — nearly in the proportion of width to length, as one to four — while, in stubble and tilled land, a shorter mould-board is preferred, say width to length, as one to two or two and a half: the same rule should be observed in both cases. I have formed the opinion, from close observation, that the best form for plows (and the best plows now in use come very nearly to this standard.) is that which will lift, carry, ana turn the soil in straight lines, from that point upon the forward part of the share where it first begins to rise, to the point where it leaves the mould-board. For instance, in a furrow twelve inches wide, the sward would begin to alter the point had penetrated three to live ini one edge of the slice would rise from this point by the forward motion oi the plow, until, at the point where it leas the h : the mould board, it is twelve inches from the bottom of the furrow. What ! WOuld ! 'nil the Btraight line would he ;i fulness to a straight en these ! This fulness to a straight lino should apply not only to one r^^o, of the slice, but to the v h ■ of the mould-board. Again, to work easily and turn a smooth furrow, the slice should also be fully supported c Fig. 3. therefore the mould- board should ba fulness at right angles or nearly so, with straight lines before described, and as rep- resented in Fig. 3. — When the mould-boards are so formed as to present irregular curves, or so as to lack this fulness, or to be too full, the friction becomes unequal, the draft of team and labor of plowman are increased, to say nothing of the imperfection of the work performed. In Fig. 4 is shown a form which, although regular, is not in accordance Fig. 4. with the foregoing description. A plow which presents the straight lines in these directions is inferior to the first in operation, in all respects. Therefore, if I am correct, a farmer purchasing a plow will find a simple straight-edge of great service in making a good selection. Thus much for the form of the mould-board. — Another improvement now adopted in nearly all late patterns, is that of forming the share so as to renew the front portion of the plow and the landside, so as to extend the whole length and next the share. By this arrangement the strength of the whole ba se and front, of the plow is preserved, and when the old point and landside are replaced by new ones, the original strength, form and effect are restored. The chilling process being applied to the edge of the share and the base of the landside and mould-board, those parts are not only made to' wear sharp, and of three or four times more service, but actually create less friction — the difference being the same as that between steel and iron Bleigh shoes upon the ground. Albany, JY Y., March, 1849. . [To be continued.] Bonks. — That world-renowned chemist. Liebig, says that a single pound of bone dust contains as much phosporic acid as one hundred pounds of w ! From this we can easily perceive that there are bones wasted on every 'farm sufficient to manure the entire wheat crop. * This, to many, w ill doub ■ strange, but it is nevertheless true. The Salt found in the great salt lake in Califor- nia, is said to be su now in use, for preserving butter, beef, &c. It is the strongest ever yet discovered. Never grumble at what you cannot prevent: you have no right to grumble at what you can prevent. 86 THE GENESEE FARMER. April EXPERIMENT IN WIRE FENCE MAKING. BY D. KINGMAN. Messrs. Eeitors -.—Believing that my brother farmers feel an interest in whatever experiments others may try, whether useful or otherwise in them- selves considered,— especially if facts are stated, so that they can practice, throw away, or improve upon them, as their judgments may direct— I have been in- duced to send you my experience in making wire fence. During the last fall I constructed 104 rods of wire fence in the following manner : I placed red cedar posts one rod apart, the posts being sawed about 3| inches square at the bottom, and 3£ by 2 inches at the top, and set firmly in the ground to the depth of 2£ feet. I then bored holes through the posts with a I inch bit— the upper one 4| feet from the ground, and then 9, 8£, 1\ and 6 inches below, using five wires. Five inches below the lower wire I placed a board fourteen inches wide, (with a short post in the centre to which I nailed the board,) which comes near enough to the ground. I then drew the wires through the posts and strained them by means of a lever, one end of which I stuck into the ground. I then looped the end of the wire around the lever near the ground, and while one is drawing upon the top of the lever, I plug the hole tight with pins of red cedar, previously prepared. I usually strained the wires 15 or 20 rods at a time, then spliced the wires by looping and twist- ing the ends, and proceeded in like manner again. After the w:.res are in and the boards on, I take pieces of wire of the right length and make one end fast to the upper wire, and then wind it round the wires below till I come to the board through which I bore a hole and fasten the lower end of the wire ; three of these wires between each two posts, thus fastening it all together. The upper and lowTer wires are No. 10, and the others No. 11. I bought my wire of Messrs. Pratt and Co., of Buffalo, at $7,50 per hundred. The five wires weighed 355 pounds. The wire that I used to weave in up and down was No. 1G, and cost 10 cents per pound ; it took 25 pounds. My posts I bought in the log (pretty large ones,) at $12 per cord ; one cord made 105 posts, the number used. It took 2000 feet of hemlock boards, which I reckon at $7 a thou- sand. The saving of the posts was $2,25. The cost foots up as follows : 355 pounds of wire, at 7j| cents, $25,02 25 pounds of wire, at 10 cents, 2,50 One cord red cedar posts, — - -12,00 2000 feet hoards, at $7, 14,00 Sawing posts, - -- — 2,25 Making the cost of materials, - $55,77 Which being divided by 104, the number of rods of fence made, gives 53 £ cents as the cost per rod — aside from nails of which I kept no account. Some of your numerous readers may be anxious to know whether such fence will answer the purpose in all cases. I can only say that mine is a road fence, and that when it was built, there was a good crop of pumpkins lying in the field along side, where they grew, and that notwithstanding many cattle and hogs made the attempt at them, they did not succeed ; and my short experience goes far to convince me that no cattle, hogs or fowls will get over or through it. Ridgeway, JV*. Y., January, 1849. The above article should have been published in our February number, but was overlooked. Its facts and figures are important. — Ed. MORE ABOUT WIRE FENCE. BY T. C. PETERS. My friend Myron Adams, Esq., has another good article on the subject of wire fences. As he is the only one among us, as yet, who has made the experi- ment, I concede to him the right to speak by authority. But he does me too much honor where he writes me "judge" and I fear a wrong impression might be created if I were to leave the error uncorrected. I am not a judge, never was, and never desire to be a judge. The highest elective office I was ever eleva- ted to, was Trustee of a School District, and some idea may be formed of my popularity when I say that I never got a single vote for re-election ! Perhaps I am wrong in saying that I have never held any other elective office, for I have been several times honored by being elected President of the Genesee County Agricultural Society. I am free to say that I am prouder of that office than any other the far- mers have it in their power to bestow, and am more anxious to discharge the duties in a proper and satis- factory manner. But to the fence. I have been confined so much of the past month by sickness, I have neglected the sub- ject entirely. Mr. Adams may be right as to the number of strands, though I cannot see the necessity of over five in four feet, for he says that is the proper height. I however won't quarrel with him. All I want is to keep the matter before the public, and ultimately we shall get something that will be reliable and useful. I am entirely confident that within ten years wire fence will be the prevailing fence in this country and abroad, because it will be the cheapest, most durable and ornamental of any that can be built. There will be failures of course, but the very necessity of the thing will force it to perfection. Mr. Adam's practice is worth all my theory, and I learn very much from him each time he writes. He has adopted the only true method of mending, or join- ing the wires, and that by winding. The same meth- od is used at the suspension bridges. I commenced agitating this subject of wire fence about a year ago, and although I have been often ridiculed and called visionary, I have not been deterred from keeping it up. I am amply repaid by the great amount of knowledge which has been thus far brought out. And before another year goes round, the building of this kind of fence will be no longer an experiment. I fully agree with Mr. Adams that farmers ought to be satisfied if they can build a durable fence for fifty ents per rod. Darien, JY. Y., March, 1849. GRAVEL FENCE. O. E. Garrison, of Troy, 111., gives in the Prairie Farmer, the following mode of constructing gravel fence. It looks quite practicable:— "Put up a wall of gravel and lime three feet six inches high, (the same way they build gravel houses) eight or ten inches thick at the bottom and three or four at the top. When the last layer is in the moulds, put in sticks (strips of lath will do) eight or ten inches long, leav- ing them six inches above he mortar, and sharpened like pickets; you will then have a fence four feet high that will last forever. If you want it to look nice, take sand and lime, each an equal quantity, add any coloring matter to suit your fancy — lay it on the wall and mark it like stone blocks. It will make a fence nobody need be ashamed of, at a cost of not more than a dollar a rod." 1849. THE GENESEE FARMHK. 87 VALUE AND CULTIVATION OF BARLEY. BY HTROM ADAMS. Messrs. Editors: — My attention has been called to the crops of barley raised in tliis town for which premiums have been awarded by our State and county Agricultural Societies during the last six years. I think the value of the barley crop is not duly apprecia- ted by our t'arnnrs. and perhaps a statement ot what has been clone here may stimulate Others to engage in its culture. 1 have not been **-' • readily to find full statements of all the cro'v .or which premiums have been awarded by on; oocioty, and have therefore ta- ken nine crops u inch I find reported in the Cultivator. The largest crop, grown by S. B. Dudley, was 69 bushels. The least crop of the nine was 48| bush- els— the average 56 J bushels. Three of these crops were grown by Mr. Bradlky, and the average of the three is 59j bushels. Mr. Dudley also raised three of these crops, and his average is 57 £ bushels. These crops were all grown after corn — the land having been manured for the corn with from 15 to 3.0 loads of unrotten barn yard manure. The land was but once plowed, thoroughly harrowed, and in some cases rolled and plastered. The seed was generally 8ov.n dry, but for some of the crops it was soaked in the strong black juice of the barn yard, and rolled in lime. One important feature in these crops is, were heavily seeded. In most of them 3 bush- els of barley, per acre were sown. The average ex- pense per acre of growing these crops I think will not exceed $10, including rent of land — and the value of the crop per bushel will average 50 cents. The amount of the average of these nine crops is 5;;i bushels, at 50 cents per bushel, would be $28 25 deduct expense of cultivation — $10 would leave a profit of $14 per acre. Another thing in favor of this crop is that the land is only occupied by it for about three months, and is then in the very best state for a crop of winter wheat. I apprehend the reason why this crop is so unpopu- lar with farmers is that when they raise barley they sow it upon poor land, in an exhausted state, and quite too many acres of it. It ripens when they are engaged in their wheat harvest, is suffered to stand until it is dead ripe, and is then very disagreeable in- deed to handle. Our best growers of barley do not sow over two or three acres, sow it easily and har- vest it as soon as the stalk begins to whiten below the head. It is then pleasant to handle, and the straw is better for fodder than the straw of any other grain. With good culture it is a very sure crop. It is sometimes smutty but never when the seed is limed. There is a great temptation to sell the crop for distilling when the price rises to 60 ami 70 cents a bushel, as it has the two last seasons — but I think farmers will always find it a profitable grain for con- sumption. Grind it or soak it and feed it to hogs, horses, working cattle, poultry — any thing but milch cows and breeding sows. East Bloomfield, JY. Y., 1849. SEEDING WITH CLOVER.— AGAIN. BY F. W. LAY. Messrs. Editors : — Your reviewer of this month thinks I labor under a hallucination, in asserting that clover will not grow when sown in the spring on the wheat crop, with once jJowing a sward ; and says "that if cast early enough, before the frosts of spring have ceased to elevate and crumble the soil, so as to cover the seed, it never fails if the seed is good." Whether this is his mere ipsr dixit, OT the result of any experiments or observations, he doea not inform us; but he probably reasons from th id of experience ;' and a this may be important for te know in order not to be disappointed in Crops and rotations, I will slate my observations on the subject. The first time 1 observed it was BOme six \ ago in making an alteration in the lots. I brought about an acre of i lover sod in with my summer-fal- lows, which I turned under and sowed with wheat — the soil a deep rich sand. The next spring 1 seeded the whols with clover ; have forgotten the time of seeding. The part summer-fallowed grew finely, and was very thick, while directly side of it, where the clover sod was, scarcely a plant was to be seen. The next year I had a lot of nine acres, about three of which was planted with corn and the remainder in wheat ; and as I wished to get it all in one crop, I plowed it all in the fall and sowed it with wheat. The next spring I sowed on clover seed, as sown in the spring as I could after the snow was gone. The soil was a gravelly loam. The three acres where the corn was, the clover grew very thick and rank, while directly along side, for the whole length of the lot, which was sixty-three rods, not a plant was to be seen. I afterwards turned over three acres of wheat stubble in the spring and sowed with oats and clover, dragging in the clover seed with the oats. I watched this carefully; the plants came up but soon began to wither, and, by midsummer, were all gone, as the whole lot was alike. I am not certain but the dry weather of summer may have killed this, hut the two first cases to me were fair and satisfactory. I have also noticed it in several cases on my neighbors' grounds, and have never known a different result. How it might be in some soils and circumstances, I know, not. Why it should fail with once plowing, any more than several, I cannot tell. Greece, JY. Y., Febmary, 1849. * Our reviewer is one of the most experienced practical farmers in Monroe county. — Ed. Improvement in New England. — The subject of farming, or rather of improvement in the mode of farming, is beginning to attract a little more notice than it formerly did ; and amidst much prejudice and ignorance, some of our best farmers are thinking and talking about how they shall turn their labor to better account. They begin to see the necessity of con- necting science with agriculture. As an evidence of an increased interest on the subject, I will mention the fact, that a few weeks ago, a '' farmers' club" was organised in this place, for the purpose of "Mutual improvement in the art of farming ;" and the subject of "Manures," was proposed for discussion at our next meeting. Warren, Ct., March, 1849. H. Pea Bugs.— Friend Farmer:— Not having bugs in my seed peas for several years, I claim, in behalf of all concerned, to tell my story. My way of doing it is, to sow early peas, and as soon as they are ripe, sow them for a second crop the same year. No bugs will be found in the last crop. Whether the same time of sowing of last year's seed or of keeping the same to the second year I know not, not having tried it. My first crop I have found usually stung badly ; but by sowing immediately, the insect has not time to mature, and leaves the second crop untouched. Hinmanville, March, 1849. Cephus. THE GENESEE FARMER April KETCHUM'S MOWING MACHINE — PATENTED JULY, 1847 KETCHUM'S MOWING MACHINE. The information in our possession relative to this machine induces us to recommend it to the attention of farmers. The manufacturer states that— "This machine is simple in its construction, and made mostly of iron, and not liable to get out of order. It is capable of cutting from 16 to 20 acres a day; and the grass when cut by it falls back to the rack bar, and lays smooth and even on the ground, in a proper shape to dry — thereby saving the time and expense of spreading it. In meadows that are con- siderably broken and uneven, as well as those which are smooth and even, it has been found to operate with perfect success, and to all appearance the cutting is the same." This machine received the first premium of the N. Y. State Ag. Society, at the Annual Fair at Saratoga, in 1847. It was exhibited at the State Fair in 1848, and received a Certificate as the highest evidence of merit. We annex the report of the Committee : "The undersigned, a Committee on Mowing Machines, Report.— That, only one Machine, and that patented to Wm. F. Ketchum of Buffalo, has been submitted to their inspection. They have examined this with care, and have had a full opportunity of witnessing its operation, and in their opinion, the Machine is simple in construction, and performs its work in a very satisfactory and complete manner, accomplishing a great saving of manual labor. Although the Machine works best in meadows with smooth and even surface, yet, we see no reason why it will not do well on surfaces moderately broken and uneven, not being exposed as we see, to any greater embarrassment from une- ven surfaces than the Plow is. As regards its liability to be broken or disarranged in its work, we discover nothing pe- culiar, and as to this, it can only be determined by longer continued experiments than we have had opportunity to witness. On the whole, we recommend the Machine to the favor- able regards of the Society, and through the Society to the attention of the Agricultural public. A 11 of which is respect- fully submitted. Albert H. Tkacy, Thomas C. Love, Buffalo, Sept. 7, 1848. W. R. Coppock." PEASE'S RAKING- PLATFORM. If this improvement, attached to the machine, above represented, will work as well in a wheat field, as is indicated by the operation of a model we have examined, | it will prove a most valuable invention. It is thus described by Mr. Pease : "The Raking Platform (A) is attached to the back of the rack bar, it being of the length and width required to receive the grain, and from two to three inches in thickness, consequently not interfering with the stubble over which it passes. When a sufficient quantity of grain has been cut and falls on the platform, it is easily raked therefrom by the per- son that drives, who sits upon a spring seat (e) and by pulling the lever (d) a short distance, (it being connected with the raking apparatus which is placed in the platform,) it operates immediately on the teeth (c c c,) which are forced across the platform, raking the grain from it, and landing it on the ground between the platform and the apron (b.) By a reverse motion of the lever the teeth fold up and travel back under the platform, and rise behind the turn off, by which they are protected; consequently the teeth- in their return, do not interfere with the grain which is constantly falling on and across the platform. The time required to rake the bundle is no more than is necessary for the person who drives to move the lever a short distance. By this simple machine it will be seen that one man is required to drive the team and rake the grain: having at his control the raking apparatus enables him to gather a bundle as large as he likes, and rake it when and where he pleases; and he can make allowance for the thickness and thinness of the grain and rake it accordingly. It is raked in such a manner, that the bundle is landed upon the ground smooth and even, and out of the way of the machine when it comes round for the next swarth, leaving the grain in bun- dle, and in good condition to bind at leisure. The Raking Platform is easily attached to any 1841). THE GENESEE FARMER. 89 grass or grain cutting machine. As represented above it is attached to Ketchum's Mowing Machine, which is made to answer a double purpose. A far- mer can use it for mowing; and by attaching the platform it is made a reaping machine, capable of raking its own grain, and easily operated by one man. The great amount of time and expense saved by this invention will be acknowledged when it is known that in all other reaping machines it requires a num- ber of men to operate them, or to bind the grain and get it out of the way, for the* next swarth. By this machine one man can drive his team and rake the grain into a bundle and leave it smooth and even on the ground, and out of the way of the machine when it comes round for the next swarth. The attachment of this " rake off" to Ketchum's Mower, or any similar machino,enables the farmer to cut his hay, and cut and rake his grain with the same machine." Further information relative to Ketchum's Mowing Machine, and Pease's Raking Platform, can be ob- tained of Mr. Samuel W. Hawes, of Buffalo, N. Y., who is owner of the patents. See his advertisement in February number of the Farmer, and also in the advertising department of this number. NOTES FOR THE MONTH. H. Y., in the last Farmer, demurs to my use of the term alluvial soil as incorrect when applied to our formations. He says diluvial is the word. I wrote alluvial, because every farmer knows the meaning as rich bottom soil ; and all the subsoil of Seneca County is of that character. Diluvial, I take it, is often mere barren drift or detritus. The hills of Indiana have been called alluvial by professed geologists. But as I am far from accusing H. Y. of hypercriticism, I hope he will excuse me for demur- ring to the expletive he puts in a line of Shakespeare. The Sovereign Peo -le. — It must be admitted by all the world that to the people of these United States alone belongs the title of Sovereign People. In republican France all is taxed to support a colos- sal army to protect the government, not against the foreign loo, but against the fickle, factious people, who made the government itself. It takes the enor- mous amount of $328,000,000 annually to support the republican government of France : whereas the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States estimates our expenditures for the coming year at a little over ($33,000,000. The taxation of the United States is only about one dollar and fifty cents per head, and nearly all from a duty on imports. In France it is nearly ten dollars per head, and the revenue is raised chiefly by direct taxation. What would our farmers say to such taxation ? 'Tis true that the products of the soil might rise in price, but what would become of those farmers who have little or no surplus to pell ? S. W. CARROTS. Cyrus T. Deak has raised in the town of Mt. Morris, Liv. Co., the past season, on seventy-tlnv.' square rods of land, three hundred and seventy bush- els of carrots, about one half of the yellow kind, the remainder of the white field variety. The land on which they were raised, is a black muck, with. clay subsoil. The expense of raising the crop was as follows: 2 days work of hand and team plowing and harrowing, $^.00 4 days planting by hand. 4.00 7 days hoeing, at $1 per day, - 7.00 Expense of harvesting at 3 cents per bushel, 10.00 $24 .50 Crop worth 25 cents per bushel, 00.00 Over and above expenses $65.50 Yours, fcc., Wm. W. Deak. Remarks. — We are highly gratified with the above result, as it is a subject, — the raising of roots, — that we have taken a great interest in, and the ben- efits of which we wish to enforce upon our readers. Mr. D. has stated his price for labor, and perhaps the value of his crop, too high — but with that deduc- tion, it is an important result. — Ed. 90 THE GENESEE FARMER. April jhnprcroeb Stock. SHORT HOHN CATTLE. -ME. VAIL'S STOCK. BY SANFORD P. CHAPMAN. [Reply to M. Hanford. Jr., andA.G. P., page 43 of present volume.] As friend H. calls for some testimony in regard to Mr. Vail's stock, and also asks a few questions, we think we cannot do better than present him a few facts, most of which are already familiar to the greater part of the agricultural public. At the show of the American Institute, in 1843, Mr. Vail's Meteor, then only two years old, was awarded the highest premium for the best bull of any age, competition open to the United States. At the State Show, held at Poughkeepsie, in 1844, Meteor was again awarded the first premium for the best Durham bull, and also the first premium for the best bull of any age or breed. At the State Show at Auburn, in 1846, Mr. Vail's Lady Harrington III, [for portrait and pedigree of this cow see vol. vm, p. 212 of this journal. — Ed.] received the first pre- mium. At Saratoga in '47, Mr. F.'s Hilpa was also successful. In '45 Mr. Z. B. Wakeman, of Herki- mer Co., purchased two calves of Mr. Vail, a bull and heifer. These obtained the first premiums in their class at Utica in '45, at Auburn in '46, at Saratoga in '47, and the bull at Buffalo in '48. In 1844, (see the Society's Transactions for '44, pages 214 and 215,) the Society's first premium was awarded to Mr. Vail, for the largest quantity of butter made from 6 cows,* (all thorough bred Durhams,) in 30 days, fed on grass pasture alone, and that not the best. It will be seen by that statement, that the six cows produced 265 lbs. and 10 oz. of butter in 30 days. One cow, (Old Wxlley,) milk and cream kept separate, produced 52 lbs. and 9 oz. The quantity of milk, accurately weighed and measured from the six cows in one day, was 265 lbs. 10 oz., measuring 134 quarts; averaging for each cow in one day 22 £ quarts. In the American Agriculturist for 1848, page 294, Mr. Bell, of Morrisiana, gives a challenge for milking stock, (his stock are Durhams,) which is still open. If friend Hanford, or some of his friends who have the "common stock," wish to test their value as milkers against the Durhams, this will afford them a good opportunity. We have not the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with Mr. Bell, nor do we know much about his herd: but judging from the animals we have seen, and knowing that they possess the blood of the late Earl Spencer's celebrated herd, we have no fears as to the result. There are many recorded facts showing the good milking qualities of the short horns, a few of which we will briefly mention. Mr. Calvert, near Bramp- ton, in England, had a short horn cow, which pro- duced 373 lbs. of butter in 32 weeks. In one week she produced 17 lbs. on grass pasture. The imported cow Dime, owned by Mr. Allen, gave upwards of 30 quarts of milk per day, on grass pasture. Mr. Whittaker of England had one cow, Yellow Rose, which gave when 3 years old, 36 quarts (wine meas- ure) per day, and when 4 years old 38 quarts. The celebrated herd of Col. Jaqtjes of Mass., which * The keeping of these cows during the winter previous to the trial, was hay fed at night, and during the day corn stalks and straw in the barn yard. Had the pasture been first rate during the lime of trial, we presume the cows would have yielded nearly two pounds of butter more per week each. from the quantity and quality of their milk he has named " Cream - pots," are high grade Durhams; descended on the side of their sire from the imported bull Calebs, While Col. J. owned this bull he received no less than three thousand two hundred and thirty dollars for his services. (A better invest- ment we should think than money in the state stocks.) In a letter to the Editor of the Cultivator, in 1845, Col. J. says: "The different strains of CcdeUs blood are now daily talked of, and are eagerly sought after, * * * particularly by our milk-men." A little farther on the editor remarks — "Particular trials have been made with some individuals of this stock, and they have given at the rate of from seventeen to twenty-one pounds of butter per week." Truly a strain of Durham blood does not injure the milking qualities of our native stock. Mr. Allen, Editor of the American Agriculturist, for 1848, page 54, says: "For a combination of all these qualities," (viz: good working cattle, good beeves and good milkers,) "and especially as beeves and milkers, we do not think those Durhams which are properly bred can be excelled.'''' In the article referred to Mr. Allen tells a story of a Durham bull, which we wish friend Hanford to read. We think, however, it will be rather hard for his quality feeding to digest. " It is said," (by whom 1 any one that ever bred or owned a pure bred Durham ?) " they are great consumers. In this principle it will be observed is involved the quality of feeding." We should like to see the facts with figures to prove this. We deny the charge; and without the testimony we think we have as good a right to demur as friend Hanford. The Editor of the Cultivator in 1845, page 44, speaking of Mr. Prentice's Durhams says: "This herd of cattle cannot be large consumers ; after mak- ing clue allowances for the fertility and production of the land, the quantity of stock kept is certainly re- markable. * * * Appolenia is one of the best dairy cows we have ever seen." In 1842 in the New Genesee Farmer, Mr. Colman, then Editor, says — "If any man, however, chooses to see this stock in perfection, let him go to the farm of E. P. Prentice, of Albany; and if he has any prejudices of any kind against the stock, and is not prepared to yield every one of them, I can only say he is differently constituted from what I am." We last fall purchased the cow Charlotte of Mr. Vail, [for portrait of this cow see plate in February number of Cultivator, for 1848 — Ed.] formerly owned by Mr. Prentice. We have kept this cow through the winter until February, entirely upon barley straw; and yet such is her thrift and the ease with which she is kept, that strangers frequently inquire if we are fattening her. A few years since we kept a Durham bull Nero, from Mr. Van Rennselaer's stock, owned by Mr. Ward of Wampsville. During part of the winter we were under the necessity of feeding this bull wheat straw, as he was likely to become too fleshy upon barley straw for spring's service. We don't however suppose that all Dur- ham's will keep with the ease of the two last men- tioned animals, but we do think as a herd they are small consumers. As to the cow referred to in our previous article we would say, that she is expected to calve in June next, and should we find it conve- nient, as we presume we shall, it will afford us much pleasure to furnish friend Hanford, and the readers of the Farmer the information he requests. We would not advise A. G. P., if he is about com- 1849. THE GENESEE PARMER. u\ meocing the dairy business, and 00, to expend it all in Durham cow.- al (150 each; but we would advise him it he keeps much stock or intends ■ purchase a first rate Durham bull, although it might COBl $300. Make up the rest of your herd with the best common cows von can purchase, and by a judicious use of this hull with such chan ion may require, we doubt not in a tew years you will find, (by carefully raising your heifer calves and disposing of your older cows,) th I your herd greatly increased, and the sum expended for the bull, a profitable investment. Friend A. (J. P. erred a little in his calculations in not reckoning lb of the calves into his account. A good Durham call is worth from *.")0 to $300 when quite young. It he iiad counted them worth only the smaller sum, it would have ma le a little difference in his figures. We can hardly think that A. G. P. would suppose any one so foolish as to pay $150 for a Durham cow,, and then " deacon" her calves! This would be folly in the extreme. At the time of Mr. Prentice's sale in *4o, one 'null calf, Tecumseh, out of Charlotte, and another, Duke, out of Matilda, sold for $200 each. Mr. Vail has sold all his bull calves from his La /:/ Barringlon, III, two in number, for $300 each when quite j tung. Col. Jaques, before referred to, has sold some of his full bloods, when 8 months old, for $300. There has been no time in England since the sale of the Collingss, that the short horns have been in greater demand, or brought better prices than at the present. Mr. Bates, (the breeder of Mr. Vail's Duke of Wellington and Lady Barrington III,) last year let a bull to serve a small herd of cows for seventeen weeks, for over one thousand dollars. The short horns belonging to Earl Spencer's estate were sold last year. Eighty-eight animals brought the round sum of $28,717. One bull sold for $2,100. We mention these facts merely as a proof, that, in the words of Mr. Allen, " where they have been bred longest they are liked best," and to show the value that is there placed upon this noble breed of cattle. Clockville, Mad. Co., JY. Y., Feb., 1849. BREEDING HORSES. The " Vermont Agriculivrisi" for January, 1849, contains an article with the above head. As that paper has been discontinued, I am under the neces- sity of asking you to insert in the Farmer the fol- lowing reply to the article alluded to. The writer in the Agriculturist says — " The horses whose stock in this State have proved superior, were without an exception, thorough-bred horses. * * * The four horses that have been most celebrated in the State, are the ' Morgan,' the ' Cock of the Rock,' the 'Magnum Bonum,' and the 'Old Telescope.' The Morgan stock has, as a general thing, been most noted. The pedigree of the original Morgan goes directly back through 'True Briton' and imported 'Othello,' to 'Musgrove's Arabian' and 'Childers'." In relation to these statements, the first question that arises is, What constitutes a thorough-bred horse ? Perhaps it will be replied, the English race horse. And this answer may for the present be received as correct, without stopping to inquire into the origin of the race-h Ma . Is it then true, that the four horses named were thorough-bred? Take them in order: First, the Morgan, whose stock the writer of the article in the ulturiat says '■ ' . mosl noted," (a conclusion, by the by, which I think will not be disputed.) WU he a thorough-bred horse '. I lis sire is admitted to have be< 'ii or Beautiful Bay, obtained (stolen it is said) from Gen. .1 IMB8 l>' Li -> '• • oj \ Ork. There have b I horses by the of True Briton. What was the blood of the one mentioned? The late .Ions Morgan, of Lima. \. V.. stated, (see Albany Cultivator, vol. ix, p. 110,) that h ol by the imported horse Traveller*, (Morton's Traveller.) Mr. M. kept him m year-, during which time he begot the old or original Morgan horse. But the writer in the Agriculturist, says the sire of the original Morgan was imported Othello! Where is the evidence of it ' The true Briton, by Othello was on the turf and won matches in 1765-6. (Am. Turf Register, vol. vi, p. 5.) The old Morgan was foaled in 1793. Is it probable he was got by a horse so old as to have run t twenty-right years before? But admit that the sire of the old Morgan horse was a full blood race-horse. What was his dam ? John Morgan, (before named,) states that she was got by a horse called "Diamond:" he by "the Church horse;" and he by the imported "Wild-air." Noth- ing is said by Morgan of the blood of the grand- dam of the Morgan horse, or the blood of the dam of "the Church horse." The inference is, therefore, that they were of the common or cold blood. The dam of " Diamond" is said to have been an "imported" mare. (See Albany Cultivator for 1846, p. 19.) " Wild-air" was a well known English race-horse. Now if he begot " the Church horse" on a common mare, the latter horse would of course have been half blood; if "the Church horse" begot "Diamond" on a full blood mare, he would have been three-fourths blood; and the latter horse having begotten the dam of the old Morgan on a common mare, she would have been three-eighths blood. Hence, if True Briton was a full blood or thorough-bred horse, the old Morgan, inheriting half or eight-sixteenths of his blood, and three-sixteenths other racing blood, (from his dair:,) would have been eleven-sixteenths blood. Does this make a thorovgh-bred horse ? The writer in the Agriculturist next gives what he calls the pedigree of "Cock of the Rock." — He says he was got by Duroc; his dam by imported Messenger. But is this such a pedigree as would satisfy a breeder of blood horses ? Admit that Lruioc and Messenger were thorough-bred horses — (though it is well known to turf-men that there is a flaw in the pedigree of the former) — is the case then made out, that this "Cock of the Rock" was thorough- bred ? On the side of his sire his pedigree may be accepted. His dam was half Messenger; but what was his grand-dam ? According to this " pedigree," "Cock of the Rock" was half Duroc and a quarter Messenger — that's all. Does this make a thorough- bred horse ? He then rrocs on with " Magnum Bonum,'1 who he says was "sired" by imported Magnum Bonum; but his dam is not even mentioned: and according to this statement he was only half-blood ! This is the third of his "thorough-bred" hor As to "Tele-cope," the fourth horse mentioned, it is merely stated that hi I [in the same way the others are traced ?] back to the highest strains of English blood." Comment on such " pedigrees" is unnecessary. * f '.. ;t^oe ;- iM^it^L- GEOGRAPHICAL- DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. BY L. WETHERELL. The above illustration is from "Rodgers's Scien- tific Agriculture;'' and was designed by the author to aid the mind in acquiring a knowledge of the dis- tribution of plants with regard to height; to show the latitude of prevailing winds, and the altitude of no rain and of almost constant rain. The figures on the right hand side of the cut, denote the degrees of north latitude; those on the left denote the height of mountains, graduated in miles. There is also an attempt to show the lines which separate between the elevation of the different species of plants; " and the line of perpetual snow." It is a well established fact that a greater degree of cold prevails in the upper regions of the atmos- phere than at low levels. This is manifest from the fact, that, the mountains of the equatorial region at the height of 16,000 feet are covered with perpetual snow; the height of the snow line diminishes in passing from the equator to the poles of the earth, until it rests on the sea 'level at 70 or 80 degrees north latitude; this is true of the summer tempera- ture: the snow line is much further south when the sun is in the tropic of Capricorn. According to Prof. Leslie, the mercury in the thermometer falls for every 30u ,■ . fa - i . e an elevation of 1-5,00 i feel ■ ■ ar the equator produces the sa the vegetable kingdom as the . cassava, manioc roots, taro-root and the yam, fur- nish food for more than one-third of the human race. 2. The Temperate Zone. This re- gion p.^v._. in great abundance the grains from which man's bread is made. Here the wine-grape is cultivated in the greatest perfection; also the apple, pear, plum, peach, cherry, apricot, &c. Some of them flourish better in the northern and others in the southern part of this region, or what corresponds thereto, the less or greater altitude. 3. Arctic Zone. In passing from the temperate to the arctic zone, the limit of the vegetable world is soon found: very few plants are seen above the elevation of fourteen thousand feet. Lichens arc the first that appear on the outside of the vegeta- ble world, whether altitude or latitude he regarded. More than 2,400 species are known. As you ap- proach the limits of the temperate zone, shrubs and herbaceous plants appear — then the evergreens, min- gled with the birch and willow. Wheat scarcely comes to maturity — some of the more common gar- den vegetables are produced here at an altitude cor- responding to the temperature of between 60 and 70 degrees north latitude. The'dwarf birch and willow are the trees nearest the snow region : the former seldom exceeds two feet in height, and the latter is still smaller. The reindeer moss grows beyond this limit, proceeding north. As you approach the equator from the region of the dwarf birch, the common birch, the mountain asl . IS I'.). T1IK CHNHSUK KAIIMKK. 93 and the Scotch fir. two or three species of the willow, ;i species of the alder, the hird-cherrv, tho aspar, the goose-berry and the rasp-hern ■ and as we go on south W6 arrive at the northern limit of the ash, the oak and the beech. The northern limit of the oak on the Atlantic coast of Norway is 68 degrees north lati- tude. On the eastern part of Europe on the, borders of Asia it is not found north of 57 J : a fact showing the difference <^' climate between eastern and western Europe. On the coast of Norway the spruce fir is not found north of 67°; the Scotch fir extends to 70° and the birch to 71°. The birch unfolds its leaf when the temperature anv time during the month rises to 52 degrees. It has been found that barley may be produced where the mean temperature during 90 successive days rises to is degrees. It has ripened in Norway under the 70th degree of latitude. In European Russia wheat scarcely l^pens at 60° ; and the limit of it in Kam- skatka, the eastern part of Asia, is 51° ; and on the eastern coast of America not beyond 52°. Wheat demands a warmer climate than oats or barley. The apple does net ripen north of 62° in northern Europe, nor north of 57° in eastern. Humboldt estimates that the cultivation of the vine succeeds only in those climates where the annual mean temperature is between 50 and 68 degrees. The mean temperature may be as low as 48°, provided the summer heat rises to 68. In the old world these conditions are found true as far north as lat. 60°; and in the new not beyond 40°, and ceases in both within 30° of the equator. Thus, as the reader will observe, the region for vineyards is twice as broad in the old world as in the new. The orange and lemon require an annual mean temperature of 62 degrees. I have endeavored in this communication to give the reader a sketchy, outline view of the distri- bution of plants. I am indebted to "Rhind's His- tory of the Vegetable Kingdom" for some of the facts here given. I propose to present in a future number of the Farmer some considerations on the subject of climat- ology, which is intimately connected with the present. I shall then have occasion to refer the reader to the cut inserted in the present article for further illus- tration. Rochester, JY. Y., March, 1849. TILE FOE UNDER-DRAINS. — INQUIRY. Messrs. Editors: — For several years past I have read much in the Genesee Farmer and Albany Culti- vator, urging the importance of thoroughly draining all wet lands; and each of them for March has an excellent article on under-draining, from practical far- mers, showing its importance, and how soon a return is obtained for the outlay. Many farms are destitute of suitable materials to build drains with, and tile are needed. The object of this article is to arrive at the best pattern for tile. I intend to commence the manufac- ture of tile, this spring, of the following pattern: — The tile over a half circle, three inches in the clcax about fourteen inches long; and flats, the same lengtn of tho tile, wide enough to lay tho tile on: when laid to brake joints like brick work. If any of your readers can describe a better pattern for tile, will they please give a description in the Farmer ? Alvin Wilcox. — West Bloomjield, JY. Y. For price, &c, of Mr. W.'s tile, see advertisement in this paper. — Ed. A CHEAP STUMP MACHINE. Missus. Editors: — You have so many times called upon the readers qI the Parmer to become con- tributors to its pages thai I have determined to make the attempt, and herewith Bend vou a description and rude sketch of a Stump Machine, with which last fall I cleared fifteen acres from stumps. There may be many of your readers living, like myself, on farms not very heavily timbered originally, and which have been cleared long enough for the roots of the stumps to become considerably decayed, to whom it would be some object to obtain a small, cheap and simple stump machine, which would answer their purpose as well as one more costly. In the sketch 1 is a round pole 10 feet long, 4 inches in diameter at the largest end, which is well banded. Into this is inserted a bar of iron 2 by 2 \ inches, drawn to half that size at the end inserted into the pole, and 2 feet long. Near the end of this, two notches are cut, a little over A\ inches apart. In the mid- dle between these, a hole is punched and a link 6 inches long inserted, as seen in Fig. 2, which represents the bar, large hook to hitch under a root of the stump, a link inserted in each, and a connecting hook. The links are made of round \ inch Swede's iron, the connecting hook of 1J do.; the large hook of a bar Fig. 2. of old sable iron 18 inches long, bent round edgwise. 3 is a frame consisting of two oak planks 3 inches thick, 8 wide, and 7 feet long, pinned together at the ends through a piece of 4 inch scantling, between the planks. There are two rows, 4£ inches apart, of \\ inch holes through these planks: the holes being 3£ inches apart in the rows, from center to center. The holes in the right hand row are one inch lower than the opposite ones in the loft. Through these holes two iron bolts, as large as the holes, are made to pass for the bar or lever to rest upon. To use this machine, it is set up as seen in the figure; 4 being a board for a brace, the lever placed between the planks, the notches resting on the two bolts, and the hook hitched under a root. Now ele- vate the end of the lever, (which needs a short pole attached by a ring to the end of a long one,) with- draw the left hand bolt and raise it one hole higher; now depress the end of the lever and raise the right hand bolt; and so on as high as you wish. The cost of the machine was $7— iron $4, making $3. Any blacksmith and carpenter can construct one. With a team and 6led or stone boat to draw the machine about, I have seen two hands, on a lot that had been cleared fourteen years, pull in a day from sixty to a hundred stumps, mostly from ten to eighteen inches in diameter. Ontario Co., 1849. T. W. 94 THE GENESEE FARMER. April LUNAR INrLTTENCE-THE TIDES, &c. BY PROF. C. DEWEY. That attraction holds bodies together, draws bodies towards each other, directs the course of the earth around the sun, influences the motions of the moon and planets and produces the tides, was main- tained by wise men before the Christian Era. It has been the glory of modern philosophy to ascertain the amount of the attractive power, its direction, its varying action, and in that way to come at the solu- tion of phenomena before inexplicable. The force of gravitation takes place between the parts of matter comprising the earth, moon, &lc. It operates downwards upon the matter around, and sideways upon matter contiguous to a mountain, between two balls of lead, between a pendulum and any large mass of matter. All this is proved by experiment. A pendulum is proved to be drawn sideways towards a mountain. What is attraction ? The answer — and hence the definition of attraction — is, these effects must have a cause, and attraction is the name given to the cause of these effects. It is of no consequence what the nature of the cause is ; the operation is the same as if attraction took place between the bodies, and hence the power or cause, be it what it may, is named attraction. You strike a ball and it is set in motion by the blow. You call it impulse, or the momentum of the striking body which moves the ball, and thus you call the cause, be it resistance, or repulsion, or momentum acting on the matter, or mass upon mass directly, impulse. So, attraction is the name of ttie cause. The force of gravitation at the earth's surface in our latitude is sufficient to move a body a little more than sixteen feet In the first second of time, if the body could fall without any resistance or counteracting action. The amount of the force is thus determined. The law of the force is ascertained; and the force diminishes as the square of the distance increases. Hence, the moon, at sixty semidiameters of the earth from the earth's center is attracted but one-thirty-six- hundreth as much as matter is at the surface of the earth. This is actually the distance she falls towards the earth at a mean rate, in order to revolve round the earth. The force varies too as the quantities of matter, that is, each particle attracts each particle in the sphere of its influence. Hence the attraction of the earth upon the moon is equal to the moon's attraction of the earth. The earth has eighty times the matter to attract the moon, and the moon has eighty times her own matter to be attracted by her in the earth. Their attractions must be equal. If any one is disposed to say there is no such thing as attraction; very well, let it be so. Still the fact is before the eyes of all men, that the earth and moon revolve around a common center in a little more than twenty-seven days, or a little less than those twenty- seven and one-third days, and thus fall towards each other. There must be some cause or power which does thiv:, and makes them so fall and revolve ; that cause is called attraction, or in this case, gravitation. Again — oxygen and iron unite and form rust of iron, and lead and oxygen combine and form red lead. Some poiver unites and holds together these sub- stances, and that power is called attraction ; and because a new compound has been produced, the power is called chemical attraction or affinity. We as easily conceive of attraction operating a distance as near or in contact : for how it does it, we know not in either case. A magnet holds iron in contact with it, or attracts it at some dis- tance, but we know not the how in either respect. But, the fact is certain, and some cause or power acts in this case, which is called magnetic attraction. Objection to the name does not alter or annihilate the thing. The tides are one result of this power, called gravitation, or an attraction which makes matter gravitate towards matter. Both sun and moon must operate on the earth, and as their power varies at different parts of the earth, matter in a fluid state and capable of being easily moved will be affected by this power. The earth too is in different posi- tions in respect to both the sun and moon, and both are in varying situations in respect to the equator of the earth. Sometimes power of the sun acts with that of the moon, sometimes with direct opposition to it ; sometimes the power of the sun and moon act obliquely with or against each other, and with all degrees of obliquity. The moon too, being so much nearer than the sun, exerts a greater power in moving the waters or in producing the tides. Her power in this respect is about two and a half times greater than the sun's at a mean rate. Hence the moon must have the controlling influence on the tides, and the power of the sun will be employed in modifying the effects produced by the moon as the tides are respectsd. This is exactly what takes place ; and the tides are computed from the relative positions of the sun, earth and moon, varying distances and obliquity of forces. If we call this a mere coincidence, we cheat ourselves with the name. I put my finger in the fire, and it is blistered — a mere coincidence. I put iron in the furnace, and it is softened — a mere coinci- dence. I wish to move my hand to my head, and it moves — a mere coincidence. A man lets a brick fall ten feet on my head, and breaks my skull — a crush- ing coincidence. Another fires a pistol towards you, and the ball pierces your heart — a bloody coincidence. But — more on the tides, hereafter. A New Kind of Wheat. — Advices from St. Petersburg to the 12th of August, mention that a new variety of the Arnautka wheat has recently been discovered and cultivated in Bessarabia. It is called the Kolas, or large-eared wheat, on account of the peculiar beauty of its ears. At present it is limited to mere seed wheat, and fetches twice the price of the ordinary Arnaukta. One other and important peculiarity of this grain is; that it is less affected by drought than any other varieties. At the same time it posses-en several features, its deep amber colour, and its earlier ripening. This important discovery was- made by a peasant of the name ofBulatowsich, in the villiage of Troitzk, in the district of Bender, who beingaclose observer of nature, detected in his crops certain ears which were larger and became ripe more speedily than the rest of the ercp. These he collected and sowed separately, and the result was an adundant harvest, and the introduction of a new and valuable variety of wheat. The event had created a great sensation amongst the agri- culturists and dealers in grain, and the new wheat well merits being named after its discoverer. LAUDABLE. — The authorities of Oswego assume the duty of planting shade trees in the streets.— The street Commis- sioner advertises for "three or four thousand Elm and other uitabie trees for border and street shrubbery," to be delivered the present spring. 1849 THE UENESEE FARMEK. ti& iKtcrimxrii {Department Choked Cattle.- -Remedy* -Take any kind of tube, say an elder or quill, and till it. with gun-pov der. Open the mouth, hold out the tongue, pul the tube a - far down as convenient, and Mom the powder from the tube into the throat. It will relax (he pip suffer the obstruction bo pass on. Try it. D. S. BOFFINGTON. liinmanvillr, March, 1849. To Preserve a Horse from the Botts. — Take of bees wax, mutton tallow, and BUgar, each 8 ounces, put it into one quart of warm milk, and beat it until it all melts and mixes: then put the wh< to a bottle, and just before the wax, &c, be;j harden, give it to the horse. Two or three hours afterwards give him physic. Another Method. — Give a horse occasionally a half pint of hard wood ashes, mixed in his grain and sprinkled, or given in his drink. This is an exellent remedy. Another. — Give your horse salt freely — as that will, in nine cases out of ten, preserve him from the Botts. If he is attacked by them, give him a quart of warm fish brine; and if the case be a bad one, repeat the dose once an hour. For this purpose, save your fish brine. — FanneiJs Receipt Book. Curk for the Spavin. — Take one pound of angle worms, fry them well in a pound of butter, and after it is cool add onegiil of spirits of turnentine. Take one ounce Origanum Oil, (sold at the druggists',) which mix in one gill of spirits of turpentine. Every morning, rub the spavin with the angle worm mixture, heated in a shovel over the fire. Every evening rub the spavin with the origanum oil mix- ture. By the time these are used you will begin to see the horse improve. ^ During the operation, it will often appear to make him worse; but this must not be regarded a"s injurious. It does not remove the lump, but the disease will be extirpated. — lb. Beware of Ring Bone. — If colts stand on a plank or any hord floor that is not vsiell littered, they will be subject to the ring bone. When breeding horses, we left the floor of the colt's stable of the soil over which they were built. If this should be a deep loam, or of a clayey texture, then re- move the soil about two feet deep, and replace it with sand, or the finest gravel to be obtained. Colts should always be let out to exercise in a yard, or open space, every day, during the winter, when not particularly stormy : and in this yard there should not be older horses, or any horned cattle which can do them injury. Being very playful they arc more apt to provoke attacks upon them than other animals. — American Agricultural. Clipping Horses. — Observing a paragraph relative to clipping horses, I beg to state that I have lately been informed that the process injures the constitution of the horse in the long run, causing the animal to1 wear out sooner, not- withstanding every enre may have been taken with him at the time of the operation and subsequently; although it is conceded that at the time of clipping, the horse is thereby enabled to perform his work more easily, and also thrives better. — Agricultural Gazette. Horse Skates. — A writer in the National Intelligencer mention* the invention of Horse Skates, by means of which in cold latitudes, an ordinary horse has been often known to travel as far as 100 mils in .hree hours, without apparent fatigue. A full set, (he says) of these marvellous skates, bedecked in the Norwegian style, has been deposited in the patent office. Spirit of tlje ftgrindteral Press. Carrots. — Aa I have been a grower and consumer of iraome fen years (especiall] carrots.) I would, there- ive what little information I can, oil derived from nee. In the first place, I think there is no root ever yet introduced that will produce so great an amount of tat- u Ding properties per acre as the carrot. I believe there u no emu or hay, or oilcake or linseed, that will fatten anj I or bullock so soon and ao compl telj at the carrot given in its raw state. Horses, however poor (if healthy), will get fat in a few weeks with carrots only. No hay, no water —in bet, they will not drink if yon fe< d entirely on carrots. Now, aa to quantity, if yon wish only to Bitten let them eat aa many as they like; but one bushel per day, with hay, will keep your hones in good working order, without .urn! and two bushels perday will ratten them while working with- out any hay or corn. There is no fear of griping them, aa I believe the carrot quite free from any propensity that will produce that effect. I have two horses that an iifn it carrots and liay. They have 40 lbs. of carrots w i to them, ami about 8 lbs. of hay, and they thrive wonder- fully upon it. I am such an advocate for carrot cultivation that I should like to see every farmer with some acres every year. I think also it is the most profitable crop to grow for sale, for I believe it is quite possible to grow 50 tons to the acre. Several gentlemen have told me they have 30 tons to the acre this year. Perhaps we have not had so unpropitOUS a year for a long time, not only the quantity and quality of the carrot is great and good, but the mere cultivation is like BUbaoiling the land, and it is always kind for any gram it. 1 generally grow the white Belgian and Altringham, but 1 think the short carrot called the "early horn" will grow the greatest weight per acre. Richd. Webb, in Mark Lane Express. We endorse the above views in full; and during the failure and uncertainty of the potato crop we advise that more atten be paid to the Carrot for milch cows, cattle and horses, and the Parsnip for feeding and fattening hogs. — Bl). Salt as a Garden Manure. — I can strongly recommend a dressing of this manure (except on very stiff land. ) To grow asparagus and seakale in perfection, it is essential, and I find a general improvement effected by its use in the bulk and quality of our culinary crops; it also distroys snails and other insects. For general crops, about 'i lb. to the square yard will be sufficient ; this should be sprinkled evenly over the ground when it is hare, and if dry, forked in immediately. To the crops of seakale and asparagus twice this quantity may be given ; it should be spread over the beds in winter, or early spring, and either forked in at once or left to be dis- solved by the rain. — Agricultural Gazette. Agricultural Education in Cuba. — Three of the principal schools of Havana have instituted a new depart- ment in which instructions are given in Chemistry as applied to Agronomia, or cultivation of the various kinds of field crops. — La Cronica. Patent Safety Bridle. — Mr. H. Seitz. of Marietta, Lancaster county, Pa., is the inventor of a very ingenious Bridle for which letters patent were recently granted, whereby it is impossible for the most spirited horse to kick or run away, and perfectly safe for a lady to drive or ride. — The principle on which it is constructed is to hold the horse by the application of a pulley around which the reins are made to pass at the side of the horse's mouth, which enables the rider to exert a great deal of lever power to control the mouth of the animal, and to check him at any moment. Large Poultry. — At a show held in England, under the direction of the late Earl Spencer, the following were the dressed weights of some of the poultry exhibited: The best turkey weighed twenty lbs. 4 oz. ; capon. 7 lbs. 1-1.1 oz.; pullet, Gibs. 31 oz.; goose, 18 lbs. 2jS oz.; couple of duck, 15 lbs. 10 oz. How to Render Cloth, Sii ks. &c, Water Proof. — Take one pound, each, of common alum, (sulphate of alumius,) and sugar of lead, (acetate of lead,) and dissolve them in six quarts of boiling water well mited by stirring. When cold, the top portion of the mixture should be poured oil' for use, as the sediment consists of sulphates of lead, pot- ash, &.c. Any article of dress, no matter how slight the fabric, if well saturated with this liquid, and allowed to dry slowly, will bear the action of boiling water, and not permit it to pass through it. Gftritors tftctble. To Correspondents. — Communications have been re- ceived since the publication of our March number, from Areola, A. Bryant, H., Prof. C. Dewey, Myron Adams, TBC Peters. H. L. Emery, S. W., Cephas. * t, L. Weth- erell, D. S. Buffington, L. B. Manley, Alvin Wilcox H. P. Norton I H. W., Jas. Weed. John Watson, E. Hildreth, M L Gallup", J. H. Wyckoff, Reed Burritt, J. R., Clinton Wood W. H., *, Isaac W. Jones, H. W., A Physician, H. P. Buell, Farmer, A. H. Norris, J. D. C, Westfield, A. Wilson, Jacob Scott, and Subscriber. Our thanks are due to various old and new correspondents for valuable contributions. We must, however beg our friends to have patience witli us for a while. All of their favors shall be attended to as fast as we can find space either by publication or such notices and remarks as shall seem most beneficial to our numerous readers. It is our aim to furnish matter that shall be as nearly adapted to the period when it will be practically useful as possible. All contri- butions that will keep over a publication or two, we are at present obliged to defer. The illness of our Engraver has prevented us from giving a number of illustrations intended for this issue. Several plans of Houses, Cottages, and Agricultural Implements (from new contributors,) shall be given as soon as the en- gravings can be prepared. Sowing Clover Seed.— (C- V. J., Clarkson, N.Y.) In answer to your inqniry we have no hesitation in advising you to sow your clover seed; and the first dry time in May or June sow on a half bushel of plaster to the acre, without fail— and if the elements are not extremely adverse we will endorse the result. We think, for the present and imme- diate use of the wheat crop to be benefitted by the green crop plowed under, that 8 or 10 inches is too great a depth of furrow— though, in a series of years, it will be found beneficial. Hens Eating their Eggs.— (T. R. S., Omar, N. Y.) We know of no other prventive for hens eating their eggs, than to keep them supplied with lime and gravel in some other shape, and not feeding them the shells, except very finely broken; and by making their nests in a box so deep and small that they cannot reach them while standing on the edge. Hens that are confined are much more apt to commit this fault, than those running at large. (S. B. F., Livonia, N. Y.) Your article concerning a new and valuable stalk and straw cutter was crowded out last As it will not month, and is out of season for this number spoil, we shall lay it over until the proper time. Page's Portable Mills. — We have received several letters of inquiry relative to Page's Portable Wind and Saw Mills, mentioned in our February number— hut cannot fur- nish the information desired. We think Mr. P.'s post office address is Baltimore, Md., and presume tfcat communications directed to him at that place will receive attention. Premium Arithmetical Questions.— We have received a large number of letters concerning the questions propos.nl by Mr. Clark in our February number. We will submit them to Mr. C. the first opportunity, and endeavor to publish his decision next month. Genesee Seed Store and Agricultural Warehouse. —The proprietors of this establishment have a very large and superior assortment of Seeds and Implements for the spring nnd summer trade. Farmers and others visiting Ro- chester should call at their spacious and well filled rooms. Their assortment of plows, cultivators, &c, &c, is the most complete ever offered in this section of the country. See advertisement. New Books. — Among other works received too late for particular notice in this number, are the following; " The American Farm Book; by R. L. Allen," and " The Amer- ican P.ee-Kecpcr's Manual; by T. B. Miner." Published by C. M. Saxton, 121 Front st., New York, and for sale by E. Harrow, corner of Main and St. Paul sts., Rochester. Price, $1 each. Draining low lands will contribute to promote health and profit. Generally speaking, our wet and marshy lands are the richest in organic matters, and become the most profitable to the owner, when thoroughly drained. — Uriel. The Wool Grower. — This is the attractive title of a new paper just started by our friend and correspondent, T. C. Peters, Esq., of the Buffalo Wool Depot. The initial num- ber is issued in good style, and well filled with valuable matter. In his introductory article, Mr. P. says: — " If I am sustained, it will be well for the farmers and wool growers; and that I shall be I have no manner of doubt. The paper will obtain and disseminate information to be found nowhere else; and it will be the organ of the wool-growing interest throughout the country." We commend the Wool Grower to our readers, and trust the editor will meet with the success his enterprise merits. Published monthly — 16 pages octavo — at 50 cents per annum. Address as above. Daguerreotypes of Devon Cattle. — We are indebted to Win. Garbutt, Esq., of Wheatland, for Daguerreotypes of a pair of four year old Steers, and a two year old Heifer, (Devons,) owned by E. P. Beck, of Sheldon, Wyoming county. The animals represented received the first premium (in each class, as grass fed animals,) at the State Fair at Buffalo, in September last. The "counterfeit presentments" are quite natural and life like, and creditable to the artist — Alex. McDonald, of Buffalo. The likenesses can be seen at our office. Speaking of Devons — we never saw a more beautiful show of cattle, than was made by the owners of this breed at the Fair at Buffalo. We shall give an article upon the history and merits of Devon cattle, in our next. The next Fair of the N. Y. State Ag. Society, as we have heretofore stated, is to be held in Syracuse, on the 11th, 12th and 13th of September next. The amount of premiums offered is about six thousand dollars. Now is the time for the farmers of Western and Central New York to commence their preparations to add to the interest of the show, and win the prizes. We shall endeavor to publish the premium list, or a synopsis of it, in our next. It can be obtained in pamphlet form, we presume, *by addressing the Secretary, B. P. Johnson, Esq., of Albany. Agricultural Societies. — Notices, embracing lists of officers for current year, and premiums awarded at annual meetings of several County Ag. Societies, are necessarily deferred. Secretaries of Agricultural and Horticultural Societies will oblige us by sending to the address of this journal, local newspapers containing proceedings of their annual and other important meetings. Facts for Agriculturists.— The exports of breads tufis from the United States, Sept. 1 to Jan. 1, 1849, as compared with the same period ending Jan. 1, Flour, bbls. Meal, bbls. 1848, 1349. 95.767 638,994 52,715 45,193 1848, are as follows: Wheat, bit. Corn, bit. 118.004 606,301 854.005 5,073,712 735,911 4,465,412 Increase, 544,227 Wheat on the Lakes. — At Chicago, Michigan City. Little Fort, Southport, Racine, and Milwaukie, there are one million and thirty-eight thousand bushels of wheat in store, and vessels enough in ports on Lake Michigan to carry it all forward to market. Cheap Lightning Rods. — No. 1 wire is said to be an am- ple protection against lightning, put up as the large rods are. War ships use the wire with complete success. Plowing by Steam. — A steam plow has been tried on a farm near Stratford, in England, by stationary engines at the extremities of the field, and the experiment is said to have been satisfactory. The engine is ten feet by six in bulk, portable with a pair of horses, and may be used for plowing, threshing, or for any purpose where power of the kind is required. American Prodigalaty.— No observing American cornes from the United States to Europe, without soon becoming convinced that economy of living is nowhere so little under- stood as in his own country; and that for nothing are the Americans more distinguished, than for a reckless waste of the means oi subsistence. The refuse of many a family in the United States, even in moderate circumstances, would often support, in comfort, a poor family in Europe. — Coltrum. Read the advertising department of this number. Observe the advertisement of Books — Mr. V ail's Stuck — Stallions — Agricultural Implements — Fruit and Ornamental Trees and Shrubs — and various other matters "too numerous to men- tion" in this place. 1819. THE GENESEE PARMER. 97 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. EDITED I'.V P BARRY PROGRESS OF HORTICULTURE IN EUROPE. That the two months we m j the Gar- and Green-h mses of England, France and Belgium were pleasant ones to u-, no on i will doubt. Winter as il was, we found thousands of ran' and beautiful things, the sight of which would repay us for a journey much more tedious ami hazardous than the Ulanti :, even in win- It is somewhat strange that amidst all the revolu- tions and political excitements — all the want and downright starvation — all the fluctuation in commer- cial affairs, thai have for a few years kept European ii nt. bordering on and in many cases ting in actual explosion — HORTICULTURE flour- ishes and that beyond all precedent. At no period in the history of European civilization have horticul- tural pursuits attracted so much public attention. Prom the prince to the humblest peasant we find the len the object of the greatest solicitude. Everv- • a new spirit seems to be awakened — public grounds are being enlarged and improved — collectors are sent at enormous expense to all unfrequented or plored parts of the world, exposing themselves 11 manner of hardships and privations to bring to whatever there may be new, curious or beau- Commercial Nursery establishments are ex- tending and multiplying rapidly, and these too, are sending out, on their own account, their collectors to China and California, to South America and the Tropics, in search of new plants to enrich their col- lections. The prices at which new plants are sold is perfectly amazing: for instance, the elegant new Japan Cedar, (Cryptomeria Japonica) two to three feet high, cannot be bought at private sale for less than five guineas ; five feet, and there are few of that size, ten guineas. So with the new and rare Pines and Firs from California, Mexico and India. Plants of many of them 1 to 2 feet in height cannot be bought for less than from 1 to 5 guineas. With Orchideous plants the same; 10, 20 and 50 guineas are common prices for these, and that too at public sale. The same is true of all other new" and rare plants of whatever class or character. The production of new flowers, by hybridization, such as Roses, Dahlias, Pseonies, Phloxes, Chrysan- thums, Camelias, fcc, is carried on in the same spirit. Efforts such as have never been previously attempted, are now being made by hundreds of scien- tific and practical men to reduce this most interesting department to a science, and to base it upon compe- tent laws and regulations, and some ably conducted journals are solely devoted to its advancement. In the culture of fruits there is no less interest. In all the English horticultural journals no topic at the present moment is more frequently discussed, or calls forth more experiment and investigation than the culture of fruits. The. formation of fruit borders, manures, composition of the soil, exposure, pruning and training, are continually discussed with as much interest and animation as if they were entirely new subjects. So it is in respect to the construction and heating of houses, pits, &c., for the shelter and growth of plants, and for the protection and forcing of fruits and vegetables. The quality of particular varieties of fruits is also attracting unusual attention. Gardeners who never before thoughl of inquiring whether their fruits were Correctly named or not, Or whether they had any names, are diligently comparing and testing, appTOV- nd rejecting. Nurserymen, particularly on the Continent, who have grown trees for .air' for fifty . . without seeing their fruit, and who did not know by sight hall a dozen varieties of the hun in tin : rue, are just planting specimen orch- ards to test them, and are beginning to read, i □ ftes and memorandums as to quality, growth, he 1 was astonished to find in SOT the oldest Belgian and French nurseries specimen grounds neither so extensive nor so mature as our own, and in many just a beginning. Heretofore they have considered it their business just to grow the trees. In a celebrated Belgian horticultural establishment, where an immense fruit Catalogue is annually published, and the proprietor of which has been generally supposed a pomologist, we found not a single tree, nor does the proprietor know half a dozen fruits probably of all that are cultivated. Land we were told had just been purchased for a nursery, and some trees planted last autumn. And yet we have seen a nurserymen in this state take especial pains to advertise that his trees were procured from this source. All the trees ever sent by that estab- lishment to this country were purchased from less noted and equally ill-informed growers. This pur- chasing of ignorant, irresponsible parties, did well enough in times past; but lately got him into great trouble, and has fairly compelled him to grow trees and study pomology. The only men to be found, having a critical know- ledge of fruits and fruit trees, such as every well-in- formed nurseryman in America already possessesr were the directors of the fruit department in the pub- lic gardens, such as the London Horticultural So- ciety's, the Jardin des Plants at Paris, Rouen, Brussels, fee, and a few enthusiastic amateurs. The growers of trees did not aspire to be pomologists; and here is the great cause of the thousand and one blunders tuey have made, and have compelled their kind customers in America to make. But they have now woke up; and here I must say that the Ameri- can trade has exercised a very beneficial influence upon them. Indeed, they have been compelled by their American customers to commence the inves- tigation and correction of their numerous and long standing errors. Year after year they have been censuring them for mistakes and explaining their nature to them. Orders upon orders have been sent out for particular varieties, and these to be positinly correct — in many cases the purchaser going into a a minute description of the fruit as well as trie tree, in order to enable them to send the genuine article. This has naturally led to the course which we rind now very generally adopted, of forming specimen grounds, and testing varieties as we do here. Ameri- can nurserymen, therefore, may claim the credit of setting men, who are greatly their seniors in culti- vation, right in this the most important branch of their business. In future, more reliance can be placed upon the correctness of what we receive from them. In the culture and management of trees, and par- ticularly garden trees, we have much to learn from the Continental gardeners. It is in Belgium and France we can study how to grow many trees in 98 THE GENESEE FARMER. April a little garden, and how to grow them well — how to produce beautiful forms, and to hasten and main- tain fruitfulness. In all the French and and Belgian gardens one is struck not only with the economy which prevails in filling every nook and corner, cov- ering every wall or fence, with something for use or ornament; but the observer is also delighted with the appearance of propriety and fitness about every thing. You will not find an immense apple or pear tree, or a clump of old plum trees, or two or three great quince bushes covering nearly the entire gar- den ; but you will find elegant pyramidal pear trees, or apples as pyranills on domain stocks, or in bushes, on paradise; cherries either in pyramids or bushes, on mahaleb stocks; apricots, nectarines and peaches, in espaliers; plums, quinces and filberts, in pyramids; gooseberries, currants and grapes, when the gardens are small, trained on the walls. These trees are not only beautiful objects, but bear large crops of fine fruit, superior in size, flavor and beauty, as a general thing, to that produced on standards; and then the advantage of enjoying such a variety on a little spot, and of having trees at all times perfectly manageable — for these dwarf trees can be moved from one place to another, at any age. The gardens around Rouen, in France, were the best I saw any where in regard to fruit trees. As I passed the streets I noticed many little gardens that I wished I could take with me, and set down in Rochester, as a model. But the Rouen people have a thorough love of these things, and they have a capital teacher, in Professor Dubriel, director of the fruit department in the Botanic Garden. His trees are the best specimens I have any where seen, not only perfect pyramids — absolutely perfect — but they are covered with fruit buds, and in the most perfect health and vigor; so are his cherries and plums, filberts, &cc. His espa- lier peaches, apricots, nectarines, gooseberries, &c, are all as perfect as any artist could draw on paper. Many of the French works on pruning give exam- ples that had no existence but in the imagination; but Prof. Dubriel has created his illustrations, first in his garden and then on paper. The citizens of Rouen are admitted freely to see this elegant tree culture, and benefit by it. Mr. D. also gives lessons in pruning ; his classes meeting at regular hours, each scholar with his pruning knife. He proceeds, and they follow, through the whole minutia of both the principles and practice. One day he takes apples, another pears, and then peaches, and so on through all the fruits, in all their forms. To these practical teachings he adds lectures, and these lectures and lessons on pruning and arboriculture are attended not by mere gardeners, but by large numbers of gentle- men of wealth desirous of being able to assist in the direction and management of their own gardens. On the occasion of my visit on the 6th of January last, the pruning classes were about opening, and I met in the garden a Mr. Bard, a respectable mer- chant of the town, who had been a pupil, and so apt an one, that his own garden, though small, is one of the best managed in France, and that by his own hands at his leisure hours. I have never met an amateur so enthusiastic or so well skilled in the treatment of garden fruit trees. He had just con- trived a new style of scale for giving the proper angle in the various modes of espalier training, and had come to show it to Mr. Dubriel. Some ill-informed persons in this country since we commenced to direct attention to pyramidal and dwarf garden trees, have raised a cry against pears on quince stocks, as being short lived; but I have seen trees 30 years old in the most perfect health and vigor, and all over the continent trees may be found 50 years old. I shall have something to say at some other time of Mr. Dubriel's method of culture. TREE PLANTING. We need hardly urge upon planters the necessity of the utmost care in every particular. The ground should be thoroughly prepared. In all cases it should be, as we have often said, trenched or subsoil plowed, and properly enriched, so that the young roots may spread out freely on all sides, and find abundant nourishment. If people were half so zealous in the proper preparation of the ground, in the planting ivetl, and in the after culture of trees, as they are in seeking for trees of large size, they would find their labors much more successful and profitable in the end. Many we have known to utterly refuse to plant a tree because it was not so tall that the "cows could not reach its branches." Such persons have much to learn about trees. The well-informed, careful cultivator cares but little for size, if he gets a good, healthy, well-grown plant of the right sort. The purchaser of young trees has the advantage of shaping them to his own taste and convenience — and this is a considera- tion of some consequence. The careful treatment of the roots is another important point. They should neither be brui broken, nor exposed to the air until they get dried. After being well planted they should be neatly tied to stakes, and have the surface of the ground v n them cleaned and loosened every two or three weeks during the growing season. With such care, it is surprising how soon trees attain size and fruitful- ness; and without this care, they had better never be planted. By way of answering several correspondents in regard to distances, we subjoin the following table, which according to our experience is about right, in general. SPECIES. FORM. STOCKS. 1)1 ST 1 Apples, Standard, Common, 30 to 4U loot. " Pyramid, Com'n or Doucain, 10 to 12 " " Dwarf, Paradise, 6 •' Pears, Standard, Pear, 30 " . Pyramid. " 12 " " Quince, 9 •' " Dwarf, •' 6 " Cherries. Standard, Mazzard, 20 " Pyramid, Mahaleb, 10 it Dw'f bushes, " 6 Plums, Standard, Plum, 13 " Pyramid, " 9 Peaches, Standard, Peach, 18 " Pyramid, Plum, 9 Apricots, Standard, Peach or Plum. IS " Dwarf, Plum, 10 Nectarines " " 10 Quinces, Standard, 12 it Pyramid, 9 " Currants, ( looseberries, Raspberries, 4 feet. 4 " 3 u The Prince Albert is considered the best early variety of peas; next to this, the Early Washington. They may be planted as soon as the ground is .settled. 1810. THE CKNESHE l-WKMEIt. 99 BOTANY. -THE ROOT. Tiik Root consitutes tin- basis of the plant: h serves two purposes in the vegetable BOonomy-*-first to fix the plant mechanically in the soH ami retain ii in its position— secondly to absorb from the soil those inorganic elements which are aece sary for its The general direction of the root is downwards; but the roots of various plants grow at all I I thf horizontal to the perpendicular: the principal perpedicnlar axis is called the tap root. The number ami extent of the roots must correspond with those of the stalk and leaves of the plants, in order to sup- ply their demand of food from the soil. Roots do not usually extend to great depths, but keep within the limit of that portion of soil which supplies their proper nutriment. Roots are distin- guished from stems and branches by the absence of 6tomata, buds and pith — and by the presence of ab- sorbing fibres. The stock, or main body of the root, sends off the fibrils, or minute, slender branches of the root, — the delicate, tender extremities of the fibrils are called spongioles; these are the growing points, and the organs which absorb from the soil the earthy part, of the food of all plants. If some trees, as the willow or currant, be inverted in the soil, the branches are changed to roots, while the roots put forth leaves in the air, and the plant grows. Roots are of several different forms, which have received specific names for the sake of convenience. Fig. Fig. 3. Ramose, or branching roots are those which send off many ramifications in various directions, like the branches of a tree: such are the roots of the oak, &c. Fusiform, or spindle shaped roots, con- sist of a fleshy stock, tapering downwards to its extremity, sending off fibrils, which are its true roots: such are the radish, car- rot and parsnep. Fig. 2. The napiform root is a variety of the fusiform, in which the neck or upper part swells out, so' that its diameter equals or exceeds its length. The turnip and turnip- radish are examples. Fig. 3. Fibrous roots are made up of numer- ous small thread-like roots, attached di- rectly to the stalk, without any neck or main root : such are the roots of most grasses. Fig. 4. Fasciculated roots differ from the fibrous in having of their fibres thicken i and fleshy, as in the dahlia and pii-ouv. Tuberov* roots consist of fleshy, lisfa knobs or tumors, at. or the i stremity of the stalk, as in the orchis: '"the potato was once classed among tubers, — but as it uniformly hears buds, it is '• among stems." Fig. 5. Granulated roots consist of many small rounded bulbs con- nected by fibres, as in the com- mon wood sorrel. Fig. 6. Fig. 6. Besides these varieties of roots, there are several otheis which are peculiar; and distinguished by not being necessarily fixed in the soil. Aerial roots are those which grow from some part of the plant above the surface of the soil in the open air. Some creeping plants, as the ground ivy, send forth these roots from their joints. The screw-pine also send off roots which are several feet in length before they reach the ground. Such roots are often seen in the common maize. Floating roots belong to plants which float upon the surface of water. The water-starwort is said to float upon the surface until flowering, when it sinks and takes root in the mud till its seeds ripen. The epiphytes, or plants fixed upon the branches of other species, derive their nourishment mostly from the air; such are some species of moss. Parasites are those plants which grow upon other plants; and some of whose roots are said to penetrate their tissues and subsist upon their juices; while the roots of others are aerial, and derive their food from the air: such are the mistletoe and dodder. Roots are divided again into three varieties, viz: annual, biennial and perennial, according to their duration. Annual roots are those which live only one year, and must be raised from the seed^ sown every spring, — as beans, peas and cucumbers. Biennial roots are those which live two years and do not blossom the first season, — but they produce flowers, fruit and seeds the second year, and then die; such are the beet, cabbage and carrot. Perennial roots live several years, — some of them, as forest trees, live to a very great age: the grasses, dandelion and asparagus are other examples. — Kodg- ers* Scientific Agriculture. Pomological Rkform. — A. J. Downing, Esq., chairman of the General Fruit Committee of the Congress of Fruit Growers, has addressed a circular to the committee, directing their attention to the necessary subjects for investigation. It is an impor- tant document, and we shall call attention more par- ticularly to it at a future time. 100 THE GENESEE FARMER. April HINTS FOR APRIL. Pruning should all have been done last month, but if any has been deferred it should be attended to forthwith. In orchard fruit trees little is necessary beyond thinning out the small branches to admit air and light freely to all parts of the tree, and remov- ing all straggling branches or those that cross each other; spoiling the form and balance of the head. It is too late for grapes, or stone fruits, unless it be small limbs or twigs; if pruning be necessary defer it till summer. Spade around and give a top-dressing of manure to all fruit trees, if not done last fall. Use well rotted manure; some decayed leaves from the woods, and a portion of ashes and lime mixed with the manure makes a good compost for any trees, particu- larly for peaches. Grafting must be done, commencing with cher- ries and plums, and finishing with pears and apples. The grafts of last season should be looked over and all shoots that have appeared below them cut away, and weak shoots cut back to a good plump eye. Suckers that appear around the roots of trees, and all shoots on the trunks of standards should be care- fully removed. Transplanting should be finished as early as pos- sible. Some people cannot think of going into their garden to see what trees should be planted in it, or what care it needs until the ground is dry and clean, the sun warm and bright, and the leaves and blos- soms begin to appear — then gardening becomes so charming that it can be no longer resisted — some- thing must be done; and then it is so late that a great many important little things must be deferred. Don't be afraid of a little blustery weather; but get every thing done in season, fair or foul, and when fine weather comes, your trees and plants, your grass lawns, your seeds, fee, will have but to grow. Roses should have a careful pruning and a liberal dressing of good old manure. The rose cannot have a soil too rich, and in a poor soil, or one half way poor, you cannot expect a fine, first rate bloom. Many people will buy a good rose, and plant it in a miserable worn out border. It grows perhaps a very little, and produces a small starved blossom. It has neither the size, color or fragrance that was expected, and then the poor nurserymen are blamed for over- praising it. Well, sometimes they are too lavish of their commendations, but cultivators are much more frequently at fault in their treatment. All roses should have a deep, rich and if possible a some- what heavy soil. Climbing Roses should be cut back a little; that is, remove the small weak ends of the last season's snoots, and they will push more vigorously afterwards. All straggling, superfluous shoots should be cut out entirely. The Everblooming Roses that may have been pro- tected in the borders should be uncovered, if not done, and properly pruned and dressed. Those wintered in cold frames may be turned out at any moment; cut them back freely to obtain strong growth. Flowering Shrubs should be pruned, too, if the heads have become dense: this, with a dressing of manure is necessary to luxuriant foliage and a pro- fusion of blossoms. Herbaceous Perennial Plants, if old and large, will not bloom well. The roots cannot find nourish- ment, and they will fairly wither away in midsummer. They ought to be divided — (it ought to have been done last fall) — and re-planted in fresh good soil. Annuals may be sown in well prepared borders towards the end of the month, when the ground is dry and warm. If planted too soon they will rot. If an old hot-bed could be had with a trifling heat, they might be forwarded in it and a month of time be gained. Lawns, Walks, Hedges, tyc, will all require at- tention at this time. Those who wish to live well will" not forget the Kitchen Garden. No doubt most people have Peas now nearly in blossom, and Lettuce fit for table. These are things that can be started early in any sheltered corner. A little frost don't harm them. The general crops may now be put in, such as Potatoes, Beets. Carrots, Onions, Cabbage, Cau- liflower, d/c. Beds of Sea Kale, Asparagus and Rhubarb, three culinary plants that are really indis- pensable to all good gardens, may be made now, and old beds dressed and enriched. There are a multitude of other matters to be done that cannot escape the attention of careful persons; — what we have given are, of course, but mere Hints. The North American Pomological Convention has appointed State Committees, and issued a plan of operations similar to that of the Congress of Fruit Growers. This body will meet with the New York State Agricultural Society at Syracuse, next fall. We apprehend that pomological science will not be greatly benefitted by two such bodies in the same field. Looking only to the general good, we conceive that it would be better for the friends of this matter to unite their labor and efforts and influence in one organization. There cannot be two such bodies without more or less rivalry being engendered ; and if rivalry is at all admitted, we cannot reasonably expect good. This view of the subject, we think, will ultimately prevail. THE BAILEY SWEET APPLE, BY C. P. BAILEY. Dear Sir :— I owe you an apology for having so long neglected your inquiry in regard to the apple called the " Bailey Sweet." I have often, in its early history, con- versed with the first settlers of this place, in regard to the origin of this apple ; but could only ascertain that the orchard, containing some twenty trees of this fruit, was transplanted in 1814 or 15, and came into my possession in 1829, at which time I commenced distributing the scions liberally through- out the country. From this circumstance, it no doubt re- ceived its name. I have learned its history, wherever intro- duced, and can trace it no farther back than this orchard. The tree is of vigorous growth, bears abundantly; the fruit ripens early, and deep red on the outside — size, large— shape, oblong, tapering handsomely towards its summit. Its flesh tender, juicy, sweet and excellent. A superior table fruit, fine for baking or cooking, and decidedly the most popular apple in this vicinity, and so considered wherever it has •been introduced, as far as I can learn, both east and west. With proper care will keep into the month of February.— Perry, N. Y., February, 1849. VARIETY OF APPLES-CHAPINS ORCHARD, There probably has not been an instance of the production of as fine varieties of apples as are now grow n and originated on the farm of the late Ileman Chapin. The " Early Joe" ripe in August and September ; Water Melon, or " Norton's Melon," November to February, and the "Northern Spy" from March to 15th of June— a complete succession of apples, the two first, particularly a desert fruit, and the " Spy" an- swering for both table and cooking. Western New York can boast of the three, and they cannot be too highly prized. Let every one be advised to cultivate them, and when they succeed, they will thank the writer of this for his advice. — J. H. Watts. Rochester, JV. F.. March,, 1849. 1849. THi: CKXKSKE FARMER. 101 PLANTING TREES ON CLAYEY GROUND. Bl A. i:i:mm. Mr. Editor: — 1 notice in the Horticulturist of February a communication from Mr. .1. Fulton, Jr.. a nurseryman in Chester Co.j Pa., detaikn method of preparing ground for and planting an orchard which seem,- in me to be calculated to mis- lead the inexperience i, who may be induced t<> prac- tice after his exai His preliminaries are excellent, except "digging the holes:" the most critical and importont of all. In this 1 think lie is entirely wrong, and that before he becomes the profitable proprietor of an orchard thus planted, he must be his own customer for a sec- ond lot of his tine two-year-olds. The work com- mences by " digging the holes from 4 to 5 feet square ami J deep, throwing the clay subsoil entirely away." Now, allowing there to be eight inches of good sur- face soil, it follows that he must remove sixteen inches of solid clay, forming a basin large enough to hold three barrels of water, and almost as capable of retaining that element as any vessel that a potter could produce. And over this reservoir, after filling in with rich compost, he proposes to place his young trees — which I think is a great mistake. How tenacious the clay may be on his place, I do not know, but in ordinary clayey-subsoil I am sure they would realize the presence of u water-cure" at least until midsummer, and if they did not die out the first or second year after planting, but should survive such ultra hydropathic treatment, their stinted groth and annual crop of moss, for the first ten or twelve years of their youth, would evidence to the planter that he was sadly mistaken in1 the premises, or that his trees were endued with sense enough to rebel against their destiny. I have known many trees to be destroyed by pur- suing the above method. The water should never be permitted to lodge under the roots of a tree. Where the subsoil is a heavy clay, the ground should be worked quite two furrows deep, and thrown into ridges by frequent plowings to the center, until the depth of two feet of good soil is obtained, when the trees should be set at the desired distance, on the middle or highest part of the ridge. Staking and mulching are indispensable in this case, as the evaporation is greater and the tree more likely to be rocked by the winds from its position, than when the subsoil is soft and presents no obstruc- tion to the downward direction of the roots. Frequent wetting of the stem and branches during the first summer after planting, especially if the season be dry, will be found far more beneficial than watering at the roots, a practice I am satisfied that kills more trees than it saves. It is proper to observe that wetting should always be performed toward evening, and never at any other time. Erie County JYurscry, Buffalo, JY. Y., February, 1849. With Mr. BRyANT we deprecate the practice of digging deep holes for trees in a damp, clayey soil. Far better keep the roots near the surface, within the reach of heat and air, and good wholesome food. —Ed. The Beet Root was first brought from the shores of the Tagus, and was cultivated in gardens, on ac- count of its elegant leaves and the rich red color of its roots, two hundred years before it found a place on our tables as an esculent luxury. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. DWARI LPPLB TKKKs. M- '■ Burraia, Lockport. Attendant apple tree requires to be planted :u least thirty feet apart . dwarf bushes on Para- dise slinks, about li\ e or si\ — so that you may have a very interesting colli i tion in the plai e of one I these dwarf trees when seven ot eight years <>l,!. will bear, if properly managed, from half* bushel to two bushels of fruit according to the nature of the variety— they bear very early, say the second or third year from tin- bud or graft, but, of course, the quantity is small at first. The French urow very nice pyramidal trees on the doucam stock, a species that holds an intermediate rank between the Paradise and tlir crab or common stock. These pyramids would perhaps suit your purpose best, if you could get them; they mi planted ten feet apart. But the production of large quantities of apples should not lie aimed at in a garden, because it is nn impossibility. We do not hesitate to say that much more pleasure and profit will result from the bushes or pyramids than from the stand- ards. In the grounds of .M r. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, we saw a little plantation of 36X) dwarf apple trees on paradise. on about ten square rods of ground. For your benefit and others, we give, in another place, a table (if distances. CERASUS MAHALEB. A. Thompson", Otisco. This is what is called the pi r- fumed cherry on account of the leaves, wood and blossoms having a strong perfume. It is a native of the south of Eu- rope. It is a branching tree with smooth, glossy, light green foliage, and attains the heightof 20 or 125 feet. It bears small, roundish, black, bitter fruit, and is remarkable for flourishing on the poorest soil. It is cultivated in British gardens as an ornamental tree, but extensively used by the French for dwarfing the cherry tree. The first year or two the free growing sorts make as strong growth in it as on free stoek. but afterwards they shoot less vigorously and become very prolific. It is raised principally from seeds as the mazzard, and may be worked the second year. The price of stock fit for working is about $5 per 100 in the nurseries here, being mostly imported. The price of Paradise stock is. we beli. \ e, about the same. The Cottage Garden of America, containing practical directions for the Cultivation of Flowers, Fruits and Veg- etables: by Walter Elder. Philadelphia, Moss & Brother. The above is a neat work of about 250 pages, with which we have been favored by the publishers. The author claims that he has taken untrodden ground ; that other works on the subject of garden- ing have been designed for the rich, while his book is " addressed entirely to the cottagers of America.*' Mr. Elder is an experienced gardener, making no pretension to literary acquirements, being more accustomed, in his own language, "to the spade than the pen; and better at laying out gardens than making books." This work, however, is the fruit of long practice and close observation : and although the best gardeners differ somewhat in their practice, the author declares that " every article in the book will stand the scrutiny of practice."' It contains a large amount of matter in a small compass, and will be a valuable book for the " cottagers of America." Premiums for Seedling Grapes. — Mr. Long- worth, of Cincinnati, has lately offered premiums of $50 each for a seedling Catawba, Ohio, Herbemont or Missouri grape, equal to the original, and of a white, blue or black color. It is not considered a difficult matter to obtain seedlings of the proposed colors. White seedling Catawbas have been already grown in the vicinity of Cincinnati. Cuttings and grafts, when sent to a long distance, should be enveloped in pieces of oil cloth. This preserves them from the action of the air. 102 THE GENESEE FARMER. April CULTIVATION OF LIMA BEANS. Mr. Editor : — I hand you for publication in the Horticultural Department of your paper, a commu- nication from one of our citizens in relation to the cultivation of Lima Beans, presented to the Horti- cultural Society of the Valley of the Genesee. Should the experiments qf others prove as successful as have those of Mr. Seward, we may hope soon to see our market well supplied with this most excellent and valuable table vegetable. L. A. Ward. By the request of the President of your Society, I submit the following details of my experience in cultivating this plant for some time past. It is now about eight years since my attention was called to the article by Mr. Bateham, at that time of the Rochester Seed Store. I purchased a single hand- ful for a shilling, and have succeeded in perfecting a sufficient quantity for use and for seed since that time, not exceeding fifteen or twenty hills in a season. In the mean time, having had an opportunity for observing the peculiar habits and necessities of the plant, I prepared last spring a strip of ground equal to two square rods, on which were planted about sixty hills, with four seeds to a hill, which averaged, after the common catastrophies of germinating, and the depredations of the cut-worm, two and a half matured plants to the hill. They grew as usual in the months of July and August with great vigor, some of the vines attaining a length of more than twenty feet. The bean was sufficiently matured for cooking about the 15th or 20th of August, and from that time to the last of October they were gathered freely for the use of a small family. A half peck was submitted at the exhibition of your Society about the 20th of Septem- ber, to which was awarded a premium of two dollars. Mr. Fogg, of the Seed Store, desiring to obtain for seed what might mature at the rate of seven dol- lars the bushel, I had them carefully gathered about the 10th of November, amounting to a full half bushel of plump dry seed, in addition to which there was nearly a peck of dry beans not considered suf- ficiently ripe for seed, which we find to be as great a luxury for the table in winter as they were in the fall. Under all these circumstances, the crop cannot be considered less than one bushel, at $7. (It is said, by the way, that the article is considered in the Philadelphia market as good as lawful tender for $10 the bushel.) ' One acre of ground at this rate would produce eighty bushels, and at $7 a bushel, $560 — enough one would think to satisfy the rapacity of a California gold digger. The inferences to be deduced from the foregoing statements are, first, that there is no good reason why our vegetable market should not be as well supplied with this real luxury as are the markets of New York and Philadelphia ; and second, that they can be produced for market, in quantities and at prices that would place them in reach of all our citizens. The Lima Bean, as its name indicates, is a native of Lima, in South America, introduced into the United States probably within the last thirty years. It is consequently a little out of its latitude in Roch- ester. It will be necessary, therefore, to secure the greatest success in cultivating it, that you select a warm, sandy rich soil, if possible a little elevated from the plain, as such elevations will often escape a frost in spring which would destroy the plant a hundred yards distant on a plain ten feet below, and it will be apt to be too late to plant this bean a sec- ond time. The same will be true of the frost in the fall, when every day will be needed to perfect the crop. They should be planted between the 1st and 15th of May, immediately after a warm rain, so as to get them up if possible before it rains again — a few cold wet days, or a hard crust on the surface, may dvstroy a large part of your plants after they have sprouted and before they are up. The vines, after they commence running, will need a little assistance in attaching themselves to the poles ; the cultivation after this need not vary from that of other beans. The roots may be pulled up in the fall or cut off near the ground, and the beans left to dry on the poles. To those who are entirely unacquainted with this vegetable it may be proper to state, that the Lima Bean is to all other beans what the Marrowfat Pea is to the common Field Pea. It is a large white bean, growing three in a capsule or pod, rich and buttery, having the starchy or beany taste peculiar to the family scarcely perceptible. J. W. S. A WORD ABOUT PEARS. BY H. P. NORTON. In the spring of 1846 I gave a neighbor scions of the Bart- lett: which he inserted on bearing trees, and in September, 1848 delivered me a specimen of large and excellent fruit gathered from those scions. In August, 1847, I budded several varieties upon stocks of the apple or orange quince. This day I have measured the growth, and thinking the results may be interesting and perhaps useful, furnish them: HEIGHT. DIAMETER AT BASE. Bartlett, 4 feet 9 inches, £ inch. Beurre d' Aremberg. 4 " 2 " I " Summer Bon Chretin, 5 " I " Jargonelle, 4 " 8 " 1 " Rousselet de Rheims, 2 " 9 " i " White Doyenne, 2 " 4 " i " Gray Doyenne, 2 " 1 " h " Golden Beurre. of Bilboa, grafted April, 1844, shows the following height of main stem, 2 feet 10 inches; 6 side shoots, 21, 11,9, 9, 8, 4 inches, making, making the entire growth 8 feet. Diameter f inch. I am surprised that Beurre Diel on quince is not more fre- quently and more highly recommended by cultivator's of fruit and conductors of pomological publications. The rapid ad- vance, hardiness, productiveness of the tree, and the large size and excellence of the fruit render this, in my poor opin- ion, a desirable variety. Indeed, I do not know its superior. You will have observed that Mr. Downing has recently in the Horticulturist, uttered strong animadversions upon the practice of giving long and deceptive lists of pears in Nurse- rymen's Catalogues, and affirms there are not over twenty va, eties really worthy of cultivation. If this be true, a vei., obvious inquiry suggested is, Why has he in his Fruits and Fruit Trees described 233 varieties ? If not worth cul- tivating, why 1111 the book with their description? The book was designed to be. and has become a standard work, for the information and guidance of those who desire to grow good fruit At least 80 to 100 of these varieties are expressly pronounced to be ''first rate," " excellent," " de- licious," " worthy of cultivation," &c., so that no reader can doubt the author intended to recommend them as desirable, and entitled to a place in fruit gardens. If those who raise trees to sell are censurable *» putting before the public extended lists with an indiscriminate recommendation of the varieties, is not the writer of a standard work justly obnox- ious to severe rebuke for misleading the uninitiated in a simi- lar manner] In the one case purchasers are likely to suspect the representations and are on their guard ; in the other, discovering no motive for over-wrought descriptions, they are more liable to be injured. Brockport, March, 1849. The idea of reducing the list of pears to about a dozen of the best varieties is rather Utopian, while so many tastes exist and so many climates and localities to be suited. Nurserymen are compelled to grow a great variety, but peo- ple are by no means compelled to buy thorn. — Ed. 1849. Tllti GENESEE FARMER. 103 iCabics' department. GARDENING FOR LADIES. Mr. Dowmni;, iii the February number of the Horticulturist) when urging tin' ladies to decorate their homes w ith climbers and creepers— the ilrapery of nature, more beautiful far than festoons of satin and gold — says: ••All that is most graceful and charming in this way owes its existence to female hands. ' ' ' The\ arc naturally mistresses of the art of embellishment. Men arc so stupid in the main about these matters, that if the majority of them had their own way there would neither be a ringlet nor a ruffle, a wreath nor a nosegay left in the world." Without entirely assenting- to the truth of the above, we would say that the ladies have ever been considered, the world over, the almost exclusive pat- rons of flowers. And we know of no employment — no exercise or recreation — so conducive to health and happiness — none that will bring so effectually the' glow of health to the cheek, and of joy to the heart, as Gardening. It not only furnishes exercise, but exercise in the open air, and that regularly. While riding and other modes of exercise are attended with expense, and inconvenience, and loss of time, and are seldom attended to regularly, even by those most favored : yet she who cultivates a flower garden, and loves flowers, will seldom neglect her daily task. The ever encroaching weeds, the necessities of her plants, call daily for her attentions — and seldom calls in vain. The healthy appearance of English ladies is noticed by all American travellers. And for this they are in a great measure indebted to their passion for gardening. All English ladies work in their flower gardens, from the proudest princess to the poorest cottager. When the hoe and the spade were almost the only garden implements in use, ladies had some excuse for neglecting to cultivate their gardens with their own hands; but now, implements are made so r5~) light and convenient, especially for ladies' use, that there would seem to be no ex- cuse. The Ladies Garden Fork is one of the most useful of these, either in the garden, or among plants in pots. The Transplanting Trowel is a light and convenient im- plement for prepar- ing the ground for small plants, and for removing them to the desired place, without disturb- ing their roots or checking their growth. We see advertised in the eastern papers Ladies' Gardening Gloves ; but we would not advise our fair readers to be particular about the mittens. The architect may design, and the builder erect, the stately mansion or the simple cottage; it may be faultless both in design and execution, yet it stands stifij unmeaning and lonesome; — but let some fair hand surround it with the drapery of nature — leaf and Dlossom — and it is changed as if by magic ; its deformities, if any, are hid, its beauties heightened, and it becomes at once the abode of grace and beauty. Soda Coffee. — The flavor of coffee may be very much improved by adding forty or fifty grains of carbonate of soda to each pound of roasted coffee. In addition to improving the flavor, it neutralizes the acid contained in the infusion. I3cms' ^Department. Boys Look at This.— The Orphan's Gratitude. — Hon. A. II. Stevens, of Georgia, in a recent ad- dress at a meeting in Alexandria, for the benefit of the Orphan Asylum and Free School of that city, related the following anecdote: " A poor little boy in a cold night in June, with no home or roof to slicker his head, no paternal or materal guardian or guide to protect or direct him on nil mty, reaehed at nightfall the bouse of a rich planter, who took nun in, fed, lodged and sent him on his way, with his blessing. Those kind atten- tions cheered his heart and inspired him with fresh courage to battle with the obstacles of lite. Years rolled round, Provi- dence led him on, he had reached the legal profession; his host had died; the cormorants that prey on the substance of man had formed a conspiracy to get from the widow her estates. She sent for the nearest counsel to commit her cause to him and that counsel proved to be the orphan boy years be- fore welcomed and entertained by her deceased husband. The stimulus of a warm and tenacious gratitude was now added to the ordinary motive connected with the profession. He undertook her cause with a will not easy to be resisted, he gained it; the widow's estates were secured to her in per- petuity; and Mr. Stephen's added, with an emphasis of emotion that sent its electric thrill throughout the house, "that orphan boy stands before you!'' Arithmetical. — Fm- the Boys. — To find the square of any number, or series of numbers, having the square of any other number given. Rule 1. — To the square of the number, (the given square,) add twice the number increased by one, and the sum will be the square of the next greater num- ber: thus, 122=144; and 144*12*2*1. (=25,) = 169, the square of 13 ; &c. 2. — From the square of any numbers, subtract twice the number diminished by one, and the re- mainder will be the square of the next less number ; thus, 12^ = 144, and 144— 12*2 — 1, (=23,)=121,the square of 1 1 ; fee. Why ? Boys.— H. Bourn East, Feb., 1849. Enthusiasm. — Nothing is so contagious as enthu- siasm ; it is the real allegory of the tale of Orpheus ; it moves stones — it charms brutes. Enthusiasm is the genius of sincerity, and truth accomplishes few victories without it. Early Poverty a Blessing. — An English judge being asked what contributed most to his success at the barr replied, "Some succeed by great talent, some by a miracle, but the majority by commencing without a shilling." The three most difficult things are, to keep a secret, to forget an injury, and to make good use of one's leisure. Dr. Franklin, in speaking of education, says, "If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him." OUR PRESIDENTS. First stands the lofty Washington That noble great immortal one; Tho elder Adams next we see. And Jefferson comes number three , Then Madison is fourth you know, The fifth one on the list Monroe ; The sixth an Adams comes again. And Jackson seventh in the train ; And Harrison counts number nine ; The tenth is Tyler in his turn, And Poi.k eleventh, as we learn ; The twelfth is Taylor, people say ; The next we'll learn some future day. 104 THE GENESEE FARMER. April CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. Improved System of Husbandry, 81 "Wool Growing and Stock Raising in the Mountains, 82 Hints to Dairymen 83 Texas Wheat ; Value of Lime 83 Geddes' Harrow ; a Drop from the Cornice. 84 Agricultural School at Gennantown, Pa 84 The Plow— its history and improvements. 8 5 Wire' Fence ; Gravel Fence. 86 Value and Cultivation of Barley ; Seeding with Clover. 87 Improvement in New England ; Pea Bugs 87 Ketchum's Mowing Machine, (with figure.) 8S Pease's Raking Platform. S8 Notes by S. W.; 'Carrots, 89 Short Horn Cattle— Mr. Vail's Stock. 90 Breeding Horses, 91 Geographical Distribution of Plants, 92 A Cheap Stump Machine ; Tile for Under-Draing. 93 Lunar Influence, The Tides. &e 94 A New kind of Wheat. 94 Remedy for Choked Cattle ; To Prevent Botts : Cure for Spavin ; Ring Bone ; Clipping Horses, 95 Carrots ; Salt as a Garden Manure, 95 Tatent Safety Bridle ; Large Poultry, 95 Editor's Table— Notices to Correspondents, &c 96 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. Progress of Horticulture in Europe 97 Tree Planting, 98 Botany -The Root, 99 Hints for April ; The Bailey Sweet Apple, 100 Variety of Apples— Chapin's Orchard 100 Planting Trees on Clayey Ground ; Dwarf Apple Trees. 101 Cerasus Mahaleb ; Notice of '; Cottage Garden of America." 101 Cultivation of Lima Beans ; About Pears, 102 LADIE'S DEPARTMENT. Gardening for the Ladies 103 Soda Coffee, 103 BOYS' DEPARTMENT. The Orphan-s Gratitude, 103 Arithmetical ; (and other items,) 103 ILLUSTRATIONS. Geddes Harrow S4 Four figures illustrating form and draft of the Plow,. ... 85 Ketchum's Mowing Machine 88 Pease's Raking Platform,. .. 89 Figure illustrative of the Ge- ographical Distribution of Plants 92 Stump Machine. (2 figures.) 99 Six figures representing roots of trees, plants. &c, 99 Ladies' Garden Fork 103 Transplanting Trowel. . . . .103 Market Prices of Agricultural Products. New "V'orlt, March 22—7 P. M. Flour— Flour rather heavy. Sales 3.000 bbls. at 5.37 a 5.60, with an occasional sale at something off. Grain— Yellow Corn firm, but white heavy. Sales 25.000 bu. at 52 for white, 59 a 60 for northern yellow. Rye 60,'4. Oats 37 a 39. Barley 62. Provisions— Pork has a speculative tendency. Sales at 9 a 9.12 and 11 a 11.12. At the close 9.25 and 11.25 was asked. Beef firm. Lard 6a6}£ N. Orleans, 6}£a6% for prime. Sales 1000 kegs. Butter and cheese without change. Seed— Clover 6 a 6% for old and new. Ashes- Are $6.75 for Pots. $7 for Pearls. Rochester, March 23, 1849. I>- ennsequence of the bad state of the roads, but little pro- duce has been offered in market during the past ten days Flour and Grain.— Flour is selling at $5— some holders ask $5.12. Wheat $1.13 a $1.16 per bushel. Corn 46 a 47 cents. Rye 53 cents. Barley 50 cents. Oats 30 cts. Seeds.— Clover $3.50 a 4— retail. $3 75 for medium, and $5 for large kind. Timothy $2 o 3. Flax $1. Provisions. — Pork (Mess) $13 a $14 pr. bbl. Beef $5 per cwt. —mess $7o$8 per barrel. Butter 12 a 14 cents. Eggs 13 cts. Cheese 6 a6>£. Lard (tried) 7>aa8. Maple Sugar 10 cts. Buffalo, March 22. There is more disposition on the part of the holders to sell than for some time back. In Flour good brands are generally held at 4.62>£ Mess pork sells at $13 ; prime $9 50. To Agents, Post-Masters and Subscribers. Agents. Post-masters and other friends of the Farmer will bear in mind that we offer Premiums amounting to OVER TWO HUNDRF.D DOLLARS (in Agricultural Books, Implements, &c. at cash prices,) for subscribers obtained before the 20th of April next. We have not room to publish the list of Premiums in I his number, but will send it. together with Show bill, specimens. &c. to all who wish to compete. Friends, will you show the Farmer to tour neighbors and acquaintances, and invite them to bubicribe? THE GENESEE FARMER, A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE, ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS OF Farm Buildings, Domestic Animals, Implements, Fruits, &c. The Tenth Volume of this Journal will commence on the 1st of January, 1849. In making this announcement to his Agents and the Farmers and Fruit Culturists of the country, and again asking their support in behalf of the work, the Publisher has the satisfaction of stating that the Genesee Farmer now has a circu- lation exceeding, by several thousand, that of any similar period- ical published in America. This fact, alone, furnishes abundant evidence of the real value and superior merit of the. work — for no journal, however cheap, can become and continue so universally popular, unless actually worthy of the substantial support of an intelligent community. The high reputation which the Farmer has acquired through- out the United States will be maintained, and if possible aug- mented, during the ensuing year. To accomplish this object, no effort or expense will be spared by the Editors or the Publisher. Their aim is to furnish a reliable and independent journal — one which shall avoid and condemn humbug in whatever guise it may appear, and impart correct practical and scientific information on all subjects pertaining to Agriculture and Horticulture. R will be issued on NEW AND CLEAR TYPE, and superior paper, and printed in the best style of the art— neat and correct. Its ILLUSTRATIONS — embracing Portraits of distinguished friends of improvement on steel and wood, and Engravings of Farm Buildings, Improved Implements, Domestic Animals, choice Fruits, Trees. Flowers, &c.,— will be more numerous and expensive than those of any preceding volume. QtJ" Each number will contain at least 24 Koyal Octavo Pages ! making a large and handsome volume of several hundred pages at the close of the year. The Genesee Farmer is, beyond dispute, the cheapest Agricul- tural and Horticultural Paper in the World ! — and the Proprietor is determined to make it the neatest and best. We confidently ask for it that support which it merits from the Farmers. Gard- eners and Fruit Culturists of the United States. Terms — Invariably in Advance — as follows : Single Copy. 50 Cents. Five Copies for $2. and any greater number at the same rate, if directed to individuals. If directed to one person. Eight Copies for $3. and any additional number at the same rate. The entire volume sent to all subscribers. (£lj=- Post-Masters. Agents, and all friends of improvement, are respectfully solicited to obtain and forward subscriptions. %* The January, February and March numbers have been stereotyed, which enables us to promptly supply those num- bers to all new subscribers. Subscription money, if properly enclosed, may be sent (post- paid or free.) at the risk of the Publisher. Address to D. B. T. MOORE, Rochester, New York. Agricultural Books. — A large assortment of Books on Agriculture, Horticulture, &e., for sale at this Office. See list of works and prices in advertising department. Also — complete sets of the Farmer from its commencement, (except the 2d volume,) substantially bound, which we will sell at 50 cents per volume. These volumes are not suitable for sending by mail— but we have copies of vols. 6, 7, and 8. Pound in pap^r covers, which may be mailed. [TJ3 Competiors — See advertising department for list. THE GENESEE FARMER, Published on tliejir.it of each month, at Rochester, N. Y., by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE & D. D. T. MOORE, Editors, P. BARRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. Fifty Cents a Year, In Advance. Five Copies for $2, and any larger number at the same rate, if directed to each subscriber. Eight Copies for $3, if addressed to one person only — and any larger number^ directed in like manner, at the same rate. tO3 All subscriptions to commence with the year, and the entire volume supplied to all .subscribers. Advertisements. — A limited number of short and appro- priate advertisements will be given in the Fanner, at the rate of $1,50 per square or folio (ten lines or 101) words) for the first insertion, and $1 for each subsequent publication — in ADVANCE. [0= The Farmer is subject to newspaper postage only. STEREOTYPED BY JEWETT, THOMAS AND CO., BUFFALO, K. T. — BMP— ■!!■■! IF lllllltbllli1 III H M Agriculture is the most Healthy and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. VOL. X. ROCHESTER, N. Y. — MAY, 1849. NO. 5. farm tjnsbanuru. * PRODUCTION & CONSUMPTION OP MOLD IN SOILS. Few subjects are more interesting than the natural laws which govern the production and consumption of organic matter in soils. By the terms "organic matter" the unlearned reader will understand a stance, which was once a part of some living vegeta- ble or animal, and was organized by vitality. On all lands covered with forests or other growing vegetation, the production and consumption of mold are constantly in progress. When production ex- ceeds consumption there is of course an increase of vegetable matter on the surface of the earth. On the other hand, if from any cause the decomposition of mold is larger than the additions to it, a diminu- tion of the amount of organic matter ensues. The quality and agricultural value of mold depend mainly on the character of the plants by the decay of which it has been formed; and by the length of time which the vegetable debris has been washed and leached by rains, since the vegetables ceased to live. Plants and forest leaves that abound in azote or nitro- gen, in sulphur, phosphorus, lime, potash, soda, mag- nesia and chlorine, yield a far richer mold than such as contain very little of the elementary bodies named. One hundred pounds of wheat, oats, corn, peas, beans, clover, and cabbage, will produce in rotting, better mold for all agricultural purposes, than a like weight of pine wood, rye straw, or other vegetable substance which is poor in bread and meat-forming elements. Common wood and all plants lose a por- tion of their earthy salts, (which appear as ashes when they are burnt) if long soaked in water. Old and long weathered cornstalks, grass and straw will have parted with more or less of their fertilizing atoms by protracted exposure. Hence, after plants cease to live and begin to decompose, the sooner they are plowed in, and mingle with the earth, the less they lose, and the more valuable they are to enrich the soil. The process of disorganization ia^governod by chemical laws as certain and uniform, as those which regulate the re-organization of the same or similar atoms, in developing the germs of a new gen- eration of vegetable existences. The elements of wate •, oxygen and hydrogen, which exist in all plants, separate and pass off faster in mold than carbon and azote. It is carbon, or the great element of coal and lamp-black, that renders muck and mold darker colored than were the vegcta- before they began to undergo any chemical change. I I and moisture hasten the decom- position of all vegetable and animal tissues, and the consumption of their remains or mold on the surface of the earth. The same natural agen ■; fa- vor the growth of plants, and the re-organization of mineral matter to sen imals. The tillage and cropping of the husbandman, being pure- ly artificial operations, are extremely liable to de- stroy the balance in organic nature, to the injury of the soil. Tillage greatly promotes the decay of organic ele- ments in soils, and the solution Gf the before nearly insoluble salts of silica, lime, potash, magnesia, 8tc, that furnish aliment to all crops. Vegetable and ani- mal substances when rotting, evolve gases, which attack insoluble compounds of flint and lime, potash, soda and magnesia, and render all these minerals available to growing plants, which imbibe them through their roots, and fix them permanently in their tissues. In nothing is the wisdom of God more perceptible, than in regulating the solubility of mold and the minute particles of rocks, which to- gether, form all the diversified soils on our planet. Without this admirable adjustment for hourly, daily and annually feeding plants, which in turn feed ani- mals, both would soon cease to be on the earth. How shall we make'plain to the comprehension of a child, the science of feeding plants — the art of accumula- ting bread, meat and fruit in the soil ? In 100 parts of fresh, lean meat there are 77 parts of water which may be expelled by drying. In 100 parts of perfectly dry beef there are 4.23 of ash, or incombustible salts. Muscle contains about 15 per cent, of nitrogen: and nearly 52 of carbon. The other constituents are oxygen and hj r the elements of water. Lean meat, like the seeds of cereal plants, contains sulphur, phosphorus, lime, iron, and all the elements required to form bones, brain, nerves, skin, &c. Hence, a dog or other carnivorous animal ubsist on lean meat, or on bread and water alone. A good cow extr i the soil in her food, some 40 or 50 lbs of I; u in the course of a year. Thirty pounds of this will be given in her milk, which will be sold, probably, in cheese, and the bal- ance will be in her urine and dung. In 100 lbs. of wool there are live pounds of pure sulphur. In 100 lbs. of gypsum there are some 20 of sulphur. Gyp- sum aids in making clover, peas and beans, and they make wool ; and old woolen rags will form rich mold. 10G THE GENESEE FARMER. May For the same reason, clover, peas, and all legumi- nous plants, yield valuable food for a crop of wheat. But to begin at the beginning: How is a farmer to raise large crops of grass, clover or peas on poor land ? The thing cannot be done without manure, or good ashes to furnish the constituents of the crops, which nature demands, and the soil does not contain. It is silly to believe for a moment that two tons of timothy or clover hay, or 20 bushels of wheat, can be organized out of nothing, or from any other mate- rials than such as the Creator of all things has ap- pointed for that purpose. So far as the subsoil pos- sesses lime, potash, phosphorus and sulphur, deep plowing and subsoiling will render these elements available to cultivated plants. But on most soils, it will be found good economy to apply lime, plaster of paris, ground bones, salt, forest leaves, wood ashes, and all the manure one can possibly save, or make on the farm. There is just as much propriety in laying up raw materials for making wheat, corn and pota- toes, as there is in having a crib or store house full of grain for making bread. Lands thickly set in grass and not injudiciously fed, nor mown, i. e. not robbed of their products, will gain from the subsoil and atmosphere, the organic and inorganic elements of human food and clothing. To scarify old pas- tures with a sharp harrow, sow more seed, and apply a top dressing of gyp-sum, is often followed with the happiest results. Similar treatment of meadows, or a top dressing of ashes, or one of lime alone, will greatly increase the product, in most cases. It will not do to be ever removing grass in the stomachs of domestic animals from pastures, and hay and grass from meadows, and make no return. This is the right way to impoverish an estate, and render it comparatively worthless. Remember that, by im- proving land, you lessen the expense of raising eve- ry thing of a vegetable or animal nature which it yields. Very few men make the difference large enough between the price of poor, and that of good land. Every acre should be reasonably certain to give 50 bushels of corn and 25 of wheat. A plenty of lime, of potash, and of the mold formed by pea vines and clover, will achieve such a consummation. If the surface and subsoil naturally lack lime, its sulphates, phosphates and carbonates — if the earth has a small allowance of potash, magnesia, soda and chlorine in its composition — it is unreasonable to ex- pect large crops annually, which consume in grow- ing, a good deal of these indispensable elements. Soils poor in alkalies and alkaline earths, must not be expected to yield much bread and meat per acre, no matter how large a quantity of swamp muck is added, unless lime, potash, phosphorus and sulphur are added also. Bones, gypsum and salt, or good wood ashes, will give rich mold, by the aid of clover, peas, grass or corn ; and a mold rich in the elements of flesh and bones, will be certain to furnish the far- mer with cheap potatoes, cheap bread and meat. In raising wheat, it is not desirable to have a soil large- ly stocked with organic matter. Hence, it is often better to have the 40 per cent, of clover voided in the dung and urine of sheep, evenlj spread and dis- tributed in the soil of a wheat, field, than to plow in the whole crop without permitting any animal to feed upon it. In the latter operation, more than twice as much organic matter is added to the soil, as in the former. Whenever an agriculturist has reason to believe that a held lacks mold, he should grow crops and plow them in, rather than pasture it, or other- wise consume the vegetables that it produces, will augment its mold. DAIRY BUSINESS. This Our northern friends must look sharply to their cows, their pastures, meadows, root, corn and other forage crops ; for Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee are already in the field as competitors in the dairy business. There is not a State in the Union in which both cheese and butter can not be made. Like all other arts, that of rearing good milk- ers, keeping them well and cheaply, and at the same time manufacturing choice butter and cheese for mar- ket, demands experience, care and study. The opera- tion is mainly performed in those seasons of the year, when all animal substances, like milk, whey, butter- milk, and curd, are extremely liable to chemical changes which injure the products of the dairyman. Only a small portion of the butter and cheese made in the United States is really first rate. And why not ? The milk is good when drawn from the udder, but it is badly handled ever after. Less attention is paid to keeping milk pails, pans, churns, cheese tubs or vats, perfectly sweet and clean than is required to secure the best results. Butler when taken from the churn is not properly worked over ; nor salted with pure salt ; nor protected from the influence of at- mospheric air, as it should be. The germ of that pe- culiar change, known by the common name of "frowy," is early planted in a mass of butter, although unde- veloped for weeks or months. Butter and cheese which are put up wrong, if kept any time, will never come out right. The changes which they undergo present a subject for close and curious study. As in curing meat, good salt, pure air, and the entire exclusion of oxygen from butter in kegs, and cheese in a well oiled, impervious rind, are the leading matters to be attended to. In cheese- making, the heating of the milk, the condition of the rennet, the quantity used, and the quantity of salt, the degree of pressure on the curd, the time for it to be in press, the turning of cheese, surrounding with cloth, &,c, &c, are all details of great importance. To incorporate into the cheese all the casein (curd) and butter which the milk contained, and preserve both sweet and delicious with aroma, peculiar to each, are the objects to be attained. Keeping milk too long, bad skins, using too much rennet, too much scalding, impure salt, excessive pressing, neglect in turning and oiling, and an offensive atmosphere in the dairy room, are among the most common causes which injure cheese. Butter is damaged by permitting cream or milk to stand too long before churning ; by the defective working out, of the buttermilk : had salt ; and too long exposure to the atmosphere before it is packed down in crocks or tubs. Keep the air from your but- ter as much as practicable. Plant carrots and corn in drills for your cows ; and see that they are milked regularly and clean. A lit- tle labor will often produce a good crop of pumpkins. The main point is to raise a full supply of good food, and take are to husband all their manure as well as other products. Kf.kp Bkes. — Bees cost nothing for their food, neither for their pasturage in summer, nor for their provisions in winter. 1840. THE GENESEE FARMER. 107 ECONOMY OF FARMING. KY &GRIC01 v. In every department of industry, except that of the farmer, special effort is made to cheapen the i upense of producing articles of manufacture. This lias re- sulted in diminishing also the price at which articles arc sold, though the profits to the manufacturer, from the extensive sale of his articles, are larger than for- merly. Why then, may it BOt with propriety he ask- ed, does the farmer in must instances continue in the beaten track of olden time, instead of availing him- self of the facilities which have been furnished him for cheapening the cultivation of his farm? How many farmers content, themselves with a preparation for a single crop, instead of adopting a system of manuring that will, by a proper rotation, be availa- ble for a succession of crops. How little attention is given, after all, to systems which have been adopt- ed, by which the products of many farms have been largely increased, and the expenses of cultivation, by the use of improved implements and the right use of manures, have been very materially lessened. Now it must be evident, that any farmer who does not avail himself of the means within his reach, and thus economise the expenses of his farm, is pur- suing a course that must result in great loss, and in permanent injury. It may be said, and doubtless tru- ly, that this deficiency arises from want of informa- tion. But are not our agricultural journals publish- ed at such rates as to bring not only one, but several within the means of every farmer ? and can it be ex- cusable in a farmer, to make his ignorance his apolo- gy, when the necessary means of information are placed within his reach ? Our farmers read far too little of what is going on in the world around them. In the pages of cur agricultural journals, in the pro- ceedings of our agricultural societies, information is afforded that would enable one of these farmers great- ly to increase his income, while at the same time his farm would he rising in value and increasing in fer- tility. Let me then urge upon the farmers of our country to patronise liberally the agricultural press. Give to their columns the results of experience on their every farm — add to the usefulness of these works by contributing the results of their observations — and thus make these papers what the editors desire them to be, the repository of the experience of prac- tical farmers. Were this done, I doubt not, econo- my in the management of the farm would prevail every where, as it now does in comparatively few lo- calities. In addition to this let the farmers unite in town, county and State associations for the improvement of agriculture. Here a farmer meets his brother far- mer, canvasses the methods of farming pursued, hears what others may advance in favor of new methods of cropping and culture ; his own mind is quickened, his desire for improvement is aroused, and I hesitate not to affirm, that an advance will result from this intercourse. The mind of the farmer must be aroused — he must become a thinking as well as a working farmer — and whoever knew the thinking, re- flecting farmer who was not, in the main, a success- ful one? Encourage also the introduction of agri- cultural education into schools — and the establish- ment of institutions for the especial benefit of the agricultural class. Why should not this be done ? Do they not deserve this at the hands of their legis- lators ? Shall it be said, that the farmer who feeds all, who mainly contributes to the support of govern- ment, is net entitled to any special effort to enable him to rightly improve his mind lor the noble pur- suit which he has chosen ? I will not for a moment believe, that this subject will he permitted to sleep, alter the farmer shall have examined it at his fire- side, with that attentive consideration which he gives to the matters that ordinarily are the BubjectS of ex- amination. The result of this, if carried out, will be a better race of farmers — more perfect manage- ment of the farm — better husbandry and better crops; in short, economy in farming will be produced — di- minished expenditures and increased returns. Much might be accomplished towards attaining the object suggested, economy, if the farmer should become as systematic in his accounts with his farm as he is with individuals. I am pleased to learn that many of our farmers arc adopting this system in their operations. Not long since I was permitted to look at a farmer's account for the year — and I found a statement, with all the necessary' facts to substanti- ate it, of the expense of all his crops — that is, what each had cost him per bushel. Thus, wheat 38 cents, oats 13, barley 29, beans 37, &tc, &c. Now who cannot see, that this farmer can at once determine whether the course he is pursuing is the one best for his interest, or whether a change is necessary? — and if so, he knows where to make it. I would press this matter home to every farmer. Be systematic in all your operations, and thus you will be enabled to decide at once which course is best for you to pursue. I wxmld urge upon every farmer who makes the production of grain his leading object, to pay partic- ular attention to the cleaning of his lands. Let this be attended to with the most scrupulous care ; give to your grain all the nutrition the land can yield, and let not the weeds interfere with its full development, and you will be satisfied with the result. This is a matter far too little attended to in this country — and yet upon it depends the complete success of the far- mer in raising grain. He may manure thoroughly, his seed may be good, his land thoroughly pulverised, yet if he neglects his crops, and suffers the weeds and grass to usurp a portion of the nutriment from the soil, a diminished crop will convince the farmer, that a wise economy has not attended his operations. While improvements (so called) are often made at an expense that far outweighs the return of the crops, the farmer hearing of them is led to say, it is useless totnake the attempt, for it will be ruinous ; but if he will for a moment reflect, that this is not improvement which leads to such ruinous results, but improvement means increased products at diminished expenditure in cultivating the soil, by the aids of im- proved implements and machinery, and a careful hus- banding of the manure of the farm. And is not this desirable, is it not attainable ? I greatly mistake, if the farmer will carefully follow out the suggestions here- in made, with such other aids as experience has shown to be useful, he cannot fail of success, and in the end will learn the true secret of success, in the economy of the farm. Cure for Founder. — "The seeds of sun-flowers," says a correspondent of the Zanesville Gazette, "aro one of the best remedies known for the cure of foun- der in horses. Immediately on discovering that your horso is foundered, mix about a pint of the whole seffd in his feed, and it will effect a perfect cure." — The seed should be given as soon as it is discovered that the horse is foundered. . 108 THE GENESEE FARMER, May BONE-MEAL FOR COWS. [From the Massachusetts Flown;;*. a.] Mk. Editor — Sir: Being a reader of your excellent pa- per, I have often seen questions from your correspondents about various subjects connected with agriculture, which I have seen answered satisfactorily. BSy father bats a valua- ble cow, which gives an abundant supply of ri h milk, and which is, in all respects, a good cow. I no iced the past summer, in driving it to and from pasture* th it it would eat bones that she found by the road-side, and also, this winter, I have often found her eating them, and have prevented it, when possible. It does not seem that it is the want of salt — for she has had most of the swill from the house, and also salt, occasionally. If you can tell me the cause, and if hurtful, the preventive, I shall be very much gratified. Yours, truly, N. P. B. Hopkinton, March 19, 1849. It is supposed by many that cows are fcnd of bones be- cause they require something of that nature to restore what they lose when they give milk. Milk is the article that na- ture has provided for young animals whose bones are form- ing and growing ; and it is found to be the best article they can have . Now a cow that has come to maturity can afford to yield up some of her milk without injury as her bones are already formed. Yet she may yield such an abundance of milk as to injure her own carcass. We find some cows running to milk, as the phrase is, and becoming poor in flesh while they are yielding large quantities. Such cows are more li- able to suffer from disease or derangement of the system than cows that give but an ordinary quantity and incline to flesh. The garget in particular, which always aff?cts the udder, is always found to be most troublesome in cows that yield large quantities of milk. This is the theory — that great milkers injure their bones by parting with too much that is needed to supply the natu- ral waste of bone. Now, as to the remedy — bone meal has been used on the supposition that it might supply the waste <>•' asioned by the great yield of milk. And a number of farmers in Essex county who have tried it have reported to us that they found the remedy effectual. Bone meal is now- kept m Agricultural warehouses for the purpose of restoring cows that hanker after bones. No harm will result from eating any bones that are found in the street provided they are well ground by the cow be- fore she attempts to swallow them. Any bones may be pounded fine with a sledge hammer and given to cows. Or the meal may be obtained in this city. — Editor Plowman. Remarks : — The above relates to questions of great practical and theoretical importance. The early readers of this journal need not be informed how often and earnestly we have urged upon the at- tention of the Agricultural community, the value of bone earth in all soils, whether used as pastures, meadows, or grain lands. The amount of phos- phates which is annually wasted in the dtmg, urine and milk of animals in this country, is infinitely lar- ger than is generally supposed. The elements of bones are not abundant in ordinary earths ; hence their loss, no matter in what shape, is a serious ca- lamity. In the bread, meat, milk, potatoes and other food consumed by the human family, there is a pro- digious waste of valuable phosphates and sulphates of lime and magnesia, under the present customs of society, without any fair excuse whatever. As the country becomes older and its cities and villages more populous, the necessity for saving night soil increa- ses, whilst the quantity extracted from cultivated lands and lost is equally augmented. Pursue this system of robbing the soil of the elements of bones one or two generations longer, and not only cows but children will have to cat bones to satisfy the de- mands of nature to repair the distorted, enfeebled skeletons within them. When a child, a calf, a colt or a lamb can organise its frame-work out of iron, then it will do to waste the phosphate of lime in tlie excretions of animals. — Ed. Gen. Farmer. THE PLOW — ITS HISTORY AND IMPROVEMENTS. BY HORACE L. EM FRY. Friend Moore : — I send you herewith brief de- scriptions of some of the modern plows. Among the various forms and kinds, I would first describe that called the " Swivel Plow" or by some the " Side Hill Plow" (Figure 1.) This is so con- structed that the mold board is suspended upon pivots, by which arrangement the mold board can instantly be changed to the right or left side of the beam — thereby, forming a perfect plow at the pleasure of the operator, which will turn furrows either way. This is an important invention, and the best now in use for the particular purpose for which it was originally designed, viz : for turning furrows down the sides of hills — -thereby requiring less team — do- ing the work much better, and what is most import- ant, this method of plowing prevents all washing of side-hills by heavy rains, fee. This plow has re- cently been so much improved in form as to work equally well on level lands, as the furrows may all be turned one way, avoiding all dead furrows and ridges when desired. It is also useful in working roads, plowing from fences, he, The credit of this invention belongs to J. Rich, and the plow has always been known as Rich's Swivel Plow. The accompa- nying cut is a correct representation of the plow. Another plow for the same purpose is in use to a considerable extent in this State, which is formed with a right and left mold-board combined, and the beam so attached to the irons as to be readily made to vibrate from side to side — the main bolt through the beam forming the pivot — when the hind end is moved quite to one side, one mold-board being l in a plane with the furrow, it forms the land-side, while the other mold-board turns the furrow slice, and vice versa. This answers a good purpose. It is however a better plow for ridging and ditching, as it can be made to turn two furrows, one each way, simply by confining the hind end of the beam, midway be- tween the mold-boards. This was invented and pat- ented by Barnaby &l Mooers, of Ithaca, N. Y. Another kind of plow for ordinary kinds of work is extensively used and well approved by farmers in the interior of the State, which is known as the " Wheel Ploic.v This derives its name from the fact of its being formed with a revolving landside, thereby pro- ducing a rolling, instead of a sliding friction. In other respects the plow differs little from other kinds in general use. In theory, by the use of the revolv- ing wheel landside, a saving of power is obtained — and in fact it is the case, when and where the bot- tom of the furrow is compact and hard enough to sustain the weight and pressure of the plow upon the wheel, without being indented ; but whenever the earth is mellow, and constantly giving way to the pressure of the wheel, this saving of power is more than counterbalanced by the increased resistance to be overcome. The more complicated construction, and the constant wearing of the axis and revolving parts, lias retarded its very general introduction. — The plow, however, is thought highly of by many of the best farmers in the central part of the State. It is the invention of T. D. Burr all, of Geneva. Another kind now in use to a great extent in some sections of the country, is known as the " Self Sharpening Ploic," (fig. 2.1 These are so con- structed that the point and wing, and front or top of share, are three separate pieces — each piece so formed a6 to be capable of being reversed several 18-19. THE GENESEE FAIt.MEIi. 109 times as thej wear away; these have been found to be cheaply kept in order, and v. hen I - free, h;.\ ■-■ HOt- with con- •' 3 I M improved, and iron substi- tuted in • with lusmaking • us any other plows— and by being uewly laid by any ordinary blacksmith, once in a low ran be worn out without ! ndent upon distant furna< The various improvements in the Self- been made by several ns, at dif fere st ten ortant has . thai of substituting wrought iron and ce of cast metal for the wearing and exposed parts, which last belong to, and was pat- ented by, Rrr.'M.i.s. Xourse, fo Mason. With the Sub-Soil Ploio I will close this communication. When the advantages to be derived from the nse of the Sub-Soil Plow are known, very few good farmers will think of cultivating their farms "J without one. On many farms which have become impoverished by sur- face culture, and become unprofita- ble, the use of this plow will renew the soil, and to a great extent pro- duce the effect of manures, foe, by restoring to them their original fer- tility. Were this the only advan- tage to be derived, its use should be no longer delayed : but when it serves vs a drainer to receive the surface and surplus water, and ateo to open (he soil to a greater depth to receive the roots of plants for food and moisture, and to admit a rapid of moisture upward from a greater depth — thereby avoiding drouths in dry times and extreme wet in early spring and heavy rains — its utility can no longer be questioned. Since their introduction to this country from England and Scot- land, they have been much simplified — retaining at the same time the original effect in operation of the most approved imported plows. They are afforded here at less than one-fourth the original cost. The above cut ^fig. 3) shows the plow, which is so constructed as to follow in the furrow of an ordi- nary plow, and break and pulverize the soil to any depth required, without bringing any of the sub-soil to the surface, but leaving it where it is ; and the next round of the common plow covers this sub-soil so loosened, and so on through the field. It is also found of great benefit to grass lands (where the water stands late,) by plowing through the same once in two to four feet, in the direction of the run of the water : this, by forming small blind drains, carries off the surface water much earlier : and if this is done in the fall, it prevents the injurious action of the frosts to a great extent, the land becomes settled earlier, and a heavier and larger growth of hay is obtained. In view of these evident advantages, (Fig. 1-) Swicel, or Side- Hill Ploic. .{Fig Self- Sharpening Plow. Sub - Soil Plow. no farmer should do without a good Sub-Soil Plow. It was originally my intention to have described i] other kin/Is of plows in use, as the Eagle Plow, the Diamond Plow, the Peekskill Plow, the Center Draft Plow, foe., but my time will not now permit, and beside the public are already familiar with them. The subject of the draft of plows I will take up, and perhaps send you a communication upon it. Probably no one thing about the plow is less correctly understood, not only by the farmer but by the plow maker, and also the committees selected to judge and test the merits and demerits of the differ- ent kinds. Albany, .A*. Y.. April, 1849. Messrs. Editors : — Will you or some of your readers give ns, through the Farmer a description of a wind mill of abont one man power — or a power sufficient to churn, wash, turn grindstone, pump water for stock, foe.? One that will be simple in its construction, cheap and durable, and that will pre- serve a uniformity of motion in our Western New York breezes as nearly as possible. If it does not oblige thousands of your readers, it will your friend in Van Burex. The industrious are seldom criminal, but the most of those who yield to guilty enticements, may trace their lapse from rectitude to habits of idleness. 110 THE GENESEE FARMER. May THE PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. BY 3. P. CHAPMAN. The first great axiom laid down by nearly all wri- ters on this subject is that "like produces like." This indisputable law of nature is seen in every thing both animate and inanimate that has the power of re- production throughout the entire universe. But while this fact is universally acknowledged it is also equal- ly well known that the union of two different sub- stances often produces something differing very much from either. This law governs the animal as well as the vegetable and mineral kingdoms. By the union of two animals the produce often differs in form, col- or and appearance from either — sometimes being su- perior and at others inferior, according as the skill aud judgment exercised in their selection has been wisely applied or the reverse. To breed from two animals so that the produce 6hall be superior to either requires no small amount of judgment and experience. But it is evident this has been accomplished, else we should have had no improvement. It is very easy to improve so long as we can obtain a sire superior to the other portions of our herd : but when we have raised our entire stock equal to the best animals we now possess, must we th• it produces, many farmer tical as to the utility or oi applying pla.-t, r to the soil, believing it will have the effe id of destroying and rendering utterly wort! their farms. And my object in penning these lines is to inquire your opinion upon this point — Whether r does injure the soil ? and if so, does the injury result from the application of plaster to the soil? — or does it exhaust the soil merely from the great inci it produces in crops ? There is another inquiry upon which I should like your opinion. Is it for the interest of farmers who own small farms, and who wish to keep up, and enhance their productiveness by plowing under clover for sowing winter grain, to plow it twice — once just before the clover is fit for mowing, and again before sowing, or mow it once and then plow in the second cr>>p just before sowing ? If you will answer these inquiries, it will be satisfactory and conclusive to all concerned. A Subscriber. — Aurora. JY. Y., 1 849. Remarks. — That the use of plaster has a tendency to deteriorate and exhaust the soil, is a most ridicu- lous assumption. Its action is to fix and retain the ammonia of the air, rains, and snows — which in itself is an important assimilating agent of all plants. :im is composed of sulphuric acid and lime, ammonia of nitrogen, (which composes four-fifths of the atmosphere, and combined with plaster is nitre or salt petre,) and hydrogen, one of the constituents of water. In the mutual action and decomposition of gypsum and ammonia, results are produced and agents developed, important to the process of vegetation, and in which the value of plaster is supposed to reside. Bnt if the farmer wholly depends upon the applica- tion of plaster to keep up the fertility of his land, without rotation, rest, and the requisite green or stable manure, his lands will run down and become sterile and barren. For a clean clover and timothy ley, devoid of foul grasses, it is our opinion that once plowing on or before the first of September, turning under about five inches in depth a good second crop of clover, is the best and cheapest method that ever wheat was culti- vated— while a saving of one crop of hay and two plowtngs is made. It will not show as luxuriant in the fall as the regular summer fallowing, but when fermentation of the buried vegetable fibre commences in the spring, it brings up with a rush. t To Drive AWAr Rats. — Mr. Charles Pierce, of Milton, pounded up potash and strewed it around their holes and rubbed some on the sides of the boards, and under parts where they came through. The next night he heard squeaking among them, which he supposed was from the caustic nature of the pot- ash which got among their hair and on their bare feet. They disappeared, and he has not been troubled with them since that time, which was nearly a year ago. — Boston Cultivator. BLACK LEG AMONG CATTLE. Messrs. Editors: We has > a disease among our in tlii • \ icinity, u hich o atal. We can nei nor do thing whirh will give relii Murra others the Bla July, •ally,) in th . sed. i think that . nothing in tl work v. hich ; lion on t] ips the clisi is not. a uni Sut if you will give ns some information, or enlist th vestigations o of your corn ficial resull received by one, and 1 trust by many o rons. John Watson. — East Java, JY. Y., 1849. Remarks. — This disease is known as the black leg, quarter evil, black '|ii;irter, and blood striki and our correspondent describes it correctly. It is an endemic and very local. Its cause is very obscure, and not very rationally accounted for. It i confined to young cattle, with, occasional e: and to those confined to low marshes and wood! Very high feed, alter getting lean in flesh, producing a redundancy of blood and a tendency to infian tion, are supposed to be the predisposing ca mephitic atmosphere or poisonous plants may also he an accelerating cause. Th muzzle, extension of the head, heaving of the flanks, and every symptom of fever, with low means, and ering of the limb:?. Bleed freely and only on the first symptoms, and physic immediately; if it will not operate, give injed sd lightly with scald- ed bran or shorts. Foment the parts and put in se- tons. The great object is to reduce the system, and allay fever and inflammation. Cattle poor in flesh and milch cows are said to be almost exempt. It is contagious, and cattle affected should be removed from contact with the healthy. — Ed. The Art of Health. — Walking is the best pos- sible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far. The Europeans value themselves on having subdued the horse to the use of man; but I doubt whether we have not lost more than we have gained by this animal — for no one thing has caused such degeneracy of the human body. An Indian goes on foot nearly as far in a day as an enfeebled white does on his horse, and will tire the best horses. A little walk of half an hour in the morning, when you first rise, is advisable. It shakes off sleep, and produces other good effects in the animal economy. — Jcffi-rsoits .Memoirs. An Ohio Cheese in London. — The London papers mention the arrival there of an enormous cheese. The milk of seven hundred cows was used in making it, and it weighs 1174 pounds. It is thirteen feet in circumference, four feet and a quarter in diameter, and eighteen inches in thickness. It was offered for and obtained a prize at the Fair of the American Institute in New York city. The best way to get help is to help yourself. • 114 THE GENESEE FARMER. May LETTER FROM THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. Honolcxu House, Oct. 25, 1848. D. D. T. Mookb, Esq. — Dear Sir : I have reg- u'ar'v received the numbers of your paper since you j were* kind enough to put my name on your list, j more than a year since. Be assured, though the j climate and soil of the Sandwich Islands is so differ- j ent from your latitude, as to render inapplicable j many of the valuable suggestions it contains, I find j much in it that, by analogy, can be made useful to | the horticulturist and agriculturist of this region. j As yet, I have not, of course, bcei; enabled to ex- i periment in any of the departments of cultivating i the soil, but 1 hope within a few years to demon- strate that a hotter climate or a superior soil does not j exist than can be found on the Hawaiian group for j the tillers of the earth. As yet but little, comparatively nothing, has been i done to deve'lope the resources of these Islands. Most I persons who have become residents here are either merchants, seeking their fortunes in commercial ope- rations— missionaries, c.mfined by their obligations to the Board, to other than agricultural pursuits — discharged sailors, who are ignorant and inefficient, except upon the ocean — and now and then an indi- vidual of extravagant habits and crude notions of the means necessary to secure efficient labor and render it productive. The latter class have generally been the foreign agriculturists, and their unsuccessful efforts have tended much to discourage others, fitted by their education and habits to make the soil pro- ductive. The native population, just emerging from an uncivilized and degraded state, it cannot be expected would, as yet, be able to comprehend or execute the plans of an intelligent farmer. Such being the facts, it is not surprising that the rich re- sources of our soil and climate are as yet undevel- oped. It is to bo !>>;)ed that the recent discovery of mineral wealth in California will attract, a large, intelligent and efficient population from the United States and the Eastern Continent, and that the mar- ket that will be thereby afforded for the natural pro- ducts of this tropical climate, will induce men of capital, experience and proper taste, to emigrate here to supply their wants. T am clearly of the opinion that more money is to be made and more happiness secured by supplying the wants of the gold-hunters, than can, or ever will be realized by them, should their golden dreams all be realized. And I hope and trust the day is not far distant when, as a consequence of the present mania for the gold-dust of California, these Islands shall be rendered the garden of the Pacific. I am satisfied from the expensive and indifferent experiments that have already been made, that coffee of the best quality, equal to Mocha : sugar unsur- passed in the world ; oranges, and all of the tropical fruits, may be abundantly produced, and at a cost that will compete with the Mexican and South American provinces. Specimens of most of these I have seen, and others of more experience assure me there can be no question but they all may be produced at the mar- ket price, with profit. But it can not be done with- out intelligent, industrious and prudent men to man- age and direct the labor of the native population. — Could we be blessed with one hundred men, of the experience and ability of the farmers of New York, who would seek their fortunes in agricultural and horticultural pursuits upon these Islands, the day would be near at hand when they would be the West Indies to that portion of the United States west of the Rocky mountains. As I can say but little concerning the present state of agriculture here, t make these general remarks hoping they may direct attention to the general facts tin v contain. The simple wants of the natives, which are so easily supplied, are not calculated to stimulate them to continued and assiduous exertion ; but the exam- ple of the few foreigners who have located in their midst already has elevated their tastes and increased feheir desire for the comforts and luxuries of civilized society : and there are many striking examples of thrift and business habits, which warrant the belief that the future progress of this nation is not to be less rapid in the improvement of its business habits, than it has been in intellectual and moral culture. All that is needed now to make the natives emulous in the cultivation of the soil, is the example of foreign- ers who are ready and willing to secure their com- forts and pleasures by the sweat of the brow. T am satisfied that many of the fruits and products of your climate may be successfully cultivated here. Pe tches have already been grown, but as they were seedlings, and proved not to be of the best qualities, I have heard it repeatedly said they were not worth cultivation. You see, therefore, how important it is that the simplest truths in horticultural science should be understood. Patience and successive attempts to grow peaches from stones (as yet the only practicable method here,) I have no doubt would finally result in producing desirable varieties, which might then be propagated by scions and buds. But as the first attempt was not satisfactory, little attention is paid to the subject, and we are without a supply of that delicious fruit. So it has been with many other unsuccessful efforts in horticulture — a single unsuc- cessful experiment has discouraged a second ; and as we are generally without the Genesee Farmer, or a similar paper to enlighten the community, as I have before suggested, we are greatly in want of men to give a practical illustration of even the commonly acknowledged truths that make up the science of agriculture. With very little cultivation, abundant supplies of sweet and Irish potatoes, beans, squashes, tomatoes, and all the other common culinary vegetables, are produced : and was the soil simply sufficiently dis- turbed, without any of the aids of manure, lime, and the many other auxiliaries that are used in America, I have no doubt the quantity would be doubled. The man who is now planting my garden was astonished that I required him to move or stir the soil beyond the narrow limit of a contracted basin, before I per- mitted him to plant corn to supply my table — so little is known and practiced of the essential requisites of cultivation. A sub-soil plow or the double spading of a garden, would be considered entirely a waste. The portion of the earth that has been cultivated at all, has generally as yet been only disturbed by a Carolina hoe, or an "Oo," as it is called by the natives, which is a clumsy instrument in the shape of a spear ; yet, as I have remarked, it produces a rich reward for the labor bestowed. Could the sub-soil be thrown up and manure and lime supplied, (the latter being very essential, as the entire formation of the Islands is of volcanic origin.) I doubt not the pro- ducts of what are now comparatively barren districts would equal those of the Genesee bottoms adjacent to the lime ridges, and supplied therefrom with a 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 115 solution of lime. Nature has done all thai the most covetous could require) and I hope and trust that man will soon enjoy the rich bounties that arc in store to reward his labor. Gorgeous and beautiful are many of the flowers of our indigenous plants and shrubs, and I should ho glad to have sonic oi' them cultivated in the hot- houses of Rochester. [f you think any of your Floriculturists would pay the cost of Bending them by express from Boston or New York, i will send you seeds of some of the most desirable. They very far surpass the natural products of a colder climate. [f this general and hastily written scroll will in- terest others it is at your service, and 1 hope at some future day to send you an article better suited for an agricultural paper. Yours, &.c, A. B. Bates. FARMER'S LABORATORY. The discoveries and improvements of late have added "Modern Agriculture" to the list of the sci- ences, and erected it into one of the highest dignity. The intelligent and skilful agriculturist possesses, in his farm, a splendid laboratory, furnished with a thousand chemical agents, by the action of which all the results of culture are obtained ; and the ancient alchymists are now realized by every scientific far- mer ; for they have truly discovered the philosopher's stone and derived the true means of converting into gold, the very elements of the earth. By the aid of Geology, Mineralogy, Chemistry, Botany and Labor, he has forced the earth, the rocks, minerals, acids and alkalies, to yield their stubborn properties, singly or in combination, in relief of the first wants of man- kind. The discoveries of the nature and properties of the constituents of the soils, has taught him the art of adapting the proper growth to their peculiarities, rendering the same land, by the same labor, doubly productive, and the means of resuscitating exhausted lands, making them fertile as virgin soil. The improvement in the construction of implements of husbandry, the invention of a thousand new modes of saving labor, by ingenious machinery, and the wonderful facilities of transportation, have materially lessened the toils and risks of the farmer, and con- tributed essentially to the success of his pursuits. — Benwnt's Jour, of Jig. and Science. Milking Cows. — In your last year's volume, page 55, you have given us ten rules from the "Maine Far- mer," to be observed in milking a cow — all of which I highly approve of, excepting one, which is, wetting the cows teat with the first stream of milk. That practice I have strong objections to — first, because it is what our New York dairy women call a nasty trick. If you watch such milkers, you will often see them use so much milk that it will drop from the hand into the pail, carrying with it the filth of both the hand and the teat, which forms a composition that many would not relish. Second, the tent being left wet in the cool air is liable to crack. Third, it is an unne- cessary practice. A cow can be milked equally as quick, and with the same ease, with a dry teat as with a wet one. Try it. Reed Burritt. — Burdelt, JV. F., 1849. The consciousness that, in a particular matter, we are doing right, often constitutes more real enjoyment than triumph itself. CULTURE OF INDIAN CORN A PREMIUM CROP. Ill' JOHN SHELDON. Messrs. Editors : —The following statement of two acres of corn cultivated bj me in the town of Leicester, in 1 H 17, was pre- tiled to the Livingston Co. Agricultural Society. The Society awarded ita first and second premiums, offered lor the best and second best acre of corn raised in the county the year mentioned. The two acres were selected, separate from each other, from a field of about 5j acres. The soil allu- vial, near the Genesee River — heavily manured (i or 7 years previous to this crop, but none since. Corn had been grown on the same field for 8 year> in cession, previous to this crop — in 1816 about 50 bush- els per acre. I commenced plowing it on the ] Oth of May, and plowed from 9 to 10 inches deep. Har- rowed and marked it ready for planting on the 14th — finished planting on the 17th — rows 3 feet apart each way — from 4 to 6 kernels in a hill, and covered about an inch deep. The seed was soaked about 12 hours in salt petre, (immediately before planting,) and rolled in tar and plaster, taking care not to let the sun dry the seed. On the 7th and 8tb days of June, I hoed the corn the first time — first passing once each way with a cultivator. On the 28th and 29th of same month, passed through each way with a shovel plow, and hoed second time. Hilled the corn consid- erable, and thinned it to four stalks in a hill. At husking time, agreeable to my request Col. Hosford, one of the Executive Committee, viewed the corn standing in the field and measured the ground. Now for the result. I husked and measured from the first acre 220^ baskets or bushels of ears — and from the second acre, 200 baskets. Two bushels of ears, measured in the above manner, made one bush- el and 3 pints of shelled corn — and assuming that every two bushels of ears would yield the same quan- tity, the produce of the two acres, in shelled corn, was as follows: From the first acre 115 J bushels, and from the second 104 bushels and 22 quarts. The corn was all measured with care by myself, in a bas- ket which held a trifle over a bushel when even full, at which height I measured, thinking I could be more accurate than by heaping it. It was measured in a sealed half bushel, by which the basket was also measured. The variety of corn grown was the 8 rowed white Hint. The expense of cultivating the first acre was as follows : Plowing, harrowing and marking, $2 — planting and hoeing twice, $3 — cultivating and plow- ing, $1 — seed 25 cents — husking (115 J bushels at every 10th, 11 \ bushels at 50 cents per bushel,) $5.75 — making in all $12. Deduct this from crop (115$ bushel?, at 50 cents,) $57.75 and stalks $(!, and it leaves net, profit $51.75. Second acre, corn $52.33 — stalks $5 50 : expense of cultivating as above, except husking, $11.48 — leaving a net profit of $ 16.35. This crop received the most thorough cultivation in every respect. I was particularly careful at each hoeing to stir every part of the surface thoroughly, and to do the plowing so as to turn it topsy tarvey and pulverize the soil completely in the process. In short I aimed to have every part of it done in a far- mer like manner, as it ought to be, and I was well rewarded therefor — which I believe to be the almost invariable result from thorough cultivation. Moscow, Livingston Co., JY. Y., 1849. Is 116 THE GENESEE FARMER. May TEW OF NIAGARA FALLS, Agricultural d?cologp. NIAGARA FALLS -ITS PAST, PBESENT AND PRO- SPECTIVE CONDITION. BY DR. E. EMMONS. Among the phenomena of waterfalls and river gorges the Cataract of Niagara is justly regarded as holding the first rank, and as standing an index in the path of time, by which the influence of num- i s npon the surface of our planet may be recorded. Its present, its former and its prospective Itions have engaged the investigation and specu- lation of many philosophers. The possible conse- quence of its entire reduction, and ; . aioage of the upper lakes, have excited the wonder and appre- hensions of many. The estimated time of its reces- sion has sprinkled gray hairs among the fresh locks of the young and blooming earth, and alarmed those who would consider her still youthful in years. But amid all these speculations, Niagara still re- mains : the thunder of its cataract still reverberates through its deep chasms, and its ocean of waters still rolls on as, unknown to the white man, it rolled a thousand years ago. When we come to the investi- gation of facts, we find that, except to travelers and the aborigines, Niagara was unknown until within the last fifty years ; and that even during this time no accurate observations hare been ma.de, no monu- ment erected to determine whether the falls are retro- grading or not. The testimony of living witn and historical evidence unite in confirming the opin- ion that the water is wearing away the rock, and that the outline of the falls has changed. From these general observations, it has been estimated that they have receded at the rate of about a fifty years. Without pretending to i the accura- cy of this or any othi ate of the kind, or to Wish any rate of retrogression in the falls, we may examine its present, and from numerous facts infer its past condition, and from these we are enti- tled to draw an inference for the future, though with- out specifying time. Both in relation to the former condition and to the future recession of the falls, we may regard the prob- lem as undecided with respect to time. So many disturbing causes are constantly presenting them- selves, that, although the great principles may be re- garded as established, still it is impossible to calcu- late accurately the effect of these minor influences. The recession of every mile changes the whole as- pect r new elements are brought into operation ; the nature of the strata varies ; the relative height of certain portions, and the elevation of the whole cas- cade is altered ; and we have had time to observe only one of the phas js, and to reason from that to the future, before the condition is changed^ and we must take into the account new influences, which the previous changes have called into operation. The great difference in elevation between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, and the occurrence of the Cataract of Niagara, form one of the most striking features in the topography of Western New York. The difference in elevation of the upper great lakes is comparatively small, they being nearly in the range of the strike of the strata, while the passage from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario is directly across the line of dip.* Lake Erie is 334 feet above Lake Ontario, and the greater part of the descent from one to the ether is" overcome by the rapids and falls of the I Niagara river in the space of one mile. Niagara Limestone. — Asilico argillaceous lime- stone forms the bed of passage from the soft shale below, to the purer limestone above. When freshly exposed it is often of a dark or bluish color, but soon changes to light gray or ashen ; and though variable in character, it is a 'constant accompaniment of the group as far as observed. It forms a good hydraulic cement, where it has been used for that purpose. *The geological positions of Lake Superior and Lake Ontario, the highesl and the lowest of this chain of lakes. OCTrespond vcry nearly with each other. 1849. Till-: GENESEE PARMER. 117 In the eastern pari of the di e beds of ige are succeeded by a dark bluish gray, sub- crystalline limestone, of a rough fracture, and r.it'-il into thin courses by dark shaly matter. When not too much divided by seams, it forms a durable buildii I. This again is coarse-grained concretionary mass in irregular lay- ers, an appearance ae it' much dis- turbed while in a semi-fluid or yi [ition. The concretions often present cavities lined it i crystals, or the remains of some fossil body. The strata arc finer resinous lustre; is harsh and sail the touch : this, how i - due to the presence of magnesia rather than silex. Agricultural Characters. — The two members of narked, to a a ile degree, by a difference in the soil. The destruction of tho shale riven rise to a clay, which mingling with the ly productions of the .Modi one on torth, has produced a soil o I ■ 1 fertility; and there is rarely, if ever, to be found a 1 than the portion overlying this rock. In some places it has a greater amount of argillaceous matter than is desirable, and forms a stiff soil ; but where the slope of the surface is suffi- cient for effectual drainage, it produces no inconve- nience. The soil covering the limestone, particularly where it is a little elevated above the country on the north, is of a loamy character, the argillaceous nature of the mass below having had little influence. In many places however, for a small extent, the surface is clayey, and even extremely so, as if the materials of the lower rock had been deposited upon the higher. An example of this kind occurs a little west of the village of Lockport, where the limestone is covered by a clayey soil, while a mile or two further east, the soil is a light loam. The latter character also pre- vails in some places near Rochester, and at other points along the outcrop of this limestone. This character of the soil, together with the rapid drain- age to which it is subjected, from the fissures or joints in the limestone, as well as the proximity of the rock to the surface, has given rise to a different growth of timber, which every where marks the limestone terrace. While the country on the north and south sustains a forest of maple, beech, elm, ash, and the associated forest trees ; that along this lime- stone is indicated by oak, chestnut, and others of the same nature. — Natural History of New York. THE POTATO DISEASE. BY R. H. HOYT, M. D. Messrs. Editors: — I have been solicited, for the past four years to give my views and observations in regard to the causes, &c, of potato rot. It is now nearly twenty years since I first discovered a worm in the potato vine, and which I little thought of then, but which, from mature observation and research, I have no doubt is the cause of the potato rot. I observed, at that time, only an occasional worm, and probably every farmer of experience and observation can recollect for the last twenty years occasionally finding a rotten potato in his fields while digging. There has beta notice given of this worm within the last two years by two individuals, but no particular description of it. I have confined my observations, particularly for the last Beven years, to the ravages of this worm; of which, if it were neces ary I could obtain abundant evid nc the caterpillar I firsl gene- from an eggf which forms b - -tate, through the winter, and changes (from the vivifying influence of the sun) to • ! white miller, that resembles in every respect thai which i lie apple and other fruit trees; although ;• distinct Bpecies. The miller be la -t of .May, or begin- ning of Jufle, either on the vine, or on the ground near it — mostly 1 think on the vine— which hatches in from one to three days, depending ather. This produces the small worm, probably, described by Mr. Bartholomew, although I bav ■ not di ered it pointed While in the larva it is from five to i < i, but attains that of an more. Th< light color, the head darker, belly white, with six lead. I have killed thousands of them, by cutting off the vine to the surface of the ground, slitting i1 lengthwise, and have universally found this descrip- tion of worm, and very active, squirming and throw- ing itself into various attitudes, but never attempting to crawl off. It perforates a hole in the vine from the surface of the ground up to one-half or two-thirds of the top, and I have never seen the hole bigger than a common darning needle. It works its way up and down the vine, making it a complete hollow tube. The situation it remains in during the winter I am unable to say, never having been able to detect it in any condition. I have found it often in weeds growing among potatoes, and in corn stalks planted by the side of them. When it infests the corn stalk it commences at the top before tasseling, and works its way downward, in a measure destroying the stalk. (I would here say that I am greatly indebted to Mr. Thomas Anderson, of Painted Post, Steuben Co., N. Y., for his assistance in discovering this insect in the winged state, and in the deposition of its eggs.) Aft r entering the vine it works its way up and down, eating all the soft spongy part of it down t™ the very bottom, to the commencement of the first root, not molesting that or the small branches. And now having given all that I have been able to learn of its ravages upon the vine, its different states, Stc,, I would say a few words upon the decomposition or rot of the potato. I have examined hundreds of hills in the last six years, and have universally found that, where there was a hollow vine, there was a rotten potato at the termination of it — the small branches of roots having, as universally, - potatoes. East Townscnd, Huron Co., Ohio, 1849. We are compelled to omit some experiments and speculations embraced in the above article. In fact the subject has become so hackneyed, that we have declined publishing the thousand "theories and histo- of this disease; but Dr. Hoyt is so certain of his discoveries that we relented, although entirely con- trary to our views and examinations. In short, it is a subject as inscrutable as the cause of the cholera, and whether it is tuberic, atmospheric or parasitic, is far from settled; and the only preventive to be relied on. is to plant early, on dry high ground, that is not rich, or been recently manured. — Ed. Don't give the boys the poorest tools, and then complain because they can't keep up with men in planting, hoeing, fee. 118 THE GENESEE FARMER. May illcteorologtcal Observations, $Zt. METEOROLOGY— CLIMATOLOGY. BY L. WETHERELL. Some account of the variations of temperature upon the sur- face of the earth, icith a statement of some of the causes that produce them. That department of meteorology denominated climatology, is of great interest to man in every re- lation of his earthly existence. But none feels a more direct interest in this subject than he whose la- bors are nothing worth unless aided by the seasona- ble distribution of light, heat and moisture. The sun is the source of both light and heat, with- out whose rays vegetable and animal life would soon cease from this planet. It is a well known fact that these are not equally distributed over the surface of the earth. This is owing to the following causes, viz: the annual motion of the earth round the sun, the diurnal rotation upon its own axis, the inclination of its poles ; also, the effect of geographical posi- tion, configuration and altitude. In consequence of the earth's annual motion the position of the sun in the heavens apparently changes. The path of the sun thus described is called the elliptic; intersecting the celestial equator at an angle of 23° 28', on the 21st of March and September of every year. On each of these days, at noon, the sun's rays fall per- pendicularly upon the earth's surface at every place upon the terrestrial equator, and falling very obliquely at the poles. Two imaginary circles are drawn parallel to the equator, each 23^ 28' from it ; the one north is called the Tropic of Cancer, and the one south Ike Tropic of Capricorn. Over that part of the earth's surface embraced between the tropics the heat is distributed with something like equality ; that is to say, unless varied by altitude. Geographers have divided the earth into five zones or belts — the first, or torrid zone, is 3,243 miles in breadth, containing 77,700,000 square miles ; second, the two temperate, each about 2,970 miles in breadth, each containing 50,000,000 square miles ; and, third, the two frigid, each 1,663 miles wide, em- bracing each 8,000,000 square miles. Instead of this division the ancients used the word climate to signify that obliquity of the sphere with respect to the hori- zon from which results the inequality of day and night. The day and night are of equal length on the equator — soon varying as the poles are approach- ed either north or south. The follow ing table, copied from " Muller's Meteo- rology," will give a very good view of this use of the word climate ; also showing the length of the day in different latitudes : — Polar elevation. Length of tlio longest day. I) 12 hours. li!*leg. '14 min 13 " 30 " 18 " - 14 " 4!t '• 22 " - lo' " o".{ " 22 " - 20 " <;<; " :j-j •' 24 " 7:i " 39 " - 3 months. 90 " 6 Some of the ancients, instead of nine divisions, m: de twenty-lour between the equator and the polar circles, and six between the polar circles and the poles — the former called half-hour climates: because, from one to the other the length of the day is in- creased half an hour; the latter called month cli- mates, because between any two of the lines, as the pole is approached, there is a difference of a month in time. The annual mean temperature of a belt 1,390 miles wide, embracing 10° each side of the equator, and on a level with the sea-coast, is said to be about 82° — varying, however, whether an eastern or western coast, always higher on the western. The sun be- ing twice vertical in the year to every place lying in the hot zone, every place situated within this belt has two summers and two winters every twelvemonth. The difference of temperature is so trifling as scarce- ly to attract attention. At Cumana, in South Ameri- ca, situated at 10° north lat.tude, the mean tempera- ture of the winter is 80£° ; and that of the three hot- ter months is only 83£°. The mean temperature of Havana, on the island of Cuba, situated 23° n. lat., is 78° ; that of Madras, in lat. 13°, is 81° ; that of Manilla, the principal of the Philippine islands, in latitude 15°, is the same as Havana. The tempera- ture here is remarkable for its equaminity. The annual mean temperature of Massowa (Abys- sinia, 15J° s. lat.) 87-6° ; of Mexico, (19J n. lat.) 62° ; of Lisbon, (38J° n. l.)61.4° ; of Madrid, (40* n. 1.) 57-4° : Baltimore, (39° n. 1.) 53 ° : of Paris, (49° n. l.)5l.3° ; London, (51 i° n. 1.) 50.9° ; Vienna, (48 n. 1.) 50.1 ° ; of Geneva, (46° n. 1.) 49.3 ° ; of Berlin, Edinburgh, Hamburgh, and Tubingen, ^the first 52J ° , the second 53£ ° , and the third 56 ° , and the fourth, 48 J n. 1.) each 47.6 ° ; of Rochester, (43° n. 1.) about 48° : of Petersburg!!, (60 © n. 1.) 38.2 ° ; of North Cape, (71 ° n. 1.) 32.1°: and of Melville Island, (75° n. 1.) 1.75 below zero. The mean temperature of the winter of the last place mentioned, is 28.2 below zero ; of the spring 3.1 be- low ; of the summer 37.1 above: and the autumn 0.4 below zero ; the coldest month, February, 35.8 below zero. As will be well recollected by those who read the article on the "Distribution of Plants," in the last number of the Farmer, it is found to be much colder on the eastern coast of either continent than on the western ; that is when the annual temperature of places on the eastern coast of America is compared with those of the western coast of Europe, a remark- able difference is seen. Nain, on the coast of La- brador, 57 ° n. lat., has an average temperature of 26.5 ° ; Christiana, in Norway, 60 ° n. lat., average temperature 42.7 ° . The average temperature of Quebec is 42 ° , while that of Amsterdam, 5£ ° further north, has an aver- age temperature of 52 ° . Halifax lies in the same latitude with Bordeaux, New York with Naples. The average temperature of Halifax is 13° lower than Bordeaux; and that of New York 7° lower than Naples. As the equator is approached these differ- ences gradually diminish, as seen by comparing St. Augustine and Cairo: each, situated 30° n. lat.. has almost the same degree of temperature. New Archangel, on the west coast of America, has nearly the same lat. as Nain on the opposite coast : yet its average temperature is 19 dog. above that of Nain. Pekin is further south than Naples; yet the former being situated on the eastern coast of Asia, has an average temperature of 9 deg. lower than that of the latter. In the northeast of Ireland, lat. 55 ° , the average temperature of the winter is about 8 deg. above freezing point : here the myrtle thrives as well as in Portugal. On the coast of Devonshire the I 1949. THE GENESEE FARMHIi. 119 Cnmtlia Japonica and the Fuscliia Coccinca winter in the open air. But it is time to notice tl of this unequal distribution of heat over the samo lati of the earth's surface. Tl esenl as used from Mutter's work, already quoted from. Muller says that, "In the northern Bouthwest and northeast winds prevail, the former from the equatorial i . iring with it the g influences already noticed. The second cause, to which Europe owes its relativelj warm climate, is, that in the equatorial region, it is bounded on the south by Africa, who tit of di render it extremely hot, exposed vertical rays of the sun. A] i ... ft! is. continually rising from those glowing hot . . wastes, and is homo over Europe, whore it mi] ' : with the air and greatly elevates its temperature. — Finally: the Gulf Stream contributes greatly to rendering the European temperature milder than that of other countries of the same latitude and alti This stream or current has its origin in the Gull' of Mexico, where the temperature of the water is 87 deg. This heated water is borne off toward the coast uf Europe, and in lat. between !.i z and the temperature in January varies from 51 deg. to ;. And there are two other important causes to be i sen- tioned, viz.: there are no mountains to interrupl I currents of warm air on the southwest and west ; and secondly, Europe does not extend so far north as either America or Asia — and it is also protected by northern seas which greatly modify the cold from the north." Thus are presented a few of the great facts which go to make up the science of Climatology. Rochester, April, 1849. Spirit of tlje ftgriniltaral fjress. Washing Sheep. — A correspondent of ihe Prairie Farmer says he washed his sheep last spring in the following man- ner— as recommended by an experienced wool dealer : — I took :i trough that would hold about a barrel, and filled it with soap suds. I laid a board on one edge of tho trough, slanting towards the trough, so that when a sheep was dipped and taken on to the board the water would drain into the trough. A boy took the hind legs of the sheep, and I look the fore legs, and turned their back into the trough ; then raised them out on the board and squeezed the wool thor- oughly with our hands. When the soap suds grew low wc would add more — having a quantity of dissolved soap in readiness. The suds should he made very strong. When we had thus soaked them all, we commenced wash- ing. I found the wool whiter and cleaner than T ever got it before without soap, though I have helped to wash sheep more than twenty years. And when we came to shear the sheep, we found ihe ticks nil dead. Not more than four live ticks were idund on any one sheep. Fence Posts. — A practical farmer informs the Hartford Times, that in taking up a fence that had been set fourteen years, he noticed that some of the posts remained nearly sound, while others were rotted oil' at the bottom. On look- ing for the cause, he found th.it those posts that were set limb part down, or inverted from the way they grew, were sound. Those that were set as they grew were rotted oil. This fact is worthy the attention of the farmers. Scare Crows. — We have for several years used sheets of bright tin, lied to slanting poles leu or twelve feet in length. Six or eight sheets are sufficient for an acre, and they have fin-, ed in be the cheapest nni. best scare-crows we ha\ < The motion given the sheets by the wind, causes a brilliant reflection of light at every turn, when the sun shines and no crow has ever troubled our corn fields while the tins re- mained suspended upon tho poles. — Boston Cultivator. < 'mini k ! 1 1 mp.— French agriculture has recently born nn- riche I by a very important new production. This precious article is the Chinese hemp, the seeds of which were im- ported into Prance by M. Stier, a member of the French eni- ni China and has been cultivated ami naturalized at Marseilles bj M. Garnicr Savatier. This hemp, the repro- i of which is now secured by the Beeds which have I in the il po ibli n anoi rows to a height of ■four or t\.i hi; -ii\ ,■ fe it, lIi<- i ii'. \m from ■■ i" ircumference, each plant produces from two to three kilograms of seed, and furnishes thread enough to make a ij superb lawn, superior in beauty and quality to any I from Fn ncl i inls. The cultivation "i the in the south of Fj ince w ill 1>< the more pr< cious to tho . i I ito of Lite ten il , for its fructification, and its seeds will find a ready . other count] ies where I 11 not ripen, but the filaments may bi produced. Tl.< South will thus : ,c a double advant ge. Some specimens of this plant • diibited at the Agricultural .Show at Montpelier. Tho height of it was from twenty to twenty-five fi et. Grafting Chisel. — The nbo\e is probably the best form ■ ■.afting Chisel. The wide edge is used for splitting tho slot !.. after being cut . ■ ff with a fine pruning saw. The two pointed ends are used to open the Bame to receive tho scions. Marking Sheep. — An agriculturist says, I wish to im- press it upon every one who keeps a flock, if not men- than half a dozen, that Venetian rod is the best thing that ! ever saw used to paint-mark sheep, ft is, as most all know, a cheap red paint, only a few cents a pound, and one pound will mark a thousand. Take u pinch of dry powder, and draw the thumb and finger through the wool upon the par- ticular spot you would mark, loosing the powder at the same time, and it will combine with the oil of the wool, and a bright red mark that rains will never wash out. and which will endure from one shearing to another, but docs not injure the wool. Il is readily cleansed out by the manufacturer. The Striped Bug. — We find in the Vermont Agriculturist the following, recommended us a sovereign remedy lor that pest of the melon vines — the striped bug. "Take half a I eel of manure from the hen-roost, put it in an old tub or box, and add four gallons of water. In twenty-four hours, by stirflng it two or throe times, it will bo ready Cor use. — J'nt half a pint of this liquid upon a hill of melons or squashes, and the striped bugs will certainly vanish. At least we ha\ e fun; d it so on repeated trials, for several successive seasons. The bugs may not everyone vanish on the first trial; and they may re-appear; but we have never had n vine injured after this application. Besides protecting the vines, this liquid is the very best of manure, and the application may be frequently repeated, wetting the leaves if a stray bug or two should linger on them, without apprehending any harm. — The manure tub will bear to lie filled up several linns with fresh water. The only objection to this plan is made by the olfactory nerves." New Invention in Baking. — The Glasgow Citizen (Scotch Paper,) says that a machine has been invented in that city which both kneads the dough and moulds the loaves into the required shape, ready for the oven. One machine not quite a yard in length and 18 inches in breadth, by the attendance of one man accomplished as much work as live bakers, and the broad was of the best quality. The ( itizen also says, that " by u new and original process of mixing and kneading, which can be done either with or without barm (yeast) the usunl loss of weight attributed to evaporation in 'raising tho sponge' is avoided, and a great saving of llour, as well as time and labor is effected." Clover Seeu Sown with Buckwheat.— On a late visit to Ifydepark. we were shown several fields of heavy clover on the farm of J. W Wheeler, Esq., which was sown List season, with buckwheat and timothy. The soil is a gravel- ly loam, and the grass exhibits a burthen superior to that generally sown in the spring. This, we believe, is the prac- tice of Judge Van Bergen, of Coxsackie, who is one of our most successful farmers. 120 THE GENESEE FARMER. May HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, EDITED BY P. BARRY. There is no other branch of horticultural practice more discussed, and withal, less understood, than the simple matter of tree planting. To plant a tree properly means more than to dig a hole and put the roots into it, and cover them with earth : than half, we might say three-fourths, of those who do plant, consider this the only necessary process, and wonder when they have done it that their trees do not grow well. Every planter should that few trees are in the proper state to plant as they are taken from the nursery. The nurserymen lesire to have their trees well clothed with branches; end if replanted with all these branches left entire, a tree will either die the first season or make a very feeble effort at living. Grow it cannot, for the roots that would have fed and sustained all these brai have been mutilated and disabled from performing their usual functions until they have emitted new roots. Now some trees form roots much quicker than others— and some soils and seasons are much favorable for the development of roots than others — so that certain kinds of trees, and in certain soils, a transplanted tree will bear a large head and numerous side branches, and yet live and grow, while other trees in other soils will remain a year before any considerable number of new roots have been formed. Among fruit trees, the apple, the quince and the peach emit roots much mure freely than the pear, plum and cherry — and in light, sandy, friable soils form much more easily than in stiff, moist, adhi soils These are familiar facts to all cultivators, and they serve as a guide in planting. But under all circumstances it is unsafe to plant a tree without reducing its branches in such a manner as to compensate for the loss of root, and general derangement inseparable from removal. Let us take, for instance, an apple tree, six feet high, with a fine head and numerous side branchess. This tree was growing vigorously in the nursery, with its roots spread out and well at home in the soil; but the tree is dug and pulled up, part of its large roots are cut off, many of the smaller ones are dragged off, and before it is planted a great many more are dried or rotted and killed off. Thus the tree is left minus a great portion of its feeding roots, on which the top must depend for support. Its nice balance, which nature and art gave it in the nursery rows, is de- stroyed, and without some compensation it can- not live — at least it cannot grow for a long time to come. The opening buds seek for nourishment, but after the little stock laid up previously is ex- hausted, they can find none, and perish they must. How often have we heard people say, " my trees leaved out nicely, but died away immediately after;" and this was owing to a defect in the roots — they could not. meet the demands of the mass of buds struggling to grow. The cause might be in a large head, small or poor roots, an unfavorable soil, or in all combined. Now how are planters to guard against these difficulties? Simply by the exercise of a little judgment in the matter. If a tree has attained considerable size, and has a branching head, these branches should be cut back according to cir- cumstances. A tree with large and healthy roots, and abundance of fibres, will sustain a much greater amount of head than a tree with short, poor or badly mutilated roots, and few fibres. Apples, Quinces or Peaches will bear more head than pears or plums, and so on. Trees taken fresh from the soil and ■ted do not require the same degree of cutting a-; those that have been transported to a great dis- tance. Trees that are planted in a light^ mellow, warm soil, favorable to the formation of roots, will require less cutting than those planted in a colder, stiffer soil, where roots will be emitted slowly. Trees taken up with the earth around the roots, and ever- greens, are the only exceptions. These are a few of the circumstances to be well considered by every- one who plants a tree. Pruning and cutting back, must not only be done, but done well. It is next to manslaughter to cut and slash the branches of a tree with an old rusty saw-edged jack-knife. It is nothing else than tree- slaughter, and there are thousands that ought to be convicted of it this moment, and sentenced to seven years pilgrimage on a treeless prairie, for their cnu Ity and carelessness. It would fare ill with them were they brought before a court and we were judge. A pruning knife should be as sharp and smooth on the edge as a razor. When a branch is to be wholly removed it should be done smoothly, close to the trunk or limb on which it grows. If a limb is merely to be shortened, it should be cut close to a good plump and healthy looking bud, that promises to make a vigorous shoot. If the future shoot is desired row erect, the bud should of course be on the • side of the branch cut: and if desired to take a spreading or horizontal direction the bud should be on the under side. The object in cutting close bud, (not so close as to injure it,) is to avoid the piece of dead wood that must remain, if cut between two buds. Then the balance of the tree must be thought of. If the branches are left longer on one side than on the other, the tree will inev- itably grow one-sided; the shoots on one side will be more vigorous than en the other, and this will be another disaster. This is as plain as we can at present make the matter in a few words. To sum it up, in short, we would say — 1st — Place the roots of your trees in a soil favor- able to the formation of roots. 2d — Reduce the heads in a manner to correspond with the character of the tree, the condition it is in, and the season and situation in which it is planted. 3d — In every operation exercise reason and care, for it is astonishing what, even the unpracticed hand can do, if he will but think. These remarks would perhaps have been more valuable last month, but even now they are not too late for many to profit by them. A great many spring and even last autumn planted trees, may be saved and benefitted by a careful shortening and thinning of their branches. Had it not been for the absence of our engraver, we should have illustrated these suggestions with cuts that would have rendered them more servicable. Sow Peas. — "Bishop's Early Dwarf," "Early Prince Albert," and "Landreth's Extra Early," are all good kinds for early sowing. The "Blue Impe- rial," and the large "White Marrowfat" are good kinds, but later. I SI!). THE GENESEE PARMER. 121 HINTS FCn. Transplantinc of all deciduous trees Will Evergn be transp nearly all the month. Large trees cannot be movi d with safety, unl rge balls of earth attached. Plants from one to tw safe. A our ii- mlock, Red ana fFliiti • im Fir and Juniper, are all worth; ition and ■■ foreign trees the Norway Spr Fir, Chi- and Siberian Arbor e ■• and Austrian Pine axe among the most common re all fine ow Bold cheap in The new 1.II3 in pots for ?al, and may b mt any I these, now to be had at the nurseries, are the Deodar Cedar, the Auracaria or Brazil Pine, the Cedar of Lebanon, Himalo Spruce, and Pinns Excclsa. These are all elegant for lawns. Hedges of JYorway Spruce, lied Cedar, Hemlock-. Arborvitce. fcc, may be made all the month, S plants, one or two feet high, are the best for this purpose. Hardy Annual Flower Seeds may now be where wanted to bloom — and those raised In frames i ou1 on a dark day. Border Plants of all sorts wintered in the house or in frames, may be planted out in masses. The :ipal of these are the Everblooming Rote*, Scar- Petunias, Salvias, Helio- ,. inches high to-day — not strong enough yet for cutting. — Red bud in bloom. Dog-wood in bloom. Double Flowering Apple in full bloom on the 5th. I saw an apple tree bloom to-day. Several varie- ties of pear in bloom. Forest trees have quite the appearance of spring — in a few days the trees will be green, as red oak and post oak buds are nearly bursting. The bark of the forward seedling peaches and of quinces will now admit of budding ; and by way of trying, I budded a peach on Monday, the 5th, and a plum to-day. These items may prove pleasing to you, and if you deem them to be worthy of record, hand them to Genesee Fanner. [We are much obliged for them. — En.] With respect, &.c, yours, M. W. Philips. Washington, Miss., March 7, 1849. SUMMER BON CHRETIEN PEAR. Friend Farmer : -The objecl of this communi- cation is i' to an old and honored friend. the Summer Bon Chn in Pear, and Bay, come up sat. That differenl vari . the same 1 ion, 1 belie ■ trine ; and 1 bow- ever n rving fa place in ainly ranks itry. The tree is one of the mo - healthy and . .-. it seems to borne on the quince, apple ii ie also a good bearer, and i >i the fruit's lacking i: it is one of the highest flavored varieties grown in this part of the State. A neighbor of mine who lias the Onondaga or Swan's Orange, White Doyenne, GanseVs Bergamot, and Dearborn's Seedling, in bearing, together with the Summer Bon Chretien, told me a few days since that he thought the latter deci- dedly the best pear he had ever ate. David Thomas, too well known to the fruit culturists to need an in- troduction, once told me that he considered the Sum- mer Bon Chretien the best eating pear he had. The Fruit Culturist, by J. J. Thomas, if my memory seryes me correctly, does it very good justice. My friend Thorp, of the firm of Thorp, Smith k, llanchet, of the Syracuse Nursery, told me that he had them on the Hudson and thought that DowNiNg's de- scription of them was correct for that section, but that it would not apply here. I think then that it is but fair to conclude that although it may prove indif- :' rent on the Hudson or in more southern and eastern longitudes or latitudes, yet for this country or even farther North, for I am told that it prospers in the vicinity of Montreal, it should nol be given up. But in both the garden and orchard, it should have a place among the first class of pears. (Venus. Hinmanville, Oswego Co., April, 1849. We find this old pear in our markets every year in abundance, indeed much more plentiful than any other : and while we admit that it may be called good, we must say that it is. to our taste, inferior greatly to Bartlett or Seckel. We think with Cbphus that it succeeds much better here than in the East. — Ed. 'Doksing's Fruit and Fruit Trees of America. The Season. — The spring so far has been exceed- ingly cold. About the middle of April, after a week of mild, growing weather, we had three days of ex- treme cold. The ground was frozen two to three inches deep, and all out door work suspended. In some places the fruit crop, particularly peaches is said to be injured: but, as far as we have seen, the prospect here is fair. Neither the unusual severity of the winter, (as low as 10° below zero,) nor this untimely April frost, has materially injured the crop in this vicinity. In the South the peach crop will probably be an entire failure. To Preserve Flowbrs. — Ladies who wish to preserve flowers are recommended to try nitrate of soda. As much as can be held between the thumb and finger placed in the water with flowers, will preserve their freshness and beauty, it is said, for a fortnight. 122 THE GENESEE FARMER. May PAXTONS MAGAZINE OF BOTANY. This famous English Journal closed its fifteenth year on the 1st of January last, ft has been, during the whole of its existence, devoted almost exclusively to notices of new flowers and flowering plants worthy of cultivation, and has rendered important service in this department. Both its character and title are now changed. The introductory address says: " The present state of so- ciety, however, requires us, in commencing our labors for 1 849, to enter upon a far more extended field of action. Floricultural subjects, however lovely or enchanting, are not the only ones which must hence- forth occupy the attention of those who would keep pace with the progress of gardening pursuits ; for although an almost undivided attention has been paid by many practical men, for years past, to ornamental plants, it has only been with the design of placing Botany and Floriculture in the same position as that occupied by the other and perhaps more useful portion of the vegetable creation. This end being attained, we feel that we can now usefully direct our attention to vegetable nature in all its vast variety, and culti- vation in all its different forms, both of fruits, vege- tables and flowers." The new work is, therefore, to be called "The Magazine of Gardening and Bot- any," and will " include articles from the first pens on Botany, Floriculture, Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Gardening, Natural Science, Rural affairs, and every other subject connected directly or indirect- ly with the vegetable creation." We have no doubt but this Magazine will in future be the best of its class in England, or perhaps in the whole of Europe. We do not suppose that many of our readers know anything of it, or feel any interest in it ; our only object in noticing this change and its cause is, that something of the condition and progress of English Horticulture may be learned from it. THE PLTJM. Our correspondent J. H. W., of New Haven, N. Y., sends us the following acoount of his experi- ments in plum culture: " This article shall be devoted to the Plum tree. Perhaps my best course would be to give the history of one particu- lar tree — a blue damson — the only one I succeeded in saving out of quite a number planted at the same time ; the black gum destroying all the others, in d-espitc of all I could do with the pruning knife. This was attacked in the same way, but being younger, I destroyed the knots as fast as they appeared. The tree stands on a heavy clay loam* I made the ground quite rich, and then put on a heavy top dressing of unleached ashes. 1 believe that nearly all trees flourish well on new lands. May we not take a hint from this fact, and by restoring to the soil what has been exhausted by cultivation, succeed well with all fruits suited to our latitude. Since the time I applied the ashes I have not seen a black knot upon it. It was vigorous and healthy. But although it grew well and blossomed every year, it produced no fruit — all blasted. A friend from a neighboring county advised me to apply salt ; I did so the next spring, covering the ground as far as the limbs extended nearly one quarter of an inch thick : that year, for the first time, the tree was loaded with line fruit. But now came another enemy which had never troubled me before — I mean that exceedingly provoking little insect, the Clireulio. The fruit set well, but less and less came to maturity, till in the summer of 1847 not a plum ripened. I * Mr. Downing sjtys he never knew trees, on such a soil to be attacked with the cireuHo. [ Does he not <-av that trees in a heavy soil are less subject to the attacks of the cureuiio than they are on a light soil ?— K.D.] tried the way recommended by D. Thomas ; I shook the insects from the tree and killed them, and destroyed the fallen fruit ; but all to no purpose. Last spring I tried another remedy which I had seen recommended , with a half inch augur I bored about two-thirds through the tree and filled the hole with sulphur, covering it with a plaster of grafting wax. This is better than plugging, as the sulphur then comes in contact with the sap. Now for the res tilt ; the year before not a plum ripened, but last fall the tree was literally loaded with fine fair fruit. I state the simple facts ; others may draw their inferences." NORTH AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL CONVENTION. The undersigned, a Committee of the above Convention, who were appointed at the meeting held in Buffalo hist Sep- tember to report such plans for the organization of future Conventions — should it be deemed advisable to hold them — as might be deemed necessary to carry out successfully the objects for which they were to meet, agreed, after consulta- tion, as part of their plan, to appoint committees for each State, Territory, and the Canadas, whose duty it should be to report the results of their observations and consultations in relation to matters suggested for their action in a circu- lar— (which was issued by us and sent to each one of them) — on the first day of the assemblage of the Convention, which was by unanimous resolution agreed, should be held in the autumn of 1849. The Committee have had their attention called to an edi- torial in the Horticulturist for March, in which it is stated that the North American Pomological Convention is a defunct Convention, and that the State Committor's have received the compliment from a Committee which does not exist, or by an authority unknown. Without intending in any way to comment on the article alluded to, the Committee think it their duty to remark that by a perusal of the report of the proceedings of the Buffalo Convention, it will he seen that the report of this Committee, making the Convention a Na- tional and a permanent one, was adopted unanimously; that it is entirely unconnected with the New York State Agricul- tural Society, and that the designation of the time and place for its next meeting, where the great fair of that Society is to be held, was done for the better accommodation of the public who are in the habit of attending it front all parts of the country, and also as a compliment to that Society, in ac- knowledgement of the great benefit they had conferred on Horticulture, by being the Jirst to move in calling a Nation- al Pomological Convention. The Committee, owing to the hurried close of the Convention at Buffalo, had not time to concoct, or submit fully, their plans for the consideration of the Convention, and in doing it thus far afterwards, they conceive that theyaro carrying out the true spirit and intent of their appointment, and that their action will meet with the approbation of all concerned. The Committee therefore hope that the gentlemen ap- pointed will not be deterred by the article above alluded to, from attention to the several duties which have been submit- ted for their action, as the North American Pomological Con- vention will convene at Syracuse in the State of New- York, on the 14th day of September next, at 10 o'clock, A. M. — it being the day succeeding the closing of the annual fair of the New York State Agricultural Society. Pomological, Horticultural, Agricultural, and kindred So- cieties, or Associations, throughout this Continent, are re- quested to send delegates to the Convention ; and gentlemen resident in vicinities where no societies exist, who take in- terest in the advancement of Pomological science are also in- vited to attend. J. D. G. Nelson, Indiana, Chairman. Jamks Dougall, Canada. Herman Wendell, M. D., New York. J. C. Holmes, Michigan. Lewis F. Allen, New York. F. II. Elliott, Ohio. N. Goousell, New York. March, 1849. Committee. Native Wine. — Cincinnati is in rapid progress of becom- ing the great market of American wines. The vintage of 1848 will reach fifty-thousand gallons, equal to eighteen hun- dred quarter casks. The finer qualities are sold in hottles, and the Catawba wine of our favorite brands are sold olT as fist as sent into market. These wines nre manufactured without the addition of spirit, and have a character and flavor peculiarly their own. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 123 [From ili'' Horticulturist.] DESCRIPTIVE NOTICES OF FIFTY RARE OR NEW PEARS. BY ROBERT BANNING, SALEM, MASS., [We have much pleasure in publishing the following notes, ana in calling '-I"' attention of nomologists and amateurs to them. Mr. Manning's reputation as o pomologist is well de- served . for he unites enthusiastic zeal, ex< ellent judgment, and sterling honesty,— qualities so rarely i imbined in devo- tees to any art ; and he lias the advantage of the experience of two generations. We have < lither tested in mir own, or carefully noted in < ther gardens, many of the sorts he novi- ces, and our opinion accords almost entirely with those ex- pressed by liim. Ed. | 1. Bergainotte Cadett. — This pear has been cultivated for some years as B< urre Beauchamps ; but that name not hav- ing been firmly established, it was thought best to substitute for it the one at the head of this n itice, w hich is that adopted by the London Ilorticiiltnr.il Society. 1 wish now to recom- mend n more extensive trial of it. as I do not think it has been as much cultivated as it deserves to be. It is rather under middle size ; form roundish obovate , flavor very line, sometimes excelling the Winter Nelis. Ripe the early part of winter. I do not notice the diversity in the ripening of this sort, mentioned in the London Catalogue. 2. Beurre Keurick. — I have now fruited 1 1 1 i -> pear several years, and have had many specimens, some of which were very fine of their kind ; but I do not think it entitled to be recommended for general cultivation. It ripens the first part of September. :}. Beurre . Beurre of Bohoiller. — A variety received from Dr. Van Mons, which may fairly claim a place in the rejected list. fi. Beurre Delbecq. — The same remarks as were made on the last will apply to this. Beurre Wilzhumh proves identical with Beurre Delbecq. 7. Bergainotte 1'ir/henay. — A winter fruit, lately imported from France ; worthless as a dessert pear, and though good to cook, but being deficient in size, it is hardly worth culti- vation for that purpose, while we have plenty of larger ones. 8. Ambrosia does not come up to the reputation given it in the books. It is not a melting, but a breaking pear, and does not ripen here before the first of September. It is com- monly said to decay very soon ; but 1 think it keeps full as long as most pears of its season. Tree of upright growth, making strong shoots, of a very dark, purplisii color, thickly marked with white dots. 9. Alpha. — To my taste, this is one of the finest pears. It is Bweet, and exceedingly fine grained, melting and juicy. The tree is a preat bearer ; and although the fruit does not hold on very strongly, those which blow off open so as to be full as pood, or even better than the others. And I may here remark, that many of the autumn pears are as much improved as the summer fruit, by being taken from t! »iee before fully ripe. 10. Aston Town. — A good grower, making smooth, vigor- ous shoots, of a light gray color. Fruit rather small, with a long stem, and ripening the first of September, but so much inferior to many others of the same season as to be hardly worth growing. II. Beurre Van Marum. — Hardly comes up to medium size, but is of very fine flavor. It appears to be nllied to the Urbaniste. Ripe the first half of October. It is easily Known, by the peculiar insertion of the stem in a small reg- ular cavitv. Stem long, slender and curved, with a little swelling at the bottom. Hears young and well, so that the shoots are soon thickly covered with fruit spurs. Leaves long, narrow, flat, and pointed at both ends. 12. Henkel. — Received from Dr. Van Mons. It resembles the II. Van Marum in its early and abundant hcarinp, in shape and color, in the length and curvature of the stem, and in its likeness to the Urbaniste ; but differs in being larger, a month earlier, and the stem being stouter. It ri- pens the first part of September, and is among the best of Its season. 13. Burgomaster. — The true variety is very distinct from the Vicar of Winkfield. Of medium size, long pyriform ; skin pale, yellowish preen, sprinkled with russett ; flavor very poor. The wood cankers worse than that of any oth- er variety, without exception. Altogether, one of the most worthless. II. Brandes St. Oerauan. — 1 think this must have been among the tint originated by Dr. Van Mom; us it is stated in Pri gical Manual, published in [831, tO ha\e been raised seventeen or erf hteen years pre* ioualy. It was comprised in the first lot ol scions received from Van Mors , but its gri at merits have remained unrecognisi d until quite lately. for sexeral sears post, it his proved one of the finest winter pears. Form oblong, pointed at the stem, which is always planted obliquely on one .side , skin brown- ish yellow, often with much smooth russett, llesh n
  • !' :i dark green col- or, with a dark brownish red cheek. I do not consider i'. yet fully proved ; but so fir as it is, it does not appear worthy of propagation. Further trial may develoge i te valuable properties, either as a cooking or dessert fruit. 49. Jalousie de Fontenay Vendee. — Productive, and very fine flavored. 50. St. Andre. — Very delicious ; wood somewhat apt to canker. Robert Manning. Pomological Garden, Salem, March, 1849. Spakv. minutes are the gold dust of time ; and Voung was writing a true, as well as a striking line, when he affirmed that "Sands make the mountain and moments make 'lie year.'" Of all the portions of our life, the spare minutes arc the most faithful in good or evil. (Suitor's &able. To Readers and Correspondents. — Severe illness is our only apology for any apparent deficiency in the matter or arrangement of this number of the Farmer. The same cause has prevented us from attending to various inquiries — particularly those requesting answers by letter. Our Advertising Cover is discontinued for the present. As there is but one steam press in the city, suitable for print- ing the Farmer and Cover, we find it impossible to publish both, and mail as promptly as is desirable. Address at the State Fair. — The Albany Journal states, on the authority of the Secretary of the State Agricul- tural Society, "that Prof. James F. W. Johnston, of Dur- ham, England, has accepted the invitation of the Executive Committee, and will deliver the annual address in Septem- ber next, at Syracuse. Prof. Johnston is one of the most distinguished agricultural chemists in Great Britain, and we doubt not the announcement of his name for that occasion will secure the attendance of many distinguished gentlemen from our country, as well as from the British Provinces." Gen. Taylor has accepted an invitation to attend the next Fair of the State Ag. Society, at Syracuse. Hon. Henry Clay is to deliver the address at the Ohio Fair — to be held in Cincinnati, on the 5th, 6th and 7th of September. State Ag. Societies in the West. — We are pleased to learn that State Ag. Societies have recently been organized in Michigan and Wisconsin. We will endeavor to give names of officers, &c, in a future number. The Legislature has granted a charter to the Mich. State Ag. Society, and appropriated $400 towards paying premiums. The fee of membership is $1. and there are already over one hundred members. J. C. Holmes, Esq., of Detroit, is Secretary. Agricultural School Coaimissioners. — Under the reso- lution of the Legislature for the appointment of a Board of eight Commissioners, to mature a plan for the establishment of an Agricultural School, Gov. Fish has made the following appointments : Joseph Blunt, New Yrork, 1st district. A. J. Downing, Orange co.. 2d district. John P. Beckman, Columbia co., 3d district. Samuel Cheever. Saratoga co., 4th district. Edmund Kirby, Jefferson co., 5th district. Adrian Lott, Chenango co., 6th district. Jas. S. Wadsworth, Livingston co.. 7th district. Wm. Risley, Chautauque co., 8th district. Farmer's Barometer. — We are indebted u Mr. Jso. Kedzie, for a very neat and accurate Barometer, manufac- tured by the Brothers Kendall, New Lebanon. N. Y. Every farmer will find a good barometer a valuable aid in his calling, and those made by Messrs. Kendall ar perior. For sale by J. Kedzie, No. 11 State-st., Rochester. A Dictionary of the German and English Li by G. J. Adlf.r. A. ML. Prof, of the Germ-in Languag i and Literature in the University of the ' 'ity of New York. D. Applxton & Co. This is probably the best work of the kind published, to aid the learner of the t rerraan language. Its basis is Flugel's German Dictionary. It contains about 30,000 more words than Flugel's work, and will be found just die thing i'or the reader of German agricultural and scientific works. The lists of abbreviations, irregular verbs, and its synonyms will greatly facilitate the inter-communication between the Ger- man and American or English mind. The typographical execution is elegant. 'f'ni. Wheat Crop of Western New York, so far as we have been able to learn, has withstood tb of the wini"- remarkably well, and promises a fair yield. Late Michigan and Wisconsin papers speak favorably of the e, i" e ,..•,,,, jn those States. Rye Grass. — "II. R." is informed that Italian Rye Grass may be obtained ',l the Genesee Seed Store, in this city — price .- I per b tshel, Rye Gra s does me. thrive well in our long hot summers ; nor can it be put in competition with Tim ithy. Indeed there can be no excuse for the excb It' for meadows, sow the large clover, which is in season for mowing it tie io ! with Timothy. The Osage Orange may stand our winters ; but whether it is proof igain I h are the great em mj of live fences in all sno1 i be s ittl I. IMi). THE GENESEE FARMER. 125 [S FOR SCTESCMBEUS TO THE FA) BeI >« We gil • lilt aW8 the Farmer up to the 80th of IprU. In addition t ■ ► 1 1 » • - came number of pontons have prooun I i bted. it la a souri f regret thai we cannoi afl bote a great premiums than Ij offered for we ai many other friends and a Farmer have devoted much time and att Renting Its oiroulatton. We hop we shall be able to offer, another year, rach a li^t of Prises as will more acce] I 1st To E, C. Bliss, Westfleld, ChautauqueCo N. Y.,fbr238 Buhsorihera $40. iid. To Silas II Swetland, Jouesville, Saratoga Co.. N. V.. for 237*-<:io. 3d. To Samuel K. Norten, Thelps. Ontario Co.. N. V.. for -66— $30. 4th. To Silsby & Keeler, Seneca Falls, Seneca Co.. N. V.. for 1 ,m $12, To John Davis. Birmingham. Oakland Co.. Mich.. 152— $6. 6th. To J. 11. Stanley, LeRoy, N. ¥., 14S— V. W. Sunderlin, Dundee. \ V.. 126— Wm. Lyman. Moscow. N. Y.. 121— J. D. Stone, Clyde, N. ST., ion -Apollas Kent. Amboy, Ohio. 104— for ili ifive next highest list, each ^4 in bound volumes of the Far- mer, (or. though not fint offered, other books if preferred.) 7th. To S. B. Wise, Jefferson, Greene Co., Pa.. 86— E F. Mufl- Iberlin, Ohio. SI— B. Farr, Albion. N. \ .. 75 E S Marvin, Rollin. Mich . 68- 11. J. Hay. Livonia, N. V., 58— for the five next aoh ¥".in hound volumes of the Farmer Mb I Iscar Warren. Willink. N. Y., 57— Moses Eames, Rutland, 57— H. Frisbie, Holley. 54— J. M. Swart, Quaker Strei Boyer. Pittsburg, Pa .51 : 1 I Comstock. Marshall. Mich Lee. Camillus. 50— C. Fenton. frown Point. N. V.. 50— C.Leet, Harbor Creek, Pa.. 49- D. P. Chamberlain. Huds< n. Mich.. 48— J. B. Lowell. Vat s. N. \ . 4o— for the next ten highest list:-. $2 each in bound volumes of the Farmer. * Since the above was made out we have received the following despatch, by Telegragh, from Mr. Swetland: •■ On account of some pilfering in the post office at . please Telegraph to me immediately how many names you have rceived from me. The number should i than 280." If Mr. S.. has mailed remittances which have not reached us, it may change his from the second to the first premium. Moiuoe County Agricultural Society. An adjourned :i eeting of this Society will be held at the office of th" Genesee Farmer, in Rochester, on the SECOND TUES- DAY (the 8th dayj of May instant, for the purpose of making out a Premium List for the current year, the appointment of Judges, am', the transaction of other important business. A full att ndence of the members is desired. May 1,1849. JOSErH ALLEYN. Sec'y. Seymour's New Drill. THIS is one of the latest improvements in Drilling Machines, and is bi lieved to be be1 ter adapted to the wants of the far- mer in the line of a Seed Drill than any other before the public, i in drilling wheat but also in all other grain.— such a> pea-, beans, corn. rye. oats, barley. &.c. &c. tthi ■di: Any desired quantity ot lime, plaster, ashes or bone dust may be mixed with the aei d and all deposited in the earth in the most correct manner. More yet: When the farmer wishes to plant corn, beans or any other seed in hills both ways, this i< readily done Something mure yet: Its construction is such that the drill teeth, and- all the fixtures necessary for drill- ing, can he removed in five minutes— and a complete broad-cast machine is left, ready for ; any kind of grain broad-cast. Kou The smallest, with Ave teeth, is a very for a light horse and convenient for planting two rows of corn at once. 3 tei t apart— one with 7 teeth for 1 or two horses— one with 9, one with 11 teeth, each for two horses, With either of the two large rises three rows of corn may be plaj ti d at once. The subscriber, believing the farmer will be better paid for his money in purchassng this instead of any other similar machine in the country, would invite those desiring an article of the kind. to examine his machine ! . ' Isewhere. ui who would be sure of one of these machines aa early as w heat-sowing next fall, should send their orders as SO" D aa the first of June. SEYMOUR'S BROAD-CAST SAWING MACHlNEi also kept on hand. This is far superior to anything of the kind known in the United States. It - y all Binds Of grain, trom peas to grass seed Also, plaster lime, salt, ashes, bone-dust. ice. &cc. It is drawn by one hone, sows ten feet wide, and is fur- nished with an easy seat, on springs, for the driver. Drill teeth are also added to this if dosha J, converting it into a drill at pleas- ure. This machine has been recently much improved. All com- munications pi -i paid will meet with prompt attention -\. 15. A few resj onsible agents are wanted to sell the right for these machines in distant territory. P. SEYMOUR. Last Blojinfield, Ontario Co.. N V., May 1, 1619. f 5-ltj lis: THE Subscriber would respectfully call the attention of Far mors to correspondence in relation to Reaping Machine much the question, at the present day. whethi 'the ritn economy by daehlnery, u Itiswhal Machine rmer purchase to out his Wheat The . lenoe to an- swer that qi that he bi id I in Vuburn, Cayuga Count) '- I at th* extensive man ufactu- Ll R k CI RTI8. tjQ- Those in w..| ni oi u, ted to send In i ly day, i hat w« ! ■■■'■ msJ • accordingly Ul orders to be addressed to M'iy 1,1 THOW SSE1 . Auburn, N. \ . rE8 \< bi ::-.. February IT. I J47 Mn. Thomas R IIussey :— I hai . your Grain Reap- ers for three years, which outs five feet, i eancul fifteen acres in one day. and in doing so. I gather the grain aa olean as it can be done with a sickle 1 much prefer it to any other mode of cut- ting grain. J. m. SHERVVl II Mr. Thomas R. Hcmey:— Sir : 1 have used your Reap! chine for six years, and consider it one of the m Machines that can be used on a farm, and could not be induced to do without one. I can cut from fifteen to twenty acres in one day, and can get lodged grain better than in any other way. I can recommend this Machine to all farmers, as a aheap and expe- ditious way of getting grain. Scipio, March 6, 1817. I8AAC AKIN. [Many other certificates, &c. are omitted for want of space ] {trj= H.u'.u.ik. i<. BiuGcs. of the Genesee Seed Store and Warehouse. Rochester, arc agents for the sale of Hussey's Reaper, and will promptly attend to all orders. J. W. She.man's First Premium Grain Drill and Cultivator and Broadcast Seed Sower. COMBINING three of the most useful farm implemonts. Su- perior to any other grain and seed planter for all kinds of grain or seeds ; also a superior corn planter. It will sow broad- cast, or in drills or hills, and cover grain, and sow plaster, ashes and all fine manure, broad-cast— or will drill it in the rows in such quantities a di sired As a field Cultivator it works well and is believed to be superior to any other, on all kinds of ground. It SOWS or plants from the smallest to the largest grain and seeds, accurately. It is the most iged J all the tubes can be raised or lowered, or either of them, without stopping the team Any person capable of managing a team can use this machine and alter it from one quantity to another in one minute. It is durable, permanently constiucted. and not liable to get out of order. We do not boast of inventing three drills. We hap to get a good machine the first time, which is more than can be said (truthfully) of some that have invented more, who boast of their worthless articles. We cannot tell of getting 500 ma I season for Western New York ; it takes time to make a good arti- cle. But we will try to fill all orders from Western -New V o,k and other sections and warrant our drill the best in use. A •■ do not tell of selling $25 cheaper than others, for we think we can sell all we can make at a fair price, and we b< lieve our far- mers are willing to pay such a price for a good art iele. We prom- ise to sell as cheap as any other that has a reliable machine, that does the work up right. All we ask of those wishing Plain to examine for themselves. We are also ready to meet any in- ventor of Frills on the soil Boasting on paper is one thin-' : demonstration ou the soil another. All we ask is a trial. To any one wishing further information we will take pleasure in Bending a descriptive sheet. We would conclude by just si that our machine received two first premiums last fall, State Fair at Buffalo, on an imperfect machine, not finished. We subjoin the certificate the I ommittee kindly gave us : ■■ We the Committee on Farming Implements, No. 1, having J. W. Sherman's Held Drill and Cultivator under consideration, consider it the best implement of the class that has been pn ed, and have returned it as being entitled to the highei I Premium. Buffalo, Sept. 7, 1848. A. OSBOK.V CA'n. 1 have received the Premium in three Diplomas All communications should be sent to me at this place and will be promptly answered and attended to. We shall want a number of agents to sell machines ami rights ! to commence soon. J. W. SHERMAN. Ontario. Wayne Co.. X. i".. April 15. 1849. [5-tfJ An Elegant Country Residence and Farm for Sale. CONTAINING one hundri dandsevi oty-fl of first rate land, situated on tin' west shore of ('a,- J5Tv>S Uga Lake, two miles south of Cayuga bridge, in the-*™^- town of Seneca Falls. Seneca county. There is a large brick inau- Bion with a two story kitchen adjoining, wilh wash and wood house attached ; out-buil ting-, barn, Shed anil carriage house ; a lawn and garden in front, enclosed with a handsome ti nee : apple i h chards, with ■> number of cherry, plum and pear trees. The stock, cro ad, and farming utensils 8tc..will be sold with the farm. Possession given immediately. For fur- ther information, price and tern,.- of payment, application can be made to the subscriber, on the premises, or by I I sed to him, OakwoodFarm, near Cayuga Bridge; ortoD. D. T.MOORE, Harmer, Rochester i'ltf JOHN OGDEN I 12G THE GENKSEE FARMER. May Hathaway's Patent Fuller ami Cleaner, FOll Cleaning all Kind? of Grain. Clover and other Seeds. Pat ented Inly 5. 1848. These Machines embrace most essential improvements and have been thoroughly tested by many intelli- gent wealthy farmers in different parts of the State, who speak of their operation in the hi hest terms of praise, and express their entire satisfaction with them. Hathaway's Huller and Cleaner is warranted to Thresh and clean Wheat, Barb-y. Oats. Rye. Peas. 'Beans and Buckwheat without injuring the berry. It will also thresh and clean from the straw tit for use or market two bushels of CLOVER SEED per hour, on an average, without rotting the clover straw. Timo- thy. Mustard, and other small seeds can be cleaned with it. with unprecedented speed and celerity. These machines will make a better and faster separation than any others now in use. and a saving of more than 150 per cent, in the expense of cleaning clover seed and in the saving of the seed compared with any other. They are cheap in price— simple in construction— durable in materials — easily kept in order— bandied or removed. There is nothing now in use resembling, or that can compete with them. They can also be used as Fanning Mills, by hand power, in a barn or elsewhere. Refer to the gentlemen whose names are attached to the follow- ing certificates. Many others might be added it deemed neces- sary ; but those named have vhe machines in use and know what they recommend. CERTIFICATES. I hereby certify that I have used one of Hathaway's machines for three yearr past, and have thrashed and cleaned from three to four hundred bushels of wheat per day and have no hesitancy in saying that they will thrash and clean from three to four bushels of clover seed per hour. 1 have thrashed and cleaned eighteen bushels in five hours. I confidently recommend them to my fel- low agriculturists. Rock Stream. March 1, 1849. HO MACE HENDERSON, J. P. Mr. B. G H. Hathaway— Dear Sir : The machine I purchased of you in November last, operates to my entire satisfaction. I have thrashed and cleaned from the straw twenty-five bushels of clover seed in a day ; and from the chaff, five bushels per hour— aiso. from the straw, three bushels per hour, in thrashing and cleaning of grain, it works admirably. Canandaigua, March 7, 1849. REUBEN J. SUTHERLAND. Mr. Hathaway- Dear Sir : The machine I purchased of you. in December last, operates as you recommi nded ; I have thrashed and cleaned from the straw, from fifteen to eighteen bushels of clover seed per day on an average ; also, in thrashing and clean- ing of grain, it gives good satisfoction .SOLOMON ERNST. Lockport, Feb. 18. 1849. Applications for the right, to construct and vend these machines in any part of the United States, as well as all inquiries and ap- plications for machines will be attended to as promptly as possi- ble. B. G H. HATHAWAY. Rock Stream, Yates county. N. Y., April 18, 1849. Monroe Nursery* on the Ridge Road. ^My& THE contract between the subscriber and Naaman Gooci- JSfy/iiS. sell, for the cultivation and management of the Monroe ■*****- Nursery being now rescinded, and the relation growing out of it dissolved, the undersigaed is now prepared to execute orders for trees, shrubbery, &e. The undersigned is determined by his industry and attention to business, and by the care he shall use in cultivating the differ- ent varieties of fruits, to merit the confidence of his friends and the public. The Monroe Nursery has been favorably known for a great many years, and has been in the possession of the subscriber for the last five years, during which time he has been to an enormous expense in refitting and restocking the premises with all the most desirable and modern variety of fruits. He solicits a share of the public patronage. CHARLES POWIS, Proprietor. Greece, April 5th, 1849. [5-tfJ Seeds and Implements. GENESEE SEED STORE AND AG. WAREHOUSE— Irving Hall, opposite the Eagle Hotel, Buffalo-st —Having purchased the Agricultural and Seed department of Messrs. Nott. Elliott & Fitch, we intend going more extensively into all the branches of our business. We shall keep constantly for sale, all kinds of Im ported and American Field and Garden Seeds, and a large assort- ment of the most approved Implements and Machines used by the Gardener and Farmer. We manufacture Pennoek's Wheat Drill, (the most perfect and substantial Drill in use.) the celebra- ted Massachusetts Eagle O Plow. Drags, Cultivators. 8to , 8tc. all of the most approved patterns and construction, and keep a full supply of all the Boston and Worcester Plows. Sub-soil, Delano's, Burrall's Shell Wheel. Anthony's Patent Index. Sic.. Sec. In addition to our stock of implements. Sic. we think we can fay with perfect confidence, we have one of the largest, most carefully grown and best selected stock of Fl EI. I). GARDEN and FLOWER SEEDS in the country, including several kiuds im- ported from Europe. Farmers, Gardeners and Dealers would consult their Interest, and perhaps insure good crops, by calling at our establishment. RAPAL.IE & BRIGGS. Rochester, May 1, 1849. The Celebrated Horse Morgan Eagle ! THIS truly celebrated Horse will stand for Mares this season, commencing April 30th. at A. S. Davis', in East Rush, on- Mondays and Tuesdays ; at Sherwood's Tavern in Pittsford. on Wednesdays; at Peter Culver's in >'endon on Thursdays; and at Richard Peck's, two miles east of Lima village, on Fridays and Saturdays. MORGAN EAGLE was purchased in the fall of '47. in Tun- bridge. Vt.. by J. Henderson, at a great price, for the express pur- pose of improving the stock of Horses of this country. He is about 1(5 hands high and well proportioned ; is a bright bay, and for symmetry and action cannot be surpassed. Morgan Eagle and the celebrated trotting Mare Lady Sutton, of New Vork, were sired by Old Morgan Eagle, of Vermont. PREMIUM! We will award a premium of $25 for the best Colt sired by Mor- gan Eagle this season Competitors for the premium must ex- hibit their ( olts on the 2d Tuesday of October, 1850, at East Rush. Judges to be selected by owners of the Colts. HENDERSON & AUSTIN. Honeoye Falls, April 23d, 1849. f42m] Albany Seed Drill and Corn Planter. rTlH IS is in form like a barrow. The operator t. king the han- X dies walks off erect. It makes its furrow, measure s the quan- tity of seed, space the distances between the hills, covers tho seed, and completes the whole work at one operation. It can be used by one man. or with a man and a horse, as the state of the eround may require. For drilling in small seeds tor root crops it is not excelled. As all such seeds are sure to be dropped by the action of revolving brush over-plates, with holes in them of the nroper size, thereby dropping carrot, parsnip, salisfy. Sic. with equal precision, whether in large or small quantities. A large number were made and sold tiie past season with entire satisfaction to purchasers. In several instances from 10 to 13 acres per day of corn were planted by one man and a horse in the most perfect manner. The manufacturer has been awarded the highest premium and diploma by the New Vork State Agricultural Si ciety. Also by the Mass Charitable Mechanics' Association and the Worcester Co. Mass. Mechanics' Association. The subscriber has made some important improvements in the machine, and offers it wholesale aud retail at the Albany Agricultural Warehouse and Seed Store, No. 369 Broadway, Albanv. (SCj~ Catalogues gratis i HORACE L'. EMERY Albany, March 1, 1849. [3-lt] Eric County Nursery, Buffalo, N. Y. THE Proprietor of this Old Establishment, oT-^tfTi fers for sale this spring a large and fine assortnu nt sSfofl' of Fruit and Ornamental Trees Flowering Shrubs, — »■» Sic. at wholesale or retail, and at low prices. Our stock of Fruit Trees embrace the leading and best sorts now cultivated, mostly propagated from bearing trees, growing upon our own premises, and are vigorous and thrifty. The Northern Spy Apple (new ?) we have cultivated in our collection for nearly twenty years, and sell them the same price we do other varieties, when an assortment is ordered. Our stock of English Cherries, (embracing about 40 varieties.) is very large, and the trees cannot be surpassed in size or beauty of growth. Our whole stock of trees have been propagated-with great care and will tie sold on the most reasonable terms. Nurserymen will be supplied at a great discount from catalogue prices. All orders will meet with prompt attention and every article will be distinctly labelled, securely packed, and forwarded agree- ably to order. Catalogues furnished gratis, on application. A. BRYANT Si SONS. Buffalo, N. Y., April 2, 1849. [4-2t"j Rochester Commercial Nursery, East Avenue. BfMS- THE Subscribers offer for sale this season a fine assort- !Jv>< >ti t one half of his pn lent herd) on the ]3th day of June next at li o'clock in the forenoon, consisting of yearlings, two year and three year old heifers and oowi ; and li young build from lo month" to -'• yean old. Great care bos been observed, and considerable expense Incurred in Belecl i ■ to pui Itj ol bl t and dairy qualities. The awards of tho N IT. State Vk. Soolety. and the N. Y American Institute, attest t' stimation in which this stock La held wherever it has I n exhibited for compi tition. About *< head of the above cattle area purchase made from E P. Prentice. Esq.. uf Albany, last May 1" ing all the Short Horns of thai gen- tleman, and the product of his four Bdectcd cows retained at his publicsale. These animals have the strain of blood of the hord of Mr. Whittaker. of England from whom Mr Prentice made his principal importations. The other part of the lot ofyoung ani- mals partake largely of the blood of th«> celebrated herd of Thos Rates. Esq.. of Yorkshire, England, from whom my importations have been derived, and are mostly of the get of uiy Imported bull Duke of Wellington, and my prise bull Meteor. The heifers and COWS are and will principally be in naif with these hulls. For the information of South m gentlemen who may desire to introduce Durham Btock in that region, and who entertain the opinion that that climate is uncongenial to its successful propa- gation there. 1 here introduce an extract from a letter I received from A G Sumner. Esq. editor of the South Carolinian, dated, Columbia, 25th January. 1849— -The bull you sold Col. Hampton of this State gives him gre it satisfaction : he is a tine animal and I only wish you could Bee some SO head of his get now in his yard They arc the most superb ye iTlings ever bred at the South '" Further particulars, and the redigreesof the stock will bo is- sued one month previous to the sale. A credit from G to is months will be given Troy, N. Y., April 1.1849 [4-3t] GEO. VAIL. The Norman Horse. THE celebrated Norman Stage or Diligence Horse. "LOUIS PHILLIPE," will stxnd the ensuing season ,at the Spring Mills; in tho Village of Union Springs on the east side of Cayuga Lake, ten miles south west from Auburn. Louis Phillipe was raised by Edward Harris, of itfor- ristown, N\ J., from full-blooded parents, selected in France, and imported by himself, and is a perfect specimen of that class of horse, a class celeberated for their quick powerful action great hardihood and long life. His color is a beautiful dapple gray with a splendid heavy flowing mane and tail. He is 15 hands high, 5 years old, and weighs about 1150 pounds. THE "C V.YUGA CHIEF." At the same stand will be found this noble Horse of the Sur- prise and Childers' descent. A beautiful dappled bay colt just coming 5 years, over 16 hands, of powerful close make, round and admirably proportioned. Both these horses show a fiue stock of colts. Gentlemen pend- ing mares from a distance may be assured that they will have such attention as they desire and on the most reasonable terms. Terms— $5 at the 1st leap, and then $5 to insure, payable on the 1st of 3d month (March,) following. Communications may be addressed to ROBERT B. HOW- LAND. Union Springs, Cayuga Co.. and will receive prompt at- tention. [4-4t] The Genuine Morgan Horse, Gen. Gifford, WILL stend for mares the ensuing season, o i Mon- i days and Tuesdays at the stable of Geo A. Mason, two , and a half miles north-east of Jordan ; Wednesdays Thursdays >nd Fridays at the stable of D. A Munro. in Cami! lus ; Saturdays at the stable of D A. Munro. in Bellislo Tr.K.Ms— $10 to insure Mares that are not placed directly in in charge of the subscribers, must be regularly return d through the season. All persons parting with mares before the usual time of foaling, will be held for the $10. Pasturage furnished by either of the subscribers for 3 shillings per week. Accidents and escapes at the risk of the owners. We can confidently assert that in size, build and in style of action. Gctirral Gijf'ord more nearly resembles the original Mor- gan Horse than any other stallion, except his sire, the Gilford Morgan. The .Morgans, as a breed, are so universally known and esti cm- ed. that we deem it unnecessary to repeat their merits. General Gifford was sired by the (jifford Morgan, his dam a pure Morgan. A full description of the origin of the Morgans, and pedigree of Gifford Morgan, may be found in the Albany Cultivator for 1846 page 19. April. 1849. [4-3t] MUNRO & MASON. Agricultural Implements and Mechanics' Tools. I AM now manufacturing a few of those MANURE FORKS so much sought after by the Farmers. Also. Hay and Straw Forks of all kinds warranted. Also. . full supply of Spades. Shovels. Hon, .'l.rc:. Scythes, and almost every kind cf \IE< II \N- IPS' TOOLS always can be found at my store. No 3 Buffalo-st.. first building west of Main-street Bridge. Rochester [4-3t] R. D. BARTON. 1 ■ The Imported Horse, Consternntion, WAS bred bj Mathev Hobnikt. Esq of Stilte ham, ^ISEJ^ Yorkshire, England, n tho year 1841. Hen J-J^.}-i'V T C \rbott. )■ sq . in the year 1845. lie I owned by. I li Hurhcl Esq . of Syracuse, and will servo a limited number of mares the en u wn stables near the Ides, two miles >w use The very best pastures with plenty of water and the i spcuri fences will be d for mares from a distance al I a I ilzp qi e per week No marcs taken i kci pi at the nsk of the a c,n sh motion is a beautiful unfading dapple brown color, standi 15 hands and 3 inches high and is ;i very sure foal getter He i- remarkable for his vigor of constitution, his developmi ate ol bone and muscle, and his intelligent, kind and docile dispo Ition Re is compact and short legged for a thorough-bred hone, yet of a rangey and majestic figure. His chesl and Dank are deep and full. His action is grac f til. but at the same time proud and commanding. But what is perhaps of more importance, ho is descended through .".II the generations that are recorded in the ! n li hstud boiks from horses of great distinction and ol the purest, blood. There is no horse living that can boast a more illustrious pedigree. His immediate ancestors were ol uncommon size and elegance of figure. Confederate, although an emii tly successful race horse was kept hy his hr ier, Earl Kit/. H illiam, to g t carriage horses and hunters, for which he proved very valuable. Curiosity, the dam of Consternation, was equally large and even handsomer than Confederate, .'ill his ancestors were animals of good disposition and entirely free from blemishes, so far as it cau be ascertained The following i.-. a brief copy of his Pedigree: By Confederate; dam Curiosity, by Figaro, her dam i>y Waxy. Confederate was bred by Earl FitzWiUjam : got by i ovnus. by Cervantes, by Sir Peter, by High Flyer, hy King lie od by Flying Childers. Figaro was got hy Hap Hazard, bv Sir Peter, out of Mrs. Harvey, by English Eclipse, &c. &c. &c. As to the character of Consternation's stock, referenci is offered to Ira Hitchcock. Esq. Oneida Castle. Henry Rhodes. Trenton, \ Cord or John Best. Rome, and to farmers generally in ll tat vicinity. Terms— $5 in advance, and $5 additional if the mare is go! in foal. [4-3m] J. B. Bl RNET The Valuab'e Horse, Young Morgan, <^\_^^ WILL stand the ensuing season on Mondays. Tnes- vi&TC^ days and Wednesdays at the stable of the subscriber ^V^LXi near Clyde ; on Thursdays at the stable of Abn- r G. Cillett. in Junius ; on Fridays and Saturdays at the stable of J. Landon, in Lyons. Terms— $8 to insure a foal. Young Morgan is of a bright bay color, without white, 16 hands high, ami weighs 1200 pounds He will be four years old next July, and is not surpassed by any horse in this State. He was sired by Morgan Tiger, owned by IVm. May. of Palmyra ; his dam was Noah Vates' B> aur.y. got by Austin's Duroc. Clyde, April 1, 1849. [4-3m] J. M. GILLETT. BOOKS ON AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, &c. For Sale at the Office of tlit Farmer. The Publisher of the Farmer keeps conslantly on hand a large assortment of the most popular and valuable works pertaining to Agriculture Horticulture, and Rural an i Domestic Economy, which will be sold at the lowest cash prices. The names and prices of a portion of the books are annexed : — American Farmer's Encyclopedia, f.'i 50 in leather-cloth $3. American Shepherd, by Morrell. $1. American Agriculture, by Allen $1. American Poulterer's Companion, by Bemf III American Veterinarian, by Cole. 50 cents Buist's Kitchen Gardener. 75 cents. Bud's Farmer's Companion. 75 cents. f haptal's Agricultural Chemistry. 50 cent ■■ Downing's Fruits and Fruit Trees of Ameri • Domestic Animals, by R. L. Allen. Cloth. '. Farmer's and Emigrant's Hand-Book. $1. Fruit Culturist. by J. .). Thomas. 50 cents Gardener's Farmer's Dictionary. $1 50— leather, $1 75. Horse's Foot— and how to keep it sound. 2 cents. Johnson's Agricultural chemistry. $1 25. Loudon's Ladies' Flower Garden. $1 'Jo. Liebgig's Agricultural I hemistry. (new edition ) $1— paper. 75 cts. Liebgig's Agricultural and Animal Chem'stry, (pamphlet edi- tions.) 25 cents each Parson's on the Rose. J.1 o0. Prince ou tb. lose. 75 cent? Rural F.conomy. by Boussingaulc £1 50. Stable F.conomy. by Stewart. $1. Scientific Agriculture, by Rodgers. 75cei.( • Smith's Productive Farming, all cents. Treatise on Milch Cows. 38 cts. Treatise on Guano* 25 cents. Yuuatt on the Horse, (new edition.) $1 75. ■\ OUatt on the I'ig. 75 cents. ( *..t< chism Of Ag'. Chemistry and ( ieology. : G cents. Tin Gardener and Complete Florist, 25 cents. Knowlson's Comple Fairier, or Horse Doctor. 25 cents. V These books can bo safely forwarded by mail, to any part of the country. frTJt- Orders from a distance will receive prompt attention, and the books forwarded by mail or Express as desired Address to D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y. $L n. J.1 50. cts. ; paper, 50 eta. 128 THE GENESEE FARMER. May CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. Production and Consumption of Mold in Soils, 105 Dairy Business. 106 Economy of Farming. 107 Bone Meal for Cows 1°° The Plow — its history and improvements. 109 The Principles of Breeding 110 Selecting Corn for Seed • ■ ■ ■ HO Harrowing Wheat in Spring ; Salting Stock, Ill Feeding Barley to Pigs and Ewes, Ill Culture of Field Beans ; Carrots, 112 Keep the Swinish Multitude at Home 112 Plaster — Plowing under Clover, 113 Black Leg among Cattle, 113 Art of Health ; To drive away Rats. . . 113 Letter from the Sandwich Islands, 114 Culture of Indian Corn — a Premium Crop, 115 Milking Cows ; Farmer's Laboratory, 115 Niagara Falls — its past, present, and prospective condition,. 116 The Potato Disease 117 Meteorology — Climatology, 118 Washing Sheep ; Scare Crows ; Fence Posts, 119 Marking Sheep ; Chinese Hemp ; The Striped Bug ; Grafting Chisel; Sowing Clover Seed with Buckwheat, 119 Editor's Table — Notices, &c, 124 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. Tree Planting. Pruning, &c 120 Hints for May ; The Season, 121 Vegetation in Mississippi 121 Summer Bon Chretien Pear, 121 Paxton's Magazine of Botany 122 North American Pomclogical Convention, 122 The Plum ; Native Wine. 122 Descriptive notices of 50 rare or new Pears, 123 ILLUSTRATIONS. Side Hill Plow 109 I View of Niagara Falls.. . . 116 Self Sharpening Plow, 109 Grafting Chisel 119 Sub-Soil Plow, 109 ' [In consequence of the continued absence of our engraver we are unable to give several illustrations intended for this number.] Market Prices of Agricultural Products. New York, April 27—7 P. M. Flour & Meal — Foreign news had a favorable effect upon the market for Western flour and the sales in most instances were at at an advance of 6^[c. per bbl.; the range is 4.75 a 5.12 for com- mon to good brands of State and mixed to very good Western. Pure Uenesee 5.62 a 75. sales 4.000 bb!s. Included in sa'es were 1.000 good Ohio at 5.18 and 1100 do. common State, part Troy at 4 7."/ Rye flour steady. Sales 400 bbls. at 2.75u2.81. Meal firmer. SOU bbls. Jersey sold at 2.18 afloat. Grain— Fair milling demand for wheat; prices below the views of holders. Sales 400 bu. Geuesee at 1.25. 1.000 Ohio on private terms and 6.000 white Pa. at 1.18. Sale of 7000 bu. Rye at 57 de- liver ;d. Barley- sales 4 000 bu. prime two-rowed, part on private terms rind part at 63%- Corn about 2c better. Some 20,000 bu. sold at 00c. for heated N. O.. 54 a 56 for mixed to a very good white southern. Oats without change. Provisions— Pork dull and heavy. Sales 400 bbls. at $10.12 a $10.18 for mess, and >s 25 for prime. 500 bbls. sour sold at £9.25 and $7.25 for mess :n:d prime. Beef, no change, with small sales. Lara is in fair inquiry. Sales 500 bbls. aud tierces at 5% a 6% — the latter for strictly prime. Butter and cheese dull, and without change. UocUestci', April 27. 1849. In Flour there is hardly any thiug doing. One or two sales of 2 or three hundred bbls. have been made during the past week at $5. Grain— Wheat $1.08. Corn 44c. Rye 53. Oats 29. Seeds— Clover $3.75 a $5. Timothy $1.50 a $2. 25. Flax $1. Provisions.— Pork (mess) $12 per bbl. Beef $4 to $5 per cwt.— mess $7 a $8 per bbl Batter 10 al2 cts. Cheese 6c. Eggs 9c. In Albany. April 27. flour was quoted at $4.75 a $5 for common to good State and Western— and $5 50 a 5.75 for pure Gepesce. Oats 36 a 37 cts. Agricultural Warehouse and Seed Store «4 Buffalo. AT the request of numerous friend*, we have opened an Agri- cultural Warehouse and Seed Store, and ha arrangements as will enable us to keep on hand a large and full assortment of implements of any useful kind. We have also arrangements for Trees and Seeds equal to any other establishment in the Cnion. Orders and patronage solicited Manufacturers are requested to send us samples of their imple ments and machines. T. C. PETERS & BRO., Corner Washington aud Exchange-sts. Buffalo. Jan. 1, 1848. fl-otj Back numbers (and volumes) of the Farmer promptly supplied to all new suBscribers. THE GENESEE FARMER, A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE, ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS OF Farm Bvuldings, Doru3stic Animals, Implements, Fruits, &c. The Tenth Volume of this Journal will commence on the 1st of January. 1849. In making this announcement to his Agents and the Farmers and Fruit Culturists of the counti'y. and again asking their support in behalf of the work, the Publisher has the satisfaction of stating that the Genesee Farmer now has a circu- lation exceeding, by several thousand, that of any similar period- ical published in America. This fact, alone, furnishes abundant evidence of the real value and superior merit of the work — for no journal, however cheap, can become and continue so universally popular, unless actuaUy worthy of the substantial support of an intelligent community. The high reputation which the Farmer has acquired through- out the United States will be maintained, and if possible aug- mented, during the ensuing year. To accomplish this object, no effort or expense will be spared by the Editors or the Publisher. Their aim is to furnish a reliable and independent journal — one which shall avoid and condemn humbug in whatever guise it may appear, and impart correct practical and scientific information on all subjects pertaining to Agriculture and Horticulture. It will be issued on NEW AND CLEAR TYPE, and superior paper, and printed in the best style of the art— neat and correct. Its ILLUSTRATIONS — embracing Portraits of distinguished friends of improvement on steel and wood, and Engravings of Farm Buildings, Improved Implements, Domestic Animals, choice Fruits, Trees. Flowers, Stc — will be more numerous and expensive than those of any preceding volume. QfJ- Each number will contain at least 34 Koyal Octavo Pages! making a large and handsome volume of several hundred pages at the close of the year. The Genesee Farmer is, beyond dispute, the cheapest Agricul- tural and Horticultural Paper in the World '. — and the Proprietor is determined to make it the neatest and best. We confidently ask for it that support which it merits from the Farmers. Gard- eners and Fruit Culturists of the United States. Terms — Invariably in Advance — as follows . Single Copy, 50 Cents. Five Copies for $2, and any greater number at the same rate, if directed to individuals. If direc ted to one person. Eight Copies for $3, and any additional number at the same rate. The entire volume sent to all subscribers. 5tJ= Post-Masters, Agents, and all friends of improvement, aro respectfully soli«k«d to obtain and forward subscriptions. \ The hark numbers of the present volume have been stereotyed, which enables us to promptly supply those num- bers to all new subscribers. Subscription money, if properly enclosed, may be sent (post- paid or free.) at the risk of the Publisher. Address to ». D. T. MOORE, Rochester, New York. Agricultural Rooks. — A large assortment of Books on Agriculture, Horticulture, &c, for sale at this Office. See list of works and prices in advertising department. Also — complete sets of the Farmer from its commencement, (except the 2d volume.) substantially bound, which we will sell at 50 cents per volume. These volumes are not suitable for sending by mail— but we have copies of vols. 0. 7, and 8. bound in paper covers, which may be mailed. O3 See page 125 for award of Premiums. THE GENESEE FARMER, Published on the first of each month, at Rochester, N. V by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE & D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. P. BARRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. Fifty Cents a Year, in Advance. Five Copies for $2. and any larger number at the same rate if directed to each subscriber. Eight Copies for $3, if addressed to one person only — and any larger number, directed in like manner, at the same rate. lO5 All subscriptions to commence with the year, and the entire volume supplied to all subscribers. Advertisements. — A limited number of short and appro- priate advertisements wiU be given in the Farmer, at the rate of $1,50 per square or folio (ten lines or 100 words) for the first insertion, and $1 fur each subsequent publication — is ADVANCE. [0= The FARMER is subject to newspaper postage only. STEREOTYPED BY JEWBTT, THOMAS AND CO., BUFFALO, K. Y. ■ -.*wT* ..-.■ -.. ~ Wf— W—WWM II I i| I ■!!■■! ibiiiiii IllgW IIIIMW— ■■— ■— 1 Agriculture is the most Health)- and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. VOL. X. ROCHESTER, N. Y. — JUNE, 1849. NO. 6. WOOL AND WOOL-GROWING DM THE U. STATES. Our excellent friend, T. C. Peters, Esq., of Buffalo, in his " Wool Grower, and Magazine of Ag- riculture and Horticulture," has indulged in some speculations on the ''amount of wool for the coming clip," (1849,) and the present number of sheep in the United States, which differ somewhat from our own views on the same subject. He assumes that inasmuch as the number of sheep in the State of New York increased about 25 per cent, from the census of 1840 to that of 1845, all the. other States in the Union have, on an average, done as well. The fleeces of this year are estimated to weigh two and three-fourth pounds each, throughout the country. He supposes that the census of 1850 will show " about thirty millions of sheep in the United States." Had we not seen the kind of sheep, and of sheep-hus- bandry that prevails at the South, as well as at the North and West, our opinion would not differ mate- rially from that of the " Wool Grower," aforesaid. But " with the lights before us," if the official returns of next year exhibit the existence of more than •27,000,000 sheep this side of New Mexico, we shall be disappointed: and still more so if the average weight per sheep exceeds 2£ lbs. In about half the States, wool is clipped without washing the sheep, and weighed in the dirt. There is in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and other Southern States so much of foreign matter in wool that it shrinks nearly half in cleansing; and it is regarded as no better than South American wool, which is sold in New York at from 7 to 9 cents a pound. There is a woolen factory within six miles of this city, (Augusta,) that annually consumes a good many thousand pounds of both foreign and native wool: and it seldom, if ever, pays over 12 cents for the latter. All sheep run in the forests the year round, and are usually black with burrs. Many shear them every six months to save a little more wool from being torn off in briars and bushes. They are generally kept not so much for their fleeces as for their meat and tallow. No branch of productive industry in this country, is susceptible of greater extension and improvement, than that of growing wool. In connection with raising lambs and fat sheep for market, the produc- tion of wool can be made profitable in every State in the Union. Fat lambc sell in this city at from two to three dollars a head. A friend has raised and sold over eighty at an average of the price la.st named, this spring. He is an exception to the gen- eral rule, and takes good care of his sheep — some die from an apparent excess of fatness. As a gen- eral thing, sheep are quite healthy in the "piny woods." Hungry, thievish dogs are the principal impediment in the way of keeping sheep in this region, although one would have to grow white clover, (which is indigenous,) grasses, peas, rye, oats, corn, turnips or potatoes as food, at least six months in twelve. The longer we investigate the capabilities oi South for producing cheap food for domestic animals, the better satisfied we become that stock-raising and wool-growing can be made profitable. In no other quarter of the Union are fine sheep, cows, horses, mules and swine sold at so high a figure. The climate is about like that of Spain — being perhaps a little colder here in the mountains, than there. In the Highlands of Texas, stock-raising is beginning to command particular attention. Such is not the case in any of the Southern Atlantic States. Somehow wool-growing appears to prosper best where there is a dense population. France, with 36,000,000 souls, on a comparatively small territory, keeps 40,000,000 sheep. According to McCulloch, it had 39,000,000 at the census of 1840. England has about the same number in proportion to popula- tion; as have also the people of this country. We have a small excess, as compared with France. But our facilities for sheep husbandry, when compar- ed with those Of Great Britain and the French Repub- lic-, would seem to warrant our trying to keep at least two sheep to every inhabitant — or over forty millions. The consumption of cotton, however, increases much faster than that of wool. As the one very exhausting, and the other an improving we hope the "Wool Grower" will do good sei in extending a branch of business which is generally so much neglected. Our friend Peters must remem- ber that "this is a great country;" and that he must not take New York, Ohio, Vermont and Michigan, as a fair average of the States, neither in the yield per fleece, nor in the increase of shei A Mr. J. F. Nelson, of Weehaw, .let:' Va., in a letter to the editor of the "Plow, • • and Anvil," states that he "has weighed fleeces of the flpck of Richard K. Meade, and that two bucks about 16 months old, clipped thirty-two and a halt' pounds of wool, equal to 3 or g merino." Allowing this to be half dirt and gum, the yield was hi He does not say whether it. had been washed or 130 THE GENESEE FARMER. June PREMIUM CHOPS. REQUISITIONS OF THE N. Y. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 'YH. i . ls off red in New York has just been published. The minimum of crops fixed upon, under which no premium is to be awarded, is— of winter wheat, not less i ing wheal, 30; Ind 10 {, 40; rye,35; oats, 70; buck wheat, 25; peas, 2"; po- tatoes for the table, ', I eld crop, 300; D pounds to the bushel,) I ■ Id-wurtzel (same •lit.) 400. We don't see that any premium is offered for hay. These quantities being fixed as the minimum pn when we look at tb ivi rage erop of the whole State as her official returns show, what a v id irgin we find to be filled up by higher skill and heavier manuring, as thus: in 1846, according to returns from each county by State authority, the averages were as follows: winter wheat averages 14 bushels per acre; oats, 26; barley, 16; rye, 9J; Indian corn. 25; buckwheat, 14; peas, 15; beans, 10; and potatoes, 90. Thus it would seem that the crops in most cases do not come loa third, in .some cases not a fourth of the smallest quantity, which the Society have determieed should be distinguished by a premium. This might leave some doubt about agricul- tural progress in the Empire State, were it not that the State Society, by its President, le.st year, reported "that the State of New York is improving its agricultural condition every year testifies.1' If it be improving every year, and has yet readied only to the averages we have stated — 14 of wheal, 25 of corn, 9| of rye, 90 of potatoes, Sic. — how low must it have been 25 years ago ? Yet in 1821 Karl Stimson of that State, made throughout his farm — of oats, CI) bushels per acre; Indian corn, on 8 acres 112 bushels; on 10 acres, 90; spring wheat 34; barley. 60. And we have accounts before the revolution, of 11,000 bushels of potatoes from 1(1 .acres — being 687 bushels to the acre, on new red land on the Hudson river; third year, 8,496 bushels of potatoes — being 531 bushels to the acre; fourth year, in wheat gave 37 bushels to the acre; fifth year, in barley gave 730 bushels, or 45 bushels to the acre; sixth year, 630 bushels of peas, or 39 to the acre. All this was without manure, and that by a miserable system of the most exhausting rotations, as — potatoes, wheat — potatoes, wheat — barley, peas; all in six years ! Is it to be wondered at, that the crops throughout the State have been brought down to the miserable averages we have stated .' Still we are told, on the highest authority, that the condition of New York agriculture is improving, as << every year testifies !" — and who knows how low it might have gone, if it had not been for the premiums distributed from year to year ? After all, these facts bring to mind the doubt once ex- pressed by one of the wisest, wealthiest and best men the Empire State ever boasted — James Watjsworth. Said he — " I am doubtful as to the expediency of small premiums for cattle. I think the raising of these animals may be left to self-interest. Suppose you take a hint from Napoleon, and offer very liberal rewards for agricultural implements;" and might not crops be left to the dictates of self-interest as well as cattle ? The Agricultural Society of New York appears to entertain a very different opinion, for while they have offered some 150 or 200 premiums for cattle and sheep — and nearly 100 of the amount of $10 and upwards, many as high as $20 and $25 — under the head of "Farm Implements," $10 is the highest for any single one, and ihat only in one case — a thrashing machine. For the others they offered a <: dip," and sometimes $2 or $3, or $5, besides the " dip;" but, done by such high authority, it must be " O. K." We copy the above from the May number of "The Plow, the Loom and the Anvil,"' (conducted by J. S. Skinner & Son, of Philadelphia,) that New York farmers may see what ht of their progress of improvem ts in other Slates; and for the purpose of making a few comments. The fact that the Executive Committee of the N. Y. State Society refuse to pay any premiums on grain crops, except in cases where the product is unusually lanre, indicates a disposition to curtail expenditure in that direction, that more money may be offered to encourage improvements in other de- partments of rural industry. The writer of the above criticism seems not to be aware that New- York is rather a grazing than a grain-groiving State; and that the "improvement in its agricultural condition," to which the late President of the Society referred, is more conspicuous in the increase of its dairy products and flocks of sheep, in its richer pas- tures and meadows, than in its crops of wheat, corn, rye, oats and barley. It would not be difficult to show that the eleven hundred thousand cows now annually milked in New York, yield about twenty millions of dollars worth of milk, veal, pork, butter and cheese. This, certainly, is a great improvement on what was done when the State Society was organized. The number of farmers in New York, and its strictly rural population, increased very little from 1840 to 1845; yet the number of sheep kept in the State was augmented 25 per cent. Their yield of wool per head was also increased. In regard to the census returns of the bushels of grain harvested in 1845 or '44 as the case may have been, they are indeed not creditable to the farmers of the Empire State. In addressing assemblies of farmers at the South, we have frequently been met by the statistics of New York, in a way not flattering to the pride of a native son of that enlightened and populous com- monwealth. The truth is, as the writer of this be- lieves, that those that till the earth in New York go over too much surface as a general thing, and sadly neglect to apply lime and plaster to their land; to turn in grass, clover and other green crops, and oth- erwise fertilize the soil. There are too many farmers that take no agricultural paper; who keep aloof from all agricultural societies; and who never read a book on rural affairs. However unconscious of the fact, such men are gradually impairing the productiveness of the land which they plow, sow, plant and hoe. They have no idea of the substances in the soil which are necessary to form a large crop of wheat, corn, barley, oats or potatoes. Hence, the elements of all cultivated plants are wasted and lost in many ways, which they do not understand, nor appreciate. Too many farmers are more anxious to own large fields and many of them, than to drain, subsoil, manure, and make rich a smaller estate. Our New York friends are probably not aware how much their brothers of the plow are doing in other States, by deep tillage, the use of ashes, guano, stable manure, lime, forest leaves, and by turning in green crops, by soiling domestic animals, irrig;. &lc, &c, to improve their cultivated fields. The agricultural statistics of your "Model State," are studied by thousands quite as closely as by the vete- ran editor of the "Plow, the Loom and the Anvil." We feel not a little anxiety that the official returns of 1850 shall prove that the wheat, corn, oat and potato crops of New York have greatly improved within the five and ten annual harvests that will immediately preceded the census of next year. As the crops of this season, 1849, will have to be given in. provided the marshals go round before the harvest of corn and potatoes, try and make good showings, if you can. Let your corn and potatoes have all the ashes, bones boiled to a powder in strong lye. adding to the compound a little common salt and lime, which you can well procure. Mix pulverized charcoal and gyp- sum with the contents of the vault under the privy, and scrape the stables, barn-yard and hog-pen anew, and do your best in plowing, manuring, hoeing and cultivating your summer crops. 1S1-). rHE GENESEE PARMER. i:u DEVON CATTLE. Among the improved breeds of cattle in this country, the Devons arc held in high i stimatii probably the m aired. As a distinct breed of neat cattle they possess several features peculiar to themselves, of which thej arc very tena- cious— retaining them in a great degree, even thi their distant crosses with other breeds, and particu- larly our native stock. Thecolor of pur always red, varying to a dark mahogany. Thedark color ia generally most admired, although the lighl shades are equally profitable. There is occasionally a little white on the belly, which is more cot with the beifi rs than the steers, and the cows udders arc frequently white. The hairs which form the brush of the tail are very- remarkable; on i they are a darker shade than the other parts of the body, but always turn white before the animals arc three years old. The hide is thin, soft, and mellow to the hand — the hair silky, and frequently curled. The horns are long, line and smooth, and frequently yellow at the root when young; the muzzle and round the eye yellow, with a bright, keen and active countenance. The Devons are fine boned, clean limbed, and very active — resembling in cattle what is called blood in horses more than any other stock. They are good feeders, and make as much beef in proportion to the food consumed as any other cattle. Their b< also of the best quality, being what fleshers call marbled (or well mixed with alternate fat and lean:) and they always prove well when dressed — weighing heavy to their appearance. In size they are about the medium of neat stock. When dressed the cows weigh from 6 to 800, and oxen from 10 to 15,000 lbs., grass fed. The bulls of this breed are usually inferior, in size and beauty, to the oxen; but his stock is the best proof of the value of a sire, and not his appearance. For labor we believe the Devons are not excelled by any other breed — and their uniformity of color and build renders them ea: ily matched. They are very active, docile and tractable, as well as tough and hardy, and when carefully used will perform much labor from four to eight years of age, without dimin- ishing their size or aptness to fatten. As milkers the Devons are similar to our native . but the quality of their milk is always rich. On this point Mr. Allen, author of "Domestic Animals," (published in 1848,) remarks: — "The cows invariably yield milk of great richness, and when appropriately bred, none surpass them for the quan- tity of butter and cheese if yields. Mr. Bloomfield, the manager of Lord Leicester's estate at Holkham, has, by careful attention, somewhat increased the without impairing the beauty of their form, and so successful has he been in developing their milking properties, that his average product of butter from each cow. is I lbs. per we b for the whole year. lie has challenged England to milk an equal number of cows of any linst 40 pure D. selected out of his own herd, without as yet i. found a competitor." We believe the Devons were first introduced into Western New York about twenty-five years ago, by Wm. Garbutt, Esq., of Wneatfand. In 1835 or G, Mr. G. stocked his farm in S Mr. Beck, an experienced Sci portion of his home stock. In 1838 or 9, Mr. now, of Etoi '. county, imported a hull and two b< if era from the besl Btocb in Devons E "' ind. Ml . ( ; irbI I r, i!:.i B and others, bred From the Vernon Bull (now known aa the Dibble Bull,) and produced manj valuable animals. This stock- is now scattered over much of Western New York, and some of it i,, Michigan and Canada, so that purchasers can be accommodated with thorough Devons, not inferior to any, al much less ex- e .aid trouble than to import them from England. N. Y. STATE AG. SOCIETY. - PROF. JOHNSTON. We are pleased to learn that Prof. J. F. W. John- ston, of Durham, England, widely known lor his suc- i labors in the cause of Agricultural Imp] merit, has accepted the invitation of the .Society to • I sliver the Annual Address at Syracuse. We doubt not this announcement will determine many to attend this great Festival of the Farmers, who otherwise •might not have done so. The distinguished gentle- man will, doubtless, give to his hearers some account of the improvements that are in progress in Europe, in very many of which he has borne an important part. We anticipate great good from the visit of Prof. JonxsTOiN to this country. lie designs, we un- derstand, to spend a year or more before he returns, and he will doubtless devote much of his time in de- livering lectures to Societies, &c., and it appears to us that our State and County Societies can in no other way at the present time appropriate a portion of their funds more usefully, than by securing his servi- ces in that capacity. The officers of the State Society are entitled to the thanks of the friends of Agriculture, for their efforts to secure the services of this distinguished Chemist, and wo trust the result will prove in the highest de- gree beneficial to the Agricultural interest. We have watched with no little interest the pro- ceedings of the State Society — and we believe we but express the united sentiment of the farmers who are interested in the true advancement of the Agri- culture of our State, when we assert that the manner in which the Society has been conducted for the last few years, has been in every respect well calculated to sustain and advance this great interest of our coun- try. The operations of the Society have been con- ducted with a single eye to the public good. No plans of mere theorizing have been put forth — but objects of substantial and permanent usefulness are presented, and untiring efforts are made to bring sub- jects of deep interest to the farmers, before them in such a mariner as to attract their attention, and enlist their energies, so that improvement shall be the re- sult. The influence of the Society is felt, not only in our own Slate, but in every portion of our Union — new ■lies are being organized, and none can 1 bat is to bo the effect which is to follow the of our State Society. A responsibility of no light character rests upon its officers, and they need on of oil who arc interested in the cause of Agriculture. The labors appertaining rti of the Society are becom- ing very arduous, am! I not the officers will make every necessary arrangement for their discharge in a manner that will continue to be satisfactory to the public, and maintain the high standing which the Society has already attained. * 132 THE GENESEE FARMER. June DESTRUCTION OF WHEAT, CORN AND COTTON IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. Probably more than half the wheat that would have been harvested this season in the States south of North Carolina, has been destroyr 1 by the suc- cession of severe frosts which begv 1 on the night of April 15, and continued nearly a week. Some fields examined by the writer, were so forward as to be out of blossom. The price of cotton was .so low last year that an unusual breadth of land was sown in this grain. About two-thirds of the cotton in the principal cotton growing States was up, and killed dead. Where seed could be had, it is planted anew. The prospect is poor enough for this important crop. Corn was killed down; but some grows again, and in some fields it is re-planted. Peaches, grapes, figs, and other fruits are mostly destroyed. More snow fell in Augusta, Ga., on the 15th of April than had been seen before in several winters. In many places the foliage on oak trees was killed; and tender trees, like pomegranates and lagerstrtemias were smitten to death. Hessian flies, which are very abundant, came out perfect insects, twenty miles south of this city, on the tenth of April. Augusta, May 2, 1849. CHESS -TRANSMUTATION. We have before us eight well written communi- cations on the transmutation of wheat into cheat or chess. It is a subject we dare not again open our pages to, as it is interminable, and we almost regret having published Mr. W.'s article in our March number. Let us premise that we think the transmutation of vegetable, animal, or any material substance, is philosophically, physically and mathematically im- possible— and that opinion fire can't burn out of us, until we can see a plain and indisputable instance to the contrary. And yet we admit there are some facts which cannot be explained, that seem to favor that doctrine, and it requires a little faith sometimes to keep us from being skeptical on the subject. All of our communications are from experienced, and prac- tical farmers, and every one takes the affirmative. H. W., of China, N. Y., cites instances where wheat in the spring was cut to feed a traveller's horse, which came entirely chess, while the rest of the field was fine clean wheat. M. T., another in- stance, where a horse was tied in the corner of a fence, and eat the wheat to the length of his tether, and that was chess alone. These are not solitary instances of the like. J. R., of Pekin, Niagara Co., says he has the ability to convince the most skeptical, and asks if the $100 premium is yet alive, or the man that offered it; as he is prepared to carry off the prize, and desires us to name some one in that county to call on him to have it settled at once. We take that bet. J. A., of Yates county, states some strong rea which he thinks are conclusive; but we think his reasoning unphilosophical when In1 applies it to the planting of a vineyard of choice grapes, which turned to wild ones. If the seeds were planted, then a variety might be expected, but not ;i differenl ordi r and genus — and no one will pretend but what cut- tings, or rooted vines, will produce the same as the parent plant forever. L. R., of Clyde, relates three very strong cases, which, if there were no deception or hidden causes to account for them, would be a settler to our views on the subject. "A subscriber," of Oakfield, is rather severe on Mr. W., and asks if pigeons are more apt to disgorge chess on ashes where logs and stumps have been burned, than other places, as those places are usually full of chess. He also says that clean seed, that had chess growing among it, is more liable to produce chess than that that had not any, and therefore not impregnated with the pollen of the chess — a sugges- tion that may be worthy of notice, and as far as we are informed, is original with our correspondent. And last, though not least, comes our friend E. F., of Rose, Wayne Co., with several cases of transmu- tation, which are difficult to account for, without occular examination. He winds up with the " proof positive," of the following certificate, duly sworn and subscribed: This may certify that 1, Simeon J. Barrett, of the town of Rose, county of Wayne, about twenty-four years ago, in the fall of the year in picking over some wheat to thrash for seed, pulled out some chess and found it grew in a wheat head of the usual length, and seven kernels of chess grew out of one side of it, about one-third of the way up. In July, 1848, I was passing through a field of wheat and saw a head of wheat witli chess on it; I plucked the head, which was of usual length, and about half way up the head, there grew out eleven kernels of chess. Simeon J. Barrett. The above statement was verified before me the 7th day of April, 1849. P. Guitchell, Justice. Now, in order to set this subject at rest, exhibit to us this lusus naturae, this rara avis, and we will cry pecavi, and give a premium for a knot-hole to creep into, and forever after hold our peace. We must beg of our correspondents to excuse our not giving their entire articles, and to let this mooted and unsettled question rest until some proof can be adduced beyond cavil or dispute. AN EXAMPLE FOR THE BOYS. Many of our youthful readers have responded to our offer in the March number, by sending lists of new subscribers. The zeal manifested shows that there are some boys in the country who desire to im- prove their minds, and become men in the fullest sense of the term. It has afforded us real pleasure to hear from our young friends. The orthogrs and penmanship of their letters, in most instances, are quite creditable. Among various similar letters received from boys residing in this and other States, we copy the following from Master Wm. H. Hunt, of Geneseo: — "After I saw your offer to the boys, I started oul to obtain subscribers to the Genesee Farmer, and in a short time I got five. I am satisfied from my inex- perience, and the success attending such feeble efforts, that if but one boy in each School District in New York was to engage with zeal worthy of the cause, in obtaining subscribers for your useful journal, that your list of subscribers would be greatly increased, and many minds stored with practical knowledge, that now are filled with worse than useless trash. I find it very agreeable to go on this business, as it brings into practice my lessons in arithmetic, in ma- king change with the subscribers. I intend to add some each year, as 1 have eight years of minority to labor in this pleasant vineyard, if my life is spared. I herewith enclose $2 for five subscribers. * * * You may send me Johnson's Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology." 1840. THE GENESEE FARMER, 1 33 t^," <;(WflES.S* VVIIEA1 DRILL. PALMER' S WHEAT DRILL. Of the various improvements in grain drills, this is one of the most recent. It is designed to com- bine, in a simple, substantial and yet cheap form, the advantages of the numerous English and American drills heretofore in use. We extract the following from the inventor's description of its construction and operation : — "The frame-work consists of a simple axle, four by six inches, and a pole, on the former of which is placed a box or hopper. One simple distributor driv- en by a cam wheel and friction rollers, conveys the grain from the hopper into the several drills, through hollow braces or levers, and the quantity in each drill cannot vary a spoonful in sowing live bushels. Each drill is independent of the others, and either can pass over a stone or other obstruction eighteen inches high, without interfering with the operation of the other. It will drill perfectly, a strip of land of any width, from four inches to the entire width of the machine) and will work on land of any shape, with- out wasting the grain. All the teeth or drills can be raised or remain in a position eighteen or twenty inches from the ground, rendering it perfectly safe to drive over the roughest places. By the most sim- ple movement, the distribution of seed can be stopped in an instant, or continued with the same ease. All the injury the drill can sustain by coming in contact with roots or fast stones, is the breaking of a small wooden peg, which is easily replaced. The machine is so contrived, that by a very simple movement, the interior work is exposed to view, and at all tim grain, while passing into the drills, is in full view of the operator, so that he can detect at a glance, any stoppage of the grain, and at once remedy it." A large number of thes"? drills are being manufac- tured, the present season, by J. A Holmks &. Co. of Brockport, N. Y. See their advertisement in this number of the Farmer. FACTS IN 3UILDING. A writrr in the American Mechanic, mentioiiH the following very sensible facts for those who propose to construct dwellings with reference to comfort, e omy, and convenience: One fact is that a square form secures more room with a given cost for outside walls, than any other rectangular figure. Great length and little width may afford convenient rooms, but an increased expense. iVnother fact is that ventilation is an essential i» a human dwelling. No other consideration should i :■:- elude this. The halls, windows, and doors, should be so situated with regard to each other, that a full draught of air can be secured at any time in the sum- mer season, by day and night, through the whole house. The stories should also be sufficiently to afford a sufficiency of air in all the rooms, feet is a good height for lower rooms, and eighl upper. Bed rooms should also be larger than they commonly are. Great injury to health is the of sleeping in small, close apartments. The third fact is that a steep roof will not only shed rain and snow far better than a flat one, but will last immensely longer. The fourth fact is that a chimney in or near the centre of the building will aid to warm the ( . while if built at one end or side, the heat will be thrown out and lost. The fifth fact is that a door opening from the out- side into any principal room, without the intervention ''all or passage, costs much more than it -■ in the free ingress of air into it. The sixth fact is that the use o( paint is the best economy, in the preservation il aflbrde to wood work. The seventh fa :1 is thai if the front door is n at one sido instead of the middle of the front, a par- tition will be saved, and for small houses this should not be forgotten, but for large houses have the main door and lobby in the middle of the house. 134 THE GENESEE FARMER. June FARMING ON TWENTY-ONE ACRES OF LAND. BY WILLIAM GARBUTT. Mkssrs. Editors: — Many of the cultivators of the soil, who occupy large possessions, do not realize the amount of labor that can be profitably employed in cultivation ; and few farm laborers are aware how small a piece of ground will afford full employment to an industrious man, and yield himself and family the comforts of life, and make them an independent home. In illustration of these facts, I will give an account of farmer B. His farm consists of twenty-one acres : one acre of it is occupied with buildings, yards and garden, and twenty acres are for cultivation — all made productive by thorough draining and bountiful manuring. A good substantial fence all round it, but no division fences. He has 57 rods of patent fence, which is easily removed, with which he enclo- ses one-fourth of the ground for pasture. The farm is divided into four equal parts — 5 acres in each part. First season, No. 1 is in grass, clover and timothy, for pasture; No. 2 in hoe crop — one acre in wurtzels, one potatoes, and three in corn; No. 3, barley ; and No. 4 in wheat. With these crops he keeps a regular rotation each year. Second sea- son, No. 1 is manured in the fall with all the manure that he has collected the past year, and plowed for next season's hoe crop ; No. 2 is plowed in the fall for barley next spring ; No. 3 (barley stubble) is sown with wheat ; and No. 4 (wheat) is sown with timothy and clover for next season's pasture — which rotation he uniformly pursues. He keeps a yoke of oxen, two cows, twenty good owes and a brooding sow, for which 5 acres of fresh clover on a rich soil will afford plenty of pasture, provided that he does not turn into it too soon in the spring. The wheat and barley straw, corn stalks, and roots, will be ample forage for them in winter. He is industrious, economical and prudent. Every thing is well done, and in season. The ground is kept clean, no weeds being allowed to grow, not even around the fence ; it is made rich by plentiful appli- cations of manure, which renders it very productive. His wheat averages 30 bushels per acre. It will take 24 bushels to bread the family the year, (which consists of himself, wife, and four little ones,) and it will take 7 bushels for seed, which will leave 119 to sell ; this, at $1 per bushel, will make $119. — His barley yields 40 bushels per acre : it will take 8 of it for seed, and 1 92 bushels to market, at 50 cts. per bu., will be $96. The corn averages 60 bushels per acre ; the three acres produce 180 bushels: it will take 80 bushels to feed the pigs, fat the pork, and use of the family, (for they eat Johnny cake and mush,) which leaves him 100 bushels to market, at 50 cts. per bu., is $50. The potatoes and beets are all used at home. The woo! of the 20 ewes ave- raging $1 per fleece, will be $20. They raise 20 lambs, which he soils in July or August for $20. By taking the lambs from the ewes early, the latter will gotfat by fall ; 1 ■< oi th< m are sold for$>30, with which ho purchases 20 ewes for next season's keep- ing— and ho has 5 fat sheep left for the use of the family. The sows have 6 pigs the lasl of March or early in April: 5 of them, with the sow. are fat£i I, and a young sow kept fo pigs and old sow when fatted wiil make 1,100 lbs. of pork; 500 will do the family, with Urn 5 fat sheep, and leave him 600 lbs to sell, which at 5 cts. a pound is $30. The two calves are fatted and sold for $5. This makes $340 worth sold from the products of the 20 acres, and the family have had their farm liv- ing the past year. It may be thought that this calculation is too large for an average production, but I assure you that if the operator is industrious, economical and judicious, he vvill seldom fall short of the quantity stated. But it is asked, how can an industrious man be constantly employed on 20 acres of ground cultivated for farm- ing purposes ? Look at it. His ground for spring crops is all plowed in the fall. On the first of April he commences operations for the season. He first sows the grass seed on the wheat; then 10 cwt. of plaster on the hoe ground; and as soon as the ground is sufficiently dry he harrows it and sows the barley; then harrows and cross harrows until it is thoroughly pulverized, and then rolls it. By that time the planting ground is ready to harrow, which opera- tion is continued until the ground is well pulverized, and the nearer it can be made to a garde1 ; tilt the better. But if he is ahead of the season with his work he can always have full employment in making the manure heap. He collects every thing that will make manure that his time and means permit; he puts on it at least one ton of plaster at different times. Leached ashes, swamp muck, marl, dirty salt, and old brine, are all collected and mixed with the barn yard dung, so as to increase the manure heap to at least 200 loads. The ground being in good order and the season favorable, he commences planting the first of May, and takes time and does it well — for there is more lost by careless planting than would pay for four times the labor of doing it well. He first plants the wurtzels, then the potatoes and corn. Planting done, the wheat is to be wed; and as soon as the wurtzels are up he begins hoeing, which affords him employ- ment until the first, and perhaps the fifth of July. He then has some leisure, and assists a neighbor in haying, to procure help in hauling in the grain. He commences harvest as soon as the grain will answer, and barley will do to cut pretty green. If it is not sufficiently dry to bind let it lie two or three days in swarth. Harvest begun he may work as faithfully as he chooses until the grain is all secured. That done, he harrows, cultivates, or plows shallow the barley stubble, so as to pulverize it thoroughly four inches deep, and sows on it half a ton of plaster. The corn is now ready to cut up; that done he plows the barley stubble deep and well, and sows the wheat. The summer crops are now ready to gather, which employs him a while. When all are secured, he takes out the manure, spreads it evenly over the sur- face, and plows it under. The hoe ground is also to be plowed for barley next spring, which keeps him busy until it is time to prepare for winter. In winter he takes good care of the stock, thrashes the grain, and provides fuel — having none on his farm. The orchard is planted by the fence around the farm and door yard. Now, my Young Friends, be industrious and sav- irg, and you will soon be able to purchase 21 acres of land. And you who have larj ions, and sous you wish to settle near you, divide your pos- sessions with them, and teach them to realize that industry and economy are the sources of wealth — and that a neat, comfortable and independent home, though it is small, will afford more rational enjoy- ment in old age, than large possessions, with a princely mansion, even if it is not encumbered with debt. Wheatland JY. Y., 1849. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 135 RED ROOT OK PIGEON WEED. Bl e. u. LAY. Messrs Editors: — In my rambles through the this spring, I have been surprised to see the hold this curse to wheat growers bason the fields; even some of the best and most thorough farmers have very much of it in their Boils. While :i person has but little of it in his fields, it may be easily kept r by going through the win at in the spring] and weeding it thoroughly; but if neglected for a few 9 it will get Buch a foothold on the soil as to he almost impossible to get it. out. A practice which I nave seen tried, is well worthy the attention of these who are thus situated. Some time in the fall, afti r the wheat is taken off, go over thestubbl i and drag or cultivate thoroughly — the same as for seeding wheat. This will cover all the seeds •'1 nmt that are in the stubble, and will cause them to vegetate — after which they ran be plowed under in the Bpring an 1 destroyed. The great diffi- culty with the seeds of red root always has been to get thorn to grow; they will remain in the ground for- years, and finally start and grow upon being brought to the surface and covered in the fall. The straw containing the seed of red root should be piled up or made into compost in the spring, and not drawn out in its long state; if not reduced to a liner state, all the seeds will grow when brought to the surface. I hop.- farmers will attend to the matter, and not not let this, the worst of weeds to the wheat grower, get the upper hand. Greece, JV. Y., May, 1849. Remarks. — We are glad that our friend Lay has broached this subject. Foul weeds are fast gaining ground in many sections of Western New-York, and possess something more than a mere " local habita- tion and a name." Farmers must be on the alert, an 1 ouard their possessions from an attack or advance of the enemy. And in this connection we will refer to one practice which tends to increase rather than destroy these pests. Many farmers are in the habit of throwing red root, thistles, screenings, &tc, into the highway — not thinking that the seeds are easily carried, by adhering to the hoofs of horses, wheels of carriages, See., to the barns and farms of those who take great pains to keep their premises entirely free from all noxious plants. In some localities this has become so prevalent, that a reform is urgently need- ed, and we direct the attention of all interested to the importance of r.t once and entirely discontinuing the practice. " A word," Stc. WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. Messrs. Editors: — Having recently become a subscriber to your journal, 1 feel bound to acknow- ledge the benefit it has been to me in awakening an increased interest in the subject of Agriculture; and I am also impressed with the conviction that a more intimate connection between the two great sister States of the Union — New York and Pennsylvania — would be productive of great good to each. Espe- cially would an infusion of New York enterprise benefit Western Pennsylvania. We are a sound, sober, stable people; careful, prudent, industrious and economical — but lacking that indomitable energy which fully develops the wealth of a State. The eastern county b >rder is the summit of the Laurel Hill, which together with the Chestnut Ridge, (which is included in the county as far as the county extends,) is rich with iron ore, and there are a num- ber of furnaces already erected in that section of the county, and room for many more. The streams which emanate from the mountains, though riot gen- erally large are permanent in their character, and afford excellent wax* i for all manufacturing purposes, which is far from being occupied, to the extent of even the wants of the community. The rich, arable lauds extend quite to thi mountains, and the country abounds with linn and bituminous coal. The coil is mined and deliv- ered in the towns at from two and a half to four cents per bushel. The mountains afford an inexhaustible supply of timber for building, fencing and tai purposes. The Pennsylvania Canal, passing along the valley of the Kishkiminitas River, skirts the northern boundary of the county, affording the m an* of an excellent market for the produce of the farm. True we have the means of a good market, hut we really have not a first rate market, such as you Yorkers have. In the manufacturing and commer- cial pursuits we need a thorough awakening, which would stir up the agricultural community to greater enterprise. Our staples are wheat, corn and oats — horses, cattle and pork. We raise but little barley, and little wool comparatively. With these facilities in every point of view, for cultivating the soil, for manufacturing and commer- cial purposes, a New Yorker will be surprised to learn that our good lands, within from five to ten miles of the Pennsylvania ('anal, with good build- ings, are worth only from twenty to forty dollars per acre. You will, therefore, readily perceive that this is an excellent field for enterprise in any of these departments. Particularly for men of capital dis- posed to engage in the iron business in any of its branches, to tanners who could commence in a con- siderable way, and to mechanics who could manu- facture the improved agricultural implements, would this be a suitable place, and their labors and invest- ments meet with a sure return. If one of your large nurseries, which I see advertised in the sheet con- nected with the Farmer could be transported here, I think it would be a good " notion," as our old orchards are about dicing oft', and we are beginning to plant new ones. And if we could get your goodly city of Rochester set down on the bank of our canal, we would be willing to " pay a handsome premium." As I am but a " new beginner" in the practical part of farming, I shall not attempt any disquisitions on that subject now, but at some future day I may inflict a communication upon you on some other sub- ject, if this meets with your approbation. And as my farm needs many improvements I shall be verj much occupied therewith, but will endeavor to rind time to recommend your excellent paper to my neighbors. W. L. A. Westmoreland Co., Penn,, March, 1849. Public Lands. — The Commissioner of the Gen- eral Land Office reports, that 10,800,000 acres of the public lands have been granted by government for public schools; 825,950 for universities, and 8,474,400 for internal improvements in the different States and Territories. Diogenes being once asked the bite of which beast was the worst, answered, "If you mean of wild beasts, 'tis the slanderer ; if tame, the flatterer." J r— *■ 136 THE GENESEE FARMER. June LUNAR INFLUENCE — THE TIDES, &c. 1!Y PROF. C. DEWEY. Ti.ila — Modifying causes— Earth flattened at the Poles — Proof — High tide' in Bay of Fundy— Reason — Opinion of great men. Admitting for a moment that the action of the sun and moon, and chiefly of the moon, produces the tides, what might be the difference in the tides at different places? If the earth were covered with ocean some miles deep, the tides would be only two or three feet high at the greatest, and generally about two feet. The great Lakes are too small to have tides ; an ocean is required to have the attraction of the sun and moon upon the waters apparent. The tides rise much higher by the waters being stopped in their course by the land of the continents, islands, fcc, and by being thus accumulated along the shores. Again : the tides rise higher in places more favorably situated for accumulating the waters. Places differ greatly in this respect, and of course, the height of the tides. Also ; commonly there are two tides daily, but from their different position, some places have less than two tides a day, and some have more than two. These facts exist, and must be solved on any cause, and are consistent with the notion of lunar and solar influence. The highest part of a tide is under the moon when she is on the meridian on the same side of the equa- tor the moon is, and when she is on the meridian op- posite, is on the contrary side of the equator. If the force of the sun and moon act together, the tide is higher, and when at right angles to each other, the tide is lower. If the wind conspires with the other forces, the tides are higher than is ordinary: if the wind acts with power against those forces, the tides are far less than was anticipated. Currents effect the tides, either increasing or diminishing, beyond what the attraction requires. In either case the ef- fect is to be considered. The earth is flattened towards its poles. Actual measurement of the length of a degree of latitude, has proved it. The same pendulum vibrates in less time in higher latitudes. Both prove that the poles of the earth are flattened. The equatorial diameter is the longest, and the polar is the shortest. The difference is about thirty-four miles. This difference of o4 miles in 8,000, will not make much difference in the attraction exerted on different parts of the earth. The northern regions being nearer the centre of the earth, the attraction of gravitation must be greater on the waters, and it must be more difficult for the power of sun and moon to raise a tide. Yet the tides are the highest of all in the Bay of Fundy. But, as this high tide is not found along the shores northward and southicard of this Bay, it shows that this tide depends on some local circumstances. Looking to the Geography we see the Bay opening like a tunnel towards the east and southeast, so as to receive the !' tide which has been drawn across the Atlan- tic, and then the Bay narrows into the neck of a tun- , so as to give the greatest and best action to the waters in raising the tide along the narrower channel. The high tides in the Bay of Fundy are no objection to the notion of solar and lunar attraction being the cause of the tides. Along our coast, and the coasts of other countries, itfa great inequality, owing to the local in their situation, the capes, shoals, cur- . These too are entirely consi with ttractioa in the earth, and that of i 1 m ion upon the earth. It is a great curiosity to me that all the most dis- tinguished philosophers from Newton to this day, English, French, German, and American, should agree on the cause of the tides, and that the more fully the laws of nature and their operation are un- derstood, the more confident and perfect should be the agreement of the greatest minds,— of those qualified to judge and decide — on the causes that raise the tides. How eagerly would the French and German mathematicians have seized upon any defects in the reasoning of the great Newton upon the tides, if any had been discoverable. But they have sustained his reasoning, and simply carried on its application to greater extent. Though the Newtonian theory of the tides has been slightly assailed by some who have never gone over his reasoning, not one valid objection has been made; not one distinguished philosopher has supported such objection. Rochester, JV. Y., 1849. FECUNDITY OF INSECTS. Among the astonishing things which present themselves to the eye of the naturalist is the won- derful fecundity of insects. This is a circumstance which would naturally follow the law by which one animal preys upon another throughout the whole animated creation. In no part of nature is this law- more extensive than in the insect world, which suf- fers immense ravages from this cause. In order to till the deficiences thus made, it would seem to be necessary that insects should be exceedingly prolific. Linnseus calculates that the carcass of a horse would not be devoured with as much despatch by a lion as by three of the flesh fly denominated musca Vomitoria and their immediate offspring. For one female flv will give birth to twenty thousand larva?, each of which will, in a single day, devour sufficient food to acquire an increase of two hundred times rts weight, while only a few days are requisite for the production of a third generation. Prof. Ehrenberg, of Prussia observed an animalcule which he calcu- lated to increase in ten days to one million, on the eleventh day to four millions, and on the twelfth dav to sixteen millions. In another instance he supposes that a single individual may in four days become one hundred and seventy billions. The progeny of a single queen bee often amount to forty thousand, and the queen of the Termites or white ants, generally lay at an average of sixty eggs per minute, or nearly ninety thousand in the short space of twenty-four hours. According to Luwenhoek, two families of lice would in sixty days have as many as. fifteen thousand descendants. Astonishing as this increase among insects may appear, certain circumstances seem sometimes to augment it to a most extraordinary extent. In some countries the ant frequently makes its appearance in such countless multitudes, as to defy all human means to destroy them. They blacken the roads and fields for miles, destroying the cattle, and devour- ing rats, mice, birds, or whatever may chance to be near the scene of their ravages. They rush into the streams in such vast swarms that the tiny carcasses of the drowned form a bridge for the living, often to the depth of six inches, and extending upwards of 500 miles long, and eight or ten feet broad. This wonderful fecundity among insects is, however, ex- ceeded by that of the cod-fish, which is said to spawn in one season a greater number of eggs than all the inhabitants of the .State of Now York. — Sel. 1849. 'HE GENESEE PARMER. 137 "BLACK LEG AMONG CATTLE." K\ -. I'. ( 11 1PM LN. We wore glad to sec attention called to this tear- ful complaint among cattle, in the last Dumber of the Fanner. This is one ol those diseases where "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,-" and although we do not believe it can he cured, we believe in a great measure it can be prevented. Let Mr. Watson, and others \\ ho are troubled w ith this com- plaint in their herds, try the following preventives: Bleed the calves and young cattle in the neck once in the Fall, and again in the spring; 'jive a teaspoon full of saltpetre once in four or six weeks; keep plenty of salt where they can have free access to it, [they should be gradually accustomed to this,] and feed regularly. There is hut very little danger of a young animal that is kept steadily growing, having this complaint. It usually attacks those that have been for a time, at least, rather low in flesh, when they are beginning to •iter. It is a very common remark among those who lose cattle in this way — "They were doing well,. first rate." We hope no one will be induced by the Editor's remarks, (for we do not think he would re- commend it,) to keep young cattle "poor in flesh," in order to escape this disease; for they would be very liable to get a start sometime during the year, which, in our opinion, is the greatest predisposing cause of •• black leg." Rather keep all of your young stock in good condition, (not fat,) until they arrive at full ma- turity, they will then be subject to but very few dis- eases of any kind. is this complaint really contagious? We have re- peatedly known of an animal being lost with it, and not another one in the same herd, in the least affect- ed; although the dead animal was suffered to remain in their immediate vicinity until a certain swinish multitude held a council, and resolved, out of pure benevolence, no doubt, to m-ter it in reality — a ching which should have been done long before, (we do not mean exactly in the same way, however,) by a cer- tain biped, professing to be a few steps in their ad- vance in civilization. But, nevertheless, this com- plaint may be contagious. At all events, it would be well to remove the affected animal from the remainder of the herd as soon as possible. We cannot recommend the above preventives as a perfect security against the "black leg," for they certainly are not ; but we believe if the directions were followed, it would result in the saving of at least nine-tenths of the number of animals, that are now annually lost with this complaint. Clockville, Mad- ison county, JY. Y., May, 1849. WHEELER-S THRASHING MACHINE. The question is frequently asked — Why cannot a cleaner be attached to Wheeler's Thrasher? In an- swer to this question I will give the reasons, as ex- pressed by an extensive grain grower who has used nearly all kinds of thrashing machines, cleaners, fcc. 1st. Because the original cost of this Horse Pow- er, Thrasher and Separater, together with one of Grant's largest and best fan-mills, is from seventy to one hundred dollars less than any good cleaner and thrasher combined can be obtained for. 2d. Because, when pur based separate they can be used separately, are more portable, simple and dura- ble; also, the fan-mill is adapted for cleaning all kinds of grain anil grass seeds, and the Thra.-her lor thrash- ing clover and timothj . 3d. Because of the great simplicity and reduced friction of machinery, less power is required, no dri- \er is needed, fewer men are necessary to attend to the w hole 0] . to do the Bame amounl than when the cl< aner is combini d v. ith the thn 4th. Because less grain i as the tan-mil!, when driven direct from ii„. power is more si. and cleans perfectly w ith once going through — v when the cleaner is combined, it. derives its m from the cylinder, which is always varying its - as the feeder presses fast or slow, consequent^ bl ing away grain with the straw and chaff at one mo- ment, and leaving it half cleaned from the chaff the next — requiriug, nine cases in ten, another operation by a fan-mill to prepare it for market. 5th. Because the expense of thrashing is much re- duc( d by the great simplicity of these machines, and all can be managed by the hands usually about the farm: and in stormy weather all can be operated in- side of barns, when the laborers and teams could do little out of doors to advantage. Horace L. Emery. —Mbany, JV. F., May, 1849. WRIGHT'S CORN CULTIVATOR. The above cut represents " Wright's double point- ed steel tooth Corn Cultivator" — an article extensive- ly used in this section. It is well constructed and durable. The teeth are made of rolled steel, having two points, and bolted in the center to a shank of wrought iron — which latter is so protected from wearing as to last an indefinite period. When one point is worn out, the teeth are easily reversed, thus giving new points — and when both ends (or points) are worn out, new teeth can be substituted at a cost of only 25 cents each. At the last Fair of the Monroe Co. Ag. Society, the Com. on Implements (L. B. Laivgworthy. Esq., chairman,) awarded a premium to the manufacturer, and thus noticed this Cultivator : — " Pardon D. Wright, of Rochester — a Corn Cultivator with re- versible teeth. A perfect article, and all that can be required for the purpose." The advantages of this implement (as stated by the manufacturer) consist in the superiority of its work, its durability, light draft, freedom from clog- ging, and the trifling cost of new teeth when they are required. We have no hesitation in commending it to our readers as a superior article. Manufactured and sold wholesale and retail by P. D. Wright, 120 State st., Rochester. Also for sale at the principal Implement Stores in Rochester, Buffalo, Auburn, and other places in Western New York. Thomas Ewbank, Esq., author of "Ewbank's Hydraulics," has been appointed Commissioner of Patents, in place of Hon. E. Burke. 138 THE GENESEE FARMER. JL'Mi NATIVE Versus SBQKT-HOSH CATTLE. BY WM. HANFOKB, JR. [ la reply l<-. S P Chapman, page 00 of present volume.] The "faci by Mr. Chapman would have formed a more imposing array, and been a little ithal, bad they been more definite. information desired, in behalf of those interested, v. a- siaiisti . i expn d by the printer. In relation to his pi rate timony, if that kind of evi- dence is worth any thing' towards establishing the merits of an animal, or breed of animals, its value would certainly be enhanced by a statement of the number of competitors, and the preparation oi" ani- mals for exhibition, as well ay of the extent of ter- ritory open for competition. The cows mention ; are probably as near " right" as the skill and intelli- genceoftl lownercanv, llrnak< I have advanced no theories — advocated no doctrines, as the result of my own ob I bu [ havi inti- i . , that the Gs? . '- has eonti ! some things n tful •■ a ; this" I will of "many r led ; .... qualities'' of the said We have the following account of a Sussex bred cow, owned in Lews, England, called the Cramp Cow : "From the first day of May, 180-5, the day she calved, to the second day of April, 1806, a space of forty-eight ' and one day, her milk produced 540 lbs. of butter. The largest amount made in "any one week, was 15 lbs. From May to June, she gave 20 quarts per day. From £'l)th June, to 20th September, 18g quarts. In 47 weeks she pro- duced 4,021 quarts of milk. In the next year, from the 10th day of April, 1806, the day she calved, to the 27th February, 18U7, forty-five weeks, she produced 450 lbs. butter. The largest amount per week was 12 lbs. The quantity of milk for the time 4,137 quarts. During this year she was sick and under a farrier's care three weeks after calving. She went dry seventeen days only. In the third year, from the 6th of April, 1807, the day she calved, up to the 4th of April, 18U8, fifty-one weeks and four days, she produced 675 lbs. of butter. The largest amount made in a week was 18 lbs. The quantity of milk given in that time, was 5,782 quarts. In the fourth year, from the 22d of April, 1808, the day she calved, to the 13th February, 1809, forty-two weeks and three days, she produced 466 lbs. of butter. The quan- tity of milk given in the time, was 4219 quarts. In the fifth year, from April '3. 1809, to May 8, 1810, fifty-seven weeks, her produce in butter was 594 lbs. The amount of milk given in the time was 5,369 quarts. The largest quantity of butter in any week was 17 lbs." Now is this the whole story respecting this cow ? No. All will admit that her produce was a little extraordinary; and it is invariably true that to do things exiraordinary with horned cattle, they require extraordinary feed and care. Those who think oth- erwise are better prepared to swallow than to digest. My object being to elicit, and as far as I am capable, to disseminate truth, I will here insert the account of her treatment. "In tln> summer season she was fed on clover, lucerne, rye grass and carrots, ihree or four times a day , and at noon about Com- nd two of bran mixed tog ther, always observing to give her no more feed than she eat up clean. In the winti rsi asoh .-lie was led with hay, grains and bran, mixed as before stated, feeding her often, viz. live or six times a day, as was seen proper, and giving her food when milking; kcepinj l 1 1* ■ manger clean where she is fed with grains, not to let it sour; \. ishing her udder at milking three times with cold water, winter and summer; never tied up; lies in or out of the barn as she likes; particularly care- ful to milk her regularly and clean." ♦ For a mass of information, respecting Ayrshire. Durhsun and Native stock, sec New Genesee Farmer, Vol 3, pages 2 and 18 - from Mr. Coleman's Fourth Report on th personal < ■ , / caanot j race, distinguish- ed and preferable to all oth 'dairy qualities." Now, Mr. Editor, if il . which arc i ntitled from a varii ty i com iderat i the high- i submit to your i jury of intell ant us in paying or a ■• Durham " or whether in d arcow e would be much ent." ten,*. V. V., April, 1849. R.RAURK8. — The writer of the above will observe d one or two sentences, and mod- which contained some remarks foreign to iry in a friendly discus In discussions of this nature, it is important to keep cool, and produce fact? and figures which bear upon ;. It is not surprising that well informed fanners Bhould honestly differ as to the relative mer- its of the various breeds of cattle, horses, Bheep, fee. Of cattle the Devons, Durham.--. Herefords, and Ayr-" shins, as well as our Native breed, each have their advocates — and every person can furnish a v* why and wherefore" for his preference. On another page of this number we speak somewhat highly of Devons, and yet we are not prepared to say that they are su- perior to some other improved breeds. For the dairy good cows may be found among all breeds in this country, native and foreign — and it is, as a general rule, best to secure deep milkers wherever they can be found, without regard to origin. — Ed. HEDGES vs. WIRE FENCES. Messrs Editors: — I see much said in your valua- ble paper about wire fence, and have been expecting to see in every number for some time, some one step- ping forward to prove the superiority of hedges to every other kind of fence — especially when there are no stone for walls. That wire may be profitably sub- Btituted for rails, I have no doubt, and that hedge plants may be as profitably substituted for wire, I have as little doubt. The average cost of wire fence, taking our coun- try as a whole, may be fairly put at 60 cents per rod. One of your correspondents says, that farmers should be satisfied if they can build a durable fence for 50 cents per rod. But allow7 me to ask if farmers should be satisfied with a wire fence, at a cost even of fifty cents per rod, if they can build one much more dura- ble and beautiful for considerably less than that, sum ? I believe it is universally conceded that the Nor- way Spruce will make a strong, imperishable and du- rable fence — combining splendid appearance with perfect ability to resist all the encroachments not on- ly of brutes, but of rude boys and men. Small plants may be had at the Mt. Hope Garden and Nur- series at ^J11 per 1000. These may be set 2 feet apart, which, if I am rightly informed, will answer very well, if trimming is deferred until they have at- tained a height of two feet. One thousand plants will set about 120 rods, which would cost, exclusive of labor, less than 50 cents per rod. There might, it is true, be somewhat of a drawback in a failure of some of the plants to live, but not enough we appre- hend to make it any very serious objection. If, however, the Honey Locust should be preferred, the cost per rod would scarcely exceed 25 ce And, taking into account its ability to bear trans- planting, ,■ - and rapid growth, it might bo more desirable than the Norway Spruce ; b in my opinion, would be cheap r, much more l>> ful and durable, and a more effectual barri wire. The time is not distant when log boards must be displaced by eomethin • able, the sooner the practicability or imprai ke the place of .-ill other kinds of fence is demonstrated, the better will it ' try. I find are many, : irticular this western country, who would like I ject discussed in the "Farmer" — as we re ially, as the standard of Agricultural ( ) The citizens of our villages enclose their grounds with fences that cost from $2 to $6 per r . they might substitute the Italian Privet. Arbor Vitffi, Red Cedar or Norway Spruce, at a much less cost — besides furnishing something exquisil q] as . A. T. — CoUtoater, Mirk., May, 1849. Wk would like to hear from other correspondents on this subject — particularly those who have had ex- perience in growing hedges. — Ed. ALARMING/ DECREASE OF FORESTS. Hopelessness of tlie success of Hedge Fences — Nature's pro- vision fur Heat — Immense Storehouse of Coal, SfC. Mr. Moore: — Many thinking persons who are aware of the millions of cords of wood consumed annually, by its profuse use by our entire population — steamboats, railroads and manufactories — become alarmed for its results to posterity. So far as it applies to fencing and building materials their fears are justly grounaed; especially in those sections of country where live hedges are a forlorn hope, owing to their destruction by mice during the period of heavy snows and drifts — an evil which it is impos- sible to overcome. But on the score of fuel, if they will consider that there is a single coal formation in the region, or basin, drained by the Ohio, of more than 50,000 sq;;are miles in extent, of an average workable thickness of 20 feet, their fears must subside. This single mass which is already accessible to railroads and canals, would give over three tons annually to every man, woman and child in the U. States for 20,000 years to come. It would form a pyramid that would shame the ancient worshippers of the sun, with a base 10 miles square and 30,000 feet high. What a vast and luxuriant vegetation of tropical, vascular and cryptogameous plants must have flourished, during that remote period of the earth's juvenility, when condensed, charred and almost chrys- talized, to have formed this immense bed of coal, of which it is only one of a half dozen of nearly the same extent in the United States. All the coal fields- of Europe might be taken from ours, and not - What a wonderful provision of an al!-wi for the comfort and happiness, industry and wealth of a thankless race; who are far from appreciating their superiority over all created things, or the bles- sings provided for their exclusive use ! Have none but good implements — keep them in good repair, and under cover when not in use. 140 THE GENESEE FARMER. June THE KYDFAULIC HAM. Messes. Editors: — Few of those who might be benefitted by the use of this article, have hitherto be- come aware of its great utility. Although the prin- ciple upon which it acts is one of the most simple in nature, and notwithstanding the fact that it has been applied to the raising of water for more than 3000 years, a kind of mystery has hung about it, and the seeming absurdity of the idea that water can be made to elevate itself above its level ; and to supply a con- stant and abundant stream at any desired elevation, without the liability to accidents and stoppages, has prevented inquiry into the construction of the Hy- draulic Ram ; and consequently, it has remained comparatively unknown, and until within a few years, but little used. Supposing a brief description of its construction and operation might be acceptable to those of your readers who are not acquainted with it, I submit the following to your disposal. The above cut represents a vertical section of the ram. A, the air chamber — B, the waste valve — C, valve opening into the air chamber — D, the feed or driving pipe — E, pipe to convey the water where it is desired. The pipe D should be 30 to 50 feet long, and from 1 to 2 inches calibre ; the pipe E any length desired, and about | inch calibre ; lead pipe is com- monly used. The circular figure on the left repre- sents the form of the waste valve. The waste valve is made to vibrate up and down thus : the water passes down the driving pipe D, and escapes at the waste valve B. Now, as any descending body in. creases in velocity and force every instant of its de- scent, the column of water descending in the driving pipe, quickly attains sufficient velocity and force to lift the waste valve, but the valve in rising instantly stops the passage, and the whole momentum of the water strikes against it and seeks relief, which is on- ly found at the valve C, through which a quantity of water is forced into the air chamber, where it is con- fined by the closing of the valve. The momentum being thus expended, and the water at rest, the valve B drops by its own gravity, and is ready to start again. After repeated vibrations, the air chamber becomes partly filled with water, compressing with a small space the air, which, by its elasticity, reacts upon the water, and forces it up the pipe E to any desired elevation or distance. Thus simple is the machine, and, when once prop- erly set, it will act for years without a penny's worth of repairs, and be as constant and regular in its duty as is the law of nature upon which it ads. Many a farmer has a good spring or stream of wa- ter in the vicinity of his buildings, which would be to him invaluable if it could be brought to the house and barn; but being at a distance, and below the level of his buildings, it cannot be done by the ordi- nary means of conveying water ; to such the ram becomes one of the most useful contrivances thai '■>< genuity and science has ever furnished. Faithfully performing its work, unattended and unnoticed, with constant and regular pulsations as of life, it presents one of the most beautiful and interesting achieve- ments that mind has ever obtained over matter. A fall of not less than 18 inches at the spring, and a quantity of wTater not less than J gallon per min- ute, are necessary to operate the Ram, — but the greater the fall and the quantity of water furnished, the greater will be the quantity of water elevated by the Ram. They are made of several skes, and adapted to every variety of circumstances. Differ- ent manufactures number their rams without regard to the size of the corresponding number of others. The No. 4 Ram, sold at the Albany Agricultural Warehouse, is the most convenient size for common purposes, and when set according to the directions accompanying it, may be made to raise 10 to 20 hogs- heads of water to an elevation of 50 to 100 fe< •, ancf carry it to any distance required. It should be re- membered that the greater the fall at the spring or stream, compared with the height to which the wa- ter is elevated, the greater will be the quantity of water elevated, and that there is no limit to the height to which it may be raised, except the strength of the pipes used. W. B. E.— May, 1849. Remarks. — For the purpose of further illustrating the subject discussed by our correspondent, we add the annexed cut, which represents the hydraulic ram as it appears in operation: H, spring or brook. C, drive or supply pipe, from spring to ram. G, pipe conveying water to house or other point required for use. B, D, A, E, I, the ram. J, the plank or other foundation to wThich the ram is secured. In the eighth volume of the Farmer we published a series of articles entitled "Hydraulics for Farm- ers," embracing figures and descriptions of various water rams — to which we refer those of our readers desiring further information. — Ed. Milk as an article of Diet. — It is common to regard milk as little else than mere driqk. But this is an error. Milk is really an article of solid food, being coagulated soon after reaching the stomach. New milk contains thirteen per cent, of digestibll solids, and skim milk ten per cent.; that is, the foi mer fully one-half and the latter above a third of the nutriment contained in the lean part of beef and mut- ton.— Foreign journal. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. I 11 SYSTEM AND ECONOMY IN FARMING. It was Weslei who said. •■ / am alwayz in huste but never in k" it profitable to grow com, sow n brodcast or otherwise, to feed to milch cows !" Where the soil is strong enough to bear a large burthen without m inuring too highly, it will bear a profit, as it i< the best feed that can be given to keep up the liow of milk be- tween early and fall feed. Hut where the soil needs much manure, it is not good policy to manure highly a small piece of ground to obtain a large crop of any kind, to the neglect of other important crops. In other 'words, the dairyman would receive a greater benefit, in a long run, from distribu- ting one hundred loads of manure on ten acres of meadow land, after harvest, or putting on that amount with the seed when stocking down for meadow, than by putting it on one or two acres to grow corn, to feed cows in summer. A small feeding of corn daily, will take the appetite from grass with little or no benefit. I have found it best to feed plentifully at evening only. "What is the best mode of heating milk and scalding curd ?" That which will produce the most perfect equilibrium of heat through the whole mas.?, with the least exposure to ex- cess of heat. A smaller vessel containing the milk or curd with whey, set into a larger vessel which contains water, through which heat is conveyed to the vessel containing the milk or whey, is the safest mode, and is now generally prac- ticed here. The more water there is in the larger vessel, the more uniform heat is conveyed to the milk. If a large tin vat is used, set into a wooden box or vat, the tube attached to one end of the tin vat, and extending down through the bottom of the wood vat, to discharge the whey when the curd is sufficiently scalded, should be large enough to let off the whey at once, or the curd will settle or pack together, and require much hard labor, and will waste, by friction, in separating it and making it fine enough to drain and salt properly. A vat for thirty or more cows, should have a tube at least two inches in diameter, and the tin cylinder, with a tube at one end, to fit snug into the tube carrying off the whey, should be as high as the vat. and four or five inches in diameter ; with as many very small holes punched in it as can be and hold together, in order to strain the whey from the curd as fast as it will pass off through the tube. " Why would it not answer as well to pass steam directly into the milk or whey and curd, as it would save expense in fixtures ?" Because that portion coming in contact with steam, would be exposed to an excess of heat, and would not be affected by rennet like other portions which were not overheated. — Consequently, a strict affinity would not be maintained, which is necessary for a perfect coherence ; and more or less would float off with the whey, or make trouble in curing the cheese. " Is a thermometer a sufficient guide in making cheese ?" A thermometer that is correct, is an indispensable guide in measuring the amount of heat to be used ; but the time of raising the heat and continuing its effect, must be varied to meet contingent circumstances. [To he continued.] A New Species of Cotton, called the Prolific Pome- granate, surpassing any of the gossypium family has been grown in Mississippi, by Gen. Mitchell, of Warren county. The tops and side branches are all thickly studded with bolls. The stalk does not attain a height usually of more than four or five feet, but every portion of the plant is literally covered with bolls, which are sustained in nn upright position by the strength and vigor of the stem and branches. The chief pe- culiarity of this plant is that the stem and branches have no joints as in other kinds ; and although the bolls are so nu- merous, there can be no inconvenience in picking. The sta- ple is beautiful, and far more silky than the best Petit Gulf. From one-third of an acre (measured) he gathered and weighed the past season '2,142 lbs. of superior cotton. One hundred pounds of the seed cotton yielded 32j lbs. lint, and by an accurate test he found that sixty-live bolls made one pound of lint. Old Apples. — The Worcester Spy gives an account of an apple more than 5(i years old. It lias been presented to the American Antiquarian Society, by < 'ol. JACQUES, who received it from a young lady, a birth-day gift, in 1792. There is also, in the family of the hit" Mr. MoRRIS Doisiis. at Northampton, N. II.. an apple which grew in the year 1776, which is still in a good state of preservation. An interesting child ae ir the hour of its death, craved the then fresh apple, and alter attempting to bite it. it was thrown aside. We have recently seen i!. and the marks of its teeth are still visible. It is a little romarknhle that it blossomed under British government, was growing when our indepen- dence was declared, and was gathered as one of the first I'm it* of American independence. It is preserved as an interesting family relic. L849. THE GENESEE FARMER. I i.; Spirit ot" tl)c Stgricultural press. Ob Sti >i Fi Nci s. — The and \n\ il says -Peter . . and of * i rj r u me it both in hi ■ and hi picuous manner of imparting knew t'orth-- bene I a paper was read from him to . ricultural So- on the subject of St< ■ Faues. II< the cost of ki e] in • up limbi 1 fern es, wo ihl, in thirty years, amount to norethanlhi worth if tho land, sup; it to be worth $20 an acre: Tin vi n he pres nted was tins : — An inquiry naturally pros is the relative value 01 a farm fenced with stone, compared i i or? Take the followiii From the bi st accounts I have i ecu able to obtain from fir mi ray own experience, it m ly be fairly stated that one full month of the annual labor of everj farm i in the various operations of cutting, mauling, hauling, This is one-twelfth of the y< one compl • year in twelve, th ti ' ted exclusively to in i| .:,. tiring dead fences and as the expense is annunl, it is clear that the condi ion of < ch fences is no end of onj yi ar than at — 1 think it may be fairly Btatcd, tl are in place a stone fence do d that of erecting one Of rails, including the various itions above-mentioned. The value of the timber, (which is not taken into the ai advan- of having the Ian i cleared of Blone, will balaw . ol moving the stone three or four hu 1 hat on a form abounding will oni . md » h trans] [think 1 fence of stone will in tin- iirst instance be as cheap us a rail one. ise, then, two farms of 500 acres of arable land each, in all other respects equal, except that one is fenced with s one, and the other with dead timber. Eacli of them cm- ploys twelve laborers at $100 a piece per annum. One is •:! no expense, while he who fences with timber consumes one month in every year, in making and repairing fi nces. This is an expense of $100, being the labor of one hand during a complete year. At annual compound interest this would amount in less than 33 years, to $10,00!), which is the entire price of the land, supposing the farm to be worth $20 per acre. Thus in 33 years, the one farm would be aide to buy the other, from the expense saved by the differ- ent mode of fencing. It is true there- are not many farms capable of being entirely fenced with stone, but there are scarce]) any that do not admit of it in some degree, and the advantages would be derived in a similar ratio to any part whieli could be thus enclosed. P. Minor. The Lama and Alpaca. — A communication has been re- ceived by the Paris Academy of Sciences, from M. Chris- tian Bonafoux, giving an account of the attempt made In- order of the King of Holland, to acclimatize the lamas and alpacas of Chili. Four years ago. thirty- four of these ani- mals, males and females, were imported into Holland, and put into the royal park Scheviningen, nenr the Hague, where they have propagated freely. The climate does them no injury, and they merely seek the shelter provided ibr them, when there is snow on the ground. Antidote for Poisoning. — A writer in the London Lite- rary Gazette, speaking of the many deaths from accidental poisoning, remarks : — " 1 venture to affirm there is scarce even a cottage in this country that does not contain an in- valuable, certain, immediate remedy for such evils ; nothing more than a desert spoonful of made mustard, mixed in a tumbler of warm water, and drank immediately. It acts as an instantaneous emetic, is always ready, and may be used with safety in any case where one is required. By making this .simple antidote known, yon may be ihe means of saving many a fellow creature front an untimely end." • How to Gkt Kid of Crows. — \ cotemporary says that some cute fellow " down east'' has discover"!] a novel mode of getting rid of the crows. Yo n must take souk; shelled corn, and run a horse hair through the grain with a needle, and lie a knot in the hair close to the grain, and sow them in corn Gelds, and the crows v ill pick up thi^ grim with the hair in it, and it , will tickle them, and they will kill them- selves a scratching. This is giving them the " Old .Scratch" with a vengeance. Thin Sow le, i • worth nt loan! oni thuua ti id i therefore send > on the comp irati suits of two experiments with five pecks of seed wh 1 w bra'. This is the third year of i cnt . and as ii i!er qu inty \ iclds the I ing the addi ional see I. In oat • io wheat was c Ti- ed, thrashi d. and : the laborei -. somo of \\ bom had m ide bets as to the i The ground was accurately measured. I hod sever ipi h ith only one bushel , certainly w i ire productive than the five peeks. i . field on the farm should bo entered by n and self-! isti i \ proper i . ill si cure the former requisite, an I a goo I ■ Ij constructed, the latter. Each field i hould be numbered, and the number painted on the gate-post. Let the farmer who has bars instead of gates make a trial of their comparative conveni n them out and repl them without stopping, as often as he does in one year on his - ty about six hundred limes, and he cann >t fail t< be satisfied which is the cheapi t foi u . — Thomas. Deep and Shallow Planting. — C. L. Shepherd, of Illinois, planted his corn-:ield shallow, or about an inch except eight rows through the middle, which were planted two or three inches deep. The shallow corn came up Iirst, and kept the lead through the whole season. The difference was discernible as far as the corn could be seen. Farm i obs, — We understand that an " Agricultural and Mechanical Club" his been formed in the town df \u- of. which is the free discussion of nil pertaining to the interests of mechanics and agricultu- The officers are J , > r i n Gavlord, Presi lent Wh. Woods. Vice President; < '. Fkrris, Secretary; Joseph Swift, Treasurer, The association .s considered an auxil- iary to the Cayuga Co. Agricultural Society. — Cultivator. Premu a Crops. — The Ontatio (N. Y.) County Agricul- tural Society, awarded premiums on crops grown in 18 follows : Wheat, first premium to John R \nkin, 45} bush- els per aero ; second premium to Jared Wilson, 4o bush- els per acre ; third premium, 31| bushels per acre. Indian Corn, first premium to Uri Beach, HU bushels per acre; second premium to John Rankin. 92 bushels per acre ; third premium to E. M. Bradley, S3 bushels per acre. Barky, first premium, to E. M. Bradley, 60 bushels per air. cond premium to S. B. Dudley, 48 bushels per acre; third premium to M. Adams, 4.3 bushels per acre. — lb. A BAROMETER kept in the same place undergoes vari ttions of altitude, some of which are tegular and other irregular. — The former, which depend upon diurnal tides in the atm w- phere analogous to tides in the sea, occur about the same time in the day ; the greatest depression being commonly about four in the morning and evening, and the greatest ele- vation about ten in the morning and night. In sumra ir, however, they are an hour or two earlier in the morning and as much later at night. Large Cow — The Detroit (Mich.) Advertiser, says ■ — We noticed a cow in front of our office yesterday afternoon, belonging to Mr. iiigley of this city, weighing more than sixteen hundred pounds. This cow was imported by Henry (lay some years since, and is of the line Durham stock. — She was driven into this city from Calhoun county, in tins State. To PRESERVE Milk. — If milk be introduced into bottles, then well corked and put into a panofcold water and gradu- ally raised to the boiling point, and after being allowed to cool, be taken out and put away in a cool place, the milk may be kept perfectly sweet for half a year. Or it may he evaporated to dryness, by a gentle heal, end under constant stirring. A dry miss will thus be obtained which when dissolved in hot water, is said to possess all the qualiti the best milk. Grain raising in Cuba. — The Philadelphia North Ameri- can has Havana pipers to the 22d of .March, in which the utility an I necessity of planters devoting their attention to cereal crops, in preference to sugar, is said to be urged and argued with much force an I earn «tn ss. Tools and Implements. — Let every description of tools and implements be examine I, hive those requiring it repair- ed, and those not in use earefully put away under cover. — Such attention saves both lime and money. 144 THE GENESEE FARMER. J UN HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. EDITED BY P. BARRY. HINTS FOR THE MONTH. Tree Department. — The earth around newly plant- ed trees, should be kept clean and mellow all summer. Mulching, that is covering the earth around the tree as far as the roots extend or farther, with 3 or 4 inch- es deep of litter or manure, is an excellent practice. It keeps down weeds, and prevents moisture from evaporating, rendering the application of water quite unnecessary. Watering should only be resorted to in cases of extreme necessity, and when once com- menced should not be discontinued until rain comes. The surface should never be allowed to bake after wa- tering, as then the water does more harm than good. It is a good time now to rub off useless or misplaced shoots while tender ; the use of the knife will not be required on them afterward, and the tree will be all the better for their timely removal, Grafted trees should be examined, and all suckers, or shoots from the stock be removed,as they will interfere with the growth of the graft. So with buds of last season ; they must be looked to, and all shoots from the stock kept down. The thinning of fruit should be attended to. — Very few people think of thinning the fruit on their trees, and the consequence is, many trees are injured, broken down or enfeebled, so as not to recover for years, if ever. On dwarf trees thinning is particu- larly necessary — some varieties are so prolific as to completely overbear themselves. The better way, in such cases, is to remove the fruit buds ; but this not being done, the next best way is to remove the young fruit. This is a hard matter where fruit has been so anxiously looked for, but it is necessary and should be done promptly by all who value the health and longevity of their trees, or who wish, even, to raise large, finely colored and fine flavored fruit. Birds are very troublesome to the cherry trees in some places. Some people think shooting them the most effectual remedy, but we dislike it very much — better frighten them if you can. A very successful plan went the rounds of the papers some time ago, viz : to hang bits of broken looking glass in the trees, so that they might dangle in the air. The curculio will attack the stone fruits, as usual ; the thousand remedies suggested are as familiar to the readers of the Farmer as to us. Strawberry Beds will require attention. Where the runners are not wanted for planting, they should be cut off and thrown away. The ground around the plants must be kept clean, and when the fruit is swelling, if dry weather prevails, they should be wa- tered liberally. The strawberry very soon suffers from drought, unless in deeply trenched, moist soil. Where the plants are grown in rows, as they always ought to be, some straw or grass might be laid along each side of the row to prevent the moisture of the soil from evaporating. Raspberry Canes should be kept well tied up. — Gooseberries and Currants must be looked to, and all superfluous rank shoots from the stem or head be re- moved, as they will injure the crop of fruit. All fruit trees suffering from a poor soil, may be greatly benefitted by the application of liquid manure a lew times. A few inches of the surface soil may be removed, and when the liquid has been applied, replaced. Dwarf fruit trees, with a heavy crop, would be benefitted by such an application, both tree and fruit. Floiver Department. — Dahlias may be planted out any time, now to the middle of the month. Dry roots that have been started, or young plant- in pots, will bloom finely from the latter end of August till frost comes, if planted now. We prefer strong plants in pots to old roots — they are apt to give better flow- ers. The Dahlia should have a fresh, loamy soil, not too rich; too much manure makes rank plants, imperfect flowers, and coarse, unsound roots, that keep badly over winter. If dry roots are planted the crown, where the eyes start, should be two inches be- low the surface, and a neat stake four or rive inches high should be set with the root, that the plant, as it grows, may be tied to it. WThen young pot plants are used they should be carefully turned out of the pots, without breaking the ball of earth around them, and placed in a hole prepared for them. A good wa- tering should be given, before the earth is all filled in around, and a stake set. The after culture will con- sist of keeping clean around the plants, cutting off straggling branches, and keeping the plant neatly tied to the stake, for the winds soon break them. Annual flower seeds may be sown yet for autumn flowering; and Verbenas, Petunias, monthly Roses, Salvias, Heliotropes, Scarlet Geraniums, and other plants for masses in lawns or in flower gardens, may be turned out any time. Annuals raised in the bor- der may be transplanted in a moist day. The flower stems of all plants should be kept neatly tied up, and, when done flowering, cut down and cleared away. Walks must be kept clean of weeds, and lawns fre- quently mowed, rolled and kept in good order. The way to do all these matters at a trifling cost, is to do them in season. THE SEASON, CROPS, &c. The transplanting season was greatly prolonged, in this section, by .the coolness of the spring. Until the 15th or 16th of May we had scarcely one day of usual spring warmth- -so that we may conclude that nearly all the planting intended to be done has been completed. We think too, that planters will be more successful than usual on account of the cool, moist weather experienced during the season of planting. We have at the present moment (May 18,) a fine prospect for a fruit crop. Cherries, Peaches and Plums, are loaded with blossoms. Pears and Apples look well and will be open in a day or two. Apricots have set their fruit finely, and will be ready for the curculio in a few days; but he must be watched and kept off if possible. The small fruits look equally promising. Mr. Thomas stated in 'the April number of the Cultivator that, "through a large portion of Western New York, most of the peach crop has been destroyed by the se- vere cold of the late winter." We have not found this to be the case by any means, as far as we have observed; on the contrary, all looks as well as usual. Early spring crops will be later than usual. Green peas were in market on the 15th. Asparagus, Rhu- barb, Lettuce and Radishes are becoming plenty, but we have seen none of first rate quality. The flowering season of ornamental trees and plants is later than usual. Few trees are yet in bloom; except the double varieties of fruit trees, such as the double flowering Peach, . llmond, Cherry, Sloe, he. These are all beautiful now. The Pyrus Ja- 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. . a, iui.l crimson and also in bloom, and in a few daj the Lilacs, Vibui a multitu pretty Bhrubs. The Cercis Cananadli • •• Led Bud" is a beautiful tr< e, now i ■■ i red with blossoms of a beautiful purple— and no sign of a leaf yet. When the flowers disa ipear, then comes the broad, deep, q, luxuriant folia The borders are gaj with Pansies, red and \ Daisies, Primal, is, and Bomeof the dwarf early flow- ering PWoxes— such as subululata, elegants, divari- cate fcc. Hyacinths are out of bloom. They have had a most disasterous season, cold and frosty, so that they have done little good. Tulips .; pening. THE DEODAR OR INDIAN CEDAR. OUTLINES OF FRUITS. This elegant tree has excited more interest, has had more admirers and more planters, than any other in- troduced within a century. In England, Scotland, and Ireland, and al] the continent, avenues and plantations of it have been formed with aston- ishing rapidity. Indeed it surprises us that it has been multiplied to such an extent within so short a period. But when the skill, the enthusiasm and wealth of British culti- vators and planters are united, they can accom- plish results truly won- derful. In this country it is now attracting the attention of all people of taste, and is being as rapidly disseminated as could be expected from its rarity and high price previous to this time. And now that its hardi.- Tlw Deodar or Indian Cedar, ness is proved satisfac- torily, and the price become quite moderate, we have not a doubt but it will find a place among all collec- tions of ornamental trees. It is described as a tree of the loftiest class, often attaining one hundred and fifty feet in height, and the trunk thirty feet in circumferance. The branches are spreading and pendulous at the ends, giving it a most graceful outline. The leaves are dense and of a bluish dark green, covered with a glaucous bloom. The wood is compact and almost incorruptible. It has been found as fresh as ever, after being upwards of two hundred years in a building in India. There is no doubt but it will yet become a tree of immense value to all civilized nations, in an economical as well as an ornamental point of view. In England, at Liv- erpool and around London, and in France, we saw fine specimens, some ten feet high, — and we have never seen a tree possessing greater beauty. Last Juno we turned out a small plant eighteen inches high into our own grounds, and although it had but a slender hold of the earth, and our winter unusually severe, it passed the winter perfectly safe, and is now starting finely; and so has the Awacaria — and we hope, next season, we shall be able to say as much for the Japan Cedar, (Cryptomeria,) and many other rare evergreen trees. Mr. Eon \. ievi a reviewer; and to the motion and prayer of your ■ it II. Y.. in the March number, on the "Outlines of Fruit," I beg to record ujy \ Neg vn\ b, iTour. Horticultural Department, of which outlines of fruit have been a prominent part, is con- id by frui tmen to be of the firsl class, and makes the Genesee Parmer second to no paper in '• country, not wholly a Horticultural work. 5fou -Mired that not every well-informed man in the country knows the value of a good apple, | ach; and until their value is known and appre- cial id, you should not attach blame because he I no interest in, or lacks patience to second an e on the part of others to improve the fruit of the country. • H. Y. says " — those unmeaning uniformities. There is no individual one of them but may serve for twenty varieties" I have heard ideas from the same piece, and place them here as they should stand together. I once had a hand assisting in set; trees, some fifteen or twenty sorts, and each tree was labelled, who remarked, "this is all nonsense, so many kinds of apples; there is but two kinds, one i and the other sour." I have heard per while eating an apple say " what a fine apple this is, how mealy and good." Once a person bought two lots of trees, from different venders, and remarked to one of them, " I like the other man's trees much the best, because they had so few roots. I could get them in a much smaller hole, and set them out quicker than yours." I trust you will consult your own pecuniary inter- est, as well as the desire of your readers, and not destroy that department of your work by neglecting to publish outlines of fruit. E. C. F. Seneca Lake Highland Nurseries, Catharine, N. Y., 1849. Our correspondent may be assured we shall not discontinue the outlines. Our engraver being sick and out of town has this month and last deprived us of several cuts for this department.— Ed. Splendid Testimonial to Marshall P. Wilder. — We notice by the proceedings of the Mass. Hort. Society of May 12th, that a Massive Silver Pitcher, highly wrought, and chased with fruits, flowers fo- liage, &.C., has been presented to the Hon. M. P. Wilder, who has presided over that Society for eight years. The pitcher bears the following in- scription : — HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER, President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, from A. D. 1841 to 1849. This Piece of Plate is presented by the Society, as a testimonial of respect and appreciation of his valuable services during the above period. January, 1849. No tribute of esteem was ever more richly merited and we are sure the Horticulturists of the country generally who appreciate the labors of such men, will concur in this opinion. Read to Improve. — Any young farmer who will make it a point to read a little every day, from some approved agricultural book or paper, will have profit- able food for reflection as he treads the furrows — and will find his mind rapidly advancing in useful knowledge connected with his profession. 146 THE GENESEE FARMER. June A PLEA FOR TH3 BIRDS. BY L. WETHERELE. Among the general laws, made by the last Legis- lature of Massachusetts, is one " for the better pres- erve tion of useful birds." It is deeply to be regretted, that the Legislature of the State that has done so much for the establishing of humane institutions, should find it necessary, at this period of her history, to make a law against the inhuman practice of destroying "useful birds.'' Would that there might be a similar law enacted by the Legislatures of all the States of this great Re- public. This is a comprehensive law; for all birds are "useful birds" — not excepting even the Croiv, the least beloved, and the most universally persecuted of land birds. It is true that the Crow, in his eager search for the grub and the cut-worm, has learned to pull up, or to dig up corn, in the spring; and in the autumn, from his fondness of it, and as a small re- muneration for his labor of destroying myriads of worms, moles, mice, grubs and beetles, during the summer, he picks a little of the cereal which has matured by the joint labor of the crow and other birds, with that of the farmer. How much better policy to plant a little more, or to employ some of the idle boys to guard the cornfields a few days in the spring, than that these birds should be destroyed by these cruel boys, for mere amusement, or for any other purpose. What considerate father or guardian can equip his boy with a musket to go abroad into the fields, or- chards, hedges and woods to shoot birds! They go out some of them, it is true, professedly for the pur- pose of shooting what are called, "noxious birds.' But they return and exhibit as the fruits of their suc- cess not unfrequently a collection of robins, orioles, warblers, &tc, fcc, which, as it would seem, none but the most heartless barbarian could be depraved and wanton enough to destroy, and yet this is styled amusement. It can be amusement it would seem to none but the grossly ignorant, or to such as are to- tally destitute of humanity. The crow, the black bird tribe, the thrasher, the towhe bunting, named pee-ioink, ground robin, tshe- wink, and the blue-jay, are charged with making de- predations upon the corn fields. It is true that some of them must plead guilty to the charge. After the crow, the starling, or red-winged black bird, as he is better known among the farmers, has the reputation of being a great corn thief. He learned the art of pulling up corn in the same way that the crow did, t " ''. in his diligent search of grubs. Wilson, the ce^e-jrated Ornithologist, makes the computation that each red winged black bird devours, on an average, fifty grubs a day : so that a single pair, in four months, will consume more than twelve thousand of these destructive worms. Then think of the millions of these birds thus employed over the New England, Middle and Western States during the spring and summer, and that they not only destroy an incalcula- ble number of these grubs, but what is still worthy of no small consideration, prevent their increase. The fanner, the gardener, and the fruil culturist have a thousand times more to fear from the 600,000 species of insects, than from two or three of the 6,000 species of birds. Great numbers of these species feed al- most exclusively upon insects. The cedar bird, named also the cherry bird, so persecuted by the gar- dener, because the poor harmless wanderer picks a few cherries from the trees which his dilin, whose innabitnnts, from the Emperor on bis throne to the peasant in his lonely but, are indebted for their clothin ; to the labors of the Silk Worm. It is truly remarked by Scotfs excellent paper, " that imagination fatigued with the flight, is lost and bewildered in contemplating the countless numbers which every successive year spin their slender threads for the service of man." 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 147 THE JAPAN C" Wmi.r, in England wo were this tr< -. v. herever - e •.- it in the open ground or in I he house. \ i unquestionably the mi >s1 graceful and ele- ganl evergreen tree of the ii • le number now cultivated in Europe. It has p perfectly hardy in England, and i 3 exceedin I; rapid, equaling the Norway Spruce. We saw an elegant specimen in the Chiswick garden, nine feet high, that hail made torn- feet growth last season. The introduction of this tree is quite re- cent— the first seeds having been received from Mr. Fortune, in 1844. He collected ai, north of China, where it attains the height of one hundred feet. We i1 may prove hardy here, and have but A mbt it will. The accompanying cut, and following remarks, we take from the April number of the Horticulturist: - "The English periodicals abound with notices of this tree, which, along with the Deodara, or In !ian Cedar, is decidedly the rage in that evergreen loving country. " The Japan Cedar, Cryp'omeria japonica, which is nearly allied to the Cypress, is one of the many treasures brought home by Mr. Fortune, the Chinese traveller, to the Lon- don Horticultural Society. As it grows in the north of China, about Shangai, where the thermometer sinks nearly to zero, and forms large forests on the mountains of Ja- pan, at the height of more than a thousand feet, it follows that it is a hardy evergreen in all temperate climates. "The English accounts of this tree state, that for beauty and rapidity of growth, it has no rivals among hardy evergreen trees. In the garden of the London Horticultural Society, young trees have grown four feet in a single season. It is described by some of its ad- mirers as the "Queen of Evergreen Trees." Its peculiar beauty is in the graceful droop of its branches. It is a great, favorite in China for avenue?, growing up 100 feet high, with a remarkably straight stem, and dense and hand-some foliage. The wood is said to be very hard, and elastic, and " withstands the most terrific winds or monsoons which sometimes devastate that country. It is employed in China for the high poles, which are everywhere placed at the dwellings of mandarins, to denote their rank, where it lasts for ages." " The Japan Cedar is said to be as hardy in England as the Deodar Cedar. As the latter tree, even in young specimens, has, in this country, withstood without injury, a winter temperature of 6° below the zero of Fahrenheit, we may safely say that the Japan Cedar, or Cryptomeria, will endure the winters of the middle states, and possibly those of the eastern states, in proper situations, i. e. those sheltered from sudden thawings in winter. "The soil considered most favorable to the growth of this tree, is a sandy loam, mixed with some peat or leaf mould. Those inclined to plant it where there is doubt of its standing the winter, will take care that the subsoil is ivell drained when preparing to plant it. " This tree is, of course, yet very scarce in this The new Japan Cedar, from a tree six feet high. country. Plants about a foot high may, however, be obtained of Buist, Parsons, and other leading nur- serymen. Ellwanger & Barry have also, we notice, imported a few for sale, and for trial, in the interior of this State. Every amateur will be glad to make trial of a tree that promises to add so much to the beauty of our lawns and pleasure grounds; and we hope, in another season, the Japan Cedar, if found quite hardy, will be imported, so as to be af- forded at a moderate price in our nurseries." Honey Locust for Hedges.— (To A. Eaton, of Benton Centre, N. Y.) Seeds of the Honey LocOst may be obtained at any of the seed stores in this city, if applied for in the fall. They may be sown in the spring, as soon as the ground is dry and warm enough to receive seeds, but should be soaked a few hours in warm water. In one year the plants will be tit for hedge rows. It grows very rapidly, and makes a strong and beautiful hedge. We know of no other deciduous plant that wil} make a thorough hedge fence in so short a time. The objections to it are that it grows too large, but by proper care in cutting, it will endure a very long time. Chemistry is the key which unlocks the great laboratory of nature, and shows us how she performs her complicated processes, and produces all her won- derful phenomena. 148 THE GENESEE FARMER. June Agricultural Societies. NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. JUDGES ON THE PREMIUM LIST. At a meeting of the Executive Committee of this Society, held in Syracuse on the 10th of May, the following Judges were appointed for the Annual Show, — to be held in that city on the 1 1 th, 1 2th and 13th days of September next: — On Cattle. — Short Horns — Charles Calvert, Riversdale, Md.; R. N. Watts, Grantham, Canada East; Henry Parsons. Guelph, C. W. Devons. — Richard Gapper, Thornhill, C. W. ; John W. Proctor, Danvers, Mass. ; Henry Capron, Riversdale, Md. Hereford and Ayrshires. — M. J. Hayes, Jlontreal, C. E.; Ira S. Hitchcock, Oneida Castle; Edward S. Massey, Watertown. Natives and Cross. — James Rees, Utica; Lewis Juliand. Greene; Chauncey W. Beckwith, Cedarville. Working Oxen. — Jona. Blagden, Washington, D. C; Israel Bois, Homer; Gideon Ramsdall, Perrinton, Mon. Co. Three Year Old Steers. — Isaac Putnam, Danvers, Mass., J. C. Collins, West Turin; Calvin Cole, Oxford. Two and One Year Old. — Ledyard Linklean, Cazenovia; S. W. Holmes, Chautauque; Wm. Church, Coventry. Fat Cattle. — Aaron Clement, Philadelphia; Thomas F. Devoe, Jefferson Market, N. Y.; Stephen H. Biddlecome, Brighton, Mass. Fat Sheep. — Clement Leach Eaton; Job Alherger, Buf- falo; Robert Fowler, Batavia. Milch Cows. — John W. Lincoln, Worcester, Mass.; Arden Woodruff, Strykerville; Alonzo L. Fish, Cedarville. Horses — All Work. — Hon. Adam Ferguson, Waterdown, C. W.; Ela Merriam, Leyden; Henry Ehle, Chittenango. Draught. — Jesse C. Dann, Sackets Harbor; Stewart Aus- tin, Coxsackie; N. Davis, Toronto, C. W. Blood Horses. — Francis J. Hayes, Cote St. Luke, near Montreal, C. E. ; John D. Van Matter, Freehold, New Jer- sey; John C. Stoothoff, Jamaica, Queens co. Three years old. — Theodore S. Faxton, Utica; John B. Wheeler, Burlington, Vt. ; Henry C. Miller, Hudson. Two and one year old. — Elias Cost, Phelps; Thomas Wil- lis, Erie, Penn.; Abraham Per Lee, Norwich. Matched Horses. — James D. Wasson, Albany; Harvey W. Vail, Islip; Henry Delamater, Rhinebeck. Geldings. — T. J. Marvin, Saratoga Springs; Edward Long, Cambridge; Roswell Reed, Coxsackie. Sheep. — Long Wooled — P. Reybold, Jr., Delaware City, Del.;. George Miller, Markham, C. W. ; Lewis G. Morris, Morrissiana. Middi'e Wooled. — Isaac Dillon, Zanesville, Ohio; S. Wait, Montgo aery; Ed. Halleck, Milton. Merin <. — J. G. Strein, Washington, Penn.; J. F. Gilkey. Kalamazoo. Mich. ; Samuel Whitman, Hartford, Ct. ; E. C. Russell, Cortland, Ohio; R. C. Otis, Southport, Wisconsin. Saxons. — John A. Taintor, Hartford, Conn.; Roswell Carter. Chicago, 111., Robert R. Reed, Washington, Penn.; M. Hilldebrand, Massilon, Ohio; Robert Colt, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Swine. — Myron Adams, Bloomfield; John H. Robinson, Brighton, Monroe Co.; James M. Strever, Taghkanie. Poultry. — J. D. G. Nelson, Fort Wayne, Ind.; Lewis Eaton, Buffalo; T. C. Abrams, West Troy. Plows. — A. Van Bergen, Coxsackie; John Brawley, Erie, Penn.; John Stanton Gould, Hudson. Plowing. — Robert Campbell. Pittsfield, Mass.; Hugh Brodel, Cote St. Peire. C. E.; Win. Miller, Pickering, C. W.; Horace Hawks, Georgetown; John Mallory, Benton. Farm Implements — No. 1. — Amos Briggs, Schagticoke; Talmadge Delafield, Oakland; Wm. Brownell, Herkimer. Na. 2.— A. Hyde Cole, Albion; Alfred Fitch, Riga; (i. W. Buck, Chemuns. No. 3.— J. A. Wight, Chicago. 111.; Geo. Buckland, To- ronto, C. W. ; Charless Lee, Penn Yan. Butter. — R. Coleman, As tor House, N. Y.; Joseph Cary, Albany; E. R. Evans, Marcy. Cheese. — Harrison Blodgett, Denmark: Thomas Burch, Little Falls; S. I). Moody, Canton. Sugar. — Joel Woodworth, Watertown; Horace Daven- port, Denmark; Wm. E. White, Walton. Honey and Bee Hives.— Wm. Howard, Buffalo; Eze- kielVanDezer Western; Roswell Hinman, Syracuse. Silk and Silk Goods.— Geo Brayton, Western; John S. Walsh, Albany; H. B. Whipple, Adams. Domestic Manufactures — No. 1. — J. W. Brewster, Erie, Penn.; Geo. J. J. Barber, Homer; Curtis Mozes, Marcellus. No. 2.— E. S. Salisbury, Belleville; J. J. Speed, Caroline, Horace Moss, New Berlin. No. 3. — E. Risley, Fredonia; Amos Jones, Hopewell; John J. Brinkerhoff, Owasco. Manufactures.— O. Hungerford, Watertown; Ambrose Wager, Rhinebeck; Wm. Kidd, Rochester. Shell and Wax Work. — Mrs. E. T. Martin, Willow Brook; Mrs. Eli Burchard, Vernon; Mrs. Le Roy Mowry, Greenwich; Mrs. Harvey Baldwin, Syracuse; Mrs. E. W. Leavenworth, do.; L. W. Hall, Sec'y, do. Flowers. — A. Thompson, M. D. Aurora; E. S. Brayton, Utica; J. M. Lovett, Bethlehem. Fruits — Apples and Pears. — F. R. Elliot, Cleveland, O.; J. C. Holmes, Detroit, Mich.; Chas. Downing, Newburgh. Peaches. Apricots and Nectarines. — James Dougal, Am- herstburgh, C. W.; Henry H. Coit, Euclid, Ohio; J. W. Knevels, Fishkill. Quinces, Grapes, Melons, ^c. — Thos. Allen, St. Louis, Mo.; Lawrence Young, Louisville, Ky. ; H. Snyder, Kinderhook. Foreign Fruit. — David Thomas, Aurora; B. V. French, Braintree, Mass.; P. Barry, Rochester. Vegetables. — James Woodruff, Detroit, Mich.; Robert Harper, Albany; H. C. Tuthill, Kellogsville. Animal Paintings, Paintings and Daguerreotypes. — T. R. Walker, Utica; E. P. Prentice, Albany; A. Stevens, New York. Stoves. — C. C. Dennis, Auburn; W. Buell, Rochester, M. D. Burnett, Syracuse. Miscellaneous Articles. — Joseph Dobbin, Baltimore, Md.; T. D. Burrell, Geneva; Wm. Evans, Montreal, C. E. Discretionary — No. 1. — L. B. Langworthy, Greece; M. L. Dunlap, Dunlap's Prairie, 111. ; A. G. Carl, Jericho. No. 2. — Henry Fitzhugh, Oswego; J. W. Wheeler, Hyde Park; Robert King, West Farms. No. 3.— Tracy Pardee, Oakfield; A. Z. MoCarty, Pulaski; W. Chester, Erie, Penn. No. 4. — Musical Instruments. — Geo. Dutton, Utica; Chas. Wilson, Rochester, Geo. Denton, Buffalo. Grain, Flour and Wool. — Jacob G. Markell, Waterloo; Moses Eames, Rutland; Augustus Sanford, Norwich. Foreign Stock. — Cattte. — Charles D. Calvert, Rivers- dale, Md. ; Richard Gapper, Thornhill, C. W. ; M. J. Hayes, Montreal, C. E. Horses. — Hon. Adam Ferguson. Waterdown, C. W. ; Jesse C. Dann, Sackett's Harbor; F. J. Hayes, Montreal, C. E. Sheep. — Sanford Howard, Albany; H. Blanchard, Kinder- hook; S. H. Church, Vernon Center. Premiums Open to All. — Cattle. — Charles B. Calvert. Riversdale, Md.; Richard Gapper. Thornhill. C. W.; M. J. Hayes, Montreal, C. E. Horses. — Hon. Adam Ferguson, Waterdown. ('. W. : J. C. Dann, Sackett's Harbor; F.J. Hayes. Montreal, ('. 1". Sheep. — J. P. Beekman. Kinderhook; Sanford Howard. Albany; S. II. Church, Vernon Center. Committee Reception of Guests of Society. — James S. Wadsworth, Geneseo; Col. Edward Kirby. Brownsville; Lewis F. Allen. Black Rock. Transportation of Articles oveb I! ui.r.n \i>. — Albany. E. Foster, jr.. Rail-road office: Troy and Whitehall, L. R. Sargent, Troy; Schenectday, G. W. Young, Superinten- dent U. & S. Rail-road; Utica, T. M. Francis. Rail-road office; Syracuse, J. B. Burnet, 1'. X. Bust; Auburn. J. B. Dill : Geneva. John Fargo; Rochester, Joseph Mi: yn Batavia, M. Beach; Attica and Buffalo. Win. Wallace. Su- perintendent Rail-road; Oswego, Wm. D. Stevens. "B. P. Johnson, Secretary. Fairs of County Ac Societies. — The Fair of the Monroe Co. Ag. Society is to be held in this city, on tin- 26th and 27th of September. — Saratoga Co.. tin1 11th and 12th Sept. Hun. Samuel Cheever to deliver the annual address. — Her- kimer Co.. the 6th and 7th of Sept. — lien -.seiner Co.. at Troy, on the 25th, 26th and 27th of Sept. — Ess j Co., at Keese- ville, LUh and L'th of Sept. — Onondaga Co., at Syracuse, 3d, 4th and 5th of October— Litchfield Co.. (Ct..) at Litch- ield, 26th Sept. — Windsor Co.. (Vt.,) at Windsor, on the 1th and 5th of October. Till-: CllNKSKK FARMER. l\i h Wool Depot. — The attention of wool I manufacturers i> directed to the :i of H. Blancharo & Co.. The business! induct- ed by Mr. B. for several yean, and constantlj increased in public fin or. Sum; r i [or» ( ' \ i .1 e. — It will be observed, bj r< IS rence to an advertisement in this number, that Mr. Vail, of Troy, will offer a portion of his excellont herd of Short Horns, at public auction, on the L3thofthe present month. Nobetter stock Hi' this breed can be found in the country. Pov* i i.-. Tin; isH i We would ishing machines of this kind, to the several Advertisements of fiilmyra, Albany and Rochester manufacturers. Agents entitled i<> the Premiums mentioned in our May number, are requested to Belect the books or implements desired, and advise us how and when' to forward. It arc Evergreen Trees. I5I7E have one plants, from one to two feet high, of the fbllovf- \ V ing in pots suitable for transmission to any part of the country at any moment The plants are in a vigorous .■ t urned out into the open ground, without the least check to their growth. Cedar of Lebanon, [Cedrus Libani.] Indian Cedar. [Cedrus Deodara.] Japan Cedar, [Cryptomeria japonica.| Chili Pine' [Auracaria imbrii ita .] Rhotan or Lofty Pine, [Pinus exc Cembran Pine. [Pinus cembra.] "Long Leaved Indian Pine, [Pinus langifolia.] Dwarf or Mountain Pine. [Pinus pumilio.j Remarkable Pine, [Pinus insignia. J Himalayan Spruce Fir, [Abies morinda.] Douglass' Spruce Kir. [Abies Douglassi.] ( ephalonian Silver Fir, [Picea < cphalonica] Webb's Silvr Fir. [Picea Webbiana.] Pinsapo Silver Fir, or Mount Atlas Cedar, [Picea pinsapo.] ^Chinese Juniper, [Junipe- rus siversis.] 'Evergreen Cypress, [Cnpressus sempervir i reen Weeping ' 'u press, (Cypressus pendula.) ( * These we presume will not endure our winters in the open air. without protection.) CH5= Plants of the above will be forwarded to any part of the country. Priced lists furnished. ELLWANGER & BARRY. Rochester. June 1, 1849. Palmer's Wheat Dril!. THE subscribers have made an arrangement with Mr. Palmer to manufacture for the coming season five hundred of his new Wheat Drill, to be be sold in Western New-Yoik. They are now receiving orders for them, and relying upon heavy sales, have determined to sell them at a small profit— at least twenty-five dollars less than any other drill capable of performing as much. The Drills are constructed under the immediate direction of the inventor, and Warranted. An agricultural implemont as important as this should be afford- ed at a rate that places it within the reach of every farmer. To accomplish this Mr. Palmer has spared no pains to become ac- quainted with all the Drills in use by consulting both English and American Agricultural works, and by procuring copies of invent- or's claims, issued or pending in the Patent Office. He has used different kinds of drills for the past years, and has learned by prac- tice the wants of the farmer. After repeated efforts and expen- sive experiments he has produced a simple, subsl antial Drill, which by way of eminence he calls a " WHEAT DRILL." It is vastly superior to the costly and complicated machines heretofore in use. This is the third Drill he has invented, and he has now brought it t'j that state of perfection beyond which it cannot be carried. It is the Ne Plus Ultra of Drills, combining all the advantages of every other, and free from their imperfections. We challenge the world to produce a Drill equal lo this In du- rability, operation or price ! ! {flj=- All orders should be sent in or delivered to one of our agents as early as July to secure atten- tion. J. A. HOLMES & CO. Brockport, March 15. 1849. An Elegant Country Residence and Farm for Sale. M CONTAINING one hundred and seventy-five acres »y» of first rate laud, situated on the west shore of Cay- l^ys* uga Lake, two miles south of Cayuga bridge, in the - Freeland, Stuart -v I Fork City. R. Carter. Chicago. Illinois. J. W. Sherman's Fir.st Premium Grain Drill and Cultivator and Broadcast Seed Sower. COMBINING three of the most useful farm implements. Su- perior to any othi i seed planter for all I grain or seeds; also a su] erii it will sow I cast, or in drills or hills, and over grain, and sow plaster, ashes and all line m ! east— or will drill it in the rows in such quantH dCultivator it works well believed to be superior to any other, on all kinds of ground. It •■ plants from the smallest to the largest grain and seeds, accurately. It is the most easily manag can be raised or lowered, or either of them, without stopping the team. Any person capable of managing a team can use this machine and alter it from one quantity to another in one minute. It is durable, permanently constructed, and not liable to get out of order. We do not boast oi" inventing three drills VVe happened to get a good machine the first time, which is more than can be said (truthfully) of some that have invented more, who boast of their worthless articl i .not tell of getting 500 ma I season for Weste n New York : it takes time to make a good arti- cle. But we will try to fill all eiders from Wei ' otlnr sections, anil warrant our drill the best in use. We do not tell of selling $25 cheaper than others, for we think we can sell all we can make at a fair price, and we believe our far- mers axe willing to pay such a price for a good article We proru- ise to sell as cheap as any other that has a reliable machine, that d<»s the work up right. All we ask of those wishing Planters is to examine for themselves. We are also ready to meet any in- ventor of i'rills on the soil Boasting on paper is one thing : demonstration on the soil another. All we ask is a trial. To any one wishing further information we will tal sending a descriptive sheet. We would conclude by just stating that our machine received two first premiums last fall, at the State Fair at Buffalo, on an imperfect machine, not finished. We subjoin the certificate the Committee kindly gave us : ■• We the Committee on Farming Implements. No. 1, having J. W. Sherman's Field Drill and Cultivator under consideration. consider it the best implement of the class that has been pr ed, and have returned it as being entitled to the highest Premium Buffalo, Sept. 7, 1848. A. OSBORN. CA'n. 1 have received the Premium in three Diplomas All communications should be sent to me at this place and will be promptly answered and attended to. We shall want a number of agents to sell machines and to commence soon. .1. W. SHERMAN. Ontario. Wayne Co.,N. I*.. Jlpril 15. 1849. [5-tf] Agricultural Warehouse and Seed Store at Buffalo. AT the request of numerous friends, we have opened an Agri- cultural Warehouse and Seed Store, and have made sueh arrangements as will enable us to keep on hand a large and full aents of any useful kind. We have also arrangements for Trees an I Sei !- equal I other establishment in the Union. Order and patronage solicited Manufacturers are requested to send us samples of their imple meats and machines. T. C. PETERS k BRO.. Corner Washington and Exchange-sts Buffalo. Jan. 1, 1848. [l-5t] Nursery to L.ct or for Sale. THE Subscriber has a Nursery 1>£ miles from the Eric Rail Road Depot, from the Chemung Canal on a Plank Road run- ato Pennsylvania. I propose to lease it. for a term of years, or sell it, or take a partner and carry it on. Elmyra, N. Y.. 1849. DYAR FOOTE. 150 THE GENESEE FARMER. Junk Important to Farmers and Thrashers. THE Subscribers ask leave to apprise the Public: of a ncvv Ma- chine Shop be ng .ipened by them in Palmyra, Wayne Co., N. Y.. for the purpose of building Jessup's Neiu and Improved Thrashing and Separating Machine. Said {Machine having been thoroughly tested during the past season by competent and expe- rienced thrashers, is pronounced by them to be superior to any machine of the kind in use. Its great advantages over others consists in the construction of the cylinders for carrying for- ward the straw, not liable to be entangled thereby; it operates from one to two horse power easier, a d will thrash and clean more grain, with less v. aste. and do it better, than any other ma- chine now used. Not wishing to boast for ourselves, we take the liberty to publish 3, few of the many recommendations from others in its favor: RECOMMENDATIONS : Arcadia. August 21st. 1848. Having used Jessup's Patent Thrashing and Cleaning Machine for the two last and present seasons. 1 cheerfully recommend them to the use of public as being the best machine of the kind in use. Almost any desirable quantity of grain can be thrashed in a given time, with less power applied than to any other ma- chine of similar construction now in use. This machine is pecu- liarly adapted for thrashing and cleaning the different kinds of grain without waste, even when the straw is damp. During the time I have used said machine, I have thrashed some fifteen or twenty thousand bushels, and given entire satisfaction PETER VANDEWATER. We the undersigned, being acquainted with Peter Vandewater, and having employed him to thrash our crops the present season, do cheerfully concur in his recommendation of Jessup's Patent Thrashing Machine, and believe it to be the best machine of the kind now in use. Arcadia, Jlugust 21. 1S48. Benj. Bailey, David Jewell. Silas Peirson, Samuel Pierson, Artemas Hyde. S muel B. Reaves, Charles Hudson, Bailey Foster, Hiram Soverhill. We the undersigned, farmers of Phelps and Arcadia, certify that we have had our thrashing done the past season with Jes- sup's Improved Machine, and for doing business in a workman- like manner we think it surpasses any machine now in use; we therefore recommend to those wishing to purchase, to examine this machine before purchasing elsewhere. In our opinion this machine runs one or two horses easier than any other separator now in use. S. G. Averill, John Drake, Jesse Richards, Wm. M. Butler. M. A. Burly. V. R. W. Horton, J. M. Horton, M. Ward, S. Ward. H. D. Williams, R. Williams. J. J. Simons, C. H. Wirts. John Wirts," Moses Ray. Said Machines are built under the supervison of Mr. Jkssi'p, the Patentee and inventor— and will be furnished ou reasonable terms. We have also thoroughly tested a New Hot se Power, which we unhesitatingly offer for sale in the fullest confidence of its being as goo 1, if not better, than any other in use. We also manufacture Straw Carriers, Straw Cutters, Clover Machines. Corn Shelters, and other agricultural implements. All orders at the shop, or by mail, will receive prompt attention. FOSTER, JESSUP, & Co. Palmyra, N. Y., June 1,1849. [6-lt*] The Celebrated Horse Morgan Eagle J THIS truly celebrated Horse will stand for Mares this season, commencing April 30th. at A. S. Davis', in East Tiush, on- Mondays and Tuesdays ; at Sherwood's Tavern in Pittsford. on Wednesdays ; at Peter Culver's, in Mendon. on Thursdays ; and at Richard Peck's, two miles east of Lima village, on Fridays and Saturdays. MORGAN EAGLE was purchased in the fall of '47. in Tun- bridge, Vt., by J. Henderson, at agreat price. for the express pur- pose of improviug the stock of Horses of this country. He is about 10 hands high and well proportioned ; is a bright bay, and for symmetry and actiou cannot be surpassed. Morgan Eagle and the celebrated trotting Mare Lady Sutton, of New York, were sired by Old Morgan Eagle, of Vermont. PRE dlUM! We will award a premium of $25 for the best Colt sired by Mor- gan Eagle this season Competitors for the premium must ex- hibit their Colts ou the 2d Tuesday of < ictober 1850, at East Rush. Judges to be selectedby owners of the Colts. HENDERSON & AUSTIN. Honeoye Falls April 23d. 184'J f42m] Rochester Novelty Works. WE are manufacturing a great variety of SHELF I R.E and heavy goods in this line, which we 1. Stantly on hand, all warranted, which we will sell to d than tin y can buy them in Now York. We will also make to order any description of ( ' i : small or large tural Mai him >y. patent articles, &c . of brass or iron, prepared to anneal small work so that itcan be finish) d or drilled. Our castings are very superior in style and finish, ah smooth as if polished. All orders properly. attended to, and pat- terns furnished if required. SMITH, BADGER & CO., Office and Depot No. 3 Buffalo-st. Rochester, Monroo Co , N. Y., April 1, 1849. [4-3t] Hathaway5s Patent Huller and Cieauer, FOR Cleaning all Kinds of Grain, Clover and other Seeds. Pat- ented July 5, 1848. These Machines embrace most essential improvements and have been thoroughly tested by manv intelli- gent wealthy farmers in different parts of the State, who speak of their operation in the hi hest terms of praise, and express their entire satisfaction with them. Hathaway's Huller and Cleaner is warranted to Thresh and clean Wheat, Barley. Oats, Rye. Peas, Beans and Buckwheat without injuring the berry. It will also thresh and clean from the straw fit for use or market two bushels of CLOVER SEED per hour, on an average, without rotting the clover straw. Timo- thy. Mustard, and other small seeds can be cleaned with it. with unprecedented speed and celerity. These machines will make a better and faster separation than any others now in use, and a saving of more than 150 per cent, in the expense of cleaning clover seed and in the saving of the seed, compared with any oth r. They are cheap in price— simple in construction— durable in materials— easily kept iB order— handled or removed. There is nothing now iu use resembling, or that can compete with them. They can also be used as Banning Mills, by hand power, in a barn or elsewhere. Refer to the gentlemen whose names are attached to the follow- ing certificates. Many others might be added if deemed neces- sary ; but those named have the machines in use and know what they recommend. CERTIFICATES. I hereby certify that I have used one of Hathaway's machines for three years past, and have thrashed and cleaned from three to four hundred bushels of wheat per day and have no hesitancy in saying that they will thrash and clean from three to four bushels of clover seed per hour. I have thrashed and cleaned eighteen bushels in five hours. 1 confidently recommend them to my fel- low agriculturists. Rock Stream, March 1, 1849. HORACE HENDERSON, J. P. Mr. B. G. H. Hathaway — Dear Sir : The machine I purchased of you in November last, operates to my entire satisfaction. I have thrashed and cleaned from the straw twenty-five bushels of clover seed in a day ; and from the chaff, five bushels per hour — also, from the straw, three bushels per hour. In thrashing and cleaning of grain, it works admirably. Canandaigua, March 7, 1849. REUBEN 3. SUTHERLAND. Mr. Hathaway— Dear Sir : The machine I purchased of you. in December last, operates as you recommended ; I have thrashed and cleaned from the straw, from fifteen to eighteen bushels of clover seed per day on an average ; also, in thrashing and clean- ing of grain, it gives good satisfaction. SOLOMON ERNST. Lockport, Feb. 18, 1849. Applications for the right to coustruct and vend these machines in finy part of the United States, as well as all inquiries and ap- plications for machines will be attended to as promptly as possi- ble. B. G. H. HATHAWAY. Rock Stream. Yates county, N. Y., April 18, 1S49. Monroe Nursery, on the Ridge Road. THE contract between the subscriber and Naaman Good- igSWs sell, for the cultivation and management of the Monroe «™»- Nursery being now rescinded, and the relation growing out of it dissolved, the undersigned is now prepared to execute orders for trees, shrubbery, &c. The undersigned is determined by his industry and attention to business, and by the care he shall use in cultivating the differ- ent varieties of fruits, to merit the confidence of his friends and the public. The Monroe Nursery has been favorably known for a great many years, and has been in the possession of the subscriber for the last live years, during which time he has been to an enormous expeuse in refitting and restocking the premises with ail the most desirable and modern variety of fruits. He solicits a share of the public patronage. CHARLES POWIS. Proprietor. Greece. April 6th, 1849 [5-tfj Seeds and Implements. GESEE SEED STORE AND AG. WAREHOUSE— Irving Hall, opposite the Eagle Hotel, Buffalo-st. — Having pi ricultural and Seed department of .Messrs. Nott, Elliott & Fitch, we intend going more extensively into all the bran our business. We shall keep constantly for f of hn ported and American Field and Garden me nt of the most approved Implements and ased bj ardener and Farmer. We manuf: Drill, (the most perfect and substantial Drill in ted Massachusetts Eagle C Plow, Drags, Cultivator See. I of the most ap n tei as and coi supply of all the Boston and Worcester Plows. Sub-soil, Delano's, BurralPs Shell Wheel. Anthony's Patent Index, ^e.. &c. In addition to our stock of implements, tec. we think we can ray with perfect confidem ... ly grown and best se] fl D. G LRDENand FLO V. i I in the country, including several kinds im- Europe i rulers', Gardeners and Dealers would .' and perhaps insure good crops, by calling at oui i I ibl VLJE & BItlUG.s. Rochester, May 1, 1849. 1819. THE GEiXESEE FARMER. 151 Short-Horns al Km l public sale 30 head of Short-Horn Durham i attle, (beu ! herd) on the I ,y of June nexl at 11 o'< ting of . :• old heifoi and 11 Lulls from lo months to breeding this stock with . of blood and bate malion in whi is held wherever it has been exhibited for compi Hi head of the abovi ehasi made from I Esq.. of Ubanj I all the Short Horn tleman, and 1 1 1 pro lucl of hi four eel eti d cows. r< tained at his public sale. These animals have the strain of blood of thi of Mr Whittaker. of England, from whom Mr, i rcntice no rl of the l"t of youn mals] j of the blood ol the celebrated herdol Bates, Esq.. of Yorkshire, England, from whom my have been derived, and are mostly of the get of myimporl i. and my prize bull Meteor. The beif< n and cows ai For the information of Southern gentlemen who ma] d i Btocfc in that region, and who entertain the ,i that that climate is uncongenial to its succi gation there. I here introduce an extract from a letter I r i ; i b January, 1849— •■ The bull you sold Col. 1 ' State gives him gre i I ; heisafim I only wish you could see some 20 head of his get now in hif aperb yearlin Further particulars, and the i tdigrees of the stook will be is- sued one month previous to the sale. A credit from 6 to 18 months will be is show a fine stock of colts. Gentlemen send- red that they will have- such attention as they desire and on the most reaso bl 5 ;:t t!i - 1st leap, an insure, payable on of 3d month ('/arch.) following. 1 to ROBERT B. IIOW- Qgs, Cayuga Co.. and will n ceive prompt at- tention. l4-4t] Agricultural Implements and Mechanics' Tools. I AM now manufacturing a few of those MANURE FOR] - much sought after by the Farmers. Also, Hay and 'Forks of all kinds warranted Also., full supply of Shovels, Hoes, Jlxcs, Scythes, and almost every kind oi HAN- K IS' TOOLS always can be found at my I tore, No 3 Buffs first building west of Main-street Bridge, Rocb [4-3t] R. D. BARTON. The Valuable Dorse, Voting Morgan, WILL tand the ensuing season on Mondayi Toes ZmSP^ «'.iys in i uv,i • criber CJ*^j£2^ near Clyde ; on Thui itable of Aim i I a dus ; on t ii'i I the stable "i ,i Landon I i I i ■ i without while 18 hands and indn He « ill 1 ire old next ■ b irse in i in.- State Hi sired by ilnrgan Piger, owned bj Wm flay of Palmy! ..i "i ale's Beau ir i harles Duroo [4-3m] GILLETT The Imported Horse, Consternation, w \s bred by M*thew Horrsey. Esq . of Stilt Yorkshire, England, in the year 1841. II by T. C. Arhott. Esq., in the year lsj;,. H \t now owned by J. B. Burnet, Esq., of Syracuse, and will serve a LI number of mares the ensuing season at his owi ir the village of Geddes two miles west of Syracuse. T] pastures, with plenty of water and the most secure fence will be provided for mares from a distance at two shillings and bLj per week. No mares taken except at the risk of the owner. Conslernatin,' is a beautiful unfading dapple brown c i . bands and 3 inches high, and is a very sure foal-gel ter He I remarkable for his vigor of constitution, his developie and muscle, and his intelligent, kind and docile disp is compact and short legged for a thorough-bred borse, yet of a and majestic figure. His chest and Mauk a full His action is graceful, but at the same time proud and l i ling. But. what is perhaps of more importance he is ended through all the generations that are recorded in the English stud books from horses of great distinction and of the blood. There is no horse living that can boast a more illustrious pedigree. His immediate ancestors wen- of uncommon size end elegance of figure. Confederate, although an eminently successful race horse was kept by his bleeder. Karl Fitz William, to get carria ind hunters, for which he proved very valuable. Curiosity, the dam of Consternation, was equally large, and even hand omer than Confederate, AH his am ! disposition and entirely free fi-e.i so far as il can be ascertained. The foil iriel his Pedigree: By Confederate; dam Curiosity, by Figaro dam by Waxy. Confederate was bred by Earl Fitz William : got by Cornus, by Cervaates, by Sir Peter, by High Flyer, bj Herod, by Flying Childers. Figaro was got by Hap Hazard. by- Sir Peter, out of Mrs. Harvey, by English Eclipse, 8cc., kc. ice. As to the character of Consternation's stock, reference is offered to Ira Hitchcock. Esq.. Oneida Castle, Henry Rhodes, Trenton, A. Ford or John Best. Rome, and to farmers generaUy in that vicinity. Terms— $5 in advance, and $5 additional if the mare is got in foal [4-3m] J. B. BUB 1 BOOKS ON AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, «Sic. For Sale at the Office of the Farmer. The Publisher of the Farmer keeps cons'antly on hand assortment of the most popular and valuable winks pertain Agriculture, Horticulture, and Rural and Domestic F.conomy. which will be sold at the lowest cash prices. The names and prices of a portion of the books are annexed :— American Farmer's Encyclopedia. $3 50 in leather— cloth American Shepherd, by Morrell. $1. American Agriculture, by Allen $1. American Poulterer's Companion, by Bern ui American Veterinarian, by Cole. 60 cents Buist's Kitchen Gardener. 75 cents. Buel's Farmer's Companion. 75 cents. Chaptal's Agricultural Chemistry. 50 cents. Downing? Fruits and Fruit Trees of America Domestic Animals, by R. L. Allen cloth. 7j ets. Farmer's and Emigrant's Hand-Book. $1. Fruit Culturist, by J. J. Thomas. 50 cents ter'fi Farmer's Dictionary. $1 50— leal her, '.;l 75 Horse's Fool —and how to keep it sound. 25 c Johnson's Agricultural I hemistry. $1 25. Loudon's Ladies' Flower Garden. $1 25. Liebgig's Agricultural < hemistry, (new edition .) ?1 ricultural and Animal Chem stry. (paraph1- tions.) 25 oents on the Rose, $ I 50 P Rural Economy, by Boussiugault. $1 50. Stable ' conomy, by I . 7-""' cents ■ 25 oents. on the Horse, (new edition.) >1 75. Youatt on the Pig. 75 cents. : cents. Florist. 26.1 Enov.lson's Comple Fairier. or Horse Doclor. 25 cei V These books can be-safely forwarded bj mail, to any part of the country. {UJ= Orders from a distance will receive prompt attention, and the "books forwarded by mad or Express as desired Address to D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester. N. Y. V- $1 50. paper, 50 cts 152 TITO GENESEE FARMER. June CONTENTS OF THIS NU1V. j3R. Wool and Wool Growing in the United States, 129 Premium Crops, 130 Devon Cattle, 131 N. Y. State Ag. Society— Prof. Johnston 131 Destruction of Crops in the Southern States 132 Chess— Transmutation ; An Example for the Boys, 132 Palmer's Wheat Drill. 133 Facts in Building 133 Farming on Twenty-one Acses of Land 134 Pigeon Weed or Red Root ; Western Pennsylvania. 135 Lunar Influence— The Tides. &c. 136 Fecundity of Insects, 136 Black Leg Among Cattle 137 Wheeler's Thrashing Machine ; Wright's Corn Cultivator.. . 137 Native vs. Short Horn Cattle, 13S Hedges vs. Wire Fences ; Decrease of Forests 139 The Hydraulic Ram. 140 System and Economy in Farming, 141 Ayrshire Cow "Ayr," 141 Manufacture of Cheese 142 New Species of Cotton ; Old Apples, 142 Stone Fences ; Antidote for Poisoning ; Thin Sowing 143 Deep and Shallow Planting : Premium Crops. 143 To Preserve Milk, (and other items,) 143 N. Y. State Ag. Society— Judges for next Fair, 148 Fairs of County Ag. Societies. 148 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. Hints for the Month 144 The Season, Crops, &c 144 Deodar or Indian Cedar, 145 Outlines of Fruits 145 A Plea for the Birds, 146 The Japan Cedar ; Honey Locust for Hedges 147 ILLUSTRATIONS. Palmer's Grain Drill 133 I Ayrshire Cow '-Ayr," 141 Wright's Corn Cultivator,. 137 Deodar Cedar 145 Hydraulic Ram, (2 figures.) 140 j Japan Cedar 147 Market Prices of Agricultural Products. New Yorfe, May 23—7 P. M. Flour and Meal.— We notice a further improvement in the low- er grades State and Western, with a fair demand for the East and local trade, and a moderate inquiry for export to complete cargoes. Sales 5 550 hbls. 4.12 a 4.19 for fine, 4.44 a 4.50 for Troy, Brooklyn and common State. 4.50 a 4.56 for mixed Michigagtand good Oswe- go, 4.56 a 4.75 for favorite Indiana and State, 5 a oT2 pure Genesee, 5£ for southern yellow, 62 a 63% northern and Jersey yellow, closing firm. Provision.— Good demand for Ohio Pork. Holders able to real- ize better prices. Sales 1500 bbls. at 9 87 a 10 for mess, and 8.25 for prime. Beef without change. Market still unsettled and quo- tations nominal. 100 bbls. sold at 8.25 a S.50 for prime, and )1» 11.50 for mess. Cut meats in good demand, in part for Philadel- phia market. Sales 450 bbls. and tierces 4d. for dry salted shoul- ders, and 5 a 5K for hams, and 414 for pickled shouldeis, and .V., 1/ by2 for hams. Beef hams 16.50. Lard firm and in poor demand. Sales 550 bbls at 6>;i a 6}£ common. 6% primeand 7 for extra. But- ter steady at 10 a 15 for western, and 13 a 17 for Orange county. Cheese steady Old and good prime, 6>| a 7>2'- liocliester, May 24, 1849. Flour $5 per bbl. Wheat, Western. 80 to 90 cents— Genesee $1.09. Corn 44 a 50c. Rye 53 Oats 31. Seeds.— Clover $3.75 a $5. Timothy $1.50 a $2.25. Flax $1. Provisions.— Pork (mess) $12 a $12.50 per bbl. Beef $4 a $5 per cwt.— mess $7 a $8 per bbl Butter iu demand at 12% cts per lb. Cheese, good, 7 a 7% cts per lb. Eggs 10c. In Buffalo, May 22, sales of Wisconsin and Wabash wheat at 75 and 80 cents— and corn in store at 45 cents Agricultural Books. — A targe assortment of Books on Agriculture, Horticulture, &c, for suit- at this Office. Sec list of works ami prices in advertii in nent. Also — complete sets of the Farmer from its commencement, (except the 2d volume.) substantially bound, which we will si U at 50 cents per volume. These volumes are Dot suitable lor Bending by mail— but we have copies of vols. 6. 7, and 8, bound in paper covers, which may be mailed. Back numbers (and volumes) of the Farmer promptly supplied to all new subscribers. Wheeler's Patent Horse Power and Thrashing Machine. HAVING increased facilities for the manufacturing of the above Machines in this city, the public can be supplied with them at short notice, at wholesale and retail. To those farmers who wish the machines to sell, and will put them running in their vicinities, a fair discount will be allowed. For terms, and conditions of sale, and warranty, see the Alba- ny Cultivator, Genesee Farmer. Prairie Farmer, and American Agriculturist ; also, catalogues and circulars of the Albany Agri- cultural Warehouse and Seed Store. These machiues are acknowledged superior by all who have used them, and having been extensively used since 1841. are known to be durable— and are much improved in several respects. The cost of thrashing with these machines, has been variously estimated at from one-half to one-third that with the ordinary sweep powers. Annexed is a statement of expenses of operating a two horse machine, compared with the ordinary kind — as given by an ex- tensive farmer in Illinois, the past season : Five men in thrashing time to thrash and clean, averaging 200 bushels per day for market, $5 00 Two horses. 1 00 Boarding 5 mon and two horses, at 3s, 2 63 $8 63 Amounting to alitlle over 4% cts. per bushel — while he was en- abled at all times to take advantages of prices, seasons, (fee., and to do his work without being dependent upon others for labor or machines. While his expenses, when he hired machines were never less than the following : For thrashing 250 bushels per day, at 5 cents, $12 50 Furnishing four horses of six, (2 belonging to machine.) 2 00 Six men. (besides two with machine,) 6 00 Boarding all hands and horses, 5 25 $25 75 Amounting to about 10% cents per bushel. And if to this be added the average loss by imperfect thrashing and separation of grain from straw, more than with Wheeler's Thrasher and Sepa- rator of not less than five per cent of grain at one dollar per bushel, would amount to nearly 15% cents per bushel, or more than three times the expense with Wheeler's machine. To say nothing of the delays and tosses consequent upon depending upon others, &c. The foregoing is but a fair statement of the expenses of the ma- jority of grain-growing farmers for thrashing ; and where labor and grain are valuable, these savings are well worth counting. All orders and communications are solicited, and will reeeive prompt attention. HORACE L. EMERY, No. 369 & 371 Broadway, Albany. N. Y. Woodbury's Horse Power and Separator. THE Subscribers, having erected extensive works, for manufac- turing Woodbury's Patent Improved Horse Power and Separator, are prepared to furnish a machine to order, combin- ing greater simplicity, durability, and operating much easier than any other in use. The Horse Powers are warranted, and operated on wheels, thereby saving three-fourths the usual time in setting up— and we will warrant it. together with the Separator, superior to any in use. Communications for further particulars, (post-paid.) cheerfully responded to. J. &. D. WOODBURY Rochester, N. Y.. June 1. Ia49. (5-3t*) THE GENESEE FARMER, Published on the first of each month, at Rochester, N. »'. . by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE & D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. P. BARRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. Fifty Cents a Year, in Advance. Five Copies for $2, and any larger number at the same rate, if directed to each subscriber. Eight Copies 1 if addressed to one person only — and any larger number, directed in like manner, at the sunn- rate. 0= All subscriptions to commence with the year, and the entire volume supplied to all subscribers. Advertisements. — A limited number of short and appro- priate ad\ ertisements \\ ill be given in the Farmer, at the rate ,50 per square or folio (ten lines or 10(1 words) for the first insertion, and $1 for each subsequent publication — in ADVANCE. The circulation of the Farmer is from FIVE I" eight thousand larger than that (if any other agricultural journal published in the United States. (0= The Farmer is subject to newspaper postage only. STEREOTYPED DY JEIVETT, THOMAS AND CO., BUFFALO, N. Y. ^Eisa d^O) Agricultnre is the most Healthy- and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. VOL. X. ROCHESTER, N. Y.— JULY, 1849 NO. 7. Jarm Cjusbanurt). REARING, KEEPING AND FATTENING DOMESTIC ANIMALS. The science of breeding, keeping and fattening do- mestic animals is too much neglected in the United States. Few practical farmers have the courage to take hold of the somewhat forbidding subjects of comparative anatomy, physiology and organic chem- istry, with a resolute purpose to understand the living organism by which grass, hay, grain and roots are transformed into beef, mutton, pork, butter, cheese and wool. The natural machinery for effecting these important changes of vegetable into animal substan- ces, deserves to be studied with great care, in order to make the most of the food consumed by every ani- mal kept on the farm. There is no class that has reached perfection in yielding the largest product in flesh, milk or wool, for the aliment consumed in the course of its life time. All are fed unequally — some- times too much and sometimes too little ; and, again, they suffer from food more defective in qauliiy than deficient in quantity. One often sees store pigs eat the dung of over-fed fatting hogs ; and in this city, half-starved cows voraciously devour the solid excre- tions of corn-fed carriage horses. In rearing swine they are commonly under-led about three-fourths of their lives, and over-fed the other fourth ; so that in the aggregate not more than one-half as much meat is elaborated from the food taken into the stomach of pigs as might have been formed. All animals demand a certain quantity of nutritive matter to preserve them in a normal condition, or to prevent their losing weight and becoming poor and poorei. In all cases where the object is to form meat, it is I ad economy to keep animals for weeks and months, as thousands of farmers do, without gaining a pound of flesh, although they necessarily consume a large amount of food. This forms the manure ; i. e. 100 lbs. of solid mutter taken into the sto yield 40 in dry dung yard and urine, and no more. If we feed much above the point of normal nutrition, a por- tion of the aliment fails to enter the lacteal \ which surround the alimentary canal, and thr which digested matter passes into the blood \ to nourish the system. This e.'ce^s of loo I, whether partially digested or not, passes on through the !'0\v- els and appears as feces or dung. There is always an immense loss in seeking to make animals excess- ively fat. Of course, wfnn two or three prices are realized for such beef, mutton or pork, the loss in the waste of food, is paid by tho consumer. Our object is to develope the true economy of making meat, re- gardless of the fact whether it is sold or consumed by the producer. This consists in providing a relia- ble supply of suitable food, so that the animal from its birth to the day of its being slaughtered, should steadily gain in weight. So long as it is adding to the length and size of its bones and muscles — grow- ing— its system will be little inclined to take on fat, if not over-fed. Excessive stuffing and no exercise, bring the development of bone and muscle to a pre- mature ripeness. They cease to expand, and you have a fat lap-dog or a pocket china pig. Habitual starving will also bring the carcass to maturity be- fore it attains to its proper size. Skilful feeding im- plies that one never gives too mnch nor too little ; and has the food well adapted to the constitution and habits of the animal, whether a horse, sheep, cow or swine. This system of feeding is not so easy as some may imagine ; for the quantity of grass that will grow on a given number of acres in pasture and meadow in a dry or wet season is very unequal. Hence, in the one case the farmer will have more feed than stock ; and in the other more stock than feed. If one must err in the matter, it is usually better to have an ex- cess, rather than a deficiency of forage. Grass left to rot on the ground in a pasture or meadow is far from being lost. It improves the soil. After having taken all due pains to make two blades of grass and corn grow where only one of either grew before, the stock grower should study closely the business of breeding domestic animals. — The leading idea in this art and science is, to select the best males and females from which to propagate and improve the race. This rule applies alike to the equine, bovine, ovine and swine families. In each genus there are several species, in each species there merous breeds, and in the several breeds not a few varieties. It is no part of our duty to attempt to v. rit e up one species or breed of animals, whether of cattle, horses, hogs or sheep, and to write down another. Practical farmers know best what kind of stock will suit their land and markets. Our advice, if offered, would be quite as likely to miss as to hit the wants of the reader. There is more difference in the value of breeds than many are willing to ad- mit, and less than some breeders of improved races claim. A yearling of the short horn stock, less than 13 months old, wa- weighed in this city a few days 154 THE GENESEE FARMER. July ady with whom the s cow gives some 20 3re are Devons near since and brought down 675 pounds. This heifer which was not fat, is the offspring of Mr. Clay's impor- tation. Another heifer of the same family weighed 718 lbs. when 15 months old. The mother of the calf first named belongs to th writer boards ; and this valuah quarts of rich milk a day. ". here from the herd of L. F. Allen, Esq., which are much admired for their beautv. The Texas Telegraph of "May 24, published at Houston, says that wool grown in that State, and sent to New York market has brought $1 25 a fleece this season. Men are buying large flocks in Mexican States, Missouri, Tennessee and elsewhere to drive into the northern parts of Texas. Sheep husbandry is beginning to excite considerable atten- tion at the south and south-west. Believing as we do, that this Republic is likely to enjoy great prosperity during the next ten years, and receive large accessions to its population and wealth from Europe, the demand for good breeding animals will be steady and at quite remunerating prices. — Whoever will take due pains to improve his cows, sheep, horses and swine, cannot fail to be well paid for his trouble. LIMESTONE SOILS. Every month's experience and observation increase our esteem of limestone lands. \V"e have studied the growth of wheat and other crops on granitic and sandstone soils, and compared them with the products of lime lands, with which we have long been famil- - iar. The latter not only contain more lime, but more potash, soda, magnesia, chlorine, phosphorus and sul- phur— more of all the earthy elements of cultivated plants. Having become satisfied that such is the fact, we were for a .time at? a loss to account for the circumstance that, lime rocks yield other minerals on their disintegration as well as the one that forms the main bulk of this product of nature. The remains of animals with' which they abound, that once lived in the ocean, furnish unmistakable evidence that all, or nearly all ordinary lime rocks were slowly built up in the bed of an ancient sea. The same miner- als which makes the stoney covering of an oyster, serves under favorable conditions to form many stra- ta of precipitated lime rocks in which to embed the oyter, and a thousand other animals and plants. These depositions carry down and fix permanently in the growing rock, not only the carbonate of lime, but an appreciable quantity of all the minerals dis- solved in the water of the ocean. A moment's re- flection will satisfy the reader that this water must abound in all the constituents of vegetables and ani- mals, or they could not flourish in such prodigious numbers in this medium. By analyzing water taken from the ocean, we find that it contains every sub- stance necessary to organize either a whale, a tree, or a man. It abounds in potash, soda, magnesia, iron, chlorine, bone earth, gypsum, and compounds of car- bon and azote. When the bed of the ocean is elevated by volcanic action into islands and continents, and dry land is formed, we find the best soils for the support of ter- restrial animals where marine deposits were most abundant. And these vegetable and animal remains are most abundant where sedimentary rocks were slowest in forming. Most sand rocks appear to have been deposited rapidly ; for they usually contain lit- tle beside mere traces of lime, potash, soda and other minerals dissolved in sea water. Shales, such as may be seen along the terraces above Geneseo in Livingston county, and most limestones appear to have been built up very slowly. There are some fresh water deposits of lime, both ancient and mod- ern, that contain little beside the pure carbonate of that mineral. There are one or two deposits of this character in Cattaraugus county, and one on General Harmon's farm in Wheatland. Prof. Peter of Kentucky, gives the following as the composition of the limeston'e near Lexington, remarkable for the ex- cellent soil which it forms in that vicinity. He says : During the past month or two, in my leisure moments, I have submitted to analyses, several specimens of the Ken- tucky Blue limestone, and have been much gratified to find my anticipations realized in relation to its agricultural value, as will be seen by reference to the results given belnw. Specimen No. 1, is of the hard grey limestone ; it was dug out of a well in the city of Lexington ; it contains geo- des lined with brown spar, pearl spar, calc. spar and fluor spar and the usual fossils ; its specific gravity is 2.45 in a dry specimen. On analysis, it was found to be composed of the following materials, viz : Carbonic acid 36.675 Phosphoric acid 1.350 Sulphuric acid ., 807 Lim« 47.046 Magnesia 900 Alumina and oxide of iron 9 880 Fine sand and silicates ; ... 1 .790 Moisture and loss 1.552 100.000 Specimen No. 2, from the hard thin layers which are more superficial than the first in this locality, yielded : Carbonic acid 40 53 Phosphoric acid 36 Sulphuric acid not estimated. Lime 50 97 Magnesia . . • 66 Oxide of iron 32 Alumina 15 Sand and silicates 6.52 Moisture and loss 49 100.00 In addition to these ingredients, potash and soda were ob- tained from the limestone, whenever the proper processes were employed ; in one case as much as 0.0487 per cent of potash ; in another, 0.0058 per cent. The above extract is copied from the May number of the Albany Cultivator. In t£e June number of the American Agriculturist a gentlemea in Winches- ter, Va., says that he raised eighty-three bushels of corn per acre, without manure, on a piece of ground which had been irrigated for several years by a " limestone spring." The rivers Euphrates and Nile, not less than the Genesee in New-York, and the Cumberland in Ten- nessee, run over lime rocks. These valleys are re- markable for their fertility. On the contrary, all granite regions are characterized by comparative ste- rility. Granite, unlike sedimentary rocks, have been melted by intense heat deep in the earth, andcrystal- ized on cooling, under great pressure. All this class of rocks decompose slowly, and from comparatively thin, poor soils. They usually lack lime and all the other minerals held in solution by the waters of the ocean. Granitic formations show no signs of organic beings, either animal or vegetable. The fair inference from the above remarks would seem to be, that salts of lime, potash, soda and mag- nesia are indispensable to the growth of crops. — Every farmer whose soil lacks lime, should take mea- sures to remedy the defect in the cheapest way pos- sible. In many places gypsum, common salt and wood ashes can be had on such terms as will war- 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 155 rant their use for agricultural purposes In r more I ffl tensively than is now done. The salt which can be orating sea water, will someday lie exl 'iisivelv consumed as a fertilizer. Nor will the salts extracted from the soil an 1 wasted in the liquid excr< ic animals be always regarded as of so little value. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. BY 4SRICOLA. The subject which is now attracting much atten- tion, not only in this State, but in many of the States of our Union, is the education of farmers' sons for their profession, that of Agriculture. The prejudice which has too long twisted among farmers, and which it must be admitted, has arisen from a wrong idea of tih' e lucation proposed, is fast giving away to the light which experience is bringing to bear upon this all im- portant matter. No one thinks of preparing his son to be a Physician, Attorney, or Divine, without pro- viding the means for his acquiring a particular know- ledge of the studies best calculated to prepare him for the pursuit he is to follow. When we urge the same considerations upon the farmer in regard to the edu- cation.of his son, for the pursuit of Agriculture, it is not unfrequently said — " What more is necessary than to learn the lad in the field the routine of farm labor — the practices which I have pursued as to the manner of preparing my land — the time of sowing and planting?" This is all important, and we advo- cate no system of education that will dispense with it. Suppose we should in the case of the physician adopt the same rule. The young man, instead of pur- suing a course of study by which he is familiarly and thoroughly instructed in the complicated machinery of the human body, the laws which regulate and gov- e-n diseases, the peculiar nature and habits of disease; begins at once to visit patients with the physician, pays no attention to the teachings of science and the researches of others; he might eventually acquire in- formation that would be useful, but how much less likely to be successful, than one who, in addition to this practical education with his instructor at the bed- side, had enjoyed the benefits of a thorough education previous to entering upon the active duties of his pro- fession. May it not safely be affirmed, that every man in community would prefer the one who had combined with practice, the thorough preparation of himself by all the aids which science and the experi- ence of others had afforded him? It can be hardly necessary in this day of light and knowledge to attempt to show that there is much for every farmer to learn from science, to aid him in his work. The nature of soils, their constituent ele- ments, their adaptation to particular crops, the quality of manures as determined by analysis, the effect of heat and cold upon vegetation, and many other things which can be only certainly known through the agen- cy of science. What, may it not be asked, is to pre- vent every farmer who shall be thoroughly instructed from availing himself for practical purposes of these advantages? The researches which have been made by scientific men, have developed many interesting and important facts — and the time is not far distant when many more will be brought to light, which will greatly lessen the labors of the farmer, and enable him with economy to adopt a system of farming that will remunerate him liberally. Perhaps it may be asked, what system, if adopted here, would thus aid the farmer? Without at this time giving what I suppose would be a system in ev- ery respect v li calculated to accomplish such a result, it may be sufficient to say — that a school to prepare young men for the duties that are to devolve upon ; I as to give them a thorough course of education, combined with its prac- tical adaptation to the entire work of the farm, even in the most minute portions of labor. To accomplish this, a farm of liberal extent must be connected with the institution, where experiments could in the first place be carefully made on some small portion of it, and when satisfactorily tested, be carried into practice in the general culture of the farm. An opportunity must also be furnished of testing the qualities of dif- ferent breeds of cattle, horses, sheep, and swine. How little is now really known by the great body of our farmers in relation to these matters. Who is there, from actual trial and experiment, is prepared to say which, of all the breeds of cattle, is best adapt- ed to this State, for the Dairy or for the Shambles? Has a trial and comparison been made between the different breeds called Improved, and the Native Stock, so that it can be said, this is the best for the farmers of New-York? I answer, No. — And I would ask, is it not important that these questions, so important to the farming interest, should be determined? And would not an institution, discreetly managed by a ju- dicious, intelligent and thoroughly qualified practical man, in time work out for us a solution of these ques- tions? So, too, with regard to horses, sheep, and swine — the above remarks are equally applicable. There are now in this State a large variety of grains in use — each has its advocates — and yet is it not true that it was decided there are seme varieties superior to others, and better adapted probably to our climate and soils? And where shall these questions be set- tled mare satisfactorily and certainly than at an insti- tution with a liberal farm, of different varieties of soils, where a series of experiments could be carried on with all the varied grains, for a term sufficient to test their qualities in every respect ? There are other matters all important to be ascertained, and which at present are but little attended to, at least so far as the great body of the farmers are concerned. I allude to a rotation of crops, and application of manures, best calculated to give profitable returns to the farmer, while it secures to him the constant fertility of his soil. Where could this be better ascertained than at an institution where a series of experiments with dif- ferent crops, in different rotations, and with varied manures, carefully analyzed, could be carried out. In each of these cases, time is necessary to obtain sa- tisfactory results — and the State, at an institution of this kind, could secure such results as would in the end greatly add to the prosperity and success of the farmer, in the management of his farm. Permit me to caution my readers. not to expect too much at once from an institution in every respect rightly adapted to the wants of the farmer. Time will be required for it to develop its advantages. The work of improvement is not the work of a day or of a year. Experiments, to be useful, must be long con- tinued, often repeated, before they can be relied upon — and although a young man trained in an institution thoroughly, will himself be prepared to do great good, yet the great practical benefits to the farmer as to the creneral course of his operations, both as to his crops, manures and animals, must be a work of time- — and cannot be hastily decided with safety. Time for experiments to be thoroughly tested, time for ths HBBKS • -. 156 THE GENESEE FARMER. July investigations to be in every respect carefully made, must be allowed. Let this be borne in mind, and I doubt not an institution, under the charge of properly qualified instructors, men of mind, men of practical adaptation to the wants of the a • — not mere thorists or fancy men, would eventual! > secure the approba- tion of all, and would be en . ded with the young men of our State ; and would annually send forth many in all respects well qualified to discharge their duties as farmers, and also prepared when called into public life to discharge their higher duties as repre- sentatives of their profession, the great producing class of our country. Should I have leisure, and should you not have more important matter for your paper, I design to pursue this subject, and give in detail the course to be pursued at an institution which, in my judgment, would be well designed to accomplish the great work now needed, — the Thorough Education of the Sons of Farmers. CULTIVATION OF THE MAPLE. Each distinct species of trees, like each distinct species of animals, requires to some extent its own appropriate food. Hence a soil that will produce one kind of trees in perfection, will not always produce another. Hence, also, a young tree can hardly be made to flourish where an old one of the same kind has lived and died; because the former took from the soil the elements necessary to the growth of the whole species. (The case of a young shoot growing up from an old root, may be regarded as an exception, because here the nourishment is drawn by an old root that is constantly extending itself into a new soil.) Hence, too, a second growth of timber on the same soil, is almost always different from the first, except as above. To this may be added the fact, that the cultivation of the same kind of- grain, on the same field, for several years in succession, impoverishes the soil more than if it had been subjected to a rotation of crops. And hence, again, neither a tree, nor any other vegetable, can be made to thrive in a soil which does not contain the appropriate elements, nor can fruit be raised on an inappropriate soil. The maple it is well known contains a large amount of potash; and a soil that is destitute of this element, or that contains only a small portion of it, will never produce a thrifty tree, till the deficient element is sup- plied. I have known many trees to die, or drag out a feeble existence, evidently from no other cause than the want of the proper elements in the soil; and I have also known trees to flourish on an uncongenial soil when supplied with their appropriate food. A few years ago I set out several maple trees, around some of which I threw a quantity of ashes, leaving others without any. The difference in their growth was soon manifest, not only in the amount of growth, but also in the length of time that they continued to grow: the former surpassing the latter in both re- spects. Hence, To promote the growth of the maple, (and other trees of a similar nature and under similar circum- stances,) give them potash. It may be given in the shape of ashes, weak lie, soap-suds, fcc, whenever there is evidence of a deficiency in the soil. If proper attention be paid to this subject, I believe we shall much less often have complants of the slow growth of the maple. H. — Down East, April, 1849. MR. VAIL'S SALE OF SHORT HORN CATTLE. A part of the stock of George Vail, Esq., of Troy, was offered for sale at public auction, at his farm, near Lansingburgh, on the 13th ult. There was a large attendance of gentlemen at the sale.— Among others, we noticed R. L. Allen, Esq., one of the Editors of the American Agriculturist, ' and A. Stevens, Esq., of New York city ; L. G. Morris' Morrisiania ; Hon. A. Van Bergen, Coxsackie • Messrs. Prentice, Tucker, Howard, Mclntyre, and b! P. Johnson, Esq., Sec'y State Ag. Society, Albany Messrs. Kirtland and McCullock, Greenbush ; t! Hillhouse, Watervliet ; Mr. Ogden, Quebec ;' Mr! Jean, Lewis Co.; Messrs. Jessup and Drinker, Penn.; Col. D. D. Campbell, Schenectady ; Mr. Stark- weather, Maine ; Gen. Wool, U. S. Army ; Gen. J. J. Viele, Troy ; Amos Briggs, Esq., Schaghticoke! Mr. Vail gave, at his cottage lately erected on his farm, a fine collation during the progress of the sale, where every thing was in the best style, and the gentlemen in attendance were highly pleased with the arrangements, and all seemed gratified. The sales were at fair prices, and such as we presume will be deemed encouraging to breeders. We give a list of sales and purchasers, so far as obtained. There may be one or two omissions. The numbers are from the catalogue : — COWS AND HErFERS. PURCHASERS. No. 1. Sally, red and white, 9 years old, Mr. Niles, Washington county, N. Y., $110 00 Her calf, 2 weeks old, Mr. Percival,WatervilTe, 37 50 " 2. Judy 2d, white, 3 y'rs, Drinker. Jessup , Esq.: — " Lime exists in plants in various proportions, viz: 32 per cent of the ashes of oakwood is lime; 27 pet cent of the ashes of poplar is lime ; 14 per cent, of the ashes of peas is lime : and 4 per cent, of the ashes of our wheat plant is lime. Lime is an essential constituent of wheat. It must, therefore, be in our soils, or-our wheat never can be matured. Lime, therefore, is a direct food for wheat, and so also for other plants. This important element of our soil possesses several qualities most essentially and highly beneficial to the farmer. For instance, where applied to heavy clay soils, it renders them more open and easily worked, admitting the action of the at- mosphere. In all soils containing the sulphate of iron, lime will decompose the sulphate of iron, and thereby form plaster of paris, a material well known. When we apply lime in its fresh or caustic state it acts as a sol- vent, destroys the texture of matter in contact with it, or changes its nature. But when by exposure to tne air this power is lost and it becomes slacked, then it is food direct for plants. Now as to the best method of using lime, farmers are not agreed ; and with some hesitation, I will state my practice and give my reasons. We see and know that twenty bushels of wheat, if produced from a single acre, will take from that acre about seven pounds of lime ; then, as a bushel of lime weighs about seventy-two pounds in a caustic state, it will weigh, when slacked, about 100 pounds by the ab- sorption of water ; therefore, one bushel oi lime is sufficient for fourteen acres of wheat or thereabouts ; but as this supply is for one crop only, and as weeds and other vegetation will rob the wheat of its duo share, I would apply ten bushels to the acre, and feel that it is sufficient for four or five years. It is true that farmers in this country have applied from 60 to 200 bushels per acre, and there may occa- sionally be a farm where such a dose may do good, but more likely to do harm ; at any rate, for the rea- sons above stated, it seems a wasteful and expensive system. For light soils, I would recommend a mix- ture of lime and muck — say one bushel of lime to H cubic yard of muck— applying 20 to 25 bushels of this mixture to an acre. But never mix lime with your manure heaps ; this is a ruinous practice, bc- . cause it expels from your manure its chief power ; it. destroys the ammonia, a salt which it is our aim to preserve." Hens eating their Eggs.— In addition to the di- rections given on this subject in the April number of the Farmer, allow me to add, "Give them animal food." They require animal food as well as lime. Give them scraps, offal, fish (not salted,) fee They will eat no more than they need. It would be well if hens that are confined in a pen, or small yard, could be let out each day an hour or two before sun- set, that they may pick up bugs, worms, grass-hop- pers, &c. Dig up the soil in their yard and let them scratch in it. H* Ifdustry. — " There is more pleasure in swea an hour than in yawning a century." 160 THE GENESEE FARMER. July HEDGE FENCES Messrs. Editors: — I noticed in your Juno number a communication headed, "Hedges vs. Wire Fences," in regard to which you remarked that you would like to hear from other correspondents on this subject. The writer recommends the use of Italian Privet, Ar- bor Vitee, and Red Cedar, for fences. The Privet, Stc, will make an ornamental hedge around lawns, division for gardens, &c, but the man who gloss to the hair of cattle, and softness and pliancy to the skin. In all cases of high feeding in winter, particularly when cows have but few roots, shorts or bran are excellent to promote digestion and keep the bowels open. Three pints each of oil and Indian meal, or two quarts of one and one quart of the other, is as high feed in these articles, as cows should ever have. On shorts, bran and roots, they may be fed liberally. Four quarts of Indian meal, in a long run, plants Italian Privet, or Red Cedar, or Arbor Vitee, as j m ^ and fl ^ best g0 thatth" a hedge to protect his fields or garden from the inroads | neyer ^co\,er# r of cattle, will learn wisdom from his sad experience, and the cattle will have the benefit of his blunder. In another article a correspondent talks of '! the sections irhere live fences are a forlorn hope, owing to their destruction by mice" Now, I know of no such place, and if there is such an one, it must be in the "regions of perpetual snow" or some other out- landish " region." I believe that, in any place where trees and shrubs grow, native shrubs can be found that will make good protective Hedges. In England more than a score are used for hedging — all perhaps intermixed in the same hedge. The Alder, the Elder, the White and Black Thorn, the Bramble, and many others I have often noticed in the same hedge. In our country, so extensive, and consequently present- ing such a variety of soil and climate, plants must be used suitable to the locality: and I believe, when pro- per attention is given to the subject, each section will furnish its own hedge plants in abundance. The editor of the Southern Cultivator says that in Geor- gia the Cherokee Rose makes a hedge that is a sure protection against the inroads of man and beast. The Norway Spruce will make a good protective hedge, and the mice never trouble evergreens. Now, I will give you my model for a beautiful pro- tective hedge. Plant the Norway Spruce, say three feet apart, and between each plant a Prairie or some other free-growing running rose, and I will warrant a hedge that, for strength, beauty and durability, will be unequaled by any wire or rail fence. Any at- tempts to go through or over it, will be truly a "for- lorn hope." More anon. Rustic. — Rose Lawn, JY. Y., June, 1849. FEEDING AND MANAGING MILCH COWS. The grasses, particularly the clovers, are the best summer food. When these begin to fail, the de- ficiency may be supplied by green corn, which is very sweet, and produces a large quantity of milk, of ex- cellent quality. The tops of beets, carrots, parsnips, and cabbage and turnip leaves, are good. Pumpkins, apples, and roots, may be given as the feed fails. — Give only a few at first, especially apples, and gradually increase. Roots are of great importance when cows are kept on dry fodder. Potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, pars- nips, artichokes, and vegetable oysters, are good. — The last three and cabbage and turnips keep good in the ground through the winter, and are fresh and fine in the spring, before the grass starts. Potatoes produce a great flow of milk, but it is not very rich. A little Indian meal is good with them, to keep up the flesh and give richness to the milk ; and this is the case with beets and most kinds of turnips, as they tend largely to milk. A little oil meal or flaxseed is excellent, in addition to the Indian meal, to keep up a fine, healthy condition, and impart a rich quality to the milk, and gives a lively Carrots are among the very best roots for milch cows, producing a good but not very great mess of rich milk, and keeping the cow in good health. — Parsnips are nearly the same. Ruta-bagas are rather rich, and keep up the condition. To prevent any unpleasant taste in the milk from feeding turnips, use salt freely on them, and milk night and morning be- fore feeding with turnips. Cabbage turnip, (or tur- nip-rooted-cabbage-below-ground,) has no such effect. It resembles ruta-baga, is raised in the same way, and yields as much or more. Some keep cows in the barn, by night, in the warm season. They are saved from storms, and more manure is saved. There should be good ventilation in hot weather. Cows are much better for being kept in the barn nearly all the time in cold weather. To drink freely of cold water, and then stand half chilled to death, is highly injurious. But they should go out a little while daily, in favorable weather, and be driven around gently, for exercise. Inaction is death to all the animal race. Cows and other cattle are badly managed. They are not watered, in short days, until ten o'clock in the morning and their last chance for drinking is about four in the evening. Thus they go sixteen hours without drink, and during that time they take nearly all their food, which is as dry as husk. They suffer to a great degree from thirst, and then drink to ex- cess. As a remedy, give cattle a part of their break- fast, and then water them, and water again after finishing their morning meal ; and if kept up, water at noon, and at night. If it be too much trouble to take good care of stock, then keep less, and they will be as productive and more profitable, if well managed. We have fed sheep that had constant access to water within eight or nine rods, and after eating thirty or forty minutes in the morning, they would all go and drink. Milch cows are injured by being driven far to pas- ture, especially in hot weather, and still more if hurried by thoughtless boys. — [Cole's American Veterinarian. Cure for the Heaves. — Not long since, in con-, versation with a gentleman who was driving a fine horse, he informed me that his horse had recently been cured of the heaves, (with which he had been severely afflicted,) in the following manner : He took a quantity of rye bran, five or six quarts at first, increasing gradually to a peck, wet or moistened it with warm water, and gave it to his horse. He continued this for a few weeks, increasing the tem- perature of the water each day, till in a short time he applied it boiling hot. The horse improved in condition, and was soon entirely cured. n. Wisconsin has an area of 31,511,360 acres, and a population not exceeding 300,000 persons. 1849. THE GENESEE PARMER 1G1 CHEESE FACTORIES IN ASHTABT7LA CO., OHIO. The editor of the Conneaut Reporter has been out rusticating) and gives Borne interesting items touch- ing dairy operations in thai section. He says such is the large and growing demand for cheese and but- ter, that where a few years ago two or three cowson- ly were kepi, the Bame OCCUpantS now number lh- i r 40, 50, and 60 COWS — and at, tins time there is an increase of quite one-half over the number last year. It appear e from the editor's statement that a nev. tern of che< so-making has been successfully estab- lished, consisting of "Cheese Factories," as they are termed, lie thus speaks of two of them now in operation in the midst of the heavy dairies: — C. C. Wick, Esq., of Wayne, one of our most enterprising and business men, has recently erected his buildings and put in operation his " dairy," for the manufacture of cheese. He commands the pro- duct of l,J0O cows, owned in that and adjacent townships, and employs men and teams, who every morning take prescribed routes varying from five to ten miles each, and gather the " curds," which are neatly sacked by the dairymen, and then brought to the factory, where the process of u cheese making" is completed. This furnishes employ for a large number of men and women, and by the aid of recent improvements and machinery, much of the labor requisite is ren- dered light, more convenient and simple than the usual mode. He had last week about 3,000 cheese on hand, made within about thirty days, and for beau- ty and fine flavor, they are not to be excelled. The weight of "curds" daily received, amount in the ag- gregate to some 3,500 lbs., and the number of cheese made daily about 75, varying somewhat as regards size. They are put up in sacks, and intended for the English, West India, and California trades, and vary from 15 to 35 lbs — the former, we believe are intended exclusively for the California market. — Wayne has long held a reputation for producing cheese equal to any other township, and friend Wick intends that the products of his dairy shall bear impress of being equal if not superior to any that have been sent from this country. In addition to this there are many large and fine dairies among the farmers. At Richmond, Merriman Barber, Esq., has another " Factory," and situated so as to com- mand the daries of that town, Dorset, Andover, and a portion of Cherry Valley. He receives the pro- ducts of about the same numder of cows, and makes about the same weight of cheese daily, and carried on in the same manner of Wicks , but his cheese are more uniform in size, averaging 26 or 27 lbs., each — are put up in the best possible manner, and will command the highest rates in the home or for- eign market. By the adoption of this system, it is made advan- tageous to the farmers, as they contract in the spring for their " curds," which continues for the season, and are thus enabled to estimate very nearly their amount of resources, without reference to a fluctua- ting market. The prices paid for curds the present season is 3| cents per pound, deducting therefrom the expense of teams for gathering, which receive a stipulated sum. True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written — writing what deserves to be read, and ma- king the world happier and better for having lived in it. PEAS AND PEA BUGS. I!. Y., in the March number of the Farmer, says: u We would like to know what advantage A. 1 1. pro- mises himself by keeping peas corked in a bottle for two years. The objection to sowing buggy peas is not thai tli num- bi r must I"' utterly im ignificant, but thai the bug de- stroys the genu," Stc. To this I reply that in my article in the I' bi tiarj nun bi r, I had bow i the garden in my mind, and not field peas— and that 1 do not recognize the truth of II. V's assertion that the number must be "utterlj insignificant." II' .-own early it is nearly i qual to one bug to a pea, and if it is worth while to get rid of one curculio \\ ith a plum, it is worth while to get rid of one bug to a pea. I am not sufficiently acquainb d with the natural history of the pea bug to know if it is propagated in anv other way — if not, by destroying the entire brood for a year, we would diminish the number, and by a se- ries of experiments would get rid of the evil. It would of course require more seed to be sown of the peas kept for the first two years, for the bugs would have destroyed some of the germs; but no bugs would be resown for future multiplication, and instead of the pea bug spreading from the garden to the field, if all would try the remedy, in a few years we should have peas without bugs, as they were formerly. I last year sowed three kinds of peas, to determine which was the earliest variety. They were the Prince Albert, Landreth's Extra Early, and the June Peas. They were all sown on the 28th of March. The first two were gathered for the table on the fifteenth June, and the last on the twenty-third June. The Prince Albert appeared to be about one day earlier than the Extra Early; but the Extra Early is the lar- gest, and of the two I should think the best variety for general culture. This year I sowed on the 31st March two rows Extra Early peas side by side, the seed in one being taken from the largest and earliest pods of last 5 crop, and the seed of the other from peas taken when the vines were pulled up at the close of the season. The difference is very manifest, the vines of the first row being, at this time, full three inches higher than those in the second. Meadville, Pa., May, 1849. A. H. The two Systems of Farming. — Under a low standard of agriculture, the object of the farmer is to collect the natural produce of the soil with the expenditure of as little money or labor as possible. But under a high standard he does not grudge ex- pense of labor nor of manure, in order to obtain a proportionate increase of produce: and he studies to obtain this by cultivating crops congenial to the soil by growing them in such order that its natural pow- ers shall be turned to the best advantage. — Selected. The Earth is the great nursing mother of all plants; they in their turn minister, directly or indirectly, to the nutrition and sustenance of animal life; the lamb and the kid feed upon herbage, the direct growth of the soil : the wolf and other of the carnivora feed upon the lamb and the kid — thus they derive their food indirectly from the soil. The deeper the soil is made, the deeper the roots can go in search of food. 162 THE GENESEE FARMER. July Li&HTMTJsra-RODS os conductors. BY L. WETHZSELL. There are few persons upon whom a thunder shower, when passing directly over them, does' not make an impression ; and some there are who suffer most intensely from fear. This fear is not without cause ; for many persons, every warm season over our country, are killed by lightning. Voldev re- ports that there were in the United States, in 1797, from the montli of June to the 28th of August, 24 persons struck by lightning, of whom 17 were kill d. In France, in 1819, 20 persons were killed by the same cause. That there is danger then, none can deny. And the instinctive dread which man has of death, is a sufficient cause for the fear and suffering which are excited in many persons, by a thunder shower. From the fact that many lives and much property are destroyed annually by the agency of electricity, or lightning, for these are but dilierent names for the same powerful agent, the inquiry arises in every thinking mind, is there any way to avert this dan- ger ? because, if there be, common prudence and forethought would seem to dictate its immediate ap- plication for the preservation and security of both life and property. From the discovery of the facts by experimenters with electricity, that certain sub- stances repal, ward off, or are non-conductors of the electric fiui I, while others attract it, and are called good conductors, Dr. Franklun was led to invent the lightning rod, or conductor. This ro i or conductor is usually made of wrought iron, though copper is hotter, bee ms s less liable to rust or melt, and is, also, a better conluctor. The rod should be three-fourths of an inch, or an inch in diameter ; its extremity extending above the build- ing into the air should be finely pointed, and gilded with some metal that does not rust ; and no inter- ruption must occur from the point to the lower ex- V: ;ni y extending into the earth. M. Gay-Lussac, under the auspices of the French Academy of Sci- ences, has presented the following instructions : — "The rod. of the lightning-conductor is about 27 feet in length : it is composed of three pieces, namely, an iron rod 25 j> feet in length, a brass rod of 18 inches, and a platinum nee. fie 2 inches long : taken together they form a figure resembling a cone. — (The length must be greater or less according to the height of the building.) The platinum needle or point is soldered to the brass rod with silver, and the place of junction surrounde I by a covering of copper. The brass ro 1 is screwed into the iron ro I, and se- cured by transverse pins. The iron rod is often composed of two pieces in order to facilitate it- transportation ; one of these fastens into the other by means of a long conical projection, 7 inches in length, which is secured by a transverse pin." Much depends upon a good connection of the rod with the earth, after it has been properly fastened or attached to the bni ding. It should terminate in a well, or moist, earth, where the rod should be divi 'ed into several branches. The part of the rod in the i arth shoull be covered with charcov1, which is also a good conductor. It is best to connect with water wh :i it can b done. Es lerience teaches that a lightning-rod such as has been here descri ed, protects around it to a di ;- tauce equal to twice its height; or for example: when the rod is 5 fi t above the roof it protects circle whose diameter is 20 feet, or ten feet in all di rections : so if the building be large, more than one conductor will be necessary to furnish protection. — The experience and observation of more than 60 years show, that, when the rods or conductors are made and put up in accordance with the direction here furnished, which is not the speculation of some abstract theorist, but truth as discovered by observa- tion aud confirmed by experiment, they will furnish ample security and protection for both life and prop- erty against the effects and perils of lightning. Arago, a French philosopher, says, that it is highly probable that a silent and gradual discharge of a thunder-cloud is often effected by the points of lightning-rods, and thus an explosion is prevented. — He further states, that " lightning-rods not only render the strokes of lightning inoffensive, but con- siderably diminish the chance of the building being struck at all." So it seems that the conductor so facilitates the passage of electricity between the cloud and the earth, that a discharge is much less likely to occur over a building thus furnished — but admitting that it does, the conductor renders the stroke " inoffensive." The farmers of Massachusetts, and especially of Worcester county, called the back-bone of the Bay State, have many of them provided lightning-rods for both their barns and their houses. Many more barns than houses are annually destroyed by light- ning. Lightning-conductors furnish the very best, and cheapest insurance against the perils of lightning. How much wiser and better is the policy pursued by the man who provi les for the security of both life and property against the effects of lightning, than that of him who provides for the latter only, by shift- ing the hazard to an insurance company ; so that, though he be killed by the stroke of lightning which might have been averted by a conductor which would have cost less than his insurance policy, yet his friends have the consolation of knowing, that his forecast has secured for them a sum sufficient to repair all damages done to the buil ling by the stroke. Will not farmers and others consider the expedi- ency, where they have not already done it, of provi- ding lightning-conductors imme liately fortheir build- ings, and so secure an 1 preserve both life and prop- erty from the effects of one of the most fearful, ter- rilfic and powerful agents of this nether world ? PLOWING. -SAW-DUST AS A MANURE. Messrs. Editors: — Under the above head I wish to state a few facts, and make a few suggestions. There is one thing necessary in all grain growing countries to ensure a good crop — that there should be good plowing. The first requisite to gain this end is to have good teams; (and, by the way, it is not so "xpensive keeping a good team as it is a poor one.) An I the second is to have a good plow, and have it w dl rigge I, with wheel, colter, and all. When the plow is taken into the field and tried, the plowman should measure with his eye the width of the furrow, an 1 al o the lap the plow will turn, and do it well. Then he should keep it in that position as to width, and hoi I steady and firm, and he will thereby make a' straight furrow, and the land will be even and nice, fhe u ows should not be less than six inches deep for sprin ■ grain, nor less than eight for winter grain. I h tve I earl many farmers make the assertion that it would not do to plow deep always, but that it would 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER i<>:* do once in a long time. I think they arc in an error. For certainly if we plow only four inches we have only four inches of soil for our crops to grow in; while, it' we plow eighl inches dei p, we have eight inches of soil loosened for the crop, and there is no doubt hut the crop would he benefitted in proportion to the depth of the plowing. There is another error I think farmers labor under — that is of throwing up their ground into narrow lands from three to six paces wide. The hest way, in my experience, is to keep the land as level as pos- sible; and in order to do this the lands should not be less than twelve or eighteen paces. The ground will thereby he kept level and smooth, and the grain will crow evenly over the whole surface. But methinks I hear the farmer say, "What shall I do to keep the water off my level land, if I do not throw it up narrow?" I will tell you. Plow your ground into lands of twelve paces, and after the seed is dragged in, clean out the dead furrows — and then draw furrows at right angles with the dead furrows, the same distance apart as the dead furrows are, and you have a square of twelve paces, or about, thirty- six feet. And if the main ditch and the corners of the others are well cleaned out with the shovel or hoe, I will insure you against, any loss by water standing on your wheat Try it, brother farmers, and I am sure you will like the plan. Now, Mr. Editor, I wish to make an inquiry as to your opinion whether saw dust strewn on to land and plowed in would be of any benefit. We'liave a saw mill on our place, and considerable saw dust has ac- cumulated around and under it, and I think of draw- ing a quantity of it and plowing into a summer fallow; but if you think it will not be of any material benefit, 1 shall not do it. Last winter I drew several loads of it, together with several loads of forest leaves, into the barnyard for the purpose of trying to make ma- nure of them. Since I have taken the Genesee Far- mer, I have come to the conclusion that manure is the true philosopher's stone — it turns all to gold it touches. Farmer of Niagara. — Pekin, JYcw York, May, 1849. Rem vrks. — We suppose that saw dust possesses as much value as any ether vegetable matter, even the dung of animals after it is leached of its soluble salts. It is the material that forms hiimus, which is the bread and meat of plants. Its action is not im- mediate, except so far as it renders compact clayey soils porous, and pervious to air and water. After it has gone through a species of carbonizing process, it becomes humus, the material that changes the color and darkens all virgin and rich antripical soils. It cannot fail of enriching any kind of soil, particularly if the saw dust is from the hard woods. Pine, hem- lock, and the whole fir family would have a delete- rious effect, unless long composted, and the resinous quality destroyed by lime or natural decomposition. * Wind Mills. — In your Mav number, page lO^pl find an inquiry about. Wind Wheels. If your cor- respondent in Van Buren will take the pains to in- quire of Mr. Truman Kidder, of Warren, Warren co., Pa., he will obtain all the information he wishes, and find exactly the wheel he wants. Subscrhskr. — Warren, Pa., 1849. Wht not furnish us a brief description, price, &c, for publication in the Farmer ? — Ed. NOTES FROM A WISCONSIN FARMER. Messrs. Boitoh i After wishing you the success a valuable work merits, 1 will jot down a lew ram- bling thoughts. 1 would merely hint, to Dr. Horr that I think him ahead of the 1 , ,nt the potato rot. Were his statements correct a preventive is at hand. • undoubtedly he effected by dre Bing i1 til or i with lime or ashes ,• tor I have found the application of them sufficient to expel ever] kind I ■.. - < from the soil and crop. A half acre near tic house, I supplied so liberally thai an insect is rarely Been on it; and as evidence of this, neither hen or bird at- tempt to find them, even when newly plowed. Yet, even in this ground, the potatoes rot ; and though the worm described is found in the corn fields and where, I have not been able to detect it or any ol insect in the potato vines — although 1 have exain them for three years past, commencing as soon as I could see they w-ere affected, and looking often until cold weather, splitting the vines, kc. They rotted three times as much on ground plowed ten or twelve inches, as where plowed not more than six. Speaking of plowing leads me to another topic. — I do not know but our western land may ultimately need deep tilling: at present it appears not beneficial. I know not whether we have any land that, with the best management, would produce such a crop of corn as stated by Mr. Sheldon. I have fifty acres that will pro luce from seventy to ninety bushel- per acre, by plowing from six to eight inches deep, and hoe- ing, (without manuring or harrowing.) which i would like to let some of the Gei have, that they might cultivate it thoroughly and see if it would not produce as much as heart could wish, of corn, wheat or root crops. The latter, with half cultiva- tion, arc produced in astonishing quantities. I have a little native cow that has been kept out. at the stack all winter, which will give as mrtch milk and of as good quality as any Durham of her weight ; but the art of obtaining as much butter or ch therefrom, as we read in the Farmer that some have done, I am confident we do not | I am told that one man, a few miles from here, has commenced building wire fence, and finds it very ex- pensive. We cannot go into it here so long as the merchants make us pay twenty-five cents per lb. for wire — and its utility and durabilit; bted. Our friend's views on "keeping the swinish mul- titude at home" are to the point. I intend to show the article to a well off Pennsylvania farmer, who keeps a large herd of swine and pastures them wh lly in the road, in hopes that he will take the hint. That Van may be a decent man, aside from his polities. The Horticultural' Department of the Farmer we all much need in this section. It contains the most information on the subject of any journal that I have been privileged with n a li ■. Though perhaps more applicable to the farmers of New York and New England, (who farm it on a smaller scale than us westerners,) I feel disposed to continue the Farmer for the satisfaction of redding it ; and learning what improvements are being mad" ; also learning the views of man] d i and distant persons on various, and sot tortant subject , You perceive thai 1 cannot write like some of your friends : but what I have written is in whole, part or none, at your service, as our Van Buren friend says. Smith. — Spring Prairie, tVis., May, 1849. 164 THE GENESEE FARMER. JfL\ i: SEYMOUR'S DRILL AND BROADCAST SOWING MACHINE. Messrs. Editors : — There is so much of the Bar- on Munchausen style in the advertisements of Drills in the Genesee Farmer, that your readers may think the effort is to out brag each other. I have no inter- est in bragging- of Seymours Machine. I have owned and used his broad cast sowing machine for the last eight years, and have noticed the improve- ments he has made in it. I have sown with it differ- ent kinds of grain, plaster, plaster and salt mixed, ashes, clover and herds grass seeds, flax, fee. At first it was an imperfect machine, but with the late improvements it works satisfactory in all respects. The drill he has but recently attached, and I have had but little opportunity of seeing it work. I have been in several fields of wheat drilled in last fall, and have carefully examined the work. There is no in- termissions or failure in the drills, but the wheat has come up uniformly in all of them. I have examined fields put in with Palmer's drill last fall, and the year before, and have found some of the drills miss- ing for rods together, and then a great deal too much wheat would be dropped. From the manner in which the wheat is agitated in Seymour's drill, I think a failure of dropping seed will rarely occur. I have no doubt but it will sow wheat which has been soaked and rolled in lime, or plaster, and barley and oats, al- though I have not seen it done. I have drilled in corn and beans, and my neighbors have drilled in beets and carrots, satisfactorily. From what I have known of this drill and sowing machine, I have no hesitation in saying that I think it a valuable machine ; and it can be altered from a drill to a broad cast machine in a few minutes. — However popular drilling may become, some of the smaller grains, clover and grass seeds, plaster, ashes and lime, will always be sown broadcast It is not always the horse upon which bets are the- most freely offered, that wins in the race — so, don't start until Seymour's Machine is in the field. All, r a fair race, let impartial judges decide. At all events let the farmer be benefitted, whoever wins or loses. — Myron Adams. East Bloomjield, J\\ F., 1849, Remarks.— The testimony of our valued corres- pondent is reliable, inasmuch as it is founded upon experience, as well as observation. We were favored with an opportunity of examining Mr. Seymour's drill, a few days since. It is well built, and pos- sesses some improvements and advantages over many of the other drills now in use. Whether it will prove "A, No. 1," among the drilling machines re- cently offered to the public, is a question which remains to be determined. At any rate we think it worthy of a trial by grain growing farmers — for, whether best or second best, it will be found a valua- ble labor-saving (and seed-saving) article. We will add, for the information of those who may desire to obtain this Drill, that it may be had on ap- plication to Seymour k, Morgan, of" Brockport; C. Seymour, of York ; Anthony, Rountree k. Everson, of Union Springs ; or P. Seymour, of East Bloom- field, N. Y. See advertisement in May number. CATTLE IN CHAUTAUQUE COUNTY. Mr. T. B. Campbell, of Westfield, N. Y., com- municates the following to the Cultivator : — The County of Chautauque, is perhaps, one of the best agricultural sections of the State of New York, and particularly adapted to the breeding and rearing of stock. Hence it has been an object among our farmers for a number of years past, to improve the breed of cattle, sheep and horses. The short horns, and that breed crossed with the common stock, have, until recently, been considered the most valuable, and yielding the greater profit. A few years since the Her- ford breed was introduced here, at first they did not meet with general favor; it was feared that they were too small, and that they would reduce the weight of our cattle. Experience has proved such conclusions en- tirely wrong. The cross with the Hereford and our cows, they being generally of the short horned descent, proves to be one of the greatest improvements in the bt(fed of the Chautauque cattle that has yet been in- troduced, and will add much to the interest of the breeder and farmer. I cannot speak with as much cretainty from my own experience, in regard to their quality for the diary, but those who have proved them, recommend the richness of their milk in the highest manner, and rank them in the first class for the dairy. 1849. T1IK GENKSKK FAKMKR. 165 COST OF FENCES IN THE UNITED STATES. BY J. S. SKINNEK. The cost of building and repairing the Fences in the United States, is enormous, almost beyond the power of calculation, ami forces the enquiry, whether Legislatures ought not to be called upon to compel every man to keep his Btock to himself. Then no man, who did not choose to do it, would be forced to enclose his land against the ravages of his neighbor's stock. Mr. Biddle, a few years since, in an address before ,the Philadelphia Agricultural Society, stated that the cost of the fences in Pennsylvania amounted to $100,- 000,000, and their annual expense he estimated at $10,000,000. A distinguished writer on National Wealth, says : "Strange as it may seem, the great- est investment in this country, the most costly pro- duction of human industry, is the common fences which enclose and divide the fields. No man dreams that when compared to the outlay of these unpre- tending monuments of human art, our cities and our towns, with all their wealth, are left far behind. In many places the fences have cost more than the fences and farms are worth. It is this enormous burden which keeps down the agricultural interest of this country, causing an untold expenditure, besides the loss of the land the fences occupy/' Estimating a chestnut post and rail fence to last 18 years, and including inside fencing and repairs, the annual tax to the farmer holding 150 acres, will be $130 to $140, and judging from the present appear- ances, the tax is perpetual, and there seems but little hope of escape from it. Did the intelligent farmer reflect a moment, and estimate the annual tax which his fences impose upon him, he would not rest till the system was abolished, or else the live hedge took the place of the present expensive fence of timber. The system of compelling every landholder to en- close his property, is peculiar to the United States, with only the exception of England, where the fence nuisance appears again under the form of the hedge; and although these hawthorn hedges, when they are well tended — and not more than half of them are so — are beautiful objects, and answer all the purposes of protection against the inroads of cattle, still the public voice is beginning to cry out against them, because of the enormous amount of land required to support them. Each hedge is five or six feet wide at its base, and taking into account the amount of land they exhaust on either side, the whole space cannot be less than twelve or fourteen feet wide. When it is recollected that the divisions and sub-divisions of land in England are very numerous, the amount of arable land abstracted from the purposes of agricul- ture, is very great. It has been estimated at several million bushels of grain. — Plough, Loom and Anvil. Wheat at the South. — This important crop has been more than half destroyed by frost, rust and in- sects. " Canal Flour" is coming here by the cargo. At present it is impossible to form a reasonable con- jecture how much will be needed before the next har- vest. Corn has been as high as 85 cents in this city, (Augusta, Ga.) It is now (6th June,) 65 cents. — Flour $7 a barrel. One thousand bundles of North- ern hay landed within the last month, and is selling at $1 25 per 100 lbs. Curn promises well. Cotton less than an average crop by 20 per cent. A NEW WATER DRAWER. A. Grekn h, Co.'s Self-acting) double Well Hi i sets. — This invention performs double the work with the Bame labor, thai th ■■ indlass bucket does. It is so simple in its operations that a child can as easily and Bafely draw wi ter as an older per- son. It brings up the water from the shallowest wells without riling, and delivers it with the same certainty in the dark as in the light. From itse ex- pedition it becomes very valuable, when large quanti- ties of water are required lor cattle, or in cases of fire. It is a well settled fact, that all wells that are im- pregnated with any of the sulphurous gasses, do not give good water with the pump, owing to its taking the lower stratum of the water, which has not been exposed to the atmosphere, and lost its gasses — and from the accumulation of a mephitic atmosphere fill- ing the closed well with its noxious properties, and surcharging the water ; while the bucket, from its motion, constantly renews the air and takes the water from the surface, which has given up its gasses from their levity. • One of these machines can be seen in operation, on the farm of L. B. Langwortht, Esq., Ridge Road, three miles from Rochester — and in a few days, one will be on exhibition in this city. Messrs. A. Green & Co., of Port Byron, N. Y., are the manu- facturers. Use of Inferior Farm Implements. — We late- ly saw an old fashioned plow at one of our largest plow manufactories. On inquiry, we found that it was a pattern on which the proprietors commenced their business, some 15 or 20 years ago; and al- though a very good plow, for that period, it is super- seded among all intelligent farmers, by other and more recently constructed patterns, which will do the same work, and with at least a quarter less labor. We found that the single reason of its now being employed, in preference to others, with most of those using it is, that it has a point, or share of cast iron, costing some 15 cents each, which admits of being worn out at both ends, instead of one end only, as those now constructed. The saving of 7 J cents, in this share, determines its use; and this is saved at an additional expenditure of team power, costing not less than 25 to 50 cents per day, which, by the time the share is worn out, would amount to from $5 to $50, according to the soil. Such wiseacres are ne- ver guilty of taking nor reading agricultural papers, to teach them a better system of economy. — Ameri- can Agriculturist. 106 THE GENESEE FARMER. July MANUFACTURE OF CHEESE. BY A. I,. KISH. [Continued from page 142.] In raising the heat to scald the curd, it is not proper at all times to raise it to a given point with the same rapidity, because, sometimes when the curd appears ready to scald, a rapid increase of heat will soften in- stead of hardening it, owing to ihe rennet not hav- ing time to perform its office properly. At other times it may be necessary to raise heat speedily, in scalding, to keep pace with the effect of rennet, which is accelerated by the milk being nearly sour. The slower rennet acts upon curd the longer time is required to raise and hold a scalding heat, never ex- ceeding one hundred degrees, Fahrenheit, except to suppress a speedy action of rennet with sour milk ; then, an excess above blood heat will retard its ope- ration and keep pace with its effect. The cheese- maker should bear in mind, that heat and rennet are the principal agents used, and success depends much upon their action being properly combined throughout. "Are any other than calves' rc.nets used, and what is the best method of preserve . and preparing them for use ?" Swines' rennets were formerly u^ .', mixed with those of calves, to make a cheese sol id tender, and those of sheep and beeves were used harden curd and keep cheese in a pressed shape ; n 1 1 know of no dairyman that now uses them. Whatever plan is adopted to preserv rennets for future use, care should be taken that tl decompo- sing properties of the stomach do not con nue to act, and the strength evaporate. When salteo and dried the rennets should be kept in a dry atmosphere, or the salt in them will attract moisture, and soon de- stroy their best properties. It is argued by many experienced dairymen, that the stomach, with all its contents pickled together in salt, will make more cheese, and of as good flavor, as when dried without the curd. But I would ask, if meat were salted with all the blood and animal fluids in it, would it be as good flavored at the end of a year, as if well dressed and salted ? And would not a quantity of food, half digested, salted with the stomach, materially effect its flavor, if kept a long time ? Beef and pork are sold in market, after being in salt one or more years, at a re- duce I price, as " old meat," having lost its best flavor. The flavor of cheese depends much upon the flavor of the rennet used. Therefore, I think splitting the rennet, and stretching it with sticks, so that it will be of a single thickness, and will dry quickly, is the best and surest way to preserve a good flavor. To prepare Rennets for use. — Take as many gallons of water as rennets in number ; put them hi the water, blood warm ; soak them twenty-four hours ; stir them frequently in the time ; strain the liquor and let it settle ; make it as salt as possible : if any skum rises it should be skimmed off. While this liquor la^ts a uniform strength may be relied upon. It should be stirred to the bottom before being used. " Is milk more apt to sour from the effect of elec- tricity, in tin vessels, than in wood ?" The ease with which tin vessels are kept clean, makes them preferable to wood. An opinion con- ceived by many, that tin vessels have a tendency to sour milk, at a season when thunder showers are fre- qu 'ol, is not an objection to their general use. There aie other causes for milk's becoming sour, to be ta- ken into account first. Excitement of cows from any cause will affect their milk, and they are more excitable in changeable weather, than when the weather is steady, cool or warm. In hot, damp weather, more cows will be in heat, and give bad milk, which if mixed with other milk at evening, will be a more direct cause for sour curd than any effect of electricity upon milk, after it is taken from the cow ; and in such weather, milk vessels are not thor- oughly dried, after being used, in which state they often get foul. An old barrel, put up in form of a leach, near the dairy room, and ashes thrown into it occasionally, and leached, and the lye used freely about meese-cloths, press, foe, will remove one cause for sour curd. I use no wood vessels in my dairy. "Is there danger of pressing a cheese too hard ?" Not any. If it has been over heated in the milk or curd, it may he pressed so dry that it will be a lifeless (tasteless) cheese, and so it would be if it were pressed lightly. " Should the animal heat be allowed to pass off from the morning's milk ?" The most perfect affinity should be maintained among the constituent parts of milk that is curded or worked together, throughout, that it may not waste in working; and plague in curing. It is, therefore, necessary that all should b/> cooled and warmed alike. A. L. Fish. — Litchfield, Herkimer co., JY. Y., 1849. BENEFIT OF AGRICULTURAL PAPERS. Friend Moore : — I send you pay for thirty copies of the Genesee Farmer. It is all I can find, in this place, that wish to subscribe for an agricultural paper; many more, I am satisfied would, were they not ignorant of its value. There is certainly a 'vast difference in the cultivation of twro farms, and fixtures about them, where the one is done by a man who regularly rea's an agricultural journal, and the other by one who reads nothing on the subject. It is a matter of surprise to me that there are so many in this county that read nothing on this subject. There are fanners of my acquaintance who refuse to sub- scribe' for your journal for the reason that their crop of wheat failed the past year. I know two men owning farms joining each other in the town of . One of them has been a constant subscriber to the Genesee Farmer for sev- eral years past. His fences, barns, stables and far- ming implements are as they should be; his stock well provided for; his farm produces bountifully. The other knows enough about farming without read- ing; or, in other words, does not wish to be a book farmer; and his farm shows it to any who may pass that way, for it is enclosed with the poorest fence in the town; his farming implements (what few he has) are in proportion. He has no shelter for his cattle but the broadside of his barn, or a small stack of straw; he has nograinery i.i either of his barns, and was necessitated this winter to loan the use of one from his better managing neighbor, to store a small crop of wheat which he did not pet threshed in time for fall market. The former works upon good sound theory, and it gives him pleasure and profit — the latter, of necessity, and if he happens to have a good cron, (though he seldom doe^) he is a lucky man. And, friend Moore, it is universally the case, as far as my acquaintance extends, that those farmers who read the most are the closest and most accurate ob- servers, and universally get the host pay for their labor and capital invested. A Friend ok Improve- ment.— Seneca Co., A". 1 ., 1849. 1849. E GENESEE FARMER. 107 Spirit o*' tljc 3griaiitural JJress. ANi.u Manure.— Robert Brj Cumberland county, about eight miles from Harrisburgh. hat rimen I m-bark nd valual le is a man i ' rries on the tanning business, Fi- nally. after i pense and many failuri has Buccei led in a method of producing from .i manure. Tins is his plan: He has his tan wheeled out on to a level piece of ground, and leveled off, two or three feet thick. Over thi ds a layer of two or three in -In g of lime, and over ih tt again a s ti-iium of tan. i : so on I le lets the bed s pre- cemain i'ir two years: at the end of this time he himself in possession of a bed of manui icts of which upon the land, can hardly be surpassed for the rich- ness of its product and the durable fertility which it imparls. Co., I'i., Farmer. Proper Selection of Stock. — At a late agricultural lion in Derbyshire, Mr. '>. Greaves remarked that the choice of a breed pf stock was as important as the manage- ment [tBeemedto him that enough attention was seldom paid to the particular kind of produce it was inten led I i ob- tain from stock. The same breed did not answer for . and Cor the dairy too; tor the early maturity of stock and the propensity to fatten, were m ist observable when) . e functions were not so perfect, whereas the milker was almost always a good iireeddk For early feed- •ck. it wodld always be advantageous to mix good nursing dames with sires that had:; great tendency to fat- ten. He agreed in the opinion thai feeding stock should be kept well when young, but calves intended for the dairy, and ewe Iambs for the breeding dock, should not be made fat. — Cultivator. A Freak of Nature. — A communication in the Boston Courier from the lite editor of that piper, Mr. Buckingham, states that Mr. William Carter, of Cambridge, has a healthy and well-formed calf, having a coat of wool instead of hair! There is no perceptible did'erenee in the appearance of the animal's hide, from that of a saeep of the same age. Like the sheep, the face and lower part of the legs are covered with sliort and not very pliant hair; th-3 rest of the body has a covering of wool, which, to all appearance, may alford as liberal a fleece as a true Saxon or Merino. Camklina Sativa. — Some of the Georgia planters, for want of. sufficient encouragement in the cultivation of the cotton-plant, are beginning to give attention to the culture of Camelina Sativa, (or gold of pleasure.) an unctious seed resembling flax-seed, from which oil is expressed in the same manlier as from rlax-seed. The plant is a native of S^beri t, but well adapted to our southern climate. It is an annual growing from two and a half to three feet high, and yields a large and certain crop. It is already in demand in this country. Worth Trying For. — The London Athenaeum says that the Belgian Government has instituted two prizes of five thousand francs, with a gold medal and duo thousand francs respectively; the first for the best work on general agricul- ture, the second for the best treatise on the disease of the po- tatoes. Foreigners are invited to compote, and manuscripts are to lie sent to the Ministry of the Interior before the 1st of January in next year. Extensive Coal Fikld. — The great central coal field of the Mississippi valley covers an area of 70,001) square miles, or 4-1,8 10,000 square acres — six times the area of all the coal fields of Great Britain ; and yet. this vast supply is seldom taken into the account, \\ hen estimates are made of the coal resources of the United States. Singular Mode of Keeping Fish alive. — Those wor- thy individuals who lake delight in Iziak Walton's art, and who, moreover, are in the h ibit of s nding the result oc their sports lo their epicurean acquaintanc s. must learn an indis- pensable piece of information, viz.: h iw to keep fish This may be done by soaking the soft part of lire ul in bran- dy, and inserting it into the gill of the fish, while it is yet alive, and afterwards sprinkling it over gently with brandy, Thus prepared, and carefully pecked in straw, the fish will keep alive ten or twele days, as may be pr >ved by putting it in fresh water at the end of that time when, after a few hours' immersion, it will recover from its protracted drunk- enness.— London Literary Gazette. R re;.- FOR R.AI ■ >.— I. \ll ki pi under co .> r. out o we uhei , durii ■-.'. Twice oi eek, pepper, shallots, shn ■ uld he mixed up w ith th ir food. :f. \ >m dl lump of ass ifiBtida should bo placed in t i their u iter is given them to drink. 4. Whenever tin j ma . the droopin the u ings or anj other outw ird sign of ill health, a lid i ito small lui '.Mlh their food. ... Chickens whi i it from the dunghills i lould be the ob- il i hose who h s to preclude their young from the range1 of born or stable yard i. il. Should any of the chickens have th . up small p assafjetidu, rhubarb and pepper, in . m one-half the bowl <.>!' a sm dl tea p ion. 7. For the pip, the following treatment is judicious: off the indurated covering on the point of the tongue, and give twice a day for two or three days, a piece of gar size of a pea. If garlic c in not be obtained, oni i or shives will answer, an 1 if n either of th ii nt, r tins of black pepper, to he given in fresh butter, will answer. 8. For the snuffles, the same remedies as for the gapes will ad highly curative; Inn, in idditinn to them, it > try to melt a little ass tfuetid i in fresh butter, and rub the chicken about the nostrils, t iking cure to clean them out. it. Grown-up ducks arc sometimes taken off rapidly by convulsions. In such cases, four drops of rhubarb, and four grains of cayenne pepper, mixed in fresh butter, should be administered. L ist year we lost several by this disease, and this year the same symptoms m'nifi Ives among them; but we arrested the malady without loosing a si duck, by a dose of the above medicine to such as were ill. One of the ducks was at the time paralyzed, but was thus saved. Vivegar. — Many families purchase their vinegar at a very considerable ann ml expense: some ''make do" with a very indifferent article; and others, for want of a little knowledge and less industry, go without. It is an matter however, to be at all times supplied with good vine. ^ar, and that too without much expense. The juice of one bushel of sugar beets, worth twenty-live cents. anJ which any farmer can raise without cost, will make from live to -ix gallons of vinegar, equal t> the bcd local expenses. It can hardly be doubted that the amount, I, w ill bj ; ■ >mptly subscribed. W gratulat" our Michigan friends this enterprise, and antici- pate fromlt, if energetically ano liciously pro i il ii ne ii i I r suits. No State in be Union is moi vorably situated for proltabl^ agriculture than Michigan. — Her soil is fertil •. her cli oate is mild and salubrious, >n I al- most surrounded as she is by water, she has, in connection with her extended system of internal improvement:, and mi igable streams, un-mrp issed facilities for sending her sur- plus products to market. — Buffalo Com. Adv. 168 THE GENESEE FARMER. Jui HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, EDITED BY P. BARRY. HARDY FLOWERING- TREES AND SHRUBS. This is the season of the Flowers' Triumph. No matter how indifferent man may profess to be to their influence; he may wish to banish them from the world as useless, and substitute in their place what he calls useful. He may boast his want of taste and refine- ment—his insensibility to the charms of grace and beauty— he may proclaim his own ignorance, and glory in his own shame; — yet that man remains to be found whose feelings are not touched, and his heart captivated by the lily and the rose, and their compan- ions in beauty. He has not traveled far on his jour- ney through life, who has not stopped to do homage to the flowers. .This is not only the season of the Flowers' Tri- umph, but it is the season that awards the diligent cultivator a hundred fold for all his toils. Many who had resolved on better things, have now bitterly to lament that the spring is gone, the season of flowers come, and their grounds present the same unsightly appearance as in former years, while those of their neighbors literally " bud and blossom as the rose." The following are a, few select Trees and Shrubs that have bloomed during the month of June: The White flowering Horse Chestnut, is a noble tree, considered in all respects— form, foliage and flowers — entirely free from disease of any sort, and flourishing in all soils and situations. It is becoming more and more a favorite for street, park and door- yard planting. It is fast taking the place of the Button-wood, which is rapidly dying off from some disease that has been preying on it for a few years past. Nothing surpasses the beauty of a fine Horse chestnut in bloom. The dense and luxuriant mass of foilage form a rich back ground for the flowers which rise up in spikes a foot or so in length. There are red and yellow flowering species, and several rare varieties, but whilst all are desirable for large collec- tions, none of them equal the common or white flow- ering for general planting. Propagated from seeds planted either fall or spring ; the rare ones are budded or grafted on the common. The Mountain Ash is another beautiful tree of a habit similar to the preceding — that is, with a round or regular shaped head. The foliage is small but dense. The flowers .appear in umbels, like those of the carrot or parsnip, and are succeeded by clusters of reddish yellow berries, that coustitute the peculiar beauty of this tree, in the Autumn. There are two species commonly cultivated, the one European and the other American. The European has the most compact and regular habit ; small, but greater density of foilage, and smaller and deeper colored fruit. The American is more spreading or irregular in habit — large foilage and fruit. Each has a beauty of its own, suited to different tastes and positions in a different landscape. We like thr b^th. They grow rapid! y enough to suit any o\- ol moderate patience. The berries are gathere'1 tn the Autumn, the pulp washed off, and the seeds buried in a dry soil or sand for a year before planting. Most of the seeds of the American species will grow the first year, if scalded. It is usually said of this tree, and truly, that u it needs no pruning and is never out of shape." The Flowering Ash, (Ornus europasus.) — This tree, although long cultivated, is by no means com- mon— yet it well deserves a place among select trees. It grows vigorously and with moderate rapidity. It forms a round dense head — foilage, deep green and glossy — and the flowers, which are of greenish white, are produced in large clusters about the middle of June. It is usually grafted on the common species of Ash. The Laburnum, or Golden Chain, is one of the most elegant trees. It has a spreading, irregular habit, rich deep green foilage, and pendulous racemes six to twelve inches long, of golden yellow blossoms. There are two species, the common and the Scotch, that resemble each other ; the latter flowers a week or so later. There is also a purple variety, with pendulos flower spikes like the others, but of a reddish purple eolor, with a yellow tinge. These three make trees twenty to thirty feet high. Of the same genus (cytussus,) there are many dwarf and pendulous growing species, with white, yellow and purple flowers, that make very pretty border shrubs, and when grafted on the common sorts, four to six feet high, make charming little trees for a lawn. Of these we have now before us the purpureus, with slender branches and delicate, pretty blossoms; iriflorus, three flowered — yellow flowers in great profusion; falcatus, or sickle podded, also yellow. The common sort, first named, is propagated from seeds, as the locust; the others are increased by grafting, budding or lay- ering. While speaking of these we may mention another fine plant akin to them, the common or Scotch Broom — a shrub that grows six or eight feet high, small leaves, and bright golden yellow flowers, now, (June 16,) in full bloom. Raised from seeds, also, or layers, as may be convenient. Floivering Thorns. — These rank among the finest spring or June flowering trees and shrubs. The Double White has its flowers in large clusters of charming little double, pure white blossoms, changing to pink as they decay. The Double Scarlet, is quite rare, only different in color from the preceding. Then there is the single pink, and single scarlet; the centre of the flowers of both is white, and adds much to their beauty. They have the delicious fragrance of the English Harwthorn. We hold all these to be indis- pensable in a nice collection of flowering trees and shrubs. They are increased, like fruit trees, by graft- ing or budding on the common thorns. We see no difficulty in the way of making hedges of these beau- tiful thorns. They can be propagated by budding rapidly, and at one year from the bud will be fit for hedge rows; and, if mixed with Privet, to fill up spa- ces, we think that, for the enclosure of lawns, &c, where beauty would be desirable, these would be just the thing. We can imagine nothing more beautiful than a hedge of these Doable White and Scarlet thorns, in full blossom, enclosing a brig-lit green lawn. The White Fringe, (Chionanthus virginica,) now (June 18) in full bloom — a distinct and beautiful shrub or small tree, ten or fifteen feet high, with very large, glossy foliage, and pure white, delicate flowers, resembling cut paper. It is increased from seeds, but they will lie a year in the ground before they grow. It may be grafted on the common ash. It loves a moist soil. In its own class of trees it Has to rival. The Spiraeas are a fine class of shrubs, ranging from about two or three to twelve feet in height, and bearing immense numbers of beautiful clusters of white flowers. The Spinea lanceolata is the most 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 1(>9 oing of all. Its clusters of blossoms of the pur- contrasting with its bright green leaves, b picture enough to enrapture the lover of ' -■■ beauties, and Btir a chord of feeling in the i useless h< art. The Rose •Acacia is a beautiful shrub, deserving a place in every collection. The Lilacs &re well known, and the common purple and white generally cultiva- ted. The Persian Purple, White Persian, and Mi- mosa leaved are fine and rare sorts. HJNTS FOR JULY. See that your Dahlias are carefully tied up to stakes, and all superfluous shoots taken off. Wa- ter plentifully in ease of drouth, and have an eye e attacks of insects— and in a little while they will pay you liberally for the attention. Plants that are headed out, m masses — such as Verbenas, Roses, Petunias, Phloxes, &x., require at- tention. The great object to be aimed at is to have ground entirely covered by a mass of foliage and flowers. To secure this,, the shoots must be laid down, and where necessary, staked to the ground. Tie xip neatly all Herbaceous Plants. Cut off withered flower-stems, and keep your beds free from weeds. Fruit. — As soon as the Fruit is gathered, straw- berry beds should be thoroughly free of weeds, and of the runners, if the beds are young; but if old, plant out good strong runners for a new bed, and spade down the old ones. Choose damp, cloudy weather for this; and if you can find such weather, no matter how soon you u fix'' your strawberry bed. Pear trees for Pyramids, should have their side- shoots pinched to keep them in shape. It is much better than a heavy pruning in spring or winter, which induces such vigorous growth as usually retards bearing. Dwarf and Pyramidal Cherries, and indeed all Garden or dwarf trees, are much bet- ter for this summer pinching, as it in a great meas- ure obviates the necessity of a pruning the follow- ing spring, and hastens bearing. In raising standard trees, the side branches should never be wholly removed until the stem has acquired strength and proportion. When they are removed, the tree becomes top-heavy, and unable to support itself. Pinching occasionally these side branches keeps them in balance and assists the tree in acqui- ring strength where it is needed. Effects of the cold and wet weather on the Peach. — In the month of June every year the young leaves of the peach tree, are more or less affected by changes of temperature, as we suppose. Some hold the opinion, that it is caused by insects, but we think without good reason. This season it has been much more injurious to the trees in this vicinity than we have ever known it to be before. The leaves have been wholly affected, becoming swollen, thick, heavy and crumpled, and will all drop. The trees have suf- fered greatly from it, particularly large trees of bear- ing size. In many cases the sap has become dis- eased and is producing what is known as the "gum," to which all the stone fruit trees are liable. We can think of no other cause for this malady than our cold and exceedingly wet weather in May avid June. Our trees in this region, passed through the severe winter unscathed. They blossomed well, Bet their fruit abundantly, and had commenced grow- ing vigorously. We apprehend, however, that a greal portion of the crop v,ii be losl through this malady. Trees thai have aufifered in this way will require particular attention, or in many cases they may be lust entirely. A> Boon as the disease termin- al s. (which v. ill he when the weather becoi Bteadily warm,) and the tree begins to grow again, the parts i .,1, and all feeble or diseased branches, or parts of branches, should be remo> as to encourage the production of vigorous, healthy wood for next year's bearing. It may be added, that as far as we have observed, young nursery trees do not seem to suffer more than to be slightly retarded in their growth. The shoots made by the buds inserted last season are generally not affected at all. THE NEMOPHILA. The JVemophila i7isignis is one of the prettiest of all dwarf annuals for the border, or for masses on a lawn. Its foliage is delicate and fine, and its flow- ers of a beautiful blue. It blooms in great profu- sion, and a long time. We extract the following notice from the Horticultural Magazine (English.) There is another new and rare one, maculata, of a fine dark violet, with a white spot in the margin of the petal, worthy a place among the select annuals : This is a showy annual of a dwarf grOwth, which soon displays abundance of small blue flow- ers, a little cupped, having a purewhite eye, and deeply cut leaves. Its seeds may be sown at dif- ferent seasons, a few in April, and a few at the end of September; for if the winter be not very sharp, they will bloom very early in spring, and those sown in the spring will come in- to flower by the time the autumn- sown ones decline. The young plants will bear removal, but I prefer sowing them where they are to bloom; there is, however, no harm in planting out the few that you take up from a patch when they have been sown too thickly; and some gardeners make them regularly potted plants, and therefore sow all in one place, and pot off or plant out at pleasure. They are very beautiful till they begin to straggle along the ground, when, although they still keep flowering a little, I should advise you to pull them up to make room for something better. Apples. — (A. T.. Mich.) The Mother and Melon apples are first rate ; the latter, particularly, we know to be, as you say, " A, No. 1." We never thought so much of it as we do now. We have had it in tine eating on the first of May. To our taste, it is far superior to the " Wagoner," which is a good apple. 170 THE GENESEE FARMER. July EFFECTS OF THE PAST WINTER ON TREES. From many portions of the Western States we have information that the severity of last winter has been exceedingly distructive to trees. A friend in Illinois, says : — " Ml of our orchard peaches, and most of our choice cherries, (and we had 'a good few ' of them, as our Yorkshire neighbor says,) are dead — defunct, winter-killed ; not blighted a la , but killed by cold. And many, too many, of our pears are in the same fix, and eke some. Our two or three years old nursery peaches mostly dead, and one year old two-thirds dead, and last years buds half dead. Most of the native seedlings still alive, and- on the lower limbs (which were buried in snow,) there were abundance of flowers, and will be some fruit. Mr. , of Wisconsin, writes me that near- ly all of his pears and plums in the nursery are dead, and also many apples." The nursery business here has quite enough of toil and trouble for us, but in a climate like that of portions of the west, how must it be ? What a thorough cure i/jch experience as the above would be for some persons who seem to be laboring under a delusive idea that the nursery business is one of the most lucrative and delightful in the world. Before they get into it they dream of Fruits and Flowers, pleasure and riches ; after they get fairly embarked in the matter, they sometimes dream of excessive cold, heat, frost, snotv, hail-storms, blight, insects, rain, drought, and a thousand other things that annoy the poor cultivator. In Western New York we had a remarkably se- vere winter, but vegetation seemed to suffer very little. We have not seen a single tree, old or young, winter killed. Pawlonias, Ailantus, Catalpas and other tender trees are quite uninjured. Young Deodar Cedars, Auracarias, and other evergreens planted out last summer, and not protected at all dur- ing the hardest part of the winter, are perfectly safe. Roses generally, had more of their tops winter killed than usual, but this has done them very little harm. Fruit trees are very promising, as we stated in the June number. Apricots, Nectarins, Peaches, Plums, Appres, and indeed all the fruits, are bearing at this moment, an abundant crop. The young trees in the nursery never looked better. The buds of peaches, pears, plums, and indeed all the fruits look unusually well. This is a great contrast with the state of things in Illinois, Wisconsin, fk.c, which our friends communicate. Culture of Orchards. — It is an indispensable requisite, in all young orchards, to keep the ground mellow and loose by cultivation ; at least for the first few years, until the trees are well established. In- deed, of two adjoining orchards, one planted and kept in grass, and the other plowed for the first five years, there will be an incredible difference in favor of the latter. Not only will these trees show rich dark luxuriant foliage, and clean smooth stems, while those neglected will have a starved and sickly look, but the size of the trees in the cultivated orchard will be treble that of the others at the end of this time, and a tree in one will be ready to bear an abundant crop, before the other has commenced yielding a peck of good fruit. Fallow crops are the best for orchards, — potatoes, vines, buckwheat, roots, Indian corn, and the like. An occasional crop of grass, or grain may be taken. — Downing. ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENTS. Degeneracy of Apples by, continued Grafting.— I have been informed by some of our oldest innahitants, that the uniform effect of grafting successively from a graft, is, de- generacy of the fruit; that the degeneracy comm 'nces with the third remove from the parent stock, and rs increased with each successive departure: Thus the fruit of a craft taken from a seedling stock, is better than the original that the fruit of a graft taken from this grift, will be about equal to the preceding; but that the fruit of a graft taken from this latter, will be inferior to the preceding; and that the next will be still worse, and so on indefinitely. Query. — Is it al- ways so? II, No, not ahcays so, nor so in any case. What would be the natural result of this law of degeneracy? Why. it is plain that our best apples would, in perhaps fifty years from the seed, be no better than crabs. Bad modes of propagating, the use of bad stock, bad culture, &c, &c, causes degene- ration in trees and consequently in the fruit, but grafting alone, under proper circumstances, does not, nor never has, caused degeneracy. On the contrary it may, and in many cases does, greatly contribute to the amelioration of fruits, as most cultivators very well know. Garden Snail or Slug. — Can you inform us of any remedy for the snail? Many of our gardens in Palmyra are badly infested with them. They cut down our cabbage plants, tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, corn, pumpkin-- and choice flower seed plants, almost as fast as we can get them out of the ground. They appear early in morning and eve- ning, by hundreds. The first we saw of them was last sea- son, destroying our cabbages. We have tried ashes and lime, and for a time it makes them writhe in pain, hut soon appears to loose its strength and they cease to mind it. Our borders are also iron! led with bl;ick ants, large and small. Any information in the Farmer will greatly ohliee many here, and elsewhere as I learn. R. G. Pardee.— Palmyra, N. Y., 1849. AlR-slacked lime can hardly fail to destroy the slugs. It should be applied early in the morning, in the evening, or after a rain. Lime water and other caustic solutions are used sometimes with success. . We have seen it suggested some where to place at short distances through the garden, small heaps of bran. The slugs assemhle round these and can the more easily be killed. During the heat of the day a great many may be destroyed in the shade of garden fences, plants, or other objects about the garden. Ants are destroyed by inundating their retreats with salt water, boiling water, ,or water and oil. To prevent them from injuring fruit, a ring of some sticky substance like paint, may be put around the tree, and renewed, to prevent their ascent — or a band of wool, or some such mat rial, will effect the same object. If they once get into a tree thoy can be trapped with vials of sweetened water hung among the branches. Early Richmond Cherry Seeds. — (I. F. ) We know of no reason why good well ripened seed should not grow. Your failure may be owing to some mismanagement in sav- ing the seed ; sometimes we fail entirely with the Mazzard and others. The seeds of all cherries should either be sown immediately when gathered, or be cleaned of the pulp and put away in earth or sand till planting time. The Apple Tree Borer. — (A Subscriber. Windsor, N. Y.) This is no doubt, the insect you have found in your trees. The larva; is thus described by Harris, in his ;' Trea- tise on Insects" ■ — " Whitish grubs nearly cylindrical, and tapering a little from the first ring to the end of the body. — The head is small, horny and brown ; the first ring much larger than the others, the next two are very short and with the first, are covered with punctures and very minute hairs; the following rings to the tenth inclusive, are each furnished on the upper and under side, with two fleshy warts situated close together, and destitute of the little rasp like teeth that are usually found in the grubs of the other Capricorn beetles; the eleventh and twelfth rings are very short, no appearance of legs can be seen, even with a magnifying glass of high power." The lervae stale continues two or three years. The safest and surest method to get rid of them, is to cut them out carefully with a knife, or they may be killed by a wire thrust into their holes. Paradise Stock.— (T. H., Richfield.) The usual method of propogation is by layers. Those used in this country have so far been mostly imported. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMttll. 171 BOTANY. STRUCTURE AND FUNi I ill' STEM. Plants an o exogenous and endogenous. T:> row by accumu- lation, or layers of matti r from the outside. This class includes m and most shrubs and herbaceous plants of temperate climates. The endogenous plants hich grow from the inside, or by accretion of matter within that al- read] I. Most of the bulhous plants of tem- perate regions, all the grasses, and the ; alms, cane, kc, of tropical countries, are endogenous. 'I'h.' exogenous Btem consists of bark, vrood and pith. The pith is a light spongy substance, at the centre of the stem; it is composed of cellular tissue, and exercise its peculiar functions only during the earlier growth of plants. (Wood.) The wood is composed of cylindrical or concentric , intersected by medullary rays, which are those thin dense | lates of wood dividing the "grains," and rge and easily seen in a piece of beech or oak' Fig. 1. Fit;. 2. wood which has been split. The pith, together with the first layer which incldses it, ar.e the pro- duct of the first year's growth ; one new layer is formed every succeed- ing year, — so that the number of r i n g s o-r " grains" at the base of the stem indicate correct- ly the age of the tree. — Each layer is composed of woody fibres, vasiform tis- sue and ducts. | Fig. 1 represents an exoge nn is stem of 1 year's growth; a, pith ; I), bark ; c. medulla- ry rays : d, woody bundles of 6bre. Fk'. 2, latieiferous ves- sels of the bark.] The outside, lighter colored layers constitute the albin :nm or " sap wood ;" the brownish layers inside are harder than the sap wood, and are hence called the duramen m The bark rirms the external covering or integu- ments of the s'em and root. The bark consists of throe distinct layers: the outside covering is called the epidermis, — this layer is sometimes covered with a coating of gummy, oily or resinous matter. The middle layer is the cellular integument; and the inner coat the liber. The two outer layers are of cellular structure, while the inner one is both cellular and woody. The sap is carried by the vessels through the al- burnum to the leaves, with the vessels of which they communicate; while in the leaves, the sap undergoes some changes, (not well understood,) by means of the air and light, by which it is converted into a fluid called latex. From the vessels of the under side of the leaf, it descends by the vessels of the inner bark ; part of it is carried inwards by the pores of the me- dullary rays, and diffused through the stem, while the remainder descends to the roots, and is distributed through ,them. Sap is milky, gummy, saccharine bitter, k.c, in various piants. At the end of spring a portion of the descending sap, which is now transformed into a viscid glutinous matter called cambium, is deposited between the liber and the wood, becomes organized into cells, and forma B new layer upon each. Snun a ftcrwa rds, the new layers are pervaded by woody tubes and fibres, which CQmmence at the leaves and grow downwards. — "The number of layers in the bark and wood will al- ways be equal." (Wood.; The outer bark of young twigs seems to perform the same function as the leaves ; in the cactus, staphelia, and other plants which produce no leaves, the bark must perform the same office as the leaves do in plants which produce them. (Johnston.) Fig. 3. 4 [Fig. 3. — 3, horizontal section of an endogenous stem, ex- hibiting the bundles of woody fibre, spiral vessels and duets, irregularly disposed in the cellular tissue ; u a. a, cellular EJ88Ue ; h, spiral vessels on inner side of dotted diets, c, f. ; d, woody fibre on the exterior side ; 4, stem of three year's growth ; a, pith ; e, bark ; b. e, d. successive annual lay- ers ; 6, a, pith ; b, spiral vessels of the medullary sheath ; c, dotted ducts ; d, woody fibre ; e, bark.] The endogenous stem exhibits no distinction of bark, wood and pith, — and no concentric annual lay- ers or grains. It is composed of cellular tissue, woody fibres, spiral vessels and ducts, the same as that of exogens. The cellular tissue exists equally in all parts of the plant ; the rest are in bundles, im- bedded in the stem : "each bundle consists of one or more ducts, with spiral vessels adjoining their inner side next to the centre of the stem, and woody fibres on the outside, as in the exogen. "A new set of these bundles is formed annually, or oftener, proceeding from trie leaves, and passing downwards in the central parts of the stem, where the cellular tissue is most abundant and soft. After descending awhile in this manner, they turn outwards and interlace themselves with those which were pre- viously formed." — Rodgers^ Scientific Agriculture. Weeds in Gravel. — For more than ten years past, says a recent writer, I have used salt, (but not in so- lution,) for destroying and keeping down weeds in my gravel walks, with perfect success, and without perceiving that the application acted as a stimulant to reproduction. The contrary is the case. I sow the salt by hand in dry weather, and sweep it about thin, and as regularly as possible. I have seldom oc- casion to do this more than once in twelve months. Never court the favor of the rich, by flattering their vanity and their vices. 172 THE GENESEE FARMER. Jui Cables' department. DOMESTIC EDUCATION. The time is coming, when domestic duties are ex- pected to be performed upon scientific principles ; and we are bound to employ every means in our power to make ourselves acquainted with the sciences pertaining to our domestic affairs. A knowledge of chemistry and dieteties, in a cook, is invaluable to a family. Information regarding the laws of health, and life, and mental philosophy, is absolutely neces- sary to the proper rearing of children. The suffering I have seen and experienced for want of knowledge, and the almost incredible advantage^ gained by the application of a few practical ideas, makes me very desirous for others, as well as myself, that we should have "more light." I think, however, it is not proper that we should always be in performance of the sober duties of life. Nature does not bestow all her care on the sturdy oak and mountain pine, but adorns the landscape with an endless variety of fanciful colors and forms, enlivens the whole music, and the frolicsome play of animated beings. Nor did she fail to implant in the human mind faculties harmonizing with the beauty, melody, and gayety of external nature, which find a legiti- mate sphere of action in ornamental horticulture, vocal and instrumental music, &c. Amanda. Female Culture. — The great entertainments of all ages are reading, conversation and thought. 1 f our existence after middle life is not enriched by these, it becomes meagre and dull, indeed — and these will prove sources of pleasure just in proportion to the previous intellectual culture. How is that mind to have subject matter of pleasurable thought during its solitary hours, which has no knowledge of the trea- sures of literature and science, which has made no extensive acquaintance with the distant and the past? And what is conversation between those who know nothing 1 But on the other hand, what delight is that mind able to receive and impart, which is able to discuss any topic that comes up, with accuracy, copi- ousness, eloquence and beauty ? The woman who possesses this power can never fail to render herself agreeable and useful in any circle into which she may be thrown, and when she is so, she cannot fail to be happy. A full mind, a large heart, an eloquent tongue, are among the most precious of human things. The young forsake their sports and gather round, the old draw nigh to hear, and all involuntarily bow down to the supremacy of mind. These endowments add brilliancy to youth and beauty, and when all other charms are departed, they make old age sacred, ven- erable, beloved. Invention for the Ladies. — A lady in this State is about to apply for a patent for an invention which is at once ingenious, useful, and exhibits inventive qualities of no com- mon kind. It is an article of domestic furniture, which an- swers for a cradle, a baby jumper, a table for the child to amuse itself with its play-things, and it can be transformed in a moment, toa seat with castors on it, by which the child can by its own power, use it as a walking chair, and move it from place to place simply by pushing it. To Dress Rice. — A lady recommends to us the following : Soak the rice in cold salt and water for seven hours — have ready a stew pan with boiling water, throw in the rice and let it boil for ten minutes, then pour it in a cullender, cover it up hot by the fire for a few minutes, and then serve. The grains are double the usual size, and distinct from each other. I3oj)s' Department. PREMIUM ARITHMETICAL QUESTIONS, The following letter from Mr. Clark, shows that only one of the Premium Questions published in our February number has been correctly solved : — Mr. Moore: — I have just finished perusing the package of letters that you forwarded to me atGene- seo, and which only reached me last week. After examining them all I do not find one correct answer; and as but one answer has been received, I will an- nounce that as the successful one. Solution of First Premium Question. — The pre- mium for the solution of the tree sum has been awarded to D. M. Berry, of Holley, Orleans county, N. Y. Mr. B. has not only given the correct answer, but the only correct answer that has been received. The answers are, 57.09-=- 92.91— I have received some two hundred or more letters giving answers to this question. The other questions have not been solved, and will remain open for solution. Isaac A. Clark. JYnnda, JY. Y., May 21, 1849. Errata. — The illustrations given to my rules for finding the square of any series of numbers, (in the April No. of the F.) are rendered unintelligible by the omission of the proper signs. Please insert the following: For Rule 1st, — 122 is equal to 144; and twice twelve increased by one, is 25; which, added to 144, will make 169, the square of 13, the next higher number, &tc. For Rule 2d, 122 is equal to 144; and twice twelve, diminished by one, is 23; which, taken from 144 will leave 121, the next lower number, &lc H. Moral Character. — There is nothing which adds so much to the beauty and power of man as a good character. It is his wealth, his influence — his life. It dignifies him in every condition and glorifies him at every period of his life. Such a character is more to be desired than every thing else on earth. No servile tool, no crouching sycophant, no treacherous honor seeker ever bore such character. The pure joys of righteousness never springs in such a person. If young men but knew how much a good character would dignify and exalt them, how glorious it would make their prospects, even in this life, never should we find them yielding to the groveling and baseborn purposes of human nature. Spoken Against. — What if people do speak against you ? Let them feel that you are able to bear it. What is there gained by stopping to correct every word that is whispered to your discredit ? Lies will die, if left alone. Slander never kills a sterling character. ^ Never go back — Never go back — never. What you attempt, do with all your strength. Determina- tion is omnipotent. If the prospect is somewhat darkened, put the fire of resolution to your soul, and kindle a flame that nothing but the strong arm of death can extinguish. Energy and perseverance are more potent than the gold of drones. THE GENESEE PARMER. I7.J (!5i)itor's Sable. n \ i a. — In the article on Devon < tattle in Jane number, I :| , tlx> printer ad. in I .111 r\lr:t cypher tO llu" Weight of oxen — making thousands, instead of hundreds. The intelli- gent ! discover the unintentional Wisconsin Farmer.— We have received the first five - rs of a new journal, bearing the above title, publish- ed at Racine, Wis., bj Mark Miller, Esq., late of this city. The Farmer makes a very creditable appearance in all respects— being well conducted, neatly printed, and ne up" in the best form, octavo. The work turrits, as we hope it will receive, the cordial support of the farmers of the thriving and productive Stair in which it is publish- ed. Monthly — 50 cents per annum, in advance. 'I"!!;: Horticulturist. — The June number closed the third volume of this journal, and the fourth commences with the present month. It is to continue under the editorial supervision of A. J. Downing, Esq., and the public have 1 n a of the veteran publisher, that the reputation and high character of the work will be sustained. Pub- lished monthly, 48 pages octavo, at $3 a year. Address Luther Tucker, Albany, N. Y. "The Plough, Loom and Anvil." — This sterling work merits an extensive patronage. It is conducted with signal ability by the pioneer agricultural editor. J. S. Skinner, Esq. The second volume commences this month, and the present is a favorable opportunity to subscribe. Terms, $3 a year ; two copies for $5, and five copies for $10 — in ad- vance. Address J. S. Skinner & Son, Philadelphia, Pa. The American Farmer also commences a new volume this month. It ranks among the best journals in the country. Published monthly, at $1 a year. A. .Sands, Baltimore, Md. Jefferson Co. Ag. Society. — This is one of the best sustained Societies in the State The officers for the pres- ent year are — MoSES EAMES, President; Edmund Kirby. IJenj. Mason, Charles Wilcox, Edwin Carter, Alvin Cool- edge. J. N. Rcttier, David Montague. J. C. Cooper, Nathan- iel Utley, and Hiram Hubbard, Vice Presidents; O. V. Brsii- nard, Treasurer; John C. Sterling, Cor. Sec'y. E. S. Mas- sey, Ree. Sec'y,. Next Annual Fair to be held at Water- l. >v. 11. Sept. 26th annd 27th. The premium list is extensive and liberal. Russet's Reaper. — It will be observed, by reference to an advertisement in this number, that Messrs. Rapalje & Brici.s, of this city, are agents for the sale of this valuable machine in Western New York and Canada. Stereotyping. — We would direct those wishing any thing in this line to the establishment of Messrs. Jkwktt. Thomas &. Co., of Buffalo. The present volume of the Farmer is being stereotyped by them — to whom we are, in a great measure, indebted for the neat appearance of the num- bers already issued. The conductor of their foundry, Mr. E. F. Beadlk, ie one of the best stereotypers in the State. Westward Ho ! — We have just received a list of sub- scribers to the Farmer from Minnesota Territory. Wheelers' Patent R> R. Horse Powers and Threshing Machines. THE attention of Farmers is solicited to the following extract from a communication of J. N. Rottif.r. Esq., of Lafarge- ville. N. Y.. June 6, 1849. concerning Wheelers" Patent Horse Powers. &c To H. L. Emery :— "The fact is. the whole of the Machine is an admirable simple contrivance, and Unit any improvement could he made to it would seem, incredible to me. if I hud not your word for it. Practically a farmer. I have used these four- teen years, a great variety oi Threshing Machines. Horse Powers. &c. but with none am I as well satisfied as with yours, purchased of you two years since. One year more and mine will have paid for itself, and then 1 would not take' $200.00 for it. and do without another like it. With a change of horses in the afternoon and hands enough to stack or take away the straw, I believe I can thresh with it as much per day as with any large six horse machine, and with as much ease for the horses. But then we do not want all the neighbors to help us. as three of us generally thresh from ten to twelve hundred sheaves in a day. beside taking care of a large stock of cattle, fkc. It is in fact the very machine which should stand on the barn floe- of every farmer, or where the farm is not large enough, two or more farmers should join and own one together— change works and do their own thresh- ing. J. N. R.» NOW m PRESS, TO m: ii 1.1 i-iii d »5i Tin: TOUT Of MJOI TlffJ AMERICAN FRUIT CULTUPi i;\ 1 J tiiom \s A 1 IRE vti.y , Improved edition of the Fruit Cul- turist. containing more than triple the matter of the former editions, oaring been wholly re. written, soai to embrace essential!} ALL THE \ 1LUABLE mTORMATIOH Known at the present time, relative, to FRUITS AND FRUIT CULTURE. It will cont/iin more than THRBE HUNDRED ACCURATE l\N(;k w ini;s. And will include condensed and full descriptions Of all frolta of merit or celebrity cultivated or known in the country, To prevent confusion in a numerous list of varieties, careful at- tention has for years been given to effect the clears nol systematic arrangement adopted in this work; and further to enable the reR- der to kuow at a glance, the various grades of excellence, the quality Is designated by the size of the type used for the name The numerous figures of fruits are EXACT IMPRESSIONS Of average specimens. The descriptions have been prepared in nearly every case, from the fruits themselves ; and to distill fixed from accidental characters, careful comparison has be$p ex- tensively made with specimens from several different state', and with the descriptions in the best American works on Fruits. To determine the qualities as adapted to different regions. a«i<- tance has been largely furnished by a number of the most eminent pomologists of the Union. The whole will form a handsome duodecimo volume, at the low price of One Dollar. July 1. 1840. Palmer's Wheat Drill. THE subscribers have made an arrangement with Mr. Palmer to manufacture for the coming season five hundred of his new Wheat Drill, to be be sold in Western New-York. They are now receiving orders for them, and relying upon heavy sales, have determined to sell them at a small profit— at least twenty-five dollars less than any other drill capable of performing as much. The Drills are constructed under the immediate direction of the inventor, and Warranted. An agricultural implement as important as this should be afford- ed at a rate that places it within the reach of every farmer. To accomplish this Mr. Palmer has spared no pains to become ac- quainted with all the Drills in use by consulting both English and American Agricultural works, and by procuring copies of invent- or^ claims, issued or pending in the Patent Office. He has used different kinds of drills for the past years, and has learned by prac- tice the wants of the farmer. After repeated efforts and expen- sive experiments he has produced a simple, substantial 1 ".ill. which by way of eminence he calls a " WHEAT DRILL." It is vastly superior to the costly and complicated machines heretofore in use. This is the third Drill he has invented, and he has now brought it to that state of perfection beyond which it cann-.t be carried. It is the Ne Plus Ultra of Drills, combining all the advantage- of every other, and free from their imperfections. We challenge the world to produce a Drill equal to this in du- rability, operation or price ! '. fJ(J= All orders should be sent in or delivered to one of our agents as early as July to secure atten- tion. J. A. HOLMES &. CO. Brockport. March 15, 1849. Choice Strawberry Plants for Sale at the Mt. Hope Garden and Nurseries. AUGUST and September being the best time for forming Straw- berry Plantations, we offer for sale on reasonable terms, the finest varieties now cultivated. At the head of the list we place BURR NEW PINE, which, (size, flavor and productiveness being taken into consideration.) is perhaps the best Strawberry yet produced. Also, iVlyatts' British Queen, Bishop's Orange. Boston Pine. Burr's Rival Hudson. Burr's Columbus. Black Prince. Hovey's Seedling. Large Early Scarlet. Princess Alice Maud. Swain^tone's Seedling. Deptford Pine, Ross's Phoenix, And a variety of others, such as Alpine Red Bush. Alpine White Bush. Alpiue Red Monthly, White do.. Wood Red and White, and a variety of others, to which we invite the attention of all who Intend to plant the Strawberry. A god article costs but little more in the first place than a poor one. and re-pays tenfold. Rochester, July 1, 1849. ELLWANGER & BARRY. Morgan Colt for Sale. A Bright Bay Horse Colt, nine months old. of | ' al promise, sired by . THE GENESEE FARMER. 175 A New Hook lor every Far| SCIENTIFIC A.ORICTLT1 RE, or the Elements of Chemistry, i rcology. I! "tuny, ami Meteorology. applied to praotioal Vgrl- : l> . w ih the approi am f several praotioal and poientiflo gentlemen, The work is Illustrated by alargc number ol and Is published in \ !.•. n 11 bound and -> Id cheap. HO I II K9 OF 1 III' W>!IK . "The general correctness breTlty. clearness. and multitude of Its principles applicable to praotioal agriculture, that ftral and best of arts oommi nd the work to the youth of our land, as well as to its older aod younger agriculturists. — [ProJ ( Principal Rockesti i l '• ThiB Is .-Hi interesting and much needed volume, well adapted to the wants and taste of that intelligent portion of the community tor whom it is more particularly adapted making combined a complete system of agriculture, easily understood and readily defined." .V. P. Farmer and Mechanic. • it ap lean to be exceedingly well adapted for the purp Instruction It is oonoise and plain neither too much nor too •• -Hon. Zadock Pratt. •• We have seen enough to convince us that it is a work of rare merit, such a.i one bs will meet w tli the approbation of all intel- ligi nt readers Ev< ry agriculturist who reads and digests should proenri the work." American Farmer, Balim •• We commend the work to the Farmer, especially to the young farmer, as well worthy of his attention." — Berkshiie Ctilturist, 1,1 Muss. •■ We think the author has ably performed the difficult task of rendering science easy to the practical farmer." — New E island Farmer, by S. W. i EB ISTUS HARROW. Publisher and Bookseller Corner Main and St. Paul-streets. Rochester. Off" For sale by the Publisher ; also, at the office oj the Gene- seeFarmer. and by Booksellers generally. %* Darrow has a large stock of BOOKS at wholesale or retail. Orders promptly answered. Kinderhook Wool Depot. THE success of this enterprize. and the steady increase of bu- - during the past four years, has induced the subscriber to associate with him Mr. Thomas M. Burt, as a partner in the business. The integrity and correct business habits of this gen- tleman are well known to many prominent men throughout the State ; and for more particular information, reference may be made to 11. H. King. Esq . or to John T. Nobton, Esq., of Albany. With increased facilities for extending their business, the en- terprize will be couducted on the same principles as heretofore : 1. The fleeces will be thrown into sokts according to styles and quality. 2. A discrimination will be made between wool in good or bad condition. 3. All who desire it can have their clips kept separate. 4. Sales will be made invariably for Cash 5. The eharges will be, for receiving, sorting and selling, one cent per poucd. and the insurance, which will be twenty-five cents on $100 for a term of three mouths. 6. Liberal advances in Cash made on the usual terms. Wool forwarded from the West and North should be marked H. B & Co , Kinderhook, N. Y.. with the initials of the owners name on cacti sack, and shipped to East Albany. H. BLANCHARD. Kinderhook, N. Y., May 18, 1S49. After the 1st of June the business will be conducted under the name and firm of H. Blanchard Sc Co. Reference can be had to J P. Beekman, Kinderhook. N.Y. C. W. Richmond, Aurora. N Y K. P. Johnson, Albany, L. A. Morrell, Lake Ridge, D. S Cuitis, Canaan, C. W. Hull, New Lebanon, J. Murdock, Wheatland. Nath'l. Sawyer, Cincinuati.O Wellman & Co. Massillon, O Freeland, Stuart &. Co., New York City. R. Carter, Chicago, Illinois. An Elegant Country Residence and Farm for Sole. M CONTAINING one hundred and seventy-five acres iwugt of first rate land, situated on the west shore of < 'a " ' 'i uga Lake, two miles south of Cayuga bridge, in the -**L town of Seneca Kails. Seneca county. There is a large brick man- sion with a two story kitchen adjoining, with wash and wood houso attached ; oat-buildings, barn, shed and carriage house ; a lawn and garden in front, enclosed with a handsome fence : apple and peach orchards, with a number of cherry, plum and trees. The stock, crops in ground, and farming utensils. Stc. will be sold with the farm. Possession given immediately. For fur ther information, price and terms of payment, application made to the subscriber, on the premises, or by letter addri him. OakwoodFarm, near Cayuga Bridge; or to D. D. T.MOORE, at the office of the Genesee Farmer, Rochester. [5tf JOHN OGDEN DAY. Nursery to Lict or for Sale. THE Subscriber has a Nursery \}i miles from the F.rio Rail Road Depot, from the•• allot i \ For terms and condition! ol sale and warranty Bee the Ub>- ny Cultivator, Uem Prairie Farmer, and Vm tgriculturlst ; also, catalogues and clroulars of the Ubany Agri- cultural Warehouse and Seed Store machines at iperlor by all who have used them, ami having been extensively used sinoe 1841, are known to i nd are tnui b improi ed In several respects. The cos! I bing with il mai estimated at froi i-hail to one-third that with the ordinary sweep pow ra. Annexed is a statement of expenses of operating a two I machine, compared with the ordinary kind— as given by an ex- tensive farmer in Illinois, the past Bi Five men in thrashing time to thrash and clean, averagi i bushels per day for market, $3 00 Two horses. 1 00 Boarding o men and two horses, at 3s, 2 63 ss 68 Amounting to a litlle over 4>£ cts per bushel— while ho w i abled at all times to take advantages of prices, seasons. 8cc, and to do his work without being dependent upon others for labor or machines. While his expenses, when he hired machines were never less than the follow ii For thrashing 250 bushels per day. at 5 cents, $12 50 Furnishing lour horses of six. (2 belonging to machine.) ii 00 Six men. (besides two with machine,) 0 00 Boarding all hands aud horses, 5 '25 $'J."j 7;") Amounting to about 10}£ cents per bushel. And if to this be added the average loss by imperfect thrashing and Separation of grain from straw, more than with Wheeler's '1 brasher and Sepa- rator Of not less than five per cent of grain at one dollar per bushel, would amount to nearly 15>j cents per bushel, or more than three times the expense with Wheeler's machine. To .-ay nothing of the delays aud losses consequent upon depending upon others, &c. 1 he foregoing is but a fair statement of the expenses of the ma- jority of grain-growing farmers for thrashing ; and where labor aud gniu are valuable, these savings are well worth counting. All orders and communications are solicited, and will receive prompt attention. HORACE L. EMERY. No. 369 &. 371 Broadway, Albany. N. Y. Woodbury's Horse Power and Separator. THE Subscribers, having erected extensive works, for manufac- turing Woodborv's Patent Improved Horse Power and Separator, are prepared to furnish a machine to order, combin- ing greater simplicity, durability, and operating much easier than any other in use. The Horse-- Powers are mounted, and op on wheels, thereby saving three-fourths the usual time iu setting up— aud wc will warrant it, together with the Separator, superior to any in use. Communications for further particulars, (post-paid.) cheerfully responded to. J. &. D. WOODBURY. Rochester, N. Y.. June 1, la49. (5-3t ) Seeds and Implements. GENESEE SEED STORE AND AG. WAREHOUSE— Irving Hall, opposite the Eagle Hotel. Buff.ilo-st — Having pr the Agricultural aud Seed department of Messrs. Nott, Elliott & Fitch, we intend going more extensively into all the branches of our business. We shall keep constantly for sale, all kinds of Im- ported and American Field and Garden Seeds, and a large assort- ment of the most approved Implements and Machines used by the Gardener and Fanner. We manufacture Penni Drill, (the most perfect and substantial Drill in use.) the celebra- ted Massachusetts Eagle C Plow, Drags, Cultivators, &c, Stc, all of the most approved patterns and construction, and kei p a full supply of all the Boston and Worcester Plows, Sub-soil. Delano's, Burrall's Shell Wheel, Anthony's Patent Index. &c. &c. In addition to our stock of implements, &c, we think wc can fay with perfect confidence, we have one of the largest, most carefully grown and best selected stock of Fl ELD. ( I FLOW m the country, including several lands im- ported from Europe. Farmers, Gardeners and Dealers would consult their interest, and perhaps insure good crops, by calling at our establishment. RAPALJE t* BRIGGS. Rochester, May 1, 1849. Agricultural Books. — A lnrge assortment of Hooks on Agriculture, Horticulture, Sec., for sale at this Office. See list of works and prices in aJvcrtising department. Also — complete sets of the Farmer from its commencement, (exc. pt the lid volume.) substantially bound, which we will sell at 50 cents per volume. These volumes are not suitable lor sending by mad -but we have copies of vols. 0, 7, and 8. bound in paper covers, which may bo mailed. 176 THE GENESEE FARMER. CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. Rearing. Keeping and Fattening Domestic Animals, 153 Limestone Soils 15-1 Agrifcultural Education 155 Mr. Vail's Sale of Short Horn Cattle 156 Cultivation of the Maple ; Cure for the Bots, 156 Agricultural Geology, 157 The Horse— Improvement in Breeding, 158 Heavy Fleeces, and how Obtained, 159 Lime as a Manure ; Hens eating their Eggs 159 Hedge Fences ; Cure for the Heaves, 160 Feeding and Managing Milch Cows, 160 Cheese Factories in Ashtabula Co., Ohio, 161 Peas and Pea Bugs 161 Lightning-Rods or Conductors, 162 Plowing— Sawdust as a Manure 162 Notes from a Wisconsin Farmer ; Wind Mills. ... 163 Seymour's Drill and Broadcast Sowing Machine 164 Cattle in Chautauque County, 164 Cost of -Fences in the United States, 165 A New Water Drawer ; Wheat at the South, 165 Use of Inferior Farm Implements, 165 Manufacture of Cheese, 166 Benefit of Agricultural Papers. 166 A New Manure ; Selection of Stock ; Vinegar, 167 Rules for Raising Poultry ; To keep Fish Alive, 167 Chess ; Ag. Fair in Michigan, 167 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. Hardy Flowering Trees and Shrubs 168 Hints for July; "Effects of the weather on the Peach. 169 The Nemophila; Apples, ' 169 Effects of the past Winter on Trees, 170 Culture of Orchards ; The Apple Tree Borer, 170 Degeneracy of Apples ; Cherry Seeds, 170 Garden Snail or Slugs ; Paradise Stock- 170 Botany— Structure and Functions of the Stem, 171 To Destroy Weeds in Gravel Walks, 171 Editor's Table— Notices, &c 173 ladies' department. Domestic Education ; Female Culture 172 Invention for the Ladies ; To dress Rice, 172 boys' department. Premium Arithmetical Questions ; Errata 172 Moral Character ; Never go Back, 172 ILLUSTRATIONS. Geological illustration,. . . .157 I The Nemophila 169 Seymour's Drill, 164 Botanical illustrations, ... 171 New Water Drawer, 165 | Hussey's Reaper, 174 Market Prices of Agricultural Products. New York, Thursday. June 21. Flour and Meal. — The market for Flour is without marked change but rather heavy. At the close, however, there was rather more firmness. The receipts are still very moderate. The sales are 7.500 bbls, of which 3.500 were fine at $4 06 a 4 12>£ with some at 4 183^. The range for superfine is 4 37 \i a 4 50 for common and good State; 4 50 a 4 62>£ for good and straight Western, and 4 87,'i a 5 for pure Genesee— fancy 5 12}£ a 5 37>a. There were also sales within a few days of 5.000 or 6.000 bbls, sour at 3 87^ a 4. for shipment including a large portion of the quantity on the Market. Of the sales to-day, 5,000 bbls were for export The sales of Southern are 600 or 700 bbls at 4S7}£ a 5. mostly at $5. Meal is firm at $3 for Jersev. with sales 400 bbls. and 500 do. Brandywine at 3 06. Rye Flour is $3 a 3 06. with sales 1.000 bbls. Orai-v— For Wheat there is but a moderate demand, with large supplies. The market is heavy. We hear of no transactions.— Corn is also heavy, with sales 65.000 bush at 53c. for damaged. 59c for Jersey round white, 59 a59>i for mixed Western, and 02fi a 63)2 for round Northern, closing at about 63c. The market t-tands lc a bushel below yesterday's rates The quantity offering Is large. Sales 3,000 bush. Rye at 58 a 58'4c delivered. Oats are 34>2 « 36, and in fair demand. Sales 15.000 bush. Provisions— The Pork market is heavy, mess at $10 37,^. and prime at *8 81 %, a 8 87^. The sales add up 500 bbls. at these figures At the close, mess was dull at $10 oT'j. In Beef there is a moderate inquiry, with pales 200 bbls. at $11 50 for country mess. $12 50 for city, $12 50 a 18 for extra Ohio and ' hicago, and $9 25 for prime. Sales 500 bbls Lard at 5 V, <: .v.o. f>r grease, and 6)3 a ■7c for fair and prime. In cut meats there are but 850 bbls and tcs at 4J£c for Shoulders and 5>£ a 6% for Hams Good demand fur Smoked Beef at 11 a ll^c. Butter is heavy, with sales Western at 10 a 14c— but few lots bring overl2'^. Ohio 7 a 9c. Ashes— Are $5 50 for Pearls, with safes 150 bbls. Pots ar i ! a5 62>i, witli sales 50 bbls.— Tribune., Wire for Fences. WIRE of the best quality, of all sizes, blight, annealed, or galvanized. Price, from $7 to $12 per lOOlbs. When gal- vanized 2}£ cents por pound extra. Wire is best galvanized, as this keeps it bright and it lasts much longer. A. B. ALLEN & CO., [7-2t] 189 and 191 Water Street, New York. Wheelers' Patent Improved Portable Railroad Horse Power and overshot Thrasher & Separato:-. THE advantages of the above horse powers are— 1. They oc- cupy but little more space than a single horse. 2. They can be moved by the weight of the horse only, by placing them "at an angle of 10 or 15 degrees. 3. They are comparatively light and portable, and can bo easily transported. 4. They are simply constructed, not liable to get out of order, and move with little friction, the revolving plane gearing without any complex or intermediate wheels, directly into the pinion upon the shaft on which the pully belt runs. The Thrashers consist of a small spiked cylinder with a con- cave plane over it. and a level feeding table. The re are several improvements in the overshot thrasher. 1. They admit of a level table for feeding, thus enabling the tenders to stand erect, and control the motion of the horse and machine by means of a brake; by which accidents are avoided. 2. In consequence of the spikes lifting the straw and doing the work on the top heavy substances such as stones, blocks. &c, drop at the end of the table, and arc not carried between the spikes, by which they and the machine are broken. 3. The overshot cylinder does not scatter the graiu but throws it within three feet of the machine. 4. This arrange- ment also admits of attaching a separator high enough from the floor or ground to allow all the grain to fall through it, while the straw is deposited by itself in the best condition for binding. 5. Neither grain nor straw are broken by this machine. 6. The cyl- inder is longer, which admits of faster and more advantageous feediug ; it is smaller and with fewer teeth than ordinary thrash- ers, thus admitting of more rapid motion and faster work with less power ; and the diminution of teeth in the cylinder is fully made up by those in the concave, which is stationary. 7. The separator is a great advantage in dim'nishing the labor of raking out the straw, as it leaves the grain in the beat condition for the fanning mill. Three men, with a single Power, can thrash 75 to 100 bushels of wheat or rye ; or four men with a double Power, 175 to 225 bushels of wheat or rye, or double that quantity of oats or buckwheat, per day. All the above are compact and can be carried where wanted complete, or they may be readily taken apart and packed for distant transportation by a wagon or other- vuse. Price of single Power, $80 '' " Thrasher, $28 '•' Separator and fixtures. $7 Bands for driving, etc $5 " Saw mill complete, and in running order. $35. The price of the double power, thrasher, separator. &.C., com- plete, is $145. including rights of using. The above are sold singly or together as desired. The above power is warranted to work well and give satisfac- tion For sale at the Agricultural Warehouse and Seed Store of A. B. ALLEN & CO., 189 & 191 Water st., New York. [7-lt] E. BALDWIN, ENGRAVER FROM NEW YORK C1TT, Having taken room No. 15. 3d story. ILfR Arcade Rochester, N. Y., lately occupi- _. Ljm ed by John filler, is prepared to execute B-i?JWcaj( all ordc rs for ENGRAVING. With neatness and despatch, and re- spectfully solicits a share of public patronage. Sons of Temperance, Odd-Fel- lows', and other seals engraved to order. THE GENESEE FARMER, Published on the first of each month, at Rochester. N. Y.. by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE k, D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. P. EARRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. Fifty Cents a Year, In Advance. Fivf. Copies for $2, and any larger number at the same rale, if directed to each subscriber. Eight Copies for $3, if addressed to o/te person only — .and any larger numlier. directed in like manner, at the same rate. tLj3 All subscriptions to commence with the year, mxl the entire volume supplied to all subscribers. SuovERTlSEMENys. — A limited number of short and appro- priate advertisements will be given in the Farmer, at the rale of $1,50 per square or folio (ten lines or 11M1 words) for the first insertion, and $1 for each subsequent publication — in advance. The circulation of the Farmer is from five to 1 igh 1 thousand larger than thai of any other agricultural journal published in the United States. (D3 The Farmer is subject to newspaper postage only. BTERSOTYPES BY JEWETT, THOMAS AND CO., BCFFAI.O, N. T. Agriculture is the most Healthx and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and TJselul pursuit ol Man. VOL. X. ROCHESTER, N. Y. — AUGUST, 1849, NO. 8. IMPROVEMENT. -THE DUTY OF FARMERS. The spirit which animates our people, is that of progress — improvement. Ever since the Declaration of Independence, enterprise has been a distinguishing trait of the American character — and at no period of our nation's history have the skill and industry of our population been more wisely and profitably employed than at this moment. Look at the progress which has been made during the past ten years — the im- provements now being introduced into almost every department of Agriculture and Manufactures, Trade and Commerce — and consider the vast influence which this rapid and mighty change must have upon the destiny of our people and country! It is true that this spirit does not wholly prevail, especially among agriculturists; but the period is fast approaching when those farmers who now stand aloof from the aid of science, will be compelled to adopt the inven- tions and improvements of the age, in order to com- pete with the more shrewd and enterprising. For example: If A, by the adoption of a superior mode of culture and the use of labor-saving implements, can produce 100 bushels of wheat at an expense of $50, while the same number of bushels costs B $75, it is clear that the latter cannot successfully or fair- ly compete with the former, in the same market. — And so also in the raising of stock, the growing of wool, and the production of pork, butter, cheese, kc. Those who produce these articles, at the least ex- pense, will ever be the most successful in the accu- mulation of wealth. Admitting the correctness of our premises, it is the bounden duty of American farmers to adopt every improvement within their reach — a duty which they owe equally to themselves, their children, and country. The responsibility which rests upon our rural population, is one of great importance, and from which none can shrink blamelessly. As the motto of the age is " Onward,"' so also should be that of individuals. Each and all should work, both individually and collectively, for the advancement of themselves and their profession. As an individual, the farmer can do much towards the introduction of improvement in neighborhoods and communities. By a careful study of his profes- sion— the adoption of improved modes of culture and management of crops and stock — the use of judi- cious labor-saving implements, and a wise economy in all branches of husba: dry — any fanner can arouse a l&uduble spirit of inquiry, which must lead to improvement among those engaged in the same calling in his immediate vicinity. But he can ac- complish still more in another manner. By com- municating the results of his well directed efforts to the agricultural press, thousands, instead of dozens, would be benefitted by a knowledge of his manage- ment and success. The introduction of agricultu- ral books and journals among his neghbors, will likewise prove beneficial to community. In a collective capacity farmers can exert a power- ful influence for improvement, and also promote their individual interests. And here let us for a moment consider the importance of Agricultural Associations, as a means of improvement. Are not the State and County Societies, now in operation, advancing the true interests of the farmer? — And if so, is it not all-important that these associations be well sustained, and others organized throughout the coun- try? We think every intelligent reader will answer these questions affirmatively; and we beg to sug- gest that they have a duty to perform in this mat- ter. It may truly be said of many farmers, concern- ing this as well as various other subjects, which demand their attention, that " They know the right, and they approve it too, Condemn the wrong, and still the wrong pursue." They admit the benefits of association, but year after year decline or neglect to become active, in- terested members of the Societies and clubs in their localities. Friends, we respectfully but plainly re- mark that you are not discharging your duty in this matter — and beg you to consider whether some ac- tion is not necessary. The present is a favorable time for exertion in the direction indicated. The annual exhibitions of the various associations are to be held soon, and your aid and influence would add to their interest and value. No matter if you have nothing to exhibit this year— go and see what others have accomplished. Attend the Fair of your County Society, and you will not fail of learning something useful while mingling with others of the same calling and witnessing an exhibition of the products of their skill and labor— and do not forget to enrol yourself as a regular, paying member of the association. In this manner you can essentially aid in promoting the laudable objects in view. There are various other means of improvement familiar to the intelligent farmer, that should neither be neglected or overlooked by those who desire to keep pace with the progressive spirit of the age. 178 THE GENESEE FARMER. Aug. EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE FARMER. The Clierokee Country — Inducements to Emigrants — Crops Price of Lands— Kinds of Timber — Wool Growing — Labor necessary at the South, as elsewhere. 'Tunnel Mountain, Ga., July -i, 1SS9. If the reader will look on a map of the United States, he will see that the Tennes:;c River approa- ches very near the Atlantic in its son hern detour in- to the states of Georgia and Alabama The railroad constructing by the State of Georgia through the far-famed Cherokee Country, which is to connect the navigable waters of the Tennessee and the Missis- sippi with the seaports of Charleston and Savannah, approaches its completion. This is a noble Work; and at no point from the Tennessee river to the ocean, do the gradients exceed 33 feet in a mile.— The writer has recently passed over the whole of this line of railroad, being 445 miles from Charleston to Chattanooga, in Tennessee, and on the river by that name. The Tunnel at this place will be the last to be completed, requiring the labor of four or five months. It is 1,475 feet in length, of which 450 remain to be blasted in blue Helderberg lime rock. This dips to the south at an angle of some 75 degrees, at the point in the mountain where the miners are now at work. It is the glory of this age that man is able to drive his steam-chariots and fire-horses, not mere- ly over and around, but through mountains, with the speed of the wind. This- region abounds in mineral springs, and is be- coming a great resort as the summer residence of planters, in all the low country from North Carolina to Texas. I regard the " Cherokee Country," nine- teen-twentieths of which is still in a state of nature, or as the Indians left it, as presenting strong induce- ments to emigrants from Europe and the northern states to settle upon and improve its fertile lands. — It was surveyed by the state into tracts of 160 acres; and these were drawn by its citizens, in a lottery, paying a few dollars, for the survey and deed of each lot. They are being resold by the holders to actual settlers, and at all prices, from ten to one thousand dollars a lot. For the production of corn and grass, the growing of cattle, mules, sheep and swine, they are not surpassed in the United States. With fair tillage, the uplands yield 50 bushels of corn per acre. For some reason, these limestone lands are not quite so well adapted to wheat culture as I expected to find them. Whether the defect is in the soil or its cultivatien, I am at present unable to say. Late and extraordinary frosts have quite ruined the wheat crops of this season. Farmers will have to send to Tennessee for their seed. Clover does remarkably well with gypsum, and indifferently without it. Timothy, red-top, and blue-grass flour- ish admirably on the natural soil, as do oats, peas, beans, millet, potatoes and turnips. It is high enough above the ocean for apples, pears, plums and cherries to do well. It is above the fig climate, and the home of the peach and the vine. To raise ap- ples and pears for the low country, on the line of the railroad, would be a profitable business. I was offer- ed yesterday two lots (320 acres) within a mile of the depot, 45 miles south of this, for !§U00. I went over the tract. It can all be plowed; is covered with oak and hickory, and wild grass, and has a lime and flint soil. As in portions of Michigan and Wisconsin fifteen years ago, one can drive a carriage almost anywhere through the Indian burnt forests. I visited a lime- stone spring eight mile3 from Oothcaloga Depot, large enough where it issues from the ground, to drive three pairs of millstones. It is in this region that one sees horned cattle, which are cattle — a sight which in 18 months' residence at the south, had not before met my eye. Oak is the principal timber, with an occasional pine, black and white walnut, beech and white maple, along the banks of streams. Hickory, white ash, black cherry, and many other kinds of forest trees are met with in riding over the country. These lands are worth about Congress price. Improved farms on river and creek bottoms sell at from ten to twenty dollars per acre. White men everywhere work in the field as they do at the north. It is not a cotton growing region, but strict- ly a fanning climate. My friend, R. Peters, Esq., from Pennsylvania, has sheep that clip over seven pounds of wool per fleece, and hundreds of acres of the best upland corn in Georgia. I predict that this will soon become a most prosperous wool-growing district. The range for stock is almost unlimited; and the facilities for transporting fat cattle, shep and hogs to the seaboard are as good as any one need ask for. I do not wonder that the Indians left this their home, and the tumuli where rest the bones of unnum- bered generation, with extreme reluctance. I have visited several mounds in Georgia, but leave the dis- cussion to learned ethnologists. Unlike the African race, the Indian spurned the blessings and industri- ous habits of civilization; and he is fast disappear- ing in all the late border states, while the hard-work- ing African multiplies with extraordinary fecundity. Being well and regularly fed, as well as worked, the negroes of the south present a striking proof of the value of temperance and industry in promoting sound health, and the rapid increase of the human family. They are rising both physically and mentally, while those that foolishly disobey the command of God to eat bread in the sweat of their faces, are going the other way. If a person expects to escape work by coming south, or going west or to California, let him disa- buse his reason at once. As a people, Providence has blest us with agricultural, civil and religious fa- vors above all other nations; but the duty to labor is as incumbent upon Americans as on any other por- tion of the descendants of Adam. The cheerful dis- charge of this duty is the doctrine the writer preach- es, practices and believes in. Had the aborigines of this continent adopted the rural and mechanical industry of the Europeans when the latter came among them, their posterity would this day rule the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The emanci- pated negroes of St. Domingo refuse to till the earth and they are going back to barbarism, pagan dark- ness and brutality. Labor is the grand humanizer of our race. Without it, man nover rises but a single step above the speechless beasts of the field. With it each generation may excel all prededing ones to the end of time. L. The American Farmer very justly remarks that, "Farmers and planters have too long looked supine- ly on, while power was being stolen from them, to aggrandize other classes, less entitled than they to the fostering care of Government." 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 179 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. BT AC.KICOI . \. That a Bystem of Education may be adopted, will give to the Sons of the farmer Buch inform 11 be of advantage to him in all the future !, I think, be i ;. Differei] opinion will doubtles bal thai edu : i 1 be. In order to open the way for the exami- nation of this subject, 1 i make son, [in my former communicatio , The Btudont, at hia entrance, in the common branches of an English Education — and he will then be prepared to enter upon a i of studies that will, it" properly attended to, fit him for the acti i of hia profession. Let il be understood, that the pupils are to he employed upon a fan i ' wit! the School, during the entire course, and in their last year each is to he placed in special charge of the various departments of the farm, to test his capacity for management, when he is to leave the school. The course of instruction which I would recom- mend, should occupy at least three years — and rt should ever be kept in view that the instruction is to be conducted in such a manner, that while the stu- dent is thoroughly instructed in the principl each science, its relation with agric to be specially understood, and their practical application fully carried out in the operations of the farm. The farm should be arranged into separate divisions, so that the different, rotations of crops may be pursued, and the advantages or disadvantages of each be ful- ly and practically illustrated for the benefit of the students. A portion of the farm should be allotted for experiments — to be fully carried out under the direction of the teachers, and of which an account should be given to the public as often as deemed ne- cessary. It must be apparent that many experi- ments, to be of any practical value, must be contin- ued through a series of years, before any final de- cision can be had. Without descending into a detail of studies to be pursued, it will suffice to say, that the education should be thorough in every respect — including the modern languages, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Botany, Horticulture, Surveying, Agricultural Engineering, Mechanics, Keeping Farm Accounts, Veterinary In- struction, management of manures, k.c, all to be of a practical character, after tho manner of the Poly- technic Schools. The teachers to deliver lectures to the students, to accompany them when necessary to the fields, and in every part of their course, to give them a thorough practical knowledge of every thing incident to the management and successful prosecu- tion of the labors of the farm. The farm to be un- der the direction of a practical farmer, thoroughly versed in every thing that relates to the best method of cultivation suited to this State, and the students to be under his direction, when engaged in the labors of the field. It appears to me that an institution may be so ar- ranged as to become what all desire — a thorough educator for the farmer's son, fitting him for his pro- fession, and for all the duties of life to which he may be called. This, too, can be done in a manner to lead the student to appreciate his noble pursuit: it will enable him, when he leaves the institution, to feel that he is upon an equality with the students of any other seminary, and tnat on the great theatre of public life, he is as well prepared as they are to en- ter, and that without fear of the competition. I am aware thai some of tl itions of our country •nducted u I that there is nothing new worth ha\ n —but we must plod rhich was laid down by . that .. bich i "v ,!l affirm, that those i that ing age, in a practical, u. sful di numbered among the ■' a fooling abroad itutionsad- i to a thoro ultural institution. " ich an institution should be scale worthy of the Empire State, that its practical character would soon attract to it, m every direction, and the numbers h. It may : hut if it is to prevent us from obtaining a belter system, and ono that will secure to the largest portion of our citizens an edu- cation adapted to their profession in life, for which there is now no i rovision? As well might the owners of the old suil-boats on the Hudson cry out against the improvements of Fulton, or the dri- ver of the Canastega wagon, against the lightning swift engine as it speeds in hours through our state, instead 3, us he was in the practice of doing. It will alter the character of our seminaries — but it will alter them in accordance with the spirit of the age, and with l!i if our institutions, and all that is necessary ing institutions, is to adapt themselves to the times, so far as may be necessary for their institutions of a general character, and they need not fear but that they too, will be supplied with students who do not design to make the pursuits of the farmer theirs through life. Permit me to urge this matter of education upon the consideration of farmers. To you must we look for aid in this matter — and let it not be said, (as it has been in days gone by, and with how much truth I will not say,) " that if any thing is wanted for the improvement of the agricultural interest, you must call upon professional men, not farmers, in the Leg- islature." With the improvements which are taking place in our State — with tho intelligence which ex- ists among farmers in every part of this State — I will not for a moment doubt that you appreciate this subject, and that you will be prepared to make your wishes known, in a manner that shall secure the ac- tion of your representatives. What subject of more importance to you, I ask, can be brought before the Legislature, than the education of the farmer's sons of our state — and if none more important can be, may I not urge you, to see to it, that a matter so vi- tally important shall not fail for want of your support — your open, active, and efficient aid? If a railroad is wanted, how quick are the feelings and interest of farmers on its route enlisted. They can expend money and time to secure its charter and to complete it — and when the education of their eons to fit them to usefulness is proposed, can they be un- mindful of how much more importance it is to culti- vate the immortal mind, than to add even to their weal :h, by these increased facilities of communica- tion? It is often said, that farmers know enough al- ready. This may do for those to say, who boast themselves of their superior acquirements — but I IL 180 THE GENESEE FARMER. Aug. trust no American farmer will rest satisfied with his acquirements, while there is a field of useful knowl- edge before him to be explored, or a single truth to be ascertained that can add to his store of knowledge, or contribute to the elevation and advancement of his profession. I have long felt that we need, as farmers, opportunities for preparing our sons for their pursuits as they should be prepared. I rejoice that the day seems to be dawning for the accomplishment of the object, and I am desirous, nay anxious, to engage with my brethren in hastening forward this all-important work. THE SEASON -FRUIT- CROPS -INSECTS, &c. The last winter in Western New York was deci- dedly an open one, with little snow, and one or two cold days, such as has not been chronicled in this re- gion for the last twenty years. The thermometer sunk to nine degrees below zero at Rochester, and at the distance of twenty miles from the lake, to twelve and even fifteen degrees in some locations. Ten degrees below zero begins to affect the fruit bud of the peach, and fifteen is totally fatal to it, at any period during the winter. In this region, about two-thirds of the buds blossomed, but a wet, rainy, and cold period, with an east wind, set in, and imme- diately after the petals of the flower cast off, the en- tire leaves of the trees were affected with the curl, an enlargement and thickening of the center parts, and they all fell to the ground; and consequently there were no organs to carry on the circulation — the sap gummed and oozed through the bark, and a great portion of the fruit was lost. All those branches that put out the terminal bud again wTere sound — the others died, so that there is not a quarter crop of that delicious fruit. The same continuous wet and cold weather in the latter part of May, destroyed the apple, either by a disturbance of the process of impregnation, or a de- gree of cold that disorganized the tender germ. — They all fell, and many trees cast a good part of their first leaves, as though caused by an early frost. — There is no orchard, that we are advised of, that will produce ten bushels, where it should have produced one hundred. It is a total failure. Wheat is a great crop, and if the present drought does not continue too long, corn and potatoes will be an average. Hay is a full medium yield, and has been secured in excellent order. There is an anomaly existing with respect to in- sect life. The apple tree worm has lately disappear- ed, as have the black, squash and striped bugs; and the May bugs were scarcely seen. The rose bug is greatly increased on light lands, and the curculio gen- erally. Not one in ten bee hives have thrown out swarms this year. The Fire Blight has attacked the pear tree exten- sively this season, and is destined to destroy that va- riety of fruit. It has also affected the apple and quince, but it is never fatal to them, only killing the small branches, as the virus is never carried to the body or main branches. The cause of this disease seems to be inscrutable to mortal vision. It is a subject that has excited more discussion than any other vegetable subtilty, except the chess question. — We were for many years a believer of the doctrine of a plethora of sap, more than the leaves could elabo- rate; but from a daily examination during its opera- tion for some years past, we are disposed to attribute it to a disease, or injury of the bark and outer vessels of the body or large limbs, by the winter or other cause, whereby the sap which rises in the alburnum or sap wood: is unable to return through and between the epidermis and wood; it consequently sours, de- composes, and one dayrs sun blackens the leaves, and destroys the branch, and finally the whole stock, if not cut off absolutely below the least discoloration. THE WHEAT CROP. From information received from different sections we believe the present wheat crop of Western New York will prove far superior to any preceding one for several years. In this county, the crop is much better than was anticipated before harvesting com- menced, and many farmers think it the greatest ev- er produced here. The berry appears unusually bright and plump. We have heard some complaints of the weevil in Seneca, Cayuga, and adjoining counties, but learn from reliable sources that no ma- terial damage has been caused. We have unfavorable reports of the crop in some sections of the west and south-west. The Ohio Cul- tivator of July 15, says: — "From all the information we can gather, it appears quite certain that through- out a large portion of Ohio the wheat harvest is sadly deficient, owing to the damage by rust and the wheat insect. A few only of the more northern counties, we believe, have escaped these evils, and are harvesting nearly a fair average crop; but taking the state at large, we are of opinion that full one- half the crop has been destroyed — which is equal to twelve millimis of bushels! This is an immense loss to our farmers; but we trust they will not be dis- heartened, especially as the corn and other crops are now quite promising. * * * It is too early, as yet, to form an opinion in regard to the full extent of the damage sustained by the wheat crop, or the ef- fect it may have on prices. In the markets of this region, flour has advanced full one dollar per barrel, but this will not probably be sustained if the accounts from New York and other large wheat-growing States yet to be heard from, should prove favorable." The Cincinnati Gazette of a later date, says, " the deficiency in the wheat crop of Ohio this season, it is now pretty satisfactorily ascertained, will be about one-third, or from 7,000,000 to 8,000,000 bushels/' The Indiana State Journal of the 1 6th ult., thus speaks of the crops in the southern portion of that state: "The continued rain has almost entirely de- stroyed the wheat crop in this region. Many farm- ers have turned their hogs upon the fields — the wheat being so much injured as to be unfit for cutting. It is estimated that the crop will not be more than suf- ficient to supply the demand for home consumption. As a consequence, the price of wheat has raised to eighty cents, and is still going up. Flour has gone up to $5 50 per barrel, and is rising." The crop in Michigan is said to be good — and the yield is probably above an average one. The news from Central and Northern Illinois and Iowa, is fa- vorable. We also have favorable reports from Pennsylva- nia, Maryland and Virginia. The Richmond Whig states that in all Virginia east of the mountains, the wheat is generally harvested, and that though the crop suffered first from April frosts, and subsequent- ly from rust, yet " it will exceed an average one. " 1810. THE GENESEE FARMER. 181 IMPROVED WELL AND CISTERN PUMPS. While spending a few hours in Seneca Falls, some two weeks ago, we were surprised at the ezteni of its manufacturing business. Among other estab- lishments, we passed through the extensive Pump Factory of Messrs. Downs, Myndherse &l Co., and were so well pleased with the style, construction and appearance of their improved Pumps, that we re- quested a description of them for publication in the Farmer. In compliance with the request, Messrs. D. M. & Co. have furnished us with the annexed figures and description, which we present, for the ben- efit of all interested: — Cistern Pump. Fig. 1. Well Pump. Fig. 2. Fig. 1 exposes to view the different parts of the Pump. A represents the cap, or top part of the pump. B, the Plunger or Piston, which contains a Tube Valve, made of brass, and nicely fitted. C, the spout. D, the end of the cylinder which passes up through the ring of the spout, and screws into the cap, A. E, the lower end of the cylinder, which screws into the base, pressing the lower valve, and securing it in its place. F, the lower valve. G, the brass tube to which the lead pipe is soldered. II, the base of the pump. The tube, <\ is placed through the base, H, thus forming a brass valve seal, which is important, as it will not corrode, and renders the leather valve much more durable than if placed upon iron, as is usually the case. It will readily be seen by the construction of these Pumps, that they may be easily taken apart, and ac- cess gained to each and every part without disturbing the pipe or platform upon which the pump stands', and that without the use of either screw driver or wrench. By loosening the upper part of the pump, the spout may be revolved around to any desired po- sition, and firmly secured by screwing the cap down on to the ring of the same — thus enabling the Pump to be placed in the corner of a room without the brake or spout interfering or coming in contact with the wall on either side. By raising the brake to its relative height, the water may be let back into the reservoir, thus preventing the pump from freezing in cold weather — and the water may be recovered by a few strokes of the brake. The pump will draw wa- ter as well horizontally as perpendicularly. Fig. 2 represents a large and strong pump, made of iron, and is designed for wells, or an out-door Pump. The construction is the same, being similar to the one described above. The piston and valves of this Pump are located in the lower end of the set length, which runs down three feet below the base. At the upper end of the cylinder, we make a small hole which allows the water to escape from the Pump when it is not in motion — thus preventing it from freezing up in winter. To get at the piston and upper valve, it is only necessary to screw off the top of the pump above the spout, and pull the piston out of the top, which may be done and replaced without taking up the pump or pipe. These pumps we ar- range for lead or wood pipe, as may be desired. The whole pump being made of iron, renders it a durable article, as no part can decay, and it will throw wa- ter with great ease and rapidity. It is now several months since the above described pumps have been introduced to the public, and the de- mand for them is rapidly increasing daily. In all cases where they have been thoroughly tested, they have proved to be a superior article. Woodbury's Horse Power and Separator. — These excellent machines are very highly esteemed wherever they are introduced. In the Boston Culti- vator of last week, Messrs. T. 8t C. H. May, of Woodstock, Ct., published a letter stating that this horse power, in their opinion, is one of the best in use, that it is capable of doing more work with less power, than any other with which they are acquaint- ed; requiring the power of only three horses to saw from twenty to thirty cords of hard wTood, twice in two in one day, and with ease. The letter states it to be their opinion that Wood- bury's Horse Power and Seperator, for threshing and cleaning grain, cannot- fail to give satisfaction to those possessing the power of three horses only, to thresh and clean from fifty to a hundred bushels of oats per hour. This is high testimony indeed. — Our readers will remember that both of these ma- chines are now manufactured at Rochester, N. Y. — Scientific American. 182 THE GENESEE FARMER. Aug. Jhnprowfo Stock. SHORT-HORN AWD NATIVE CATTLE. ET S. P. CHAPMAN. [Reply to W. Ilanford, jr., page 133 of present volume.] We regret that our former article was not definite enough for our friend Hanford. We gave, as_ we supposed, a very accurate account of the productions of a few Durhams for the dairy, [and we could easi- ly increase the number if necessary,] and in nearly every instance, the keeping of said cows during, and in some instances previous to the time of trial. If we were deficient in not stating the exact amount of food consumed, we would say that it would be very difficult to do so, especially when cows are at grass pasture, as was the case with all the examples giv«n, with one exception. But what we regret still more is, that our friend should write as he did about " premium testimony." When individuals from different parts of the Union and from other countries, too, selected on account of their supposed good judgment in the matter to be decided, having all the facts as to the age, keeping, and management of the different animals offered, ful- ly subscribed and sworn to by their respective own- ers, give in their decisions, we are free to acknowl- edge that such decisions has some weight with us, "towards establishing the merits of an animal." Friend Harford had no occasion on our part, at least, to have resorted to any testimony to prove that there are good milkers among our native cows, for it is something we have never in the least doubted or denied; and least of all had he any oc- casion for resorting to a " Sussex bred coiv, own- ed in Lews, in England,'" " to prove this." The ground taken by our friend, in his very excellent and able article of February last, and to which we took exception, w7as, [unless there had been error in his instruction,] — "That full-blooded Durhams, wherever found, were deficient in one, and that the most important qualification," and that they were great consumers, requiring an extra quality of food. Now, whether we proved that such instructions, (if any such were ever given in the Genesee Farmer,) were incorrect, we leave for its readers to decide. Friend Hanford, after presenting us with a very interesting account of the Sussex Cow, says: "All will admit that her produce was a little extraordina- ry; and it is invariably true that to do things ex- traordinary with horned cattle, they require extraor- dinary feed and care." With all duo respect for the opinions of our friend, we will, with leave, present him with a short extract from a letter recently re- ceived from Mr. Vail, of Troy, N. Y. Mr. Vail's cattle, it is true, have generally "short horns"; but we believe, nevertheless, they are classed " with horned cattle.'''' Perhaps if they were longer horns however, our friend's " invariable" rule might prove a little more correct. Mr. Vail says: "I have a full blood Durham Cow, Eunice II., now about seven years old, of my own breeding, which has made this spring, on grass pasture only, nineteen and one- fourth pounds of butter in one week. On the 9th day of June ultimo, the milk drawn from heron that day was accurately weighed, and the quantity yield- ed was 71 J lbs, equal to 35 J quarts, wine measure. Her keep was no better than that of the other cows, and was grass pasture only. I own the dam of this cow, and she gave in one day 32 quarts of milk, wine measure." If the produce of the Sussex cow was a little extraordinary, we think the pro- duce of Eunice II, and of her dam, would be con- sidered at least extraordinary; and we do think grass pasture is not extraordinary feed. We commenced a trial with "Ruby," (the heifer purchased of Mr. Vail, and formerly referred to,) the 30th of last month. She produced in one week thirteen pounds and three ounces of butter. She is now 4 years old, and was kept last Avinter on bar- ley straw until the first of February. During this month, she had hay and straw, mixed whole in about equal quantities. After the 1st of March she was fed good hay, until turned, to grass pasture, since which time she has had no other food. The greatest quan- tity of milk yielded in any one day was 47| lbs. That Mr. Colman should have requested Mr. Prentice to put some of his cows on trial, and fur- nish the readers of his paper with the result, we do not consider as any " abatement" in the least of his high and just encomiums of that noble stock; for it is well known that Mr. P. had some excellent milk- ers in his herd, and Mr. Colman was probably well aware of this fact, when the request was made. — We regret that we have not this entire article of Mr. Colman's. Our extract was taken from the "Culti- vator," in which it appeared, taken from, the New Genesee Farmer. As to the bull Ccelebs, we cer- tainly wish our friend had commenced his extract just three and a half lines sooner; it would then have read — "Mr. Jaqbes is of opinion that the ex- cellence of his cream-pot breed is principally to be ascribed to a c?~oss toith Calebs, but on what rational grounds, it is difficult for me to discover. Their beautiful color," &o. Now, whether Col. Jaques, (whose opinion Mr. C. honestly gave,) who owned this bull, and was well acquainted wuth every in- dividual in his entire herd, or Mr. Colman, who could evidently have had no such favorable oppor- tunities for forming- his judgment, were most likely to be correct, we think is very evident. In rela- tion to the stock of Ccelebs, Col. Jaqucs in a letter to the editor of the " Cultivator," in 1845, page 75, says: "Mr. Leonard Stone, of Watertown, one of our best and wealthiest farmers, says he had two cows by I. Coolidge's premium bull, (a son of Cce- lebs) that proved the best milkers he ever had." — And the editor previously remarks, " Many of his (Ccelebs') progeny were remarkable as milkers." "Has he (Mr. Colman) ever bred or owned a pure bred Durham?" Don't know. Has he? and if so, how many? He might have been unfortunate in his selection, (if he ever owned any,) for we are free to acknowledge that all Durhams are not of the same quality. A breed of cattle that contained none but good ones, would certainly be a desideratum. "Is Mr. Chapman satisfied?" With what? Our Durhams ? Yes. With our friend's article ? We have no fault to find. That Mr. Colman was not favor- able to the Durhams? We were perfectly well aware of this fact before we read our friend's able article, and all we can obtain from one opposed to a thing in its favor, we think must have some weight. Hear what Mr. C. says in the same article extracted from by our friend. [See Gen. Farmer, 1842, pages 3 and 20:] "In addition to these [importations of Dur- hams] we have bad a valuable bull imported by a merchant of Boston * * * and the superior bull "Bolivar," imported by John Hare Powel, of Penn- sylvania, from I. Whittaker's stock, in England, cele- 18-111. THE GENESEE FARM Kit. 183 b rated for its extraordinary dairy, properties," — Again same article of Durham cows"iu general," Mr. (J. says: "The Durham ci vva tin general, and i iolly the sel< cted ones w hich have o& a impor- te ' on account of these qualities, are targe milkers; bul their milk seems, [nol lly inferior asto richn ss, or butyraceous propertie ." Thai the milk Durham cows isrtcA,we believe is now very universally admitted! It is well Known that the Dur ams generally are good handlers, and a cow that. er, is almost sure to give good milk. Wi have yel to see a single exception to this rule. We have one full blood cow, "Flora," that gave one 1 ound and i me ounce of butter from twelve quarts of in i Ik. This cow gives from is to if* quarts jerday, and al the above rate would makeover eleven pounds per week. She is an imported cow, and twelve years old, and has given nii'.k this year since the 20th of March. She has had no feed hut grass pasture for the !.«.-; eight or ten weeks. That as a general rule animals consume in pro- portion to their size, is probably true; but it is sub- ject to very many exceptions. That two horses used in the same team, and weighing nearly the same, do not require an i qual amount of food, almost every farmer knows. The one will consume I early one- third more than the other, and not keep in as good condition. The greater or less consumption of food is ow i ig, after all, much more to the make and build of an animal than its size [weight.] '•1 cannot pronounce them, as a race distinguish- ed and preferable to all others, for their dairy quali- ties." Here, friend, take our hat ! We won't say any more — until we get ready. We do not feel in any mood to quarrel with any one for liking another breed of cattle better than the Durhams, for all who choose, have a most undoubt- ed right so to do. And it would afford us much pleasure to see the pages of our various agricultural journals, contain more respecting the merits of all good breeds of cattle. Can't a Short-horn or Here- ford owner read a good account of a Devon without flying into a passion ? If not, he is certain- ly unfit to own good stock, for we should really pity the poor animals under his care. We always did believe there was more than one gpod thing in this great world of ours, and we also believe that there is more than one good breed of cattle. And when some of our friends tell us they have a good Native or Hereford cow, does that prove any thing against the Durhams or Ayrshires ? Bring' on, then, those beautiful Devons, with their fine glossy coats — those noble Hereford?, with their clean white faces — those fine Ayrshires, with their udders almost as large as their little bodies — those good Natives, that should shame all the rest of their breed out of existence — and we'll agree for it the stately Durhams will not be wanting-, and let us screw some good brass nobs on their horns, so they shall cease goring each other, and those mise- rable scrubs that now infest our country would soon be among the things that were. And now, Mr. Editor, in conclusion, will you per- mit us to ask you one question ? You say in sub- stance, in your remarks, '-That it is best as a gene- ral rule to secure deep milkers whenever they can be found, without regard to origin." Now what we wish to know is, if you were offered a choice of two cows of equally good appearance, and equally good milkers, the one descended from ancestors all cele- brated for their extrordin&ry milking qualities, and the other descended from [ t milkers generally, or perhaps nothing is known of her ancestry, which would you prefer ? We fully agree.- that it is best to secure deep milkers, but in order to establish this good quality in our herds, \se think it is necessary to know something of the origin or ancestry of an ani- mal. Clockville, Madison Co., JY. Y., July, 1849. Remark. — In the case cited above, we should of course prefer the cow "descended from ancestors all celebrated for their extraordinary milking qualities." RECENT IMPORTATION OF SHORT-HORNS. BY A. STXVEKS, OF NEW IORK. Eds. Genesee Farmer:— On my return from Eng- land last spring, I brought with me for account of Col. Sherwood, of Auburn, N. Y., and myself, a short-horn Durham Bull, and three short-horn Hi and one short-horn bull calf for I. F. Sheafe, Esq., of Dutchess Co., N. Y. Col. Sherwood, and my- self, have had so many inquiries as to these cattle, that I ask a notice of them in your journal. The bull is "3d Duke of Cambridge;"' his portrait and pedigree may be seen in the 4th volume of the English 1 lerd-Book, page 614, (No. 5,941.) He was bred by that distinguished breeder, Thomas Bates, Esq., of Kensington, Yarm, England, who is well and widely known, both in England and America. Theheiff rs and bull calf were bred by Jon>' Ste- phenson, Esq., of the county of Durham, England, well known as the ownor of the superior and fa- mous Princess Tribe of Short-horns. In the execution of the commissions of Mr. Sheafe and Col. Sherwood, I was left to my own discretion, they trusting to my judgment. I made a thorough examination of the various herds of Short- horns in England, and from among them selected such animals as I thought would meet the views of my associates, and satisfy the critical scrutiny of American breeders. These cattle have now been in America five months, and have been seen by hundreds of persons, inclu- ding many of our best judges and breeders. It gives me great pleasure to say they have met the approba- tion of all who have seen them. The universal tes- timony is that in every respect, they are the best short-horns ever imported into America. The vessel which brought them over, encountered weather of great severity, and the voyage was both long and tempestuous, indeed, for twenty days, there was a continued hurricane. The cattle were worn out and reduced. They are now all recovered except one heifer; she is ill and was knocked all to pieces, and has not yet regained her form, and I fear may not. — She was the best of the three heifers before sailing. The origin of the cattle is this. The late Sir Hen- ry Vane Tempest, of Wynyard Park, county of Dur- ham, England, owned a herd of short-horns, known for its wonderful and unsurpassed excellence. They are designated in England "the Wynyard Breed,!' or "Princess Tribe." In 1800, Sir Henry bought the original of his herd, the cow Princess, of"Robert Colling. After the death of Sir Henry, the Wyn- yard herd was sold, and the cow Angelina, (a grand- daughter of Princess.) became the property of John Stephenson, Esq. From Angelir.,*. are descended tne animals which I brought over. * * * I have great pleasure in knowing that I have brought to this country, 6o superior a bull from the J 184 THE GENESEE FARMER. Aug. herd of that eminent breeder, Mr. Bates. He is the only bull in America, got by Mr. Bates' crack prize bull, Duke of Northumberland, (1940,) the best Mr. Bates ever bred. Mr. Bates, has but one more left, got by the same bull ; and Duke of Northumberland is now dead. Mr. Bates repeatedly told me that 3d Duke of Cambridge was more like his sire than any bull ever got by him. Breeders desiring the blood of Mr. Bates, can no where else in this country pro- cure it with such high characteristics of style, quali- ty, symmetry and substance. From the various expression of approval received I select the following. The writer, Lewis F. Allen, Esq., is well known as an extensive breeder of short- horns and as a judge. No person in the United States, has had a more intimate knowledge of the short-horns in our country for the last twenty-five years. He is author of the American Herd Book: — u Since I saw him, I have thought much on your bull, 3d Duke of Cambridge, and in comparing "him in my mind with all the bulls I have ever seen, I am more and more impressed with his superior value to any thing yet brought into the United States. In short, he fills my mind entirely with all the qualities which a perfect short-horn should possess; and I don't know but the heifers are quitehis equals in style, quality, See. I hope you will have all the success both in their increase, and in the sale of their pro- duce, which you deserve, for our country has never before, within my knowledge, received such an ac- quisition in the stock line "as in these cattle. You deserve much for your enterprise, and Stevens a great deal for his judgment in selecting such animals. — They far exceed my anticipations; although I am free to say, I anticipated much from Stevens' selec- tions, with all England for a field to choose in." This opinion was entirely unsolicited on the part of Col. Sherwood or myself, and wholly voluntary on the part of Mr. Allen. Steps have been taken to have a portrait of the 3d Duke of Cambridge engraved for publication in the Genesee Farmer for September or October, and of Princess 2d in some future number. These animals are now at Col. Sherwood's, Auburn N. Y. where they may be seen. It is now design- ed to show them at Syracuse at the great cattle show of the State Society, in September next. Col. Sher- wood and myself invite the attention of breeders and amateurs to them. A. Stevens. — JYeiv York. Culture or Grapes in Ohio. — It is stated in tho report of the Agricultural Society for the county of Hamilton, O., that not less than five hundred bushels of Catawba and Isabella grapes, were sold at Cincinnati, during last season, for "table use." The price is three to four dollars per bushel. But the quantity sold for the table is said to have been inconsiderable, compared with the quantity used in the manufacture of wine. The grape culture is profitably carried on in the vicinity of Cincinnati, on the roughest hill-sides, which are of but little value for the ordinary purposes of agriculture. Gold Fish in Hudson River. — About ten years ago a few gold fish were thrown into Matteavvan Creek, which empties into tho Hudson near New- burgh, and have so multiplied as to fairly stock the creek and river in that vicinity. These fish, origi- nally from China, are rare in this country. BLACK SKINNED BARLEY Last winter, while on the Atlantic, I promised my fellow-passenger, P. Barry, Esq., that I would send to the Genesee Farmer an account of the discovery, &.C., of the Cheltenham Six-rowed Black-skinned Barley. Various circumstances have prevented my doing so until now. I have a beautiful sample now in ear, which I intend to take to the State Fair. I transplanted some, but owing to the dry weather it did not succeed as well as it would otherwise have done; still, from that the promised yield will be lar- ger than the commonality of barley. Mr. Vaughan, a tobacconist of Cheltenham, Eng- land, having by accident discovered three grains of this extraordinary barley, he planted it in January, 1843, and its produce was 3,610 corns or grains. — Mr. Churchill, of the Plough Hotel, of that place, hav- ing been favored with a fewT grains, planted them in December 1 843, '44, and '45. The Black Barley, not- withstanding the severe frosts and cold winds, and the extreme drought in part of 1844, flourished and yielded a very extraordinary crop. Mr. C. was in- duced to drill several acres on the 14th of February, 1846, allowing five pecks to the acre, which he reap- ed on the 4th of July. Its produce was 52 bushels and 2 pecks per acre; weight, 55 J lbs. per bushel — when hummelled, 58 lbs. The same land was sown with whitestone turnips on the 10th July, which were large, and fit for the table by the 2d September. Mr. C. drilled in Jan. and February, 1847, several acres, allowing six pecks to the acre; the produce averaged 63 bushels to the acre, and weighed 57£ lbs. to the bushel, before hummeling.* Mr. C. drilled, in Oc- tober 1847, several acres with and without vetches. He mowed the barley and vetches when in ear, for his cattle and working horses, during April and May; the produce averaged 12 tons, 2 cwt. (27,104 lbs.) per acre, and from its superiority of feed, was a saving of 3 lbs. of beans to each horse per day. — That planted without vetches was harvested on the 10th July, and the land sown with whitestone tur- nips and fit for sale in September. A small portion of barley was mown in May; the stubble was let re- main for a second crop, and was reaped on the 23d August, producing 37 bushels and 2 pecks to the acre. Mr. Churchill malted 100 bushels and found the vat cast more than any other barley.f When the barley is ground and mixed with wheaten flour, it produces good sweet bread. It is recommended to be sown in October or No- vember, for green food in the spring, either with or without vetches, and not later than February for har- vesting or seed, allowing to good lands about 84 lbs. to the acre, and for middling land, 100 lbs. It is bet- ter drilled or dibbled. The straw is very strong, fine and fit for plaiting; all sorts of cattle are very fond of it when cut into chaff". So hardy is the plant that a gentleman in Wolverhampton raised a few corns in his hot-house, and during the severe cold ordered it to be transplanted into the open ground, where it came to great perfection. Mr. C. says it does better on poor than on highly manured lands. I sowed late in March and April. — I put the grains six inches apart, and found they were much too close. W. M. Beauchamp. — Skan- eateles,JY. Y., July, 1849. "An acquaintance of mine planted one peck, and reaped the sarao season from tho same. 46 bushels. t 1 do not recommend it for distillation, or in any ottser way that may augment the curse of drunkenness. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 185 LETTER FROM FAIRFAX 00., VIRGINIA. Mkssrs. Editors: — Having recently become a subscriber to the GbnbsBB Farmkr, 1 must Bay I pre- fer it to all other agricultural documents that T ever perused. I have shown it to my neighbors around me, and asked them to subscribe. They say that it is published too far off— that the system of farming carried on in New-York will not answer for the soil and climate here. Now I wish to know the reason, for they are unable to give me a satisfactory one. — Will any one of the readers of the Farmer give the reason, if any, why the northern practice of farming will not do in many sections of the south? Having been born and raised in Madison county, New- York, (from which I came to this place about two years ago,) I am satisfied, from my own knowledge, that the southern practice of farming would not do at the north. Nature has done every "needful thing" for this country, while it has been the work of the white man and his slaves to mutilate and destroy. We have many advantages over Western New York. We have Washington and Alexandria, which are better mar- kets for produce than any in Western New York — and the Potomac river, with vessels on her that will take our surplus to any part of the world. I wish to turn some of the farmers of New- York this way, instead of their going to the west. Land within three miles of Washington varies from $10 to $30 per acre, the price depending upon the quali- ty of soil and location; and in my own neighborhood, which is ten miles from Alexandria and three miles from Mt. Vernon, (on part of the estate formerly owned by Gen. Washington,) land can be purchas- ed at from $5 to $15 per acre. * * * All this part of Virginia wants, in my humble opinion, is enterprising northern farmers to settle here, and it will become one of the gardens of the world. In the luxurient valley of the Genesee, there is no end to wheat and corn — while the valleys of the Po- tomac river are grown up to pines and cedars; the planters having left them, the deer and wild turkey have taken possession, and roam unmolested. I long to see the " Old Dominion" stand first, as of right she ought, among her sister States; and northern emigration would soon place her in that proud posi- tion. The soil here is easily improved, and the water good — and in fact there is every inducement that a northern farmer could ask for. Where sown, clover grows luxuriantly, and lime acts well on the soil. — Indeed I see nothing to hinder a northern farmer, with northern enterprise and tho northern mode of farm- ing, from doing well here; and I advise all unsettled farmers who wish to locate permanently, to emigrate to Virginia instead of going to the west. Any one wishing to know more about lands in Fairfax county, may direct their letters to me, and they shall be accommodated. S. N. Wright. — Ac- cotink, Fair/ax Co., Fa., May, 1849. Remarks. — We publish the above because we think its statements will prove interesting to many of our readers. If the section mentioned possesses " many advantages over Western Now York," we Bee no good reason why it should remain in a wild and uncultivated state. We hope to receive articles from other sections of the south and west, containing facts of general interest to agriculturists — such as soil and climate, staple products, price of land, &c. BREAKING STEERS. An Alabama correspondent of the Southern Culti- vator gives tho following plan for breaking steers. It strikes us as bring quite practicable. He says: " Make a yoke four feet longer than usual; give room to put four bows instead of two, us represented in the annexed figure. Hitch a pairof well broke steers, one at each end of tho yoke, leaving the two middle bows for your unhroke steers. Now hitch to your cart, and put them at work, all four in the A B CD A D, old steers. | B (', young steers, same yoke, and abreast. They may cut some antics at first, but they will soon find it best to obey the word of command. Dont suffer them to be whipped, as is common in breaking mules and oxen. Treat them gently while you have them hitched together, and you can break them with or without lines. You will find this plan to be much better than having a half-dozen negroes about them, beating and thump- ing, whooping and bawling for a week or two, if you manage them rightly for two or three weeks. — Should a neighbor wish to borrow the gentlest yoke of oxen you have, you would hesitate to say which was the safest. The steers you have thus newly broken would be without tricks." TO THE WOOL GROWERS OF THE UNITED STATES. A purse of $100 having been offered for the best 25 Merino Ewes, and the best 25 Marino lambs un- der one year old — by a private gentleman — the ex- hibition to be at the Fair of the New-York State Ag- ricultural Society, I propose to be a competitor in that exhibition against any and all flocks of Merino sheep that may be brought against me. I give this out, not as a challenge, but simply as a proposition, which shall call forth my brother fanners through- out the length and breadth of the land. My object is to convince myself where the best Merino sheep are — if I have not got them — for I am resolved to improve from the best, whatever may be the cost. — By a fair and manly competition, we may compare the best specimens from the best flocks — and by that means may learn where the best sheep are to be found. For a series of years, I have spared no pains or expense to possess myself of the best sheep of the pure merino race, that the United states could afford, or to be found in the old world. It remains to be seen whether these efforts have been successful: and to this end I earnestly invite the merino wool-grow- ers throughout the Union to meet me on the show ground at Syracuse, next September, in honorable competition, to compare the best 25 ewes and 25 lambs from our respective flocks, and thus add ano- ther most interesting feature to the somewhat Na- tional Exhibition which will be made at the New York State Fair. A. L. Bingham. — Cornwall, Vt., July, 1849. Oak leaves, says Thaer, are not easily decompo- sed, and contain an astringent matter which is highly injurious to vegetation as long as the leaf remains undecomposed. 186 THE GENESEE FARMER. Aug. THE ' RHUS m ERBE ; ' OR HINTS TO VILLAGERS. [Though many of the following hints are unseasonable at this time, the article will keep quite as well in print as in our pigeon hole — and perchance prove valuable to those who preserve the Farmer. — Ed.] As more than a pro rata portion of the readers of the Farmer live in villages — and as it is a very- thankless task, however irrepressible your enthusiasm may be, to write for the benefit of those of the country who only call you a pretender or an empiric — I will now say a few words for the benefit of the villager who delights in growing his own corn and cabbages. Cabbage Plants. — Never attempt to grow cab- bage plants in any thing but a loose vegetable mould j — here the roots will grow large and strong, so that when transplanted they never fail to grow with ra- pidity. I have often heard it said that a cabbage j planted by a Dutchwoman was sure to live and thrive. I One-half the secret of her success is that her plants j have large spongioles; the other half is in the early hoeing they receive at her hands: for vegetable, like animated nature may be improved by female culture. The Time to Plant. — When a farmer tells you to wTait for the new or old of the moon before you sow or plant, don't mind him, unless your faith is as expansive as his own; but plant early if all things are right — and the moon, crazy as she is, will not molest your crop. Onions. — Few people in Western New York know the true value and culinary office of onions: stiil fewer know how to grow them aright. If you want early onions, plant the black seed after the summer droughts are over, take them up in Novem- ber and put them in the cellar — in April, set them out in beds. They will soon mature, and are much better than what are vulgarly called top onions. If you have a few small onions in the ground all win- ter,'they will come forward very early in the spring, and may be eaten as a salad, tops and all. For the main crop of onions, always plant new black seed in March or April; the surplus young onions will pay for the thinning and weeding. They may be used in soups and stews, or eaten en salade, tops and all. Indian Corn. — For early green corn, plant a row or two of Borne early variety, then plant sweet corn in rows 2| feet apart, once every two weeks, until Ju- ly; thin the plants to six or eight inches in the row, pull or cut off the suckers, and as the corn begins to ear, cut out barren and diseased stalks. You will then have a supply of green corn from July until Oc- tober, and sweet corn to cure for winter's use, to boot. Select the largest ears for seed from two or three ear- ed stalks. The soil for < orn can hardly be made too rich. Hoe as soon as the plant appears above the surface. Some suppose that when corn is planted early, comes up and turns yellow, it is stunted, and will be overtaken by the thrifty plants of a later growth. No such thing; the early plant is often gaining root when the top is stationary, so that its growth will be much more rapid in the succeeding warm weather, than that of even thrifty later grown plants. Beans. — Being tender plants, they must be plant- ed later than most other seeds. Pole beans, though not as early as bush beans, are much more palatoa- ble in the green state. No man can have any pre- tension to the character of an epicurean, who says it is too much trouble to pole beans. Radishes. — Early planted radishes grow so slow that they are injured by worms on a manured soil; a virgin sandy loam is the best for early radishes. — Later in the season they grow so rapidly in a rich soil, that they outstrip the worms. Cucumbers. — Manure prepares the best soil for cucumbers. Whenever I see a farmer's wife with a barrel of cucumber pickles for sale, I instinctive- ly feel, before I make the inquiry, that the stumps have not yet rotted in her garden. A virgin soil, composed by nature's unerring hand, is best for all the delicate feeders of the whole vegetable kingdom. Corn and roots are gross feeders not easily cloyed. — Potatoes want a moist, cool climate, and moist, rich soil. When potatoes fast for want of due moisture, Indian corn luxuriates. a word about trees and shrubs. Let every, villager who takes the Genesee Farmer, read, learn, mark and inwardly digest its Horticul- tural Department, by P. Barry. He will there find that Mr. B. did not go to England to eat turbot, nor to Paris to hurry through the Jar din des Plants, to eat oyster soup at the Rocker da Concati. The Yankees who first began to build villages in West- ern New York, extirpated every tree that the far- mer's axe had spared, as though a forest tree was the natural enemy of civilization. Stingy of every inch of ground, their houses were built out flush with the street, so that when the village grew into a city, they might sell the rear at a high price. To copy the worst example of the city, or of the decayed New England town, seemed to be their highest am- bition; hence, instead of those indigenous trees, shrubs, flowers and creepers (call them not para- sites,) which now adorn the villager's home, little of the kind was to be seen ten years ago, except now and then a starvling exotic in a pot, stuck out on a window sill, or the door step, bringing to mind the little disconsolate flower in Picciola's prison yard. Great has been the progress of sylvan and floral embellishment in our villages, in the last two or three years, and choice fruit trees and vines begin to abound. Next to our favored climate, many thanks are due to D. Thomas, Downing, Barry, and other late writers on horticulture, for such a rapid consummation. But much still remains to be done. Little money is needed to efiect it; all that is neces- sary to promote such improvements, is some read- ing, the cultivation ol a correct taste, some care and attention; but no more time is required than that which is daily passed in idleness — and what is the labor to him or her who loves nature for herself ! S. W.— -Seneca County, JY. Y., 1849. THORN HEDGES. Messrs. Editors: — As you expressed a wish in your last number of the Genesee Farmer, to hear from suc'n of your correspondents as have had any experience in growing hedges, I beg to send you a litte account of my experience on the subject. Five years ago I procured from the Botanical Gar- dens of Messrs. A. J. Downing &c Co., j° Newburgh, N. Y., a quantity of young plants of that variety of thorn called the Newcastle Thorn {Cr-itagus Crus- galli) — a native, as Mr. Downing informed me, of New Jersey, and much better adapted to this climate than the English hawthorn. I planted them a foot apart in a single row, and as they were charged six 1819. THE GENESEE FARMER. 187 dollars per thousann, the thorn plants for each rod of je cost mo only ten cents. When they had grown two years, each thorn was cut down so as to leave only three inches of the Btem above ground. — This bad the effeel of causing several shoots to spring up from each root: these have grown, and now the hedge present- a vigorous appearance, varying from four feet to six and a half feel high, and ii promises to make a very good fence in two or three years from this time. The land on which I planted the i quality : — thai on which it has at- 1 the height of six feet and a half, is a good mellow loam, but that on which it is only four feet high, is a stiff hard clay. If 1 plant another hedge, I shall plant the thorns eight inches apart, and pre- viously manure the land.. I think it cannot be doubetl that we have several species of thorn indigenous to ihis country which would under proper management, make admirable hedges: for I believe that, all things considered, no- thing will be found comparable to the thorn for hedg- farm fences, whether we consider its hardiness and durability, its habit of growing in such close proximity, one to another, as to constitute, from its formidable and numerous spines, an impenetrable bar- rier, its adaptation to the climate of all the northern and middle states, and perhaps to some of those in the south, and its ease of propagation by seed, and consequent cheapness. Dr. Beck, in his Botany of the Northern and Middle States, enumerates eight distinct species of native thorns. I have noticed five or six varieties of the thorn scattered over my own farm, several of which would apparently, from their low, bushy growth, make excellent hedges: and it is to be hoped that ere long our enterprising nurserymen will so test all the native sorts of thorn as to be able to point, out such kinds as are best adapt- ed to the purpose of making good permanent farm fences. I may add that although mice are numerous in my field, yet they have not attacked the Newcas- tle thorn planted by me. This is not the case with the English hawthorn (Cratagus Oxycaniha) plant- ed at the distance of a few miles, where, during the winter, the mice frequently girdle the plants and do much injury. H. R. — Va-rick, Seneca Co., JY. Y., June, 1849. WOOL GROWING. -LARGE FLEECES, &c. Messrs. Editors: — In looking over the old num- bers of your valuable paper, I find several statements from those engaged in the growing of wool. My at- tention was particularly drawn to the statement some gave of the great weight of fleece from their Meri- nos. Now, sir, my sheep quite come up to some of the Merino flocks, they being of the Merino grade. I have at present 11*. including old and young — 38 iambs. The fall of '46, I purchased, at the State fair at Auburn, of Reed Burritt, of Burdett, Tomp- kins county, a Merino buck lamb, one of the five that took the first premium at the bi id fair. The aggre- gate weight of his fleeces is 23 J lbs. His first fleece weighed 7 lbs., second 7§ lbs., third 8£. I have 70 of his stock, including 28 Iambs. Two 2 year- old ewes, with lambs by their sides, clipped 12| lbs. of well washed wool. My 54 old sheep clipped 4 lbs. 3 oz. per fleece; forty of them are ewes; year- lings average four lbs. per head. Last fall, at the State Fur at Buffalo, I purchased a yearling Merino buck of J. D. Patterson, of Westfield, Chautauque count y. He is a noble sheep, good sin-, well formed and well wooled; his >' Weighed 8J lbs. well washed. I have ten lambs of hi stock, which bid fair to make the right kind of b1 I have brought my flock up to what they are, with- out the expense of purchasing high priced or abroad; indeed, I have purchased none but the two above mentioned. The ii hi - been made by a proper selection of bucks, changing them every or every other year, and bre< my best ewes. I thought, if- 1 could get of sheepthat would average i lbs. per fleece, I be satified — but my ambition goes beyond that 1 anticipate getting up a flock that all old will average 5 lbs., and laml grain to my old sheep; I give a few oats in the to my lambs, during the first four weeks of feeding ha v. If any oi ly read this article has a I of Merinos that come to the last above figured, they will much oblige one of the many readers of your paper by making it public through its pages. Sam- uel EmiBREB. — Milo, Yates Co., ,V. Y., June, 1849. A CHEAP BEE-HIVE. Messrs. Editors: — In getting up the plan of a bee-hive to meet the wants of the farmer and me chanic, there are several things that should be well understood — the object being profit and economy. — A large hive seldom swarms much after the first sea- son of swarming, if they have a plenty of room for their increase. I have always found those hives the most profitable that hold only what honey it req to winter a midling sized swarm, and comb enough to raise their young in. I have used board, tub straw hives, and have examined most of the patent hives that have been offered in this vicinity. Thro years ago I got up a hive that I think i nearest what the farmer wants, of any I have ever seen. I wil endeavor to describe how it is made. — I select two suitable boards, one inch thick — one of them thirteen, and the other fifteen inches wide. I saw two pieces from the one 13 inches wide, for the front and back part of the hive, twenty inches long; then two more fifteen inches wide, the same length; then I measure off 10|| inches on one side, and 11 on the other side. Strike lines across, and saw them into by them, to make the sides of the main hive and sliding doors. For the chamber to set the box- es in, take the two pieces 11 inches long, nail them to the boards 13 inches wide, the longest sides out; then a square piece from the board 13 inches wide, makes the floor between the main hive and chamber. From the edges next to the front and back boards, I cut out a strip two or three inches long, sufficient for the bees to pass from the main hive to the boxes. I then nail the floor firmly, level with the Ion edges of the side boards. A board 17 inches square makes the top of the hive, with some gimlet holes to slip nails into to hold the sliding doors in their place, completes the hive, except four sticks through the main hive, two each way, to support the comb. To make boxes, select good house siding, wide enough to use six by eight window-glass for the ends; plain them to g of an inch thick; make the boxes l'JJ inches long; cut the edges of two of the boards to make a place for the bees to enter it from the main hive; nail them together with inch brads. Two boxes will stand in the chamber, and hold 16 lbs. each, when well filled, and seldom any thing in them but the clear honey and white comb. Alvin Wilcox.— West Btoomfield, .V. Y., April, 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. Aug. IMPROVED SHORT-HORN BULL " BUENA VJSTA," Owned bt S. P Chapman, of Clockvlle, Madison County, New York. Though we never " bred or owned a short-horn," we do like to see and handle them — and when we can not have that privilege, we e'en like to look upon such a " counterfeit presentment" as the portrait here given. Indeed, we admire a beautiful, well for- med animal of any breed, and have little sympathy with those specimens of the genus homo, who can find nothing worth seeing, at a " cattle-show." We congratulate Mr. Chafman upon the possess- ion of so perfect and noble an animal as the one above represented; and we are assured that "Buena Vista" is equally as good, if not " better looking," than the engraving. His pedigree shows him to be among the choicest of the breed to which he belongs, and we are confident that while under the care and management of his present owner, his good qualities will be fully retained. • Mr. Chapman seems deter- mined to keep pace with the improvements of the age, and we consider his example well worthy of imitation by other practical farmers and breeders. — The success which has thus far attended his efforts to improve the quality and augment the produce of his stock, (both sheep and cattle,) proves that he understands the subject — and we presume he fully comprehends its importance. We trust his labors will be adequately rewarded. We annex the pedigree of "Buena Vista:" — Pedigree. — White — bred by George Vail, of Troy, N. Y.; calved 10th April, 1845. Got by Me- teor, 104, [ bred by Mr. Vail, from an imported cow and bull, bred by Thomas Bates, Esq., of Yorkshire, England,] out of Queen II., by Charles Henry Hall's Meteor* — Queen I., by Monarch, 105, [bred by Mr. * Mr. Hall's Meteor was sired by Harlem Comet, 71, by Wye Comet, [imported by Gov. Lloyd, of Maryland,] dam Lily by Regent, [ imported by Mr. Hall, in 1821,] — Blanche [imported by Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, in 1823,] by a son of Comet, 319. The dam of Meteor, Snow-drop, by im- ported Regent; g. d., Old Snow-drop, got in England, out of Blanche, [ imported.] Hall,] — Young Princess, by Regent, [imported by Mr. Hall in 1821,— Old Princess, [imported by Ed- ward Prince in 1825, bred by Robert Colling,] by Lancaster, 360, — Golden Pippin by North Star, 458, —by Favorite, 252,— by Hubback, 319. The Short-Horns. — In his " Compend of Amer- ican Agriculture," Mr. Allen 6ays: — "The Short-horns or Durhams are decidedly the most showy and taking among the cattle species. — They are of all colors between a full deep red, and a pure creamy white; but generally have both intermix- ed in larger or smaller patches, or intimately blended in a beautiful roan. Black, brown, orbrindle are not recognized among pure bred short-horns. Their form is well spread, symmetrical and imposing, and capable of sustaining a large weight of valuable car- cass. The horn was originally branching, and turn- ed upward, but now frequently has a downward ten- cy, with the tips pointing towards each other. They are light and comparatively short, clear, highly pol- ished and waxy. The head is finely formed, with a longer face, but not so fine a muzzle as the Devon. The neck is delicately formed without dewlap; the brisket projecting, and the great depth and width of the chest giving short, well spread fore legs. The crops are good; back and loin broad and fiat; ribs projecting; deep flank and twist; tail well set up, strong at the roots and tapering. They have a thick covering of soft hair, and are mellow to the touch, technically termed handling well. They mature ear- ly and rapidly for the quantity of food consumed, yielding largely of good beef with little offal. As a breed, they are excellent milkers, though some fami- lies of short-horns surpass others in this quality. — The short-horns are assigned a high antiquity by the oldest breeders in the counties of Durham and Yorkshire, England, the place of their origin, and for a long time, of their almost exclusive breeding." 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 189 THE STALLION "MORGAN HUNTER.' [For the above beautiful engraving we are indebt- ed to the owners of the animal it portrays. As we have never seen "Morgan Hunter," we are unable to speak of him from personal knowledge — and therefore copy the following notice from the July number of The Cultivator:] It has been well remarked that, though a pic- ture may convey too favorable an idea of a defec- tive animal, yet it is impossible to portray all the ex- cellencies of a good one. Making due allowances for the latter difficulty, the above figure may be con- considered a correct likeness of the horse from which it was taken. "Morgan Hunter" is six years old; was bred, as we are infonned, by Mr. Exwell, of Springfield, Vt.; was got by GifFord Morgan, dam by the same horse. He was sold by F. A. Weir, of Walpole, N. H., in May last, to Messrs. Hackley k, Gilbert, of East Hamilton, Madison County, N. Y., and stands the present season at the stable of S. A. Gilbert, in that town. He is a capital specimen of the Morgan fa- mily of horses. In his general form, he possesses, in a remarkable degree, what Youatt lays down as the most important requisite in a stallion — com- pactness— " as much goodness and strength as pos- sible, condensed in a little space." His head is fine, and his eye large and brilliant; his chest capacious, barrel round, loin very broad, back short, quarters long and muscular, flanks deep and full, limbs short- jointed, flat and sinewy. In temper and spirit he exhibits the intelligence and docility which charac- terize most of his near relatives. Like the high- mettled Arabian, he unites the playfulness and good humor of a pet lamb, with the courage and power of the war-horse — whose " neck is clothed with thun- der,"— " who rejoiceth in his strength," and " mock- eth at fear " The history of the Morgan horses has been fully given in previous pages of The Cultivator. Some people, however, who have not fully investigated the matter, seem to entertain the idea, that they origi- nated with a cross of the French or Canadian horse. We have never seen the least evidence that the ori- ginal, or as he is called the Justin Morgan horse, possessed any of this blood; and of the four stall- ions which were kept of his get, we believe the Bulrush or Chelsea Morgan, was the only one that inherited any French blood through the dam. We notice various advertisements and cuts of horses, as " Morgans," in the papers of the differ- ent parts of the country. A comparison of those de- scriptions and their originals, with the cut at the head of this article, may serve, in some degree, to show whether the animals truly represent the stock whose name they bear, or are only counterfeits. Instinct of Plants. — Hoare, in his treatise on the vine, gives a striking exemplification of the in- stinct of plants. A bone was placed in the strong, dry clay of a vine border. The vine sent out a lead- ing, or tap root, directly through the clay to the bone. In its passage through the clay the main root threw out fibres, but when it reached the bone it entirely covered it by degrees with the most delicate and mi- nute fibres, like lace, each one sucking at a pore in the bone; like a litter of pigs at their dam as she lies down on the sunny side of the farm-yard. On this luscious morsel of a marrow bone would the vine con- tinue to feed as long as any nutriment remained to be extracted. What wonderful analogies there are run- ning through the various forms of animal and vegeta- ble creation, to stimulate curiosity, to gratify research, and finally, to lead our contemplations from nature, in a feeling of reverence, "up to nature's God." As to the vine spoken of by Hoare, it is worthy of remark that the root went no further than the bone. 190 THE GENESEE FARMER. Aug. MAKING AND PRESERVING EUTTER. The following' article was commmunicated to the Farmer's Monthly Visitor, by one of the sisters of the United Society of Shakers at Canterbury, N. H. — The excellent economy of this Society gives an im- portance to their recommendations: — " The pans or other vessels in which the milk is to be set, should be made perfectly sweet by scalding, previous to putting the milk into them. A room in a basement story, where the air will circular^ freely, is preferable to a cellar for setting milk; forty-eight hours is a sufficient length of time to raise cream for making butter to keep through the winter season. "After this cream is taken off, the milk may stand the same length of time, but the cream that rises af- ter the first forty-eight hours, will uot make butter 60 palateable as the first which rises, and should be churned separate. "As soon as the cream is taken from the milk, it should be put into a tin pail, and set into a kettle of scalding water, taking care to stir the cream after, otherwise it will turn oily at the top. It should re- main in the kettle till the cream is scalding hot, be- ing careful to place it in a tub of cold water imme- diately. Stir it often until it is nearly or quite cold: if it remains long after hot, it will be injured much It will be necesary to change the water once or twice before the cream can be perfectly cold. It may then be kept three or four days without injury. After churning, the buttermilk should be partially worked out; then add one and one-half ounce of salt to one pound of butter. "It may then be covered tight and stand till the following day; then work it over again, taking ev- ery c-are to work out all particles of buttermilk, which will prevent the butter from growing rancid by age. It may then be formed into cakes, or packed solid in a cask, which should be perfectly sweet and well dried. " The inside should be sprinkled with a little fine salt. After the cask is filled, dip a cloth in melted butter, and spread it snugly over the top — cover it with fine salt, and fasten up the cask sufficiently tight to keep out the air: it should then be set in a cool place, to remain through the winter. "A cask made of red oak staves is preferable to any other, for preserving the original sweetness of butter. It will add to the flavor of butter to work in a little sugar at the last working over — say a table- spoonful to every four or five pounds of butter." A SUGGESTION FOR AGRICULTURAL CLUBS. The " New York Columbian Farmer" suggests what is, one might suppose, not only wise, but very practicable for all who have the self-command and resolution to do any thing for improvement in their line of business. It says: Let each member of the club procure a good sized blank book; commence, say in the spring; write down all matters which relate to the operations of the farm, viz.: number of feres, the soil, manner of tillage, quantity and kind of manure; the time of seeding of all kinds of grain and vegetables, quanti- ty of nerd per ncre: the situation of the land, as to wet or dry; making suitable entries during the sea- son, as to the weather, the growth of crops, whether doing well or not, and the probable cause; the time of harvesting, yield per acre; if good or poor, the probable cause; the time of selling, the price, high or low. A memorandum somewhat similar as to the stock; the disease with which they are attacked, if any, the remedy used, and the effect. Let an exact account be kept of the outgoes and incomes, and a balance be struck at the end of each year; taking- special pains through the year to ascertain causes and their effects; and be not afraid of writing too much. By this course they would soon acquire the habit of putting their thoughts on paper in a system- atic way. At the end of each year, these papers could be presented to the club, and examined by a committee; and all matters worth remembering, put into a condensed report, and recorded. By this course, a comparison could be made between the dif- ferent systems practiced, and the best could be adopt- ed. By this it is believed every important improve- ment would soon become general; errors would be detected and abandoned. PASTERNS OF THE HORSE. The following sensible remarks, on the form of the pasterns, are copied from Youatt's work, "The Horse." "In proportion to the obliquity or slanting of the pastern, will be the stress on the fetlock-joint, and, therefore, the liability of that joint to injury and strain; and also the liability to ' sprain of the back sinews,' from the increased action of the flexor tendons; and likewise to injuries of the pastern- joints, for the ligaments will be weak in proportion to their length. The long and slanting pastern is an excellency in the racehorse, from the springiness of action, and greater extent of stride by which it is npanied. A less degree of it is necessary in the hunter, who is to unite continuance of exertion with ease of pace, and who, in his leaps, requires almost as much springiness as the racehorse; but for the wear and tear of the hackney, a still less de- gree of obliquity should be found. There should be sufficient to give pleasantness of going, but not enough to endanger continuance and strength. Ex- perience among horses will alone point out the most advantageous direction of the pastern, for the pur- pose required; but the slightest observation will prove the necessity of considerable variety in the structure of this part. Let the reader imagine the heavy dray horse, with his short and upright pas- terns, contending, in the race; or the race-horce v. ith his long and weak pasterns, endeavoring to move some heavy weight. The concussion is little in a cart-horse, because his movements are slow, and th refore the upright and strong pastern is given to him, which he can force into the ground, ami on which he can throw the whole of his immense weight." Guano. — The most economical application of guano is di- rectly under or upon the seed where the roots will be sure to find it. It should be covered with earth, and slightly separa- ted from the seed. Sowing broadcast, in damp weather, up- on the growing grasses or grain, is a good mode of applica- tion, but it should iirst bo intimately mixed with several times its bulk of garden mold or well-rotted peat, swamp muck, and some plaster. Save the Ukink. — The urine from cattle is worth aa much as the solid droppings. Any farmer in easily seme the whole, both in summer and winter, by having a bed of turf or vegetable matter deep enough to catch and retain the liquid. The watery portion soon evaporates, while the i lid matter, amounting to about L2 percent., is incorporated with the turf, and held till needed for use. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMEK. 191 Spirit of tl)c Agricultural flrcss. New Modi of Building. — A amnll house may be built in I the following manner, with a saving of expense, wherever t is iis plenty and as ch sap as in this city, and whero planing <-:m be done by machinery: Take two inch plonk, plane them on our side, and tongue and groove them. Pro- vide good sills— and erect the building by setting the plank upright, and battening the joints with strips of half-inch stuff— the strips two inches wide. This forms the outside wall. Furr out on the inside, with half-inch stuff, and lath to that. The half-inch furring gives sufficient room for the plastering to clinch, yet leaves the space too narrow for mire. For small one siory houses, this is a very pretty mode of building; cheaper than by studs and clapboards, and in many respects better. Several such houses have bi en built in this city, and give good satisfaction. — Prairie Farmer. Smoking Potatoes for the Rot. — A correspondent of the Cultivator, writing from Green Hay, Wis., says: "I have been informed by a gentleman of my acquain- that he stopped his potators from rotting by smoking thi m. After the potatoes were dug and placed in the cellar, (an out door cellar.) he built a smoke and continued it eight or ten days, when affected part dried up, and the rest of the potatoe remained sound and good through the winter. The remedy was discovered by placing fire in an unfinished cel- lar, to prevent the vegetables from freezing — immediately after which it was found that the potatoes had stopped rot- ting. He says he has tried the experiment for two or three years past and has never known it to fail of arresting tho dis- ease immediately." Fowls. — It is a common error to feed young fowls imme- diately after being hatched. Any person who has examined eggs in the various stages of incubation, sees at once the fol- ly of this practice; for the last process, before leaving the shell, is the absorption of a good portion of matter, by the I perfect fowl, which serves as nutriment; so that the young fowls, like bees which leave the hive in swarming. have full stomachs to sustain them a day or two; hence, in both cases, that quietness and good humor that generally prevail. From this wise provision of nature, the chick that first hatches is supported until the last of the brood is ready to leave the shell, which is frequently twenty-four hours later. — A'. K. Farmer. To Have Fink Mutton. — The sheep, as soon as killed, should be disemboweled. It is the neglect to remove the entrails at once, and not the meat being touched by the wool, which imparts to it that strong mutton taste. The reason of this is. that the warmth of the body, carried off by the loss of blood, is for a time supplied from the warmth of the bowels, and thus the objectionable taste is created. — lb. Arabian Cattle Introduced. — Lieut. Lynch, of the late Dead,Sea Exploring Expedition, brought home a bull and calf of the Khaisis breed of Arabian cattle, and presented them to the State of Virginia. By a resolution of the Le- gislature they arc transferred to Col. James Castleman, of Clark county, with a view to the propagation of the breed. They are said to be very beautiful animals, with limbs as delicate as those of the gazelle, yet strong and well set. — When full grown they stand T feet high, and the cows are said to yield milk abundantly. The pair wero exhibited in Washington a few days, and much admired. Suspension OF Land Sales. — The Commissioner of the Land Office gives notice that the sales directed by the Presi- dent of the States, dated 27th February, 18'li), to be held at the Land Office at Saulte St. Marie, on the fourth and eight- enth day of June, and third day of September next, will be suspended, until the United States Geologists shall have ful- ly closed up their operations and surveys, and designated the mineral from the agricultural lands, of which due notice will be given. New- Cure for Bots. — Give the horse some molasses and milk, then put about a half a pound of tea in one quart of water, and draw it as you would for the table, and when partly cool, give it to him, and it will soon relieve him. — Prairie Farmer. New Gate. — A Patent has been issued at Washington for an improvement in the way of opening gates, by which the inventor proposes to " turn thorn up vertically by a parallel of ili" rails, instead of swinging each way, as in ■ n -.i.i ry manner." I'ov. BR OF THI Son TO ABSORB OOOBS. — It is well known thai onions, if buried in the earth for a few days previous to ••\ng ((..l ...I, will have lost much of their rank flavor. — ' l " i . w hich arc ..a. ii too i.-hy m flavor to be | may p< rendered much more palatable by being wrapped in ntuorbent paper and buried in the ground for a few hours. — Dried codfish loses much of its austerity oi flavor (if we may cm a term) by similar treatment. During the plague in ie, clothing was often buried for a time, to disinfect it This absorbent property of the soil is due to the presence of carbonacoas matters; for clean Bea beach sand will produce no such results, while pulverized charcoal will act with much greater energy than common soil. On thi.. principle, ani- mal matter coated with unleached ashes, and then buried in pulverulent peat or muck, will not only decompose without ! -,i\ ii ff offensive odors, but the muck will also, by absorb- in.': the resulting gasses arising from decomposition", be ren- dered highly valuable as a fertilizer. I !r. Dana says that a dead horse, if cut in pieces and treated as above, will render twenty loads of muck equal in quality to the best stable ma- nure. A Nut for the Curious. — Lord Lindsay, in his travels, writes, that while wandering amid the pyramids of Egypt, he stumbled on a mummy, proved by its hyi roglyphics, to be at least two thousand years of age. In examining the mummy, after it was unwrapped, he found in one of its en- closed hands hands a tuberous or bulhus root. He was in- terested in the question how long vegetable life could last, and he. therefore, took that tuberous root from the mummy's hand, planted it in a sunny soil, allowed the rains and dews of heaven to descend upon it, and in the course of a few weeks, to his astonishment and joy, the root burst forth, and bloomed into a beautiful dahlia. » American Oranges. — The Mobile Herald says lhatsinco the destructive hurricane in Cuba a few years auo. the Mo- bile fruit market had been supplied chiefly with Creole or- anges now raised in that neighborhood, Pascagoula, and on the coast, near New Orleans. These oranges are generally larger than those raised in the neighborhood of Havana, and much superior in flavor. The Herald contends that a num- ber of locations might be selected on the bay and neighbor- ing islands, where the orange would thrive admirably, and scarcely ever be injured by frost. It iastances the ease of a person who realizes from 890 to $1,000 annually, from about 30 orange trees cultivated in a garden near that city. Advice for Summer.— Major Noah says: '• Don't gorman- dize. We hate a glutton at all times, but especially in sum- mer. It is monstrous to see men. when the mercury is up to 90, cram a pound of fat meat down their throats. Don't you know that animal food increases the bile? Eat sparingly, and be sure and masticate well what you eat. Don't bolt your ib-ul like an anaconda. Take exercise in early morning. Ah! what fools we are to sweat in bed. when the cool breez- es of the morning invite us forth, and the birds, and the dew, and the streams are murmuring, in their own quiet way, pleasant music, which arouses a kindred melody in the soul. " Be good natured. Don't get into an angry discussion on politics or religion. There will be time enough to talk the former over when the weather becomes cooler, and as for the latter, the less you quarrel about it the better. Religion is a good thing; but when you fight in its name, you show yourself ignorant of its principles, and unswayed by its in- fluence. Bathe often, three times a week, every day. The ex- pense is nothing to the benefits derived. If you would en- joy good health, have a clear, a sweet stomach, a cheerful disposition, put your carcasses under the water every day, and when you emerge use the brush vigorously for five minutes. There is nothing like the pure bracing water. — We never dip beneath its surface without thanking God for having placed such a health-promoting element within our reach." How to Prevent the Cholera. — A corrcsp< indent of the Journal of Commerce says that a town in Tennessee has entirely escaped the scourge of the cholera the past win- ter, not a ease of it having occurred there, notwithstanding every town in the vicinity suffered from it severely. This has been attributed, and no doubt correctly, to the free use of quick lime, fresh from the kilns, which was scattered through the gutters, cellars, privies, and yards. Its disin- fecting properties seizing with avidity on all impure and de- leterious gasses arc well known, and where plentifully jsed will, no doubt, under ordinary circumstances of prudence and cleanliness, preserve the health of any cities and villa- I ges in the United States. 192 THE GENESEE FARMER. Aug. HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, EDITED BY P. BARRY. NEW SEEDLING STRAWBERRIES. — PRODUCTION OF SEEDLINGS, Public attention is so generally turned to fruit cul- ture, that great improvements must be made in ev- ery department. The Strawberry, the most impor- tant of all the small fruits, will undoubtedly, in common with other things, undergo a great im- provement. A few years ago the Messrs. Hovey, of Boston, produced two seedlings of great merit; and they were disseminated with astonishing ra- pidity. In three or four years from the time they were first announced for sale, hardly a respectable garden in the country, but had its Hovey s Seed- ling and "Boston Pine." Next Mr. Burr, of Colum- bus, Ohio, is fortunate in obtaining from seed a few fine sorts. We see them at once spread over the country, so that in two years from the time of sending out, they are reported on the tables of all the Horticultural Societies in the country. Mean- time, large numbers of European Sorts, of high character, are imported and tested. This shows trj£ estimation in which the strawberry is held, and the degree off attention bestowed upon it by Amer- ican cultivators. This is not surprising, for the healthiness and delicacy of this fruit render it the favorite of all ages, classes, and conditions of peo- ple who can get it. It is needless for us to say that among all the for- eign sorts, not one has yet been found well adapt- ed for marketing. The Swainstone, the British Queen, Black Prince, &lc, are large and delicious, but the crops are small and uncertain, and they are entitled to a place only in the collection of amateurs, and there they ought to be. The large Early Scarlet in Western New York, is yet the staple sort for market. It, however, must, soon give place, we think, to better sorts. A few years ago, we thought of trying our luck in raising seedlings. We had an idea that something might be produced as prolific as the Early Scarlet, and with larger size, and better flavor. We took seed from "•Hovey,s Seedling,'" Ross' Phctnix, Large Early Scarlet, Duke of Kent and Austrian Scarlet, and Boston Pine, that were all grown in adjoining beds, and from this seed we raised in 1847, several thou- sand plants. These we put out in beds, and in 1848 they bore, and we selected some twenty-four plants that we considered well worthy another trial. The crop of fruit on some of them was enormous, and the plants combined with this great vigor and hardiness. We planted these 24 selected plants out and again this year they have borne — some of them so profusely as not to be equalled by any we have seen this season. This has been the opinion, too, of others who have seen them. They re- ceived no extra culture; indeed, the culture was not so good as it ought to have been. The ground was an old rasberry bed, worn out. The plants were dug up on the first of July, last year, and the ground manured and spaded — and on the 3d or 4th the strawberry plants were planted in it, and since then have only been kept clean of weeds. Every runner has been allowed to grow so that the ground around the plants has not been stirred. We have selected five varieties that we believe will rank at least among the best and most prolific varieties now grown. [See the report of the Committee,who have examined their merits carefully.] We are con- tinuing our experiments. We have immense num- bers of seedlings coming in, and we venture to an- ticipate something fine. We are glad to learn that others are engaging in similar experiments.* There is something so de- lightful, so exciting about the raising of seedlings, whether of fruits or flowers, that one finds ample compensation, if they succeed in raising one good thing among a thousand poor ones. Last year we raised some of the finest verbenas now cultivated, among them two or three real novelties — striped and clouded. We also obtained some very pretty Petu- nias, equal to any of the best English sorts we have seen. At this moment we have in full bloom a bed of seedling picatees that are scattering their odor over all the garden, and delight all who see them, with their gay and varied colors. Of pansies we are always getting something new and pretty from seed. The following article responds so faithfully to our own feelings on this subject, that we cannot refrain from hanging it to our own remarks : The Gratifcation Derived from Raising Sf.edlinos. — All nature has an inclination to vary; even the acorn from the evergreen oak, which we shall take for our lirst subject, yields us fifty differently formed leaves, although we could see no difference in the seed. If we sow a thou- sand acorns from the evergreen oak, we shall not have two plants with foliage strictly alike, but many will differ so much that they fur more nearly resemble holly than oak; we have seen a number of varieties so striking, that we have determined on working each distinctly and separately and so perpetuating about ten of the oddest looking leaves we ever saw. There is hardly any thing more gratifying, certainly nothing more interesting, than the sowing of seeds, if we but take the pains to examine the results. — Wo have seen a seedling oak with round leaves, with prickles all around, like those of the holly, but in form, the leaf is as unlike both oak and holly as if it were a sep- arate genus. In a quantity of seedling berberries there is a most extraordinary diversity of form and color. In a patch of laburnums some of the racemes of flowers are as long again as others; in half a dozen walnut trees not two bear nuts alike; and if we were to watch any thing that comes from seed, we should often discover a thing worth saving but which, for want of observation, is lost altogether. — Take ciro of things raised from seed; we once picked out half a dozen Rhododendrons, from a lot of seedling Ca- tawbiense, and they proved to be worth grafting, an 1 are now figuring among the most popular by some half-dozen names. We have not alluded to seed raised by crossing or artificial impregnation, but raised in the ordinary way; and if that will, as we know it will, yield great variety occa- sionally, how much more would seed do so when saved from particular sorts associated together for the purpose, and those of so opposite a character as to present every charm.? We wish all who sow seed would look more to the result. PROGRESS OF ERUPT CULTURE. We are happy ot note the steady and rapid in- crease of choice fruits in this vicinity. Last year we had the pleasure of reporting great improvement in Strawberry culture, and this year has brought that branch of cultivation to a state of advancement that compares favorably with any other part of the country. The varieties recently produced by Mr. Burr, of Columbus, Ohio, have been produced in large quan- tities by M. G. Warner, Eaq.. who has from the beginning, cultivated these varieties with great * Wo noticed, a few days ago. a bed of strawberry seeds just planted by Messrs. Bigscll, Hooker &. Sloane. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 193 success. He is well satisfied » ith the results of an other year's experience. The Nbw I'ink lias borne large crops, and lias proved of delicious flavor — ranking- No. 1 for a table fruit. The size has not been as large as last year's, on account of the condi- tion of the beds. The plants had grown together, covering the whole ground, and the foliage was very dense. The Rival Hudson, Mr. W. thinks much of — being very prolific, fine and excellent for preser- ving. He has also had a fair crop of Ilovey's Seed- ling— his specimens of this variety have surpassed any other here. Mr. Warner's crop was all sold at about 18J cents per quart. Messrs. BiSSSliL, Hooker &, Sloajjk have also supplied the market largely. In a little over two weeks they have sold about two hundred bushels of fruit, notwithstanding the cautions of the "Board of Health.'' Their varieties for marketing were Ho- I'ey's Seedling, CrimsonCvnc, and Large Early Scar- let— the latter being their standard sort, according to their experience, by far the most profitable. From abed measuring 119 rods of ground, they have picked upwards of 109 bushels of this fruit. They have also produced fine specimens of Black Prince, .Myall's British Queen, and some other varieties. — Messrs. B., H. £c S. have also erected within the past year, a vinery 56 by 24 feet, with borders 20 feet wide and three feet deep, made in a thorough manner. Their vines are thriving admirably, and will next season be in a fruiting condition. Mr. Bisskll has also a fine garden of dwarf Pears, de- signed to supply the market with choice fruit. We hope such instances of successful enterprise will in- duce others to turn their attention to these branch- es of culture, that have heretofore been overlooked in this region. THE PLUMBAGO LARPENTiE. (LADY LARPENt'S I.EADWORT, OR PLUMBAGO.) Bubject. It inu.st, in thin case, bo regularly shifted into pots containing a compost in which turfy foam preponderates, not using M'ry large pots, and having these drained in an effi- cient manner. The plants should, while young, be well In 1846 Mr. Fortune found this beautiful plant on the ruined ramparts of Shanghai, in China. In July 1847 it was exhibited in bloom before the Lon- don Horticultural Society. All who have seen it describe it as one of the most charming blue flowering plants now known for bed- ding out in masses, as we do the verbena, petunia, he. The Plumbago capensis is a well known useful plant for bedding out, but it seems to be the opinion of cul- tivators that this new one entirely supersedes it. It will undoubtedly prove much better adapted to our climate, and answer bedding purposes better from its compact and bushy habit. It is described as having obovate pointed leaves, finely serrated and fringed with hairs on the margin, as will be seen by the cut. The flowers are produced in terminal clusters, and are clear deep blue, or intense violet color, with a tint of red in the throat, increased by cuttings of the young wood. An idea may be formed of the profu- sion of its blossoms from the fact that a single plant has borne 4000 blossoms. The London Horticultural Magazine says: — " The Plumbagos flourish in any light, porous, turfy soil, but in none better than where sandy loam preponderates. — The present species must be particularly well drained, and not too freely watered. It may be propagated by cuttings planted in sand, and set in u mild hot-bed: these cuttings should, as in the case of other bedding plants, be planted in the latter part of the summer, and kept over the winter in greenhouses or dry frames, until the following spring. For pot culture it will doubtless prove a very desirable stopped back, the point of the shoots being removed as soon as practicable, after they roach from two to three inches long. This is to be continued until a good round head of branches is produced, and the plant should then be allowed to grow on for flowering. An allied kind, P. capensis, forms a very elegant plant under good management, and becomes a really desirable object for greenhouse decoration, from the distinct and soft pale blue color of its blossoms; this species being, moreover, of rather straggling habit, may be used as a semi-climber; trained against the upright pillars of a con- servatory, in situations pretty well exposed to light, and where its roots are in a healthy medium, it becomes vory ornamental. Whether or not tho new species will assume any of this habit, we know not; but the plant which ap- peared at ono of the metropolitan exhibitions certainly indi- cated a more compact and bushy habit. Of course as a pot plant, it must be very carefully watered." Grafting thk Grape. — Can cultivated grapes bo graft- ed or inocculatod (or both) into wild grape stocks with suc- cess ? — and if so, at what seasons of tho year 1 R. B. Warren.— Alabama, N. Y., 1849. The grape may be grafted successfully at the season when other grafting is performed, or sooner. A correspon- dent of the Ohio Cultivator states that ho had great success in grafting in February. The grafts were inserted in tho stock three inches below the surface of the ground, and no plaster used, but the earth simply pressed around them. — Grafting by approach, that is if the stock or graft be in a pot, may be done now. Budding we have not practiced, but prosume it had better be done in the spring. The Melon Apple. — A friend has placed on our desk to-day, (July 12,) two specimens of this apple, as fresh, juicy and sound as they were in December last. We have never before known the excellent keeping qualities of this fruit, till this season. It has been described as an October or November fruit, but the fact is, it keeps nearly as well as the Northern Spy. It is so delicious in the winter, however, that very few are disposed to test its keeping qualities. 194 THE GENESEE FARMER. Aug. THE NEW YORK AND BUFFALO FRUIT CONVEN- TIONS. From the various articles which have appeared in the Horticultural and other periodicals, it appears quite evident there is a very erroneous opinion abroad, as to the friendly attitude of these two con- ventions. From individual knowledge of both, we believe the assertion may be safely made, that not five persons, having any connection with either, de- sire any rivalry, or wish to assume- any hostile atti- tude toward the other. Both conventions had been proposed some months previous to their actual session, and both were very interesting and important bodies. The writer, who took a much more active past in that at Buffalo, will not, from this fact, be accused of partiality, when he states that the Now York Convention em- braced by far the largest number of eminent pomolo- gists, and for this alone, must, by common consent, be regarded as the leading pomological organization in America. It is but justice to those who took an active part in the convention at Buffalo, to state that nearly if not quite all of them so regard the New York organization. And with this general feeling pervading all parties, I cannot but believe that the approaching convention at Syracuse, will adopt such a course as cannot be construed into an assumption of any hostile bearing. A single explanation as to the propriety of two dis- tinct organizations, one each for the east and the west, as supposed to be demanded by the difference of soil, climate and locality. The following facts would indicate that the difference is overrated. Of the twenty seven varieties of the apple, recommend- ed by the Ohio Fruit Convention as first rate for their region, all except four are cultivated in the Eastern States, where one or two even, of these four originated. As for the Buffalo Convention being pe- culiarly adapted for the west, as has been intimated, it may be stated that by far the best and most exten- sive collection of pears exhibited there, came from Robert Manning, Salem, Massachusetts; the most extensive collection of plums, altogether so, was from Charles Hamilton, Orange county, N. Y.; and the largest collection of apples, I think, was from Charles Downing, of Newburgh, N. Y. It will hardly do, yet, for either section to cut loose from the other. J. J. Thomas. Remarks. — We give place to the suggestions of Mr- Thomas with great pleasure. They supply the place of a few remarks of similar import we had pre- pared for this number of the Farmer. We hope to witness the meeting of the friends of pomological re- form at the two great assemblies to take place the approching autumn, not in a spirit of rivalry, but of unity — not as western men or eastern men, but as American Fruit Growers, aiming at the same end, and animated by the same spirit. Thus, and thus only will these bodies prove themselves alike honora- ble and useful to the whole country. — Er. Industry. — If industry is no more than habit, it is at least an excellent one. " If you ask me which is the real hereditary sin of human nature, do you imagine I shall answer pride, or luxury, or ambition, or egotism? No. I shall say indolence. Who con- quers indolence will conquer all the rest." Indeed, all good principles must stagnate without mental activity. TRANSPLANTING- FRUIT TREES. BY J. FULTON, JR. Anxious to receive and diffuse light, I was glad to read the article of A. Bryant, in the Farmer for April, taking exceptions to a method pursued by me in planting out an apple orchard, as indicated in the February Number of the "Horticulturist." Should A. Bryant re-peruse the latter article, he will notice that the plan pursued was not offered or urged upon the acceptance of any, nor quite as my "(his) meth- od" of " planting an orchard," well settled in my own mind, and tested by experience, but rather as a meth- od adopted on this occasion, and defferentially sub- mitted to the judgment and the opinions solicited of the experienced editor of the Horticulturist, " for the benefit of myself and other beginners in fruit cul- ture." This method was not the fruit of my own judg- ment, for I had not had the experience necessary to an intelligent judgment in the case, but the fruit of some pomological reading, and the counsel of many nurserymen's catalogues, each and all of whom must give a chapter " on transplanting." Confessing my ignorance, classing myself with " beginners,'''1 and asking for light, as 1 did in that ar- ticle, disqualifies me from seeing so readily how the article in question would be so likely to " mislead the inexperienced-" lor with all my inexperince and ig- norance upon the subject, I should be slow to follow the counsel, or " method" of any one who was him- self ignorant and seeking light in the matured expe- rience of others; and I therefore cannot but think that it was the brief endorsement of that method by A. J. Downing, which was, in the eye of A. Bry- ant, "calculated to mislead the inexperienced." But if this inference be legitimate (and I can conceive of no other cause for his fears) then his controversy is wTith A. J. Downing, and not with me; and I am anxious to direct such an intelligent pen to a foe worthy of his steel, and I promise him, no one will witness the conflict with more interest than myself. Let us have light, then; " the method" is no pet with me. I am always in search of a better. Nor can I see with the horticultural editor of the Farmer, in his response to his correspondent, how " deep holes" imply deep planting. Our ground is high and dry, and the trees are set above the level of the ground, and not deeper than they originally stood in the nursery; and they are now, (July 7th) every one of them growing finely, without either " staking" or "mulching" — "wetting stem and branches," or " watering the roots." They were all two years old trees — were headed back pretty freely — planted the 15th and 16th of December, and many of them have made shoots of more than a foot in length at the pre- sent time. Still, I am by no means certain that the course pursued was the best — nor that the views presented by A. Bryant are not sound and deserving of gene- ral acceptance, — and as we wish to enlarge our or- chards this fall, and plant a large additional number of apple as well as other fruit trees, I should be glad to have the views of men of experience upon this im- portant subject; and if this article should be the oc- casion of directing the attention of such men to this point, I shall be richly paid. Allow me to add, that I have, since planing, pur- chased one of Nouree 8c Mason's sub-soil Plows, and have pretty thoroughly used it among the young trees, and contemplate using it on the adjoining land this 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 195 fall before planting the trees, which I shall do with- out "digging deep holi -," so that I may tesl bj e: periment, the comparative merits of both plans. Of a large lots of plum, cherry and pear tre ccivod from Newburgh and Flushin ■ with a quantity of othi n raising, ti this spring, and treated with "deep h ' corn- no, t. all arc growing finely, excepting a lev. trees, with fine heads which were not cutback, while all the others were — planted from April 5th to 7th. The cherries even, rather difficult to transplant with Bafety, have all made a good growth without wetting stem or branch — mulching or staking. East Flow- crficld, Chester Co., Pa., July, 1849. We are glad to have such excellent cultivators as Mr. Fulton discuss these topics in our columns. — They cannot fail to do good— Ed. TREES, INSECTS, WISE FENCES, &C. Mr. Barry: — T am glad to see so many friends besides yourself, laboring, through the Farmer, with the brethren, about setting trees and flowers. If there is any thing that can add a charm to home, 'tis surely these. Who ever saw a pleasant dwell- ing place without them? I almost doubt if there could be one! To be sure, they are not essential to the accumulation of wealth, but certainly they lend a shorter and more certain way to happiness. We find a few men, (and only the men, I am happy to say,) who will have neither flowers or trees about their homes; these are generally worshipers of mam- mon. We also find some who say they like to see them; but they would have a different kind of trees from others, an.! plant them differently, and so on; finding fault with the goo.! that others do; these are' the ones that plant neither ■> ki™ nor the other; the very slaves of indolence, thu < .ough of this. For common shade trees, I Miink none are better than the Elm and Hard Maple, though I like to see variety. The Butternut should also be set, as it af- fords both nuts and shade. I would object to setting fruit trees in front of a house for shade, if there is room for them elsewhere, as tney do not grow le.rge enough, and are apt to get injured in getting the fruit; but have them somewhere, and take care of them too. Trim them, manure them, and keep all insects off. Simply whitewashing will keep off ma- ny insects. Last season I had a nice young cherry tree that was infested with scores of worms and other insects. I cleared them all off, and then applied a mixture of sulphur and soft grease for three or four inches on the body of the tree. They crawled up as far as this, but not one would cross it. I think it is an effectual remedy against all " creeping things." I see the subject of wire fence is attracting much attention, and hope it may induce experiments. I have for some time been thinking of a way of ma- king wire fence, particularly for road fences. It is to set trees for posts; take trees about ten feet high and three inches through, set as near as would be ne- eessary, and perhaps a post at intervals of twenty or thirty rods to stretch the wires upon. The wires are to be fastened to the trees with large wire sta- ples. The trees would perhaps not be fit till two or three years after planting out. I would set low trees with little top, t'.' at the wind might not affect them till they get firmly rooted. If trees would an- swer for posts, it would be a desirable combination of ornament and use. This is only theory. But I to know the opinion of others on it. F. R. Miller. — Sugar Grove, Warren Co., Pa., 1849. NEW SEEDLING STRAWBERRIES. '•'' ' Committee on Fruits of the Horticultural Society of the Genesee Valley, examined, July 6th, L849, some seedling varieties of the Strawberry — d from plants grown by Elwanger fc Barry — and report as follows: plains are Baid to bo selected from some thousand varieties, all grown from seeds bred between the Ho Seedling, Ross' Tin. nix, Duke of Kent, and a few plants of the Boston Pine. The soil had for several years previous, borne raspberries, and was evidently in g l condition, though .Messrs. E. & B. stated that it had received no more than ordinary culture, and some of the varieties, we think, showed as fine fruit, all the desirnblo qualities being consid- ered, as we have seen grown in this section of country. 1. Is staroinate, has a peculiar sweetish flavor, is a mod- erate bearer. 2. Pistilate, immense bearer, pale scarlet color, form flushed, good fruit for market, shape round, more than me- dium size. 3. Staminate, large size, sweet and juicy, many of tho berries eoxcombed, rich flavor, a valuable berry. ■1. Staminate, a very juicy fruit, but a shy bearer. 5. Pistilate, a very large fruit, color a light scarlet, with dark seeds, shape mostly round, very juicy, immense bear* cr, (108 berries were counted on one root) a first rate berry, tjlought by some of the committee the best of the lot. b'. Pistilate, regularly round shaped, mucli like the last, thought as good a bearer, and as juicy, but not quite so fine Savored. 7. Staminate, a fair sized, long-necked fruit, but not a first rate bearer. 3. Pistilate, a high-flavored,, rather tart, rich fruit, full medium size, an excellent table fruit. 9. Pistillate, a great bearer, juicy and high-flavored, a deep, bright, glossy scarlet, an excellent table fruit. P». Staminate, a dark berry, long, fair sized, and for sta- minate a fair bearer, evidently belongs to the Pine class. 11. Pistilate, medium size, very dark scarlet, very juicy, high and somewhat musky flavor, good table fruit, medium bearer. 12. Staminate, a juicy and excellent flavored berry, mod- (iraie bearer. 13. Staminate, tart and dry. not a good bearer. 14. Pistilate, a great bearer, short-necked, high-flavored, very juicy, size above medium, thought the best of all the varietit s. 16. Pistilate, flavor much like No. 14. 17. Pistilate, tart, rather dry fruit. 18. Pistilate, good bearer, rather late, a fine flavored fruit. 19. Staminate, a large, excellent fruit, high flavored. 20. Staminate, large, neck-shaped fruit, curiously angu- lar in form, some appearing double, tripple, and quadruple. 21. Staminate, long necked, high colored, resembling the Duke of Kent, but much larger, and more tart, an excellent fruit. 22. Color a beautiful orange scarlet, an excellent table fruit, being tart, very large, and a very good bearer, and val- uable for its lateness. The committee were very highly gratified with the success of Messrs. Elwanger &, Barry, in their attempt to enlarge the number of varieties of good strawberries adapted to our soil and climate. Samuel Miller, Ch'n, J. A. Eastman, James M. Whitney, Rochester, July 5, 1849. James II. Watts. From the above collection, Messrs. ElwangIR &. Barry have selected five sorts, which they consider eminently wor- thy of cultivation, combining large size, fair quality, with extraordinary productiveness. They have borne for two years beside the best known va- rieties, and under the same conditions, and have, so far, sur- passed them all in productiveness. They cannot say how they may succeed in other localities, but here Messrs. E. &, B. feel confident they will prove valuable. The following are the names of varieties chosen: No. 6, Monroe Scarlet; 11, New Necked Pine; 16, Climax Scarlet, 22, Orange Prolific. 196 THE GENESEE FARMER. Aug. THE RETNE HORTENSE CHERRY. Fruit large, roundish oblong. Stalk about \\ inch long, and rather slender. Skin very waxy — pale red, similar to Belle de Choisey. — Flesh pale amber colored, tender, juicy and sweet. Stone medium size. Tree bears very early and abundantly ; in its growth similar to May Duke — is very hard, and will prove valuable for North- ern localities. Ri- pens from the begin- ning and middle of July: began to ripen about the 4th this season, and on one tree was wholly ripe on the 9th. It is one of the best for dwarfs. Cultivated on the Ma- haleb, trees two years from bud will be nice bearing bushes. This is the second year this fruit has borne with us, and we are glad to say that it sustains, much better than many others, the high character which the French and some English cultivators have given it. We can recommeud it among the smallest assortment of garden trees. A FEW HINTS FOR AUGUST The most important operation during this month is the increase of trees and shrubs by budding and lay- ering. Much of this has already been done, but there is, no doubt, a great deal yet undone. Plums are usually budded first, as they are apt to cease growing early, and the bark will not peel. Indeed, unless in a particular case, if not done now it can hardly be done this season. Pears should come next, lest leaf blight may check the growth so much as to prevent the bark rising. Cherries should be done at once, as the young wood is now ripe enough to take buds from. Apples, peaches, apricots, necta- rines, pears on quince stock, or cherry on mahaleb stock, may all be budded any time between now and the middle of September, as the stocks all grow till late in the season. Rose or other buds put in early in July should now be opened, as tbe bandage will become too tight; if necessary they might be retied. Layering of Roses, Carnations, fyc. — Various or- namental trees and shrubs that produce little or no seed, and do not strike easily from cuttings — quinces, grape vines, gooseberries, and a multitude of other thing may now be increased by this operation. Strawberries. — New plantations may be made now at any moment of suitable weather — damp and cloudy if possible. Old beds should have a dressing, all the runners cut off, and cleared of weeds. The soil for strawberries should be well trenched and manured. Raspberries should have the old canes that bore this year cut away as soon as the fruit is gathered. — This allows the young canes for next year's bearing to strengthen and ripen fully, and pass through the winter more safely than if left crowded up, as is usual- ly the case. Pyamidal Pear Trees, i which there seems, however, no prospect at present, b-: ,ery tight indeed many places not worth the harvesting. ' The State Fair. — We loom that extensive arrangements are being made by the ofi'< .' rs of the State Agricultural So ciety, and the citizens or' Syracuse, for the September Ex- hibition—and it is b',-.?, nbled at all times to take advantages of prices, seasons, 8tc., and to do his work without being dependent upon others for labor or machines. While his oxpenfes, when ho hired machines were never less than the following : Fur thrashing 250 bushels per day. at 5 cents. Furnishing four horses of six, (2 belonging to machine.) '2 00 Six men. (besidec two with machine,) 6 00 Boarding all hands and horses, 5 25 $25 75 .Amounting to about 10,'a cents per bushel. And if to this be added the average loss by imperfect thrashing and separation of grain from straw, more than with Wheeler's Thrasher and rator of not less than five per cent of grain at one dollar per bushel, would amount to nearly 15% cents per bushel, or more than three limes the expense with Wheeler's machine. To say nothing of the delays and losses consequent upon depending upon others, &c. Tho foregoing is but a fair statement of the expenses of the ma- jority of grain-growing farmers for thrashing ; and where labor and grain are valuable, these savings are well worth counting. All orders and communications are solicited, and will receive prompt attention. HO RACK L. EMERY, No. 369 Sc 371 Broadway, Albany, N. Y. Seeds and Implements. GENESEE SEED STORE AND AG. WAREHOUSE— Irving Hall, opposite the Eagle Hotel, Buffalo-st.— Having purchased the Agricultural and Seed department of Messrs. Nott, Elliott & Fitch, wo intend going more extensively into all the branches of our business. We shall keep constantly for sale, all kinds of Im- ported and American Field and Garden Seeds, and a large assort- ment of the most approved Implements and Machines used by the Gardener and Farmer. We manufacture Pennock's Wheat Drill, (the most, perfei t and substantial Drill in use.) the celebra- ted Massachusetts Eagle C Plow, Drags, Cultivators, &.c, Sec. ail of the most approved patterns and construction, and keep a full supply of all the Boston and Worcester Plows. Sub-soil, Delano's, Burrall's Shell Wheel, .Anthony's Patent Index, &c, &c. In addition to our stock of implements, fee, we think we can £ay with perfect confidence, we have ono of the largest, most carefully grown and best selected stock of FIELD. GARDEN and FLOWER SEKDS in the country, including several kinds im- ported from Europe. Farmers, Gardeners and Dealers would consult their interest, and perhaps insure good crops, by calling at our establishment. RAPALJE & BRIGGS. Rochester, May 1, 1849. An Elegant Country Residcnee and Farm for Sale. tgj CONTAINING one hundred and seventy-five acres »ya t\pu\ of first rate land, situated on the west shore of Cay- jSSryfi!§ M*"' uga Lake, two miles south of Cayuga bridge, in the j«km<- town of Seneca Falls. Seneca county. There is a large brick man- sion with a two story kitchen adjoining, with wash and wood house attached ; out-buildings, barn, shed and carriage house ; a lawn and garden in front, enclosed with a handsome fence ; apple and peach orchards, with a number of cherry, plum and pear trees. The stock crops in ground, and farming utensils, &c., will be sold with the farm. Possession given immediately. For fur- ther information, price and terms of payment, application can be made to the subscriber, on the premises, or by letter addressed to him. Oakwood Farm, near Cayuga Bridge; or to D. D. T.MOORE, at the office of the Genesee Farmer, Rochester [5tf] JOHN OGDEN DAY. Agricultural Books. — A largo assortment of Books on Agriculture, Horticulture, &c, for sale at this Office. Back numbers (and volumes) of the Farmer promptly supplied to all new subscribers. Choice Strawberry Plant* for Sale at the Mt. Hope Garden and Nurseries. A i ' ITJSTand September being the beet time for forming straw- berry Plantations, we offer for sale on reasonable terms, the oultlvati d \i the head of the li I «i 1:1 I l: ■ ■'■ flavor and productiveness being taken into consideration ) u perhaps the beat strawberry yet produced ' Myalls' Britl h Queon, III hop's < 'range, Boston Pine, Burr's Rival Hud • m. Burr's < lolui Black Prince, HoVey'S Seedling. Large rlct, Princess Mice Maud. Swain tone's Seedling, Deptford Pine, Ross's Phoenix, And a variety of others, such as Alpine Red Bush, Alpine White Bui '" Upine Ri d Monthly, White do . Wood Redand White, and a variety of others, to which we invite the attention Of all who intend to plant the Strawberry. A good article costs but littlo more in the first place than a poor one. and re-pays tenfold. Rochester, July 1, 1849. ELLWANGER & BARRY. Palmer's Wheat Drill. THE subscribers have made an arrangement with Mr. Palmer, to manufacture for the coming season live hundred oi his new Wheat Drill, to be be sold in Western New-York. They are now receit ing orders for them, and relying upon heavy sales, have determined to sell them at a SMALL PROFIT— at least twenty-five dollars less than any other drill capable of performing as much. The Drills are constructed under the immediate direction of the inventor, and Warranted. An agricultural implement as important as this should be afford- ed at a rate that places it within the reach of every farmer. To accomplish this Mr. Palmer has spared no pai me ac- quainted with all tho Drills in use by consulting both English and American Agricultural works, and by procuring copies of invent- or's claims, issued or pending in the Patent OS a. He has used different kinds of drills for the past years, and has learned by prac- tice the wants of the farmer. After repeated effort, and expen- sive experiments he has produced] antial Drill, which by way of eminence he calls a ■• WHEAT DRILL." It is vastly superior to the costly and complicated machiai , heretofore in use. This is the third Drill he has invented, and he- has now brought it to that state of perfection beyond which it cannot be carried. It is the No Plus Ultra of Drills, combining all the advantages of every other, and free from their imperfections. ..„ We challenge the world to produce a Drill equal to this in du- rability, operation or price ! ! (JjJ- All orders should be sent in or delivered to one of our agents as early as July to secure atten- tion. J. A. HOLMES & CO. Brockport. March 15, 1849. Wheelers' Patent R. K. Horse Powers and Threshing machines. THE attention of Farmers is solicited to the following extract from a communicat'on of J. N. Rottisr. Esq.. of Lafargo- ville. N. V.. June 6, 1849, concerning Wheelers' Patent Horse Powers, fee To H. L. Emery. :— '■' The fact is, the whole of the Machino is an admirable simplo contrivance, and that any improvement could be made to it would seem, incredible to me, if I had not your word for it. Practically a farmer, I have used these four- teen years, a great variety ol Threshing Machines, Horse Powers, &c, but with none am I as well satisfied as with yours, purchased of you two years since. Ono year more and mine will have paid for itself, and then I would not take $200 00 for it and do without another like it. With a change of horses in the afternoon and hands enough to stack or take away the straw, I believe I can thresh with it as much per day as with any large six horse machine, and with as much ease for the horses. But then we do not want all the neighbors to help us. as three of us generally thresh from ten to twelve hundred sheaves in a day, beside taking care of a large stock of cattle, &c. It is in fact the very machine which should stand on the, barn floor of every farmer, or where the farm is not large enough, two or more farmers should join and own one together— change works and do their own thresh- ing. J. N. R." Woodbury's Horse Power and Separator. THE Subscribers, having erected extensive works, for manufac- turing Woodbury's Patent Improved House Power and Separator, are prepared to furnish a machine to order, combin- ing greater simplicity, durability, and operating much easier than any other in uso. The Horse-Powers are mounted, and operated on wheels, thereby saving three-fourths the usual time in setting up— and wo will warrant it, together with tho Separator, superior to any in use. Communications for further particulars, (post-paid,) cheerfully responded to. J. k. D. WOODBURY. Rochester. N. Y., Juno 1. Ia49. (5-3t*) 200 THE GENESEE FARMER. Aug. CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER, Improvement— The Duty of Farmers. 177 Editorial Correspondence of the Farmer, 178 Agricultural Education, 179 The Season, Fruit, Crops. Insects, &c; The Wheat Crop,. . . 180 Improved Well and Cistern Pumps, 181 Woodbury's Horse Power and Separator, 181 Short-horn and Native Cattle 182 Itecent Importation of Short-horns 183 is „"k-skiuned Barley; Grape Culture in Ohio, 184 i.ut-i Tom Fairfax Co., Va.; Breaking Steers 185 T-) 1 1 ■ ■•Vool Growers of the U. S., 185 i! ! II'..-- to Villagers.— Cabbage Plants, Onions, Beans, 8cc.,. . . 186 ];'■'•- and Shrubs; Thorn Hodges, 186 Wool Growing — Large Fleeces; A Cheap Bee-Hive 187 'mproved Short-horn Bull ' Buena Vista;" The Short-horns. 188 The Morgan Stallion " Morgan Hunter." 189 Making Butter; Suggestions to Agricultural Clubs, 190 Tasternsof the Horse; Guano 190 New Mode of Building; Smoking Potatoes for the Rot, 191 Fowls; To Have fine Mutton; Arabian Cattle, 191 New Cure for Bots; New Gate; Power of the Soil to absorb Odors; American Oranges; Advice for Summer, 191 To prevent the Cholera. 191 Annual Fairs of State and County Ag. Societies ; Drought, 197 Gigantic Hemp; Georgia Burr Stone, 197 HORTICULTURAL. DEPARTMENT. Seedling Strawberries— Production of Seedlings, 192 Progress of Fruit Culture, 192 The Plumbago Larpentie 193 Grafting the Grape; The Melon Apple 193 The New York and Buffalo Fruit Conventions, 194 Transplanting Fruit Trees, 194 Trees, Insects, Wire Fences, &c, 195 Report on New Seedling Strawberries, 195 The Reine Hortenso Cherry. 196 A Few Hints for August, 196 Foreign Market Fruits, 197 ladies' department. To Preserve Tomatoes; Mulled Wine, 198 Who is this Fair Lady; Home, . 198 Co> r ILLUSTRATIONS. i istern Pump. 181 I Stallion '• Morgan Hunter." 189 Well Pump 181 | Yoke for Breaking Steers . . 185 Short-horn Bull " Buena I The Plumbago Larpentre.. 193 Vista," 188 I Reine Ilortense Cherry,. .' . 196 Market Prices of Agricultural Products. New York, Saturday, July 21. Ashes— Arc 5 62>£a5 09 for Pots, and $C for Pearls, with sales 125 bbls. Flour and Meal.- -The market is again easier for the low grades of flour, but good and sound parcels are firm, with rather an up- ward tendency. The supplies of low Flour is large, and sales are making at a decliue. The transactions add up 7.500 obis, inclu- ding 1,800 bbls. fine, and sour at $4a4 25 for sour, and 4 12'^a 4 :;r., for fine. The amount of fine on the way is considerable. The quotations are 4 75a4 87.^ for common State. 4 62}££c. for mixed, 57c. for yellow, 65c. for round mixed, 69a59H> for round yellow. Sales of 2,000 bushels Rye at 57c. delivered.— Oats are plenty and dull. Sales at 34a35>^ of 20.000 bushels. Provisions.— Pork is held higher by the dealers, but buyers do not come in freely. The sales are 400 or 500 bbls. in lots at 10 75 a10 81, anil $9 for Prime. Mess at the close was held at $11.— About 200 bbls. beef sold at 11 50 for prime, $12 for railroad and 13 60u$14 for Mess. Within some three weeks about 1,600 tierces. Prime mess, have been sold, including 500 previously reported at 16 50al7 25. The buyers repacked this beef, and sold it in bar- rels. Lard is firm, with sales 100 tcs. and bbls. at (;'.,«7o. Cut meats are firm, with sales 350 tierces at 6J£s7o. for pickled hams, the latter a good parcel. Butter is doing better. Sales Ohio at 7ol lc. Western tubs 10al4c. Cheese is in fair demand at 2a6j . e( 3, Hemp.— American is now in pretty good supply, but the views of hu ders are for the most part above those of buyers, and wo have only to notice sales of 100 bales Dew rotted, in lots on private terms; nothing done in Foreign. Strawberry Plants for Sale. Pistilate— Staminate— Burr's New Pine, Boston Tine. Rival Hudson, Ross' Phoenix. Columbus, Burr's Old pine. Black Prince, Swainstone Seedlinc-. Crimson Cone, Large Early Scarlet. Hovey's Seedling, Bishop's Orange. Having grown the above varieties of Strawberries for two or three seasons past, and used much care, to keep them pure and unmixed, all orders will be attended to, and genuine plants for- warded— Burr's New Pine, is the best Strawberry ever grown, and the ear- liest of all large berries.— The Rival Hudson, for its prolificness, hardness of berry, and rich subacid flavor, is the best market ber- ry I have grown. Pistilate plants are the best bearers; but they all require Stam- inate plants near them for fertilizers. Prices of Plants.— Burr's New Tine, 50 cts. per dozen, or $3 per hundred. Hovey's SeedliBg, Burr's Old Pine, and Large Ear- ly Scarlet, each 25 cts. per doxen, or $1 per hundred. All the other varieties. 50 cts. per dozen, or $2 per hundred. Rochester, August 1, 1849. [8-2t.] M.G.WARNER. Sale of Hereford Cattle. THE MESSRS. BINGHAM, Brothers, of Vermont, will offer for sale from ten to twenty head of HEREFORDS, 3 years old and under— bulls and heifers. We purchased our herds of Corning & Sothom— have given them a fair trial— have made up our minds that, all things taken into consideration, they are the best race of improved cattle extant, and are determined to push ahead in the improvement of them. We shall sell at Public Auc- tion, at the State Fair at Syracuse, and shall offer somo noble samples of the race. Pure Merino Sheep. Also, at private sale, same time and place, a large lot of pure bred MERINO SHEEP, from imported sires. Breeders of sheep will do well to look over our flocks before purchasing elsewhere. We shall offer no mongrels or grades, but our best blooded sheep, at fair prices. [8— 2t. Peruvian Guano. JUST arrived, fresh from the Chinche Islands, 730 tons first quality Peruvian Guano. Six years' experience in the use of Guano., by our farmers and gardeners in the states bordering on the Atlantic coast, has proved it far superior to any other, and the cheapest manure they can purchase. It is particularly valuable for wheat, grass, and all field crops; also fruits and garden veget- ables. Inquire at the Agricultural Warehouse and Seed Store, of A. B. ALLEN & CO.. [8—22.] 189 & 191, Water St.. New York. A Small Farm "Wanted. Letter addressed to C. S . Newport. N. Y., describing the premises, and mentioning the terms, will receive attention. August, 1849. [8— 3t*. A Morgan Colt for Sale. A Bright Bay Horse Colt, foaled April 26. 1848, of gr. at promise, sired by Gen. Gifford. from a mare of unsur- passed travelling qualities. Inquire at this office, or of Scottsville. [7-lt»] THE GENESEE FARMER, Publislied on the first of each month, at Rochester, N. Y., by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE & D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. P. BARRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. Fifty Cents a Year, In Advance. Five Copies for $2, and any larger number at the same rate, if directed to eacli subscriber. Eight Copies for $3, if addressed to one person only — and any larger number, directed in like manner, at the same rate. Qj3 All subscriptions to commence with the year, and the entire volume supplied to all subscribers. Advertisements. — A limited number of short and appro- priate advertisements will be given in the Farmer, at the rate of $1,50 per square or folio (ten lines or 100 words) for the first insertion, and $1 for each subsequent publication — LB advance. The circulation of the Farmer is from jive to eight thousnnd LARGER than that of any other agricultural journal published in the United States. [LT* The Fakmek is subject to newspaper postage only. STEREOTYPED BY JEWETT, THOMAS AND CO., BOFFALO, M. Y. 'wmwimmm. msionmB irniiBBiiitf ijnniiiMM Bee B very general attendance of the best farmers of the Empire State at the great Rural Jubilee in Syracuse. Being held near the center of the State, it ie accessible to all. Much will be ex- pected by thousands of Btrangers from other States, Canada and Europe; let not these expectations be disappointed. For the information of competitors and others interested we annex the following par- ticulars from the show-hill of the Society: Annual Exhibition at Syracuse Sept. llth, 12th and 13th, 1849. The amount of premiums offered exceed $6,000. Articles should be entered with the Secretary on or before Monday, Sept. 10th. The Grounds selected contain about eighteen acres, including a fine grove of several acres. The So- ciety's Large Tents, with commodious buildings, will be arranged for the exhibition of Fruits, Flowers, Vegetables, Domestic Goods, Implements, Sic. The Executive Committee will meet on the show- ground, at the Large Tent, on Tuesday at 12 o'clock — and the Judges are desired to be present, as vacan- cies will then be filled. The First Day, (Tuesday, llth,) will be devoted to examinations by the Judges; and the Grounds will only be open to Officers, Guests, Delegates, Members, Judges and Exhibitors. On Wednesday the Exhibition will be opened to the pub- lic, and continue open for two days. The Annual Address will be delivered on Thurs- day, at 3 P. M., on the Show Grounds, by Prof. James F. W. Johnston, of Durham, England. The President and Vice President of the United States, and the Governors of several of the States are expected to be in attendance. Meetings will be held each evening, for free conversation on the sub- ject of Agriculture, Pomology, &c. Articles designed for exhibition will be transported over the rail-roads without charge, and visitors will be furnished with tickets at half the usual rates, enabling them to return at any time during the week of the Show. Fees of Members, $1 . Single Tickets for admission to the grounds, on and after Wednes- day morning, one shilling. Tickets to drive a car- riage round the enclosure, $1, in all cases, except the inmates are members of the Society. Badges for Members will be furnished by the Secretary at the Business Office. Single Tickets will be fur- nished at the Treasurer's Office on Wednesday morning. Exhibitors of Stock should give at least one wTeek's previous notice of their intention, to the person at the Station from which their stock is to be sent: To E. Foster, Jr., [Railroad Office, Albany; L. R. Sar- geant, Supt. Troy and Whitehall Railroad; G. W. Young, Schenectady: T. M. Francis, Railroad Office, Utica; W. D. Stevens, Oswego; J. B. DiH, Auburn; John Fargo, Geneva; Joseph Alleyn, Rochester; M. Beach, Batavia; Wm. Wallace, Supt. Attica and Buffalo Railroad; P. N. Rust, and J. B. Burnet, Syracuse. ■Articles designed for exhibition should be carefully labelled with the owner's name and residence, and may be directed to P. N. Rust, J. B. Burnet, Roger Billings, or B. F. Colvin, Syracuse. Entries may be made at the office of the Secretary at Rust's Hotel, Syracuse, and fees of membership paid after the 1st of September. On Monday (Sept. 10,) the business office will be open at the Snow Grounds, and all en- tries must then be made there. 204 THE GENESEE FARMER. Sept. Gentleman from a distance, Guests, Officers and Delegates from State or County Societies, are re- quested to enter their names at the Rooms of the Society at Rust's Hotel. The Executive Committee will be happy to meet gentlemen at their rooms during the show. A meeting of the Executive Committee will be held each evening; and the Presi- dent and other Officers will take great pleasure in extending every attention in their power to gentlemen in attendance. Sales of Improved Stock will take place on Thursday, Choice animals from the celebrated Shorl-hom herd of Col. J. M. Sherwood, and Devons from H. N. Washburn and others, will be offered for sale; and also selected sheep from several choice flocks. J. B. Burnet, Esq., of Syracuse, wlil offer for sale several blood mares, fillies and colts — the mares in foal by the celebrated imported horse Con- sternation, and most of the colts sired by him. W. Thompson, Esq., of Onondaga Co., will offer for sale the well known entire horse Mambrino, sired by Thome's Eclipse, a horse of remarkable speed and power. Geo. Vail, Esq., of Troy, intends to have at the Show a two year's old bull, out of his premium imported cow Hilpa, sired by his premium bull Meteor, which he will offer at private sale for $300. The A'orth American Pomologieal Convention will open its session on Friday morning, Sept. 14th, at Rust's Hotel. Preliminary meetings will be held the day and evening previous. Articles designed for exhition, directed to P. N. Rust, will receive attention. Delegates and others are requested to enter their names at Rust's Hotel, Syracuse House, or Globe Hotel, on their arrival, where notices will be found of the time and place of meeting, and ar- rangements for the Convention. Prices of Entertainment. — The keepers of the public houses and boarding houses at Syracuse, have agreed to charge only a specified price for each day's board during the week of the Fair — the different houses ranging in price from 75 cents to $2. This agreement gives assurance that accommodations will be furnished to strangers at satisfactory prices. Crops in the Southern States. — Corn is gene- rally good, and promisesmore than an average yield. The wet weather in all the month of July has injured it more or less on bottom or low lands, where corn is usually planted. In Georgia, particularly in the Cherokee country, and in portions cf South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama, the wheat crop is nearly a total failure. Cotton is very backward, and much depends on the character of the season from this to December, in determining the amount of this crop. Since the severe frosts in April, it has doubled in its market -value, and made fortunes for a few large holders. A short crop is expected. Rice is doing well; and sweet potatoes promise a fair harvest. Peaches, grapes and figs are scarce, owing to untimely frosts. Irish potatoes have been worth in Augusta over two dollars a bushel for the last four months; and new apples are just reduced in price to a dollar a bushel. New cheese is selling in the up country at from twelve to fifteen cents a pound. There has not been a well authenticated case of cholera in Georgia this year, up to the 1st of August; nor can we learn of a case of fever of any kind in the city of Augusta, in July. Within 30 days over 13 inches of rain water have fallen, and thoroughly washed and purified the town. L. — Augusta, Ga. CONSTRUCTION OF THE DAIRY HOUSE. Among the numerous practical papers in the Transactions of the New York State Ag. Society for 1S48, one of the most valuable is the Report on Dairies. From it we make the following extract on the construction of the Dairy House; and regret that we are compelled to defer until next month other portions which contain important suggestions to all engaged in butter making: — "On the proper construction of the dairy house much depends. It should contain suitable apartments for milk, for the butter in churning, and for the im- plements. The structure should be such as to secure uniform temperature, both in summer and winter; and when all this is completed, unless the utmost neatness is observed in every utensil and article in use, as well as the floors and shelves of the dairy house, it will be impossible to produce first rate butter. The following description of a cow house and dairy as used in Holland, is taken from the Farmer's Library, Vol. 1, pp. 94-5: It is a building about sixty feet long, by thirty wide, with a vernandah running three sides of it. The dairy room is sunk below the level of the soil, and is paved with bricks; the sides are covered with Dutch tile, and the arched roof with hard cement. The cow house has a broad passage in the middle, and the cows stand with their heads towards this passage, which is paved with bricks set on edge. Their tails are towards the wall, along which runs a broad gutter, sunk six or eight inches below the level of the place on which the cows stand. This gutter slopes towards a sink covered with an iron grate, which communicates" by a broad arched drain, with a vaulted tank, into which all the liquid flows. The gutter is washed twice a day before the cows are milked. The. cows stand or lie on a sloping brick floor, and have but a small quantity of litter allowed them, which is removed every day, and car- ried to the dung heap or the pig sties, to be more fully converted into manures. When the litter is removed, the bricks are swept clean, and in the sum- mer washed with water. The manner in which the cows are fastened is worthy of notice: two slight pillars of strong wood are placed perpendicular! v, about two feet distant from each other, so that the cow can readily pass her head between them; on each of these is an iron ring, that runs freely up and down, and has a hook in its circumference: two small chains pass from these hooks to a leathern strap which buckles round the neck of the cow. Thus the cow can rise and lie down, and move for- ward to take her food, which is placed in a low manger between the pillars; but she cannot strike her neighbor with her horns. The mangers or troughs are of wood, or of bricks cemented together, and are kept as clean as all the rest of the cow house. The food is brought in carts, Trliich are driven between the cows, whose mangers are thus con- veniently supplied; what is not wanted is stored above, and when wanted is readily thrown down to the cows. By this plan much trouble is saved, and one man can attend to many animals. From No- vember till May the cows never leave the cow house. In summer, when they are out, if they are in adja- cent pastures, they are driven home to be milked; but if the pastures are far off, they are milked there, 1819. THE GENESEE FARMER. 205 and the milk is brought home in boats: but this is not thought so good Cor the butter, which is then always churned from the whole milk without taking the cream rise. The finesl and beBl flavored butter is always made from the cream as fresh as possible; and to make it rise well, the milk should be sel as soon as drawn, and agitated as little as possible The greatest quantity is seldom obtained whore the quality is finest. Where great attention is paid to the quality, the milk is skimmed about six hours alter it is set, and the cream then taken off is churned by itself. The next skimming makes infe- rior butter. It is in fact essential that the dairy house should be as near as possible to the cow house. In Holland the milk is carried in brass vessels, exquisitely clean. The subjoined plans will convey a clear idea of the Dutch cow house and dairy above described : DAIRY HOUSE. Side View. A. A. A. Passage through the cow house and dairy 10 feet wide, paved with brick set on edge. The food is brought along this passage in a small cart, and distributed to the cows. B. part of the passage above mentioned, closed in with doors, and forming a vestibule to the dairy; C. the dairy room in which only milk, cream and butter are kept: it is sunk three feet under the level of the cow house, and covered with a brick arch; it has one lat- ticed window, and several ventilators, on a level with the place on which the milk vessels are set. D. the room where the utensils are Section of Cow House. scalded, and where cheese is made; in one corner is a fire place, with a large kettle or a copper set. E. stairs to go up to cheese room M., and the loft N. P. Calf pens, in which the calves are tied up to fatten, so that they cannot turn to lick themselves; there is a small trough with pounded chalk and salt in each pen. G. the place for the cows without partitions, each cow being tied to two posts by small chains and rings which run on the 'posts; the chains are fast- tened to a broad leathern strap, which is buckled round the neck of each cow. H. H. two sinks or drains, with iron grat- Section of Dairy. ings'over them, to catcli the fluid refuse from the gutters I, I, which run along each side of the cow house; K. the tank for the refuse, vaulted over with a door L, to clear it out, and a pump to pump up the liquid manure; 0. O. in this section are places where the green food or rool deposited tor the day's consumption. With n • pi . t to the fluid manure, of which the Muti h and Flemish are so careful, it i ■ g< n- erally wasted bj the dairy farmer of Eng- land— and almost with- out exception by the dairy farmers of New i "< ork. Yd as a manure —J for gardens, Uc, if is very valuable : and in Belgium would n turn by contract, an average oi JL/J(ori§8.88porcow) by the year. Four hun- dred cows would thus produce £800 ($3,552) per annum in this manure alone — good interest for the outlay of constructing the vaulted tanks lor its reception !" Growth of Plants in Confined Air. — It is now well known that a plant nourishes as well or better when grown in soil in a transparent vessel with the external nir excludi d, than when exposed to its' influence. Mr. Leeds, druggist, cornerof Atlantic amK'ourt streets, Brooklyn, baa a monthly rose in a large glass jar, planted in the usual soil. This jar is hermetically scaled, and yet the plant lias nourished, its leaves being of a healthy green, and it grows faster and blossoms earlier than any similar plant exposed to die atmos- phere. It has been kept more than two years in tins state, having been opened only twice to clean out the gr iss, "which grows, also, more rapidly from the pots exposed. — Mr. Patridge. If the above is correct in all its statements, the experiments, reasons and theories of vegetable phy- siologists are blown to the winds. It has ever been held, and such we still believe to be true, that plants inhale and exhale the gases composing the atmos- phere. Some plants arc capable of drawing their whole nutriment from the air, as the Japan Air-plant, and others in a great degree. We should like to learn the advantages of the plowing in of the green crop to enrich soils, if they only derived their con- tents from the earth. It would be only returning the same materials back, that had just been taken from it, without any gain or addition. There must be some error in the experiment. We should like to know what Mr. Patridge calls " hermetically sealed.'' We suppose he won't pretend that the jar was melted and the glass joined together like the stem of a ther- mometer. Nothing short of that is hermetical seal- ing, or will exclude the air. We presume the jar was closed with a cork, and waxed, which, as to ex- cluding the air, would be an entire fallacy. We should like to be informed, also, how they admitted water for its subsistence during its two year*' im- prisonment, without admitting air; and where the oxygen was procured to convert the humus of the soil into carbon, for the leaf, woody fibre and flower. * Effects of Certain Manures on Plants. — As a general rule, nitrogenous manures force the green leaf and stalk ; the phosphates dispose to seed : the sulphates and salt to solidity ; and potash to healthy and vigorous growth. 206 THE GENESEE FARMER. Sept. EDUCATION FOR THE SONS OF FARMERS. BY J. A. KENNICOTT, OF ILLINOIS. Eds. Gen. Farmer: — Your ever welcome little paper has shown its cheerful August face to its friends in Northern Illinois; and, as an early settler on the " Holland Purchase," I may perhaps venture to say, that I have read with much pleasure, and more hope, your own and your correspondents' re- marks on the " spirit of the age," and the necessity of association, and a sustained esprit du corps among farmers — and more especially "Agricultural Educa- tion" for the sons of farmers. This has long been a growing, though quiet and unobtrusive hobby with me. I have said little about it, because I much distrusted my abilities, as well as my prejudices, and thought it best to bide the proper time; and that time has not yet arrived in the West. We are now en- gaged in, it is to be hoped^ successful attempts, to systematize Common School Education. But in New York the case is different — common schools are approximating a reasonable perfection — and it will be a glad day for me, and a proud one for New York, when I see an Agricultural College, with a large farm attached, and such a man as David Thomas, or Lewis F. Allen, for instance, at the head of it, in the Western part of my native State — which, even I can remember, as almost a wilderness. Such an institution would be worth all the purely literary ones in the State. It would send out prac- tical men — and give tone, and standing, to the profession of Agriculture. Colleges of this nature — compared with our pre- sent irregular and uncertain facilities — would be to the farming and mechanical interests, what medical schools are to the profession of medicine and surgery, cotrasted with the old mode of studying with a coun- try doctor. And yet, it may be said, that some of these village bred students have become eminent physicians. True; and so, up to the present day, have merely "book learned farmers" become our best, and most successful agriculturists. But, how many of his blunders has the silent grave covered, in the one instance — and how much useless expen- diture, and how many fields reaped without profit, could the others tell of, in his first attempts to go beyond the usual routine — which a practical educa- tion would have obviated ? Your correspondent, "Agricola," is right with re- spect to the spirit of the age. Useless learning will not much longer form a great portion of "a liberal education," in this utilitarian age. Two or three years thrown away, in the study of dead languages, will not be tolerated in the latter half of this nine- teenth century. Life, in our day, is not too long at the best, and many of us, in the most senseless man- ner, are doing much to shorten its natural period — though scientific medicine has, of late years, wonder- fully diminished its liability to accidental termination, and thus aided to swell the current population of our earth. And yet, were we sure of forty years, on an average, can there be any good reason why we should spend a tenth of the flower of our days, in acquiring that which, at the best, is but a barren accomplishment, if not a criminal waste of time, and wear of intellect ? Brother Farmer — my worthy and ambitious friend — you who sent your son to college because you could afford it, and wished to do for him, what your father could not do for you — now answer me can- didly, although you are very proud of his learning, has he in reality gained anything useful by his four years' expensive application ? Is not this favored son, (doubtless a lad of promise once,) a mere drone ? — a dreamy book-worm ? — or worse, a self-sufficient ass ! — with all his Greek and Latin, and ancient literature, (none of the purest,) and old monkish learned lumber — oppressing and obfuscating the brain, without leaving a trace of useful knowledge, or a single new idea, worth a pinch of snuff. I will venture a prediction: In 25 years there will not be ten colleges in the Union requiring the study of the dead languages as a part of a regular course of education. The reign of sanctified error is drawing to a close. This is the age of mind, and the republic of knowledge, in contradistinction to the empire of mere learning — and the sons of farmers know the value of time, and seldom have much to spare. But should they possess a taste for languages, and great facility in acquiring them, they can study French and German, and find their account in it. These languages are as useful now as was the Latin once; and even the Spanish is worth more than Greek, in these golden days. Horticulture, though not in name, does now, in reality, form a part of a liberal education; and an English education is incomplete without a knowledge of natural philosophy and chemistry — and a farmer should study geology, mineralogy, botany, entomo- logy, &tc, — and anatomy and physiology, as well as these — provided always that he has time, and taste therefor; and if he has taste, he will find time. — And, what is more, he will find pleasure in learning to know himself, and the nature of things, animate and inanimate, which surround him, and which, for gopd, or for evil, influence the success of his pursuits. Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts go hand in hand, and are reciprocally dependant on each other; and commerce ministers to both — bankers and tra- ders are our factors — " professional men," our natu- ral dependants, and our "necessary evils" — politi- cians (generally demagogues,) call themselves our "servants," and act as the arbiters of our destiny — ever an age behind the spirit of the times — and why is this ? and in what are any of these superior to the farmer ? Not in worth — not in usefulness, surely — but in mere learning, and station, which old custom and our folly have, heretofore, accorded them, and pardonable combinations and their " esprit du corps" have enabled them to maintain. The new race of producers will remedy all this, and the educated Farmer, or Mechanic, will rank, "first in honor," and first in station, as he has ever been first in usefulness and necessity. J. A. K.— The Grove, III., August, 1849. Application of Manures. — The question rela- ting to the application of Manures, appears to be a very simple one. A dead animal left to decay on the surface of the earth, will, as decomposition pro- ceeds, nearly all escape into the atmosphere, in the shape of gases. The same is true of a heap of vegetable matter. Ashes, lime, (in any of its forms,) soda, and all the mineral salts, absorb from the at- mosphere, and in wasting away descend and mingle with the soil. Hence in applying animal or vegetable manures bury them in the earth, (unless in a liquid state,) that on decomposing, the elements may in their ascent, be absorbed by the soil and be food for the plants. In the use of mineral manures, place them on or near the surface, that on decomposing they may descend to the roots of the plants. h. 1819. THE GENESEE FARMER. 207 HOLDERNESS COW. Impvowa Stock. COWS FOR THE DAIRY. -HOLDERNESS BLOOD. BY ARKWRIGHT. The question has recently appeared on the pages of this journal, " What kind of cows shall the farmer keep V It will doubtless be expected that an answer to this inquiry should suggest, what breed of cows may justly be considered most profitable for the dairy. We have many excellent cows of the native breed; and by persevering and intelligent culture, such as was devoted to this object by Mr. Bakewell in England, we might unquestionably have, in all respects, a superior breed of native stock. But such, at present, is not the fact. Our native cows, to a great extent, are in many respects, an inferior breed; and instead of improving our own, we have resorted to foreign stock. There was a time when the Devons were all the rage. Their color, a rich mahogany red, was cap- tivating: and their neat and finished forms — their beautiful horns — their sprightly, active spirits — con- ciliated great favor. But they were generally rather small; and, as a breed, often not deep milkers. To these the Short-horn Durhams succeeded, and have borne the palm for several years. During this period, a man would almost have been thought beside himself, to have said aught to their disparagement. But the homage paid to them has, in a measure, subsided. — And the fact, becoming evident in the experience of the farmer, that the object for which they were first culti- vated in England — "profit for the butcher's stall, rather than for the dairy" — has diminished their value as dairy stock; the disappointed and dissatisfied now venture to urge the inquiry, " What kind of cows shall farmer's keep ?" In the hope, or at least, in the desire to obtain something better than was already possessed, impor- tations from England have been made, within a few years past, of other breeds considered to be valuable. But I have yet to learn, if any thing has been ob- tained, that promises great and general benefits. The question still recurs, and with increased interest, " What kind of cows shall the farmer keep V Now, I have no expectation of answering this question, to the satisfaction of any whose interest and partialities are already enlisted in behalf of some favorite blood. With such persons, I have no con- troversy, no argument, although I may advocate a different breed. I have neither the design nor desire to disparage their favorite stocks; but cheerfully con- cede to them, whatever of excellence and value they possess. And I readily accord to others, that which I also claim for myself, a perfect right to entertain, each his own preferences. We are respectively, both ready and willing, of all such preferences, to abide the results. I propose, merely, to make a few plain statements, in regard to a breed, with which I have been long acquainted, and which I highly prize; and to state a few, out of many facts, within the compass of my own knowledge and experience. The farmer then can draw his own conclusions. I allude now to the "Holderness" blood. And here I take the liberty to remark, that I have seen in this county, and in some counties east of us, a breed of red cattle called " Holderness," which I do not consider to be even remotely allied to that blood; not, indeed, ever to have proceeded from that blood, at all. In addition to their color, a striking characteristic of this stock is, to be exceedingly thick and full built in the hind quarter; especially the upper part of the thighs, and around the rump; so as often to exhibit a very singular appearance. I have known this stock for more than twenty years; have taken pains to ascertain its origin; and so far as it had any alliance to foreign blood, have, satisfactorily to my own mind, traced it back to stock in no way connected with the Short-horned blood. Now the Holderness are pied cattle, generally a deep red and pure white, the same as the Durhams: although, as among the Durhams, occasionally one may be entirely red, or entirely white. But the leading .--.V-^-.-.-.--.-;' 208 THE GENESEE FARMER. Sept. characteristic of both breeds as to color is the same « marbled, mottled, spotted, red and white." The Holderness have exceedingly neat and beautiful horns. And one striking characteristic in their form, so far as I have known them, is, great length of body. — As to size, they are about equal to the Durhams, some of them being large, but generally, of finer bone and more delicate appearance. I first saw the imported bull, "Holderness," about the year 1829. He was purchased in England, as stated, at a cost of $1000, and imported into this country by Gorham Parsons, Esq., of Brighton, Mass., then President of the Massachusetts Agri- cultural Society. In color, he was deep red and pure white, the red predominating. In form, he was very perfect — deep in the brisket, round in the chest, with fine straight limbs, heavy quarters, and great length of body. His weight in ordinary flesh was 3,000 lbs. The English Enclycopedia, in speaking of this stock, says— "They are large, fine boned, possess great aptitude to fatten; their beef is fine; they have both size, strength and speed for labor, and their shoulders are well posited for the draught. Being beautifully variegated in color, marbled, spotted, speckled red and white, they make elegant 'Park stock,' (witness the Earl of Chesterfield's dairy;) and in one, perhaps the most important respect, great milking, they stand unrivalled; the cows giving from 24 to 36 quarts of rich milk per day." In a trial, on the farm of the Earl of Chesterfield, of seven cows, consisting of three celebrated varieties, with crosses upon them, the Holderness cow giving 29 quarts of milk, produced 38 £ ounces of butter per day, being 6 ounces more than was produced by any other one. I understand the history of both Holderness and Durham cattle to be this: originally, they were the same stock — large, thrifty, pied cattle, brought over to England from the rich 'meadow lands of Holland, by the Durham and Holderness farmers. With the latter, profit from the dairy was the leading object; and they bred with especial reference to this result. With the Durham farmers, early maturity, rapid, large growth, and aptitude to fatten, was the aim; then- leading object being, the "butcher's stall." It has hence resulted, that the leading characteristic of the Holderness cows has been, excellence for the dairy; while, at least one leading characteristic of the Dur- hams has been, excellence for the slaughter. In 1830 I purchased from the owner of the imported bull, a full blood calf, and bred from him about ten years. Like his sire he was pied; a deep red and pure white, and very perfect in form. At four. years old his girth was 7 feet 3 inches. At five' years old his weight was 2,200 lbs. And the length of his body, from where the horn crosses the head, correctly and accurately measured on the line of his back, was 8 feet and 4 inches. His equal in length 1 never saw, except his imported sire. For several years, there were brought to him from sixty or eighty to over a hundred cows. And in all my acquaintance with the stock, I never knew a:; instance where the cow proved an inferior milker. They were uniformly an improvement on the com- mon stock, in every particular. I bred from a small, fir-t rate native cow, a heifer that I afterwards sold, that produced a calf each year at three, four and five years old, and gave milk every day during the whole period of the three years. Her calves were purchased before two weeks old, the first at $40, and the others at $50 each. Her mess was 44 quarts of rich milk per day, in the best of the season. One hun Ired dollars were often refused for her. I bred from him a cow that took the first premium at the cattle show in this county, in 1844, giving 40 quarts of milk per day. A two year old heifer also took the first premium for those of her age, giving 24 quarts of milk per day. I sold at $50, a cow 4 years old, giving 30 quarts per day. Her first calf was dropped on the 1st of . i - vember, she being then 2 years old. Her mes- the middle of November was 16 quarts per day, and the cream taken from 5 measured quarts of the milk produced 7 ounces of butter, nearly equal to ] * lbs. per day for her whole mess. Ten pounds of butter per week, for a 2 years old heifer, on the pastures of November, is a result not often reached. My herd of 6 to 8 cows, kept for many years for family use, averaged not less than 24 quarts pes day to each cow in the best of the season. The cow still retained in use, now 15 years old, has given annually from 24 to 28 quarts of the richest milk per day, when the grass has been fresh and abun- dant. She was milked during the seison when she was 2 years old, beginning in May, giving ;: mess, although she had never had a calf, and did not calve that season until the month of October. I mention this fact, singular as it is, though perhaps not unprecedented, merely as indicating the tendency of the breed to milking properties. I have seen no oxen of any breed larger, finer, fleeter, or better in any respect, tha.i those of this stock, and rarely have I seen their equals. And whether they can compare with other celebrated breeds for the slaughter, may, in a measure, be in- ferred from the fact, that a pair of steers bred by my neighbor, with no other care and keeping than that given to his entire herd, were sold to the drover at 2 years old, for $80; and at 5 years old were sold for the slaughter for $500 — their average wc'ght on foot being, as stated, 3,000 lbs. With these suggestions, I submit to ihe grazing and the dairy farmer, whether it might not be well to make trial of this stock, either by importing it from England, which might speedily be done, or by purchasing for the dairy, Holderness cows of the genuine blood, if at this time such can be obtained in this country. Rochester, JY. F., 1849. Subsoil and Subsoil Plowing. — I hare some- times heard the inquiry made, whether the subsoil contains any strength, and what is the use of dis- turbing it ? Now the strength of a soil, as the term is generally understood, may depend upon one, two, or three things, viz: the amount of animal, the amount of vegetable, or the amount of soluble mineral matter (of the right kind,) that it contains ; or any two of these, or, all combined. But a proper subsoil contains very little, perhaps often none, of the first and the second in a permanent state; but may con- tain any amount of the third. The percolation or infiltration of water may, however, carry down some of each in solution when applied to the surface. Hence a subsoil may, and generally does contain much of the strength of the soil, and doubtless the very elements required for the perfection of tiie plant, but unavailable to it on account of the impenetrability of the subsoil by the roots of the plant. (See this subject further discussed in some of the former num- bers of the Farmer, on " Subsoil Plowing.") h. 18 40. thh i;i;m:si;h farmer. EXIERIMENTS WITH NEW VEGETABLES 1st. I bought a few "Early Emperor Peas" of Thorbdrn, New N "rk, ;it *1 50 per quart, early in May, : 1 1 1 1 planted 10th of May. Without any extra care, they were ready for the table on 15th June, — 35 days. The Early Prince Albert Peae I planted on tin- 8th <-f April, Bide by side, and they were npl lit lor table use till the 1 3th of Juno, — one month difference in time; hut allowance must be made for bad weather in April. ■_'.!. 1 bought, at the fame time and place, one *•/■:s dried, although in a damp spot,) as early as the 17th of July — 2 months and 7 days. 3d. I also pot one car of a now kind (I did not get the name, hut will yet do so,) of sweet corn, very superior, which ripened ten days before the common Early Canada. The Canada is early, but hard and not pood, you know. 4th. " Wait's Queen of Dwarf Peas," which I also bought of Thorburn, at $1 50 per quart, prove to be of ihajirst quality, and great bearers, although the vinos do not prow over 9 to 12 inches high with good care, — yet the vines are so stocky that it will not do to drop the peas nearer than a single pea from 6 to 8 inches apart. 1 think these and the "Early Emperor" pea will be valuable kinds to cultivate here. Yours, Respectfully. R. G. Pardee. — Pal- myra, JY. Y., August, 1849. DRILLING IN WHEAT. We are convinced that putting in wheat with a drill is not only the preferable plan, but that a great saving of seed may be effected by it, and an increased produce obtained. To sow a 100 acre field broad- cast, as it ought to be, will require 200 bushels of seed: whereas 1 25 bushels, if put in with the machine, will answer fully as well, thereby saving 75 bushels in 100 acres. The ridge raised by the machine protects.the plants through the winter; and in spring, if the roots should be thrown out, many, if not most of them, will be covered by the crumbling down of the ridges. All that would be necessary to render this certain, would be, in the spring, to pass a roller over the field, as soon as the frost was out of the ground and the soil dry, as the pressing down, or compression of the ridges, would necessarily cover up most of the roots that might be found exposed upon the surface, and thus ensure their taking root and growing. Besides the interval between the drills would secure a free circulation of air through the plants while growing, and be particularly ser- vicable in preserving, to a very great extent, the grain from rust. If the cause of this disease be atmospheric, and we believe it is, the free circulation of air could not fail to be productive of the good we have claimed for it. — American Farmer. Indian Corn. — To show the increasing demand for our Indian corn in Great Britain, we would state that by the official report, as it appeared in the N. Y. Shipping List, the quantity of corn exported in June, was 1,287,369 bushels, which is greater by 550,486 bushels than in the month of June, 1847, wheim(the use of the learned. Nothing should be admitted in prices ranged from 8"? to 117 cts. per bushel, and greater, we believe, than was ever shipped in any- previous month. CULTURE OF PLUMS. -THE CURCULIO. Ma. Editor: — Your correspondent in Ma\ nun ber has boon eery fortunate in discovering, in sul- phur, an effectual reined) lor the Curculio. I I the experiment the pi on, on plum tre< Beveral varieties, and although nol without i vol the resull was not entirely Batisfru tory that sul- phur is a sure preventive. Perhaps this mi some measure be owing to the sorts or varieties; mine were the Impel . ••, Duane's Purple, Washington and others. •! Bnd some sorts are far more liable to be stung than others- which I may name Duane's Purple and Huling' both fine large varieties. The insect is rapidly in- creasing here. It is not until within a that they have meddled with our peaches*; the pres- ent season being a scarce one, they are mostly cut off by the insect. Even the common frog pei are not excused. Your correspondent wan right in stating that Downing said he never knew an in- stance of their being troublesome in a hoa\ He does so state, page 267. I can assure hint it is no exception here. The abundance of i' here is owing to the fact that no means are em] for their destruction. Many are ignorant of the real cause of their plums falling off, and farmers are usually too busy to attend to it. The general lack of Agricultural and Horticultural knowledge is another cause of this evil. If such works as the Genesee Farmer were more generally introduced into families, an interest would be awakened, that would have the effect of making people bestow a little extra trouble for the sake of having fin? fruit. J. H. W. will oblige by stating tfie particular time he applied the sulphur, with any other informa- tion he may possess on the subject. Wm. Wti.de. — Vermillion, Erie Co., O/'no, July, 1849. Remarks. — We have no faith whatever in sulphur as a remedy for the Curculio. Wherever practicable stone fruits should be planted in a separate enclosure, and pigs and poultry be kept among them to consume the fallen fruit. This in a short time, will destroy the insects. The Curculio has not done as much mischief as usual in this vicinity, the present season. Our plums and apricots are very fine and abundant. In small places, paving around the trees answers a very good purpose. — Ed» BOTANICAL TERMS. Messrs. Editors: — I wish to express my decided disapprobation of the use of the terms male and female, to distinguish the two classes of organs that are found in flowers, called the organs of fructifi- cation. Whatever cause may have operated with the founder of our present system of Botany, for the introduction of these terms, that cause does not now exist. There is not the shadow of a necessity for the continuance of their use in a science now abun- dantly supplied with technicals; the terms gtaminale and pistillate answering every purpose that can be answered by the others. The teacher who under- takes to instruct a mixed class of intelligent, and perhaps, inquisitive pupils in Botany, will find it very difficult. If these terms must be retained (for which I can see no necessity,) let them be confined to those treatises that are designed exclusively for talk text-book for schools, or a reading-book for fami- lies, which can awaken the least shadow of indelica- cy, or wound tho most delicate sensibility. h. 210 THE GENESEE FARMER. Sept. THORN HEDGES. -THE OSAGE ORANGE. BY J. DINSMORE, OF KENTUCKY. Messrs. Editors: — In the June number of yonr valuable paper you invite correspondents, who have had experience in growing hedges to communicate the results. I have been making experiments for several years, principally with the Osage Orange, with the most flattering prospects of success. — Among the plants I have seen tried for hedging are the Cherokee Rose, the Osage Orange, the Honey Locust, the Hawthorn and the Buckthorn. The former, in the States south of Tennessee, makes an excellent and highly ornamental hedge. I have tried it here, but it is too tender for this latitude. In Lou- isiana it forms a hedge, which is impassable to the wildest animal, but the planters complain that it af- fords a harbor for multitudes of rats, snakes and wasps. The objection to the Honey Locust is that it is of too large a growth and difficult to be kept down. The Hawthorn is devoured by insects, and soon perishes. The Osage Orange I consider the beau ideal of hedge plants. It is a native of Louisiana, and is stated to be hardy at Boston, and will undoubtedly succeed from the Gulf of Mexico to the Lakes. In my opinion it would be difficult to estimate the value of this plant to the United States too highly. Eng- lishmen have confessed to me, that they have no plant in Europe to be compared to this, for hedging purposes. I know of no plant, excepting the willow, that is more easily propagated. A piece of the root 3 or 4 inches long planted in a bed, with the top a little below the surface, will produce a plant, in one season, from 2 to 6 feet high. There is some difficulty in growing plants from the dry seeds, without preparation. If planted dry, not one in twenty wTill grow. When taken fresh from the half decayed ball or fruit they will grow as readi- ly as peas. If dry, soak them a few hours in milk- warm water; pour off the water and stir in fresh ash- es, and let them remain moist three or four days. — Then sow in drills an inch deep in rich and well pre- pared ground, and when the plants appear keep them clear from weeds. I find it is better to let them re- main two years in the nursery. They then grow off vigorously, and give a good^upply of roots for plant- ing. When you wTish to plant in hedge, cut off the top two inches above the ground, take up the plants, cut off the principal roots, leaving the main tap root 8 inches long. Plant in two rows from 6 to 12 inch- es apart, and keep the ground clean. The spring fol- lowing, cut down the plants to 6 inches. The sec- ond year leave them a foot high and leave a portion of the largest shoots to be interlocked with each oth- er. The third year leave them 2 feet, and the fourth 4 feet high. After this you may regulate the height to suit your fancy. The hedge will then present a dense mass of shoots covered with thorns, almost as sharp as needles, and averaging a thorn for every inch in length of the branches. I have not observed that any insect preys on this plant, but Dr. White, of Ohio, informed me that the largest cocoons he had ever seen were from silk worms fed on its leaves. I have supposed, that its exemption from injury by insects was owing to the acrid milky juicp, which the leaves exude. I have \ hedge around my vineyard, a part of which is of four years growth. Not a plant has died out, and it pre- sents an impenetrable mass of branches, thorns and glossy leaves, which is truly beautiful. It will af- ford a most efficient protection to a fruit garden or vineyard, and I cannot conceive a more embarrassing situation for a vagabond, than attempting to pass through such a hedge with a fierce dog at his heels. It is probable that the tops of the plants would be killed by the frost in New York the first winter, but that would do no permanent injury. The wood of the Osage Orange is exceedingly strong, elastic and durable, and is used by the Indians of the West for bowrs, whence the French name of Bois d'Arc by which it is known on Red River. J. D. — Boone County, Ky., July, 1849. "POSTS INVERTED/' Not long since in conversation with a gentleman on this subject I stated some facts which he said he would not believe, even if he should see them him- self; that there was no reason, no philosophy in the thing, Stc; nor would he listen to any attempt at an explanation. Yet this man boasted of being a philosopher 1 First, the facts. I have seen hemlock stakes set in the ground, some in their natural and some in an inverted position. After a few years the inverted ones were found to have decayed on the outside, while the central part was sound and dry, even below the surface of the ground. Of the others, not only had the part that entered the ground decayed entirely, but the end was hollow several inches above; the central part having " rotted out.'' Again : a gen- tleman on whose word I can rely, told me, that he had seen old trees lying on a black ash swamp, some with the root or lower end in water — others with the top or upper end, where they had lain for years. On chopping the same for fuel, the former were found to be saturated with water and partially decayed above the ordinary water level; the latter were sound and comparatively dry, even below the surface of the water. Second, the philosophy; the theory. It is a well established fact in vegetable physiology, that the sap of a tree in ascending from the root to the branches, passes up through the alburnum, or sap wood, (and the whole body, or stem, of the tree has been such, each concentric portion in such succession,) and having undergone the digestive process in the leaves, returns between the wood and the bark of the tree, depositing in its course the substance called cambium, or the new wood. Hence the theory explains the facts. The moisture passes naturally in the direc- tion of the sap. Down East, July, 1849. H. Burning Straw in the Field. — If the soil con- tains already a superabundance of vegetable matter, no advantage is gained by spreading the straw over the field, except for the mineral elements it contains. If the straw, therefore, should be burned, and the ashes spread evenly over the field, the soil would sustain no real loss from the absence of the other elements it contained, and the next crop would be equally good as if the straw had been mixed with the soil; for all that portion of the straw, (or the elements that composed it,) that escaped into the atmosphere during the combustion, will be derived again from the same source by the growing crop. As there are, however, portions of every farm that would be benefitted by the addition of the straw, the practice of burning it may, under any circumstances, be considered at least injudicious. h. 1819 THE GENESEE FARMER. 211 lUool anii lUool (Eu-ounnq. WOOL. — WEIGHT OF FLEECE, CARCASS, &c. BY W, I'. DICKIMSOHi Messrs. Editors: — In late numbers of your paper I notice some accounts of large fleeces, taken from Merino sheep and their grades. Now, this is all right, so far as it goes: but, in order to form a correct opinion of the value of the animal, we should know not only something about the size of the sheep, but the value of the wool per pound. I think it will not be deputed that the cost of keeping is in proportion to their weight, or that one sheep weighing 120 lbs. will consume as much fodder as two of the same age weighing 60 lbs. each. I usually winter about 200 sheep. My wethers over two vears old, together with my oldest and coarsest ewes, are separated from the rest of the flock in the fall and fattened, and generally sold previous to shearing. The remainder, consisting of stock bucks, ewes, yearlings and two years old wethers, generally average about 4 lbs. per fleece. When I have sheared my fat sheep, the average has been from 4| to 4| lbs- My sheep are all numbered, classed and registered, so that by referring to my book, I can ascertain the connection existing between any individuals — their age, grade of wool, weight of fleeces and carcass, fee, for the last three years. I sent my clip of wool last season to the wool depot at Kinderhook, where it was assorted and sold as follows: — Super 60 cts. per lb.: Extra 46: Prime 39; No. 1, 35; No. 2, 33; No. 3, 26. The last grade was sold in October, which will account for its selling so much lower than No. 2. The remain- der was sold in February, at the same time and to the same individual. My present clip I sent to the same place, where it remains as yet unsold. My average weight of fleeces this year, with the value per fleece at last year's prices, is as follows: Weight. Price. Amount Extra, 3 lbs. 8 oz. 46 cts. $1 61 Prime, 3 15 39 1 54 No. 1, 4 1 35 1 72 No. 2, 4 3 33 1 38 For the last three years I have weighed my sheep as the fleeces were taken off, and find the live weight in proportion to the weight of fleece between tire different grades nearly the same — although the dif- ference between individuals of the same grade is frequently great. In 1847 I sheared two sheep of the same age and grade, and wintered in the same yard: the difference in the live weight'was only Slbs., whilst that of the fleece was 3 lbs. 3oz. — one shear- ing 3 lbs. 3 oz. and the other 6 lbs. 6 oz. I find that yearlings consume the most food and produce the most wool in proportion to their weight, and breeding ewes the least. It will be seen that my finest grades, although they yield the lightest fleeces, produce the most money. They are likewise equally hardy, and raise as many lambs as the coarse grades. I have spared no pains in having my wool clean and in good condition. It was examined this year by an extensive dealer in wool, and one who has perhaps purchased more wool for the last 10 or 15 years than any. other individual in this section of country, who said it was in the best condition of any he had ever seen in Western New York. W. D. D.— Victor, JY. Y., Aug., 1849. MERINO SHEEP. -MORE LARGE FLEECES. IV REED HI KKITT. Messrs, Editors: — I have been calculating to send you my annual report concerning my Merino sheep, the weight of their fleece time, but being cumbered with many things have deferred it. On seeing a communication from Mr. Bmbbjbb, in your last number, (page 187.) in which be requests that if any had come up to 6 lbs. per head, they would make it known through the Farmer, I thought that 1 would wait no longer. Last spring I sheared 2b full Hood Merinos, which averaged a trifle over 5 lbs. per head, being no more than a common yield. My breeding ewes averaged 4 lbs. 13 oz., and my ewe lambs averaged 4 lbs. i 1 oz., and a few bucks, which gave of course he fleeces, brought the whole over 5 lbs. per head. I have about 115 that are high crosses of the Merino with some Saxony, and some native, which ^ave lighter fleeces. I had 236 fleeces in all, wlrich weighed 1,044 lbs., and I sold it for 35 cts. per lb., cash. I am calculating to increase my flock to 300, and have them all pure bred Merino, as soon as I can raise them myself — though the frequent applications that I have for my full bloods prevent my increasing my flock as fast as I should if I could keep the whole; and when I sell my ewes for from $5 to $10 per head, I must sell the good ones, and keep the poor ones, which prevents the improvement of my flock. Could I keep all my best, and sell the poorest, I would soon have a flock of 300 that would average 5£ lbs. per head. One ewe at my last shearing, with a lamb by her side, gave 6| lbs., and one ewe lamb (year- ling,) gave 6 lbs. 6 oz. The buck that I have im- proved from for several years past, shears, when thoroughly washed, 8J lbs., a sample of which I en- close— also a sample of the ewe lamb that sheared 6 lbs. 6 oz. In December, 1847, I purchased a buck lamb of Stephen* Atwood, of Watertowri, Conn., having the choice of his entire flock. His dam sheared 6 lbs., and his sire 10 lbs. 7 oz. I of course calcula- ted on a 10 lb. fleece when he came to maturity; but I was unfortunate in getting him home. He was shipped in April, 1848, but on account of breaks in the canal, and other hindrances, he was 22 days on his passage, and in a small cage; he lost his appetite, got very poor, has grown but little since, and I fear that he will never be common size. His first fleece weiged 7 lbs. 14 oz., well washed on the back; his second weighed only 7| lbs. I feared his being so dwarfed would affect his stock, but it does not: his lambs are large enough, and I think the best that I ever saw. We had 133 of his getting, and raised 130 of them. I paid Mr. Atwood $50 for him. I cannot say, as Mr. Embree does, that I have paid no high prices, as I have paid for two bucks $50 per head; for 14 ewes, $25 per head; for 11 ewes, $20 per head; and for some 20 ewe lambs, $10 per head. For five years past, I have spared neither pains nor expense — calculating to have as good a flock of pure blood Merinos as could be found any where. R. B. — Burdelt, Tompkins Co., JY. Y., August', 1849. Wool Growing is becoming an extensive busi- ness at the West. We have accounts of large and profitable clips, the past season, in various sections of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and other western and south-western states. 212 THE GENESEE FARMER. Sept. sS^mS? ORNAMENTAL FOUNTAINS, BY J. VICK, JR. " And in the midst of all a fountainc stood, Of richest substance that on earth might bee, So pnro and shining that the silver flood. Through every channel running one might see." — Spencer. From the time when a " river went out of Eden to water the garden" — that earliest and best of gardens, in which grew "every tree that was pleasant to the sight and good for food" — running water has consti- tuted an important feature in ornamental gardening. Although the skill of man has been exerted to its utmost in devising means to adorn and beautify the garden and park, that skill and exertion has produced nothing that imparts such life, such a sense of sym- pathy and companionship, as the sight and sound of moving waters. In the trees we hear the voice of nature loud and deep — the shouting of the tempest in their lofty tops — and feel its sublimity: or its shrill solemn voice in the firs, depressing us with a feeling of loneliness. But in the moving and rippling of waters there is a spirituality — an angel's voice — that soothes the feelings of the beholder, and gives life and pleasure to ail within the sphere of its attraction. Take from the above garden view the fountain, and how tame and lifeless it will appear — the matter without the mind, the body without the soul. Running water in the form of cascades or jets not only gives animation to the scenery, but in warm climates is almost indispensable, as well from the refreshing sense which the eight of running water always affords, as from the actual coolness it diffuses around. FOUNTAINS— ANCIENT AND MODERN. Artificial fountains and jets are of great antiquity, and were highly esteemed by the ancients, who showed the greatest skill in their design and decora- tion. Sometimes the pipes terminated in statues of men, women, animals, birds, fishes and gods, and from them the fluid spouted high in the air. Various automata were often put in motion by mechanism concealed in the base or pedestal. The water issuing from these fountains was perfumed on particular oc- casions. This fact is alluded to by Lucan in the following passage: 'As when mighty Rome's spectators meet In the full theatre's capacious seat ; At once by secret pipes and channels fed Rich tinctures gush from every antique head : At once ten thousand saffron currents flow. And rain their odors on the crowd below." For the last century the taste for water- works has been on the decline. The manufacture of fountains of cast iron, recently commenced, and the low price at which they are now furnished of the most beautiful patterns, is favorable to their general introduction to public favor. The beautiful specimen at the commencement of this article costs $35, and the one on the next page $15. We would advise none to be frightened, however, even at this expense, as we will tell them in the proper place how to make a fountain so beautiful as to be worthy the notice of all, and yet so cheap as to • be within the means of the poorest. We know of no part of ornamental gardening so sadly neglected in this land, and while such an increasing interest is manifested by our countrymen for improving and embellishing their homes, we hope the fountain — so simple — so beautiful — so grateful to almost every sense — will not be forgotten. Every village favorably situated for water should have its public fountain. We know of many in this section of country where fountains could be kept constantly playing, without expense or trouble, when once constructed. MODE OF CONSTRUCTION AND COST. Many are deterred from constructing fountains from erroneous idea^ in regard to expense, a notion that a great quantity of water is needed, and igno- rance of the proper mode of construction. It shall be my object to present the readers of the Farmer a little light on this subject. To those who have a natural head of water, the directions will bp applicable with the exception of the water-butt or cistern, and they will also be saved the trouble of raising water. Place a barrel near your well or at some place convenient for filling, and at a corei lerablo elevation. It should be out of sight — as behind a wall (as seen in above figure,) or over an arbor, or summer-house, h:d by vines and creepers — and having a bad jjipe from the bottom leading to the ] lace designed isi'.t. THE GENESEE FARM Eli. 213 tor the fountain. In the preceding diagram A is section of wall, B butt, C lead pipe under ground. . Place the pipe low enough to be out of the way of frost, and as straight ;is possible, as all elbows and bendings diminish the force of the water. The height of a jet does not depend upon the quantity of water, but upon the height of the head or barrel. By having the jet close to the surface of the' ground the stream of water is lengthened; tor if there was a design of two feet, or any other height, it would be so much taken from the height of water. The rise can ho added to by sinking the ground into a hollow around the fountain. The pipe at the fountain end must be contracted to one-fourth its size, and a tube of a few inches in length attached, and the water will rise nearly as high as the head. The barrel can he tilled by a force-pump, or in any way preferred. In preparing the basin for a . "X1 fountain — first, choose a location either in the garden or in the "lawn" or "yard" in front of your house; drive a stake for the center, and with a line and stick sweep a circle the size you wish the basin — take out the ground from the center outward, forming a basin ten or twelve inches deep. The earth taken out should be removed, as a raised bank around a fountain does not im- prove it. By cutting the circle through the turf you will have a handsome grass edge around the basin. The bottom and sides may be lined with water cement, which will be but a trifling expense. In using cement, mix one-third clear coarse sand with it, and put it on with a trowel, having first rammed the ground hard. Next get clean white pebbles to cover the inside of the basin, and surround the pipe with stones, no matter how rough, in the shape of a cone, something like the pile of rocks forming the base of the above figure. About twenty-five gallons of water a day is suffi- cient to supply such a fountain, and as it can be stopped at any time by simply turning a cock, which must be placed in the pipe, it need not play in cool or stormy weather, and only at such times as may suit the convenience or ^te of the owner. In this way a very small amoun™f water will answer. In regard to the cost — to the man who has a little time on his hands, and a little wits in his head, the cost of the pipe will be the principal expense. Lead pipe one inch in diameter, which is the proper size for a small fountain, can be purchased for less than a shilling a foot; so if the water has to be conducted forty feet the cost will be but $5. If the beautiful little design above is added the expense will be in- creased $15 — the price charged for the fountain. WATER JOKES. In concluding this article perhaps we could not do better than to give the following from Cham- bers' Edinburgh Journal, showing how completely water is under the control of man, how willingly it does his bidding, and administers alike to his wealth or amusement, when he rightly understands the laws by which it is governed. "At Easton, in Oxfordshire, in the gardens of a certain worshipful gent.eman, are the most artistic water ingenuities it has been our lot to meet a de- scription of as existing in this country. They even drew down the marked approbation of royalty itself. On approaching the spot, a venerable hermit rose from the ground, and after entertaining us with a " neat and appropriate speech," sank down again like a Jack-in-a-box. There was a small rocky island in the midst of a lake, which was full of watery tricks. The visitor was politely invited to walk up and view this spot; and after satisfying his curiosity and proceeding to walk down again, the fountaineer would bob down, turn a cock, and send, we dare not say how many, jets tT eau flying on all sides of the victim, one stream having for its object his legs, another his loins, another his head. After this funny reception, he was conducted to look at a spaniel hunting a duck by the force of water; the automata diving and pursuing each other by turns. Beyond was the grotto; a hedge of sparkling jets of water rose from the ground to guard it, mimic cascades foamed dowm its tiny cataracts, and countless streams shot up, and appeared to lose themselves by being caught in their return, and not suffered to fall down again. Here too, a nightingale discoursed very liquid music, and an arched jet of water played with one another, and now and then with the visitor, all hope of egress being destroyed by the sudden pouring down a heavy rain in the doorway. The sport this caused was thought to be well worth the wetting. Probably the magnificent gardens at Chatsworth are the only places where anything at all similar to the above is now to be found. There are some practical wet jokes even here; and country bumpkins in their native innocence, may be found willing to pay a visit, to the weeping tree. This visit is never repeated." Remarks. — The author of the preceding article has here- tofore furnished us several valuable papers which have been published over the signature of "Rustic." Confident of his ability to add interest and value to its pages, we gladly welcome Mr. Vick as a regular cdfctributor to the Farmer. 214 THE GENESEE FARMER. Sept. SINGULAR MORTALITY AMONG SHEEP. -INQUIRY. Messrs. Editors : — I have a mystery that I can- not solve in farm operations, and wish to call the attention of some of your wool-growing correspon- dents, thinking perhaps some of them may have had luck of the "same sort." On the 16th of July, at evening, I turned a flock of sheep, bucks and weth- ers, from a grassy fallow of thirty acres — the flock not being large enough to keep the grass down. The next day at 2 o'clock p. m. I turned in about 120 ewes and 80 lambs. On the 18th they were seen, and turned out about sunset, 28 ewes having died in about 30 hours. I have been unable, as well as all my neighbors, to ascertain the cause of their death. No poisonous plant could be found, and the idea of poison seemed unreasonable, as the first flock had been confined to the same field for some three or four weeks previous, and were again put in about two weeks after — not an individual manifesting the least symptoms of disease. The ewes had been kept in a field about one-half in fallow, the other half in clover, good feed, and all the sheep healthy and in good condition. They were immediately turned back to the clover field, and no signs of disease have been seen since they were taken from the field of death. The dead were found scattered promiscuously over the field, most of them remaining in a position of rest, with their feet under them. I am unable to describe the symptoms or the effects of the disease upon the body, as none of them were examined. There were no visible signs of diarrhoea, or discharge of mucus from the nose. I can find no disease described by any author that I have yet read, that rages with such fearful mortality. If any of your numerous readers have had any such experience, and ascertained any cause, I should like to hear from them through the Farmer, if you can spare a corner. Norman J. Kellogg. — Avon, JY. Y., August, 1849. Warts on Cows' Teats. — We give the following from "Allen's Domestic Animals," in answer to an inquiry on the subject by a subscriber to the Farmer at Cazenovia, N. Y. : — Warts are of two kinds; the first, on the outer skin, may be removed by rubbing with camphorated olive oil. The others penetrate into the flesh, and may be removed by a ligature of fine twine, or silk, or india-rubber drawn into a string, and tied tightly around the wart, which falls off in a few days. Remedies. — Nitrate of silver, (lunar caustic,) ap- plied to the wart, will remove it, but it produces a sore. Apply a strong wash of alum. Rub with the juice of milk-weed. Poultice with grated carrot. Cut off the wart with sharp scissors, when the cow is dry. It will bleed little, and soon heal. Sore Teats may be healed by rubbing with goose oil, cream, new milk; or make the same applications for it as for caked bag. The bag and teats should be well cleansed with warm soft water, if to be fol- lowed by any ointment. The following application is recommended by Youatt: One ounce of yellow wax and three of lard; melt together, and when cooling rub in one quarter ounce of sugar of lead, and a drachm of alum finely powdered. — lb. CATTLE TRADE OF THE WEST. An interesting account of the cattle trade of the Western States, especially that portion of it which centers in the Scioto Valley, Ohio, is given in the annexed extract from one of Mr. Mansfield's letters to the Cincinnati Atlas. Though a very important branch of our productive industry, the modus operandi of this business is not generally understood. It is, however, conducted with much system, and is yearly becoming of greater extent and importance. Mr. M. says: — " While at Yellow Springs, I saw a fine drove of cattle, which were driven from the Wabash. I was told that about twenty-five thousand head a year passed that point — that being a common route from Illinois and Missouri to the grazing lands of Madison and Fayette. This is an immense business, and employs four classes of persons. 1. The raiser of cattle, who sells his animals at one or two years old, or even three, to the grazer. The raisers are chiefly in the great prairies of Illi- nois, Missouri and Iowa. 2. The grazers are chiefly the owners or renters of the great pastures of Madison, Fayette and Union counties, Ohio. 3. The cattle feeder, (who is the corn raiser,) who takes the cattle in the autumn, and feeds them on corn till they are fat enough for the markets of the Atlantic cities. Sometimes two of these occupations are united, but not often. 4. The fourth class of business which arises out of the cattle trade, is that of the banker, who fur- nishes the funds. The banks of Chillicothe, Circle- ville, Columbus, and Xenia, taken together, do more of this sort of business than any other. It is the most profitable banking business done in the State. The cattle trader about to' buy a drove of cattle to fat with his corn, applies to the bank for a loan. For this he gives a bill of exchange on Philadelphia or New York, at four months, which the bank dis- counts— receiving the funds when the cattle are sold, and getting both interest and exchange, which brings the profit to about ten or twelve per cent. But this is not all. The cattle feeder receives the notes of the bank, which are paid to the grazer, who pays them out for cattle through the entire Western States. In this manner, tMfc circulation of the bank is kept out. These transactions are as truly com- mercial and safe as they can be possibly made; for they are all based on the actual sales of cattle in the Atlantic cities. I suspect the sales of cattle in the counties of Ross, Pickaway, Franklin, Madison and Fayette, amount to near a million of dollars, and which, therefore, supply that amount of bills of ex- change." Effect of Salt on Wheat. — The Rochester American, of a recent date, says: — Some of our readers may recollect that last fall we mentioned an experiment made by Mr. John Park, of Gates, by sowing a barrel of salt to an acre upon a summer fallow. The ground was plowed once the preceding- fall, plowed again in May, and salt sowed thereon as above; and afterwards plowed twice before seeding. On the 1st and 2d of September, wheat was sown, two bushels to the aero. The crop has just been harvested, and Mr. P. is confident will yield 40 bushels to the acre. The berry he considers equal to the finest English wheat. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 215 gpirit of tl)c ^Lgrtmltarol $1*00. Tkst for good 1 .1 m i - 1 . ink. —Tin beat [irae ftw agricul- tural purposes is that which is lightest, whitest, and softest to the touch; the purest and strongest lime is always found the lightest. It" then by calcination limestone loses much of it.- weight by the process; if the lime-ehella are extremely light, and require, for Blacking them fully, n large portion of water: if they are a considerable lime before they begin to tall; if. during the process of burning, the limestone is not disposed to run. or become vitrified; if it increases very much in bulk l>y Blaking, and the lime is of a pure white, niul fine and light to the touch, it may be set down as very good, and should he used in preference to other lime not possessing the same qualities. — English Paper. Drill Husbandry. — At one of the celebrated sheep- Bhearinga that used to be given by Mr. Coke, of Norfolk, afterwards Karl of Leicester, at which hundreds congregated and remained for days together, he mentioned a fact that is not generally alluded to, as being founded on the observa- tion and practice of his manager, Mr. Blaikie, a man of great sagacity. It was that a held with a southern aspect, if rich, should be drilled north and south; but if dry, and in want of shade, shoufil be drilled east and west. It is easy to see that, in the latter case, the crop would shade the land frofn the influence of the sun, and counteract the effect of drought. Potatoes in India. — The potatoes from Bombay, Dar- jeeling, and Cherra Poonjee seed, were wonderfully fine and healthy, and to enable the public to form some idea of the state of perfection this grand and staple vegetable has heen brought to in this district, it is here recorded that 40 potatoes out of one garden weighed 20 lbs. The ekin of all delicately white and fine, and every potato free from knots. — Journal of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India, May, 1G48. Wool Growing in Western Pennsylvania. — The amount of wool annually grown in Washington county exceeds one million pounds. In 1847, according to the Washington Reporter, the clip averaged 40 cents per pound, and brought _/bwr hundred thousand dollars ! During the last year the average price was not so great, and, perhaps, will not he so great this year. The most of the wool grown in this State is of very fine quality, and some of it, probably, the finest grown in the United States. The farmers of Washington, especially, have taken great pains, and spared no expense, in improving their stock. The average price of the clip this year may' not go above 30 cents per pound; but many farmers who have choice flocks are holding on to their clips, and asking from 50 to 60 cents per pound. Besides the wool grown in that vicinity, Washington is the depot for a great deal of the wool grown in the adjoining counties of this State, and the bordering counties of Ohio, which is brought thither for sale. — Pa. paper. Vermont and Wisconsin Sheep. — Timothy Underwood, of Hardwick, has had this year from his entire flock of fifteen ewes, twenty-nine lambs — all having had twins but one; twenty-eight of them are alive and doing well — one having frozen to death. Wisconsin papers please copy. — North (Vt.) Star. The Waukesha (Wisconsin) Democrat checkmates the Vermont man thus: "That's nothing. Jeremiah Older, of this county, has this year from his flock of five ewes and seven bucks, seventeen lambs, and none of them were frozen to death. Will the North Star please copy ?" Cotton Mattresses. — Having been applied to several times during this warm weather for information respecting the mode of making cotton mattresses, w:e think it would be proper to republish an article on the subject, which was in the Farmer last summer, as follows: First Cost of Cotton Mattresses. Thirty lbs. of cotton, at eight cents per lb., $2 40; twelve yards of ticking at a shil- ling a yard, $2; labor, thread, &c, &,c, $2 75 more, making a total of $7 15. Mode of Making. Take layers of cotton batting, and place them between envelops of calico or muslin. An im- provement has been suggested of gumming or glazing each side of these layers, as wauding for cloaks is prepared. A patent has been taken out for making them with a layer of hair between the battings; whether it is much of an im- provement, we cannot tell. — Maine Farmer. Proems of 1'ak.ming. — The July number of the American Farmer contains a highly interesting communication on the above named subject, from Kdmimd Kuflin. Esq., of \ irginia, author of a well known and highly esteemed work on_ Calcareous Manures," and one- of the most distin- guished practical farmers in the Ancient Dominion. Suc- cessful in all his own efforts m tin- renovation of old exhausted lands, Mr. R.'s experience is the more authorita- tive, as well as interesting; and his account is a very encouraging one of the prolit that may be actually realized in tho intefligi at pursuit of those rural occupations, which, in other ressectS, are known tO yield sueli goodly returns of health, independence, and happiness. Mr. Ruifin gives the results of his farming operations for five years, the profit and loss account of which is as follows: For the first year, there was a small loss of 27-100ths per cent.; bi ad year, a net profit of 8.1G per cent.; third year, a profit of LS.81 per cent.; fourth year a profit of 22.86 per cent; fifth year, a profit of 20.10 per cent. The average profit for the w hole five years years was nearly 13 per cent.; and all this exclu- sive of the enhanced value of the property from improve- ment of soil, &c, &c. We suppose it is not every farmer who can do so well as this; but industry, intelligence, and business habits and principles, always command success in town and country. — Philadelphia North American. English Shows. — The agricultural show at Southampton was a remarkable occasion. I met a number of Americans on the ground, and was told that there were several others looking for me; but it was exceedingly difficult to find one. unless by mere accident. There were a great many farmers' wives and daughters, as well as a great many of the noblesse, in the yards, inspecting the implements and cattle, with catalogues in their hands, and showing the remarkable points of the animals, with as much skill and sagacity as if they had been experienced breeders of live stock; some of them are, and also competitors for the premiums. One of the largest exhibitors of farming implements, was a woman who had succeeded to her deceased husband's concerns, and manages a large establishment with much success. The English women and ladies, to their praise be it spo- ken, while they are as far from anything indelicate as any persons I have seen, have no sickly appreciation of modesty, and do not die at once at the sight of a cow or a bull. The show occupied four days. On Tuesday, was the trial of implements; on Wednesday, was the exhibition of imple- ments and machinery; on Thursday, the exhibition of cattle and implements; and on Friday, the public sale. Half a crown was required for admission to the yards, from Wed- nesday to Thursday noon, and after that a shilling; and the sum received for admission, during those days, was £3,000, or $15,000. — Colmaiis European Life and Manners. A Cow worth having. — Mr. George B. Brinkerhofi", of Owasco, made from one cow, five years old the past spring, 18 lbs. 2 oz. of butter for the week ending Saturday, June 30th. This quantity she averages during the summer sea- son. The summer she was three years old, she made 18 pounds per week, and she would have made more for the above week, but for the fact that three of the very hottest days of the season were included in it. In flavor and color, it was equal to any we ever ate, and we doubt if it be excelled by the celebrated Orange county butter. The cow can be bought for $100. — Auburn Journal. Bloated Cattle. — A friend of ours, who, by the way, is a person of much observation, and, withal, has had con- siderable experience in the management of neat cattle, informs us that he once, noticed one of his young cattle much bloated, evidently in great agony, and groaning loudly at every breath. His first movement was to cnt off a small portion of her tail. He then administered a strong dose of thoroughwort, with a small quantity of tansy, which immediately started the wind; a second bottle was then, poured down, and the animal turned into the yard, and driven briskly about for a few minutes, when the bloat wholly disappeared, and the animal was in a short time as well and hearty as ever. This is a very simple remedy, and we have frequently heard others assert, generally, if not always, an efficient one. — Maine Farmer. Cider. — Here is a recipe worth to farmers the price of our paper for a year: " Take a pint of pulverized charcoal and put it in a small cotton bag, and then put it into a barrel of new cider, and the cider will never ferment, never contain any intoxicating quality, and the longer it is kept the more palatable it becomes." 216 THE GENESEE FARMER. Sept* HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, EDITED BY P. BARRY. Skvkral communications, and answers to corres- pondents, intended for this department, are necessarily deferred until next month. STRAWBERRIES. The interest felt at the present moment in the cultivation of this fruit is greater than it has ever been before. Evidences of this are to be found in the multitude of inquiries daily made with regard to the merits of particular sorts, as well as in the great demand that exists for plants of such as prove to be Jirst rate. Soils, seasons, climates, fee, have great effect upon the quality and productiveness of all sorts of fruit, and the strawberry in particular; hence, we find the most opposite and contradictory statements and opinions, from respectable and reliable sources, respecting the merits of certain varieties. Besides the influences we have already alluded to, individual tastes and partialities, and, we may add, prejudices, contribute, in no small degree, to these differences of opinion. On the whole, it appears to us, that cultivators are just about as much united on the question of the individual merit of varieties, as they- were, for a long time, on the sexval question, which, fortunately, seems now to be pretty well determined. For instance: if a person, whom we will suppose entirely ignorant of the merits of varieties, wishes to make a selection, and will turn to the horticultural journals, and the proceedings of societies, he will find that, at Boston, Mr. Hovev maintains that his seedlings, the "Hovey's Seedling" and the "Boston .Pine," are superior to any others. From Cincinnati, the President of the Horticultural Society says: — "Our old Hudson still stands unrivaled. Mr. Elliot, of Cleveland, Ohio, says: "I regard the variety known as the 'Willey' superior in all respects for general cultivation." Mr. Downixg has expressed his par- tiality for the Black Prince. At Albany, the first premium was awarded, at the late exhibitions, to Burr's JYeiv Pine, it being pronounced the best exhibited, all its good qualities considered. At Rochester, nearly all the varieties of any note have been tested; and, if we understand correctly the opinion of cultivators, it is that Burr's JYew Pine is the best strawberry, — being hardy, productive, good size, and fine flavored. Hovey's Seedling is a splendid, large fruit; and when a dish of them is presented, picked specimens, they usually carry off the premium; but this is by no means a test of the real value of a variety for general cultivation. In 1848, at the exhibition in Rochester, the premium was awarded to Hovey's Seedling, as being the best quart, — but there were other varieties, such as Jiurr's JYew Pine, Black Prince, and Swainslone Seedling, higher flavored and finer in quality than Hovey's: lint there was not a quart of any of them, and therefore they were excluded. At the late exhi- bition, the first and second premiums for the best dishes were awarded to Hovey's Seedling. Dr. Bayne, of Alexandria. I). C, an extensive cultivator, writes in the last number of Hovey's Magazine, thai "Hovey's Seedling stands yet unrivaled." The cultivators of this place, who are capable of judging, and have tested all the leading sorts, side by side, under the same culture and management and on the same soil, agree in pronouncing the Large Early Scarlet as the most profitable under all the circumstances for market purposes. It is very hardy, always bears a large crop, and, though not first rate in quality, finds ready sale. Burr's JYew Pint- is as large, nearly as productive, and far superior in flavor. The Rival Hudson (Burr's,) is hardy and prolific, firm, and excellent for preserving. Mr. Warner, of this place, pronounces it a most valuable variety. We think it would be of great service to cultivators if horticultural committees would examine straw- berries in the beds, and, before awarding premiums, consider all their properties. For small collections, we cannot err in recom- mending Burr's New Pine, Boston Pine, Hovey's Seedling, Large Early Scarlet, Rival Hudson, and Bishop's Orange. A few of the Monthly Alpines might be added: for a smaller collection, we would recommend Burr's JYew Pine, Large Early Scarlet and Hovey's Seedling. The Scarlet should be mixed with the others to impregnate them. It must be remembered, however, that whatever kinds be culti- vated, they must have rich, deep and mellow soil. The long continued drouth we have had here has prevented the growth of young plants, and rendered planting up to this time impossible. Recent rains, however, have brought both plants and soil to a proper state, and all through this month beds may be made — later, we wrould not advise. For directions in detail, we can now only refer to past volumes of the Farmer, or to other works that may be at hand. LATE CHERRIES. We are inclined to pronounce the Belle JMagnifique the best among late Cherries. We had it this year in perfection from the 1st to the 15th of August. Fruit large, almost round, slightly heart-shaped, dark red, tender, juicy, and rich sub-acid. We have had it bear the second year from bud on Mahaleb stock. The tree is of slow growth, like the May Duke, or even more so. Carnation, ripe last of July, and first of August: a beautiful and excellent Cherry; slightly ncid, (less so than Belle Magnifique.) It seems to be the con- necting link between the sweet and acid varieties. It is well adapted for dwarfing on the Mahaleb stock. Tradescant's Black, or Elkhorn, is a superb fruit, quite as large as the Black Tartarian, but a month later — ripening about the 1st of August. Gridley is a very valuable cherry, in our opinion, being an immense bearer, and the fruit is very hard and fine for market. It is called the Apple Cherry at the east. The fruit is rich, having just acid enough to give sprightliness. The tree is a rapid, free grower; ripe after Doivner's Ljatc, latter part of July. ____________ The Frhit and Garden Crops. — In this region the crop of apples, pears and peaches, is smaller, we think, than we have known it in ten years — owing to the long continuance of cold and wet weather af- ter the fruit had set. Plums are unusually plentiful, as far as we have seen, and apricots have been the same. Garden vegetables and flowers have suffered from a drouth which prevailed through much of June, all of July, and part of August. Trees transplanted last, spring have suffered severely. Many that had made six inches and upwards of growth, iiave died olf. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 217 HORTICULTURAL MATTERS IN CANADA. A short time ago we made a journey across Lake Ontario and down the St. Lawrence to Lower Can- ada, and intended to notice Borne interesting matters that attracted our attention at the various towns we visited by the way. Indeed, we had notes pretty fully written out for the last number, but they were necessarily set aside: now many of them are out ol season, and we can only e\traet a portion. We cannot omit Baying that a more delightful mid-sum- mer trip than this cannot be made. The St, Law- rence pr< sents such an exciting and charming variety. At one place, it is broad and placid, like a calm lake — at another, narrow and fearfully rapid. In one place it seems to he carrying you through an old and populous country — houses, gardens and green fields to the very water's edge. In other places the unbro- ken forest only is seen, with a rude canoe, perhaps, darting over the water, and you are then reminded of forest lite. The "Thousand Isles,'' of which every body has heard, are alone worth a visit. They are not rocky, forbidding looking islands, but spots of delightful, refreshing verdure, like the outskirts of a well kepi park. At Kingston we noted many interesting things. It is unfavorably situated for gardening purposes; generally speaking, the ground is rocky and unge- nial, hut on the road leading along the lake shore, win re most of the Government offices and institu- tions are located, there aro many gentlemen's resi- dences kept in elegant order. Here we saw some as fine thorn hedges as we have any where seen in America. Three miles out in this direction we visited the residence of the present collector of the port, Jas. Hopkirk, Esq., who is well known as quite an enthusiast in gardening matters. The management of his place might serve well as a model for many. Some five or six years ago he purchased this place — 20 acres of land, and an old, dilapidated frame dwelling. The ground about the house, and between the house and street, was a bare rock — not a tree had been planted; the whole afi'air, judging from a drawing made by Mr. II., presented the most dreary and forbidding aspect. Now, that bare rock is a very pretty plantation of forest trees, and a lawn, through which the carriage road leads to the house. The soil which covers the rock was taken from other places, where excavations were necessary, and was done gradually with the ordinary help of the farm. The trees were mostly taken from the woods, of large size, but so carefully that all have grown well, and look like a plantation of some twelve or fifteen years growth. The dwelling has been remodeled. An old verandah is converted into a green-house, now well stocked with plants; several additions have been made to it, and all around are cheap and simple rustic verandahs, the pillars of which are garnished with climbing plants of various sorts. In addition to the verandahs of the house are several little arbors, erected for comfortable promenades in hot weather, as well as for protection to plants that require it. Mr. II. showed us a drawing made by himself, of the place as it now is, and it really was a pretty picture; and all this has been accomplished by the simplest and cheapest means, and this it was that chiefly struck us. With less taste it would have cost a vast sum of money to have worked such beauty and comfort out of a very desert. There are thou- sands of persons all over the country, who might, at the cost of a lew days or weeks work, ell'ecl Wonder- ful change in their residences, and such changes as would give themselves greal satisfaction and be the means of inculcating a taste for the beautiful in their la in I lies. Montreal. — The land around this city, unlike that in the neighborhood of Kingston, is very fertile and well adapted to gardening: indeed, the island <>n which Montreal is situated, formed bj the Si. Law- rence and Ottawa rivers, has been usually called the "Garden «f Canada." There are Bome fine gardens about the city, those of private gentlemen, at well as those connected with the religious institul naries, be.; but gardening has hern greatly retarded by the continued agitation of violent opposing politi- cal parties. Hundreds of gentlemen have, from year to year, been deterred from carrying out their desired and contemplated improvements. A Horticultural Society was recently organized, and we believe is tolerably well sustained. At the time of our visit, vegetation was suffering from a severe drouth. Be- hind the city there is a mountain, some 500 feet high or upwards, and a drive around this mountain is really delightful; no stranger can with propriety dispense with it. The view' from its summit is extremely grand and picturesque — a charming pano- rama. There you look down on the whole city and suburbs, with its many glittering roofs and spires; and see the St. Lawrence ior miles above and below the city. You see many villages on the other side of the river; and, away, far in the distance, the mountains of Vermont. and the northern part of this State. Around the base of this mountain, the chief improvements in the way of gardening seem to be going on. Several gentlemen of taste have erected themselves dwellings here, and many others are now building, so that in a lew years the fine situations that are now lying unoccupied will be covered with suburban dwellings and rich gardens. Nature seems to have intended the place for such purposi An acquaintance of ours, Robert McKay, Esq., who has just completed an elegant and commodious residence here, and has his grounds already in fine order, informed us that the top of his terrace in front of his house was 30 feet higher than the towers of the Cathedral, which are 220 feet high. Mr. McKay is a sort of pioneer in this mountain settlement. His friends wondered what he meant when he first talked of building here; but now they know what he meant. They have seen how much of beauty and of comfort he has assembled around him — what a charming prospect and what pure air he enjoys — and they are fast following him. The style and finish of Mr. McKay's house, outside and in — his ground.-, gar- dener's cottage and all, are in excellent taste, and if we had space now to spare, we should speak of them in detail, for the benefit of those who may purpose building or improving. J. E. Guilbault, Esq., who has for many years carried on the Gardening and Nursery business in the city, has removed to his farm at Cote de JYcige, over the mountain. He has a fine collection of poultry there, and intends to cultivate trees and plants as heretofore. The principal seed business is carried on by Mr. Geo. Sheppard, who has a fine establishment in Notre Dame street, and enjoys largely, as he deserves, the confidence of the public Attend to your strawberry beds, this month. 218 THE GENESEE FARMER. Sept. MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT TREES. The annexed communication, which we extract from the August number of the Horticulturist, touches upon one or two points on the Management of Fruit Trees, that we conceive to be of great importance to the cultivators of this country generally, but par- ticularly to the South and South-west. It is well known to those who read the horticultural publica- tions of the day, that in all the Western and South- western States, great difficulty is experienced in the cultivation of the Cherry, on account of the bursting of the bark on the trunk and large branches of the tree. Prof. Turner, of the Illinois College, has written for the Horticulturist and other papers, some very able and interesting articles on the subject, that we have intended to review if we could find leisure. His theory is, that the corticle of the bark is so strong as to prevent the tree from expanding in the natural way, and the consequence is, that the sap vessels become gorged with the return sap, and finally burst through the corticle, by mere mechan- ical pressure. He proposes as a remedy for cherry trees thus suffering, to peel off the corticle, or tough outside bark, entirely; and as preventives, "a poor soil, low culture, and above all, to allow all the limbs to grow as nature indicates, from the ground up, so as thereby to increase as much as possible the ratio of the surface for the descending sap." This is Prof. Turner's theory. We cannot adopt it without great modification. The idea of trees being hide-bound is old enough, to be sure, and scoring and skinning them, too, has been practiced time out of mind — but we do not believe in either the cause or the cure. Nor can we advise with Prof. Turner, " poor soil and low culture;" but we.unite with him heartily in recom- mending that form or mode of culture that allows the trees to branch low — and this we recommended long before Prof. Turner's articles appeared. By referring to the volume of this paper for 1847, page 196, in some notes of a tour we were then making in the Western States, it will be seen that we noticed this malady of the cherry tree, and wrote as follows : " We suggest as a remedy, that the trees be not pruned up as they usually are, but be allowed to branch out near the ground. The trunk will be thus protected, which seems to be all that is wanted. In Cincinnatti, we are informed, they have almost abandoned the culture of the cherry, they are so much discouraged. We think that the trees grown as dwarfs or pyramids will suffer less, if they suffer at all. At any rate, the experiment may be tried. We consider it a great error to expose the trunks of cherry trees to the height of five, six and eight feet, in that climate." Since we wrote the above we have seen many in- stances of success in this mode of culture. In our own climate indeed it is quite preferable, where cir- cumstances will admit — and we predict that in less than ten years people will not so generally look for trees with naked trunks as far up as one can see. The same principle holds good in regard to all trees, but particularly the more tender ones. It is not only the heat of summer, but the sun of winter, and the sudden freezing and thawing, that deranges the sap vessels in the trunk and large branches. We think that the choice of a suitable stock will be of great importance, too, in this matter. Where cherry trees are desired of branchy habit and less vigorous or rank in growth, the St. Lucie or Cerasus Miihaleb should be used instead of the Mazzard, which is a rank free grower. But we shall say more on this point at another time: How to Manage Fruit Trees. — I have gained two pieces of information from your journal, which I consider invaluable; and as I fear some of your readers may not have been so much struck with their importance as myself, I shall venture a few words to call attention. I allude to the absolute neceesity, in this climate, of shading the trunks of fruit trees; and the no less important fact, that the mulching the soil greatly promotes the health, vigor, and longevity of a tree. My eyes were first opened to the great value of protecting the trunks of trees, by allowing the trees to form loiv heads, as close to the ground as possible, by reading the masterly article on "Vitality and Longevity of Trees," by Professor Turner, at page 1 30 of the last volume of your journal. That able correspondent proves, conclusively, to my mind, (and I have by many observations since very fully verified his theory,) that just in proportion to the heat of the climate the trunk of a tree needs shelter; that in a state of nature, all trees which grow alone, and not in woods, where they are sheltered by others, put out branches near the surface, so as to hide and shelter the trunk; and finally, that all fruit trees would do the same if left to themselves, and not continually mutilated and robbed of their fairest pro- portions by the saw and knife of the " trimmer." What, indeed, can be more rational ? A few days since, we had four successive days when the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer stood above 90 degrees all day long in the shade. I took the trouble to hang the glass at midday against the trunk of a peach tree in the full sunshine, when, to my surprise, it rose to 130 degrees. Now, it is next to impossible that the sap-vessels should not become almost baked; and it is not a matter of the slightest surprise to me, that we find the trunk and principal branches oozing out gum,' and the tree looking feeble and sickly. Nature has fitted the upper surface of leaves to bear the most powerful sunshine; and the constant perspiration through this upper surface of the foliage keeps them comparatively cool. But it is not so with the bark; and if the stem of a delicate tree is exposed to those intense rays of the sun, feebleness or disease must inevitably follow. I have had a striking proof of this truth before my eyes the past month. Bordering my garden walk are two rows of fruit trees, — each row containing six apricots and twelve peaches. They were both planted five years ago. One of these rows had been headed back, so as to keep the trees quite bushy and low, — the lower branches starting out within a few inches of the ground. (This was done to test more completely the shortening-in pruning, and before I knew the value of shading the roots.) The other row has been grown in the usual way, as standards; that is> the trees have been trimmed nearly as high as one's head, so as to leave the trunk and lower branches fully exposed to the sun for a good part of the day. The difference between those two rows of trees is a very remarkable one, even to the general observer. The low headed trees, in tho first place, are unusually full of foliage; the leaves themselves are large, and the shoots luxuriant; and the trees have that dark green look, which is the unmistakable sign of good health. The crop of fruit is healthy, hangs on well, and promises to be large and excellent. The high-headed trees, whose trunks are exposed, are some of them in excellent health; but none of 1819. THE genesee farmer. 219 them compare in richness of foliage with the low- headed ones; and about two-thirds of them have a stunted and feeble appearance. Two of the peaches and three of the apricots have died with "gum;" and they all show a meagre growth, when contrasted with those in the other row. Besides, I find, since the two "spells" of very hot weather that have occurred this summer, these bare stemmed trees are gradually shedding a considerable portion of their fruit. To satisfy myself more completely of the positively injurious effect of the sun on the trunks of trees, and on the roots where the soil is not shaded by the spreading branches, I covered the ground beneath one of these bare stemmed trees with litter four inches thick, and bound a few handfuls of straw around the trunk, to guard it from the sun. I find this tree more healthy than any other in the row, making luxuriant shoots, and holding its fruit well, and not appearing in the least affected by hot or dry midsummer. I am, therefore, a warm advocate of the practice of giving all small fruit trees low heads, so as com- pletely to shade both the trunks and roots. And I offer you the foregoing facts for the consideration of your readers; [which we are certain they will profit by. — En.] A Pennsylvania Subscriber. CONSTRUCTION OF ICE-HOUSES. Eds. Gen. Parmer: — Can you publish in your next numberj a description of the most approved method of constructing an Ice House ? Your sub- scribers here would be pleased to obtain some infor- mation upon that subject. H. H., P. M. — Town Hill, Luzerne Co., Pa., July, 1849. Our correspondent will find the information desired in vol. viu, page 26, of this journal. But as our list of subscribers has more than doubled since the article was published, perhaps we cannot do better than to give the substance of it again. Ice is a cheap luxury in this country, and the Ice House very justly begins to be reckoned one of the necessary buildings on every complete farming estab- lishment. Indeed it is indispensable to the proper preservation of the products of the Dairy and the Garden, as well as of meats, pastry, &c. It would be a gain to many a family, in one year, of what one that would answer every purpose would cost. We recommend the matter, at once, to the attention of our readers. The following excellent suggestions on Ice Houses are extracted from the Horticulturist: — To build an ice house in sandy or gravelly soils, is one of the easiest things in the world. The drainage there is per- fect, the dry porous soil is of itself a sufficiently good non- conductor. All that it is necessary to do, is to dig a pit, twelve feet square, and as many deep, line it with logs or joists faced with boards, cover it with a simple roof on a level with the ground, and fill it with ice. Such icehouses built with a trifling cost, and entirely answering the purpose of affording ample supply for a large family, are common in various parts of the country. But it often happens that one's residence is upon a strong loamy or clayey soil, based upon clay or slate, or, at least, rocky in its substratum. Such a soil is retentive of mois- ture, and even though it be well drained, the common ice house just described will not preserve ice half through the summer in a locality of that kind. The clayey or rocky soil is always damp — it i always an excellent conductor, and the ice melts in it in spite of the usual precautions. Something more than the common ice house is therefore needed in all such soils. " How shall it be built?" is the question which has frequently been put to us lately. To enable us to answer this question in theme tory manner, we addressed ourself to .Mr. N. .1. \\ vir. ,»f Cambridge, Muss., whose practical information on this sflb- ject in probably fuller and nun- complete than that of any other person in the country, he for many years, having had the construction and management of the enormous commer- cial ice houses near Boston — the largest and most perfect known. THE COMMON ICE HOUSE BELOW GROUND.l We desired Mr. Wyeth's hints for building an ice house for family use, both above ground and below ground. In the beginning, we should remark that the great ice houses of our ice companies are usually built above ground; and Mr. Wyeth in his letter to us remarks, " we now never build or use an ice house under ground ; it never preserves ice as well as those built above ground, and costs muci. more. I, however, send you directions for the construction * of both kinds, with slight sketches in explanation." The following are Mr. Wyeth's directions for building: " 1st. An Ice House above ground. An ice house above ground should be built upon the plan of having a double partition, with the hollow space between filled with some non-conducting substance. " In the first place, the frame of the sides should be formed of two ranges of upright joists, 6 by 4 inches; the lower ends of the joists should be put into the ground without any sill, which is apt to let air pass through. These two ranges of joists should be about two feet and one-half apart at tho bottom, and two feet at the top. At the top these joists should be morticed into the cross-beams, which are to sup- port the upper floor. The joists in the two ranges should be placed each opposite another. They should then be lined or faced on one side with rough boarding, which need not be very tight. This boarding should be nailed to those edges of the joists nearest each other, so that one range of joists shall be outside the building, and the other inside the ice room or vault. " The space between these boardings or partitions should be filled with wet tan, or sawdust, whichever is cheapest or most easily obtained. The reason for using wet material for filling this space is, that during winter it freezes, and until it is again thawed, little or no ice will melt at the sides of the vault. " The bottom of the ice vault should be filled about a foot deep with small blocks of wood; these are levelled and cov- ered with wood shavings, over which a strong plank floor should be laid to receive the ice. " Upon the beams above the vault, a pretty tight floor should also be laid, and this floor should be covered several inches deep with dry tan or sawdust. The roof of the ice house should have considerable pitch, and the space between the upper floor and the roof should be ventilated by a lattice window at each gable end, or something equivalent, to pass out the warm air which will accumulate beneath the roof. A door must be provided in the side of the vault to fill and discharge it; but it should always be closed up higher than the ice, and when not in use should be kept closed altogether. "2d. An Ice House below ground. This is only tho- roughly made by building up the sides of the pit with a good hrick or stone wall, laid in mortar. Inside of this wall set joists, and build a light wooden partition against which to place the ice. A good floor should be laid over the vault as just described, and this should also be covered with dry 220 THE GENESEE FARMER. Sept. tan or sawdust. In this floor the door must be cut to give act ,s to the ice. "■"As regards the bottom of the vault, the floor, the lattice windows in the gables for ventilation, etc., the same re- marks will apply lliat have just been given for the ice house above ground, with the addition that in one of the gables, in this case, must be the door for filling the house with ice. " If the ground where ice houses of either kind are built. is not porous enough to let the melted ice drain away, then there should be a waste pipe to carry it off, which should be slightly bent, so as always to retain enough water in it to prevent the passage of air upwards into the ice house." HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. We had prepared short notices of the Exhibitions of several Societies for last month's paper, but it was found necessary to leave them over to give place to other items, supposed to be of more general interest. The June Exhibition of the Genesee Valley Society was in a great measure satisfactory to those present. The collections of Strawberries were fine. M. G. Warner had 13 varieties; Charles Paulk, of Honeoye Falls, 7 varieties; Bissell, Hooker fc Sloane, 10 varieties ; besides many other con- tributors. Hoverfs Seedling took the prize for the best quart — this, however, is no t#st of the value of a variety for general cultivation. Fine specimens of Northern Spy Apple were shown by J. H. Watts. In the Flower Department there was a fine show of Roses, Verbenas, &lc. Those that struck us as most worthy of mention was a collection of 30 va- rieties of Verbenas, and 30 of Roses, arranged in 7 .baskets and 3 vases by Miss Whitney. A fine col- lection of Roses, Phloxes, fee, by Samuel Shad- bolt, Esq., of Scottsville. A superb new Herbaceous Pasony, pure white and fragrant, said to surpass Whittlejii, named Major Williams, raised and shown by John Donnelan, of Greece. Mr. D. has raised several other fine seedling Paeonies, but the Major is the best. Very fine collections of Herbaceous Plants and Roses were shown by J. J. Thomas, of Macedon, Ellwanger &l Barry, and J. W. Bissell, of Roch- ester. The next exhibition will be held in September. ALBANY AND RENSSELAER SOCIETY. The June Exhibition of this Society, judging from reports of the committees, was very fine. Straw- berries and Roses were the prominent articles, though there were a great many other interesting productions. Some 18 or 20 varieties of Strawberries were shown by the various contributors, including Boston Pine, Hovey's Seedling, Ross' Phoenix, 4 or 5 of Burr's varieties, and many others; and the premiums were awarded as follows: For the best and finest flavored variety, to B. B. Kirt- land, for Burr's New Pine — a delicious, hardy and productive variety, but comparative moderate size, $2 00 For the second best, with same requirements, to Luther Tucker, for Royal Scarlet — a large and de- licious as well as beautiful variety, and but little in- ferior to the above, 100 The following are the premium Roses. Our friend Wilson maintains his pre-eminence in this department : For the best 12 varieties, viz. : Princess Larnhallc, Beauty Etheriel, Violateum, Madam Audoi, Kean, Lady Stuart, Bourbon Moss, D'Ageason, Schon Brun, Blanche Superb, London Pride and Viola- teum, to James Wilson, $2 00 For the best 6 varieties, viz.: Persian Yellow, Lansa- seur, Leda, George the 4th, Tri-Color, D'Orleans, and Princess Clementine, to Jas. Wilson, - - - 100 Dr. Wkndki.i. exhibited lloo-Snng, a newly imported Chinese vegetable, and some fine specimens of large Early Asiatic Cauliflowers, the seed of which was forwarded to Dr. Wekhki.i. from the London Horticultural Society. It was sown loth of March, and the plants set out in May. The same Society, (Albany and Rensselaer,) held an exhibition on the 25th of July. The collections of Cherries, Gooseberries, Currants and Raspberries appear to be unusually fine. The following are the varieties to which the pre- miums were awarded : Cherries. — For the best three varieties to Dr. Her- man Wendell, for Elkhorn, Yellow Spanish or Graf- fion and Wendell's Mottled Bigarreau, - - - - §2 00 For the best variety to Dr. Herman Wendell, for Wen- dell's Mottled Bigarreau, i()0 Gooseberries. — For the best and finest flavored va- riety, to Henry Vail, for Compton's Sheba Queen, 2 00 For the second best variety to Henry Vail, for Lady of the Manor, ------ jQO Currants. — For the best and finest flavored variety to James Wilson, for Knight's Sweet Red, - - - 2 00 For the second best variety to Henry Vail, for Whit© Dutch, 1 00 Raspberries. — For the best and finest flavored va- riety to Henry Vail, for Fastolff, 2 00 For the second best variety to Henry Vail, for Fran- conia, 100 And special premiums of one dollar each, to Ely Young, for Peach Apricots, to B. B. Kirtland, for Citron des Cannes Pears, and to Ezra P. Prentice, for Yellow Harvest Apples. There were also very good collections of Verbenas, Perpetual Roses, Carnations, Dahlias, £&c. The Fruit Committee remark that " Henry Vail, Esq., of Ida Farm, Troy, exhibited 17 varieties of Gooseberries, of very large size and entirely free from mildew. This is attributable to thick layers of salt meadow hay under the bushes." Fruits Recommended by Com. of N. Y. State Ag. Society. — We are indebted to B. P. Johnson, Esq., Secretary of the N. Y. State Ag. Society, for a copy of the Transactions for 1848 — a splendid, large volume, of nearly 1,000 pages. We have had time to examine only the part relating to Fruits. " Dr. Wendell, from the committee on fruits, reported that the committee beg leave to suggest to the Society, to be added to the lists of varieties heretofore recommended by them for general cultivation, and which were described in the Transactions of the Society for 1846 and 1847, the fol- lowing, viz: App/es — American Slimmer Permain, Eary Rose, Pomme Royale, Norton's Melojj, Mother, Autumn Strawberry, and Wagener.. Pears — Tyson, Rostiezer, and Golden Beurre of Bilboa. Plums — Red Gage and Purple Favorite. Peaches — White Imperial and Cooledge's Favorites. Apricots — Moorpark and Breda. Nectarines — Dovvnton and Boston." Outlines and minute descriptions of the apples, pears and plums are given, and descriptions of the others: " The Wagener Apple, from Cahari.ys Lee, of Yates county, to which the second premium of the Society, for seedlings, was awarded at the annual meeting in 1848. was again presented for competition, in accordance with a sug- gestion of the committee for that year, they being then unable to decide on its merits as a long keeper, owing to the fact of its having been bruised on the passage to this city, in consequence of being badly packed; and therefore, not wish- ing to award it at that time more than the second premium. The fruit is this year presented under more favorable cir- cumstances, and from its beautiful appearance, good size, tenderness of flesh, and delicacy of flavor, as well as from information before the committee, which fully establishes its character as a long keeper, they have concluded to recom- mend that it be placed in the first class of apples, and that an additional sum of $5, and also a diploma, be awarded Mr. Lee for it." Several other seedling apples wore presented, but all ranked below the Society's standard. A seedling winter pear was offered for examination by Chan. Paulk, of Mendon, but was pronounced far below the standard rule. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 221 Qrtritor's (liable. Correspond] nts and others inn rested are reminded that articles, notices and advertisements, should be mailed on or before the 15th of the preceding month, in order to secure insertion in any specified number of the Farmer. A num- ber of valuable communications, fee., were received too late lor publication this month. In consequence >>f unavoidable delays, causi d by silliness and breaking of the steam press npon which tin- Farmer is printed, the August Dumber was not mailed to :i portion of our subscribers until after the tenth, though we commenced printing and mailing before the first of the month. Our present number is issued earlier than usual, however, and We shall endeavor to be equally prompt in future. Transactions. — We arc indebted to the Secretary, Col. B. P. Johnson, for a copy of the Transactions of the N. V. State Ag. Society for 1348. The volume is larger than any preceding one, numbering nearly one thousand octavo pages. In addition to the doings of the Society, and reports of coun- ty societies, it contains valuable essays from several practi- cal and scientific gentlemen who have devoted much atten- tion to improvements in Agriculture and Horticulture. It is also embellished with numerous engravings, illustrative of practical subjects — not mere fancy sketches. The work is worthy of the institution from which it emanates, and high- ly creditable to Col. Johnson, under whose supervision it has been published — for we rarely find so large a volume equally unexceptionable in matter and arrangement. We shall extract liberally from the work, for publication in this and future numbers of the Farmer. — Our thanks are due to J. W. Proctor, Esq., for a copy of the Transactions of the Essex Co. (Mass.) Ag. Society for 1848 — a handsome octavo volume of 130 pages. State Fair. — President Taylor has left Washington on his tour through Pennsylvania and the New England States, and will arrive at Syracuse on Monday, the 107/i of September, and attend the Fair. The Hon. Henry Clay is also expected. Gov. Fish, and the Governors of several of the other States, will be present. Every thing indicates that this will be the largest exhibition ever held by the State Society — and no doubt thousands of our citizens will avail themselves of the occasion to pay their respects to the President of the United States. The Canada Provincial Ag. Fair is to be held in Kingston on the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st days of September. Creat preparations are being made for the exhibition. Over $'6,000 are to be distributed in premiums. Articles from the United States intended for competition, will be admitted duty free. We hope to see a good attendance of American furmers and manufacturers, with their products, implements, &c. — particularly from the more northern counties of New York, bordering on the Lake and the St. Lawrence. Samples of Merino Wool. — We have received from Mr. John D. Patterson, of Westfield, Chautauque Co., N. Y., fine samples of wool from fleeces of a yearling buck and ewe of Mr. Taintor's importation. The fleece of the buck weighed 14 lbs. 8 oz. — that of the ewe, who bred a lamb, 10 lbs. 10 cz. " Their wool was well rubbed with soap, then thoroughly washed in a clear stream of water, and sheared as soon as they were dry." These lambs were noticed in our volume for 1848, page 228 — and we are glad to record the above facts. Mr. P. has one of the best flocks in the State. — We have also received handsome samples of Merino wool from Mr. Reed Burritt, of Burdett, Tompkins coun- ty— referred to in an article by Mr. B., on page 210, of this number. Mr. H. E. Hooker, of the firm of Bissell &. Hooker, of the Bochester Commercial Nursery, sails on the 1st of September for Europe. Ho intends visiting some of the principal establishments in France and England, during the months of October and November, and will probably return in December. He has our best wishes for a safe and pleas- ant journey. Portrait of Buena Vista. — We have received a line from Mr. S. P. Chapman, stating that the portrait of his Short-horn bull " Bueni. Vista," given in our August num- ber, does not do the animal justice. " Buena Vista" will be exhibited at the State Fair in Syracuse, and (we infer from Mr. C.'s letter,) offered for sale. AoRlCCLTORA] SHOWS FOB 1849.— Annual Fairs of State and County Agricultural Societies are to be held this fell ns follows. The list includes all the Societies, in tins and other States, from which we have yet received definite information' — New York State, at Syracc it, II. L2 and 13. Cortland County, Homer, Sept. 26 and 27. Chemung " Horse Sends, <>n. 17 and 18. Delaware " Delhi, Oct. 3. Essex " Keeseviue, Sept, 18 and ID. Genesee " Batavia, Oct. I and 5. Herkimer " Herkimer, Sept 0 and 7. Jefferson " Watertown, 8ept 26 and 27. Livingston " Geneseo, Sept. 4 and 5. Monfoe Rochester, Sept 26 and 27. Orleans " Albion, Sept. 27 and 28. Onondaga " Syracuse, Oct 3, 4 and 5. Oneida Hampton, Sept. 26 and 27. Rensselaer " Troy, Sept. 25. 26 and 27. Saratoga " Mechanicsville Sept. and Seneca " Ovid, Oct. 4 and 5. Snfiblk " Greenport, Oct. 2. Wayne " Palmyra, Sept. .26 and 27. Wyoming " Warsaw, 2 nn<( Washington " Whitehall, Sept. 19 and 20. Yates " Penn Yan, Oct. 5 and 6. Michigan State, Detroit, Sept. 26 and 27. Maryland State, Baltimore, Oct. 10, 11 and 12. Provincial, (Canada,) Kingston, Sept. 18, 19, 20,21. Worcester Co. (Mass.) Worcester, Sept. 20. Essex County " Salem, Sept. 27. Middlesex " Concord, Oct. 3. New Haven, (Conn.) New Haven, Sept. 25, 26 and 27. Medida county, (Ohio,) Medina, Sept. 26 and 27. Ashtabula " " Jefferson, Sept. 13. Geauga " " Burton, Sept. 19 and 20. Portage " " Ravenna, Sept. 26 and 27. Mahoning " " Canfield, Oct. 2 and 3. Clinton " " Wilmington, Oct. 17, 18 and 19. Trumbull " " Warren, Sept. 25, 26 and 27. Ross " " Chillicothe, Oct. 5 and & Licking " " Newark, Oct. 3 and 4. Delaware •' " Delaware, Oct. 2 and 3. Clermont " " Batavia, Sept. 25. Alexander Walsh. — We regret to announce the decease of this distinguished and ardent friend of improvement. — He died at his residence in Lansingburgh, N. Y., on the 3d of August. Mr. Walsh was one of the earliest and most active friends of Agriculture and Horticulture in this State. He will be remembered by many of our readers as a valua- ble contributor, some years ago, to the agricultural journals, and as one of the first members and promoters of the N, Y. State Ag. Society. National Economy. — An eminent member of Congress from the West, writing to a friend in Massachusetts, says: " A vigorous effort will be made at the next session of Con- gress to disband our army, and to lay up most of our ships, and discharge most of our seamen. I am advising our peo pie to petition for these objects. If it should meet the views of our New England friends, would it not be well to send on petitions to Congress ?" Yes, disband or at least diminish the army and navy, that the millions annually squandered to sustain them may be saved or appropriated to more useful objects. Let the Farm- ers of America petition for retrenchment in the above named departments, and demand, as a right, appropriations for the promotion of Agriculture and its kindred arts and sciences. Crops, &c, in Alabama. — A friend writes us from Talla- dega county, Ala., under date of Aug. 7, as follows : — ''We have had rain almost daily for the last two months. Should it continue so much longer, there will not be over half a crop of cotton made; as it is now, it must fall short one-third. All the low lands have been inundated. The corn crop will fall short one-third, owing to the the great loss on the low- lands." Correction. — In my communication on the subject of Wool and Wool Growing, I stated, or should have done so, that my 54 old sheep clipped 4 lbs. 9 oz. of wool each — in- stead of 4 lbs. 3 oz., as printed in the July number of Gen. Farmer, page 187. Either the printer or myself has made a misUike. Please correct in your next number, and much oblige one of your readers. Samuel Embree. — Yates County, N. Y. 222 THE GENESEE FARMER. Sept. CafrW apartment. Domestic Accomplishments. — In the domestic relationship there ought to be no selfishness. What- ever elegant acquirements we may chance to have made, instead of being reserved for rare occasions, should be suffered to shed their softening influence on every-day experience. The prints should not be carefully kept out of sight of the children of the family, and turned over only for the benefit of the stranger; the picture should not be curtained except when there is company; or the piano be dumb because there is "no one but ourselves" to listen. There may be less triumph, but there is surely equal if not greater happiness in singing by the fireside than in warbling in the saloon; and though the thanks of the father or brother be homely in expression, there is more sweetness in them than in all the studied com- mon place of society. A sadder sight can scarcely be conceived than that of the spirit of dulness taking possession of the family circle. We see it in the husband, who, hour by hour, gazes moodily by the fire; in the wife, who occupies herself with her me- chanical employment, without seeking to break the enchanted silence. Neither entertains the intention of injuring the other, and yet they are mutually de- frauded of the happiness they ought to enjoy. How to make Imitation Wax Candles. — Throw a quantity of quicklime into melted mutton suet; and when the lime has settled in the bottom, so as to leave the suet pure and clear, dip off the suet very carefully. To every pint of this suet add the same quantity of real wax, and you will have a pretty white and firm candle. The candle may be improved by adding a double quantity of wax. The wick of these candles should be harder twist and not so large as those used for common beef tallow candles. Tomato Catsup. — First bake your tomatoes, then squeeze them through a sieve. Add to six quarts of juice an equal quantity of wine vinegar; boil slow until it begins to thicken; then add cloves, allspice and pepper, half an ounce each, cinnamon, one-fourth of an ounce, and two nutmegs, all finely powdered. As it thickens, add four spoonfuls of salt, and when done, pour out in an earthern dish to cool. Bottle, cork, and seal, and it will keep years in a warm climate. Boiling. — Dr. Webster, in his Encyclopedia of Domestic Economy, directs that meats for boiling should be put into cold water, and heated together with the water. Liebig gives a different mode, viz: that they should be put into boiling water, in the manner as directed for vegetables. The reason given is, that if put into cold water, the juices of the meat, on which the flavor depends, will be gradually solved, and go to enrich the soup instead of being- retained in the meat. All authorities recommend the use of hard instead of soft water for meat, unless soup is to be made. The neatest way to separate beeswax from a comb is to tie it up in a linen or woolon cloth or bag with a pebble or two to keep it from floating; place it in a kettle of cold water, which hang over the fire; as the water heats, the wax melts and rises to the sur- face, while the impurities remain in the bag. Sops' ©spavttmnt. A Text for Young Men. — A better subject for young men to discourse about, and to medidate upon, was never written than the following by Swift: "No man ever made an ill figure who understood his own talents, nor a good one who mistook them." Young men do not fail in the pursuits of life be- oause they lack ability to succeed, half as often as from a misdirection of talents. A right use of a moderate capacity will accomplish much more than a wrong application of the most brilliant qualifications. Study therefore yourselves. Aim to find out the ac- tual talents you possess, and then endeavor to make the best possible use of them, and you can hardly come short of making a good figure in the world, and what is more, being one among those who lived not in vain. Importance of Study in Youth. — If it should ever fall to the lot of youth to peruse these pages, let such a reader remember, that it is with the deep- est regret that I recollect in my manhood the oppor- tunities of learning which I neglected in my youth; that through every part of my literary career, I have felt pinched and hemmed in by my own ignorance; and I would this moment give half the reputation I have had the good fortune to acquire, if by so doing I could rest the remaining part upon a sound foun- dation of learning and science. — Sir Walter Scott.' Aiming at Perfection. — There is no manner of inconvenience in having a pattern propounded to us of so great perfection as to be above our reach to attain to; and there may be great advantages in it. The way to excel in any kind is to propose the brightest and most perfect examples to our imitation. No man can write after too good and perfect a copy; and though he can never reach the perfection of it, yet he is likely to learn more than by one less perfect. He that aims at the heavens, which yet he is sure to come short of, is like to shoot higher than he that aims at a mark within his reach. Order is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of the city, the security of the state. As the beams to the house, as the bones to the micro- cosm of man, so is order to all things. — Southey. Rochester Commercial Nursery, No. 3 EAST AYENUE, ROCHESTER, N. YORK. THE Subscribers respectfully inform the public that their stock of FRUIT TREES for sale this Autumn is very large, and comprises all the varieties that are really desirable. They leave to others the task of cultivating and selling worthless va- rieties, vnd intend to propagate none but such as have been well tested and approved. To those who wish to buy to sell again, wo can offer great in- ducements. (tr3=--Priced Catalogues furnished to post-paid applicants. Sept. 1,1849. [9-4m] BISSELL &• HOOKER. ORDERS FOR EUROPE. Mr. H, E. Hooker, of the firm of Bissell & Hooker, sailed for Europe Sept. 1, and will spend the winter in France and England, selecting trees and stocks. Orders forwarded to B. & H., at Rochester, before Oct. 1, will be sent to Mr. H. Sept. 1. [9-ltJ Cherry and Pear Stocks for Sale. THE Subscriber offers for sale at his Nursery at Big Stream Point, Yates county, N. Y., 100,000 CHERRY SEEDLINGS of good growth and assorted, at $5.00 per M. Also 10,000 Pear Stocks, from 8 to 17 inches in height; they are in perfect health, free from leaf blight, and will be sold at $10 00 per M. All orders directed to the subscriber will be promptly attended to. [It*] ' ISAAC HILDRETH. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 223 Albany Agricultural Warehouse, No. 3I>9 & 371 SOUTB BROADWAY. THE Subscriber having dnxluB the past season suffered in common with many of his follow oltlseiu hil warehouse being consumed, ^c. - has procured t !u- ■ paribus new store erected lor his- business, No. 869 and 871 Booth Broadway, where be baa an extensive assortment of all the beel and leading AGRICUL- TURA1 IMPLEMENTS and MM lllNK.s in use. From his long and successful experienoe In the manufacture and sale of articles in his line, he Batters himielf that he can suit the wants of the farmiug public to the best of its kind, and on as favorable terms as any other manufacturer in the States. Among his assortment are his celebrated Horse Powers, Thresh- ing Machines and Separarors. Smith's Patent Cornahellera for horse power. Clinton Hand Shelters, single and double hopper; Grant's Patent Premium Fanning Mills, for power and hand. &c , &c. Also, a complete assortment of Garden, Field and Grass Seeds. [9-tfJ H. L. EMERY. Seeds and Implements. GENESEE SEED STORE AND AG. WAREHOUSE-Irving Hall, opposite the Eagle Hotel, Buffalo-st. — Having purchased the Agricultural and Seed department of Messrs. Nott, Elliott & Fitch, we intend going more extensively into all the branches of our business. We shall .keep constantly for sale, all kinds of Im- ported and American Field and Garden Seeds, and a lai%e assort- ment of the most approved Implements and Machines used by the Gardener and Farmer. We manufacture Pennock's Wheat Drill, (the most perfect and substantial Drill in use.) the celebra- ted Massachusetts Eagle C Plow, Drags, Cultivators. &c, &c. all of the most approved patterns and construction, and keep a full supply of all the Boston and Worcester Plows, Sub-soil, Delano's, Burrall's Shell Wheel, Anthony's Patent Index, &c, &o. In addition to our stock of implements, &c., we think we can say with perfect confidence, we have one of the largest, most • carefully grown and best selected stock of FIELD. GARDEN and FLOWER SEEDS in the country, including several kinds im- ported from Europe. Farmers, Gardeners and Dealers would consult their interest, and perhaps insure good crops, by calling at our establishment. RAPALJE & BRIGGS. Rochester, May 1, 1849. Palmer's Wheat Drill. THE subscribers have made an arrangement with Mr. Palmer to manufacture for the coming season five hundred of his new Wheat Drill, to he be sold in Western New-York. They are now receiving orders for them, and relying upon heavy sales, have determined to sell them at a small profit— at least twenty-five dollars less than any other drill capable of performing as much. The Drills are constructed under the immediate direction of the inventor, and Warranted An agricultural implement as important as this should be afford- ed at a rate that places i\ within the reach of every farmer. To accomplish this Mr. Palmer has spared no pains to become ac- quainted with all the Drills in use by consulting both English and American Agricultural works, and by procuring copies of invent- or's claims, issued or pending in the Patent Office. He has used different kinds of drills for the past years, and has learned by prac- tice the wants of the farmer. After repeated efforts and expen- sive experiments he has produced a simple, substantial Drill, which by way of eminence he calls a " WHEAT DRILL." It is vastly superior to the costly and complicated machines heretofore in use. This is the third Drill he has invented, and he has now brought it to that state of perfection beyond which it cannot be carried. It is the Ne Plus Ultra of Drills, combining all the advantages of every other, and free from their imperfections. We challenge the world to produce a Drill equal to this in du- rability, operation or price ! ! QQ=- All orders should be sent in or delivered to one of our agents as early as July to 6ecure atten- tion. J. a. HOLMES & CO. Brockport, March 15. 1849 An Elegant Country Residence and Farm for Sale. M CONTAINING one hundred and seventy-five acres «*^ of first rate land, situated on the west shore of Cay- Wm uga Lake, two miles south of Cayuga bridge, in the -»AL town of Seneca Falls, Seneca county. There is a large brick man- sion with a two story kitchen adjoining, with wash and wood house attached ; out-buildings, barn, shed and carriage house ; a lawn and garden in front, enclosed with a handsome fence ; apple and peach orchards, with a number of cherry, plum and pear trees. The stock, crops in ground, and farming utensils, &c.,will be sold with the farm. Possession given immediately. For fur- ther information, price and terms of payment, application can be made to the subscriber, on the premises, or by letter addressed to him, Oakwood Farm, near Cayuga Bridge; ortoD. D. T.MOORE, at the office of the Genesee Farmer, Rochester [5tfj JOHN OGDEN DAY. Agricultural Books*.— A large assortment of Books on Agriculture, Horticulture, &*., for sale at this Office. Back numbers (and volumes) of the Farmer promptly supplied to all new subscribers. Choice Strawberry Plants for Sale at the flit. Hope Garden and Nurseries. A i 01 BTand September being the best time for forming Straw- berry Plantations, ire offer for sale on reasonable terms, tho cultivated. At the bead of the list wo place B1 BR NEW PINE, which, (size, flavor and productiveness being taken Into consideration,) u perhaps tho best Strawberry yet produced. Also, Myatts' British Queen, Bishop's Orange, Boston Pine.J Burr's Rival Hudson. Burr's Columbus, Black Prince, Hovey's Seedling. Large Early Scarlet. Princess Alice Maud. Swainetone's Seedling, Deptford Pine, Ross's Phoenix, And a variety of others, such as Alpine Red Bush, Alpine White Bush, Alpine Red Monthly, White do.. Wood Red and White, and a variety of others, to which we invite the attention of all who intend to plant the Strawberry. A good article costs but little more in the first place than a poor one, and re-pays tenfold. Rochester, July 1, 1849. ELLWANGER &. BARRY. Strawberry Plants for Sale. Pislilate— Staminote — Burr's New Pine, Boston Pine, Rival Hudson, Ross' Phoenix, Columbus, Burr's OloV pine, Black Prince. Swainstone Seedling, Crimson Cofle, Large Early Scarlet. • Hovey's Seedling, «_ Bishop's Orange. Having grown the above varieties Of Strawberries for two or three seasons past, and used much care, to keep them pure and unmixed, all orders will be attended to, and genuine plants for- warded— Burr's New Pine, is the best Strawberry ever grown, and the ear- liest of all large berries. — The Rival Hudson, for its prolificness, hardness of berry, and rich subacid flavor, is the best market ber- ry I have grown. Pistilate plants are the best bearers; but they all require Stam- inate plants near them for fertilizers. Prices uf Plants.— Burr's New Pine, 60 cts. per dozen, or $3 per hundred. Hovey's Seedling, Burr's Old Pine, and Large Ear- ly Scarlet, each 25 cts. per doxen, or $1 per hundred. All the other varieties, 50 cts. per dozen, or $2 per hundred. Rochester, August 1, 1849. [8-2t.j M. G. WARNER. Sale of Hereford Cattle. THE MESSRS. BINGHAM, Brothers, of Vermont, will offer for sale from ten to twenty head of HEREFORDS. 3 years old and under— bulls and heifers. We purchased our herds of Corning & Sothom— have given them a fair trial— have made up our minds that, all things taken into consideration, they are the best race of improved cattle extant, and are determined to push ahead in the improvement of them. We shall sell at Public Auc- tion, at the State Fair at Syracuse, and shall offer some noble samples of the race. Pure Merino Sheep. Also, at private sale, same time and place, a large lot of pure bred MERINO SHEEP, from imported sires. Breeders of sheep will do well to look over our flocks before purchasing elsewhere. We shall offer no mongrels or grades, but our best blooded sheep, at fair prices. [8— 2t. Peruvian Guano. JUST arrived, fresh from the Chinche Islands, 730 tons first quality Peruvian Guano. Six years' experience in the use of Guano,, by our farmers and gardeners in the states bordering on the Atlantic coast, has proved it far superior to any other, and the cheapest manure they can purchase. It is particularly valuable for wheat, grass, and all field crops; also fruits and garden veget- ables. Inquire at the Agricultural Warehouse and Seed Store, of A. B. ALLEN & CO., [8—22.] 189 & 191, Water St., New York. A Small Farm Wanted. A Letter addressed to C. S., Newport, N. Y., describing tho premises, and mentioning the terms, will receive attention. August, 1849. • [8— 3t\ Improved Well and Cistern Pumps. DOWNS, MYNDHERSE & CO., of Seneca Falls, N. Y., would call the attention of Hardware Merchants and all others who have occasion to deal in or use suction pumps, to their CJL S T IRON, REVOLVING SPOUT AND CISTERN PUMPS, for which they have obtained Letters Patent of the United States. For particular description and figures of our Pump, see August number of the Genesee Farmer, page 181. [9-tfJ 224 THE GENESEE FARMER. Sept. CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. Export and Preservation of Breadstuffs Deep and Shallow Plowing, Agricultural Societies, Fair of the State Agricultural Society. Crops in the Southern States Construction of the Dairy House .'. Growth of Plants in Confined Air. Education for the Sons of Farmers, Application of Manures Cows for the Dairy— Holderness Blood, Subsoil and Subsoil Plowing Experiments with New Vegetables; Drilling in Wheat Culture of the Plum— The Curculio; Botanical Terms. Thorn Hedges— The Osage Orange " Posts Inverted"; Burning Straw in the Field, Wool— Weight of Fleece, Carcass, &c, Merino Sheep— More Large Fleeces Ornamental Fountains— Mode of Construction. Cost, &c ... . Singular Mortality among Sheep— Inquiry, Cattle Trade of the West ' Effect of Salt on Wheat; Warts on Cows' Teats Test for good Limestone; Drill Husbandry; Potatoes in In- dia: Wool Growing in Western Pa.; Cotton Mattresses; Profits of Farming; English Shows; A Cow worth having; Bloated Cattle; Cider, Editors' Table— Notices, &c, HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. Strawberries; Late Cherries; Fruit and Garden Crops,, .... 216 Horicultural Matter* in Canada, 217 Managemeut of Fruit Trees, ; 218 Construction of Ice Houses, 219 Horticultural Exhibition 220 Fruits Recomnienued by N. Y. State Ag. Society, 220 ladies' department. Domestic Accomplishments 222 Imitation Wax Candles; Tomato Catsup; Boiling, 222 boys' department. A Text for Young Men; Aiming at Perfection, 222 Importance of Study in Youth;' Order, 222 ILLUSTRATIONS. Side View of Dairy House, 205 | Ornamental Fountains (tv\o Ground Plan of do. do... . . 205 j figures) 212-13 Section of do. do. J. . . 205 | Diagram Showing Construc- Section of Cow House,.. . . 205 I tion of Fountain, 212 Holderness Cow, 207 | Figure of Ice House, 219 Market Prices of Agricultural Products. New York, August 21. Ashes— The market is dull for both sorts at $6 06>4'. Flour— There is but little doing in State flour. Demand has fallen off for the East, and the market for the low grades favors the buyer. Sales 2000 bbls at $5 37^a5 44 for common State— $5 50«5 56 for straight State— $5 62««5 75 for favorite Indiana and pure Genesee, and $5 75o5 81 for good Ohio. Rye flour is scarce at $3 31n3 37. Jersey corn meal is wanted at $3 44. Gen- erally held at $3 50. Grain.— The market is without change for wheat. There is considerable new Southern on the market and the tendency is downward. Rye is scarce and nominal, 63a64c Oats are plenty and steady at 38a40c. Extra lots held higher. Corn is rather easier to purchase. Demand for the East moderate, with sales 15,000 bu. at 62a63c for western— 63a63>j' for round Southern and flat yellow. Provisions. — Holders of pork are rather firmer. Demand steady for the home trade $10 81«10 87 for -mess and prime at $9. Beef is steady and saleable at $13 50a$14 for mess. Cut meats are in- active at 7c for hams— shoulders 5. Lard is firm at 6>ao7c for good to prime, and dull. Butter is dull and more plenty at 7all eenta for Ohio, and 10«14c for western and state. Cheese is very plenty and Is steady at 2a7c. BAGS I — at 13 Buffalo-Street. I WOULD respecfully call the attenrion of farmers, millers, forwarders, &c, to my assortment of BAGS and BAGGING. I have every variety of Bags, from 18c. upwards. Call and see, and be satisfied. Also, a good assortment of Halter Rope, Cordage and Twine, of every description. E, C, WILLIAMS. [9-tf] Ship Chandler and Sail Maker, No. 12 Huffalo-st. ■Woodbury's Horse Power and Separator. THE Subscribers, having erected extensive works, for manufac- turing Woodbury's Patent Improved Horse Power and Separator, are prepared to furnish a machine to order, combin- ing greater simplicity, durability, and operating much easier than any other in use. The Horse-Powers are mounted, and operated on wheels, thereby saving three-fourths the usual time in setting up— and we will warrant it, together with the Separator, superior to any in use. Communications for further particulars, (post-paid) cheerfully responded to. J. &. D. WOODBURY. Rochester. N. Y., June 1, la49. (5-3t*) MOUNT HOPE GARDEN AND NURSERIES, ROCHESTER, N. Y. THE proprietors invite the attention of Fruit Growers. Nur- serymen, and dealers in trees to their present stock now of- fered for sale. By recent large importations from Europe, and an extensive scale of propagation at home, we have obtained a stock of nursery articles as complete as any in the country, and we offer them to purchasers on the most liberal conditions. Th* well known health, vigor and hardiness of the trets raised here, and the undivided and scrupulous attention given to every department by the propietors in person, offer great inducements to purchasers. STANDARD FRUIT TREES, Consisting of all the best varieties of the nipple, Pear, Plum, Cherry. Peach, 4'c. of suitable age and size for orchard planting. The principal stock is made up of the well known popular sorts, but all the new American and foreign kinds are in our posses-ion, and can be furnished. PYRIMIDAL AND DWARF TREES, Consisting of select varieties of Pears on Quince, Apples on Para- dise, and cherries on St. Lucie, or Mahaleb stocks, for gardens, and limited grounds; and for nurserymen and others who wish to obtain fruit from their trees at an early day. We have for many years given special attention to this department, and therefore believe we have probably the largest and best stock in the Union. GOOSEBERRIES, RASPBERRIES, CURRANTS, ETC. Of these we have a, large and complete assortment, and can sup- ply them by the 100 or 1000. The best English Gooseberries are imported every year. All the new Currants can be supplied. ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUB ROSES, ETC. All the leading sorts, such as Horse Chesnut. Mountain Ash, Ailantus, Sec, can be furnished by the 1000 or 10.000 at much be- low ordinary rates— besides a large collection of new and rare Trees Shrubs, Roses, &.c, recently imported. HEDGE PLANTS. Buckthorn 2, and 3 years from seed; Osage Orange, 1 and 2 yea»3; Privet ; besides Evergreens, such as Red Cedar, Hemlock, Nor- way Spruce, Arbor Vita?, &c, can be furnished to any extent required. STOCKS AND YOUNG WORKED TREES FOR NURSERYMEN. Pear Seedlings, 1 and 2 years transplanted; Plum do., 2 years from seed bed; Paradise Stocks, for Dwarf Apples; Mazzard Cherry Seedlings 1 year; St. Lucie, or Mahaleb Stocks, for dwarf Cher- ries; Quince Stocks, of sorts commonly used. Young worked tres for distant transportation. NEW UPRIGHT QUINCE the most easily propagated, and freest grower. We have now obtained a pretty large stock, and can supply them in moderate quantities. Wholesale Priced Lists and General Catalogues forwarded to all post-paid applications. Sep 1, 1849. ELLWANGER & BARRY. Morgan Colt for Sale. A Bright Bay Horse Colt, foaled Aug. 26, 1S48, of grtat promise, sired by Gen. Gifford, from a mare of unsur- _j passed travelling qualities. Inquire at this office, or of DORR, Scottsville. [7-lt*] THE GENESEE FARMER, Published on the first of earh month, at Rochester, N. Y., by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE & D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. P. BARRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. Fifty Cents a Year, In Advance. Five Copies for $2, and nny larger number at the same rate, if directed to each subscriber. Eight Copies for $3, if addressed to one person only — and nny larger number, directed in like manner, at the same rate. 0° All subscriptions to commence with the year, and the entire volume supplied to all subscribers. Advertisements. — A limited number of short and appro- priate advertisements will be given in the Farmer, at the rale of $1,50 per square or folio (ten lines or 100 words) for the first insertion, and $1 for each subsequent publication — in advance. The circulation of the Farmer is from five to eight thousand i.argek than that of any other agricultural journal published in the United States. [rj3 Advertisements, notices, &c. should be forwarded on or before the 15th of the preceding month, to secure inser- tion in any specified number. (0= The Farmer is subject to newspaper postage only. STEREOTYPED BY JEWETT, THOMAS AND CO., BUFFALO, N. Y. S) Agriculture is the most Healthy and Honorable, as it is tho most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. VOL. X. ROCHESTER, N. Y.— OCTOBER, 1849. NO. 10. Hural Science am) Grconcmji. ANALYSIS OP MAIZE, OH INDIAN CORN. Prize Essay. History and Chemical Investigation of Maize, or Indian Corn. By J. 1(. SAXisuoRy. . S. deserves the gratitude of his country for increasing its knowledge of an indiginous plant, which is extensively cultivated and more valuable than any other grown in the United States. Thanks are also due the New York State Agricultural So- ciety for its liberal premium of $300, which has elicited so important a contribution to Rural Science from an indefatigible American chemist. It is the privilege of practical farmers to avail themselves of the material fad • clo ed by these researches; and it is to aid them in that regard that the present review of the labors of the author is written. The Essay forms over 200 pages in the volume of Transactions of the State Society for 1848: and is equally large when published separately, in which form the author has very properly secured a copy right. The work deserves and will command an extensive sale. In the first twenty pages, we find an exceedingly ■: ting history compiled from authentic sources, of Maize, or Indian Corn, showing it to be a native of American soil, and unknown in Europe, Asia or Africa before Columbus discovered the New World. Maize was extensively cultivated by the Indians alike in North and South America and the West Indies, at. the time Europi an i first visited and planted colonies in this h 'misphere. The vast and peculiar capacity of this plant, which belongs to the c< and family of grasses, to sustain a dense population, is hardly begun to be appreciated. As the hut race i ■• the earth and acquire a hi standard of comfort, calling for more breadstuffs, tl "iority of Maize over all other plants, whether for its forage or its seeds, will be seen and acknowledged by all. So long as our ssil and climate shall produce cheap com, and cheap cotton, human food and raiment I iji the land. These will com- mand beyond all contingency, a m more nu- an any thing which Egypt, Asia or Europe has ever witnessed. Providence has given to the Now World agricultural capabilities, peculiar and superior in many respects, for the economical pro- duction of bread, meat, milk, wool and cotton. As a people, a peculiar destiny awaits us; and that des- tiny has for its broad, enduring and honorable basis, the science and the art of agriculture, wisely adapted to American sunshine, seasons, plants, and the wants of civilized man. But we wander from our text. Let us return to the Chemical Investigation of Indian Corn. " Till it approaches maturity this plant contains a per centage of water in its stems and leaves. When ten days above ground, young plants yield over 89| per cent of pure water, if cut oil' even with the earth and perfectly dried. 100 parts of dry plants give over 13 of ashes. At 25 days from planting, the proportion of water was less than 87 per cent: and the ash 10.7 per cent. Young corn stalks gave !' I [arts of water in 100. The more rapidly any plant grows, the larger the proportion of water which it contains and also of alkaline and earthy salts. The crop planted on the 3d June gained most in the week preceding the 16th of August, when the ears were forming. The gain in weight in seven days was 2953 grains in a single plant: equal to 436 grains a day and 18.16 per hour. At this period in its development Mr. S. found 91 per cent, of water in the stalk; 83 in the leaf; 89 in the sheath; and 0-1 \ in the tassel. Calculated dry, the stalk gave 10.7 per cent, ash; leaf 11.16; husks 6 per cent. From observation and experience, we have long been in favor of partly drying green corn, rye and clover, before feeding either to milch cows, horses, oxen or mules. There is an excess of water in such food which should be evaporated by the skillful and partial curing of green forage. The addition of a little salt will render it more digestible and nour- ishing to ti . Corn is a valuable grass and haj plant in every State in the Union. In this rela- tion it has not received that careful study and atten- tion which its importance demands. One of the most interesting features in the growth of Maize, as disclosed by the admirable researches of our author, is the gr< at change in its incombus- tible elements at different stages in its life. Up to July 19, the .-talks were quite brittle and had but a small quantity of silica or flinty covering around them. After the time named, silica in< eased rapidly in the stalk and gradually in the leaf. On the 12th July the leaves gave their maximum of phosphates. These diminished as the kernels were organized. As silica (flint) is of no account in the animal economy, and the raw material for forming seeds ex- ists diffused through the plant when the kernels <;■;-:') THE GENESEE FARMER. Oct. begin to grow, then is the time to cut and cure it for forage. After the maturity of the seeds, the leaves tin only one fourth as much of the phosphates matfci : as they did before. This remark is particolarly designed for our Southern friends, waste valuable time in "pulling- fodder;'' when more and better food for stock might be had for half the labor. The change in the amount of potash, soda, mag- ne: '.a, lime, sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, fee, are curious, and highly interesting to the critical student. For these, we must refer the reader to the Essay itself. Allowing 3 plants to a square yard, white flint corn will take in round numbers 382 pounds of earthy minerals from an' acre in a crop. Omitting fractions, as we do, the figures stand thus: g ilica. - - 158 lbs. Phosphates of Iron and Magnesia, 72 Potash, .-' - --- 48 Soda, - - ---- 47 Lime, - 12 Magnesia, - 7 Chlorine, - 13 Sulphuric Acid, -- 23 382 Analyses of th,e ash of the kernel at different stages, of the eou, stalk, husks, sheath, roots, leaves, silk, tassel, &c, are given, which we pass over to notice briefly the " Proximate Organic Analyses of the several parts of the plant at different stages of its growth.'' It should be stated that the seed was planted on the 3d of June: that the crop was ripe on the 18th of October: and that the nutritive elements were searched for mostly between August 2d, and October 18th. On June *21st, when the plants were 10 or 11 inches high and made up of leaves, they contained 33 per cent of sugar and extract, calcu- lated on the dry matter. The sugar and extract amounted to over 25 per cent on the 2d of August, ^rom Align:;; 23d to October 18th, the decrease was about lfJ percent. The ripe sheaths are richer na nitrogen than the unripe ones, but contain less sugar es I i-'et and dextrine. " The plant during the j eriod rig to the very large percentage of sugar and extract, with the respectable quantity of afcter and dextrine which the stalk, leaves and - ■ mtain, must afford very pali as well n;; nutri 9r." In kernels there is a gradual and very uniform decrease of sugar and extract from their earliest growth till they mature, and a corre increase of starch. Albuminous matter also gradually increases, as the kernels advance, and at the same time casern (cheese) diminishes. Septei iber 6tb kernels are in the early stage of milk. Cob at this period is rich in albumen, casein and dextrine. These bodies accumulate at tin of the young seeds. As the kernels grow the albu- men, casein and dextrine decrease rapidly in the cob. In comparing the leaves, sheaths (which sur- round the stalk,) stalk and cob with each other, if we judge of the value of each by the p< r < entage of matter soluble in water and alcohol, then in nutrient bodies leaves rank first, sin th s second, Ik third, and cob fourth. Of the latter, Mr. Salisbury speaks in terms more favorable than our observations have led us to believe were strictly warranted. We have given but a meagre synopsis of this compact and val] ay to which we shall oft< a have occasion to turn for reliable information. AGEICELTURAIi CHEMISTHT. One of the most useful and scientific lecturers on Agricultural Chemistry in England, is J. C. Nesbit, Esq., P. G. S., etc. Speaking of farm yard dung, feeding sheep, and plowing in green crops, &c, he offers the following important sug- gestions:— '• Let us begin with the far-famed farm-yard dung, which is supposed to be so superior to all other things. Ii is that which grows the crops, and which, in the estimation of the former, is not surpassed by any possible combination of sub- stances. Now, what is this farm-yard dung? It is formi d by acting upon vegetable m itter in some way or 'other. You either take a quantity of vegetable matter, and pass it through the stomachs of animals, where it is acted upoiiand the refuse pass out, or you ptit vegetable matter — as straw, or litter — in the yards, and allow the excrements of animals to he mingled with it, and a slow decomposition to take place. The whole being commingled and mixed together is known hy the name of farm-yard dung. Now, a very little consideration will show that the whole of the material which is found by you, gentlemen, to be practically so useful on the farm is merely derived from vegetables; so that you are, in fact, applying the remains and refuse of vegetables to renovate the land. This is the whole secret of faun y;.r 1 dung: it is vegetable matter, which, when partially decom- posed, is se-applied to the land, where it forms vegetables over again; so that you are continually working as it were in a circle. Thus the same particles of matter imported on the farm perhaps in the shape of oil-cake, first re-appears in the shape of a turnep, again as barley, now as beet-root, now as wheat — the cycle of changes continues until the identical particles are exported from the land as beef or mut- ton, or as grain. Now I hope I shall be able to offer one or two ideas with respect to the origin and nsturc of this farm-yard dung; and let me say we can never have our ideas too near the truth respecting the origin and nature of that which is so con- stantly under our" notice. Some gentlemen have got an idea that animals have a mysterious power — of what nature it is ii.ij ossible to say. but they imagine that it really i — a mysterious power, by means of which they can ( ! a turnep, or a quantity of oats or greens, into a su] manure for land; and thatfood must have passed thn the animal before it can beVeally useful on the land. That is tiie idea entertained on this subject by ninety-nine form- ers out of a hundred. I must proceed this evening to dis- abuse your minds of that erroneous notion; I must inform you that the manure obtained from animals is alw den', us regards its value on the food which the animal eats, and that the excrements of animals are always less \ab il I . and less powerful in manuring principles, than is the consumed by those animals while producing I that green food plowed into the land, will give mo to tin1 land than the same yon:' eaten by animals. Not that [ would recommend you, as a rule, to plow in your v< bios; but i wish yo i to remember that your shi posit nothing en the land but wh it they have Grst o from the food; and that ut circuit! 'ii d w ill be less than that received. Now let us* look a little at thi-: point. You know that in one of our ordi (ire-places, v> hen coals are put into the grate and a li • applii d to them, an action take bich makes i! differ from that below ike fire: with mi n of the name of a single chemical element, yet; have only to apply your plain common sense in order to be aware that an action takes pla • between the air and the coals, produ heat, and that the air above the coals (in the chimney) is very different from the air below the coals, whi te. Now you give >u\ animal a c rtai mount of that food is taken into the system; . notion • . i ich inspire and expire the a of bringing into the system e lnrgo amount of air. This oir acts upon the food which is tal i n into the system. By the combustion or burning of a i erlain amount of thai f rod, i lieat is produced, which keeps tip the temperature of the i nimals, as that they get a higher tem] erature than the surrounding atmosphere. The expired air contains the re- sult of that combustion, and resembles in composition the air of the chimney; another portion of food not used for produi ing animal heat is laid upon the bones, forming muscle, or fat; and'what the bullock itself has no use for is east oul of the system. Now. you observe at once that the animal, 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. w oj on the food, act) ititiu n'.Sj on I imo time mo : i amoun . ihe only real action is one which g ,\, a j ci i i : the food and rend* re the othors i n njuii klj si luble. Ill the a of the ut in the una", and nil the insoluble parts i men is. Tl ulnr ] | foi med in the laborator) of I the of w hich is \\ hat I have t . 11 thi i tal es place in ible matter. You rm, and j mi let the water foil upon it, nimals. 5 i u all know whal tnkoi i i lually heats, and this gradual healing is nothing more th in the effect of ' :' ■ lual action of the :iir upon it. Certain portions of the vegetable matter thus acted upon by the air tire consumed and taken away, it, even in the proi ile matter, you loose a portion, and it goes v ay ;is the solid parts ol coals po • int > the air by means of the chimney. You all k'i >w that ti arts of coal disappear an:! I. ive noth- : behind. The two cases are, in feet, identical. refer you to the case of a hay rick put up in too damp a state, [n that instance, an immediate action takes place from the contact of the air with the moist hay. and that ac- tion continues increasing', until, at last, the whole bursts jnto a flame. Now, gentlemen, in either ease, in the mek- in : of manure, there is a diminution and i-. loss. You must have Been the reek [ oin off from the dung-heap, and there are . m ;es which also disappear in the air which you Efwhat 1 have stated be true, you will draw thecoi ables plowed at once into the land furnish a greater amount of the substances ion of plants than they would supply h the stdmaehs of animals — that is to say, to give a pi. dr.. practical illustration of my meaning, if you of turneps, making them sufficiently small for decomposition, and plow that acre of turneps into the ill hive more manure in the soil than if you fed pon it. without the addition of oil-cake or any other extraneous manure. • any other green crops, such as ra: in, am] you will have a larger amount of substances calcul ig forth the next crop than if you | that ai through the bodies of animals. You may men, hut it is absolute fact: there is no theory ab iut it. It 1 I I by ical men, and ! i instances. A gentleman when I was Maidenhead— and let me remark that the gentlemen who i on that occasion were note, lemen have shown yourselves t!>i* r I heard some of them call what I . iw . notwith : - ■<■ ing "g im- itermined to try vt h » v nted. named 3Jr. W. Triii ■ irney, near Windsor, having twenty acres of ra or two acres in dil Held. Th I off I ep. These sheep ' • y on a beautiful meadow adjoining, I and wei ht on the rape. I was invited last f this e | riment; invited to meet me I was gone over, and f could point out evi here the rape had been plowed in. The wheat her than thi and in practical - more than a quai < 'are: been plowed iii and the places where the d off. iUorc than that, pened to me 'umper at the annual dinner of the Reading Fi b. when he told me the tunc bi iter, nnd bo fully expected to see it in the 1 Now . . t. the plowing in of tm will have a si r.ilar good effect, and perhaps many of you rei »li ction certain instances in itting the tm i, perhaps to the expcctalien of the fanners, a capital crop of \-> — the r Id not recommend you to for- sake tl ep; i am now merely dealing with the facts oi It is a question of pounds, shillings r it is best to feed the turneps e I plow them in. i\ni\ therefore a case for the exercise of your individual judgments. In the instance of which I was • peaking at Mi id< ahead it we found mi n in than io !i: d off, as that \ ear thi and th I high in price. 1 gentleman there v. tuallj of sheep on the rum to feed off tin I ■ saw it would be betl would assuredly be bi tter. No men, at the end of the to hi oi inj ol pcci r to pr ictic il men on this point, and : jections v. hi and it m . . bo partii I that I leave out ■ tion for th mical action of sheep in "treading th of manure. To pursue the subject of this manures little further, you see at once that the manure will vai varies. If you use straw, or oil-cake, or tui of llm manure will vary accordingly, as the coi ubstances varies; and it will vary becau eiheanim?] takes away only a certain proportion fn and casts out the remainder as excrements. But the m inure will vary not only as the food varies, but to the age of the stoi Young animals extract more nutriment from | food than old ones, especially if the 1 tti r !• ■ fa But it is more profitable to have ' . roots and grain eaten by an animal, to Jlesh, by its growing and gaining in weight, than to ha\ elements of flesh in richer manure. Thf between feeding 1000 pounds of clover, rape or tur- neps, (estimating the crop dry,) to sheep or cattle, and plowing in the dung and urine yield quantity of food named, and plowing in the crop withoul being eaten at all, is this: In the latter case, the soil below the surface gains 1000 pounds egetpble matter: in the former case not far from 400 pounds including the salts in the urine v on the ground. Although '2000 lbs. of dry forage will yield only some 800 of solid excrements; yet the latter are worth more for all agricultural pnr- than 800, or even 1,200 pounds of the vegeta- bles from the consumption of which the dung and urine were derived. It will take at 1 lbs. of dry corn or wheat to form 100 of the dung of pigi Their dung is the aslt, of the seeds c insum i which like wood in a stove were literally burnt in their ca- pacious lungs and circulating blood. The true rule in reference to over and grass, or plowing them in wit! this: When a soil is reasonably rich, in mold, (or- ganized matter,) it is good < clover or grass, closely, before break;:, g up for wheat or other grain crops — leaving the droppings of the ani- on the land to fertilize it. On the contrary, when the soil is thin and poor in vegetable mold it is sound economy to turn in all the grass, clover, pea vines or buc >ne can. A friend of the writer will plow in three crops of buckwheat this season: and another capital farmer will turn under a crop of winter rye, one of oats and another of p to ( irich the soil. of caustic lime to sweeten the decaying vegetation. We have so often explained in public lectu Itural journals, the pro by which c plants draw their mineral food from tiio sub-soil and their organic nutriment in a good degree, from the atmosphere, that it seems unnecessary to n I story. And yet, the great body of Am naers, both North and South, have hardly commenced enriching their estates by air above and the earth which a bountiful Providence has furnished ready to their hands. Here and there one has stum- 228 THE GENESEE FARMER. Oct. bled on the discovery that the lifeless earth thrown i iii of a well, a cellar or deep ditch, has fertilizing- qualities. Such marls without vegetable matter will often grow grass, wheat and corn — evidently deri- -i ing carbon from the atmosphere, in rains and dews. The riches in the sub-soil, which deep draining and ; oiling will develope, are not at all appreciated. TAIR OF THE STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. Ik many respects the Fair at Syracuse excelled all ding ones of the Society* Several thousands of visitors were in attendance more than were ever :i any previous Rural Festival in this State, or the Union. The general and deep interest taken in these annual exhibitions of the choice products of agricultural and mechanical skill, indicates a juster appreciation of the character and importance of the Fanners and Mechanics of the country. Instead of being looked down upon with ill-concealed contempt, as something servile* by the learned, the wealthy and the distinguished, productive industry is now begin- ning to be looked up to as the source of all power and property in the land. This is looking in the right ;ion. The union of highly cultivated intellect with manual labor, successfully exerted in the field, the garden and the work-shop, makes a new era in the history of agriculture and the mechainic arts. To foster both mental culture and artistical im- | rovement, annual Fairs are of inestimable value. They furnish cheap and agreeable facilities, by which fifty or one hundred thousand people may teach each other a thousand useful lessons* Farmers see, and have an opportunity to purchase, hundreds of new contrivences for abridging human toil in all tillage, haying and harvesting operations. Improved imple- ments of husbandry constituted a prominent feature of the exhibition at Syracuse. Manufacturers and deal- ers from Boston, Albany, Geneva, Rochester, and other places, made a large and attractive display. It is impossible for us to give full particulars, where the articles exhibited are so numerous, and often compli- cal d in their structure. We shall publish a list of the premiums, which will give names, residences and opinions of competent judges. S« veral Agricultural Warehouses were very fully represi nted. Ivai-ai.je &- Briggs, of Rochester, ex- hibited a great variety of superior implements, ma- chines, tools, Ike. They received the premiumfor the greatest collection — embracing implements of hus- i if i.ll descriptions. The Albany Agricultu- ral V. arel . (H. L. Emery,.) was largely repres- ented, as usual. Among the implements from this establiehmem we saw, in successful operation, the one and two-horse Railroad Powers, threshing grain with the well know n overshot thresher — sawing wood with the portable Saw-Mill, and cutting stalks, hay, straw, &c. — without any apparent exertion of the eping in motion on the inclined plane. Mr. E. also exhibited some 30 plows, 18 hay cutters, Gcorn shelters, and 12 churns of different pat- terns and prices; two of Emery's corn and seed plan- I rs and any quantity of Partridge's celebrated cast- steel hay and manure for] many of them of extra- try high finish. The articles from thi i D mounted to upwards of $"-\200, over ifU,G00 of which were manufactured in this State. The proprietor has put in operation, during the past .-< ;>- son, one of the most oxtensive machine and imple- ment manufactories in this country, which is now so pressed with work as to be in constant operation, day and night. E. J. BuRRALL,of Geneva, exhibited a large assortment of well made machines and imple- ments—among them some new inventions and im- provements, which we think will prove of great val- ue. He obtained the premium for the greatest and best collection manufactured within the state. Of Neat Cattle the show was highly credita- ble, there being some 300 on the ground. * Mr. Hi- ram Sheldon, of Cayuga, exhibited a fat ox which weighed 3,400 lbs. Others only a little smaller were present. A fat cowT which had been spayed, weighed 2,200 lbs. There were several yokes of matched oxen which attracted much attention. Mr. L. G. Morris, of Westchester, had 1 1 head of grades and pure blood cattle at the show. Mr. Sotham, of Black Rock, had a fine lot of Herefords. The De- vons, however, were more numerous than any other breed, and seemed to be quite popular. Those exhib- ited by Messrs. Bingham, WASHBORN,and others, at- tracted much attention. The short-horn Durhams appeared to good advantage, and we believe sold well. Mr. S. P. Chapman, of Clockville, exhmiten several very fine animals — among others, his bull " Buena Vista,' (portrait and pedigree in our August num- ber,) and cow "Charlotte." Col. Sherwood exhib- ited the animals imported by Mr. Stevens, and notic- ed in August number of Farmer. Messrs. Z. B. Wakeman, of Herkimer, Bell of Westchester, and other gentlemen, contributed to the show of short- horns. We were not present at the sale of stock. The show of stallions, brood mares and colts, and of matched and single horses, was decidedly the best that we have ever seen in the State. We regret that we are unable to particularize. Of Sheep wTe counted some fifty pens, and alto- gether the number on exhibition was unusually laro-e. Merinos, Saxons and Southdowns were most numer- ous. Some of these were choice animals. There were a few mammoth Leicesters from Canada. Swine wTere not numerous, nor particularly note- worthy. There were a few extraordinary fat pigs and large hogs, of both sexes.. In Poultry the show was barely respectable. Dairy products were less, in the aggregate, than we have witnessed at preceding Fairs" The cheese looked tempting, hut we did not belong to the " tast- ing committee'1 in that department. The butter was small in quantity, although handsomely put up. In wheat flour there was a prettj sharp competition : but in corn meal the Georgia State Fair wen!,: I beati ii the samples out of sight. Stoves, household manufactures, needle work, and other fabrics of fancy or utility were almost endless in variety and beauty. Floral Hall was neatly arranged, and embraced a fine display of fruits, flowers, vegetables. Sec. This department, and the Porno! ivention,4a more particularly noticed in our Horticultural pages. We did not hear the address of Prof. JohnstoS — although, by competent judges, it is spoken of in terms of the highest praise. Of course it will be published. Many gentlemen of distinction from abroad, were present — and all with whom we conversed, expressed themselves instructed and gratified by what they saw at the Fair. The grounds and buildings, tents. Sec were well arranged : and good order was preserved. considering the unusually large number of persons in attendance — reflecting much credit upon Col. John- son and other officers of the Society. u ,.,,.). THE GENESEE FARMER •J.!> THOROUGH DRAWING. < >•-..: ol the in' • t valuah in the large vol . Y. State Agricultu- i >r i s i";. ( which volume is an honor to ! • v and <."<>ii nt ry. ) is an article on the sub- of Thorough Draining, from the pen of John • ■■. i' q . of Senece County- Our columns iled in this number to admit the i ull (list Mr. I). has written on this the work before us. He gives a lucid and tut. ■-. iccount < ! the geological character of the soil an I r cks of his county, and clearly indicates, from r> reonal observation and experience, the 1 1 Bity of under-draining to remove the excess of water in the subsoil, w bich gn atly impair tation to wheat culture. Lfter tating that all main drains should be al I •! i three feei rfei p, and 4< I thirty inches, he adds: "Many and various are the contri ed in !";■ construction of drains, and as usual, in all pro- jects used as expedients, they arc faulty, and soon become useless. Among 'I1" most approved are the following; Drains made by masonry are intended for mains, bit they nre too expensive for our farms. The square stone and the triangular stone drains are probably the best, where stone of proper dimensions can be procured oh the field to be drained. If however, stone is to be hauled from any distance, then a tile drain, which will be described presently, is much the best and cheapest. The ether drains, as figured, have been ssed with success, while they lasted^ >ver perform their ive two or three years. i rs affecting out property, any prospect for its improvement i rery scrutinizing exami- nation sured of its necessity, and than I manner of aecom- plishiagthe cha :essity for irnpro? by drai been clearly demonstrated; and the best method for locating and opening d has been in. lica< now intended to draw your I drain of the present day. When you have judiciously marked out your field to he drained, and staked the course of the B tr tnches, let them be accurately dug at least three d< en, and not over thirty feet asunder, for tho- h draining. The trenches Liti es must run doicu the slopes, and v.<,i across them, that the water go off freely. Dig the trenches as narrow as may be, so that a man can clean out the bottom and construct the drain; the width at bottom for the main drains; need not exceed ten inches, and for all other drains not to ex< i inches. Be careful to have the grade on the fall of the water not less than one foot in one hundred — remembering that a greater fail will more Teadily prevent the accumula- tion of sediment. Cut the main trench first all the way through the field, and do not lay in the materials until you have ascertained that the dimensions and grade are correct throughout. You are now ready to construct the drain ivitih tyles of a semi-cilindrical form. These tiles are made of burned clay of various lengths, from 12 to 13, 3 4 and 15 inches, the width and height being 2h by 3k inches, and l by 5 inches. When these tiles are well made they aTe smooth and heavy, and ring when .-truck with a hard substance. They are so strong that a man my stand or lean on them without breaking them. The drawing now exhibited will explain the form of the tile, and the manner of laying them in the trench: You will perceive that the tiles are laid upon hat tiles, called soles, and this is brought to your notice, 50 THE GENESEE FARMER. Oct. because in this country, drains have been made with- out any support for the tile, where the- bottom has been a hard clay. This practice does well for a few years, but it must be evident, that if the drains ever carry a rapid run of water, the tiles must inevitably sink, more or less, by the wearing of the bottom, and thus in time destroy the drain. To prevent this mischief, soles are made of convenient widths and lengths on which to set the tiles, taking care to :. . id placing the joints in contact, by which arrange- ment the tile has a firm and uniform bearing. Having your tile conveniently placed along the trench, they must be laid with due care, first cleans- ing the trench, so that the soles may lay solid. The tile being laid, it is best to cover the whole with a 1 1 sod, and till the trench with your plow or shovel, a^ may be most convenient. Many use straw to cower the tile, but a turf cut about 18 inches long and i:i inches wide, will just fit and perfectly cover them, with the grass side down. The larger and answer drains are all thus constructed, and when properly made, will never need repair or further attention. You must have noticed that for thorough draining the trs&ehes are directed to be dug at distances thirty feet apart: and this is probably the greatest distance at which drains will act so as to draw the water from the earth; in this respect we must be guided by the character of the soil, and- experience will probably teach us that a distance of forty feet is an extreme limit for very thorough draining. This is the method of draining now so extensively used in other countries, and about to be extensively a iopted <:i our own; and these tiles are found to be far superior to masonry, to stone, to wood, or any other kind of drain hitherto tried. It is this sys- tem or method which has enabled the farmers of England and Scotland, of late years, to raise twice the nuspfber-s of bushels of wheat from an acre, more than v» .■ da. It is true, necessity has claimed from them great exertions to feed their over populous islands, and necessity being a sharp master, has elicited, and will continue to bring forth, every talent useful for the comfort of man. Let us for a moment examine the action of this master motive among English Farmers; and we learn from our talented i untrj . ... Pr< fessor j\torto>t, now attached to the chemicail and agricultural department of Yale Col- lege, that he spent much time in Great Britain ex- amining their agricultural systems. Since his return, lie tt lis us he visited the farm of Mr. Dudg- eon of Spylaw, at Kelso: the surface of his farm was stifij the subsoil a close clay. Mr. Dudgeon had drained aboul 900 acres!! making a distance of drains ©qua] to 300 miles ! he erected a tile work on i.i . .t farm, which turned out not less than 400,000 tiles in a year. The drains which he laid rail d the r< ntal of his bind immediately, from •■ or acre, and after enumerating other suc- cessful results from tile draining) Mr. Norton says, "I have known instances in Scotlan I, where the first crop repaid the whole expense of the improvement." And again, at an agricultural meeting held at the farm of Sir Robert Peel, a farmer declared that '-he could sot-afford to deprive himself of the benefits of drainage; for he had drained portions of his ground at a cos! i f from ••- 8 to $12 per acre, five feet deep, and the very first crop of w hem ! him forthe wholecost." Soalso, close at home, gentlemen, we have an instance of very successful drainage; one of our own enterprising farmers has done nearly as much in point of value, though less in extent. The inquiry as to the expense or cost of these drains, now demands our attention. Not long since, pattern tiles for drains were procured from Great Britain, and tiles of two sizes have been made and used in Seneca county. The cost has been at the rate of twenty cents per rod for the smaller size, and forty cents per rod for the larger tile; soles have not been used. We have seen that thorough draining requires drains at parallel distances of 30 feet; let us say of two rods or 33 feet, then an acre would need seven drains of 13 rods each in length, in all 91 rods; this at 20-100 for the tile gives, say - - $18 20 Add for discharge, laying, he. 18-1 00 per rod, 16 38 £34 58 Making the lowest cost per acre, . - and 3S*ccnts per rod." Beiore we proceed, let us examine and compare the cost of making a common stone drain, the stone being on the field to be drained. Thus, a man and team will draw stone in one day sufficient to build about 5 rods of drain, ------- $1 50 Cost of laying the stone at 6-100 per rod, - 30 Cost of the trench at 18-100 do. - 90 Cost of 5 rods common stone drain, - - - $2 70 or 45 cents per rod, thus shewing a difference of 16 cents per rod in favor of the drain tiles. To facilitate your calculations of cost of the tile, I would state that for every acre, drains cut 12 inch tiles. 13 inch, li inch. 15 inch. A.t 15 feef apart, require, 2,904 2,681 2,489 2.32:3 30 do. do.' 1,452 1,340 1,243 1,162 33 do. do. 1,320 1,213 1,131 1,056 3G do. do. 1,210 1,117 1,037 968 The great cost per acre under either of these sys- tems, requiring capital for the outlay, and notwith- standing the rapid return of the cost by the addition- al products, presents a serious impediment to their general adoption, and compels us to seek some meth- od for the more economical supply of tiles. This can and will be done, and in the course of another year these tiles will be afforded at a cost of 15 cents per rod or less. This is to be accomplished by ma- chinery, and I am pleased with the authority to say that a machine is now making in England for use in this county (Seneca) which will make from 8 to 10,000 tiles per day of perfect form and solidity. The most eminent agriculturists of Great Britain have been consulted in reference to this particular machine, and no doubt is entetaincd, but it will lead the way to an economical supply of tiles for draining. Labor in this country is too costly in proportion to the pro- ducts of our farms. We are now, and for a long time will be, compelled to tax our ingenuity to place the farmer on a level with other pursuits, w here the prof- its are larger, admitting higher prices I'm- labor. Let us however, be thankful and content, for if our profits are not so large, we have reason to believe they are more sure and enduring than is derived from other professions. Machinery is to accomplish our much desired ob- ject, and we will close this too extended notice by ex- hibiting a few results to be derived from it. Suppo- sing that as farmers we are as intelligent as the En- glish and certainly not less industrious, if, then, we determine to drain bv means of tiles, a field of ten 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 231 acres, and thai the machinery about to be introduced, orany other machine, enables us to procure tile ;» t a of l- cents p< r rod, the coal of our drains made i.i a lasting and perfect manner, would be at the rate id, or $27.30-100 per acre. A field thus drained and cultivated may reasona- i cted to yield an increased ratio, equal to Inglish field, all things else being equal. Then, if our average crops have been 20 bushels peracre, (an ;' many ol our farms range much higher,) w e shall bushi Is. Bui suppose we obtain GU- I', 30 bush< Is per acre, you will easily see that the increased from about ^ per acre, to re. Iii ..(her words, the field often acres, at a costof $273, gives a return in nett profits of $180. re yielding 20 bushels ot $1 - - $20 00 undrained Cost of cultivation, lii 00 Profit, Increase product by draining say 10 bu. 3 00 10 00 Total profit when drained - - - $18 00 Then 10 acres will give $180, a ratio which soon returns the outlay. There is room here for large de- ductions, and yet leave us well satisfied with the ben- of thorough draining ; and from the facts given every man can make his own estimates as to the val- ue of the benefits claimed. In conclusion, lei me say, that your plants when thus protected from excess of moisture, will obtain a more vigorous growth with a firm straw, preventing inagreal degree its lodgment by storms. Thegrain becomes more plump; it ripens uniformly; and of course it is heavier per bushel. The straw posses- ses the elements of better fodder for your cattle and sheep, and makes better manure. Your fallows will be more easily and earlier worked; they will be less infest- with weeds, and your plow may run much deeper. Such, gentlemen, are the advantages which have i again and again derived by others. Why then may not each one of u?, be at least as fortunate ? It may be urged that few farmers can spare so large an outlay on their farms, as we have spoken of; true, I admit it ; but let us remember that our freedom was btained in a day, nor do I believe in the benefit, comfort or advantage of steam car speed in our farm- ing operations. Caution is always necessary, and I would not advise any farmer to undertake the drain- ing of more than one or two acres at the outset. — Sure, from v. hat I have seen and learned, that he will double the quantity every spring or autumn, un- til his farm shall always blossom and bear fruit, from evi ry acre, far beyond his needful wants." CASIO?. 0!L PLANT. — (Bicinus Communis.) Jill WILSON BOLT, OF ILLINOIS. The territory of country engaged, even partially, in the cultivation of this vegetable is quite limited — being confined for the most part to Southern Illi- nois and a small part of Missouri, with perhaps an isolated county here and there in some of the South- ern States. This narrow territory is not the result of uncongenial climate, for it can be successfully grown as far north as Maine, where it is sometimes seen in gardens as an ornamental plant. The cause ol the circumscribed territory is partially the result of want of information on the subject of growing it, but more particularly the limited demand, which is often more than supplied by the small section of country in which it is known and raised. It is cul- i entin y I ir the seed, do other 1 1 plant being of any use eve,- | for manure, per i which is not here regarded. Th( ; .,,,., n the middle or perhapi I rj] and the ■ pari of May. The earlier the betti r, il I be favorable, as it. is killed by the ts of autumn. The crops, th( reforc, upon the time the season of harvestii ac< -. The ground in which il i. , lanted deep rich soil, deeply an I |, and the surface line!;, pulveri; I. '.;,, ,- j pared, it should he laid off in parallel rows both ways, not le s than four fe< I each way, i fifth row six feet out! way lor the i harvesting. If the seed be good, f ur I hill are enough to plant unless there is . that the cut-worm will be troublesome, in \ case eight or ten will not be too many. At tie of two weeks after planting, now and then one will be seen pushing its way through the earth I light, and in four weeks nearly all' will ap] Some practice soaking the seed "three or fair clay.s before planting, which practice is a ver) good It brings forward the crop, which i. an consideration. When the plants are about six inches in height, the hoe and plow often and thoroughly used among them, that the earth may he kept loose, and the grass and weeds in dw jection. Twice hoeing is cm •,., , icient, and even one may do very well in clean ground if one be skilful in the use of the plow. The labor of raising the Castor Oil Bean up to the period of harvesting is about the same as is required by corn. The appearance of the planis at first is very diinunitive, bearing no sort of compari- son to their ultimate height and magnitude. They often attain the height of eight feet," ami with numerous branches and massive leaves present quite a formidable appearance. I have many plants on my farm that now measure full eight feet in height, and promise yet greater elevation. The number of plants allowed to remain in a hill should not exceed two, and many who have had much experience in the business say that one in a hill is enough. Mine, this season," wore thinned down to one, and in many parts of the field are nearly as dense as a cane brake. I am of the opinion that, as a general thing, one will be found more profitable than two. Two may produce more beans in the fore part of the season, but take the wholes. as a criterion, one will give the larger crop. One throws out far more branches in proportion, and pro- duces much larger cones of bolls. The harvesting season usually commences about the middle of August, and coi i til -'Jack Frost" summarily despatches th< nam- ing. At the first the labor of harvesting is com- paratively light, but when the season fair] tour acres will keep one hand quite bu •'. . The pro- cess of harvesting is usually as follows:— a plat of ground several yards square is cleaned off and made as nearly smooth as can be, called the "poppinor ground," where the beans are taken to be i: popped out." A horse attached to% one horse slide or sled is driven along the wide spaces already m ntioned, and the beans gathered and taken to the ground. The beans do not grow in long pods like most beans, but in diamond shaped bolls, generally containing three beans each, attached to a stem like grapes^ rrsi ^■K^ 232 THE GENESEE FARMER. Oct. ihe clusters of bolls are twenty inches long, and I have seen those that measured two feet; and all are nearly in the form of a perfect, cone. The beans in the bolls are separated from each other by a thin membrane, and the bolls are armed with very flexible spikes. The clusters are cut with a knife, and when the beans are ripe the bolls contract, when the beans " pop" out with a smart report, often shooting several yards. After all have been gath and popped out, they are separated by passing them through a fanning mill. Thus ends the labor of harvesting. The average yield is sixteen bushels, and twenty- five is a good crop. The price per bushel ma} be pet down at $>1, though it often varies both above and below. Last year as high as $1,40 was paid, and $1,75 has been paid this year for old beans. The price will be good this year owing to the ravages of the cut-worm among the plants in the spring. The oil is extracted from them by means of screw (3 r-imiiar to those used in extracting oil from flax sped. I b slieve two gallons is the produce of a bushel of beans. When beans are worth a dollar per bushel, oil sells at one dollar per gallon at the mill. Now for a brief botanical description of this plant. The leaf is palmate, simple, with lanceolate lo acutely serrate on the margin. Position of the lea! horizontal on a strong, round petiole. Connexion of retire with the leaf, peltate. Cblmdr stem ;.:', ulated and branching. Rout palmate. Th < tor Bean is about the size of the common garden 1). at;, of a br iwnisb color mottled with darker spots. It has neither the taste or smell of Castor Oil. To the taste it is a little sweetish, but not unpleasant. Tints endeth what 1 have to say of the Ricinu Communis. Holt's Prairie, Pemj Co., III., 1849. IIiriTS for October. — Those who wish to sow wheat after corn should do it early. Cut no your corn, and remove it entirely from the field — or adopt the plan suggested in our October number for 1817. Potatoes and other root crops should be dug and properly secured before freezing weather sets in. If dug early, before the fall rains, and kept dry, potatoes will be much better for table use, and com- paratively free from rot. Most garden vegetables should be secured, during the month. Winter apples should be gathered before any severe frost. Those intended for long keeping, or marketing, ought to be carefully hand-picked, or v. ii!i a fruit gatherer. If you make cider, put a pint of mustard seed into each barrel, (or pulverized char- coal, in a cotton bag, as recommended in our last number.) The mustard improves the cider greatly; it fines beautifully, and will not become hard. 'Select your seed corn, if not already done; and save other seeds, such a cucumber, melon, lettuce, &c. Hogs intended for fattening should now be shut . -, and their feed increased. They will fatten twice ■ it in warm as in cold weal her — so hurry up the materials for pork during this month and Novem- ber, (live them good shelter and dry beds. Do in; your fall plowing for spring crops at once, where you have no Jinn or other foul grasses; but i!" the-:' pests, or the wire worms btc in your soil, don't plow until fit"— just before freezing up. (See reasons for thia advice in Parmer fur October, 1817.) On all soils that require and will bear it, put in the plow beam deep, and bring up the riches of the subsoil. •N\ V. Hate Agricultural Societn. PREMIUMS AWARDED AT THE N. Y. STATE FAIR, Held at Syracuse, September, 1849. CATTLE— Short Horns. Bulls over 3 years old. — Best, J. M. Sherwood, Auburn, '•3d Duke of Cambridge," $25.00; 2, Thomas Bell West- chester, 15 ; 3, S. 1*. Chapman, Clockville, 5. Bu//s2 years old. — Best, William Fuller, Skeneateles 20 2, A. G. Percy, Wayne Co.. 10 ; 3, J. B. Burnet, Syra- cuse, 5. Bulls 1 year old. — Best, L. G. Morris, Westchester 15 :.', S. P. Chapman, 10. Bull Calves.— Best, L. G. .Morris, 10 ; 2 3. M. Sherwood, Trans and '■<■. soltl.—B ■<>. S. P. Chapman, " Char- : ■>■!■• " " ; 2, L. G. Morris, 15 : 3, J. M. Sherwood, 5. Heifers 2 years old. — Best, F. Rolch, Butternuts, 20 ; 2 L. F. Allen, Black Rock, 10 ; 3, F. Rotch, 5. Heifers 1 year old. — Best, Ambrose Stevens, New York. 15 : 2. J. M. Sherwood, 10; 3, 'S. P. Chapman, 5. Heifer Caives.—liest L. F. Allen, 10 ; 2, J. M. Sherwoo I, fans, and 3. Dkvons. Bulls over 3 years old. — Best, R. H. Van Rensselaer, Ot- ss jo Do., 25; R. M. Remington, Cayuga, 15; J. Blakesly. Westchester, 5. Bulls 2 years old.— Best, D. S. Earll, Salina, 20 ; 2, II. \. Washbbn, Otsego, 10. Baits 1 year old.— Best. H. N. Washbon, 15; 2, I>a\iJ C. Howe, Cayuga, ] 0. Bull Calves.— Best, E. P. Beck, Wyoming, 10; 2, H. \. >.\" tshb in, Trans and 3. Cows over 3 years old. — Ambrose Stevens. $25; 2, 1] \ il on 15 . :;, E. P. Beck, 5. // fers 2 years old.— Best, L. F. Alien, $20, 2. E. P. I 1) ; 3, do. 5. Heifers I year old.— Best, II. N. Washbon, $15 ; 2, E. P. Beck, 10 : 3, R. II. Van Rensselaer, 5. liefer Calves.— -Best, H. N. Washbon $10 ; 2. A. Ste- vens, Trans und 3. Hereeords. Bulls 2 years old* — Best, Allen Ayraull , $20 : 2, W. II. S'oiham, Black Rock. 1 I. Bull Calves.— Best, W. H. Sotham, $J0 ; 2. Allen Ayr- ault, Trans and 3. >'< v:i over ". v irs old. — Best. Wm. EL Sotham. $25 ; 2. Allen Ayrault, 15 ; 3, L. F. Allen, 5. Heifers 2 years old.—W. II. Sotham, $20 ; 2, Allen Ayr- ault, 10. Heifers 1 year old.— 2d best, W. II. Sotham, $10 ; 3, L. F. Allen, 5. Heifer Calves.— Best L. F. Allen, $10 ; 2, W. II. Sotham. Trans and 3. Ayreshires. Bulls over 3 years old. — Besf, E. P. Prentice, Mt. Hope, $25 ; 2, L. G. Morris, 15. Bull Calves.— Best !■'.. P. Prentice, $10. Cows over 3 years old. — Best, E. P. Prentice, $25 : 2, R. Rome, Mt. Morris, 15. Two years old Heifers. — Best. E. P. Prentice, $20. One i/rar old Heifers,— Beat, E. P. Prentice, $15 ; 2, R. Rome, 10 ; 3. L. G. Morris, 5. Heifer Calf.— ■Best, E. P. Prentice, $10. Grade and Native Cattle. Cows over three years old. — Best, D. S. Earl, $20 ; 2. S. P. Chapman. 12 ; 3, L. G. Morris, 4. Heifers tu:o years old. — Best Chauncey C. Cook. Oneida, $15 ; 2, Davids. Marl. 10 ; 3, L. S. Bundy, Otsego Co., 3. Heifers 1 year old. — Best, E, Sheldon, Cayuga co., 10 ; 2, P. B. Williams, Onondaga co., 8 ; 3, R. M. Remington, :*. Heifer Calves, — Best, C. Merriman, Madison Co., :'. ; 2. S. C. Parker, Trans. Working <)\i S Best t'-am of 20 yoke, (Cortland co.) J. Barber and others, $50; Rest single yoke nfOioii. E. Sheldon, 25 ; 2. do. .1. Bryden, Oneida co.. 15; 3, do. Hiram Cleft, Onondaga, Trans and 5 ; Disc Rest Trained Cattle, J. B. R. Church, \ ei i. Sil. Medal. Steers 3 years old. — Best single yoke, II. H. Eos! Marshall, 10; 2, E. Sheldon, 8; 3, L. S. Bundv, Trans an. I :f. Steers 2 years old. — Best yoke, B. II. Streeter, Wayne co. 8, do. L. S. Bund) 8 3, do. II. Sheldon, I !aj i Trans and 3. fi ; l ■ . ;' esl James H. Sherill, New Hartford. ■.'. II. Sheldon, .r> ; 3, J. Muir, Sen. Madison co. Trails and 3 ; Boys' training Bteers, 1>. .Main.'. De Ruyjer, UTadi- Sil. Hed il. 1'a I • ' \ ! I I I . r it pair of fat exen over four years old, I.. Doty, Wyo- ming co., weight 5,244, (25 , 2, E. Sheldon, weight 15 .;. Vsn Nowlen, Liv. co. weight 5,236,10. A pair of cattle to CI raentLeo.cn, Madison co. were the heaviest on I, weighing 5,400 lbs., but were not i tltened. They are entitled to special commen- dation. Best single ox o\ > r four years old, I Idmund Munson, Cay- uga I i .'.' $15 '-*. H. Sheldon, weight a. 1 16, 18. Best lit cow >>-. it -1 \ rs old, Clement I. each, weight 2,066, .-'■ l - J. Robert Rome, weight 1,726, 10; :i, do. weight 1,J>42, 6. Best pair of fat steers under 4 years, R.Rome, weight $15. Host single heifer, J. Harber weight 1,486, $10. Grass fed. — Hot pair of fat oxen over four years old, E. I'. Beck, weight 3,464, $20 2, Israel Boles, Cortland co., weight :?.';!»". 12. Best steer under lour years, E. Sheldon, weight 1. ■>!>', $8 : 2, John Reeves, Lysander, weight 1,884. i! ; 3, J. R: Burnett, Syracuse, Trans. Best cow over 4 years old. li. Allen, Syracuse, $10. Fat Shekp. M'dfUe Wooled over two years.. — Best, J. M. Sherwood, $5 2, do. 3. \ Under two years. — Best, Z. B. Wakeman, Herkimer, $5 ; :>. Thos. Terry. "It. .Morris, Morrell's Shepherd. l,-\\ olec over 2 years. — Best, John Reeves. $5 : 2, do. .; ; 3, do. Morrel's Shepherd. No. 202. a Long-Wooled p, owned by James Bicknell, Erie co, entitled to spe- cial notice. Recommended ti>ra premium. Houses — I or nil Work. Besl Stallion over 4 years old, Wm. Ferguson, Marshall, '■ Hay Kentucky Hunter," $20: 2. Nottingham in Allen, Palmyra, •• \ oung Norman." 12; 3. Bay Horse, owner's name not ascertain ed. S: 4. O. Howland, Owasco, • sir Henry,'? \ ouatt. es and foal. — Best. Reuben R Burt, sorrell Mare and Celt. $20; 2. Edward Munson. Cayuga CO.. bay Marc and Colt, 12; 3. Anthony Decker. Skaneateles. chestnut Mare and Sorrell Colt. 8; 4. Win. Prior. Elbridge. bay Mare and Colt, i ouatt. Draught Hi I stallion over 4 years Nottingham & Allen. •• Young Sampson." $L0; 2. Cornelius Schoby, Springport, _' Ufred." 12; ■". John l» .Spinner. Herkimer. ;' Sir Henry Eclipse." 8: 4, J. S. Thompson, Camillus, •• Young Sampson," ^ ouatt. li,.,, id mare and foal.— 2, David Wemple, Mohawk. 12; 4, J. H. Lamberson, Van Bur en, Youatt. Blood Horses. — Best Stallion over 4 years. W. W. Huff, Buf- falo. Lance $20; 2. Dow, Clark k Earl, d;u'k gray Stallion. 12; 3 Simon Scbi rmerhorn. Rotterdam, • '■ oung Waxy," 8; 4. Par- don Austin. Mai lius, " \ oung Eclipse," \ ouatt. Th" thorough bred horfe " Consternation." owned by J. B. Bur- net. Syracuse, to whom was awarded the first premium at Utica, in 1845. was shown, and the committee consider him one of the best horses which came under their observation. (The horse '• Midas " owned by Mr George Parish, of Ogdens- burgb. was exhibited without being entered; the committee would have awarded bim the second premium, if properly entered ) Three year old Stallions and Hares. — Best Stallion. A. Puller. Wolcott, •• "i oung Mog idore, jr . $15; 2. F. Moore. < herry Valley, 11. S. Marsh, Syracuse, Vouatt; 4. W. Norton, Wayne co., rl rans. Waves. —Best, Elias Thomas, Oswego co , $15. No others exhi- bited deserving of a premium. Two year o'd Stallions and Marrs.— Best. Frank Ilrown. Ridg- way. $10; 2. H. O. Arthur. Ticonderoga. 5; 3, J. Van Iloesen, Augusta, Trans. Best, John .1. Bushart. Fonda; $10; 2, N. R. Williams, Oneida co . 5; 3. J. N. Holmes. Hastings. Trans. (hie year old Colts.- Best Stallion. J. Muier, sen., Hamilton $5; 2 J. Hansenfrats, Sf ouatt; 3, Nathan Souls. Clay. Trans. Mares.— Best, N. P. Wan Slyke, Scunett, $5; 2, S.A.Gilbert. Hamilton, l ouatt. Matched Horses.— Best pair. Harvey Gould, (bay Horses,) Or- igins co., dip and $15; 2. Thomas S. Clark, (bays.) Orleans CO.. 10; 3. Amos Lewis, (bay browns,) Tompkins co.. 5; 4. 11. Otis, Jordan. fa. Geldings.— Best Gelding, dapple gray, owned by Arden Merrill, lo v.Ik. in the lust premium was awarded at Saratoga, in ! a certificate is now given pursuant to rules of society. 1st Prem., H. L Barker. Clinton. dip and $10; 2. S S. Vaughn, n Mich., 8; 3, John Lcig, Skaneateles, 6; 4. Nelson Boom- er. .1 fferson co.. 4; Disc. I Jobn P. Miller, Utica, for his bay hi e \ ol 'Plans ; Wm. II. Sanders. Hyde. Wayne co., sorrell Colt, do ; W. C. Chapman, Aurclius. gray horse, do.; H. Faton, last being OXCI and worthy of the notll f the Boolety Sim ,i / :: ooltd. Buck over 2 Sodu . |10j 2 Lewis P. A\ 8, Charles N Hudson Onandagw county, 6. Best Buck under two years, Thos Terrj Sfl Morris 910; 2,W. Batbbono Springfield h, 3. ( barles \. Hudson, Onondaga oo., 6. Bi t pi i fli 2 years, Thos T.-rrv. $10: 2. W. Ratfa Ew< ■ under $10 Best pen five Buck Lambs, Jas Bicknell, Aumm, $s, 2. Thos 'Perry Morrell's 8hepherd aad 8 Hudi m, $8 Middle Wooled -Best Buck over 2 years, Z B v. kimer, $10; 2, J. M.Sherwood, tabura B; 3. I, I \ Best Buck under two years, J M Shorw I, $10; 2, Wm Bob- son, Westmoreland, 8; ;;, /.. h. Wa! eman, ■'• Best pen fife Ewes over 2 vears, Wm Robson, $10; 2, /.. B. Wakeman. $S; 3, .1. M Shrwood. V Best pen 5 ewes. 7. li Wakeman, $10; 2d. F. R Di.v. Vernon. 5. Best pin five liuck Lambs. /.. li. Wakeman, 88: 2. W. Robson, Worrell's Shepherd ami :: Besl pen live Ewe Lambs, '/. 1!. Wakeman, $i , 2. Wm. Robson, Morrell's Shepherd and 3. Merinoes.- Pest Buck over 2 years old. \. \1. Dart. F n field. $10; 2. Joseph Blakesley, North Salem, 8 3. .! H.Sher* Best Buck under 2 years J. 1). Patterson. .Vestiield. $10; 2, D. 5. Curtis, Canaan, 8; 3. J. ,M. Sherwood. :'.. Best pen five Ewes over 2 years, J. M Sb trwood, $10; 2. N. ': Dart. 8; 3. Randall & Milliman. (lay. f>. Best pen five Ewes under 2 years. .1 Bll CesIeT, $10. Saxons.— Best Puck over 2 years, S. 11 Church. \'ernon, $10; 2, S. P. (rocker, do,. 8; 3, S. II. ( hurch .. Best linck under 2 years. S. P. Crock r. $10: 2. R. J. Ransom, Hoosick, 8; 3. Joseph Haswell, do.. 5. Pest pen live Ewes over 2 years. S H. Church. $10; 2. S. B. Crocker. 8; 3. Randal] k Milliman. 5- Best pen five Fwes under 2 v«ars. R. J Ransom. $10; 2, S. II. Church, 8; 3 Randall & Milliman, 5. Shepherd's Dogs. — Best Shepherd's Dog, :: Cammer," M. L'ing- ham \ t.. 5. Samples of Wool from the late importations of Miosis Catlin 6. Smith, of Wolcottville. Conn, ifiom the (lock of ;;,r Spark] were exhibited, and fur evenness of fiber, fineni ss and thi.i- ness of fleece, tiny are beautiful indeed. The Connecticut Premium of $100 lor the best 25 Merino Fwes and the best 25 full blood Merino Lambs less than one year of age, was awarded to A. L. Bingham, of Cornwall. Vermont. Swine. Second best boar over 2 years old. H. N. Washburn, ' tsi 2d best 1 year old. David Preston, Elbridge, 5. Best boar over 1 year old. James Gilkeson. Homer, 10; 2. B. Williams, Onondaga. 2d best 6 months old. C. R. Nichols, Bethany. 3 2d best breed- ing sow over 1 year old, F. Thayer, Darien, 5; 2, do over 5 months, F. Thayer. 3. Best lot of pigs. Rufus Cossett. Onondaga. 10; 2, H. N. Washburn, 5. Foreign Stock— Cattle. Herford — Best Bull. L. G Bingham. Vermont, dip. and $25. Devon — Best Bull. R. C. Gapper. Thorn Hill. C. W.. dip. and 25. Best one year old Bull, M. Bingham. Vermont, dip. and 10. Best Bull Calf. Devon.) R. C. Gapper. dip. and 5 Best Cow over 3 years old.(Sal)y) L. G. Bingham, dip and 25; 2, (Cheoy)L. G. Bingham, dip aud 15- Horse —Best Stallion over 4 years old, (Morgan Grey Hawk.) L. D. Harlow, llartland. VC.dip. and $20; 2, I. Asbford, Toronto, C. W.. dip and 15; 3. Calvin Blodgett. (mag. Gifford.) Chelsea, Vt.. diji and S; 4. G. F. Wheeler, Middlubury, Vt.. (Morgan Horse 5 years old) Youatt. Sheep. Long Wooled.— Best Buck. Geo. .Miller. Markham. C W. dip and $10. Best pen five 5 Buck Lambs, Geo Miller, dip, 5. Best pen 5 Fwe Lamb?, G Miller, dip aud 5. Merinos.— Best Buck, F ltobiuson. Addison co. Vt. dip and $10. Best pen 5 Fwes. M Bingham and F Robinson, dip and 10. to be divided between them. For 2 very fine Fwes, L G Bingluun. dip. Prkmiums opkm to All. Horses.— Grey Stallion, -l Young Norman,' owned by Notting- ham &i Allen, diploma. Best Breed Mare, chustuut, "Morgan Mare." C II Blodgett, diploma. Sheep— .Long Wooled.— Best Long Wooled Buck. Geo Miller, dip. Best pen 5 Buck Lambs, Geo Miller, dip, Poultbv. Best lot Toland Fowls. S .1 ( heesebro, Syracuse, $3. Best large fowls. J I Bushart. Fonda. 3. Best Muscovy Ducks C N Hudson. Onondaga, 3. Best pair Large Gee e, ' Bn men," D Cossett, Onondaga, 3. Best Java Bautums. E E Piatt. Albany. 3. Farm Implemewts. Best Farm Wagon. IJ W St ely. Carlisle. Sco Co, Diploma and $6. do Harrow. A II Pitch, Liv Co. dip and $3. do Corn Cultivator. Jeremiah Fusk, Lysander, dip and $3. do Fanning Mill, Jacob ( tapper, Fort Plain, dip and $5. do Corn Stalk Cutters, J C Rich. Penlield, Mou Co, dip &$5. do Straw Cutters, J C Rich, dip and $3. do Corn and Cob Crusher for power, II. L Fniery, dip & $5. do Clover Machine, Rapalje & Biiggs, Rochester, dip & $5. do Ox Cart, Paris Barber, Homer, Cort Co„ dip and $3. [To be concluded next month.] 234 THE GENESEE FARMER. Oct. FARMING LANDS IN EASTERN VIRGINIA. KY S. S. GRISCOM, OK PETERSBURG, VA. Eds. Genesee Farmer: — A few days ago I re- coived two numbers of the Genesee Farmer, one of which contained an article from Fairfax, Va., des- cribing that section of country, and inviting- north- ern farmers to settle there — with an editorial note, asking further information from different sections of the South and \\ ei t. As I have spent several years in making myself acquainted with this section of country, I gladly avail myself of so good an opportunity as your valuable paper pn sent?, to give to your readers some infor- mation respecting this section of Virginia, which I b( lieve to to be the finest portion of the United , for agriculturists. If s.ny one will examine any good map of Virgin- ia, he v ill see at or.ee that no section of the globe of the sain - extent, is so remarkably furnished with bold, nav stable rivers. The Potomac the Rappa- hannock, , he York, and the James, with their nu- merous brh iches, penetrate the State, from the Ocean into toe mountains, and their head waters in- terlock with those tributary to the Mississippi. The tide flows in them from one hundred to near three hundred miles from the Ocean, and they are naviga- ble for the largest ships, all this distance. Above the tide, on the main streams, and their thousands of tributaries, they furnish immense water power for all sorts of machinery. The soil generally, is not surpassed for natural fertility — and having seen all the eastern and northern States, I am of the opinion that there is less poor soil, and land incapable of pro- fitable improvement in eastern Virginia, than in any State north of it. The middle portion contains lime, gypsum coal, sail, iron, fee, fcc, in the greatest abundance — white the whole tide water section is underlaid with immense depositee of fossil marine shells and animals, furnishing what is called calca- rious marl, rich in lime, containing sometimes as much as 90 percent of that essential element ingrain producing soil. My attention has been chiefly confined to the tide water region, because of the great facilities for ship- ment of produce to all the markets of the world, at the smallest possible cost. For altho' canals andrail- roads are indespensable to render the products of the Farmer and Manufacturer of the interior of any val- ue, they can never compete with the groat highways which nature has made. There arc in this State, now unoccupied, excellent lands, and unopened mineral and manufacturing resources, sufficient for the main- tenance of a population greater than that of the whole U. States at the presenl time. Andl am well convinced, there is no portion of the earth which of- fers fairer inducements to fanners and manufacturers, than this. I think it can easily be shown, that farm- ing here is more profitable, and pays a better inter- est upon capital employed in it, than in any other section of our country. This assertion does not rest upon conjecture, but can he readily proven from un- questionable data, which I can easily produce from farmers who keep accurate accounts of all their op- erations, and who while pursuing acknowledged tm- ' I ms, ::\\d have only begun to pursue an improving system at all, make from 12 to 22 per cent and upwards, upon the capital invested, alter deduct- ing every expense. One of the most intelligent and sctable farmers in the State, 'who makes no as- sertion without good data, told me that he could pur- chase lands in the marl region, and maki hun- dred per cent, in perpetuity, upon the capita! invest- ed, and I think his experience warranted the \- tion. I am aware that all this books like painting high, colors, but I assure you, I believe it to be sober truth, and invite intelligent farmers from the north- ern States, to come and see for themselves. A thorough examination will at least gratify them, and I can promise to any intelligent, respectable men, who desire to be informed, a reception by the farmers of Virginia, as cordial as they can desire. After much careful examination, I have chosen the country bordering on the James and York rivers, as offering the strongest inducements to those who de- sire to settle in this State — for here the soil is supe- rior to that of many of the more northern counties, and much of it equal in natural fertility, and suscep- tibility of high productiveness, to the very best in the worl !. Almost every where marl is superabun- dant. On the rivers lirne, for those who prefer it. is delivered on the farms, at 6i cents per bushel. The winters are so mild, that there is scarcely a week when the plows are stopped by frost. Cattle and sheep live well with very little provender, andl have no where seen finer cattle and sheep than here. The country is healthy, and as the land is more opened and timed, it will be improved in this respect. It is also well watered, abounding in lino springs and streams of pure water. Figs, pomegranites, peach- es, apricots, melons and apples grow in great per- fection, and ripen a month or six weeks earlier than in your country. Much cotton and tobacco are rai- sed in the southen counties, but most fane.: rs, who are beginning to improve, are confining their atten- tion to wheat and corn. The facilities for the shipment of grain from this region are equal to any, and superior to most. There is scarcely a farm in this region more than 3 or 4 miles from good navigation, and thousands that have good landings on them. A friend of mine is just now shipping his crop of red wheat, about 12,000 bushels, for which he gets 104 cts. per bushel, cash, at his wharf. Excellent lands in this region, most eligibly situated, and some of them on the rivers of surpassing beauty — often with good buildings and abundance of the finest timber, which can be shipped to the northern cities at. great profit — can be pur- chased at prices ranging from $5 to $50 per acre. In many instances the the timber judiciously manag- ed, may be made to pay for the land two or three times over. In tfie lower counties, the fine -1 oj sters, fish, wild geese, ducks, turkeys, deer and- other game abound. Those persons who are afraid to live on tide water, may find lands from 10 to 30 miles west of this town, of excellent quality for grasing or agricultural pro- ducts generally, in a very healthy country and with spacious buildings and fine im ;J, at prices ranging from $1,50 to win per acre. I make it a part of my business, and it will give me pleasure to impart to any who desire it. more par- ticular information respecting any section or tract with which I am acquainted. The owners have placed a very large number oi farms in my care for sale, many of which are very desirable and cheap. I desire those who are seeking new homes, to come and take time to examine the whole region thorough- ly— promising them all the aid in my power. — Sami<. S. Griscom. — Petersburg, Vet., 9 mo. \2lli, 1849. : ' THE GENESEE FARMER. 23b LANDS IN WESTERN N. Y. AND VA. -OOMPARA- TE VALUE OF RICH AND POOH SOILS. i:\ CALEDONIA, Ms. :;•. EciTOKSV- in perusing the GrENBSEE iced a communication from a corres- mt of Fairfax Co., Va., in which he Boli New fork to ei d ling West. The principal ned, are on the account of its i a: 3 s, 1 he low price of land, bli d cultivated. n •■ those of these first, magni- r; '.'in i: matters very Irttl Is are located, that will not tl n tl in the cultivator requires for Hence a good and convenient market it or utility, unless the lands will pro- bej ond wh ilturisl « ishes I .; on the other hand a good and con- the reatesl importance to who have productive lands, which not only intrinsic value, but renders them alwat leabl ft does not augment the price of unproductive land, by its being situated adjacent to waters :ultural purposes: but those Sands which are easily wrought, and on which good crops of all kinds grow in abun- dance, the facilities to market make very desirable: rly sought for, and will always com- mand good prices. There are some men whose means are compara- tively small, who think it injudicious and hazardous ase our best and most preductiue farms and pay a price corresponding to their productions, loca- tion, Sic. They will buy third rate land because it may be purchased for $20 or $30 per acre, and will not involve them in debt but a few hundred dollars; whereas, if they had bought the first quality of land, every foot of which is, or easily may be, under a high state of cultivation, it would make the debt as . thousands. Now from which farm would a judicious farmer extinguish the debt for his land from the low priced or the other? The $20 farm in the first place has an inferior soil by nature, and by tillage k lias becorno less productive than at ' . therefore, in consequence of the uncertainty or failure of a crop, the owner fails to pay even the hundred dollar payment which is due — and in the ncy of the erop, arising from the inferiority and .1 ; ctiveness of the soil, it deranges his irs, from which he seldom or ever . rs. The farm which is highly cultivated, can be relied upon; nothing to do but put in the harvest and market them; no expense in ing the land up, or in making repairs; every towards the extinguishment of been where two install- mentf I paid of one thousand dollars each, from the productions of our' year, which will extin- guish the. debt of sevei I thousand dollars in a few . and bis farm growing belter. In order to substantiate the above, I will state, thai 1 am acquainted with a farmer in this town who purchased a choice wheat farm some two years The farm contains 96 acres of improved land, and from € to 15 acres of timber. The pur- chase money amounted to $13,100. There was 85 acres of wheat on the giound, which he harvested, the sale of which amounted to $2,593 73 — reserving 105 bushels tor seed, and some 65 bushels for bread. The wheat was sold for 10s. id. per "bushel. The barlej nd the wo< amounted to >r77 37; which constituted all the for that year. The w h< ami ante to $2,76} 35. \\c kept an accurate account of all exp< uses for the year, 1 3 87; this inductee farm labor of all kinds, mechanics' bills, and family 1 • •. hich leavt 1 an from the farm of $2,237 18. And in addition to this lie had 7() acres i I growing for the next season, and the cosl of putting this m is includ id in the above expenses. The next i a he har- vested 15 acres less of wheat, but obtained a b yield. From the 70 a<-:vs he sold 2,006 bu sowed 11 7| bushels, and kept for bread 67 bushete. The wheat was sold for 9a. id. per bui bushels barley «t 4s. ; 100 bushels corn al 4 .: and 332 lbs. wool at 38 cents per pound. The for the second year were $2,634 92, and the ex- penses amounted to $492 83— leating a balance in favor of the farm of $2,1 t2 09. in the item of expensei there is included the putting in of 80 i of wheat which he has harvested the pn With this array of facte, which would be the most advisable for a cultivator of the oil. with only a few thousand dollars, to lay k out for a farm in this healthy and productive country, where the markets are convenient and good, or to goto Virginia and purchase those cheap lands which are so impover- ished, the productions of which at present but a little more than pay for cultivation ? Some four or five crops in this country will pay $55 or $65 pi r and pay the expense of growing the sain". I think I am justified in making the assertion that it will require some four or five years to put those worn out lands in Virginia under a tolerable state of cultivation, and at tire same time it is attended with much labor and expense. Caledonia, Liv. Co., A". F., *4vg., 1849. WIRE FENCES .-GROWING THORNS FOR HEDGES Messrs. Editors: — I see in the August number of the Genesee Farmer a communication of F. K. Mil- ler of Pa., recommending the setting of trees for the support of Wire Fences.. I have hud a similar Idea^^and would suggest, for that purpose, the use of theChesnut, as the wire will not corrode within that tree; and it may be continued through the whole line of the fence, by merely boring a hole of the requi- site size through the trees ively. Whether Chesnut posts will answer the same purpose Iain not certain, as I do not know whether the dry wood has the same preservative effects on iron with the living tree. I take the liberty of inquiring, if ft be in your pow- er to inform me. what is tlie contractive effect on wire of the cold of winter over the temperature of a hot sun in summer: that is, how much a piece of wire which is a rod long in the summer heat, will contract in the cold of winter! and whether the inconven- ience al the changes of temperature, may not be obviated by spiral steel-wye springs, at stated dis- tances, and at what cost ? 11. EL, of Seneca County, in recommending our ■ thorn for hedges, speaks of its ease of propa- gation "by seed." I have planted a great many of the berries or apples, but have never yet had one to spring from them. What is II. R.'s system by which he causes them to vegetate. L. — Tompkins Co., JY. Y., Jlug., 1849. 230 THE GENESEE FARMER. 0< Ije Jploro. — Its (Ijistoru cmif Improvements. No. pstln: ETZOIiVED IN THE CONSTBtTCTION AND OPERATION O? TilS PLOW. BY HORACE L. F.MCKY, OF ALBANY, N. Y. lower than the surface of the ground being p] v. Frxekd Moore : — As I some months since com- menced a series of notices concerning the Plow, and promised to continue them, I now forward you a few cuts, with my own explanations of the power and draft, as connected with the Plow. Having before written concerning its form and con- si ruction, I will now continue, with the remark, that probably few subjects are less correctly understood, not only by plow makers but by the plowmen themselves, (who of all others are most interested.) for as much depends upon the proper attachment of the power as upon the proper construction of the Plow, to cause it to do its work properly, and with the least expendi- ture of power of man and team. From the complex construction of plows, as also the manner in which circumstances oblige us to apply the motive power, many different theories and misconceptions have arisen as to the proper mode of application of the draft to effect the desired operation of the plow. To better illustrate the subject, a reference to the above drawing, with the explanations will be of service to all concerned. 1 . All plows, when in operation, meet with re- sistance, caused by friction in the soil, and which is increase! by the weight of the furrow-slice, as well as the tenacity of the soil or sward. 2. All plows, when in operation, have a right line of draft, (often miscalled center draft,) which may be defined by drawing a direct line from the fixed point of the motive power, (as for instance, the ring of the hames in the harness of the horse, or the ring of the yoke, with oxen,) to the center point, or place of the resistance of the work upon the mould- board of the plow, — or as may be seen in cut, from E to A or E to B. Were it not for considerations of convenience, a chain firmly attached to the body of the plow at A or B, in the direction of this line of draft to E, would answer all purposes better perhaps than the wood beam, as now constructed. Now, as the chain, if placed as above described, would obstruct the proper working of the plow, we are compelled to apply the power indirectly to pro- duce the desired c fleet — the power of draft being the means by which the end is accomplished; it is by the use of the present framework of the beam (con- nected firmly and unyieldingly to the body of the plow,) that the desired end and object is attained. Therefore, when the beam is constructed properly,' the effect produced by the application of the force at the point of the beam at C or D, is precisely the same as if attached to the chain, firmly fixed to the m uld-board at A or B, as before described. This much flu- the line of draft. The poinl or center of resistance upon the plow, is on the forward part of the mould-board, and a little and about midway of the width of the furrow slice. This cent?r of resistance is varied by circumstances, as for instance, let the plow in above figure b1 set into the furrow to the depth as represented by the two lines G and II, the center would be rear the point on the mould-board marked A. In this case, the draft is represented by the line A to E, and to secure the proper working of the plow, and j r - this line it becomes important that the force ! applied to the beam at the point C. But should the plow be set deeper in the ground, and as shown by the lines F H, the center of resistance would be higher up the mould-board, or at B, thereby chang- ing the line of draft from A E to B E, and requiring the power to be applied to the beam at the point D, instead of C, as before. From the foregoing, it will be readily seen, that the line of draft is changed as often as. the center of resistance is changed by deep or shoal, as also wide or narrow furrows; or as often as the point of draft of the team is changed by tall or short horses or oxen, long or short traces, or long or short yokes. In order, therefore, to preserve the line of draft, it is necessary to have an adjustable clevis at the end of the beam, that the plowman may regulate the same to accommodate the circumstances of the case. Should the plow incline to raise at the point, and require an exertion of the plowman to keep it down, it follows that the power is applied too low in the clevis to accommodate the line of draft; as for in- stance, the center of resistance being at B in the cut, and the attachment to the clevis being at C, the power beinjr at E, the plow would tend to rise at the point C until it intersects the line B E. This wcul 1 probably throw the plow out of the ground, or lessen the depth of its work. By the simple arrangement of the clevis, and attaching the power to the beam at the point D, the steady, easy and uniform m >t ion of the plow is obtained and preserved, and the same rule for regulating or applying the draft holds equ true in all cases, as width, depth, &sc. If a plow is properly stocked, the clevis givi the rariati wis to the extent of the square of Lh of the beam, is sufficient for all practical purposes; but as it often happens that from wi kill in the construction of the plow, or the condition of the land, or when two or three horses abreast arc used, or when it is desired to have the team work upon the solid ground in plowing bogs, kr,. it is all important that a clevis be so constructed that it may be susceptible of sufficiently wide range of variations. Many different kindB of attachments have been invented — some simple and good, while others are heavy, cumbrous, and inconvenii nt. The best now b ffore the public is that calle ! the Di with the 'raft rod, known as J. M. C. Armsbt's 1849. TIIK CJKNKSKK FARMER. *^:J7 of December, 1845. It is Btrong, instantly adjusted to any degree of nicety, and capable of a greater variation than any other kind, without the leas! en dangering the strength of itself or the other parts of the plow. Below are cuts showing the parts oi this detached, as also their application to the plow, with its use, as before explained, in obtaining and pre- serving the line of draft. C and K, fig. 1, shows plow with dial clevis with rod attached, and position of plow in operation, line of draft, kc, &c. A, fig. 2. The guide or movable plate which is confined across the end of the beam. B, fig. 2. The joint bolt and nut which confines the guide to the end of the beam. C, fig. 2. A section of the draft-rod passing through the guide, and to which the power is applied. Figs. 3 and 4. The cast iron cap fitting the end of the beam, and through which the joint bolt passes, and to which the guard is confined by means of the bolt, and cogs or teeth on it, fitting into ribs upon the guide. A, fig. 5. Shows the front view of guide, and head of bolt confining it. B, fig. 5. The back view of guide with splints or ribs which fit the cogs on the cap, as seen in fig. 4. This clevis is light as any ordinary clevis, and costs but fifty cents more than a common wrought iron one. The rod is made of the best wrought iron and extends back underneath the beam any distance, at the pleasure of As shown in fig. 1, it is attached at K, or near the coulter bolt. At an early day I intend to take up the subject of the public trials of. plows, as generally conducted, and show the advantages to be derived therefrom, as also to point out some of the errors and their cause, by which the public are often misled — also, their remedies. H. L. E.— Albany, JY. Y„ Aug., 1849. The Harvest in Canada is favorably spoken of by the Toronto Globe, which says : — The fall wheat harvest in this neighborhood is now almost gathered} and we are happy to say that the yield is most abun- dant— greater than for many years past. We hear of thirty, forty, and even fifty bushels to the acre on many farms. Onondaga Salt. — The activity in the salt manu- facture has not been surpassed in any former year. The quantity manufacti ted since 1st January, is giv- en by a Syracuse paper at 1,171,136.16 bushels, or an increase of 401,488.38 over the previous year. IMPORTANT DISCOVERY ABOUT PEAT. A DI8COVBRT has been made in Ireland which is likelj to be v important than the discovery of gold in California to America. It is s discovery which, if it be truly represented, must open in the United Kingdom mines of wraith worth a thousand Califomias— mines of wealth having these extraor- dinary properties, that all the cost of exploring them will be clear gain to the people, while the place from which the treasure is to be withdraw n will he en- riched by its removal. Lord Ashley's statement of the amount of valu- able materials into which 100 tons of peat was con- vertible— 100 tons of peat which cost £8, and the labor of converting it about £8 more, contained: Lbs. Value. Carbon of ammonia, -.2,602 £32 10 .' Se.la, 2,118 8 16 6 Vinegar,.. GOO 7 10 0 Naptha, gallons, .'30 7 10 0 Candles, 600 17 ID 0 Caraphcnc Oil, 600 5 0 0 Common Oil, 800 3 68 Gas, 8 00 Ashes, 1 13 4 £91 16 8 Mr. Owen, he said, had tried this experiment not merely on one hundred tons, but on thousands of tons of peat during the whole of the last tw months. He had expended his capital on it and had received his remuneration, and was ready to stake his character and fortune on the issue. He (Lord Ashley) wished to add, that after the peat was cleared away the soil beneath was found fruitful beyond all description, because it was absolutely sat- urated with ammonia ; and consequently, not only would the country be enriched by the conversion of the peat into valuable materials, but the soil itself would afterwards be found in a far more cultivata- bie condition. The introduction of steam navigation, railroads, agricultural chemistry, the application of the elec- tric fluid (itself unknown 200 years ago) to uses unimagined 20 years ajjo, and in many other new applications of physical power, afford pregnant proof of the Inexhaustible resources of material nature. If the above be true, says the New York Express, the discovery will be of immense advantage to the United States. There is already a handsome busi- ness done in Massachusetts and elsewhere in New England — and for aught we know in other parts of the country— in the cutting and drying of peat for purposes of fuel. New value will at once be given to this enterprise, should the above prove true. — Ex. Mediterranean Wheat. — A correspondent of the Winchester (Va.) Republican stntos that in that part of Virginia the Mediterranean wheat escaped rust better than any other variety. The wheat crop of Washington county, Pa., it is said, was not more than half an average yield this year, in consequence of rust. A good deal of the Mediterranean was bowo the past sea on in that count)^ and, notwithstanding the damage done to the other varieties, the Washing- ton Reporter says that "all of this," so far as it can learn, " has turned out well." Cheap Mode of Fattening Hogs — Allow them to run at large, and teach them to break into your neighbor's corn field every night. ^J 238 THE GENESEE FARMER. 0. CIRCULAR FROM THE PATENT OFFICE. We are pleased to receive the following circular, issued by the Commisioner of Patents. The enqui- ries are directed to the most important subjects, and are so framed as to elicit the principal facts relating to each. If properly responded to, as we trust they will be, they will bring out a mass of valuable infor- mation in regard to the agricultural resources of the different sections ef our country : — Thk Cotumissionkr of Patents, in execution of acts of Congress, desires to procure information from Planters, Farmers and others on the following, and any other points dial may occur to you, connected with agriculture : Wheat. — Your experience as to varieties, differ- i nee in weight, and of time in ripening ; enemies and diseases, soil and manures best adapted to. Oats. — What varieties have you tried and with what results, particularly as to the time of ripening ; with their estimated value as compared with corn as food ; is the cultivation of the oat becoming more or less popular, and for what reason ? Rye. — Have you knowledge of any new and valu- able variety ; to what use is it applied : have crops diminished of late years, without any apparently cor- responding diminution in the fertility of the soil, and to what influence is it supposed to be attributed ? Barley. — Have any new varieties been tried, and with what results ; to what uses is this grain applied in your State : if not cultivated, is it forbidden by your soil and climate ? Maize, (Indian Corn.) — What varieties most es- teemed and for what reasons ; what the difference in time of ripening ; is it liable to change of charac- ter and climate, and other influences, and your obser- vations on that point ; give the estimated value of the husk as compared with the blade, and of both as com- pared with good hay, weight for weight ; what is the value of green corn for soiling cattle, and espe- cially for producing milk ; your experience as to feed- ing grain, whole or ground, cooked or raw 1 Rice. — Variety cultivated ; describe any new and valuable process for its cultivation or preparation for market. (Note.) — As to all these grains, please state the cost of production and usual weight, and the probable average per acre and actual aggregate product, if known, of each in your State ; whether the average product per acre has increased or diminished ; wheth- er the weight per bushel of the various grains is fix- ed by law in your State ; and what weight is pre- scribed for each. Hay. — State the comparative value as food for stock, of clover, timothy and mixed hay ; the grass seeds preferred in laying down meadows ; the aver- ago yield per acre ; describe any new process in cur- ing ; have meadows been irrigated in your State and with what effect? Peas. — For what purpose cultivated in your State ; tor food or for improving the soil ; estimated value as food lor stock, compared with Indian corn ; the most esteemed variety for field culture : average pro- duct per acre : value of haulm or vines compared with other fodder ; average price per bushel in the last year. Root Crops. — Irish anil sweet potatoes, turneps, carrots, beets, mangel-wurtzel, artichoke, and other varieties; comparative value; qpst of production: weight per bushel; and the average per acre, and aggregate produce for your State. Cotton. — Average yield per acre and per hand in your State ; aggregate yield of the whole State for 1849 ; describe new varieties and processes of cul- tivation : manures best adapted to ; cost per pound or bale, of production ; freight, charges, commissions &c. paid by the planter. Sugar. — Whether of cane or maple ; the product per acre ; describe any new process of cultivation or manufacture ; variety of cane cultivated ; its ene- mies and diseases ; cost of making sugar : freight, charges, &tc, paid by the planter. Hemp. — On this head give any information that you may deem valuable and new as to varieties, processes of cultivation and preparation for mar- ket ; soil and manures best adapted to ; cost of pro- duction. Butter. — Quantity made in your State ; average annual produce per cow ,; are cellars or spring hou- ses preferred 1 Cheese. — Same questions. Horses and Mules. — Number raised in your State ; average value of each ; comparative value for farming purposes ; where is your market for them '. Number of Horned Cattle in your State ; average value of at three years old ; where driven to market : cost of keep.per head per year ; which of the impro- ved races is preferred 1 Sheep Husbandry. — What the prevailing races; what the condition of this branch of industry : am »un1 of wool clipped in the year, and average weight of fleece of different races; cost of keeping sheep through the year per head ; where your markets ; what your system of selling ; have you wool depots, and are they found advantageous for wool grower and manufacturer ; what number killed by dogs in 'your State ? Hogs. — Average weight at a given age ; average weight consumed per head ; proportion of live to nett weight, and cost of production per pound. Rain. — Time and degree of highest and lowest range of thermometer, and the mean temperature of the year ; also, inches of rain water in each month, and aggregate for the year. Labor. — Cost of, with and without boarding, and cost of boarding. Tar and Turpentine. — Quantity and value ' of, produced per hand. Plaster and other Fertilizers. Lime. — If used as an improver in your State, how much is thought to be best per acre, an I how often applied ] Orchards: fruits, transplanting of trees, »f*c. — Information on these and kindre I matters will be of universal interest. On the cultivation of the Vine, on Grapes, and American Wines, communications are particularly solicited. P. S. Please answer this as soon as convenient after you procure the information, and before the 1st of December ; and, in the mean time please nam one to whom this circular may be sent in the hope of fuller informrtidn. l( not room on the circular, please reply on a separate paper, referring distinctly to the queries. Thom\s Ewbank. Uwited States Patent Office, ) Commissioner. Washington, Jul;/, 1849. ) Attend your County Agricultural Fair, and take such animals and articles as will add interest and value to the exhibition. INI:). THE GENESEE FARMER. 230 DEATH CF MR BATES, AND SALU OF HIS HERD. i . (li \. Farm eh: Ulow me here\t ith to fur- nish you for I of a letti r I i i rivul of a rt Beli . I Kirkleavinj t< d, Ai . He n marl •■It is my painful duty, to announce to you, thai our late n fi iend, Thom is Bates, Ks. [., : ir '. His s] irit r. turned to God I ie 2Gth July last, after an aid of him, in his death, his country has t loss : mor arly its agricultural community, as he was a practical agriculturist of a ting mind and great experience, lie more parti< led in the si ience of br< eding, iallj in thi of sh< rt horn cattle. He zinced a livel} interest in this depart- . raid by nature he seemed highly qualified not to become conspicuous, bu1 successful, in this branch of his profession; and the result of his sixty rs of daily practical application, has, ! the question of a doubt, placed him in the ranks, < f the most successful breeders Eng ha: ever produced. . : reputation and standing of his ■■•.- herd of : hort horns is well known and ap- pr ciat< ■ '. 'i he | ublic will now have an oppor- tunity to ju ■ ir merits, as they will be oi . m, probably next, spring or summer. The time of sal \ is i ot yet fixed, bu i as it is, I will take the earliest opportunity of informing i intend offering part of my hen', and that of my brother ai the same tim -probably the number offered will amount to 1^0 head." Having myself, sold in your vicinity, as well as in other parts of the United States and in Canada, many sessing the blood of Mr. Bates' herd, I me the intelligence contained in Mr. Bell's letter will be highly ap] reciated by these gentlemen: allow me to ask its insertion in the Genesee Farmer. Geo. Vail. — Troy, JY. Y., Sept., 1849. Too Hot for the Apfles. — That, very hot week in June was a little too strong for many of the ap- ples in our vicinity. One hundred and one degrees 'ahrenheit in the shade, is a little too much free calorie for fruit of that description. It fairly cooked some of the outsiders, and hence in many orchards we have noticed a great thinning out of the fruit, which had set abundantly, and which promised to give an abundant crop. The crop must, of course, be not a very great one. Friend Cole we never have a great crop in "odd years.'" It is odd to have such hot weather in June as we have had this year, and it is odd to huve baked ap- ple* so sunn alter tin blossoming. This is an odd year to all intents and purposes, and the odds are against the apples. — .Maine Farm, r. Munificent Be^thst. — The late Mr. Theodore Lyman has bequeathed a legacy of $50,000 to the Reform School, at Westborough, .Mass., of which he was the founder. He has also given $10,000 to the Boston Farm School, of which he has been an active officer for several years, and $10,000 to the Massa- chusetts Horticultural Society, in whose labors he always took a deep interest. AM21UCAN BUTTER IN ENGLAND. Speaking oi American Butter, the London > mercial Journal has the following rem "At .i pi butter at Li\ erpo »1, ii (i ;, lied for bi , iindred and tweh eight j -four shillin \ :ond vent . two to bi venl . . ; aid; w hil< inl rior only sold at fortj -three shillings in ireel chiell) The quantity arrived at the London market shows the same i I rim ip d part bi ii The American makers of butter are very far behind the Irish, Engli b or Dutch; from the first opt ration to thi all se ms to be done without system <>r care; the same ma- terials would, if managed bj experienced bands, fetch in this market twenty-five shillings <>r thirtj more n i attention , tiling, king." Disagrei able to our national pride ■■< as the above statement i neverthe- less, lor the purpose of correcting the defects in American butter. It gives us pain to know that so many citizens of this free and enlightened ci "are behind the Irish, English and Dutch in making butter" — that where provisions arc so scarce and dear as in England, none will eat common •■Ameri- can butter," but it goes, ala . for soap grease! For the credit of our rural population, we invite all our readers to aid us in putting an extinguisher on the manufacture and exportation of mean and nearly worthless butter. The production of so much '"grease"' of this kind, is alike unprofitable ;• > the farmer and disreputable to the United States. The i vil is in truth as unnecessary as it is d I. It costs but a trifle more to make a firkin of clean, sweet, pure butter than one of rancid, curdy, filthy grease, tit only for the soap boiler. The former will bring a fair, remunerating price, (and it costs no more to transport it to Liverpool,) while the latter will hardly pay freight, insurance and commissioiv:. All the first rate butter and cheese which our enterprising dairymen can send abroad will be bought and con umed with avidity. Theyaregreal luxuries as well as valuable and wholesome articles of food. Rule for Constructing; Chimneys. — A very er- roneous practice prevails, among chimney builders, of contracting the passage for the smoke at the low- er part near the lire-place. "This," says Trt a "is like contracting the aperture or> a pipe which supplies a jet."' Chimneys, to draw well, should be contracted at the top. The rule for ascertaining the require:! degree of contraction is as follows: — Let 17 times the length of the grate, in inch( divided by the square root of the height of the chim- ney, in feet, and the quotient will be the area in in- ches, of the section of the aperture at the top ot the chimney. For example, a grate 15 inches in length, with a chimney 3fj feet high, to which the conti ing top is required — 17 multiplied by IS gives 255, which number divided by t;, the square root of 36, gives 42£ inches for the area of the top. Shoei.no Horses. — At i ; of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, some time since, Professor Sewel remarked, that he frequently found old horses shod with a lay< r of leather, forming an artificial sole between the hoof and the shoe, recov- ering from severe affections, causing injury to the hoof — such for instance, as contraction, brittleness, and cracks, or even diseases of the foot itself, as thrushes, corns, cankers, etc., and permanently re- gain their original elasticity and firmness. 240 THE GENESEE FARMER. 0< Pomesttc (Etononrg. LARD LAMPS. -IMPROVEMENT IN MAKING. BY A FARMER'S WIFE. Messrs. Editors : — Can you inform me where the lard lamps are manufactured ? (I mean britan- nia lamps (a) — those made of tin are liable to leak if set too near the fire, or from turning in hot grease.) My husband purchased one of a pedlar some five years ago, merely for the purpose of testing its value. We were very much pleased with it, but have never been able to purchase another. I have experimented a little with my lamp, and find it consumes less grease than a common mould candle, while it gives more light than two. It burns with a clear steady light, and if the grease is clean, and the wick properly trimmed, it will require no more attention during the evening. Tallow, or any kind of house greasa properly clarified, will burn equally as well as lard. I wish also to suggest a little improvement in their construction. Instead of removing the top when the lamp is to be filled, which with the utmost care is apt to disarrange the wick, there should be a tube on one side, rising as high as the top, to be secured with a screw cover. I have heard some object to the lard lamp on ac- count of the trouble of fitting and putting in wicks; but I have never heard these objections from persons who were ever obliged to make candles, clean candle sticks, or find their own lights. With clean grease a wick will last a month. I once burned one every evening for seven weeks, and I consider it less trouble to fill a lamp, (with a lamp filler, and no person who owns a lamp should bo without one,) than to take care of a pair of candlesticks, and snuff candles. Candles are necessary when a light is required only for a short time, as in the morning; but if a light is wanted during the night, by picking down the wick of the lamp it will consume but a small quantity of grease, and require no snuffing. They should be manufactured from the best of britannia, as that article requires very little polishing to keep it looking as well as new. Onondaga Hill, JV*. Y., Aug., 1849. (a) Mr. J. Kedzie, 11 State-st., Rochester, has a few Britannia Lard Lamps for sale. They are (or were formerly) manufactured at Auburn, N. Y. How to Render Cloth, Silk, fa-c, Water- Proof. — Take one pound, each, of common alum (sulphate of ahunica,) and sugar of lead (acetate of lead,) and dissolve them in six quarts of boiling wa- ter, well mixed by stirring. When cold, the top por- tion of the mixture should be poured off for use, as the sediment consists of sulphates of lead, potash, fcc. Any article of dress, no matter how slight the fabric, if well saturated with this liquid, and allowed to dry Blowly, will bear the action of boiling water, and not permit it to pass through it. To Preserve Clothes. — As clothes, when laid up for a time, acquire an unpleasant odor, which re- quires considerable exposure to the atmospheric air to remove, it can be prevented by laying lumps of re- cently made charcoal between the folds of garments; and even when the odor is already fixed, the charcoal will absorb it. To Clean Knives. — Charcoal, ground to powder, is one of the best things ever used for this purpose. llctcrinai'ji Department. Warts, Wens and Tumors on Animals. — Mix tar and salt, and apply them; continue the practice, renewing the application frequently, until a cine is effected. As a remedy for wens, some cast the animal and cut Cut the wen, then fill the cavity with powdered rosin and salt, well mixed; and carefully bring the skin back to its place and sew it up. Or wash the wen often, and for a long time, with warm vinegar, saturated with common salt. We have known large wens cured by warm salt water alone. Or put a hair seton through those that are not sitfasts, or a wolf on the jaw, when they appear to be ripe, and wash them daily in soft soap. For warts, cut them open, and apply blue vitriol, (sulphate of copper,) in powder. A physician was induced to try this, (and it was attended with excel- lent success,) from learning that a boy had many warts cured on his hands from sorting brass nails, from the influence of the copper in the brass. — Neither the cutting or the application is painful. Or apply to warts raw grated carrots, mixed with salt. Warts are sometimes cured by the application ol rits of turpentine, or lunar caustic. — Cole's Veteri- narian. To Cure a Biting Horse. — Biting is a bad and dangerous habit. It is said that the bite of a h ■ that is not mad will sometimes produce madness. The following is regarded as an effectual remi ; but it is to cure a savage habit. A horeo woul I ter burn himself than bite people repeatedly. Roast or bake a piece of meat, and present it hot as he at- tempts to bite. Be cautious lest he bite a piece of live flesh instead of hot meat. — lb. Gestation. — The time that animals go wft h J is called their period of gestation ; and this, as is well known, differs materially among the several kinds domesticated by man. Thus, the period of gestation in the mare is about 330 days-, that of the cow 280 days ; that of the sheep 154 days ; and that of the hog 114 days. A most extensive series of experiments on the period of gestation has been made at the governmental farms of France, andjon the farm of Lord Spencer in England. From these it appears that in the case of the mare and the cow, very great deviations from the average time occur- red, amounting in the extreme to nearly two months. In the case of the sheep and swine, the deviation was less, but still considerable. The times stated above are the average of the whole ; and will probably be found as nearly correct a guide for the breeder of these animals as the circumstances will admit. — Gaylord. The Time for Taking Sheep from the Pas- tures.— This must depend on the stale of 1 1 1* • v.. a- ther and food. Severe frosts destroy much of the nutriment in the grasses, and they soon after i to afford adequate nourishment. Long exposure to cold storms, with such food to sustain them, will ra- pidly reduce their condition. The only safe rule is to transfer them to their winter quarters the firsl they cease to thrive abroad. — Allen's Dom. Jlnimals. For Costiveness or loss of appetite, sulpher is a good remedy, given in a light mess, for swine. 1849. THE GENESEE PARMER. •J 11 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. EDITED !'.V P. BARRY. DESCRIPTION OF TWO NBW AND FINS PLUMS Mamki.om.i:, (Sagaret.) This is a curious plum, raised by Mr. Sagerbt, near Paris. It takes its name from its form — the French word mamelon sig- nifying nipple or peak. Wc imported it from France with the Heine Claude de Bavay, and some other new varieties, four years ago. This year a three year old graft bore a fine crop that W^ ripened with the Green Gage, about the 20th of '. hist August. With the exception of the remark- able nipple at the base of the stalk, it would pass for a good sized Green Gage. It is of precisely the same color, texture and quality, and the tree is quite similar, though rather more vigorous, and the shoots are more gray. Its unique, and altogether distinct form, with its excellent qualities, make it a very desirable variety. It is very productive. Rhine Clauds de Bavay. This rare and excel- lent variety was originated not many years ago, by the late Major Esperin, of Malines, in Belgium, an enthusiastic pomologist who has given us many fine wi titer pears — not yet gener- ally known in this country. — He considered this plum one of the finest of all his produc- tions, and from what we have seen of it we think it well worthy of a place with our finest sorts. — This is the first year we have had it in fruit, and we are not sure but ours is the first fruit grown in this country. The old Green Gage and Coe's Golden Drop have both been sent to England for this variety, according to the statements of Mr. Rivers ; but we have been fortunate in obtaining the genuine article from the beginning. Our fruit were produced on a graft set 3 years ago on one of the top branches of another tree. It bore about 30 well-grown specimens; be- sides many that were stung with the curculio and dropped. On vigorous trees we suppose it will attain a larger size. Medium specimens measured 5J inches in circumference; roundish, very slightly oval, resembles the Washington, with a well marked broad suture extending round one side. Stalk about half an inch long, in a pretty deep cavity. Skin pale greenish yellow, occasionally like the Green Gage, tinted with red when well expo in; thinly coated with whitish blue. in. Flesh yellowi firm, juicy, ric :h Ripens from the 15th to th nber -later than most of the fine plums, an I hence very vain Shool tely Btojt and Bmooth; leaves oval, y, and of medium Bize, not un i of the \ ellow Gage. dingly productive. Mr. Rn bi October, 18-17, and on the 12th of that month ate of the fruit produced on a dwarf star und r muslin, perfectly fresh and una! said the parent tree then was about 15 years old, and was covered with tine fruit; they wen- i, more numerous than the leaves. STATE FAIR AND POMOLOG-1CAL CONVENTION Engagements at home prevented us from reach- ing Syracuse until the last day of the Fair, and then we found ourselves in fact " a day alter the Fair " — for Floral Hall was being swept out for the great ball; and we were deprived of a sight, eve;:, oi th< fruits and flowers that had been colli i I 'd thi re from various parts of our great State. Th how- ever, has heen exceedingly unfavorable in all parts of the country, an I this rendered the show ] ried and extensive than it otherwise would I Still we are informed that it was very good, and great credit is due to the C fcruct- ed and arranged the beautiful tent. ' our readers to the reports of the (_' lor a detail of the exhibition. The Pomological Convention assembl City Hall. There was a fair display of fruits, con- sidering the season, and a numerous attendance of nurserymen and fruit-growers from various sections. Dr. J. A. Kennicot, of Illinois, was ch »sen Presi- dent, and B. Hodge, of Buffalo, and F. R. Elliott, of Cleveland, Ohio, Secretaries — Chas. Downing, of Newburg, S. B. Parsons, of Long Island, and P. Barry, of Rochester, a Committee to bring fruits before the Convention for discussion. During all the forenoon, an interesting discussion wassustaine I on such fruits as had not been passed upon by the Convention of last year. Among those who partici- pated in the discussion were C. M. Hovey, of Boston, Chas. Downing of Newburgh, S. B. Parsons of I , Island, B. Hodge of Buffalo, Jas. Dougull of Can- ada, J. W. P. Allen of Oswego, A. Saul of New- burgh, David Thomas of Aurora, fcc. We shall re- fer to the discussion at a future time. Among g tlemen of distinction from other States, we noticed C. M. Hovey, Esq. of Boston, Prof Mapes of [ Jersey, Hon. Adam Ferguson of Canada, M. 15. : ham, Esq. of Ohio, besides others from other State-. In the afternoon the discussion on frnit was con- tinued, and Dr. Wendell of Albany, introduced a res- olution, That a committee be appointed to attend the approaching sitting of the National Congress ofFruit Growers at New York, with a view to merging the two societies or bodies into one. We regret that we have not a copy of the resolution, it was well re- ceived and unanimously adopted. Reports from seve- ral State Committees were handed in, but not read. After raising a fund to defray the expenses of the Convention and the publication of its proceeding-, the meeting adjourned in the best spirit. The ses- sion was short, but pleasant, profitable anp harmoni- ous, as all such assemblages ought to be. 242 THE GENESEE FARMER. Oo, The American Fkuit Colturist— Containing directions fur the Propagation and Culture of Fruit Trees in the Nursery, Orchard and Garden; with descriptions of the principal American and Foreign varieties' cultivated in the United States. By John J. Thomas. Illustrated with 30 I accurate 6gures. Published by Derby, Miller & Co., Auburn, N. V. 12 mo.— 410 pages. Mr. Thomas' original little volume, " The Fruit Cylturist" published some three years ago, was well received and widely circulated among the farmers ami fruit growers, and has no doubt aided in diffusing much valuable information. The moment we first saw it we predicted its success and usefulness, because it was an unpretending, cheap little treatise, giving plain directions for the culture and manage- ment of fruit trees, with familiar descriptions of a few select varieties — just what was wanted by thou- sands of the country people, who had little or no experience in tree culture, and who have no relish for large volumes, high prices, or complicated scien- tific or technical details. We hope this enlarged edition will be equally successful. It has cost Mr. Thomas a vast amount of care and labor, for which we hope he will be fully compensated: but we confess that it disappoints us, and we apprehend will disappoint others. It is easy, we know, to find fault with, and suggest improve- ments, upon what may have cost long and weary days, weeks and months of thought and labor; and we reflect on this work of our friend with a great deal of reluctaace, and only because we are com- pelled to utter our honest convictions. We hope the book will appear to the judgment of others more favorable than to our own. The great error which Mr. Thomas has committed, and which w^e consider, has greatly injured his book, is the attempt to do too much — to compress a great -deal of matter in a very small space. If he had confined himself to his original plan, and enlarged upon it, treating only of cultivation in ail its branches, in full and explicit details, and of all the truly fine varieties worthy of cultivation in the garden or orchard — giving full and particular accounts of them in all resjjects— -then he would have given, us a book of great value, without a doubt— such a book as we have not at present. This was what we have expected of him. But in- stead of confining himself to this department, he has attempted to epitomise the whole subject of pomology, and make his book not only a manual for the mere gardener or orchardist, but a book of reference for the pomologist. This no man could do satisfactorily in so small a volume, nor should it be attempted. To show what an amount of superfluous and al- most useless matter there is in the volume, we will refer to the matter itself. Sixty pages are devoled to the descriptions of 250 varieties of apples— only 12 of these are distinguished by CAPITALS, as having been admitted as eminently worthy of culti- vation in many different parts of the country; 50 others are distinguished by small capitals, as being next in value and quality; while all the other 200 sorts are superce led or unworthy of cultivation. Sixty-seven pages are devoted to the mere description of 250 varieties of pears, only 11 of which are des- ignated by capitals, as above, and 22 in small capitals, while the other 200 are stated to be unworthy of cultivation, except in tin collection of the pomologist. Upwards of 100 varieties of plums are described, only 5 in large ct ritals, and 19 in small — leaving three-fourth i f the whole number among the indif- ferent or rejected sorts. Now we do not think thai. the mass of cultivators will feel much interested in these 200 apples, 200 pears, 75 plums, &c, fee, all superceded, or unworthy of cultivation in their grounds. Would they not have thanked him to have left them out entirely, or given them simply in a list, and to have given more complete and full ac- counts of those that he did honor with large and small caps ? For instance, the Swaar apple, which he says is "esteemed by many as the finest winter table apple." Instead of pointing out its particular excellencies and defects, and stating, as far as may be known, where, and under what circumstances it had, and had not succeeded, he very vaguely says, "not successful in all localities — fruit apt to be scabby on old over-loaded trees." A couple of pages might very profitably have been devoted to such a fruit as this. The cultivator ought to have been told how to remedy this production of "scabby fruit." The other leading fruits are passed over in the same unsatisfactory manner. The descriptions in Down- ing's Fruits and Fruit Trees are far more full and complete, and the particular excellencies and defects much more satisfactorily treated of — so that even the practical man must still refer to this book. . Mr. Thomas has, with a view to correctness, in- troduced certain descriptive terms that will not, for some time, be easily or well understood, except by *hosc who have had some scientific training. Some of his descriptions will read harsh, we think: for instance, the Beurre Knox Pear is described as " large, oblong-obovate, obconic, acute." The Gen- desheim pear is " large, often only medium, obtuse- pyriform, rather irregular, approaching obtuse-ob- conic." The Bonchretien Fondante is "roundish, slightly oblong, rarely short, obovate. obtuse." Such strings of scientific terms will appear as jargon to most people, and in our opinion will be more embar- rassing than advantageous. Accuracy and precision is of great moment, to be sure, but we like to see every thing in its place, and we think these "obcon- ics" have found their way into the wrong book. Full sized outlines of a number of the be^t fruits are given, but these do not, as in Downing's, accompany the text, nor is reference even made to them in it, so that they are of comparative little value for ready use. Comparative forms of a num- ber of apples and pears are given, in a scale one half the diameter; but unless to convey an idea of form, these are of no use, as no one who is not pes of some mathematical information and instrumi nts cun work out the natural size. We consider the whole outline matter as a great loss, or at least a great misapplication of labor. As a work of reference for the nurseryman or po- mologist, we consider the book still more defective than for the cultivator, as there is a lamentable want of that detail of synonyms, history, local value, Sec. Mr. Downing's descriptions are here much more valuable; not perhaps in the correct description of the fruits — Mr. Thomas' descriptions are exce d precise — but in the historical and other important detail. For instance, take the Golden Beurre of Bilboa Pear. Mr. Downing tell us that it was im- ported L8 years ago from Bilboa, Spain, by Mr. Hooper, o!' ass., and that its Euro name is unknown. Mr. Thomas says, "a native of Bilboa, Spain." By the way it took us a long time to tin, I this variety in Mr. Th mias' index, as he has it, " Bilboa, Golden Beurre of" -instead of "Golden Beurre," or "Beurre Golden," which we naturally . THE GENESEE PARMER. berries. Mulberries and JYuta, th hard] . iiltivated, are left out . Pomegranate*) Olives, Oran i parts of the Unite I Si . - .. i: . ■ to the plan compel us to think b good intention to make a book that would be valuable and acceptable to all, w ill be (>f very partial utili- ty I » : ie matter ofthebook, we have no1 ie examination. The fiM part, of 1 00 pages, treating of "General princi- ry good — better we think, ne part of any other bee!; of the kind we have. It contains the latest e * of the au- thor, and culih merally, j eaned from the eriodicals of tin1 day, arranged in a compact and ient manner. This part of the book will be h much more to the cultivator than all the rest, a d will not be too dear at the price of the book," for those who are withou in tho*e matters. We oticed a f v rrors I ! at il would not be proper On pa- in speaking of the application of the pollen of one flower to the stigma of another, but, is u e I generally as synonomous with budding. This is a 1 rifling error but worthy of correction. The classification of the different varieties strikes us as very trood. It is the same as that adopted in some European treatises. A pples are separated into t'iree divisions — Summer, Autumn and Winter; eac' division into two classes, sweet and acid; each cl:.ss into two sections, color striped with red, and color not striped. This last division of color we have not met that we remember in any other book, an I although not objectionable, will be of litttle service. We think the distinctions would have read correctly in this way, "color with more or less nd "color without red" — because some apples are wholly red or washed with red and not "striped," those "not strip 'il'* might be wholly of any color, like Black Detroit, or Red Astracan. Pears ■anged in three divisions, Summer, ■ hx lumn and Jf inter. Each division into three classes, "Distinct Pyriform," "Obscure Pyriform," and "Ronudishor Oblate;" each cl iss, into three sections, large, me- dium, and small. In a scientific work these would be very well ; but for pra< deal u^:^<. the divisions, as ing and uses, table orcooking, would be more simple and valuable. The cooking varieties shoul 1 certainly be classed separately, as they have now I i to numerous and distinct, an 1 the dis- tinct'' , d by all cultivators. The article on pruning is quite meagre and faulty, particularly that " t te fruitfulness," " pyramidal trees." At the present moment' these two branches of pruning are among the most inter- esting subjects connected with tree culture, and Mr. Thoi lid but very little about them, and that little is neither explicit nor correct. We could ex- tract an article from a late number of Hovey's Mag- azine worth ten times as much. Indeed Mr. Thomas is evidently in the dark on this subject. No man, however much he ma) have read or thought on the subject, or how intelligent he may otherwise be, can communicate intelligible or reliable information on pruning, until h I his knife for a long time, and observed well and extensively the efle< I tion. The- pruning of pyramidial trees, and pruning to promote fi . require care, skill and caution, and if directions arc given they should be fully and explicitly stated. We shall have more to say on this subje.-t at another time. hi speaking of the culture of dwarf pears, page 1!)6, it is tated that theorange quince had proved the besl ock. Now this is a great error. A similar statement was made by Mr. Downing some two or three years ago, in the Horticulturist, and the confi- placed in that Journal induced the general be- lie! that this was so ; consequently a great many nur- serymen commenced raising seedlings of the orange quince to work the pear, and in most cases that we know of it has proved a failure. A neighborof ours, an excellent nurseryman, tried it, and had to pull up and throw away his young trees at two years old. He would not impose on his customers by selling them, and he is now supplying his nursery with the French stock. This is an error that will lead to serious con- sequences we apprehend, and wo are astonished that Mr. Thomas' great caution should have led him to hazard such an opinion. There are many little matters through the book we should like to notice. For instance the Carna- tion Cherry is described as "yellowish white, mot- tied and marbled with fine orange red ; leaves re- sembling those of a heart cherry." When mature the Carnation is light red, marbled with deeper red, and the leaves are distinctly of the Duke or Morelb classes, though large. There is an indefmiteness about the terms used to denote the seasons of the ripening that will not be found convenient to everybody. Instead of saying " wheat harvest," "autumn," "mid autumn," "ear- ly," "late," "rather late," "season medium," fee. we would greatly prefer to have the months or parts of months designated. It would take some people a considerable length of time to figure up the exact date of "wheat harvest," "mid autumn," or "medium season." Iri the latter end of the book we find a chapter on the pronunciation of foreign names, or rather a half way attempt at anglicising them. Eeurre is here made to rhyme with hurry — thus, "hurry." This is quite new indeed. We should be much pleased to have all foreign names anglicised, if it could bo done properly ; but until we can have an English name in reality, let us have the true French pronunciation, I in books. We tre.st that what we have said will deter no one from purchasing this work; for, although it is not what we expected, nor what, in our humble opinion, it ought to be, it. is a book of great value, and we hope will find its way into the hands of every pro- fessional and amateur cultivator in the country. It but a dollar and there is many a dollar's wort!) of useful matter in it, not in other similar works. This much we feel it our duty to say. Transplanting. — Autumn transplanting is to be preferred for all hardy trees and shrubs, except when soil may be wet as in the very northern extremities of the United States and Canada. Trees planted carefully — properly, as soon as re- moval is practicable, will be nearly a year ahead of those not planted till the following spring. 244 THE GENESEE FARMER. Oct. THE BAILEY (OH EDGERLY) SWEET APPLE. BY r. K. PHOENIX, OF WISCONSIN. Mr. Editor: — Yon published not longsince an out- line and description of a fine sweet apple from Perry, Wyoming Co., N. Y., which you called the "Bailey Sweet"— stating on, "good authority," that it origi- nated with C. P. Bailey, Esq. of that place. Hav- ing been acquainted with that fruit for the past 18 years, and esteeming it very highly, I have propa- gated it extensively in my nursery, and not being able to identify it with any book variety, I have felt very desirous of ascertaining its origin. Last fall when at the east, I stopped some time at Perry, my native place, and while there took much pains to trace out the source of this fruit, but could only learn the following facts: They first appeared in the orchard of T. Edgerlt, Esq. and his father in that place, from scions set 25 or 30 years since by some traveling grafters. Where they came from, or where they obtained that fruit, was alike unknown to my informant, Mr. E. Ed- gerly, a brother of T. Edgerly. Hence you will ob- serve that it did notorigiuate with Mr. Bailey — who, however, afterwards came in possession of the orig- inal orchard, and being a zelaous amateur horticul- turist, and withal very liberal, disseminated it widely — and to whom therefore, the public is much indebt- ed, as also to the Messrs. Pattersons of the same town. I have called it the Edgerly Sweet as first appearing with that family, and as having been so call- ed to a considerable extent in that vicinity — though known by both names. Having given you the facts you can judge for yourself which is the correct name. I fully acquiesce in the character given' it in your description. It is by odds the finest sweet apple I ever saw of any season. The trees are productive and in the nursery very hardy and thrifty, and gen- erally upright, though slender, and on poor soils some- times straggling. Wood remarkably dark. F. K. P.—Delavaii JYursery, Wis., Sept., 1849. This apple has been described under the name of " Baily Sweet," and considerably disseminated since under that name. That name was adopted because in most general use. We do not think that any oth- er could be adopted now, with propriety. — Ed. Notes on Cherries. — We consider cherries that ripen during the last of July and first of August very valuable. Some people think that because the cherry season is short, it is not important to select varieties with regard to their season of ripening; but they are greatly mistaken. If we are to have a dozen cherry trees, instead of selecting only two or three popular sorts, such as Black Tartarian, Yel- low Spanish, Black Eagle, Knights Early Black, Elton, he. — all first rate to be sure, but ripening about the same time, or varying not more than a week — we should make some such selection as the following: Bowman' s May, or Early Purple Guigne, both very early, (say 10th to 15th of June in this re- gion,) and about equal in quality, May Duke, Knignf& Early Black, Black Tartarian, Elton, Napoleon liigarreau, Belle de Choisy, Sparhawk's Honey, Downer's Laic Red, Elkhorn, Belle Mag- nifique. Here we have a dozen trees that will sup- ply fruit from the tenth of June (in some seasons earlier,) until the middle of August; and if we would add one or two late Morellos, we might extend the cherry season nearly three months. PEAR TREE BLIGHT. Mr. Barry : — Having witnessed the effects of Blight in pear trees, and the almost certain destruc- tion of them in our immediate region, I have taken no small pains to enquire of growers of them in dif- ferent localities near us what the cause was, and remedy, if any. Premising that the pear tree natu- rally is a lopg lived one, I have found that where they have been grown in land where the grass has been suffered to remain in heavy turf aroend them, in close, compact, heavy soil, little if any blight has been seen. This culture prevents a too rapid growth of the young and tender shoots, consequently the hot sun's rays does not check the circulation of the sap, to burn and blight them. I find many persons who say that trees of theirs, growing under these circum- stances, rarely blight; while others, who dig round the roots and give them strict attention, only find disappointment in blight. I am satisfied that had I not spaded round a large tree this season, around which I found the earth had packed and grass well grown and matted, that I should not have lost it. My advice is to plant the trees in good heavy soil and pack it round, even to stamping down, and then put leached ashes around them. Then we shall have slow growing, long lived and sure bearing pear trees. I should be glad to have some one or many give their experience in this matter, and tell the public through the Farmer, whether I am right or wrong in my conjectures. James H. Watts. — Rochester, JY. Y., August, 1849. Remarks. — We shall be glad to hear the expe- rience of fruit growc rs on this point. The same view has very genei ally been taken of blighi A connection has been supposed to exist between » ip- id growth and blight, but from very extensive obser- vation we are inclined to doubt it. We have seen old and slow growing trees, on hard and dry soil, just as much affected as rapid growers on a damp soil. One thing however is true, that it is more difficult to save a tree growing rapidly when it is attacked, on account of the more rapid circulation of the juices, and consequently the disease. As far as our observation has extended, there has been very little blight this season. Indeed we have seen none what- ever in any of the nurseries here— nor in private gardens, except in cases where trees had been pre- viously attacked. It is evidently disappearing. Culture of the Plum. — "An old Digger," in the Horticulturist, says: " I'lum trees like a moist soil. [ have found that covering the ground four inches deep with old spent tan-bark, is a good way of pre- serving the moisture, and keeping the tree in hi I scatter fresh lime thickly over the surface of the tan every year, as soon as the green fruit begins to fall. This kills every curculio that attempts to enter the ground. The tan prevents the weeds ln>::i growing, keeps the roots cool, and insures m > good crops of plums. 1 spread it as far as the roots ex- tend., and it wants renewing, or adding to, once in three or four years." Fruit Treks may be transplanted successfully, in this and most other sect ions, any time from the 1st of October until the ground is frozen. The trees should be well secured, and a few inches of manure or litter spread around the roots. 1819. the !v Co. for a copy of "The Vmerican Fruit Culturist," bj J. J. Thohas. See review ofth page 242. To the proprietors fora " Desiripii v<> Catalogue of Garden Li d cultivated at the Wethersfield (Conn.) Seed Garden, by Cow i < e, Teri b, »V Co. " — containing much useful information on gardening, &c, &c. To the proprietor for .■■ Catalogue of Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Shrubs and Plants, cultivated and lor sale by Daniel Mil- Jr., :<'. the Cumberland Nurseries, near Carlisle, Pa." To the Secretary for the "Third Annual Report of the ling Co. (Ohio) Agricultural Society" — containing tlic Address of John M. Edwards, Esq., and other in teres t- latter. To several unknown friends for pamphlets and papers embracing reports and proceedings of various Agricultural Societies, &c. &c. Obituary. — It is with much regret that we announce the recent decease of several prominent and ardent friends and promoters of agricultural improvment — men who have accom- plished much for the benefit of mankind and their country. Among others, we notice the death of Henry Colman, Esq. author of " European Agriculture and Rural Economy," ; n I formerly editor of this journal ; Elias Phinnky, Esq. of Lexington, Mass.; Dr. II. Gates, of St. Louis, Mo., senior editor of the Valley Farmer, and formerly editor of the Iowa Farmers' Advocate : Col. Edmund Kirby, of Brownsville, Jefferson Co.. N. V. ; Hon. E. Mack, oflth- ica, N. Y. ; and Theodore Lyman, of Boston. We regret that lack of space prevents a more particular notice in our nit number. in ii/ruRAi. Fairs. — So far as we lia\e ascertained the Agricultural Fairs held in the month of September, have been unusually well attended. We have only received full reports from two or threa counties. The Livingston County Show, held at Geneseo on the 4th and 5th, is described as being all that could be expected from the farmers and friends of improvement in that noble agricultural district. The ex- hibilion of stock was highly creditable — the best, probably, ever witnessed at any County Fair in the State. The Monroe Co. Fair is being held to-day, (Sept. 26.) Though only stock, implements. &c., are exhibited on the first day, the number of people in attendance is much greater than at any previous Fair of the Society. The cat- tlo, horses, sheep and swine are better and more numerous than we anticipated. The display of implements and ma- chines is good, as usual. Among the latter we notice that our enterprising friend Emery has his Railroad Horse Power and Thresher in operation and working to a charm. Credit. — The wholesale manner in which the Farmer is 1 from, and no credit given, by several agricultural and other leading and influential journals, induces us to again protest against the neglect or unjustness of those who thus appropriate the labor and property of others. We observe in the Working Farmer for August, an article on " Agricul- tural Education." by our able correspondent Agricola, credited to the Washington Republic. As it originally ap- peared in the Farmer, we ask the usual credit — though wo are glad that an article so able and important is receiving such extensive circulation. We have some twenty different journals now on our table, which contain articles originally published in the Farmer, (soiw of which cost us and our correspondents much time and labor) without the least ac- knowledgement. To promote the cause we are very glad to have our articles copied ; but when editors who boast of their talents and enterprise make use of our humble lucu- brations,-to enhance the value and popularity of their res- pective journals, we respectfully submit whether they are not unacquainted with, or heedless of, the commands of the Decalogue. Nhe List of Premit: s awarded at the Slate Fair in Sy- racuse, was received so late that we are unable to publish it all this month. We make room for n part of it, and will endeavor to give the remainder in our next. Agricultural Sm>\>s. — Annual fairs ty Agricultural Societies are to !"■ held lows : — < hemung County, Delaware " Genesee " Niagara " Onandaga " Scoria " •' \\ yoming " Yates " Maryland State, Middlesex, Mass. Mahoning Co. Ohio, Clinton " " Ross " " Licking " " Delaware " " Horse Hi ads. Delhi, Bate via, Lockport, Syracuse, Ovid, Greenport, Warsaw, Penn Van, Baltimore, Concord, Canneld, Wilmington, Chillicothe, Newark, Delaware, of State und Coun- ting month as fol- Ocfc 17 and 18. Oct, 3. Oct. 4 l.-iid 5. Oct. 16 und 17. < )rt. H, 'J and 5, Oct. 4 and ."). Oct. 2. Oct 2 and 3. Oct. ■> and 6. Oct. 10, I Land 12. Oct, :i. Oct, 2 and 3. Oct. 17,18 and L9. Oct. 5 and <:. Oct. :j and I. Oct. 2 and 3. SEEDLINGS, for Sale at the Geneva Nursery. PEAR. Plum. Cherry, Apple Quince, Mountain Ash, Horse Chesnut, Buckthorn. &c. SEEDLINGS and SEED of the above trees for sale at the Geneva Nursery. Also, all kinds of Fruitand Ornamental Trees, Shrubbery, an ' Vines for sale. Geneva, Ont. Co., N. Y. [10 3m*] XV. G. VERPLANCK. Nursery Fruit Trees for Sale. ffiwwgj THE undersigned has from fifteen to twenty thousand cui- igyjqBtivated Fruit Trees, lit for transplanting into orchards and — ™=*gardeus. for sale on liberal terms. There are over one dred of the choicest varieties of Apple, Pear, Peach, (berry and Plum Trees, in his collection, that can be found in this country. All orders from a distance will receive prompt attention. MOSES LONG. No 29, Alezai - Rochester, N. Y., Oct. 1. [10-2m] Seedlings for Sale. THE Subscribers, proprietors of the Old Castle Nurserie neva. N. v.. have for sale 50,000 Quince Seedlings, 15 to 20 inches high, $10 per thousand. 50.000 Cherry do. ' 8 to 10 •■ •• 8 •• 40^000 Pear do. 8 to 20 " l< 10 ,: '■- 20,000 Plum do. . 8 to 15 " " 10 •'■ '• 20,000 Apple do. 2y'rsoKl nice for grafting $5 per 1,000. They cultivate extensively, and have for sale the rare and ap- proved varieties of Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Also. Buck- thorn. Hawthorn, &o , for hedges. All orders promptly attended to. Trees sent a disianc" well packed and delivered at the railroad depot. T. C, MAXWELL. Geneva, N. V., Oct. 1, 1849/ [10-2m] To Nurserymen. THE Subscriber offers for sale 20.000 Seedling Plum Stocks 2 years old, at $8 per thousand. 10,000 Seediing Plum Stocks. 1 year, at $5 per thousand. 10,000 Teav Stocks, f-'cedlings. 2 years old, transplanted and very fine, at $15 per thousand. The above are in fine healthy condition. Orders per mail paid) will receive prompt attention. Ad Rochester, N. V. [10-lm] EDWARD DAGGE. Notice— Seedlings ForSa'c. f?f\ f)A/\ Apple Seedlings, of three years growth, for OU,UUU by the Subscriber. " Walworth, Wayne, Co. N. Y. Price £3 per thousaud. EL1AB YEOMANS. [10-ltJ Removal to No. 21 Bufialo.st., Talmaa Block. C. HENDRIX & SON. Wholesale and Retail Dealers in Iron, Steel, Nails, Spikes, Shelf and Heavy Hardware House trimmings of all kind;, as cheap as the cheapest. Rochester. Oct. 1, 1849. [10-3t] E. BALDWIN, ENGRAVER FROM NEW YORK CITY, Having taken room No. 15, 3d story, Arcade Rochester N. Y., lately occupi- ed by John Miller. Ls prepared to execute all orders for KK GRAVING, With neatness and despatch, and re- spectfully solicits a share of public patronage. Sons of Temperance, Odd-Fel- lows', and other-seals engraved to order. 246 THE GENESEE FARMER. Oct. JUST PUBLISHED, BY DERBY, MILLER AND CO., AUBURN, THE AMERICAN FRUIT CULTURIST, BY J. J THOMAS. AGKE VTLY enlarged and improved edition of the Fruit Cul- tural, containing more than triple the matter of the former edition?, having been wholly re-written, so as to embrace essentially ALL THE VALUABLE INFORMATION Known at the present time, relative to FRUITS AND FRUIT CULTURE. It contains more than THREE HUNDRED ACCURATE ENGRAVINGS, And will include condensed and full descriptions of all fruits of a rjl oi celeb rity cultivated or known in the country. To prevent confusion in a numerous list of varieties, careful nt- t :n1 on has for years been given to effect the clear and systematic .. -incut adopted in this work; and further to enable the rea- der to know at a glance, the various grades of excellence, the i;i: lity is di signated by the size of the type used for the name. The numerous figures of fruits arc EXACT IMPRESSIONS Of average specimens. The descriptions have been prepared in nearly every case, from the fruits themselves ; and to distinguish fixed from accidental characters, careful comparison has been ex- tensively made with specimens from several different states, and with the descriptions in the best American works on Fruits. To determine the qualities as adapted to different regions, assis- tance has been largely furnished by a number of the most eminent pomologists of the Union. The whole forming a handsome duodecimo volume, of over 400 pageSj at the low price of One Dollar. The work belongs to the author and is not traded. A liberal discount is made to' Booksellers. DERBY, MILLER &. CO.. Oct. 1.. 1849. [10-3m] Publishers, Auburn, N. Y. (tfj- The above work just received and for sale at the office of the Genesee Farmer. It can be sent by mail. Price $1. Macedon Nursery. THOMAS WRIGHT, successor to William R. Smith, (whose ill health compels him ;to relinquish the business.) has pur- chased the entire stock of this well known establishment,, for y. hich he has hitherto acted as Agent. The design of the origi- nal pioprietor, " to furnish the community with the best varieties of fruits." will be constan+ly kept in view. The stock of trees is now large, and will be sold at the- Nursery at the following reduced prices, viz: 6.000 Apples. $18 per hundred; $18 when delivered. 1,000 Pears, $35 per hundred. 3,000 Cherries. $25 per hundred. I Teaches, rare kinds. $10 to $12 per hundred. Apple, Pear, Wild Plum, Quince, &c.,by the thousand. Apricots, Nectarines, Plums, Filberts, Quinces, Chestnuts Wal- nuts, Strawberries, Grapes, &c, &c, at very moderate rates. A great variety of Ornamental Trees and Rosas and other Plants are offered at 50 per cent discount from the usual prices. Imme- attcntion will be given to all orders accompanied by cash or satisfactory reference. •dace I n. Wayne Co.. 9th mo, 1149. [10-lt] Valuable Farms m Eastern Virginia. NO. 38. 230 lores in Prince George, S miles south of Peters- burg, in the Mar! region— 50 acres cleared 75 acres of fcini- h, with much excellent heart Pine. Price •1 miles from town, mar the railroad, all in Price $10 pi : No. 40. 286 ai I mes River, 3}£ miles from Smith! i le of Wight county, beautifully situated; good dwellin out-buildings, within 200 yards of the landing, where the finest fish are e eught all the year, excellent oyster ile.ts. &c; gooi and Peach orchard.-: a most desi 'able place r the - markets. Price $3,600. No. LI. 240 acres 20 miles west of Richmond, with two large dwellings- the land is good and the situation very healthy ( • e sol I v< ry low. No. 42. 426 acres half open, in Charles City, near an exc wharf on James River, where steamboats stop daily, and very near-- of Jersymen. Thebuildi.i and the land ; i ii I ] er acre. No 43, 400 acres in Gloucester county with good hou out buildings, 200 acres cleared; marl in ever] heavy timber, within two miles of a good landing. Price No. 44. 533 acre i < a Pamunkey river, in King William county. ired -much of the balance heavilj timbered with w hite oa ' : ; I ■' at .-. great bai ■ No. burg— 150 acres the bal ein adow laud, well watered with I - ; good dwelling end out bou mile coad 2 701 No. Ii publio road from Petersburg to Surry, ■ and part of it now productive of . ,, ■- ,i cotton; plenty of good marl, bui comfortable, l'rico $3 per aero. Also an ad- joining proj eny with 1 etter buildings. No. 47. 220)4 acres 15 miles south of Petersburg, on a public stage road, all in very heavy heart pine of superior quality, hick- ory and oak— the soil is excellent; plenty of cleared land"', an be had adjoining— it is 3 miles from the Railroad. Price $1,000. No. 48. 521 acres, about 200 acres in cultivation, all mailed and producing fair crops, good brick house and good out buildings: marl in the greatest abundance; much good timber and wood It is bounded on one side by a navigable creek; is only 2 miles from a good wharf on James River, where steamboats stop every day, and 2 miles from Surry Court House. Price $3,500. No. 49. 600 acres. 1 mile from Surry Courthouse, 4}.£ miles from James River; 300 acres open, all marled, most in clover, and now productive of good crops of wheat and corn; good 2 story dwelling; abundance of marl; . ood springs; much good timber and wood. Price about $5,000. No. 50. 500 acres, all in wood, adjoining the above; it will cut 30 cords of wood per acre, and is within 1)4 miles of a landing Price $3,000. No. 51. 585 acres adjoining the above; 150 acres open: 250 in virgin growth. 1% miles from Surry Courthouse. It is well watered, rnd has abundance of marl; a public road divides the tract, and each part has au old house upon it. Price $4 per acre. No. 52. 793 acres. 3 miles from Cabin Point, and 5 miles from James River; 250 acres cleared; plenty of good marl; a good 2 story dwelling and out buildings; a good mill seat and old mill; much good timber and wood. Price $5,000. No. 53. 470 acres, 4 miles from Surry Courthouse, adjoining Swan's Point on Jn.iues River; about 150 acres in cultivation, all marled; plenty of marl; a good landing on Cross Creek, which bounds one side of the farm, dividing it from No 48. Game and fish are abundant. An excellen two story dwelling, out houses and garden; good springs. &c. Price about $3:500. No. 54. 724 acres near Williamsburg. Va ; 400 acres hi oak and pine timber, on a navigable stream; abundance of marl. Most of the open land has been improved, and produces good crops of corn, wheat, clover, Sec, &c. The buildings are comfort- able; terms accommodatiug. Also, a valuable Manufacturing Mill within six miles of the above land. No. 55. 7000 acres oa James Fiver, in Charles City county, near 3.000 acres in cultivation, and highly improved. The soil is of first quality, and now bears from 25 to 30 bushels of wheat; 50 to 60 bushels of corn per acre. There are numerous dwellings, barns and mills, all in excellent order. The timber is unsur- passed. Upwards of 3,000 acres are in virgin growth, of excel- lent white oak for ship building, and heart pines of the largest size and best quality. Many of the trees being from 3 to 4 feet in diameter, and from 50 to 75 feet to the first branch. This estate fronts on the James River for 6 to S miles. There is an excellent wharf, where vessels drawing 10 feet water, lie afloat at low tide; and the steamboats to and from Baltimore. Norfolk, Petersburg and Richmond stop daily. This estate is worthy the attention of agriculturists, ship builders and lumber men. It will be sold eith ther or in portions to suit purchasers. and the terms will be very accommodating. A map of the whole will soon bo prepared. No. 56. 213,1i acres, about half in cultivation, and in gi dor, 1 mile from Surry Courthouse, and 3 mile? trom Carti Wharf, on James River, where th everyday. It has on it 1,000 cords of wood, within ]': miles of a good landing; plenty of marl. The buildings are in good order. The dwelling is 30 feet square, with 2 rooms end a passage on the lirst fl rooms above and a finished b see lis from New Vork, Sec, con b • i y spring for early fruits, po ■ I - Price 'ilie subscriber earnestly invites the attention of his - anp all who are seeking new homes an end others which he has in his care. Believ- this region possi p irt of the United States, in climate, soil, low .'-■■■ ■ ■ to the in ination. and every aid in his power. ' I - ' -- will be prompt! ■ . M. ;:oe Nursery, RIDGE " ' SIX RULES WEST OF RO HESTER. '"PHE nudersigned. proprietor of the above well known i jL lish rto friends and the public for their li offer i this fall, a complete : ly that he has a larger Bt iiurse. d correct. His Cherry Trees are particular - . bis Bt ich pn ■ » here. ■ : . by him [10 2 BA«S!- at 13 BoffaJo-Street. Id ■ . i oily call th - ition of farmers, millers, forward! re, &c: to j BAGGING. 1 have every variety of Bags from 18c. upwards. Call and be satisfy I, Us< I rtment of Halter B . end Twine of evi rj desi ription E. C. Wii.i I [9-tf] ' handler and Sail Maker. No. 12 Buffalo-st. 1849. THE GENESEE PARMER. 247 BnfiMo Nursery :wnl Horticultural Garden. ga& THE Proprietor i F lb old ■ 0RNAM1 NT \l. — &~ . • il healthy. I lis •• I a props- grow- ing on his own groi ni spy. I: • ■. ^'- . See bj the thousand at !',y irf Pel '■ of beautiful troi s 000 Po '-li 'i oe and free from all dlsea of the Plum, Pear Vprioot, Nectarine, .Quiuco, and all the The assortment of Ornamental Trees, Flowering Shrubs, iV<-.. le article. Annual importations i Europe "i new and rare varieties of Prnits, Roses, v.1 itiui-c and ' . he quantity . I at low Ordi I Inquiry will receive ition. Every article carefully labelled, securely : and forwarded agreeable I" order, and with the least pos- {Jjj- Descriptive ratalogues sent gratia to all who apply (post i .ii i.) and every article will be sold at the lowest nursery ; Bulla!... N. \ '.. Sept. 1. 1849. B. HODGE. Walwoilh Nursery. GREAT INDUCEMENTS TO PURCHASE FRUIT V^i? TREES.— 1 propose to sell at my extensive Nursery about ! thrifty grafted Apple ["rees four years old. at very reduced prices by the thousand. Being engaged in other business that requires mostly my attention the present season. I am dis- I i sod to offer rare inducements to those who wish to purchase in ;;cs. The Vpplcs consist mainly of Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening. Rozbury and Golden Russ ts, 1 sopus Spitssenburg, Talman Sweet- ing, ( -I l.l'ii Sweeting and many other sorts in smaller proportions. Also, for sale a good assortment of Pear, Cherry and Peach Trees of the m. sorts. G. T. YEOMANS. Walworth, Wayne Co., N. Y., 1S49. [10-1*] Seeds an. orcester Plows. Sub-soil, Delano's, Durrall's Shell Wheel, Anthony's Patent Index, t^c, &c. In addition : its, t^c we think we can th perfect confidence, we have one of the largest, most .. n and best selected stock of FIELD. GARDEN and itry, including several kinds im- lardeners and Dealers would I their interest are good crops, by calling hment. RAPALJE & BRIGGS. t'.ay 1. 1849. rumor's Wheat Drill. i rribers liave nia.'e an arrangement with Mr. Palmer 1. to manufacture for the coming season five hundred of his heat Drill, to be be sold in Western N'ew-Yotk. They are ; orders for tie m, and relying upo I s, have at least twenty-five ,v mil. r drill ■•'■tig as much. The Drills are constructed under the immediate direction of the '. and Warn Au agricultural implemi nt as important as :' ed at a rate t I within the reach of every farmer. To li h this Mr. Palmer has spared no : ne ac- quainted with all the og both English and American Agricultural works, and by pi invent- 3 used by prac- wants of the farmer. After repeated I oxpen- 1 which ■ i I ■ ti the costly and complicated machine e in use. '\ bis is the third Drill ho has invented, and he has now brought it of perfection beyond which it cat ■ id. It is the Nc Pius Ultra of Drills, combining all the advantages of every other, and free from their imperfections. We challenge the world tc produce a Drill equal to this in du- rability, operation or price ! I {Xr~ All orders should be sent in or delivered to one of our agents as early as July to secure atten- tion. J. A. HOLMES it CO. Broekport, March 15, 1549. MOUNT HOP!: GAUD EN AND NURSERIES, ROI HE8T1 b\ \ ■> . ^Mtr. proprietors Invite the attention of Fruit Growers, Nar- ad By recent large Importations from Europe, and ' .-.t home, we have obtained a ' nursery art „ the country, and them i" purchasers on the mo ealth, vigor and bar.li ... - - of th ad the undivided and scr I< .. ., to every department by the propiet STANDARD Pitt ,r TR1 I the . Ipple, Pear The pi i le up of ti,. well kn but all the new American and foreign kit and can be furnished. PYRIMTDAL and DWARF TREES, ilecl varicties'of P< ars on Quin Para- dise, and Cherries on St. Lucie, or Mahaleb stocks, for gardens, and limited grounds; and for nurserymen and obtain fruit from their trees at an early day. We ha years given special attention to this department, i bi lii . ■ we have probably the largest and best stock in the Union. GOOSEBERRIES, RASPBERRIES, CURRANTS, ETC. Of the •' we have a large and complete assortment, and can gup- ply them by the 100 or 1000. The best English Gooseben i imported every year. All the new Currants can be supplied. ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUB ROSES, ETC. All the leading sorts, such as H i at, Mountain Ash. Ailan! us. &c . can be furnished by the 1000 or 10.000 at much be- low ordinary rates besides a large collection of new and rare 'Profs Shrubs. Roses, &c., recently imported. HEDGE PLANTS. Buckthorn 2. and 3yearsfrom seed; Osage Orange. 1 and 2 ; besides Evergreens, such as Red Cedar. Hemloe1 way Spruce, Arbor Vitee, &c., can be furnished to any extent required. STOCKS AND TOUNG WORKED TREES FOR NDRSERVMEN. Pear Seedlings, 1 and 2 years transplanted; Plum do . 2 years from seed bed; Paradise Stocks, for Dwarf Apples: Mazzard ' Seedlings, 1 year; St. Lucie, or Mahaleb stocks, for dwarf ( hi r- ries; Quince Stocks, of sorts commonly use 1. Young worked tres for distant transportation. NEW UPRIGHT Ql INCEthe most easily propagated, and freest grower. We have now obtained a pretty large stock, and can supply them in moderate quantities. Wholesale Priced Lists and General Catalogues forwarded to paid applications. Sep 1, 1 19. ELLWANGER & BARRY. '•iny Agricultural Warehouse, No. 3'i9 & 37 I South Bkoadvi \ v. Tin. having during the past season suffered in common with many .if his fellow citizens -his warehouse being --'.I amed has procured the spacious new store erected : d i'.Tl South Broadway, where I ■ | ■ ': I R '. ■ ■ Fi >m his and ace in the manufacture :. line, he flatters himself that he can su of the farming public to the best of its kind, and on as iV- il terms as any ot the SI Amon i . horse power. Clinton Hand Shelters, single and double ho Patent Premium tanning Mills, for powtr and hand, &c , \.c. Also, a ccmnletc a F Garden. Fiel (9-tf] ' I). L. !• MERY. DR. KITTRIDCJE'S . rED SPRAIN & RHEUM ■ riC LINH "jVTO better preparation i public for the _L\ following complaints : — Rheu tatism. Pane B; Sprains tracted This Liniment Is likewise excelled bj nont in i ■ use upon Horse nima! n.foi nies, Galls and all flesh woo I'l-i ;e 1 desalt- I GRANT, Exchange-st., Rochester. N. Y. Id ; S. D. Lundy, Water- loo: W. P. Ml Seneca Kails; E. W. < heney I Livonia : H. Ti'.tou. Moscow; lvdc. [10-tf] Agricultural Books. — A large assortment of Books on Agriculture, Horticulture, &c, for sale at this Office. 248 THE GENESEE FARMER. Oct. CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. Analysis of Maize, or Indian Corn. Agricultural Chemistry, Fair of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society Thorough Draining, (illustrated and described,) Castor Oil Bean— (.llicinus Communis.) Hints for October Premiums Awarded at State Fair '. Farming Lands in Eastern Virginia Lands in Western New York and Virginia— Comparative value of Rich and Poor Soils. The Flow— its History and Improvements, and Principles in- volvi '1 •:) its Construction and Operation Important Discovery about Peat Mediterranean Wheat; Onandaga Salt, Circular from the Patent Office Death uf Mr. Bates, and Sale of his Herd of Short-horns,. . . Ameiican Butter in England Rule for constructing Chimneys; Shoeing Horses. Too hot for the Apples; Munificent Bequest Lard Lamps— improvement in making, To render Cloth. Silk. &.c. water proof; To preserve Clothes. Warts, Wens and Tumors on Animals, To Cure a Bit.ng Horse Time for taking Sheep from Pastures, Gestation Editor's Table— Notices, &c, HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. Description of Two New and Fine Pears, 341 Sta'.e Fair and Pomological Convention at Syracuse, 241 Beview of the American Fruit Culturist, 242 Fall Planting of Trees, 243 1 he Bailey (or Edgerly) Sweet Apple 244 Pear Tree Blight,. ' 244 Notes on Cherries; Culture of the Flum. 424 ILLUSTRATIONS. Nine figures illustrative of Draining, 229 Drain Tile, 229 Figure Illustrating Draft of the Plow. 286 Five figures showing posi- tion of Plow in operation, line of di-aft, Dial Clevis, &c 237 Mamelonee Plum 241 Reine Claude Bavay Plum . 241 Market Prices oi Agricultural Products. STcw Yoi-5:, Sept. 24. Ashes.— Market very firm with a good demand, but sales are restricted owing to a limited rec:ipt. Tots firm at $7 and Pearls steady at $6 50. I ii i ton.— Rather better on the medium grades. In some in- stances ,'a'c belter. Sales 3.000 bales. Flour & Meal— Market for Western and State Flour is again Gd better with a good eastern and home demand, particularly for new western. Moderate demand for inferior grades for export, and for this description the market is unchanged Sales 6,000 bbls at ioai for uninspected fine. 4 87 a $5 for common State and mixed Mich old, $5o5 12 strait State and old Western. 5 18a5 31 for new Michigan, 5 31a5 44 pure Genesco. Sales 140 bbls Jer- sey Meal at 3 IS. Grain.— Market better for Wheat. Sales 3.300 bush prime Geuese ee at 1 20al 21. 1200 bu inferior Chicago at about 67 and a cargo of new southern on private terms. Corn 18.000 bu at &8o59 western mixed. 60. D. T. MOORE, PROFEIETOR. DANIEL LEE & D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. P. EAKRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. Fifty Cents a Year, In Advance. Five Copies for $2, and any Inrger number at Che same rate, if directed to each subscriber. Eight Copies for £3, if addressed to one person only — nn\ SlNCE. The circulation of the Farmer is from in i: to i ight thousand larger than that of any other agricultural journal published in the United States. Advertisements, notices, &c. should be forwarded on or before the 15th of the pn ding month, to secure inser- tion in any specified number. O* The Farmer is subject to newspaper postage only. STEECOTYPKP BY JBWETT, THOMAS ' VT-O, N. V. Agriculture is the most Healthy and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. VOL. X. ROCHESTER, N. Y. — NOVEMBER, 1849. NO. 11. THE PREVENTION OF DISEASE. O^ no subject do people at large more need instruc- tion than on that of preventing disease, or of ■pre- serving health. Believing that a cheap publication placed within the reach of all, is the proper medium through which to enlighten the popular understand- ing, we shall offer no apology for introducing the discussion of this important topic in our columns. The writer has spent the two last summers in the Southern States, and has very recently visited the western country, and searched after the causes of cholera in the cities of Detroit, Sandusky, Spring- field, Chillicothe, Portsmouth, Cincinnati, Maysville, and elsewhere. There is a large farm on the Sciota bottoms, between Columbus and Circleville devoted to the cultivation of broom corn, on which thirty-five hands were attacked with the cholera, which proved fatal to thirty-four of their number. The fatality at Sandusky was only a little less, when the pestilence was at the anno (|l its intensity. We had occasion to study this malady during its prevalence in the city of Buffalo in the years 1832 and '34, as a practicing physician. It is not our purpose to write an article for the perusal of the pro- >n ; nor to review any of the several ingenious theories invented to account for the production of this or any other malignant, disorder. It is enough to say that we do not believe that any excess or de- ficiency in atmospheric electricity, nor the growth of roscopic fungi in the human system, will account for the killing of thirty-four persons out of thirty- five attacked with cholera, on one plantation, and the escape of all others on healthy farms hard by. In a word, we believe that cholera, plague, ship fever, yellow fever and fever and ague are the results of local causes, which in most cases can be removed to the inestimable advantage of the human family. There has not been a single case of cholera in any city or village in the large State of Georgia this season. Something like this complaint has prevailed on one or two rice plantations in the Savannah swamps. Cholera was very severe early in the sum- mer on the Mississippi from New Orleans upward. In 1817, says the London Times, "the overflow of the river Ganges had swelled to a greater height than usual the annual inundation of the marshy plains adjacent. Cities and villages appeared like houses in the midst of a temporary ocean, covered with in- numerable boats, and traversed even by vessels of 100 tons burthen. The whole country round Jessore was one sheet of water, and those jungly marshes, known as the Sunderiands, which are intersected by the numberless streams forming the delta of the Ganges, lay steaming in a moist calm air, neither quite overflowed, nor yet quite dry, a hot-bed of pu- trescent miasma. " It was under such circumstances, aggravated by the heats of August, that the first seizure occurred at Jessore. The mortality spread rapidly among the population, afflicting chiefly the miserable Pariahs, who earn, by excessive toil under a vertical sun, only about 2£d a day, and who live in squalid ho crowded and damp, in the filthiest quarters of the town. In a few weeks 10,000 souls, a sixth of the population, had perished. The civil courts were closed, business was suspended, and the wealthier inhabitants fled in crowds to the country. Within a month the disease broke out in Calcutta, about 100 miles to the south-west, brought, as some say, by fugitives from Jessore: originating spontaneously, as others suppose, from the same cause in both places. Here, also, it committed fearful ravages, destroying daily 200 persons. Its migratory character soon became terribly apparent; within a few weeks it had devastated every town and village within an area of several thousand square miles, from Sylhet in the east, to Cuttack in the west, and from the mouth of the Ganges upward to its confluence with the Jumna." In coming from Southern to Northern cities, we were forcibly struck with the lack of cleanliness in the latter where cholera has most prevailed, as compared with the neatness of those at the South where rigid sanitary measures have prevented the disease. It is not pleasant to speak in terms which imply censure of one's fellow citizens in any city or place; but when he sees his neighbor's house on fire, and knows that the whole family are asleep under its roof, it is his duty to cry aloud, even if it shall disturb the quiet slumber of the whole neigh- borhood. The germs of pestilence in a city are precisely like sparks of fire on the roof of an old building, or " like the little leaven which leaveneth the whole lump.*' Many a good man and many a good family have been poisoned to death within the last six months by drinking impure water and breathing impure air, which impurities were as removable as they were fatal. It was had tvaler more than a contaminated atmosphere that killed the thirty-four persons on the Sciota farm which we visited. If one were to im- merse rotten potatoes or spoilt meat in water, and 250 THE GENESEE FARMER. N< then drink it, or use the water for culinary purposes, the common sense and general observation of all would lead them to expect sickness to follow such a course of conduct. Now, in hot climates and in the summer season in cold ones, the earth is covered with decaying vegetable and animal substances. To speak plainly, in cities, villages and in and around many houses, barns and stables, these organic mat- ters are concentrated till they become hot-beds of pestilence. As the elements of disease are invisible, arc volatile, and often not appreciated by any sense, families may poison themselves and neighbors with- out knowing it We spent a day in exploring the by-ways, alleys, ba^k yards, cellars of unoccupied dwellings, ponds and pools of Sandusky. It stands on a level, or nearly level plain, and is underlaid with strata of lime rock, which comes near to the surface. When full justice shall be done to lime that abounds in organic remains, in producing a lux- uriant growth of vegetables for 'sustaining animal life, the discovery will be made that inasmuch as plants and animals do not live always, their decomposition must in the end be equal to their organization. In a word, without the light and aid of science, to modify and control the decay of animal and vegetable substances, all rich farming districts must be sickly in summer and autumn. There is a great deal of well water in this city, (Rochester,) and Western New York, which is not so good as filtered rain water for domestic use. If drank or otherwise taken into the stomach, it should be first purified. How this can be most economically done, will be fully explained in future numbers of this journal. Good health is above all price in value. Whole communities should cordially unite in all wise measures for its preservation. Believing, after con- siderable study and close observation, that half or three-fourths of the summer complaints, if not those of winter, may be prevented, we shall take pleasure in developing those physical laws of the human sys- tem and of the organized matter by which it is nour- :, free from all medical technicalities. Few have duly considered the very limited knowledge of poisons, which the masses in any country now pos- . This popular ignorance of the Laws of Health should be banished from this Republic, for it leads to sad and deplorable results. PREPARE FOR WINTER. There is much to be done in the fall by every farmer, to render all comfortable throng!) the winter. Sheds need repairing, or new ones should be built. Apples, potatoes and garden vegetables need atten- tion. If not already secured from frost, no time ought to be lost in protecting them from the same. Bank up the cellar, have a good supply of fire wood under cover, and see that all stables and yards are ready for use. Remember that to a considerable degree, warm shelter for domestic animals is equiva- lent to food. If exposed to storms and severe cold, they will need thirty per cent more forage to carry them well through till May than they will if properly housed and fed. In addition to this their mi can be all saved and turned to a valuable account next season. By all means keep your dung I under shelter, that they may lose nothing by 1 ing. Cattle, horses, hogs and sheep are most profit- able, when one is sure that he saves from the possi- bility of loss all the matter voided by them in the course of the fall and winter. The excretions formed by the consumption of 100 pounds of corn, oats or hay, will add 150 to 200 pounds to the corn, oat or hay crop of the next year, if skillfully managed. The first thing is to save and make all the manure which one reasonably can, and then study to obtain the largest practical gain from this raw material applied to the soil. Not a year passes in which fertilizers worth several millions arc not wasted in the United States. Think of these immense losses, and set a better example to your brother farmers. Demonstrate to them that you save every pound of dung and urine that falls in your stables, yards and fields. Make provision for watering stock conveniently, if your premises lack in that regard. While preparing for winter, forget not to add a few choice books to your agricultural library, for the whole family to read and improve in useful knowledge. OXALIS CRENATA. A paper was recently read before the London Society of Arts, received from Baron de Suarce, on the Oxalis Crenata, specimens of which were exhibited. The Oxalis Crenata has been known to the scien- tific agriculturists of Europe for. some years. It is a tubercle, the culture of which, however, upon a large scale, has been little practiced. This tubercle is stated by Baron de Suarce (who has cultivated about two acres and a half of it upon his own estate in the south of France,) to possess a larger degree of nutriment than most of the farinaceous plants which form the basis of human food in our climate. The total weight of the crop produced upon two acres and a half cultivated by him, was ten tons, from which three tons of flour were obtained. From the stems of the plants, which may be cut twice a year, and may be eaten as a sallad or spin- ach, ninety gallons of a strong acid were obtained, which, when mixed with three times its bulk of water, was well adapted for drink. The acid, if fermented and brought to an equal degree of acidity with vine- gar, is superior to the latter when used for curing or preserving meat, as it docs not render it hard, or communicate to it a bad flavor. The flour obtained from the Oxalis Crenata is superior to that obtained from the potato, maize or buckwheat, as it makes an excellent light bread when mixed in the proportion of one-fourth with corn flour; this is not the case with potato, maize or buckwheat flour. The Baron concludes hi3 paper by expressing his Qgness to make any further communication to the society on this subject that they might desire he would consider it a great happiness to be enabled. with the aid of the society, to introduce into Eng- land the culture of the tubercle, which seems des- tined to become a source of food for the lowrer classes, more precious perhaps than even the potato. In reply to a series of questions, the Baron stated that the Oxalis Crenata came originally from South America — that it is hardy and unaffected by change of temperature, and grows readily in any soil, it being difficult when once introduced to eradicate it. The thanks of the meeting were presented to the author for his communication. — Artisan. 18-10. THE GENESEE FARMER. 251 THE PHILOSOPHY OF TILLAGE. Onf of the editor.-: of this journal contributed to the Transactions of the New York State Agricul- tural Society for 1848, an essay on the ^Philosophy of Tillage," which it is believed will be vend with inter. our subscribers who do not have access to the Transactions, it' copied into the ; i he w bole of it, will appear in this and the succeeding number. Its :i is to prompt j oung persons to think — to reason study questions ictical utility. Young frien : . nd the mere surface of your profes- sion. Dig into it with a resolute purpose to achieve distinction, and master the several sciences that relate to rural affairs. Investigate the nature and of things, and the natural laws that gov- ern them, whether they exist in the form of solid rocks, of invisible gases, loose friable soils, growing plants, walking- animals, or retting manure. It is things rial natural laws with which the farmer has to do. Read carefully, understand these, and your honest toil will be more agreeable, more honorable and more useful to yourself and to the world. THE PHILOSOPHY OF TILLAGE. BY DANIEL LKE, M. D. The art of transforming soil into bread, is one of the oldest in the world. Old as it is, the operation has hardly begun to excite that deep interest and universal study which all bread-eaters, at some future day, will bestow on a subject of such vital impor- ■. Americans now experience no pressing ne- cessity for improving the art of tillage. Although not urgent, this necessity really exists, and it is grow- ing upon the country much faster than is appreciated. After taking a calm survey of our farming opera- tions in the southern, western, middle and northern States, I am constrained to believe that two-thirds of the tillage now in progress throughout the Union, is conducted on a system which, slowly or rapidly, as the case may be, impairs the natural fertility of the soil. In the planting States, the process of ex- haustion is greatly promoted by excessive plowing and hoeing, and an increased degree of solar heat and light, which hastens the decomposition and con- sumption of vegetable mold, and of all the soluble mineral elements of cultivated plants. Improved plows, cultivators, and other implements, have keen placed in the hands of millions of industrious labor- ers, to scratch, skin, and bleed the virgin soil for a few years, which, with the assistance of a bright, burning sun, and washing rains, soon consummates a very satisfactory degree of general desolation. When one plantation ceases to yield1* a profit on the labor employed in its culture, it is deserted, and a new one opened by felling the native forest. This impoverishing system of agriculture is by no means peculiar to the cotton and tobacco growing States. No State in the Union is exempt from its blighting effects. Everywhere farmers claim, and freely exercise the right to skim the cream off their lands, and pick the bones of their mother Earth, for the sake of the almighty dollar. " Posterity has done nothing for them;" ami their duty to leave the soil in any State, as rich as they found it, to feed and clothe an ever increasing population, is not gen- erally recognized. The twenty -two millions of peo- ple now in the Uuited States, act on the principle that it is wise and just to compel the forty-four mil- lions that wi.l be here twenty-five years hence, to give twice as much ! for their bn cotton, Sax, and hemp, as their fath •. or to ate into the wilderness, as many of their fath- ers did. Nothing is better known to practical far- mers, than the fact, that the poorer land is made by rive and unvi ise cropping, th bor it takes to grow one hu ■ ,; wheat, or one hundred bales of cotton. Any syt tem of agriculture which impairs the productiveness of a field in the course of twenty-five years, will compel the generation to give more bread: or seek new fields over which the plowshare of indusl semi-savage money-hunters, has never pai not plain, that if twenty millions of , now rightfully exhaust, to the last possible de third of the farming lands in the States, lions, a quarter of a century hence, may exhaust the other two-third.-. Great industry and mechanical skill, in consuming and wasting the elements of bread and meat which a kind Providence has placed on and near the sur- face of the earth, are more praised than they dee We are too much mere physical machines; at once over-working our hands and brutifying our intelli to the positive injury of the human family, and for no real benefit to the inheritors of our property. If we can contrive to leave our children a reasonable surface of good farming land, we need not be at the trouble of converting its soil into current gold for them. Give them a thorough knowledge of the laws of nature, by which one kernel of corn produces a thousand, and the toil required to effect this n will be no more than the laws of health, of bodily strength and comfort, don: and. A reasonable amount of manual labor, a little sweating of the face, will sweeten the bread and sweeten the sleep of any person It is difficult to study closely the agriculture of a nation and the philosophy of tillage, and not be deeply impressed with the importance of developing aright the moral and intellectual as well as the physical Man. It is not enough that a few cultivators in every State be well educated, in the largest and best sense of the term. The whole rural industry equally needs the direction of cultivated reason. Without this, there will be a prodigious waste of muscular strength, and a still more disastrous loss of the ele- ments of all crops. That portion of the substance of a soil which enters the roots of cultivated plants, circulates through their capillary tubes, and is finally assimilated into their tissues, stems, leaves and is very liable to be lost, by something like " a slip between the cup and the lip." Without some know- ledge of the science of rural economy, and of the philosophy of tillage, no one can duly appreciate the extent of this loss of fertilizing atoms which in truth never enter into the composition- of the crop. It is the leading object of this essay to explain how this loss of the elements of bread and meat takes place; and to suggest the best process for avoiding it. In the first place I desire to impress upon the mind of the reader the fact, that the plow, the harrow, the cultivator, and the hoe, with which the earth is tilled, neither add any matter to, nor take any away from the surface operated on. And yet, without plowing, or tillage of some kind, no one can long grow cereal plants, potatoes, cane, tobacco, or cotton. Tillage, as is apparent, does work indirectly a material change in the soil, although nothing is added directly 252 THE GENESEE FARMER. Nov. to it by the hand of the cultivator. What is this important change, which so uniformly follows the skilful use of rural implements, and which would not ensue, if no plowing or tillage was performed ? The proper answer to this question, is the first thing we have to study. Before plowing, the ground is comparatively com- pact and impervious to air. After it has been well plowed and harrowed, it is exceedingly porous and mellow, to the depth which the implements have penetrated. The atmosphere over every field and . here, always contains several gaseous bodies, called oxygen, or vital air, nitrogen, or azote, car- bonic acid, and occasional traces of ammonia, and volatile compounds of phosphorus, sulphur and chlo- rine. These gaseous substances, with the addition of a few earthy substances, like pure flint, iron, lime, potash, soda, and magnesia, make up the whole weight of all vegetables and animals. Technically speaking, a soil is formed by the intimate union of pure mold, derived from partialiy decayed leaves, trees, grass, weeds, the bodies of insects, and all other vegetable or animal matters, with pure clay, sand, and other incombustible earths. The propor- tions of mold, sand, 'day, &lc, vary indefinitely. Experience has demonstrated the interesting fact, that a soil which is annually plowed and hoed, and from which all the plants that grow are removed, loses its mold, or organic matter quite rapidly. If the ground be well cultivated, and no vegetable what- ever be allowed to grow therein, the consumption or decomposition of the remains of former vegetation, will still go on quite as fast as it would, provided the surface were shaded by a crop. Indeed, my own opinion is, founded on what I have seen in Georgia and South Carolina, that organic matter in a naked plowed and hoed field, will be consumed, literally burnt up, much faster than will mold, or similar or- ganized matter, shaded by a forest of trees, or a forest ick corn or cotton. How tillage hastens the consumption of mold, and the solution of the before laratively insoluble salts, which appear as ashes , i we burn wood or cultivated plants, deserves particular notice. A cubic inch of hard wood, like a cubic inch of hard earth, will imbibe little or no gas or air. By a curious law of nature, a cubic inch of charcoal will absorb and condense within its innumerable cavities, ninety cubic inches of ammonia. It will also con- dense other gases and vapors. In garden culture, and first rate field tillage, the soil is thoroughly mel- lowed, and rendered remarkably porous. Now let us see what nature does, man having done his part. The atmospheric air, which is twenty- one per cent of oxygen, penetrates as far as the plow did, and is largely condensed in the pores of the soil. During the day, if the air is comparatively dry and the sun sliines, a pretty rapid evaporation will ensue. Instead of drying a well cultivated surface, as it would a compact one, moisture freely ascends from the subsoil, by capillary attraction, to fill the void above. In this ascent of water, is brought up what- ever soluble gases, mold, and salts of potash, lime, etc., rain or snow water had taken out of the sur- face soil in its previous descent. If the ground be covered with vegetables, a large share of this ascend- ing water will enter 1 heir roots, ascend to their le and there escape as a vapor into the atmosphere; leaving behind those salts and gases reqaired to or- ganize and bring up the plant. If no vegetation exists and covers the ground, the water evaporates as it reaches the surface, leaving all involatile salts behind, and discharging all gasses into the air. At night, and when the atmosphere is quite damp and the soil dry the latter condenses dew or vapors, as the case may be, preparatory to feeding crops. A due degree of solar heat, light, moisture, and of condensed oxygen, around minute particles of the debris of plants in tilled ground, greatly promotes the chemical combination of this oxygen with the carbon in the mold, or the remains of plants. When mold is thus consumed, this oxygen and carbon form the gas called carbonic acid; the pres- ence of which in water enables it to dissolve com- mon limestone. This mineral (carbonate of lime) is quite insoluble in distilled water. All rain water contains a little carbonic acid as it falls, which pre- pares it to dissolve the inorganic food of plants. To raise large crops, it is needful for water to have a little more of this gas than the atmosphere can fur- nish. Manure and decaying vegetables will yield this in mellow soils. As not far from one-half of the dry weight of all plants, and some forty percent of all animals is car- bon, it may be a favor to readers whose knowledge of chemistry is very limited, to say a few words about this element. If wood, straw, coffee, wheat, sugar, oil, starch, or lean meat, be slowly burnt, with the air nearly all excluded, on the principle of a coalpit, coal will be formed. This coal is carbon. The simple element is the same in anthracite and bituminous coal, as in coal produced from a crust of bread. In burning, this carbon unites chemically with vital air, called oxygen, in the proportion of six parts by weight of carbon, to sixteen of oxvgen: which, together make twenty-two parts of an invisi- ble, heavy gas, called carbonic acid. If we examine the air thrown out of the lungs of a man or other animal for this gas, it will be found to contain one hundred times more carbonic acid, than it did when inhaled into the lungs. As animals breathe night and day during their whole lives, and are ever expelling carbon from their organs of res- piration, it is obvious they must supply carbon to their circulating blood, in their food, at short inter- vals. On comparing the dry weight of all the matter excreted from the system by the bowels and kidneys. with that taken into the stomach, the weight of the latter exceeds that of the former by more than half. From some experiments which I have made, I have reason to believe that the excretions of birds when dried, do not exceed twenty per cent of the dry matter eaten by them. If we examine the bub- bles of gas that rise so freely on the surface of fer- menting beer, in the large tubs of breweries and distilleries, it will be found to be carbonic acid; and i; i.-; often used to convert pearlash into saleratus; or the carbonates of potash and soda into the bicarbo- nates of those alkalies. There is then, a natural tendency, or rather a nat- ural law, by the force of which oxygen gas combines with carbon in the combustion of carbonaceous bodies, in all respiration, in all fermentation, and in the rot- ting of all organized substances. The reader will get a clearer idea of the part which carbon plays in the economy of vegetable and animal life, by a short explanation of the other constituents united with it, in organizing the seeds and other parts of plants. The other elements of what is called "organic mat- ter," are nitrogen or azote, hydrogen and oxygen; 1- 19. Till: r.KNUSKK FAItMER. ; [though phosphorus, sulphur and chlorine might with propriety be includi - the volatile or .incuts of bread and meat. I am not en- tirely satisfied with all thatboakssay on this subject; but I do not wish to discuss debatable points in this connection. W . gum, sugar, starch and oil, which arge a portion of all vegetables, arc ■ if carbon and the elements of water alone. The elem< iter are oxygen and hydrogen, chemically .combined in the ratio of eight parte by ht of the former to one of the latter. And permit me to remark that, to secure perfed uni- formity in the properties and character of all chemi- mpounds, like pure water, all acids, alkalies, pure alcohol, and such organized bodies as starch, wood, sugar, oil and gum, the quantity of elementary atoms which enter into the composition of each compound substance must be fixed by a uniform and ever active law. For the proper government of matter, the Creator has established many laws, and among others that known as "chemical affinity." In the growth or organization of all living things, and in the dissolution or disorganization of the same, the natu- ral affinity of elementary atoms, by which they unite and form various compounds, presents to the intelligent farmer a most useful and interesting study. As all natural laws which govern the results of tillage, are in truth the unchanging and ever enduring laws of God, I have long felt it to be a duty to impress upon the minds of my fellow citizens, in more States than one, the importance of teaching the«Sciences which elucidate these laws, to every child that has a life to support or health to preserve. Il is difficult for me to witness the decay of vegetable and animal sub- stances, even now in the winter season at the South, and mark the bilious diseases, cholera and other destroying maladies, engendered by poisoning the atmosphere and rendering the water impure, and not feel deeply on the subject of removing the popular ignorance of the laws of vegetable and animal life. This ignorance is as unnecessary as it is deplorable. As a native son of New York, I beg permission to express at this point, the pride and glory I have in common with others, which are so justly awarded to the Common Schools, Public Libraries, and all other educational institutions of the Empire State. The noble liberality of her citizens can only be appreciated when seen at a distance, and surrounded by shades and influences which I shall not describe. Beside carbon and the elements of water, all plants and all animals contain more or less of the sit gas called nitrogen in an organized form, in their respective tissues. Organic chemists and physiolo- gists are still disputing the question, whether this element, which constitutes 71 per cent, of common air, is derived b; r plants and animals in any degree, directly from the atmosphere. The weight or balance of evidence is against the supposition: although there are not wanting facts and circum- stances sufficient to raise a reasonable doubt in the matter. However this question may be ultimately decided, there is no dispute in regard to the fertiliz- ing power of nitrogencous compounds, among prac- tical farmers. Nor ;s it improbable that nascent nitrogen, evolved from decomposing mold, vegetables, and manure in soils, whether combined with hydro- gen to form ammonia or not, is better suited to the nourishment of plants than is atmospheric nitrogen. The i n 1 presence of one chemical .-■ i like the rotting of vegetables in soils, will in others thai ur under different circum- tances. Before studying the process by which ing mold and other organic substan ■ common limestone and the before Insoluble silicates of potash, Boda and able in water, I to call attention to the fact, that sulphur, | phorus and chlorine in combination with hydn p1 to rise into the atmosphere fr stances, and become losi to the agriculturi . •al rule, cultivated plants and all vegetables contain a small per centage of sulphur, ph nitrogen and chlorine. The cabbage tribe. uminous plants, like peas and beans, and those of wheat, rye, corn and other cereals, most abound in the simple elements named. In an i elements are more concentrated than in organized form. A bad egg loses weight rapidly, notwithstanding its stoney covering. Its shell i- really perforated with pores: and the expansion of the gases, eliminated by the decomposition of its contents, forces them .through these minute aperti In the course of time very little beside the shell will t. That rotten c is not one intelligent farmer but will confess that he cultivates more land than he works well; having a !arge breadth of field, he pre- pares the soil and puts in his seed indifferently, trust- ing to Providence to give him a good season ami a fair crop— very much like the man who trusts to luck when he buys a ticket in a lottery. But as there is no error without palliation lor its consequences, the slovenly farmer is not slow to charge each failure i I crop to the ravages of insects, or the untowardness of the season. Our Seneca County Agricultural Fair, held at Ovid, on the 4th and 5th of October, is represented to have been much more interesting and more numer- ously attended than any one of our previous fairs. Very many thanks are due to our masterly President, John Delafield, Esq., the light of whose counte- nance is sufficient to make every man put his shoulder to the wheel of progress and reform. I am proud to say that many of our farmers attended this fair and were pleased, who heretofore had lived so deep in the rut of tradition that they could not see out on either side. Every crop in this county is good this season. Pasture, and in some instances Indian Corn, have suffered from the extreme hot weather and continued drouth. Potatoes in August were supposed to be done for by the heat and drouth, but the September rains have induced a continued growth in this root. I have not heard a single complaint of rot up to this, (13th October.) Pink Eyes and Mercers have again caught their original flavor, and are no longer waxy and tasteless. The supply will be short, as many farmers, discouraged by previous rot, have planted only for their own use. Anecdote of Draining. — Last spring several gentlemen called to see the justly celebrated farm of John Johnston, in Fayette. In going over the premises Mr. J. purposely omitted to tell them which wheat field was under-drained, and the better to elicit their surprise, he led them over one wheat field where the wet, heavy, unctuous soil adhered to their boots, much to their annoyance; then crossing the fence to another wheat field, of like soil and formation, they one and all uttered their surprise at its dry and mel- low surface. " Gentleman," exclaimed Mr. J., "you are on my tile." These tile are laid twenty to thirty inches deep. They were made by Mr. Wkartenby, in this village, (Waterloo,) with the aid of a machine imported for the purpose from England, by Mr. Delafield. S. W.— Seneca Co., Oct., 1849. BURRALL'S SHELL -WHEEL PLOW. Eds. Genesee Farmer : — In your May number, I find an article by H. L. Emery, purporting to be a history of the Plow and its improvements, con- taining statements which I deem incorrect, and injurious to me. I cannot, for a moment suppose that you would do me an intentional injury: but having made valuable improvements by a series of laborious and expensive experiments, I am unwilling to have them kept back by the expression of hasty opinions, or incorrect statements of those who have but partially examined, or are interested in misrepresenting them. Such 1 deem to be the case with the writer above referred to. He says, " in theory, by the use of a revolving landside a saving of power is obtained," &c; "but when the earth is mellow and constantly giving way to the pressure of the wheel, this saving of power is more than counterbalanced, by the increased r ance to be overcome." Now, without examining his theory, which has no foundation in truth, I speak only to the fact which is known to the public by repeated and careful ex- periments, that in all soils, and in all conditions, there is a manifest saving of power in the draft of the plow, by the use of the wheel. The average gain in the use of the wheel by Wilkie, nearly thirty years since, (as stated by Loudon,) was about thirty per cent, and the mqst careful experiments with mine, have given about the same result. It is therefore too IS 10. THE GENESEE FARM Kit. 255 late for Mr. Emery to say thai in mellow ground the saving of power is more tharf counterbalanced by the incn a6ed resistance to be overcome. • "the more complicated construction, and the constant wearing of the axis and revolving parts, has retarded its very genera] use." '■ tacts arc both assumed. The plow has fewer parts, and is lesi al id than the self sharpening plow which he commends in the very next paragraph — while the axis and revolving parts have less friction, and wear longer than the common landside. The Is o[' all those sold by mo have been warranted to wear as long as the mould-boards, and of two thousand sold, not an instance has occurred to my knowledge, in which the axis has worn to injure it. On appealing to Mr. Emery to correct his state- ments, he reiterates them, and I must therefore re- quest you, as you have given currency to them, to insert the following certificates. Yours, fee, Geneva^ Oct., 1849. Tnos. D. Burrall. " I have used one of Mr. Burrall's Wheel Plows four yen's; have cultivated about 150 acres per year, and this plow has run nearly all the season each year, being used more than any other on the farm, from the fact that it run and made bt tter work than any other plow on the farm, and has plowed over 500 acres. It is now worn out com- pletely in the mould-board, landside, and face of the wheel, while the axis or bearings of the wheel remain as perfect, apparently now, as when first put in use. My farm consists of clay and loamy land, and a part stoney, with gravel. In all soils l'. works perfectly well. Many of these are in use in my neighborhood, and highly approvod by all. Joseph I'i.m.'.ian. — Benton, June 5, 1849.'.' " I have used one of Mr. Burrall's Wheel Plows on my firm until the mould-board is worn entirely out, while the journals of the wheels are apparently as good as when first taken from the shop. I am now ob'taining a new sett of is for the wood, believing; it to be the best plow in use. Stephen Shear. — Genera, Aug. 13, 1849." " I have been in the employment of Mr. Burrall ever since the commencement of his experiments with the Wheel Plow, in getting up the patterns for the same, amounting to more than twenty different kinds. There lias never, to my knowledge, been an instance, of failure in the axis of the wheel, though I have repeatedly seen the mould-boards brought in as old metal, completety worn out. Elias Smith.— Geneva, Oct. 12, 1849." " For the last live years I have been in the employment of Mr. Burrall as a wood workman, most of the time in wooding Wheel Plows. I have never heard a complaint of the wearing of the axis of the wheel, nor have I ever seen, heard or known of an instance of a new wheel being called for in place of one worn out. Nicholas H. Kip. — Geneva. Oct. 12, 1819." '• Ever since the invention of the Shell WTheel Plow, I have been engaged in .Mr. B:irrrall's shop, in setting up the igs for the Wheel Plows — have broken up a great many worn oi '. mould-boards and landsides, but have never seen much worn in the axis as to render it unfit for i a new mould-board. Samuel Price. — Geneva, Oc- tober 12, 1819." Reaping Machines. — The Priarie Farmer says : "McCormick's Reaper has heen now sold in the west for three seasons extensively, and somewhat before that. The sales amount, say to the following figures: for the year 1847, to 500: the year 1848, to 800; and 1849, to 1500; total, 2800. Of Ester- ly's Harvester, the whole number in use this harvest may reach 180. Other kinds, say 100. These all do "the work of nearly 17,000 men." Hussey's and McCo, mick's Reapers are the prin- cipal ones used in Western New York. Who can ■rn us how many of each have been sold in this State ? JUMPING AT CONCLUSIONS. i;Y a rOCNQ '• DIGGER." Most men are at to travel the road of reason to a careful and sab' conclusion) even at a railroad speed, hut they go it with a jump. This jumping at conclusions — hit or miss — right or wrong — is quite an easy, if not a very profit Ltion. It is altogether different from the piu , >ccss, and is characteristic of this "go ahead," Bteam and lightning age. Perhaps to no department of science is this svsl !i,>d, and the practice of thousands so seriously affected, as to Agriculture and Horticulture. A farmer, during the prevalence of "potato rot" plants a " patch" early, and digs them early — they happen, from some caus'e or other, to be sound. he concludes at once that it was prevented by i planting and digging, and he of course has di ered "a remedy for the potato rot." Another covers a worm in the tops, and he proclaims to his neighbors and the world, that he has found out •• the cause of the potato rot." I have often searched for worms or insects in the haulms of rotting potatoes without, being ab discover any. For the purpose of testing the mat-. ter a little, the two last seasons, I planted potatoes on the fourth of July, and dug them on election day, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in Novem- ber, and found them as little rotted as the same - on the same soil, that were planted the 1st of April and dug early in September. Still, I am far from jumping at the conclusion that there is no advantage in early planting. The farmer or the horticulturist examines the "knots" on the branches of his plum trees: he tects an insect, and immediately proclaims that "the black gum on plum trees is caused by an insect'' — not waiting to examine very closely whether the in- sect was really the cause of the evil, or whether the diseased state of the branch merely furnished it a congenial home. One of your correspondents last month took quite a jump into the turf, when he discovered that "per- miting the grass to grow around the roots of pan- trees will prevent the fire-blight" — because trees thus treated, or ill-treated, have not been subject to the blig'ht this season: forgetting that the blight has done but little injury the present year, in this section of country. And even in previous seasons many trees and plantations of trees, under a high state of culture, escaped uninjured, while others in the im- mediate neighborhood fell a prey to the blight. On examining my young pear trees, about twenty in number, after reading the communication referred to, I found that the only one atlected by blight was the last one in the row: and the one most completely surrounded with " turf." That tree, however, may have been predisposed to the disease; or its position may have had some influence in favoring the attack. I once knew a man who declared that soot put around the roots of foreign grapes subject to, mildew, was a sure preventive — because he happened to throw the soot from his stove-pipe around a young vine, which that season produced a crop of fine fruit. The next year, and ever after, the mildew destroyed the entire crop in spite of the soot. I might enlarge and show the injury thus done to the cause of Agriculture and Horticulture : but a word to the wise will suffice for the present. J. V. —Monroe Co., JV. Y., Oct., 1849. 256 THE GENESEE FARMER. Nov' TRIAL OF PLOWS. The following Report of the Judges on the Trial of Plows near Geneva, in August last, contains facts and suggestions worthy of particular attention. It will be read with interest by farmers and plow manufacturers generally — and we trust its publication will induce s>rr.llb.r trials in this and other sections of the country. We are indebted to John Dela- fielp, Esq., President of the Seneca Co. Agricultul- tural Society, for the Report : — To the President and Members of the Seneca County Agri- cultural Society : Gentlemen : — When we received the notice of our appointment, to act as Judges at " The Trial of Plow?,'' in Seneca County, we felt in common with our farming community, the importance of the movement, and the benefit to arise from a careful and judicious accomplishment of the purpose. As practical farmers, accustomed to the Plow and its use, we feel justified in presenting a few remarks, in connection with the matter before us, for the con- sideration of the farmers, and the mechanics who are disposed to aid us in the proper arrangement of of the implements we need in our vocation, and more especially the indispensable and important in- strument, the Plow. We think it has been long evident that caprice and accidental circumstances, have given rise to a large catalogue of Plows, which, upon trial, have disappointed the hopes, and wasted the means of the purchaser; of this class o.f plows, few perhaps have been constructed by makers, hav- ing a knowledge of the use of the implement, and but little of the skill or science necessary for the construction of a good plow. There seems to be another error, also, quite prevalent among plow-makers generally — too often adopted by our farmers, boding evil to our agricultu- iccess, or at least, to a thorough and proper til- lage of tbe soil. We allude to the frequent attempts to produce plows, which shall, by turning broad fur- rows, work over two acres per day — gaining time at the expense of the necessary breaking up, and essen- tial pulverizing of the soil. Thus farmers are tempted with plows, to turn furrow slices of 14 to 16 inches in width, while the depth rarely exceeds Q\ inches. We will not deny that circumstances may exist when a broad furrow of 12 inches and more in width, may be useful; but, as a general principle, greater depth with pulverization, should be the main object of the plow-maker; the second effort being to over- come resistance with the least power. We feel strong in the opinion, that large masses of soil turned over in furrows of fourteen inches wide, by six inches deep, must require a large outlay of subsequent labor, to render the soil friable, and in fit condition to receive manure in a well mixed state. Neither will the land so treated be in a state to afford thorough nourishment to the seed deposited, from the manures intended for it. The gain of time, there- fore, in rapid plowing by broad furrows, may lie, and oftimea is, an expensive system. Another error in the manufacture of Plows, from which, us practical farmers we are called upon to suffer inconvenience, is, the imperfect line of draft presented In our teams, not only because this line is not preserved at right angles with the shoulders of our horses, but also because of the arrangement of the beam as attached to the iron frame of the plow body. In this latter arrangement much diffi- culty appears to exist,»and fancy has too much swov. The obliquity of the beam to the line of the Ian i- side may be necessary in some degree, to produce a direct line of draft from the true point of resistance: but, as practical men, we have reason to object to the too frequent need of shifting our guide' b and the . use of other expedients to accommodate the erroneous line of draft adopted by the ma We feel well assured that our agricultural mechan- ics are abundantly skillful, and possess science to correct this inconvenience, when brought to their notice. When we consider the object or intent of the plo v, we arrive at the fact that it is to perform i hands of the farmer the same operation, and produce the same effects as the spade in the hands of the gardener; that is, to turn over and thoroughly pul- verize or break up the soil. Now the man and his spade, acting together, is a most complex and perfect tool, but the time is yet to come when a simple machine shall be produced, to accomplish with equal excellence the same results as the man and the i We may not doubt, however, from the vast improve- ments of late years, that such ra fin will in time be constructed; the talent and science of our agri- cultural mechanics fully justify such expeetati and the rapidly increasing attention of farmers to the study of their vocation, will act as a stimilus to the innentor, and a chsck upon his visionary attempts. With these prefatory remarks we now present a report of facts, connected with the trial of Plows — facts which oti'er to every man of thought and i vation, much matter of reflection. On tiie morning of Thursday, the 30th of August, 1849, we rei the ground selected for the trial of plows. The field presented a generally uniform appearance, gently sloping from east to west; the soil was a clay loam, rather tenacious, as is most of the wheat land of the fertile county of Seneca. The sod was of Timothy, with a mixture of clover, and had not been plowed for several years. It should here be mentioned and remembered that, since the month ef May last, but little rain had fallen in this section of country, which was made manifest by reference to a meteorological table, as well as by the condition of the soil. Never- theless, as the soil was uniform in its nature, so the resistance offered was relatively the same to each plow, and the trial was alike to all, and under like circumstances. A stationary power had been well placed, midway between the eastern and western extremes of a plat of ground, 150 feet long; a traveller or guide was prepared to bear and direct the rope, in order each Plow might be directed with precision. Fur- rows had been previously opened six inches deep; the plows were entered on the Secretary's books in numerical order, and called to the trial in the ,same order. A substantial dynamometer was placed in our hands, with a certificate from the proper officer, that the same had been tested and proved by the State standard and was correct, indicating <> high as one thousand pounds. .\u extent of ground was carefully surveyed and marked into spaces of 30 by 300 feet, for the purpose of exhibiting the man- ner in which each plow could perform the work required. With these and other arrangements our duties were comparatively easy, an ! no haste or hurry was permitted. We continued our labors through two ism THE GENESEE FARMER. 257 successive days, strengthened by the hope and belief that we were entering upon a system which, ii tinued, from year to year, would in duo time work a large and positive benefit. The following table gives a full and particular statement oi' the trials — classi- fying the implements in order, from the lesser to the greater power required to overcome the resistance offered. BY STATIONARY POWER. . G Inches — Width of Furrow, 12 Inches. 1. Burrall's Wheel Plow, No. 2 - 290 lbs. 2. Burrall's Wheel Plow, No. ii,-- 295 3. Lamport Iron Beam, from Ovid, 340 f. Burrall's Wheel flow, No. 4, 345 5. Perm Van Plow 355 6. Burrall's WheelPlow, No. 5,... 356 ?. Buck Eye, Iron Beam, 372 8. Crane Plow, with Cutter, 415 9. Burrall's Landside, 427 10. Dundee Plow, 441 11. Burrall's Landside, No. 5, 485 12. (nine Plow, with Coulter --- 493 13. Waterloo, [withdrawn.] 14. Pastern, [not regularly entered.] by horse power. Depth of Furrow, 7 Inches — Width of Furrow, 13 Inches. 1. Burrall's Wheel Plow, No. 3, 489 lbs. 2. Peim Van Plow 493 3. Burrall's Wheel Plow, No. 5, 511 4. Burrall's WheelPlow, No. 4.... 519 5. Lamport Iron Beam, from Ovid, 520 6. Dundee Plow, 520J 7. Burrall's Landside, No. 2, 524 8. Crane Plow -- -- 533 9. Burrall's Landside, No. 5, 673 The trial by horses having been made on the second day, several owners of plows entered did not appear in time The plowing performed by the several implements was good and uniform, evidencing much skill on the part of the plowmen. Understanding that the chief object of of the trial was to ascertain the true and reliable estimate of the power necessary for good work, we do not deem it necessary to particularise the work of any one plow; all were good, and the facts set forth in the above table will enable every man to draw right conclusions and safe estimates. Among other facts presented to our notice were two frames of the Sheel-wheel Plow, which had been used for several years. They were worn through the mould-boards, and the wheel had yielded on its margin, being the substitute for a landside; on ex- amination, the journals, or points of the axle of the wheels were sound and perfect. Having witnessed the excitement among men of science, as well as among a large assembly of prac- tical farmers, convened on this occasion, we respect- fully urge upon the farmers of this State, and upon agricultural mechanics, frequent meetings and inter- views upon the plan of, and with similar objects to, this meeting in Seneca County. The true interests of both will be substantially promoted, and science w7ill be more kindly courted, to deepen our furrows, to pulverize our soils, and thus add to our general prosperity. B. B. Kirtland, Rensselaer Co., Elias Cost, Oaks Corners, Ont. Co., John Mallorv, Penn Yan, Yates Co., Judges of the Trial of Plows. Saturday, Sept. 1, 1849. The cultivation ol the soil, in a free country, is ghest and noblest profession in which man can be engaged — as it is the foundation of all true wealth. HEMLOCK, HEMLOCK SOIL, AND TAN AS MANURE. , PHAS. 1 lr-.vii.oi i. eems to be i ted, in < localities, with Buch other qualifiers as wo^d ; to the ao\ i< natu- ral state it i heat, or that it is u ually I her lo\ '..-■. We tl iate with it the - But in all this we mistake and far un Heaven's gifts, and one of earth's ornai if you please where wild nature d 'lies com] tion in romantic scenery, and you will find it. In the park it is indispensable, and for i hedge its bright evergreen leaves cam: i Its timber is excellent feed for the iron lumber is valuable for the builder, the bark for the tanner — as are also the bark, gum, oil and the physician. But can we speak thus favorably of the hem soil ? 1 think if we look to the pioneer for an answer, it will be a prompt and decided no. It seems to be rather an uphill business to com:,; making a farm of land covered with heml ick. It is not unfrequcntly the case, that the pioneer, { taking a hemlock sweat of ten or twelve years. discouraged, or gets the western fever, s lis ou loss, and goes west. His successor, having come from the worn out lands of the cast, takes hold high hopes, and is determined to prove to the world that he has made a good bargain. His first cr not first rate, the second is better, the third is still an improvement, and in a few years we find his name is registered among the competitors for premium crops. Although this is but a fancy sketch, yet is a true picture of thousands of cases in our country. Hemlock muck, as is illustrated in the tanning pro- cess, by its miserly astringency, absorbs and h the geine of the soil, (which is the nutriment of the plant,) for at least ten or fifteen years; after which hemlock land may be considered good. Now it seems to me to be a great while to wait; and if any of your scientific writers will tell us of a shorter way to come at the availability of hemlock soil they will do a great public favor. In the last number of the Farmer, page 244, on the culture of the plum, spent tan-bark is highly recommended for mulching. In Cole's American Fruit Book, page 224, Messrs. A. D. Williams & Son, of Roxbury, Mass., are quoted as having made very successful use of spent tan-bark in invigorating old and decaying cherry trees and improv; ones. Although the application was a deci d to the cherry trees, yet the writer gives us a caution, and recommends experiments on a small scale, on ' account of the injurious effects of tan on vegetation. I think if the tan is thoroughly saturated with animal matter there will be no risk; but on the contrary, would be a slow but valuable manure. And as hinted above in reference to hemlock soils, if some application could be made to hasten the decay of tan, it might be found to bo a valuable manure. Hin- manville, JY. Y., Oct., 1849. It should be a fixed principle never to suffer the soil to deteriorate; for, as it costs as much to cultivate a soil producing only half a crop as a full one, it is perfectly clear that it is the interest of the cultivator to keep his land always in a good state. 258 THE GENESEE FARMER. Nov. 2ST. 1). State ^lariaiitural Society. PREMIUMS AWARDED AT THE US. Y. STATE FAIR, Held at Syracuse, September, 1849. [Continued from October number, page 233.] FARM IMPLEMENTS. :, !Si farm wagon, l>. VV. Seely, Carlisle, dip. and $5. Harrow, A. (i. Fitch, Liv. Co.. dip. and 3. Com Cultivator, Jeremiah Fink, Lysander, dip. and 3. Fanning Mill, Jacob Clapper", Fort Plain, dip. and 5. Corn Stalk Cutter, J. C. Rich, Penficld, Mon, Co., dip. &j. Straw Cutter. .1. C. Rich, Penfield', dip and 3. Corn and I ' ib '« r islier, for power, II. L. Emery, dip. & 5. Clover Machine, Rapalje & Briggs, r,dip.and5. Ox Cart, Paris Barber, Homer, Cort. Co., dip. and 3. Horse Rake, R. II. Chase, Me., dip. and 2. Ox 'i oke, I rid on Hotchkis, Windsor, dip. and 2. Carriage Harness, Moses Cherry, Utica, dip. and 3. Saddle, B. Suit, Chenango, dip. and2. Dozen Axes, 1). 11. Barton, Rochester, medal and 2. Churn, E. R. Dix, Vernon, Onei. Co., dip. and 2. Ciiee.se ('res..;, Potter's Patent, L. Raymond. O., dip & 2. Grain Cradle, Charles Clow, Port Byron, dip. a:.'.1 2. Six Hand Rakes, II. P. Emery, Albany, dip. and :-'. Six Hay Forks, J, Van Orman & Co., Vi.. dip. and 2. Six Grass Scythes, (Dunn's.) II. C. White, Agent, Mo- hawk, dip. an i 2. Six Cradle Scythes, Rapalje & Briggs, dip. and 2. Six Manure Forks, (Patridge's,) Rapalje & Briggs, dip&2. Hay Rigging, J. a!. Ranson, Onon. Co.. dip. and2. Six dozen Corn Brooms, G. W. .1. Brownson, dip. and 2. Saddle exhihited. of superior finish and workmanship, R. T. Norgrove, Syracuse, silver medal and diploma. l.i dozen [Patridge's] Potato Hooks, Rapalje & Briggs, dip. Refrigerator, Rapalje & Briggs, Transactions. Horticultural Tool Chest and Tools, Rapalji B i ;gs,dip. Wood, n Sco Six Ox B >ws, do. do. Trans. Three Clark's C S Hoes, II. H. Babcock, Otsego Co., dip. Fence Cap V;- er, 3. P. Hitchcock, Cort. Co., dip. Sau ige i Sutter, Bnrdick&Cushing,Glen's Falls, dip. Corn and Cob< 'rusher, Butterlield & Greenmah,Utica,dip; Horse Power for general purposes, I.. B. Benton, Penn a an, dip. and •'>. Iron Horse Power, II. E. Smith Fowlerville* dip. Threshing Machine, B. G. H. Hathaway. Starkey, Yates Co., dip. .Sc JO. Seed and Corn Planter, for hand or horse power, [H. L. Emery's] Rapalje & Briggs, dip. and 3. Corn Planter, [Bachelder's] Rapalje & Briggs, dip. Wheat Drill, Aaron Palmer, Brockport, dip. Wheat Drill [combininga new principle,] D. W. Yeoman, i lairo, Greene Co., dip. Grain Drill, with apparatus for manure, P. Seymour, East Bloomlield, dip. Grain Drill and Corn Planter, of high merit, J. Atkins, Brockport. Broad Cast Sower, Silas S. Sage, Windsor, dip. Wheat Cultivator, 1). P. Rodgers, Seneca Falls, dip. Portable Saw Mill, II. L. Emery, dip. Corn Shellers, horse power. [Smith's] II. L. Emery, dip. Corn Sheller, hand power, D. W. Harris. Yorkshire, dip. Southern Corn Sheller, Rapalje & Briggs, dip. Vegetable Cutter, Rug ;> o ir e& Mason, Boston, pre- sented by Emery and Rapalje & Briggs, dip. Besf anil most numerous collection of Agricultural Imple- ments, Rapalje & Briggs, dip. and 2 I. Best and most numerous collection of agricultural imple- ments manufactured in the State by exhibitor, E. J. Bur- rell, < reneva. dip. and 20. The collection of implements by 1 1. P. Emery, though not tiie most numerous, air recommended to the Society as worthy of special notice for their excellent quality and .superior finish, dip. Horse Tower of . my. $5. Of Dahlias, same, 5. Best 21 Dissimilar Blooms, Wm. Newcomb. Pittstown, 3. Greatest variety of Poses, Ellwanger & Barry, 5. Pest 21 Dissimilar Blooms, James Wilson. 3. 10 varieties of Phloxes. Ellwanger & Parry, Rochester, 3. Seedling Phlox. James Wilson, 2. Greatest variety of Verbenas, J. Wils in, 3. Pest L2 varieties oi Verbenas, Ellwanger & Parry. 2. Seedling Verbena, .1. Wilson, 2. Collection of German 'Asters, Wm. New comb, 2. and greatest variety of Pansies, Ellwanger v\: Parry, 3. Amateur List. — Greatest variety of flowers, Mrs. E. T. Mar- tin, Willow Brook, silver medal. Of Dahlias, M. Wells, Jamaica, silver medal. Best 12 dissimilar blooms. Mrs. W. Newcomb, 3. ■ i .u est variety of Roses, .Mrs. P.. P. Morgan, Aurora, me d. Best 12 Dissimilar Blooms, .Mrs. David Thomas, 3. 6 varieties of Phloxes, Mrs. E. 'P. 'I'. Martin, 3. i t variety of Verbena . do. 3. Best Seedling \ erbena, Mrs, Prof. Jackson, Schenectady, •.'. I -J varieties oH i rbenas, Miss I.. <•<. Whitney, Rochester,2, Collection German Asters. A. I.e Cotelaux, Putlalo, 2. 18-19. THE GENESEE FARMER. 259 ami •rrt'iit'-si variety Pannes. I'r. \. Thompson, Lure 12 variet80d Pansies, Dr. II. Wendell, Albany, 2. List open to all competitors. — Beat collection of Gri 'lants, Ellwanger & Hurry, silver medal. Bi 9t I i ral Desi a, Mrs. C. B. Sedgwick, Syracuse, medal. 2d, Mrs. W. Newcomb, 8. Best Floral Ornament, Mrs. Prof. Jackson, silver medal. 2d, Mrs !'.. T. T. Martin, 3. Hand Boquet, flat, lames Wilson, Albany, :s. 2d, Herman Wendell, 2. ground, J. Wilson, 3. 2d, Mrs. White, 2. Basket Boquet, with handle, Dr. A. Thompson, 3. Tor the most beautifully arranged Basket of Flowers, Dr. II. Wendell, Albany, dip. To Aurora Horticultural Society for best exhibition, Hovey's Colored Fruits. FRUIT. Apples. — Greatest and best variety. Benjamin Hodpe, Buf- falo. !>:;>. and Hovey's Colored Fruits. 2d, A. Bryant, . $5. Bi st 12 varieties table apples, B. Hodge, 5. 2d, A. Bry- ant, traas. and 2. Best 6 winter apples, B. Hodge, 3. 2d, A. Bryant, tram. and -. Pears. — Greatest number of varieties of good pears. John . Cayuga Bridge, Dip. and Hovey's Colored Fruits. 2d, B. Hodge, 5. 3d, J. W. P. Allen. Oswego, trans. 1 I collection of first-rate autumn pears, John Morse, dip. and 5. 2d. J. W. P. Allen, trans, and 2. Best eoliection of newly in-troduced pears, Dr. H. Wen- cell, Dip. and Hovey's Colored Fruits. Peaches. — Best 12 varictiss, John Morse, dip. and 5. 2d, J. M. Whitney, 2. Best 6 varieties, Ellwanger & Barry, 3. 2d, H. G. Dick- inson, Lyons, 2. Best 12 Peaches, B. R. Norton. Syracuse, [Crawford's Early.] 2. 2d, Abram Vail. Waterloo, trans. Plums. — Best collection 31 varieties, Dr. H. Wendell, dip. and 5. 2d, fifty varieties, Isaac Dennison, Albany, 3. Best 6 var. Ellwanger & Barry, 3. 2d, C. S. Wilson, 2. Best 12 plums, choice varieties, R. Wool worth, Syracuse, 2. 2d, H. G. Dickinson, trans. Nectarines. — Best and greatest number, John C. Hastings, Clinton, Oneida Co., 3. Grapes. — Best and most extensive varieties native grapes grown in open air; John C. Hastings, Clinton, 5. 2d, Dan- iel Ayers, Amsterdam, 2. , Best three varieties grown under glass, W. R. Coppock, Buffalo, 5. 2d. John C. Hastings, Clinton, 2. Best dish of native grapes, (Isabella,) Rufus Cossett, Onondaga, trans. Disc. Best grown and matured specimens. [Muscat and Black Hamburg",] Downing's and Am. Fruit Cult. Three specimens of grapes, Joseph E. BloomSeld, Mexico, Oswego co.. American Fruit Culturist. Two bottles of white and red champaigne wine, B. Poppe, Syracuse, Downing. Specimen of port wine from native grapes, Charles A. Pcabody, Columbus, Georgia, diploma. Melon*. — Cost specimens of water melons, H. N. Lang- worthy, Rochester, $3. Best specimens musk-melons, II. N. Langworthy, 3- Quinces. — Best 12 Quinces, Ellwanger &, Barry, 3. 2d, Lewis Eaton. Buffalo, 2. FOREIGN FRUITS. Apples. — Best exhibition pf apples, E. Harkness, Peoria, 111.. Dip. and Trans. 2d, James Dougall, Amherstburgh, ('. W., American Fruit Culturist. Pears. — Best exhibition. F. H. Elliott. Cleveland, Ohio, dip. and trans. 2d, James Dougall. C. W., Am. Fruit Cult. Grafts. — Best exhibition, James Dougall, dip. and trans. Disc. Dr. J. A. Kennicott, Elm Grove, 111., for a fine exhi- bition of western apples, Downing's Fruits. Mr. Overman, < lanton, Illinois, for a tine display of apples, Downing's Fruits. Arid ?ame for an exhibition of pears, American Fruit Culturist. F. R. Elliott, Ohio, fine display new western apples, F. Cul. J. Gallup, Cleveland, fine exhibition fruit, Downing. J. C. Holmes. Detroit, Mich., fine exhibition of apples, Am. Fruit Culturist. A full list of the varie ies exhibited will be given hereafter. VEGETABLES. Best 12 earrots, C. F. Crosman, Rochester, $3. 12 table beets, do. 2. 12 onions, N. Culver, Vrcadia, Wayne co., 3. 12 Tomatoes, I '. F. < irosman, '■'.. .'■ heads of c ibbage, Y < !ul\ er, 3. et potatoes, do. 3. 2 purple • C. I'. < Irosman, 3. half peck Lima beans, Jason W.Seward, Rochester, 3. bunch double parsley, (', I'. Crosman, :<. three squashes. do. 3. Largest pumpkin, II. N. Langworth •, :;. ■I com, V < lulver, 3. seedling potato, Hamilton Morrison, and greatest variety of I by exhibitor, C. F. ( !rosraan, 5. Disc, half peek Lim I'. Fogg, Rochester. 3. Three .si; nasi ies, Lewis Baton, BuSo] do. t '. F. < Irosra in, 2. Large pumpkin, N. < Julver, 2. Sweet corn, ( '. !•'. ( 'rosm in. j. Table potatoes, Richard Ch sney Syracuse. 2. Seedling potatoes, Luman Shi , ,3. GRAIN, FLOUR AND Wool,. Best sample of winter wheat, one banc', (white Blue- stem,) Timothy Judson, Portland, Chan. co. Second, Hamilton Murray, Oswego, 3. Best sample o*:s, one barrel. E. R. Dix. Vernon, 5. Best barrel flour. Oviatt & Stem Second, Win. II. Hanford, Honeoye Fi Best fleece fine wool, J. G. Strean, Washington, Pa., dip. John Holbert, Chemung, two butti trans. [We omit non-enumerated articles, and fancy and I work, &c, for want of space. — Ed.] [Cp It is not improbable that inaccuracies have occurred in the names of persons in the foregoing list, which has been copied from entries in the Secretary's books. J. is re- quested that all errors discovered be reported to the Si c ■ - tary of the Society without delay, that they i rected before the final publication of the awards in the Transactions of the Society. All information in relation to premiums may be obtained from the Secretary, who will give prompt attention to all inquiries. B. P. JOHNSON, Ag. Rooms, Sept., 1849. Secretary. OXEN Vs. HORSES. Edward Stabler, Esq., of Montgomery county, Maryland, writes to the editor of the Plow, Loom and Anvil, that in 1822 or '23 he commenced the substi- tution of oxen for horses on his farm. He began in midsummer to break up a field for wheat. For a day or two the oxen suffered greatly with the heat, in the middle of the day, but by rising early, and n two or three hours at noon, and feeding; on dry I he was able to plow nearly as much* with a yoke of oxen as with a pair of horses, and the work was quite as well done. The horses consumed about, one bushel of grain per day and the oxen none. He found the result, after a thorough trial, so much in favor of oxen, that he has ever since continued their use. For many years there was not a furrow plowed on his farm except by oxen. He observes that oxen, if properly broken, quite as readily, if not mori take to and keep the furrow, as horses. His rule is to keep two yoke of oxen on the farm to one pair of horses. lie well remarks, that — "to judge of the capabilities of the ox, by the badly-used, housi over-tasked, and half-fed animals we sometimes see in the yoke, is doing him great injustice. Treat the horse in the same unfeeling manner, and where would be his high mettle and noble spirit ? He would speedily arrive at a premature old age, valuless to his owner, and a cast-off to Iced the carrion crows. That the ox can better stand this harsh usage, is certainly no valid or sufficient reason, that he should be subjected to it. Use him with equal care and hu- manity, and he will just as certainly, and with more profit, repay it to his owner.'' — Cultivator. 260 THE GENESEE FARMER. Nov. & . "'--■ '% -- II li! \\\W\\\\\\m HJI I m ^^www ' ^*"^ DESIGN FOR A FARM OR COUNTRY HOUSE— WITH GROUND PLANS, ELEVATION, EXPENSE, &c, BY F. R. ELLIOTT, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO. In offering the accompanying plan for a eheap and commodious country house, I do not lay especial claim to originality in all particulars, although I do not know of cine exactly, like unto it ever having been published or built. The elevation and ground plan marked No. 1, comprise the house as I myself prefer it. I will confine myself to the elevation and ground plan No. 1. It is particularly designed to point either north or west, and should, if possible, be placed upon a slight rise of ground from the adjoin- ing public highway or surrounding grounds. The value of land in the country, as compared with the disadvantages of basements for kitchens, etc., should not receive a thought; and while this plan may he said to cover a large area of ground, I trust to be able to show that it can be built for a much smaller amount of money than any plan of equal convenience, room and character yet published. A free circulation of air, connected with large and convenient rooms, are material points, and in this they may be had. The size of cellar may be accord- ing to the wishes of the builder, but my estimate and plan is for a cellar only under the wing hi which is the kitchen, that being of size sufficient to hold all vegetable-, &tc, that will be required for the con- sumption of a large family. Vegetables for stock should, for easy access in feeding, as well as the injurious effects sometimes resulting from a too large quantity stowed in the house cellar, always be con- fined to the barn cellar. The main house is 24 by 32 feet, with 18 feet posts, and having a porch 7 feet wide in front, sup- ported with brackets. The wings are each 16 by 40 with 11 feet posts, and falling back 12 feet from the front of the main building. 'Of the first story front, the main building has a single panel door, and one large window, opening each way inside upon hinges. The wings have each an oriel or bay window, pro- jecting one foot, and having the center lights of glass hung upon hinges, to open inside. The second story front, the two windows, like the one below, are divi- ded by a heavy style, and open inside. The covering, as indicated in the elevation, is to be of inch pine boards that have been run through a planing machine, and cut to a width and thickness. These battened with half inch stuff three inches wide. As the lower story of the main building, as well as the wings, are all designed to be 11 feet high in the clear, it is evi- dent that the best length of boards will-be 12 feet, as they will allow of no waste. The estimate of cost here given is for plain but good work. No mouldings, turnings or carvings, as all such onlv add to the labor of the housewife in 1849. THE <:i;m:si;k fakuhk. 201 keeping1 them clean, and are really no ornament, as taken in keeping with other articles usually accom- panying the country. The lire place in the parlor is designed to be car- ried to a level with the chamber floor, and then car- ried horizontally along the side of wall until it reaches the partition of chambers, when it may rise diagonally to the center. Some may prefer a sheet iron flue, which could, like a stove pipe, be removed from the chamber during the summer months. In the elevation No. 2 the chimney rises direct. Some may prefer that, as tending to break the uniformity, which by the way, seems among architects of the present day to be more the intention in their designs, than to give positions suited to the real wants of daily life. That my estimates of costs are correct, I can only say that they are such as I have contracted in build- ing this house, (plan No. 1,) and are therefore reality and not fiction or supposition. Permit me now to take you through the rooms, entering, as we should, at the main or front entrance. First, we have a hall 8 feet wide, running the entire length of the main house. From this hall, 13 feet from the rear, commence the stairs, ascending 8 feet, to a platform of 4 feet wide, where they turn, and again rise to the chambers. Upon our left, as we enter the hall, is first the parlor, 16 by 18 feet, and next adjoining it the dining room, 16 by 14. Open- ing from this, we have the front of wing, 16 by 16, a large bed room; and from this, as also from the din- ing room, are doors to kitchen, 11 by 16; a fire place in both bed room and kitchen, and connected with that in the laller, should always be built a brick oven. The dining room may be warmed by a stove, grate, or fire place, and may be carried to the chimney from the kitchen, or a hot air drum may be placed in the chamber overhead, and the heat pass that way, and so conduct on to the chimney in the center of the .SECO/VD tLOOR N'Q I. main house. The pantry is shown from the kitchen, the cellar stairs, and also a small room for servants; or where no servants are kept, the latter may be left for a wood house. The conservatory or green house in rear of the dining room may or may not be constructed, as taste and means indicate; if it is, the window should be built the same as that in front. This dining room and parlor are separated by folding doors upon hinges; as not often expected to be wanted, and as costing less than when constructed to roll or slide, the latter is, of course preferable. The cellar is designed to be 7 feet deep, and the whole house to stand 18 inches from the ground. A closet is seen by side of chimney in kitchen, the lower part of which is designed for kettles, etc., and the upper for crockery or china closet. The closet opening into the bed room I think should con- tain a bath tub, and be so arranged that warm or cold water could be received from the kitchen. Ward- robes, separately built, and placed each side of the bay window would be suited to the room. Let us now go back to the hall. On the right, just at the foot of the stairs, we enter the library, 12 by 16 feet, having a fire place and a closet, as seen in the plan. In the rear of this, is again a bed room, 10 by 16, opening from the hall, and also with a fire place and closet. The rear of this I would cut off from the rest of the house by a continuous partition; and in large families, where much help is kept, a door should open from the outside into a small hall, 4 by 4, as shown, and then a bed room 8 by 12; and again two bed rooms 8 by 8. These furnish suitable rooms for farm laborers, and save the travel and dirt through the main hall, and so up stairs. The same also of the bed room for servants, in rear of kitchen. It is near their work, and .no excuse can be offered to pass through any rooms, except to sweep them, &c. The bed room in rear of library 262 THE GENESEE FARMER. Noi is so distant from all others, and having a fire place, as to render it suited to sickness. If desired, a pas- sage-way may be made through the closet, connect- ing it with the library. For large dairies, I would construct the rear rooms, heretofore mentioned for farm laborer's bed rooms, as shown in the rough plan accompanying, marked B. ! ESTIMATE OF COST. 1,000 feet hewed limber, at 2c, $20 00 4,134 " inch pine boards planed, I0|c, 44 65 4,100 <; roof boards, at 7c, 28 70 1,200 " i inch for battings, 12 60 500 " Ij inch, second clear, at 13c, 6 50 200 " l| " " say, 3 00 182 " 1£ " for water table, 175 21.000 shinglesat $2,50, 52 50 968 feet, or 66 pieces 4 by 4 scantling, 11 feet long; 320 feet, or 24 pieces, 10 feet long; 171 feet, or 8 pieces, 16 feet long; 168 feet, 3 by 4, 14 feet long; 576 feet, or 32 pieces, 2 by 4, 18 feet long; 880 feet, or 80 pieces, 2 by 4, 11 feet long; 176 feet, or 16 pieces, 2 by 4, 11 feet long; 184 feet, 2 by 4, long as possible; 118 joists, 2 by 8, 16 feet long, 16 joists, 2 by 8,10 feet long: 54 joists, 16 feet long; — for ceiling joists. Estimate all the scantling at 50 00 Joiner work, to frame, enclose, make sash, &c.,i.. 200 00 ( llass and putty for windows, - 20 00 Nails . 15 00 Door and window swings, 10 00 $464 70 This is exclusive of the cellar wall and under-pin- ning, which, '.villi the chimneys, may be [inclu- sive of materials,] made for, — 125 01) Flooring, 20 00 Inside joiner's work and lumber, 150 00 Lath and plastering, 200 00 $959 70 Extras, 40 30 $1000 00 This of course does not allow for the digging of cellar or hauling of lumber; — that must be calculated according as the distance is far or near. The green house is of course extra, as that does not properly belong to the bouse, but is a luxury which, if the house fronts to the north, could be constructed at a small expensi — say thirty dollars. Should any person, from want of means at command, de- mly in build the main house, with int< ution ;;t some future day, if desirable, to add the wings, 1 would offer the ground plan No. C, in which the front and outward appear- ance of house is retained, except the wings. The stairs from hall, which will be only 8 feet square, will have two font landings, and rise so as to hrint; the platform of turning directly en :i level with the top of front door. Such a house may tie constructed on the plan as described, at from 5 to 6(10 dollars — as lumber and labor can be obtained. PLAN C I WQOQ shed r- AWIJIMIM— ^MMHJMHJRWB! KITCHEN 14 xre CLOSET 2* S \ CLOSET CLOSET si EARLQR BED ROOM 8*12, HALL Again, the entrance door, instead of being on the gable end may be as in plan D. The hall being in center of house, the stairs to chamber would have to be a half- circle. The stairs might be reversed, and the room now 8 by 9, .made 8 by 12. So vice versa, and then open the room to be 8 by 9 from the hall, and use it for a library, or office, as might be required. PLAN D. WOODSHED ; .M1£IQ£32nr=EI PARLOR 14- * IQ BED ROOM S* 12, KITCHEN 14- xl& BED ROOM Sx 9 To make the house pretty, this way of fronting, the man- ner of finish would have to be more expensive, and a gable should be raised from the roof, and a window to correspond be introduced over the entrance door, or a projecting porch forming the hall might be constructed. — Transactions N. Y. State Agricultural (Society for 1848. 1849. TI1K GENESEE FARMER. 203 DUTY OF THE AGRICULTURAL PRESS. Mr. Editor:— It is nol ray intention a1 this time to depreciate this truly valuable class of print-;; far from it. 1 regard them as the leaven which is ulti- mately to leaven the whole farming community, i work that reform in the department of agriculture, which shall effectually tell upon the interests of the whole civilized world, lint I wish to make is, (if I may be allowed to do so,) which i their value and usefulness to the farmer. The reader of agricultural journals will observe that the efforts of such prints at exclusively directed to improve the producing art, and inci to th ible extent, the amount of farm products; while the art of marketing those products advantageously, (a matter of no small importance to the farmer,) receives little or no attention. To first, it is true is the all-important object, but to effect the latter is sufficiently so to r more attention than it has heretofore received. Is it not the province of the agricultural press to look all the interests connected with the pursuit of farming ? Then the farmer not unreasonably iese journals, the necessary information in regard to the markets, present and prospective, which will enable him judiciously to dispose of his produce. .'inner may be perfectly skilled in producing, and yet fail to realize the full profits of his skill, for the simple reason that he has not the means of knowi and when to market his produce ad- vantageously. Now, is it not clearly within the sphere of the agricultural press to collect and spread before the farmer correct information respecting the circum- stances and causes which control the markets, that he may form an intelligeet judgment in the case, and act understandingly in disposing of his produce. I am aware that it is utterly impossible to foresee all the fluctuations incident to the markets, when a spiiit of wild speculation is rife ; yet a correct knowli of the causes which operate to graduate the scale of prices, uninfluenced by speculation, is attainable. It is perfectly apparent, that the supply of any particu- lar article, as a general rule, determines the price. So when the supply is equal to the demand, we have the medium price ; when the supply is greater than the demand, prices are depressed; and when there is a deficient supply, prices are proportionally high. Now the farmer wants to be informed, so far as it is possible, of the present and future supply of the articles he produces, that he may judge correctly of the value of his property. This is a general rule: but there are other things which many times greatly modify its results. There may be, for instance, a scarcity in some one article of provision, but an abundance of all the rest. Now though there may be a deficiency of this one article, a very high price will not be realized because the abundance of the rest creates the supply. But if the deficiency in one or more is so great as to make a deficiency of the whole, then the price of each must be higher. And so it will be with all other classes of articles where one article may be substituted for another. The comparative abundance of money also has an influence on prices. A scarcity of the circulating medium proportionably paralyzes business operations, and reduces prices, while plenty of money invites to speculation, and prices go up. Other things mighl be noticed on this subject, but intend is to invite attention to it, and ash thai while oilier interests of the farmer are attended t»>, this on tten. It may be said we have all that is p in the recor commercial tran sactions, and prices current. 1 think not. We want relia i far as may be, of the supply on h of the probable future supply, and the demand for >■■. rticle • mi much, and more than is practicable. But might it not be accomplished through ■mini:- intei ed in dil parts overthis country, and foreign countries which compete with us, or consume our product-. \V. [ [, — Livingston County, A*. Y., 184 >. Remarks. — It is comparatively easy to state what an agricultural journal should be, but quite another and more difficult matter to accompli.-! ct. — We fear that our correspondent will have to "wait a little longer*' before he can obtain a paper which will furnish all the information he desires. For ob- vious reasons it would be impossibie to give, in a monthly of the dimensions of this journal, such re- ports of the markets, ike, as our frie I •-. — ■ But if the farmers of Western and Ce York were willing, as they are abun support a weekly agricultural newspt . mid soon be furnished with a journal containing the most reliable intelligence of the crops and hom markets — -together with much other information particularly valuable and interesting to farmers, but which is not given in our agricultural monthlies nor the the political weekly papers of the day. We be- lieve the day is not "afar off" when agricultural newspapers will be sustained in New Yoi Western and Southern States, as they now are in New England and Europe — and when that time shall arrive, the desideratum mentioned by our correspond- ent will no longer exist. — Ed. To Cure a Stifled Horse. — J. B. Goddard, of Norwich, Connecticut, writes to the American Agri- culturist, as follows: — Take one gallon of urine, and put therein a small handful of junk tobacco: boil down to one quart: then add two ounces of oil of spike, one ounce of i amber, two spoonfuls of spirits of turpentine, and two spoonfuls of honey. Put it into a jug-, and cork it tight for use. Process of application: rub the stifle- bone hard with the mixture 15 or 20 minutes; then dry it in thoroughly with a red-hot fire shovel; then ride the horse forth and back one hundred yards. Repeat the above two or three times, and the cure will be effected. Butter Making. — Those who only make a small quantity of butter, and of course do not churn every day will find the following very important: When the cream of each day is put into the jar or pot in which it is kept, let the whole be stirred together thorough! i/. If this is not done, the cream of each day will remain in layers as it is put in, and the lower strata will become sour and bitter, and when the churning is done, will taint the whole. So says a butter maker of the class alluded to. The "Mameluke Wheat," noticed so favorably in some papers recently, is a humbug. 264 THE GENESEE FARMER. Nov. STIMULATING- MANURES. -EXPERIMENTS. EY M. S. GALLUP. Messrs. Editors: — In nothing do we witness such a perfect recklessness and entire want of economy on the part of the tillers of the soil, as is exhibited in the waste of those substances which tend to the nutrition, or the stimulus of plants. What a vast amount of these is yearly and daily wasted, which might, by proper economy, be made subservient to the most salutary and beneficial results! Farmers are, gener- ally, too remiss by far in the preservation of manures. It is a matter of no ordinary moment, to preserve and apply whatever can possibly tend to increase a crop. Yet very few act upon this principle. Indeed, a great majority of our farmers neglect to attend properly to this matter, and suffer serious losses on that account. Most especially, is it too true that, by many farmers, ashes are not saved and applied to the production of vegetable substances. Some sell this valuable manure to ash-pedlars for an insignificant sum; others suffers it to remain about their premises unused. Either course exhibits a lamentable want of economy on their part. Were our farmers aware of the value of both leach- ed and unleached ashes as a stimulating manure, it does seem that they would not be guilty of such su- perlative folly as selling them for ten cents per bushel; or letting them go entierly to waste. Ashes, on most soils, and in most seasons, has not its equal in the whole catalogue of stimulants. " We speak what we know, and testify what we have seen." During the past seson, I have made some experi- ments, testing the real value of ashes as a manure. For this purpose, I selected four consecutive rows of corn planted upon soil of equal fertility ; and each of which received the same care and attention in tillage. To the first I applied unleached ashes — to the second leached ashes — to the third, -unleached ashes after hoe- ing the first time, and to the fourth no ashes. The ashes were applied to the first two rows as soon as the spires made their appearance. Note the result : — I harvested the corn about the 2d of September, and ascertained the respective amounts as follows: from the row to which unleached ashes was applied, I ob- tained 32 pounds of ears of corn. From the row to which leached ashes was applied I harvested 35 pounds. From the row to which unleached ashes was aplied after hoeing the first time, I got 26 pounds. And, from that to which no ashes were applied, 24 pounds of corn. From these experiments we deduce the following facts: — 1. That leached ashes are more valuable as a manure than unleached ones. But I applied double the amount of the former. All things considered, a bushel of leached is equal to a bushel of unleached ashes. 2. That ashes is not far from being one- fourth better to be applied as soon as the spires ap- pear than after hoeing the first time. 3. That the application of ashes at a proper season will increase a crop of corn nearly one-third. It is true we must take into consideration the counteracting influence of season, soil, and such like. The past season has been favorable to the use of this manure. The soil, too, being a loam, interspersed with gravel, is well adapted to ashes. Upon a wet, clayey soil, or in a wet season, such results might not be obtained. But, as a general thing, the result will not vary materially from the above. If what I have stated be correct, does it not be- hoove our farmers to save carefully and apply ashes to the production of corn ? Is it not really worth their pains ? Is it the part of wisdom to waste this valuable manure ? Or, rather, is it not the part of wisdom to preserve it ? Judge ye. I have likewise applied ashes to potatoes, and find it highly beneficial. It may be advantageously ap- plied to the raising of garden vegetables, also to pas- ture. Spring wheat may be materially benefitted by using ashes. It should be applied as soon as the spires appear. In this section of the country, this crop is very often injured by worms. The applica- tion of ashes, in this case, is an effectual remedy. — Busti, Chaut. Co., JY. Y., Oct., 1849. domestic (Exonomn. A New Kind of Cheese. — An esteemed friend, in whose recipes we have great confidence, has kindly furnished us with the following method for making good cheese: Boil good white potatoes, and when cold, peel and mash them till not a lump remains. To five pounds thus prepared add a pint and a half of sour milk, and as much salt as may be deemed necessary to season the mass. Having worked it well, let it be covered, from two to four days according to the state of the weather; then work again, make the cheese the size you like and then let them dry in the shade. After they have become sufficiently dry, place them in pots or pans, and let them remain a fortnight or more. In this way cheese of a most ex- cellent quality may be made and what is of no small consequence, it can be kept for years without the slightest deterioration from the effects of age, provi- ded it can be kept dry. A friend who has had the pleasure of eating cheese prepared in this manner, speaks of it in the highest terms. — Maine Farmer. Savoy or Sponge Cake. — Take twelve fresh eggs, put them in the scale, and balance them with sugar; take out half and balance the other half with flour; separate the whites from the yolks, whip them up very light, then mix them, and sift in, first sugar, then flour, until both are exhausted: add some grated lemon peel; bake them in paper cases, or little tin moulds. This also makes an excellent pudding, with butter, sugar, and wine for sauce. A Substitute for Tea. — Dr. Graham, an old and experienced physician in London, says — "I may state, on very respectable authority, that the first leaves of whortleberry, properly gathered and dried in the shade, cannot be distinguished from the real China teas." Cleansing Paint. — The best thing for cleansing oil paint is a sponge dipped in Ammonia which has been copiously diluted in water. Soap dissolves the turpentine as well as the. linseed oil, and not only destroys the smooth and shiny surface, but e: also the lead to the influence of the water and air, and is, therefore, not practicable. Shrinking of Flannel. — Enclose new flannel in a bag; put it into a boiler with cold water; heat and boil it. It will never shrink any mire after this op- eration, and should thou be made up into garments. To learn, willingly and promptly to do whatever is right, simply because it is so, is a great acquisition. 1849. TllK GENESEE FARMER. 265 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. EDITED \\\ P. BARRY THE CONTENTION OF FRUIT GROWERS. This body assembled in New York on the 2d of Ocl >ber, and held b session of two days. The at- ince was not quite so large as last year, but was made up of men well informed on the subject, from many parts of the Union. The collection of fruits was much larger and better than we had reason to anticipate, but still greatly behind that of last year. The subject of a union between this body and the "North American Pomological Convention," was brought forward at an early stage of the proceedings, and alter a conference between committees from each, it was unanimously resolved that the Associa- tions be united under the name of the American Pomological Congress — that the first meeting be held at Cincinnati, in 1850, and that the meetings afterwards be held biennially — Philadelphia being designated for 1852. The chairman of the General Fruit Committee reported a long list of rejected fruits, besides a list of varieties for general cultivation. We intended to give this list In the present number, but have not been able to get it in a complete form. We shall give it in our next, with further remarks on the doings of the Convention. The proceedings were marked throughout with regularity and harmony, and now that this Congress is so well organized, it cannot fail to render great service to the country in this important branch of culture. PEACH CULTURE. The peach crop through many parts of New Jer- sey and Delaware has been very good the past season. We saw it stated in the Journal of Commerce, some time in September, that 15,000 baskets were brought in one week, by one steamer alone, from New Bruns- wick, and an equal number by others; and in one day 3474 baskets at an average price 70 cents per basket. Manv of the farmers have netted from one to $2,000. In the last of September, when we were in New York and Philadelphia, a basket of about three pecks of Heath's Cling, or Crawford's Late Melocolon, could not be bought from the mar- ket dealers for less than $4. Fine late peaches were both scarce and dear in our markets, and our cultivators would do well to turn some attention to this point. At present few, except early varieties, arc grown to any extent. In answer to inquiries from a Staten Island corres- pondent, on this subject, the editor of the Horticultu- rist says: — " The choicest late peaches for profitable market culture are the following: Morris White, Crawford's Late, Heath Cling, Druid Hill, Snow Peach, Old Mixon Freestone, La Grange, and Ward's Late Free. In planting an orchard of 2000 trees in your neighborhood, we should choose the above in about equal proportions, giving the preference to Morris White and Crawford's Late, as the most uniformly productive. Sixteen or eighteen feet apart ea< h way, is the usual distance; but you may plant them twelve feet, if you keep them low and bushy, and shorten-in the tops every year, by which means you will have the finest fruit. Above all, be careful to get tr titution, free from all hered- itary suspicion of the yellows. I ■■ — and qual- ity of your fruit d nost wholly on the depth and goi your soil.'' ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. We hav matters of this kind on hand, that ought to have been atfo tided to this montl , we have bi en .- i much from home an h en- i when al home, that we have found it. really ible to give them proper attenti m. S <■ mmu - are on hand also, and will receive attention next month. Wintering Verbenas, Carnation.-; Salvias other Tender Plants. — (F. K. P., Wisconsin.) Where there is no green-house, a cold fi ■ answer the purpose. Take a common hoi — dig a pit two to three feet deep, in a dry soil, and set the frame in it and fill in the around perfectly close, and put some mam to exclude the frost; have the sashes to B and cover all with leaves, pine branches, See. feet deep. Plants will winter well in this . They should be aired in fine, mild rid a sharp look out be kept for mice. Next to tl good dry cool cellar, where there is some light ad- mitted occasionally, will answer. The] be stored away dry, and be kept as fr from moisture or decaying portions of leaves or Your other questions will be answ< ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Our thanks are due to Stephen Hull, Clyde, for some grains of an early' while table corn. which he says is very superior — and for remark the culture of the pea nut, which we shall give in next, or a future number. — To E. A. McKay, Esq., of Naples, Ontario Co., for a box of Isabella Grapes, from his vineyard. — To Jas. H. Watts, Esq., for fine specimens of Ribston Pippin and other apples. — To Mr. Ira Thurston, of Hemlock Lake, for very fme specimens of White Doyenne pear. — To W. G. Verplanck, Esq., of Geneva, for half a bushel of White Doyenne pears, as tine as we have ever seen. This fruit attains its highest perfection in that vicinity, and is cultivated more extensively there than in any other part of the State. Apples as an Article of Human Food. — The importance of apples, as food, has not hitherto been sufficiently estimated in this country nor understood. Besides contributing a large portion of sugar, mucil- age, and other nutritive matter, in the form of - they contain such a fine combination of vegetable acids, extractive substances and aromatic principles, with the nutritive matter, as to act powerfully in the capacity of refrigerants, tonics and antiseptics; and when freely used at the season of ripeness, by rural laborers and others, they prevenl debility, strengthen digestion, correct the putrefactive tendencies of ni- trogenous food, avert scurvy, and probably maintain and strengthen the powers of productive labor. The French and Germans use apples extensively: indeed, it is rare that they sit down, in the rural dis- tricts, without them in somi c other, even at the best tables. The laborers and mechanics depend on them, to a very great extent as an article of food. — Selected. 266 THE GENESEE FARMER. Nov. We should be glad to see our markets well supplied with such apples as this, the Dyer, Haivley and St. Lawrence, after the Early Harvest and Strawberry are gone, and before the Fall Pippin comes in. THE GRAVENSTEIN APPLE. This is one of the finest of all foreign varieties of the Apple that have been introduced to this country. It appears as far us we know, to be esteemed as ex- cellent wherever it has been tested. Downing, in his Fruits and Fruit Trees says: — "A superb look- ing German Apple, which' originated at Grarenstein, in Ilolstein, and is thought one of the finest apples of the North of Europe. It fully sustains its repu- tation here, and is unquestionably a fruit of first rate quality. Thomas, in his American Fruit Culturist says — "Productive, handsome and excellent. Fine in all localities." Cole, in his Fruit Book says — "one of the handsomest and best for all parts of the country, holding an equally high rank with the Porter; some prefer it." Our own experience with its culture here enables us to endorse cheerfully these various commendations — and we notice it now to bring it more prominently to the attention of planters. It has yet found its way into comparatively few collections, while it should be in every one, great or small, in the whole country. It is one of the most vigorous and beautiful growers of the hundreds of kinds in cultivation. It makes a round, regular and well shaped head, without any care or pruning, and this, with its great hardiness and productiveness, render it a most valuable variety for the farmer's or- chard, who has not the leisure or inclination to bestow much care on on his trees. It makes a beautiful and profitable Dwarf tree on the Paradise stock, for the fruit border in the garden. Fruit large, roundish, slightly flattened. Skin pale yellow, striped and mottled with bright red. Stalk short and stout, in a deep cavity. Eye open, large, in a pretty dcej) and broad basin. Flesh white, fine grained, juicy, sub-acid, rich and pleasant. In use here during all the month of Sep- tember. Wood is stout; bark smooth, dark brown and bright; foliage large and lux- uriant. HAWTHORNDEN" APPLE The Hawthornden is a famous Scotch apple, and in all the British fruit gardens it is placed at the head of the list of kitchen or cooking varieties. As far as we are aware it is no better there than here. We have seen no other tree so loaded with fruit this season as a little tree of this sort in our garden. The branches were literally covered with fruit, and so beautiful that every one who saw them said they would culti- vate it "if only for ornament." The tree is naturally dwarfish, but a strong grower nevertheless, and bears most abundantly when very young — similar in this respect to the Keswick Codlin, another famous English kitchen apple. This apple originated at Hawthornden, the birth- place of the poet Drummond, and Downing calls it " an excellent bearer, a handsome fruit, and good for cooking or drying." Fruit is about the size of the Early Harvest, quite flat, very regular. Skin smooth, of delicate pale yellow, often flesh color, with a bright red or crimson cheek. Flesh soft, juicy and acid ; excellent for cooking. The Maiden's Blush is much similar in appearance, but the tree of Maiden's Blush is more erect and slender, the wood lighter colored, and the fruit harder. We would particularly recommend this apple to those who are procuring dwarf apples, for garden culture, as its great beauty and early bearing, as well as its productiveness, render it eminently worthy of a place among a dwarf garden collection. As such trees are generally planted in gardens of small dimensions, surrounding the houses and homes of our citizens and villagers, some little regard should be had to the beauty of the tree and fruit. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 267 HORTICULTURAL PARTY. Tiif. Following aotice, which we extract from the Horticulturist, will show something of the Horticul- tural spirit in Philadelphia. We have been assured by many of the guests that this was duo of the ghtful fetes they ever participated in; and Imw could it be otheru ise ? I!.: i. Partt. — We learn that our friend, Dr. Brinckle, whose zeal and knowledge place him among the foremost of amateur horticulturists, held a1 his residence in Girard Square, Philadelphia, on the evening ol the 13th September, one of the most agree- able horticultural soirees ever en joyed iu this country. Had we been able to accept his kind invitation, we would gladly have noticed this reunion more fully; but we now are forced to content ourselves with the following memoranda, kindly sent us by one of the guests. — Ed. During the horticultural exhibition, we have had rather more than the usual supply of fruits' and flowers; but the climax of the gala was last evening, when Dr. Brinckle, to do honor to the occasion, and to exhibit some remarkable fruits and wines that had been provided by his liberality and that of his numer- ous friends, gave a "Horticultural Party" at his ele- gant and hospitable mansion in Chestnut street, where were assembled the amatuers, the gardeners, and the friends of liberal culture. J. P. Gushing, Esq., of Boston, kindly forwarded a liberal supply of his best grapes, pears, &c, and the tables were in addition, ornamented with every flower now in bloom, the whole forming a fete such as the writer would be glad to see frequently repeated. As an evidence of the good things of this region, I beg to insert in the pages of the Horticulturist the following list of fruits exhibited at a private evening party on this single evening: Oranges and Pigs. Citron melons, two varieties. Watermelons — Mountain Sweet, Mountain Sprout. Flowers — Very beautiful pyramids and basket bouquets for the table, from Messrs. Bissktt, Kilvinger & Raabk Chinese Preserves — Finger fruit, Mangostan. Native Wines — Longworth's Sparkling Catawba, Long- worth's Catawba or Hock, Buchanan's Hock, Resor's Cape. Foreign Wines — Washington Morton's Champagne, Geis- ler's do., Wirts & Co., do. : Hockheimer, two vintages ; Weinnengen; very superior Hock presented by Mr. Len- nig. Chambertin, Port, Sherry, Maderia. Grapes — Black Hamburgh, very large, Hanstrell, do., White variety. Nectarines — New White, Early Violet. Pears — Bartlett, Golden Beurre of Biboa, Flemish Beauty. All the above from Mr. Cushing. Grapes — Lashmere's Seedling, Chasselasde Fontainblcau, Muscat Muscadine, White Frontignan. Grizzly Frontignan, Raisin des Carmes, Decan Superb, Cambridge Botanic Gar- den, Victoria, Black Hamburgh. Black I'rince, Fromental, I'raukenthal. The above from Mr. Bust. Many other fine varieties were presented by Messrs. Cleveland, Bax- ter, Johns and Copia. Pears — Petre, Chapman, Lodge, Pennsylvania, Moyamen- sing, Hanover, Seckel, Seckel from original tree, Autumn Bergamot, Zant/.iii<_rer. White Doyenne, Gray Doyenne, Chancellor, Orange, Stcinment/.' Catherine, D'Angouleme, Julienne. Peaches — Many varieties. An interesting item in the evening's proceedings consisted in testing the American wines. The la- bels from these arid the best foreign brands were re- moved, and private marks attached. The best judges in the city were present, and the result would have been exceedingly gratifying to Messrs. Longworth, Buchanan and Resor, had they been present, and I may add, will do much in introducing the Cincinnati wines into use in this region. Yours, S. GRAPE CULTURE. \\ i: are glad to observe thai the culture ol thi Grape is making rapi State. At the Slate and County Pairs this season, the quantity and quality of tin1 Grapes presented have far sur- passed anything we remember to have seen in former years. At our County Show we had Isabellas from Air-. E F. Smith, of this city, Zrra Burr, of i'< r- inton. Mr. Ajnsworth, of 15! that in size, color, &c, approached bunches of Black Hamburg, raised under glass. Johnny Bull may turn up his nose at our "American sour grapes, hut wo have great reason to rejoice that we have a soil and climate where such grapes as these can be grown with comparatively no care at all We have on our table a box of Isabellas, presented us by David McKay, Esq., of Naples, Ontario Co., from his young vineyard, as fine as Dr. Underbill ever gathered in his famous Croton Point Vineyard, and fit to appear in the dessert of the daintiest repub- lican in the country. Mr. McKay designs supplying our market with] grapes. His vinepard is in a very promising condition, and will no doubt yield him a handsome revenue. It is almost incredible what a quantity of grapes a single vine of the Isabella will produce. A mechan- ic of this city planted a vine some seven or eight years ago, and now it covers one end of his house, gives him a delightful arbor, and this year has yielded about seven bushels of fruit. The man who has a place for a vine to run cannot invest fifty cents better than in planting a good Grape Vine. The cultivation of Foreign varieties in cold vine- ries is also attracting much attention. These struc- tures may be very cheap and simple, and yet answer every purpose. We copy below a notice of a very complete establishment of this sort, from the Horti- culturist, and we may add that we saw exhibited at the American Institute, splendid specimens of Queen. of JV7ce, Muscat of Alexander, Black Prince, and Black Hamburg, from the Clinton Point Vinery. THE VINERY AT CLINTON POINT. Our frontispiece is intended to convey to the reader some idea of the very complete vinery at Clinton Point, the residence of our neighbor, Philip S. Van Rensselaer, Esq., near New-Hamburgh, on the Hudson. [We omit cut of vinery. — Ed. Gen. Far.] The effect of this vinery is so excellent, and its adaptation to the intended purpose so complete, that we consider it the best model for a cuvilinear house that we have yet seen. The general plan is not un- like that of many vineries near Boston; but in sim- plicity and nicety of construction, :* far surpasses all the curved roof vineries that we have seen there, and was designed by Mr. Van Rensselaer after a thorough inspection of the best vineries in the country. The house is built entirely of wood; and while it has an exceedingly light and pleasing effect, is at the same time very strong and durable. The view of the interior shows that the roof is supported by three rows of light posts, to which, in a very simple manner, the effect of clustered columns is given. The house rests on locust posts, which are as durable as a stone wall while they offer no impedi- ment to the free passage of the roots of the vines through the border on the outside or inside of the house. In the ventilation of this vinery, Mr. Van Rensse- J 268 THE GENESEE FARMER. laer has especially improved on other structures of the same kind, which we have seen elswhere. The current of air follows the same course as usual in houses of this kind; that is, it enters at the openings in the low wooden wall below the sashes, (boards hung on hinges,) and escapes at the movable sashes at the top of the roof; a mode which passes a stream of fresh air, entering at one's command, over the whole growth of the vines, from the floor to the topmost branch. These movable sashes are swung on centre pivots; a mode allowing them to be more easily opened and shut than sliding sashes. Usually, sashes of this kind are opened and shut by means of cords, which, owing to the expansion and contraction of the mate- rial, effected by the atmosphere, is found a most im- perfect mode. Mr. Van Rensselaer has ingeniously obviated this difficulty, by employing a forked iron rod, (see figure,) Section of Vinery. a, for opening and closing the sashes. This rod is about half, an inch in diameter, plays, perpendicularly, up and down, through an iron socket, b, in the top rail of the trellis in the middle of the house. There is a thumb screw in this socket, which presses against the rod and fixes it at any desired height. Each branch of this ventilating-rod, where it is divided at the top, is only about a fourth of an inch in diameter : so that the fork is so elastic as to give it sufficient play to allow the sashes to rise and fall easily and freely, while, by means of the thumb screw, they can be held firmly in any position. We have omitted to say that this is a "cold vine- ry;" that is, one in which no fire heat is employed, — a species of structure every day coming into greater favor in this part of the country. To grow the for- eign grape in the highest perfection, it is only neces- sary to have the temperature of the house at that com- mand which the full sunshine, and the admission or exclusion of the outer air, gives, without resorting to fire heat; and so abundant and powerful is the sun- shine in this latitude that the Muscat of Alexandria, which in many sesons requires fire heat to mature perfectly in Boston, ripens regularly and fully on the Hudson in a cold-house. The vinery at Clinton Point is, a span-roofed house 80 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 14 feet high. Mr. Van Rensselaer has deviated from the usual course, in placing it on a north-and-south, instead of an east-and-vvest line; and the results shows how wisley, for this climate, as the vines on both sides are equally exposed to the longest influence of the sun, — enjoying it from rising to setting; while at the hottest time of the day they are all far less likely to be in- jured by any excess of heat than vines on the sunny side of a house facing directly south. We have, so far, only spoken of the vinery itself: but, as we are always inclined to judge of the tree by its fruit, we may add that all that we have said of the merits of the structure, is fully sustained by the ex- traordinary growth of the vines, and the magnificent grapes which they have produced this season. We have only seen them equalled in one instance, that of G. R. Russell, Esq., of West Roxbury, whose fruit bore off the palm at the Massachusetts horticultural exhibition last year. The vines were only planted a year ago last July, and, of course, have not been allowed to bear a full crop this season; but the strong, vigorous, healthy wood with which they have filled the house, and the wonderfully fine clusters of fruit, of the highest flavor, which they have produced, show the advantages of the best structure and the best culture. The border in which they grow affords, indeed, a supply of food which explains, in part, the extraordinary growth of the vines, — since it runs under the whole house, and extends over a wide space all round it, being 80 feet wide and 120 feet long, by nearly 3 feet deep, and very thourougely manured. The house contains a very complete collection of grapes, obtained from Mr. Buist, of Philadelphia, and we were glad to learn that every vine had proved correct. Besides the standard varieties, we noticed Deacon's Superb — perhaps the most beautiful of all new white grapes, — the clusters very large, berries oval, and closely set. Heine de JVice, (not ripe when we saw it,) was also laden with large clusters of very handsome fruit. Xeres, another white grape, also attracted our attention by the size and beauty of its clusters; while some bunches of the Palestine grape, more than 2 feet long, made us comprehend the biblical account of the grapes of the land of Canaan. Camomile. — A few roots of this plant should have a place in every garden. Not only are its medical qualities highly valuable, but its presence aiming vegetables is supposed to be an iE^is of protection aganist many diseases to which they are subje< ■ It should be transplanted into warm and rich soil, in the spring, and be a opment, by copious manuring and frequenl pressure. When plants, late in the season, exhibit symptoms of decay or general debility, the root of camomile in their vicinage is frequently the most speedy and efficacious r< medy that plied. The odor, or aroma, diffused by thi! also known to be highly repellanl to re winged insects, and its presence among ti. of plants and vegetables infested In will protect them more effectually than aim other agent known, and at comparatively small ex- pense.— Selected. Cleaning Trkes. — Trees and vines whi the cleanest, bear the best: like the human body, the pores of their skin become clogged with dirt, ami re- tain gases which should escape. Trees, the bark of which lias been scraped ami scrubbed, become more thriving, and more vigorous. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 2G9 editor's Cable. Drain Tii.es, &c— Wo have received from Mr. Ai.vin Win i'\. of Wesl -■ hoe Tile, his i 5 ore made nl materia] — the I .The pipes left with . e been in u | buried thr< p feet ■ I as w hen first put down. Tl i both 'I ile and 1 i en ;it this office. indebted to Mr. S. I clusters of very fine Isabi lla Grapes, [f Mr. A. is as successful |n other matters, as in grape culture, he i a ad ohol "I' ei besll by, growth, entirely worked bj < lined from tbi reliable sources, or eu( from bearing trees of tie br own. » Bufficii .'t guarantee of their gi auinem made :.. v. boiesale purcha ■ ;.:.Mi applic lining the ( 'ash or app | lin' l Penfield, N. ■ I HENRY FELLOW Nursery Fruit Trees for t nut Til!', no baa from fifteen to twenty thousand cul- JjJgWKivated Fruit Trees, fit for tranapla i chard and •iffi i gardens, for sale on lib .■:• hun- dred of the choicest varieties of Lpple, ry and Plum Tries, in his collection, thai can be !'•■' . nutry. All orders from a distance will receive prompt attenl MOSES LONG. No 2'.'. Alexai Rochester. N. Y., Oct. 1. [10-2m] Dairy Stock. FOR SALE, PLATO, a Dull J Large, perfect i" form, beautifully pied, a deep red ami pure white. His sire the premium Hereford Bull of Thomas H.Hyatt, Esq. His dam, a cream colored Holderness cow ofjrreal leuce, but one remove from the •• IMPORTED HOL BULL." Fox description of the genu! blood, see Genesee Farmer for September last, , His dam gave milk the year round— in the best of the seaaon i quarts per day. He took the first premium at the recent Cattle Show in this County. For terms, which will be reasonable, either for cash or credit, enquire at the office of the Genesee Farm of the subscriber, at his farm in Brighton, four miles from city. LYMAN PAYNE. Rochester, N. Y., Nov. 1.. 1849. Drain Tile, Pipes, and Roofing Tile* BENJ. F. WHARTENBY. Manufacturer of DRAINING TILE, Drain Pipe. Roofing Tile, &c„ offers them for Bale at his kiln at Waterloo, Seneca Co.. N. Y . at the following | 4 inch horse-shoe Tile. $15 per 1000—3 inch, ^12 50—2 inch. $10. 4 inch Pipes. $16—3 inch. $14-2 inch. $lu-l . $8. Roofing Tile. $20— 13J£ tile to the rod. Soles for the h shoe tile, haif the price of tile; these are not always All orders promptly supplied. [11 -2t 1 Waterloo, N. Y„ Nov. 1. 1849. B. F. WHARTENBY. Drain Tile, Pipe, die. THE Subscriber is prepared to furnish horseshoe Drain Tile, of superior make and material. Also. Drain Pipe, and Clay Candle Moulds. The tile are warranted not to slack for one year, which will test their durability Price of horse sh « Tile >15 per thousand, or two shillings per rod. or two shillings per rod; Bats (or soles) $7.50 per 1000 or one rhilling per rod. All orders will . prompt attention. Addres, or apply to ALVIN WILCOX. November 1, 1849. [11-lt*] Wesl Bloomfield, N. Y. Book Agents Wanted. TWENTY Young Men can be profitably employed in selling Cheap Books and obtaining subscribers for THE GENESEE FARMER, and other valuable Magazines and Papers. The nimble nine is always better than a slow shilling. Thousands of men will purchase' a good cheap Book who will not take expensive ones. Most of the following new works will be sold to agents at half price. Good Behavior for Gentlemen. $0 1 Good Behavior for Ladies. 12'., The True Housekeeper's Guide. The Lady's Cook Book— Good Living for the Million, 12\ The Marksmen of Monmouth, a tale of the American Revolution. "by Curtis, Knowlson's Horse Doctor, 25 Every Man his Own Lawyer, 1 00 The Married Woman's .\ie. Heal Companion, 50 Life in Rochester, its Vice and .Misery. 25 The Home Doctor, 12'.., The above works, together with a general variety of new Books, Maps, Cards, Pictures &c Stc. Also, THE GENESEE FARMER FOR 1848, stitched and bound in handsome paper covers, containing a vast amount of very valuable and entertaining matter, illustrated with numerous engravings— a work which should be in the pos of every man who owns a rod of land. Price 50 Cents. (pj=- Agents who desire to sell Books will require a small cash capital of from 10 to $25, and will in all eases be indemnified against loss. An active young man can make from $1 to 3$ per day. Address, (postpaid,) D. M. DEWEY. Arcade Hall. Rochester. N. Y. 270 THE GENESEE FARMER. Nov A Mew Book for Every Farmer ! SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE, or the Elements of Chemistry. Geology. Botany, and Meteorology, applied to practical Agri- culture: by M. M, Rodgers, M. D., with the approval and assis- tance of several practical and sicntiffc gentlemen. The work is illustrated by a large number cf engravings, and is published in a neat style, well bound, and sold cheap. NOTICES OF THE WOBK. "The general correctness, brevity, clearness, and multitude of its principles applicable to practical agriculture, that first and best of arts, commend the work to the youth of our land, as well as to its older and youger agriculturists. " — Prof. Chester Dewey, Principal Rjches'er Collegiate Institute. "This is an interesting and much needed volume, well adapted to the wants and taste of that intelligent portion of the commu- nity for whom it is more particularly adapted— making combined a complete system of agriculture, easily understood and readily defined." — if. Y. Farmer and Mechanic. '■It appears to be excedingly well adapted for the purpose ef in- struction. It is concise and plain— neither too much nor too little" — Hon. Z&dock Pratt. •'We have seen enough to convince us that it is a work of rare merit, such an one as will meet with the approbation of all intel- ligent readers. Every agriculturist who reads and digests should procure the work. "—American Farmer, Baltimore. '■We commend the -work to the Farmer, especially to the young farmer, as well worthy of his attention."— Berkshire Cultwriit, Pittsficld, Mass. '•We think the author has ably preformed the difficult task of rendering science easy to the practical farmer." — New England Farmer, by S. W. Cole. ERASTUS DARROW, Publisher and Bookseller, Corner Main and St. Paul-streets, Rochester. $£=• For sale by the Publisher; also, at the office of the Geue>ce Farmer, and by Booksellers generally. *** Darrow has a large stock of BOOKS nt wholesale or retail, Orders promptly answered. [3-eom-tfJ Owen Morris. CITY BINDERY, UNDER THE MUSEUM, Rochester. N. Y. THREE Silver Medals have been awarded to the subscriber for the best specimens of Book Binding, exhibited at the Mechan- ics' Fairs held in this city and Buffalo. Gentlemen's Libraries fitted up and repaired ; Music paper ruled. Music and Periodicals bound and finished to any pattern ; Blank Account Books executed at this establishment, have given unequalled satisfaction, by their durability and elegance. Strict attention is always paid to the quality of paper used, to render them equal to the best in the United States, or those imported. Ladies' Scrap and Guard Books, Albums and Portfolios; in all their varieties, manufactured to order in the best style. Banks, Institutions, Societies. &c, maybe assured of work being done on the most advantageous terms. Gentlemen residing at a distance, by packing and forwarding volumes to the above directions, stating price and style, may rely upon tbeir being well bound on the most favorable terms, also carefully and punctually returned. N. B.— The proprietor has spared no expense in fitting up the establisrnent, and introducing into Western New York the latest improvement in Book Binding. tiQ=- The Genesee Farmer and other periodicals bound to order. OWEN MOBRIS. City Bindery, under the Museum. Rochester Nov. 1, 1849 [11-tf] Patent Improved Railroad Horse»Power and Overshot Thresher and Separator. fT^HIS Power & Thresher, which has been so long before the X public, and given such perfect and universal satisfaction, has met with such a constant and rapidly increasing sale, that other manufacturers sometimes adopt headings similar to those of my advertisement — and, in some case3. parts of the advertise- ments 'themselves — which, if not observed, may lead to mistakes, and pux-chasers may get. instead of the machine which has earn- ed tbe reputation, one of a different construction. The machine has been much improved, and no pains or^expense is spared to make it in the most thorough and durable manner, as we have the greatest facilities as to power, room and materials at our command. It is the cheapest, simplest, most durable and portable set of machinery for the purpose in use, and warranted in every case to give satisfaction to the purchaser. For further particulars see my advertisements in the agricultural papers of the United States and Canada. Catalogues and circulars fur- nished gratis on application by mail. HORACE L. EMERY, Agricultural Warehouse, 369 & 371, Broadway, Albany, N. Y. Improved Well and Cistern Pumps. DOWNS, MYNDHERSE &. CO.. of Seneca Falls, N. Y.. would call the attention of Hardware Merchants and all others who have occasion to deal in or use suction pumps, to their CJ1ST IRON, REVOLVING SPOUT JIND CISTERN PUMPS, for which they have obtained Letters l'atentof the United States. For particular description and figures of our Pump, see August number of the Genesee Farmer, page 181. [9 tfj Nursery of J. J. Thomas, 3Iaeedon, N. Y. wjiyjjt THIS Nursery now contains many thousand fine trees-, o $Y*Sfc large, handsome and thrifty growth, consisting of Apples, **&*- Pears, Cherries, Apricots, &c. and the smaller fruits, of the best standard sorts, and most of the finest new varieties; (iJJ" in all cases they have been propagated for sale after being thoroughly proved in bearing. =£$ The collection of APPLES, consisting of many thousand large trees, mostly 7 to 9 feet high, embraceig the finest stanard varie- ties, and nearly all the valuable new sorts. Very fine pear seedlings, at $12 per 1000, two years old apple seedlings', at $5 per 1000, Horse chesnuts 1 to 2 ft high, at *>5 per 100, &c, &c. When purchasers desire, selections of the best for affording a regular succession of fruit throughout the seson, will be made by the proprietor. A carefully assorted collection of hardy ornamental trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennial plants, will be furnished at very moderate prices. Trees for canal and railroad conveyance, will be wtU packed in bundles, enclosed in strong mats, with the roots mudded and en- cased in wet moss, so as perfecly to preclude all danger of injury. Ah communications, post-paid, to be dircected Macetlon.Wayne Co.. N. Y Oct. 1. 1849. Monroe Nursery, RIDGE ROAD, SIX MILES WEST OF ROCHESTER. HP HE uudersigned, proprietor of the above well known estab- JL lishment. takes this opportunity of returning thanks to his friends and the public for their liberal patronage last spring. He offers this fall, a complete assortment of Nursery Productions— (he does not presume to say that he has a iarger stock than his nursery friends, but he has as good)— at greatly reduced prices, and warranted correct. His Cherry Trees are particularly fine, of three year's growth, and 8 to 10 feet high. He would invite all about making purchases of trees. &c .. this fall, to come and examine his stock previous to looking elsewhere. The public is again notified that N. Goodsell is not employed by him. CHARLES POWIS. Greece, N. Y.. Oct. 1, 1849. [10-2m] Seeds anil Implements. GENESEE SEED STORE AND AG. WAREHOUSE— Irving Hall, opposite the Eagle Hotel, Buffalo-st. — Having purchased the Agricultural and Seed department of Messrs. Nott, Elliott St Fitch, we intend going more extensively into all the branches of our business. We shall keep constantly for sale, all kinds of Im- ported and American Field and Garden Seeds, and a large assort- ment of the most approved Implements and Machines used by the Gardener and Farmer. We manufacture Pennock's Wheat Drill, (the most perfect and substantial Drill in use.) the celebra- ted Massachusetts Eagle C Plow, Drags, Cultivators, &c. Sec, all of the most approved patterns and construction, and keep a full supply of all the Boston and Worcester Plows. Sub-soil, Delano's, Burrall's Shell Wheel, Anthony's Patent Index, Sic., &c. In addition to our stock of implements, &c. we think we can say with perfect confidence, we have one of the largest, most carefully grown and best selected stock of FIELD. GARDEN and 'FLOWER SEEDS in the country, including several kinds im- ported from Europe. Farmers, Gardeners and Dealers would consult their interest, and perhaps insure good crops, by c: at our establishment. RAPALJE & BRiGGS. Rochester, May 1. 1849. Palmer's Wheat Drill. THE subscribers have made an arrangement with Mr. Palmer to manufacture for the coming season five hundred of his new Wheat Drill, to be be sold in Western New-Yoik. They are now receiving orders for them, and relying upon heavy sales, have determined to sell them at a small profit — at least twenty-five dollars less than any other drill capable of performing as much. The Drills are constructed under the immediate direction of th« inventor, and Warranted An agricultural implement as important as this should be afford- ed at a rate that places it within the reach of every farmer. To accomplish this Mr. Palmer has spared no pains to become ac- quainted with all the Drills in use by consulting both English and American Agricultural works, and by procuring copies "I in , . ::r- or's claims, issued or pending in the Patent Office. He ha ■ different kinds of drills' for the past years, and has learned by prac- tice the wants of the farmer. After repeated efforts and expen- sive experiments he has produced a simple, substantial Drill, which by way of eminence he calls a ■• WHEAT DRILL." It is vastly superior to the costly and complicated machines hei a i in use. This is.the third Drill he has invented, and he has now brought it to that state ot perfection beyond which it cannot be carried. It is the Ne Plus Ultra of Drills, combining nil the advantages of every other, and free from their imperfections. We challenge the world to produce a Drill equal to this in du- rability. Operation or price ! ! Q(J- All orders should be sent in or delivered to one of our agents as early as July to secure atten- tion. J. A. HOLMES & CO Brockport, March 15, 1349. A Small Farm "W anted. Letter addressed to C. S., Newport. N. Y., describing the A premises, and mentioning the terms, will receive attention. August, 1849. [8— 3t*. L849. THE GENESIS FARMKIi. 271 Jt ST I I BUSHED, i;V DERBY, Ml LLEB '.Mi CO., mm RIf, Till] AMERICAN FRUIT CCLTURIST, BY .1 J TIIOJ VS A ORE I '• ' the Fruit Cul- tuii-i iple the matter of the former editions, having been wholly re-written entially \ l.l. :i.r INFORMATION Known at the , . relative to FRUITS AM) FR1 i r i DLTDRE. It con! I ban B HUNDRED ACCURATE ENGRAVIN68, ud and full descriptions of all fruits of known it! the country. > ■ onerous list of varieties, careful at- has I'm y'i i to-effect the clear and systematic arrangement a lopted in U d further to enable the rea- tcnow at a glance, the various grades of excellence, the of the type used for the name. The nnmen I ruil EXACT IMPRESSIONS imens, The descriptions have been prepared in nearly from the fruits themsi Ives ; and to distinguish li oidental characters, careful comparison has been ex- ly made with specimens from several different states, and with the .1 scriptions in the best American works on Fruits. To determine the qualities as adapted to different regions, assis- tance i . nishe 1 by a number of the most eminent ! ists ' F the Union. The whole forming a handsome duodecimo volume, of over 400 at the low price of One Dollar. The work belongs to the author and is not traded. A liberal discouut is made to Booksellers. DERBY, MILLER & CO.. 'Jet. 1., 1849. [10-3m] Publishers, Auburn, N. Y. Cg= The above work just received and for sale at the office of ■ neeee Farmer. It can be sent by mail. Price $1. Buffalo Nursery ntid Horticultural Garden. ffij-Kfc THE Proprietor of this old establishment offers for sale TREES, FLOWERING SHRUBS, &c. The Fruit Trees are very vigorous and healthy. His whole stock has been gated with the greatest care, and mostly from bearing trees, grow- ing ou his own grounds. App] ome fifty of the most choice sorts, including Northern Spy, Roxbury Russet, &c. ice. by the thousand at very reduced prices. Dwarf Pears, a fine assortment of beautiful 1 in these nurseries. 8.000 Peach Trees, of the ver trees and free from all disease. Cherries; iwn with low heads. Also, a good assortment of the Plum, Pear, Apricot, Nectarine, Quince, and all the smaller fruits. 1 he . Ornamental Trees, Flowering Shrubs, &c, comprif ery desirable article. Annual importations are made from Europe of new and rare varieties of Fruits &c. Apple, Pear. Quince and Plum STOCKS by the quantity, irserymeu supj lied with trees of large or small sine at low Orders by mail or otherwise, and letters of inquiry will receive prompt attention. Every article carefully labelled, securely I and forwarded agreeable to order, and with the least pos- sible delay. IZj= Descriptive Catalogues sent gratis to all who apply (post paid,) and every a; tide will be sold at the lowest nursery prices. Buffalo, N. ST., Sept. 1. 1849. B. HODGE. Seedlings for Sale. THE Subscribers, proprietors of the Old Castle Nurseries Ge- neva. N. V .. have for sale 10 Quince Seedlings. 15 to 20 inches high. $10 per thousand. Cherry do. 8 to 15 - '• 8 •• 40.000 Pear do. 8 to 20 '• " 10 :: « 2 . 000 Plum do. 8 to 15 •' " 10 ;' " 20,000 Apple do. 2 y'rs old nice for grafting $5 per 1.000. They cultivate extensively, and have fjr sale the rare and ap- proved : Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Also. Buck- thorn, Hawthorn, &o ■ for hedges. All orders promptly attended to. Trees seut a distance well packed and delivered at the railroad depot. T. C. MAXWELL & CO. Geneva, N. Y., Oct. 1. 1849. [10-2m] Notice— Seedlings For Sale. r» A AAA Apple Seedlings, of three years growth, fo Ob.UU" by the Subscriber. Price $3 per thousaud. EL1AB YEOMANS. Walworth, Wayne. Co. N. V. [10-lt] Removal to No. 21 BufTalo-st., Talman Block. C. HENDRIX & SOX, Wholesale and Retail Dealers in Iron. Steel. Nails. Spikes, Shelf aud Heavy Hardware. House trimmings of all kinds, as cheap as the cheapest. Rochester, Oct. 1, 1849. [10-3t] for sale MOUNT HOPE GARDEN AND NURSERIES, ROCHESTER, V ^ . Tn1 Invito the attention of Fruit Grower n, and dealers in tree- iii their i now of- fered for sale. By recent large importations from Europe, and an I'M ; ,-ii home, v ■ ined a ol nursery arti pleto Its any in the country, and them to purchase r on n i Th< well known heal Hi. \ Igor and hardiness of the trei b raisi d nd the undivided and scrupulous attention given b > lenl by the pi a offer gri »f [nduci meats to purchasers STANDARD FRUIT TBI Consisting or all the be ' varieties of the • Plum, Peach, A-'-., nt" suitable age and size for orchard 1 1 The principal >1 the well known popular but ail the new Unerican and foreign kinds are in on] | and can be furnished. PYRIMIDAL AND DWARF 1 Consisting of select varieties of Pears on Quin Para- dise, and Cherries on St. Lucie, or Mahaleb stocks, for gardens, and limited grounds; and for nurserymen and ethers who I obtain fruit from their trees at an early day. We have for years given special attention to this department, and tin believe we have probably the largest and best stock in the I GOOSEBERRIES, RASPBERRIES, CURRANTS, ETC. Of these we have a large and complete assortment, and can sup- ply them by the 100 or 1000. The best English <. imported every year. All the new Currants can be supplied. ORNAMENTAL, TREES, SHRUB ROSES, ETC. All the leading sorts, such as Horse Chesnut, Mountain Ash Ailantus. kc, can be furnished by the 10UU or 10.000 at much 1 •■- low ordinary rates— besides a large collection of new and rare Trees Shrubs, Roses', Stc, recently imported. HEDGE PLANTS. Buckthorn 2. and 3 years from seed; Osage Orange. 1 and 2 years; Privet ; besides Evergreens, such as Red Cedar, Hemlock. Nor- way Spruce, Arbor Vita?, &c, can be furnished to any extent required. STOCKS AND YOUNG WORKED TREES FOR NURSER1 Pear Seedlings, 1 and 2 years transplanted; Plum do . 2 years from seed bed; Paradise Stocks, for Dwarf Apples; Mazzard Cherry Seedlings. 1 year; St. Lncie. or Mahaleb Stocks, for dwarf ries; Quince Stocks, of sorts commonly used. Young worked tres for distant transportation. NEW UPRIGHT QUINCE the most easily propagated, and freest grower. We have now obtained a pretty large stock, and can supply them in moderate quantities. Wholesale Priced Lists and General Catalogues forwarded to all post-paid applications. Sep 1, 1849. ELLWANGER & BARRY. Albany Agricultural Warehouse, No. 36'» & 371 South Broadway. THE Subscriber having during the past season suffered in common with many of his fellow citizens— his warehouse being consumed, &c.- has procured the spacious new for his business. No. 369 and 071 South Broadway, where he lias an extensive as ori ment of all the best and leadrr, AGRICUL- TURAL IMPLEMENTS and MACHINES in use. From his long and successful experience in the manufacture and sale of articles in his line. b< imself that he can suit the wants of the farming public to the best of its kind, and on as favorable terms as any other manufacturer in the S Among his assortment are his celebrated Horse Pov. i ing Machines and Separators. Smith's Patent Cornshellers for horse power. Clinton Hand Shelters, single and double hopper; Grant's Patent Premium F"anniug Mills, for power and hand. &c . &c. Also, a complete assortment of Garden. Field and Grass fj-tfj H. L. EMERY. DR. IOTTRIDGB'S . CELEBRATED SPRAIN & RHEUMATIG LTNIMJ "VTO hotter preparation was ever offered to the public for the _LN following complaints :— Rheumatism, Lame back-. Bruises. •Sprains, Stiff or Contracted Tendons. Swellings, Stiff Neck. Ner- vous Headache. Earache, &c This Liniment is likewise excelled by none in its use upon Horse and other Animal Flesh, for curing Spavins, Sprains. Swee- nies, Galls and all flesh wounds. Price Fifty Cents per bottle. Prepared and sold, wholesale and retail, by A. GRAM'. No. 43 Exchange-st.. Rochester. Nr. Y. Agents— Isaac Mitchell, East Bloomfield : s. 1) l.undy, Water- loo; W. P. Matison & Co.. Seneca Falls: E. W Cheney & Sons, Canandaigua ; Clark & Pierce, Livonia ; II. Tilton. Moscow; Whitney 6c Laftlin, Mt. Morris; Ely St Co , Clyde. October 1, 1849. [10-tf] Agricultural Books. — A large assortment of Books on Agriculture, Horticulture, &c, for sale at this Office. 272 THE GENESEE FARMER. Nov. CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. The Prevention of Disease, 240 Prepare for Winter, 250 Oxalis Orenata 250 The Philosophy of Tillage, 251 Notes for the Month; Anecdote of Draining, , . . 254 Burrall's Shell- Wheel Plow, 254 Reaping Machines, 255 Jumping at Conclusions, 255 Trial of Plows iu Seneca County,- • • 256 Hemlock. Hemlock Soil, and Tan as a Manure, 257 Premiums Awarded at the N. Y, State Fair, 258 Oxen vs. Horses for Farm Work, 259 Design for a Farm or Country House — with Ground Plans, EleT ration. Expenses, See, 260 Duty of the Agricultural Press, 263 To Cure a Stifled Horse; Butter Making, 263 Stimulating Manures— Experiments, 264 A new kind of Cheese; Savoy or sponge Cake 264 Substitute for Tea; Cleansing Paint; Shrinking of Flannel,. 2C4 Editor's Table— Notices, &c, 269 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. The Convention of Fruit Growers, 265 Peach Culture; Apples as an Article of Human Food, 265 Answers to Correspondents; Acknowledgments, 205 The Gravenstein Apple, (with outline figure.) 266 The Hawthoruden Apple, (with outline figure.) 266 Horticultural Party, 267 Grape Culture; The Vinery at Clinton Point, 267 Camomile: Cleansing Trees, 268 ILLUSTRATIONS. Elevation of a Cheap Farm or Country House, 260 Ground Plan No. 1, and 2d Floor of do.,... 261 Ground Plans B. C. and D, of do., 262 Outline Figure of Gravenstein Apple 266 " '' Hawthornden Apple, 266 Section of Vinery, 268 Market Prices of Agricultural Products. New Yorte, Oct. 24. Ashes— Market better for Pearls with a fair demand, and sales 40 bbls at 6 12a6 25. Pots in good demand and steady at $7. Flour &. Meal— Western and State Flour quite active and for good market is 6c better. There is a speculative demand in ex- pectation of enhanced prices by the steamer now due. Sales 15.000 bbls at $:ia.i 25 for uninspected, 3 62a 4 12 for sour, $4a4 37 for fine. 4 62a4 75 old common state, mixed wester a and ( 'anadian, 4 75a4 87 new common State and old strait western. 4 87a$5 for strait and verv good state, 5 12u5 25 mixed, strait and favorite Western. 5 12a5 25 pure Genesee. Meal steady and quiet. Sales 350 bbls Jersey at 3 12. Grain— Holders of Wheat are pretty firm. Fair demand for milling. Sales 3.000 bu prime Genesee at 1 21, Canadian in bond, and 3,000 white on private terms. 3.300 prime white southern 1 15. Coin is again rather better with a good demand, part speculative and for export. Sale 50.000 bu at &2}ia6i southern mixed, 64>£ northern yellow. Seed— Market very quiet for flax; small sales Canadian at 1 37 and Jersey I 40 per 56 lbs. Wool— Market has been very quiet for the last three days; sales 40,000 lbs at full quotations, which are for common 30c, )i blood 34c, y2 and % blood 30o32, full blood Merino 40. Saxony 45; sales of pulled 20.000 lbs since last report at 28c for No. 1 city pulled. 31 for superfine do, 34a35 extra do, 32 for No. 1 country pu'ied, 35a36 for superfine, and 40 for extra do. To Advertisers.— The Publisher of the Farmer begs to remind all interested, that his terms for advertising, as well as sub- scription, are cash in advance. Those who wish to avail them- selves of the superior advantages of the Farmer as an advertising medium, should send requisite payment with their orders, to secure attention and insertion; and those whose notices do not appear, will, with this explanation, understand the reason. In most cases, in which we have, in order to accommodate dis- tant friends, (?) published notices without a rigid adherence to advance terms, vexation and loss have teen our reward for the favor extended. We have hundreds of dollars due us, which wo are unable to collect by ordinary means Many to whom we send bills, requesting payment,, give the matter no attention what- ever— and thus, after being largely benefitted by our extensive circulation, either refuse or neglect to be . This is pleasant — verv. However, some of these silent gentlemen may possibly soon reccivo a benefit through the pages of the Farmer in the shape of an entirely gratuitous and conspicuous notice — the only way perhaps in which we can square accounts ! Bound copies of the present (tenth) volume of the Far- mer will be ready for delivery on or before Dec. 1. Price 50 cents in paper — 62$ ru. in boards and leuther. A very Liberal discount to Agents, Booksellers, &c. H\ck numbers and volumes of the Fanner promptly sup- plied to agents and ne\v subscribers. First in Beanty and Value — Cheapest and Most Popular. THE GENESEE FARMER, A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE, ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAV1NQS OF Farm Buildings, Domestic Animals, Implements, Fruits, &c. VOLUME XI, FOR 1850. In issuing a Prospectus for the Eleventh Volume of the Genesee Farmer, the Publisher considers it unnecessary to state at length the design and objects of the work, or re- peat former pledges as to its management. Those who read the Farmer are the best judges of its value and character, and can decide whether it is worthy of continued support — and those who are unacquainted with it are invited to exam- ine its pages. In popularity and usefulness it now ranks first among the various monthly journals of its class pub- lished in America, and every proper effort will be made to sustain its high reputation as an earnest and valuable aid to the Farmers and Fruit Culturists of the Country. The new volume will commence on the 1st of January, 1850. It will be published in the best stylo, as heretofore — on handsome and clear type and superior paper. The volume will be appropriately illultrated — containing numerous and expensive Engravings of Farm Buildings, Improved Implements, Domestic Animals, choice Fruits, Flow- ers, Shrubs, SfC. Indeed, in typographical aspearanee, we design to make the volume for 1850, what the present one is pronounced, the most beautiful Farmer's Journal yet issued in this country. [T~pEach number will contain TWENTY- FOUR ROYAL OCTAVO PAGES ! making a large and handsome volume of about 300 pages, (with Title Page, In- dex, &c, suitable for binding,) at the close of the year. Placing its claims to support i.pon its merits alone, we respectfully submit the work as eminently calculated to promote the individual and collective interests of the Agri- culturists and Horticulturists of the United States.. Grateful for the unexampled patronage already extended to the Far- mer, we solicit the aid and co-operation of all its friends and readers to increase the circulation and thus augment the usefulness of the cheapest and handsomest Agricultural Mag- azine ever offered to the American Public. Terms — Invariably in Advance — as follows: Single Copy, 50 Cents. Five Copies for $2. and any greater number at the same rate, if directed to individuals. If directed to one person, Eight Copies for $3, and any additional number at the same rate. The entire volume sent to all subscribers. ${J- Post-Masters, Agents, and all friends of improvement, are respectfully solicited to obtain and forward subscriptions. Subscription money, if properly enclosed, may be sent (post- paid or free.) at the risk of the Publisher. Addr PUBLISHER GENESEE FARMER. November, 1849. Rochester, Neat i THE GENESEE FARMER, Published on the first, of each month, at Rochester, N. Y., by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE & D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. P. BARRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. Fifty Cents a Year, in Advance. Five Copies for $2, and any larger number at the same rate, if directed to each subscriber. Eigh\ Copies for $;i, if addressed to one person only — and any larger number, directed in like manner, at the same rate. [0= All subscriptions to commence with the year, and the entire volume supplied to all subscribers. Advertisements. — A limited number of short and appro- priate advertisements will be given in the Farmer, at the rate of $1,50 per square or folio (ten lines or 100 words) lor the first insertion, and si for each subsequent publication — in advance. The circulation of the Farmer is from five to eight thousand LARGER than that of any other agricultural journal published in the United States. [HF Advertisements, notices. & e. should be forwarded on or before the loth of the preceding month, to secure inser- tion in any specified number. STEREOTYPED BY JEWETT, THOMAS AND CO., BUFFALO, N. Y. . / I most Health)- and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man. ROCHESTER, N. Y.— DECEMBER, 1849. NO. 12. ENDS AND READERS OF THE FARMER' Farmer to Dr. Ihe connection of the undersigned,* as a me, ceases nt number and volume. The occasion announcement necessary, will lit a brief review of personal efforts, without liter to the charge of possessing an ■e of egotism. >ur years my time and energies have to this Journal and the in- 1 s sought to promote. Aside from personal heart lias been ardently cr in tli ,1 Improvement and Progress— for it? advancement I have hopefully and cheer- However -humble the instrument, or i ■ the capacity, the objects in view were most brts put forth have been ea to my , believed that it I be resuscitated and established upon a perma- — and nearly all considered the enterprise mely unpropitious. But, confident and erfthu- i, and determined to merit omplish an object so ersonal ease and pleasure were disregarded, whatever industry and ability I could command ht into requisition. The result proves that my iced, and that the labor be- i the work by its conductors, has met with lensurate return in the substantial and unex- port received. And it affords me pleasure connection, what I trust will prove ■ tifying to its readers, that the Gem ' has a greater circulation than palmiest clays — and that, <•• I to as at least equal, in ■efulness, to any of its able and well conducted contempora Tb 3S and popularity of the Fanner, or, have i ';piired by the writer and • . L''E and Barry,) alone. Others are perhaps entitled to equal if not greater r, particularly, I have been con- ly aided by numerous influential persons residing as of the Union. Indeed, they seconded my efforts, and responded to my requests, in appropriate manne- — in the capacity of Con- tributors, Agents and Subscribers — and it is to them, rather than to any talent or exertions of my own, 1 that the public are mainly indebted for benefit may have accrued to the agricultural munity through the agency of my & I per- severing labors. Unsustained by such -men of enterprise, possessing i localities, and actuated by high and g — the Farmer would never haw and creditable as it now 'nee. To each and all, therefoi any manner contributed to the succe?: f this I — either by cor,." ig the result vation, study and experience to its pages, or in aug- ibscription list — I tender the sincere and grateful acknowledgments of an appreciating heart, not only for kin tended to myself, but for the exercise of that spirit of liberality and true patriotism which has induced them to upport to a publication designed to promote the most promi- nent interests of our wide spread Republic. To the Press, at home and abroad, I a; ;ny friendly notices and favors. Thi ; remark applies particularly to the Press of Western and Central New York, to the conductors of which I am under especial obligations for personal kindness and courtesy on all occasions. To all members of the brotherhood, near and distant, cordial thanks are ten- dered for past favors — \v: :e that the acquaintance which has proved so' pleasant to myself will ere long be renewed. May they all use wisely and successfully the power they have to enlighten and instruct the heart and mind — to direct and con- trol public opinion and character. May usefulness guide them continually, and honor and prosperity attend their future efforts and progress. In reviewing my editorial career I find compara- tively little that I should wish to undo how- has been omitted. The printing and publif of the Farmer has necessarily occupied a great share of my attention, and (Dr. ing absent much of the time, engaged in other important duties,) the editorial department has suffered in c Indeed, I do not claim ifc have performed fully and well the duties of an Editor — and have certainly fallen far short of my own standard, and c of what ought to be accomplished. It has been my constant aim to keep the pages of the Farmer free from error and imposition of any and all kinds, and to render every line reliable and use!'"1 to its readers, well I have succeeded in this honest endeavor each subscriber must judge for himself. But I trust my efforts have not proved worthless to those for 274 THE GENESEE FARMER. Dec whose benefit I have labored, and that the back vol- umes of the Farmer are worth y of preservation and valuable for present and future reference. I leave the publisher's desk and editorial chair with the con- sciousness of having endeavored to perform aright the duties that have devolved upon me — the convic- tion that I have dealt uprightly, and that the pages of the Farmer have been kept comparatively free from matter offensive to good morals, correct taste, common sense, and practical and judicious husbandry. Although no longer connected with it my good wishes for the success and usefulness of the Gene- see Farmer, will not, I trust, diminish. My connec- tion with the paper has been pleasant and not un- profitable— and in leaving it I fervently desire the prosperity of my successor. Dr. Lee has recently returned from the South, and will hereafter devote his principal time and attention to this Journal. To those who have perused his able articles and essays, or listened to his eloquent lectures, it is unnecessary for me to speak of his superior abilities. But in order that the agricultural community may receive the full benefit of his services, every reader of the Far- mer should lend a portion of influence in its behalf. And I will here ask all the friends of the paper to continue and increase their generous exertions to augment its subscription list, and likewise to be liberal in their contributions to its pages. While I desire that its circulation and consequent power for good may be greatly increased, I hope the paper will continue to be an organ through which sound prac- tical farmers and men of science will impart their experience and wisdom to all reading and thinking cultivators. In retiring from the Farmer I shall not dissolve my connection with the Agricultural Press, nor abate my efforts for the promotion of Rural Improvement. My labors will be equally earnest, and more frequent — devoted to a weekly, instead of a monthly peri- odical. If any desire to continue the acquaintance, I shall be most happy to receive and respond to orders for Moore's Rural New-Yorker, for Prospectus of which see advertising department of this number. It ie with emotions of no ordinary character that I take leave of the readers of thG Farmer, and add Jinis to my humble but well intentioned labors as connected therewith. To all subscribers and friends I wish success commensurate with their skill and perseverance in enriching both the soil and the mind. That they may reap from the former most abundant harvests, and that the latter may ever abound with the imperishable fruits of knowledge and wisdom, are my fervent aspirations. D. D. T. MOORE. The undersigned has purchased the type, good will, patronage and subscription list of the Genesee Farmer, and will hereafter publish as well as edit the paper. Although one half of the subscription right has belonged to me since the close of the year 1844, yet it is due to Mr.T). D. T. Moore that I should say, in parting with him, what is strictly true, that the unparallelled success of the Farmer under his administration is mainly to be ascribed to the ability, fidelity and indomitable perseverance of that gentleman. In whatever enterprise he may embark, I trust he will command, as he will unquestionably deserve, equal, if not greater success. It is much pleasanter to speak of others than of one's self. But duty calls, and I shall speak plainly what I feel. Born and reared among the farmers of New York, and having ever labored to promote their educational, their agricultural, and other common in- terests, why should I be compelled, when over forty- five years of age, to go a thousand miles South to earn bread for my family? Before regarding this step as absolutely necessary, I prefer to make one appeal, and only one, to the readers of the Genesee Farmer, and wait the result. There are now some twenty-two millions of peo;>le in the United States, more than two-thirds of whom are farmers, or belong to the families of farmers. T deem it as a matter of inestimable moment to our republican system of governing ind the goo:l of all classes, that these millions, how* n diffusely scatter- ed and settled soon begin to cultivate a taste for ru- ral literature and science — a love for agricultural reading and books. To promote this object, my feeble pen and feebler tongue have toiled hopefully for years. My son will soon be taught to se upt all the type used in printing this cheap Agricultural Journal; and the little savings of a life time will go to pay for a small steam engine and a goo.l power press, which can work off 2,500 sheets of the Far- mer in an hour. It will, as hitherto, be sold to clubs, at the pittance of thirty-seven an J a half cents a vol- ume, or a year. Mr. Barrt will continue to conduct the Horti- cultural Department; and no pains will be spared to render the work a favorite among all who wish well to the cause it advocates. It will be hand- somely illustrated with new and elegant engravings. It is my purpose to condense into a small space much information culled from foreign and American jour- nals. In this way, by the# liberal expenditure of per- sonal toil, a volume of ran.- * xcellence can be produced. I disclaim all wish to compete with the proprietors of other similar journals; and I urge my friends to disabuse their minds of the too popular error, that a farmer who reads one book or one periodical, devoted to the several arts and sciences which pertain to rural affairs has no occasion to read another book, or another periodical, to make him wise and accom- plished in his important profession. While the three millions in the thirty States who read nothing, had better subscribe for the Genesee Farmer, arid begin to learn a little, those that are more advanced may profitably extend their studies to other and more expensive works. In a nation of farmers so pros- perous a£ this, what is fifty cents a year to any one, whether male or female, who really desires to im- prove a farm, a garden, or an orchard; or to enlarge the minds of the several members of a family who possess these things ? This journal ought to have a circulation of fifty thousand copies, and if it fails to reach that figure, it shall not be my fault. Kind friends, I rely on you to aid in a work in which I must unavoidably give much labor for little pay. It can only prosper by the gratuitous assist- ance of all that wish well to the Cause, in which this paper has served as a pioneer for twenty years. I have faith believe that it is destined to do vastly more good within the next twenty, than it has during the last. My arrangements for correspondent and foreign periodicals are such, together with my personal attention, as must greatly improve the future volumes of the Farmer. Send forward then your long lists of subscribers, and I will see how good a volume I can send you in exchange for your money. DANIEL LEE. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 275 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. Wk are happy to say there is every reason to e: pect tliat the Legislatures of New York and Massa- chusetts will each establish an agricultural Bchoo] a1 its approaching session. Public sentiment at last, has been brought not only to tolerate^ but to demand the professional education of young farmers. Those that have labored long and against a mountain of prejudice to achieve this result, may well .rejoice at the success of their indomitable efforts. Glorious will be the day when the noble arts of Tillage and of Farm Economy, shall fairly emerge from the empiri- cism oi unnumbered ages. Science and Literature have often wandered far, and to little purpose. They are now returning like the prodigal son, tired of feeding on husks, to make an enduring home in the peaceful dwellings of American farmers. The gen- erous soil of this young Republic is destined to pro- duce something better than luxuriant crops of grass and grain, fine sheep, cattle and swine. It will yield a bountiful harvest of men, improved to the highest attainable point, in all the knowledge, and in all the virtue most useful to intellectual and moral beings. We thank our Maker that this production of noble men is likely to be as much esteemed in our lifetime, as are bulls and boars, rams and breeding mares. Of all domesticated wild animals, the genus homo is most neglected on many farms. England awards premi- ums of fifty guineas for rearing well formed calves ; while she permits unsightly children to be educated for the poor house and the prision. Of all things pertaining to the well-being of society and govern- ment, that of training up children in the way they sould go is most important. We take the liberty to offer a few hints on this subject in connection with what we regard as a good Agricultural Education. To attain this object, boys must be educated on well- cultivated, well-managed farms. This will withdraw them from many temptations, alike adverse to sound morality and injurious to physical health and mental vigor. The chief corner stone of human improve- ment lies in obedience to the letter and spirit of that simple prayer — 'Head iis not into temptation" . Lead children not into temptation; and even adults had better keep as far removed from it as practicable. A school on a good farm will possess many advan- tages beside its exemption from all the bad examples and immoral influences of cities and villages. Pupils can be boarded much cheaper on the soil that produ- ces their daily food, (not a little of which may be the fruits of their own skill and industry,) than they can be elsewhere. The fact, is not to be disguised, that to impart a large mesure of literary and scientific knowlege to the sons and daughters of a whole commu- nity, inTolves considerable expense, which somebody must pay. Therefore, the writer has long studied to economise in every practical way, the whole art and science of thoroughly educating every child in a State. Boarding and tuition are the principal items of ex- pense. The cost of tuition can only be justly reduced, by so arranging pupils in large classes that a com- petent and skilful teacher may instruct many at a time; and of course, at a small fee for each person taught. This implies the existence of large schools and several departments in each — a university in miniature. Western New-\ ork should have a Nor- mal School located on a good farm, with a view to econonmy in living, and to realise the many inciden- tal advantages connected with the arts of agriculture, horticulture, fruit and arbor-culture. But as this may not be the proper time to urge the founding of Buch an institution, we will give a brief outline of an Agricultural School which will, in our humble judge- ment, must benefit the great farming inter i n of the country. 1. There should be a professorship of Geology in its application to agriculture. 2. One of Analytical Chemistry and .Meteorology. :> One of Botany, V. getable Physiology and Ento- mology. 4. One of Vetenrinary Surgery including the Anatomy and Physiology of domestic animals.' 6. One of Practical Horticulture, Fruit and Arbor- culture. 6. One of Practical agriculture and farm economy. A smaller educational force than the above will be too feeble, and must work at great disadvanl Instead of diminishing it, we should prefer to add a professorship of mathematics with a view to teach practical surveying, teh plotting and mapping Gelds, bevelling for drains, &c. A professorship of modern languages would also be useful. It has been found necessary to divide the labor of theaching the Healing Art among six or seven pro- fessors in all the medical schools of the United State-. Having been regularly through one of these doctor factories, we speak understanding^ wh l we pay that, as much science, learning and study ai quired to form a thoroughly educated farmer as to make a thoroughly educated physician and surgeon. Now, we do not propose to force the study of any branch of natural science upon the young men who are to follow the profession of agriculture through life. Those that prefer ignorance to knowledge, poverty to competence, need have no fears that thei/ will not be permitted to enjoy their tastes and their predilections. All we desire is, that so many as wish to become familiar with the laws of nature, which govern the improvement and deterioration of soils, the improvement and deterioration of cultivated plants and domestic animals, and the improvement and deterioration of men, shall have a fair opportunity to gratify so laudable a desire. There are so many seekers after information of the character named, that no one school can do more than prepare well qualified teachers of the various sciences most intimately connected with agriculture and rural economy, to be employed in the great State of New York. It is a capital mistake to sup- pose that any graduate of a literary or medical col- lege can teach successfully agricultural geology and chemistry, comparative anatomy and meteorology — not to name the practical part of the farmer's pro- fession. To qualify a person to teach any art or any science, it is indispensable that he shall have studied it long and well, and have experience in its practical details. It is an imposition for one to as- sume to communicate information on any subject to others, of which he is himself ignorant. A studious person who provides himself with suitable books may master in time almost any science, without the aid of any other instruction. This however, is far from being the easiest way; but it is better than to remain in profound ignorance of useful sciences and valuable arts. That young men have the capacity to improve themselves, as well as the soil and its vegetable and animal products, it is now too late to deny. Let us then give them the best chance for obtaining useful 276 THE GENESEE FARMER. Dec. know] our power. This is doing- no the oppor- 3 some will, the fault will be I that oft1 i e calling of the Am ality with any other, for high . This alone will secure : e numbers in the State and il will not do, in this go-ahead, I and look back." "Onward and upward'* should be our motto. 1 1 ultural [f you have not Hitchcock's Ge> : Boussing .-.: nor the can not do If and h $1000 si ■ rth li $2000, . :• a well selected library worth ■ children in\ ;s for intel- show, or some f infini oment lucation. 1 iety will certainly find it out. ss our means for improvement. Ever-. We should igns of the times, and the day la: PATENT OFFICE .AG-RICOIiTURAL REPORT. The senior editor of this paper has consented to charge of the Agricultural matters in the Patent Office, grass at its ap- ion. To . undertaking he tnation on all topics appro - t, and particularly In refer- e inland commerce of the country. • The products on lal canals, and r..ii is a i abject of interest to ail in- ent farmers and business men. Crude guessing in regard to the quantity of j and other crops grown in the current year, can pos- . alue a few months in advance of the U. S. Census, so soon to be taken. Improvement in ■nee of agricul- ture are objects of great moment at this particular The public mind is now more engaged in the work of im nds, and educating young men not less thoroughly to be farmers than doctors or lawyers are professionally educated, than at any ear- lier period. Th predate the fact that, no li ce of earth can possibly contain an unlimited quantity of the atoms necessary to form I crops of grain, cotton, tobacco or potatoes. The elements of bread and meat in any given soil or being quit thewasteofi tnents, over many millions of acres, bee a matter of paramount national importance. That the quantity of atoms in every cubic foot of soil or earth which can be 'transformed into wheat. ' . If this v soils Diffi of varying fertility, | [ually nounts of th i gall crops is really i any man ever be at the trou ing n The use of fertiii: story — that the elements of bread an used up — wasted — utterly and the world. How mm . v since the beginning Great com ph. to the American navy of the defective i which beef, pork am! butter i sumption in tropical climates in ean nations are perishable commodities in a con .- much longer and bi . '. table to American skill in . Nor is the ; i rmation on these and other subjects is sought not only at home, but from foreign na iplomatic ii course. The collection and diffusion • now- in the chi sible form, are labors in • participate. Should not the young men of America bi of their duty in thi lion? Look on the I mark the millio at the is axe. The continued toil of from the \ earth nearly the whole v, >untry. If no damage had been done to the lands under culti- liration of the industry, enterprise and success with which they have been plowed, hoed and harvested, would be unmingled wit But, unfortunately, many millio:. can soil have suffered incalculable, if not irr< jury. The economical renovation o exhausted fields: ana the cheap improvement i farming lands that need it, ar i < I jectsto which i and study may be profitably devoted. A Word to Subscriber': and !" The publication of the Go ; J at the old office, in Talman B To prevent mistakes, all persons wishing to : subscription, or do any busini should be careful to address: "Dam Usher of the Genesee Fanner, Roc; Garlick. — To eradicate Garlick < Mr. Bkckwith writi the following effect : — "I have summi say, one next oats, with clover vily, and plastering the clover. Let i repeat the same course. 1 ha I a field very full which I treated as above mentioned, and at the second year the plant had entirely disappeared." L849. TIIK GENESEE FARMER. '^77 : PHILOSOPHY OF TILLAGE. I, D, I mulate i meat in the Boil, like ■ mint tend] ed, a little faster than children mul- i Europe, to be fed. i ndant mineral in the earth is Hint or silica ms sand and will melt into gli ; that is promoted by the combi- ,- Sili ■at in the stems of all cereal , corn, &c. Pure silicious sand is remai its insolubility. It is in truth an acid IS of ■ . lically with alumina, which is the next most abudant mineral in nature, being the basis of elay. Silicic aci.i also unites with iron, lime, potash, soda and magnesia. Having a weak affinity for these al- kalies, and alkaline earth, carbonic acid in water from decaying mould, vegetables or manure, attacks the insoluble silicates of potash la, and forms car- bonat ' ii''-. Th h, are ! what is particularly worth}' of note, they are capable of dissolving silica. Thus if we boil finely powdered g !i is an insoluble sili- cate, a strong solution of potash, or of potash and soda, thi? glass will be dissolved, and maybe applied to the roots of corn or wheat in a way to enter their roots - > to make the hard glassy covering on the stems of those plants. It is curious that these soluabli which contain ai lid be changed into in '!:cates of potash or so nature' >ry within plants, by s< •sited intl The potas h to th'' soil and there dis- i em of the plan': as bones cnablo ani- mals I irth. It is worthy of remark in this connection, that many I, us in pari h To such soils, it leached or un- ;1 as the other earthy 11 more potash to a soil th ! nent fertilizers, and of all cr \ vast litro- ', animal s:;; comb .short mineral acid i in r by weiglit of o; f nitrogen, fifty-four of aquafortis (nitric acid) are produced. This acid nitrate of well as ai found in considerable quanl i.i hot that . .11 all well drai 1 soils, nitre and all nitrab 06 to hed away. Tv\ it; four parts of oxygen .hemically with si ulphur, and make forty of sulphuric acid, or oil of vitriol. Unlike nitric acid, this e in granitic and other ' amon [1 m "-on-. ' bined with alumina and potash, it for with iron it produces copperas; with i salts; with co vitriol: ..-, white vitriol; and with lime, Tli- sulphate of lim ir of Pari ib] i than th Is of sulphu- ric aci !, we usually find more of this mineral in soils, — especially such as are properly drained, — than alum, copperas, glauber or epsom salts. Sulphur bei^g an indispensable element in all crops and all flesh, [ attribute the value of gypsum mainly to the sulphur which it yields to clover, peas wheat and other cultivated plants. In 1"0 lbs. of wool or hair, there are five of pu ir. ! fl he fo and other animals, contained not an atom of this in- lient, how could their wool, hair, muscles, brains and nerves all abound in this element: .Mi' that contain sulphur should be well husbanded. All sulphates are in volatile; but most of them are ex- tremely soluble. Five atoms of oxygen combine chemically with one of phosphorus to make an atom of ; acid. The atomic number of pi is not clearly ts making it 31.4, and others alf that numl Phosphoric acid exii is in earths as a phosphate of alumina, iron, lime, magm . and S ime of ' solu'v I not. Th te of lim . bone-earth, is the most important. Suppose- nature should organize crops of grass, grain, potatoes, and without a particle of bone-earth as with it? Living milk, and other food alike mineral, phosphate of lime, which alone run ' ill '■ mid h - in. il i b »dy. l the i I i grow on in the soil. Such f 1 1' animals fail to find their > i riment in on fives them p ; -i to walk, fly or swim to ■i a stalk of corn has of raw material fails, no n sibly grow. Iftl i be 1 1 1 i ■ ' eat for bodily In 100 pounds of dry common salt there are about green, and very pungent gas. Some 36 parts of this 278 THE GENESEE FARMER. Dec. combined with one of hydrogen, form in water, muri- atic acid, or hydro-chloric acid, as it is now more com- monly called. As a class of minerals, the chlorides or muriates are very soluble, like the chloride of so- dium, or common salt. They do not abound in soils. Common salt has been used as a fertilizer some three thousand years — both soda and chlorine entering in- to the composition of all or nearly all crops. Most quadrupeds are extremely fond of salt; and all civil- ized people season their daily food with it. It is cu- rious that potatoes and wheat cannot be salted enough while growing: and that no degree of salting a fat- ting steer will suffice, so that a little added to a fresh 6teak will not be an improvement. "Ye are the salt of the earth," has not less an agricultural, than a moral meaning. With regard to the value of lime, magnesia, potash, soda, and iron, in organising cultivated plants, per- haps nothing need be said. I have never analyzed a soil that lacked iron: like silica, iron is not always in a soluble and available form. The practical farmer should understand, that such constituents of plants as are always soluble, a few year's tillage and fair drainage render scarce; and such as are ordinarily in- soluble, without the aid of decomposing mould or vegetables, cease in a great degree to yield their nu- tritive atoms to famishing crops. Bear in mind that between forty and fifty cubic inches of water fall on every square inch of surface in the course of twelve months. If the ground has been cultivated, and really contains the food of plants in a soluble condition, this water will of course dissolve alike the organic and inorganic elements of vegetables. I have frequently washed from ten to fifty pounds of soil in pure rain water as it falls from the clouds, and then filtered and evaporated the water to see what substances were held in solution. I have never failed to get both combustible and incombustible elements, and often nearly equal parts of each. By leaching fifty pounds of soil a few weeks with warm rain water, and then analyzing the matter dissolved out, one can judge with some confidence of its defects and productive- ness. In studying the various processed by which the fertility of a cultivated field becomes impaired, I have been led to believe that much depends on the propor- tion of the water that evaporates on the earth where it falls, and that which runs off, either on the surface or under it, into springs and rivulet'', to form creeks and rivers. Deeply tilled land will absorb twice as much rain water as shallow tilled will; and the former will retain twice as much to carry the crop through a drouth, for evaporation at the surface of its numer- ous leaves, as will the latter. But most of the culti- vated lands in the United States are neither tilled deeply, nor uniformly covered with growing vegeta- tion, to absorb and fix in its tissues the dissolved food of plants. The more a soil is stirred with the hoe, cultivator, or plow, the faster the elements of crops are set free by chemical action, and will be lost by solar evapora- tion, washing and leaching, if such elements are not taken up by growing plants and retained in them. Berzelius found two organic acids in clear spring water, to which he gave the names of "crenic," and "apocrenic," from krene, the Greek for a "spring." River water always contains both the organic and inorganic food of plants. The quantity of the fertil- izing atoms which is wasted in the planting States, is infinitely larger than one man in a thousand ever suspects. As a similar waste prevails at the North, only much less in extent, I desire to give a clear ex- position of my views on this, the practical part of my theme. Although both cotton and corn are planted early, and often gathered late at the South, yet cotton and corn plants do not gain much in weight beyond four months for the former and three months for the latter. During the first four or five weeks after the seeds germinate, the young plants are too small to imbibe any considerable quantity of nutritive matter of any kind, from the soil. As they approach maturity, they gain less and less in weight, and of course abstract less and less fertilizing matter from the earth or at- mosphere. During the past season I have watched with lively interest, the organization or growth of corn which yielded from five up to fifty bushels per acre. If I express the opinion that a crop of five bushels exhausted the soil about as much as one of fifty, some will esteem the remark about as sensible as to say that five sheep will eat as much food as fiftv. The cases are not parallel. If a crop of corn, equal to the production of five bushels per acre, does not exhaust the soil as much as it would if ten times larger, the only reason that can be assigned is, that the elements of corn plants are in truth not present in the sterile earth, to be removed. On poor land it is found necessary to give each stalk three times more surface of earth to imbibe nourishment from, than on good land. When there is but a single plant to twenty-four square feet of surface, and that plant a very small one, my impression is that even during the period when it grows the fastest, it fails to take in at its few small roots, more than a third of the available atoms evolved by the decay of the organic and the solution of earthy food of the plant, within the square which it occupies. I will not say that all the gases and earthy salts derived from rotting mould and vegetables, and from dissolved lime, potash, soda and magnesia, which fail to enter the corn plant, are lost. But this I will say, that I see no reason to doubt the loss of most of these volatile and liquid atoms. I would about as soon have a field cropped ten years, and all the corn or cotton entirely removed, root and branch, as to have it well plowed and hoed ten years, and no vegetable whatever premitted to or- ganize carbon, nitrogen, and the elements of water, and the minerals which form the ashe.s of corn, cotton, and wheat, in the field. There are some seven millions of acres planted in cotton in the United States, every year. As the plant is little used to feed domestic animal?, and most of its seeds are returned, after rotting, as ma- nure, no crop should injure the soil so little. But the clean culture, and long tillage which it demands, make it the most exhausting crop that is grown in the Southern States. As now cultivated, it wastes three times more food than it eats. And such is my judgment in regard to not a little of the corn and to- bacco culture which I have seen. I come now to the consideration of preventives and remedies. To save from waste and loss the constituents of bread and meat, as they are eliminated by tillage, they should be immediately organized in some living vegetable. This is the process employed by Nature to renovate soils that have been impoverished by un- wise cultivation, or by other means. It is the only way in which a soil can be made to increase in fer- tility, without adding fertilizers from elsewhere to it. Much has been written on the subject of renovating 1841). THE GENESEE FARMER. 279 poor lands, which have been injured by excessive cropping, and improving such ns are naturally defec- tive, the subject is very little understood. I have in my eye an old field which was scratched with the "bull tongue" plow and the hoe, a little longer than any crop would grow, and till its surface was as bare the year round, as the desert of Sahara. A thin, spindling grass, a few stunted weeds and young pines, have begun the work of making a new soil on this sterile waste. In this natural process of reno- vation. thejTMM is the king of plants. Nature has provided its seed with an apparatus which serves the the same office performed by the down on the seed of thistles, t. <■., to enable it to be borne a great distance by winds in all directions. The seed of the pine no sooner germinates, than it extends its small tap root deep into the ground, in search of a very little of the alkalies and alkaline earths, without which it can not organize carbon and the elements of water into woody fibre. Supplied at first with two green leaves and a small root, and mainly from nutriment stored up in the parent seed, it is prepared to perform the legiti- mate functions of all growing plants, viz: to decom- pose carbonic acid and water by the aid of solar light, and with a little available nitrogen, potash, etc., to organize its tissues and gain in weight and substance. In forming ten pounds of common pine wood, nature deposits in its tissues, and consumes from the earth, not more soluble salts, or ashes, than can be got from a single pipe full of tobacco. And yet, wonderl'ull to tell, I find four per cent of ash in the dry leaf of the long-leaf pine. But all these numerous and weighty leaves annually fall on the surface of the ground, to rot and form what? Why, a mould, rich in organized carbon; rich in salts of lime, potash and magnesia; the former taken from the atmosphere, and the latter from the subsoil. Here is the first letter of the alphabet in the science and the philosophy of accumulating bread and meat in the surface soil. Study the ways of Providence; wisely imitate His example, and a barren plain can be converted into a fruitful garden. The pine is an evergreen, and grows the year round. The first thing I did when I came to Georgia, a year and a half ago, and saw the extreme nakedness of the land, was to reccommend the seeding with rye, at the last plowing in cornfields, or soon after the crop ceases to grow, with a view to have this winter plant gather up from August till March, whatever availa- ble atoms might b^within reach of its roots and leaves. As the earth does not freeze, and heavy, washing rains fall in winter, "the fat of the land" is largely consumed, and is either lost, like a burned candle, in the atmosphere, or carried like water from a dung heap, into ditches and "branches." Barley, oats, and wheat, all do well here sown in November or December. It is now the 6th of February, 1849, and I have this day seen a field of oats which has been cut in part for soiling, for some weeks. Another in barley, is so stout as to fall down or lodge. Winter pastures of rye are very valuable for stock of all kinds, although there are some clayey soils that the treading of cattle and sheep injures. Acting on my theory of keeping the earth always covered with some growing vegetatien, Mr. M. B. Moore, of this city, (Augusta) raised last season 34J bushels of wheat from one ot seed, which was har- vested about the 20th of May; then a crop of hay, equal to a ton and a half to the acre, which was mown in August; and then a crop of peas which was harvested in November; all from the same land. The land is now in wheat, to be harvested in May next, as before. There is no difficulty in growing three crops of small grain in a year at the South, il one is cut green for hay, as oats, peas, barley and rye are often cut. To enrich the soil, I assume that the ma- nure derived from both the grain and straw, or of the green crops is all carefully saved and duly applied to the land. As about 60 per cent, of the hay and other food eaten by a cow, sheep or horse, is lost in vapor and carbonic acid, thrown out of the lungs, in the process of breathing, and through the pores of the skin in insensible perspiration, one will increase or- ganic matter in a poor soil much faster to plow in clover, peas, timothy and rye, than to feed these t'> domestic animals, and apply all their excretions to the land. I am well aware that clover has long been used ln connection with wheat culture, to enrich cultivated earth. It was a knowledge of this that led me to believe that to sow rye in corn, potato an 1 oat fields in autumn, to be plowed in for the feeding of the next summer crop, would be useful any where, north or south. I find that a kernel of rye will organise from October till the first of April, a plant which when dry, will weigh 100 times more than the parent seed. I call this gain of 99 parts for one, cheap manure, which is already erenly spread over the rye field, and ready for the plow in the spring. A man's farm is in truth a chemical laboratory; and he should study to turn the frosts of winter, the sunshine of summer, the rains of spring and the dews of autumn, to the best possible advantage. Very late plowing to freeze compact earths, and very early seeding, are worthy of attention at the North. I am in favor of pretty thick seeding and planting, partly as a better cover- ing and protection to the soil, and partly because I have generally found the best practical farmers to concur in recommending it. Under our present ex- hausting system of tillage, there is far more land un- der the plow in the United States than is really de- sirable or profitable. The correction of the evil of running over a great deal of surface to produce a little corn, wheat, cotton or tobacco, is not to be ex- pected during the life-time of the present generation. Boys may be made to understand that it is much cheaper to make 500 bushels of corn on ten than on one hundred acres; but few men forty years old that practice the exhausting system now, will ever pur- sue any other. Talk to them about carbon and the subsoil, and they will soon fill both ears with cotton. Persons twenty years younger, are generally willing to learn why 100 lbs. of pea vines will make richer vegetable mould than a like weight of bullrushes. Seeing that an acre of tilled soil, which gives but 15 bushels of corn, has the same sunshine, and an equal amount of rain and of atmospheric gases that fall upon an acre that yields 60 bushels, young men will study closely the slight, difference in the two soils in their mechanical texture, the solubility of their fer- tilising atoms, and in the abundance or scarcity of each constituent element. If tillage, as an art, was all that is required to give abundant harvests, then equal culture should be followed by equal crops on fields that produce, the one five and the other fifty bushels per acre. No uniformity and thoroughness of tilth can work a uniformity in the growth of plants in soils that unequally abound in the precise things demanded by nature to organise the crop. To aid in decomposing insoluble silicates of potash, and in 280 THE GENESEE FARMER. Dec. n com- pact, impervious clay, I have seen no one n:; • pret- ■ tetherenov 1 : I I ; ars. I ha urprise. On well & swamp land most marken Is. Thorough draini an indispensable j : needs it. On ditches on his farm near this city. Peas' are lo ichla \d, by turning them under wit in blossom. Deep plowing a: re gaining in the public esteem every m Dom 'e fed and kept much under shel- ilful farmers, in < -liquid and solid :: ration rains. Cow yards in the Sta ■York often of the fertilizing .,'. manure. Good husbandry implies the faithful husbanding of all the elements of bread, milk and i every ms undergo. Man is . or of making an im of i atom of lime or silica. If one-third of the land that ''rared of itsnatn i, and the other two- to we!! known natural dustn, in the United States v i ban it now docs. It. is ii tempting to go over ce, not to • ■ than plowed lie! 11 as from the si i 1)0 worked up in < ■ that :is of ■ Tk the earth hundred millions, pro. i iil in ■ ricukure,- it, and pn Qtj of all other a A ; SALTING- STOCK. . Editors: — This subject has been broached h re 127, vol.9,) on the improp ihe same article was remi ■ lent of the Louisville Jou 'i ■ .) G. c ler, questioning the propriet al. I have been patiently waiti that mid comply with G." - the benefit of their result: . numb< Farmer ari ion, and nothing furtl 1 the liberty to ofli Salt, is beneficial to stock — for it, ai recommend it pretty sonably. i. . ; of their milk, eith ., Salt operates u effect ication of their I ie internal or external di strengthening and invigorating and ge I em. Of this la with the si These but from experience, the science.-, and coram . Having given a synopsis of the nature and . of sal! :k, I shall same as follows : To ( To milch r ;. ii, or store cattle, :. To oth ■obably ther izes th ect of salt more than kind. It delights me to visit a fli ■ e of salt. It tr .-, by i i so chille I with i;; idWul] ■ill see ti: ■ ■ and strength, partic I ed. , that is — pure ' ■ a of all : L. E. B.— E nfield, .V. . Remark. — Th son, has b until the time. THE G] . \\]\l. MHl SCIENCE AND PRACTICE IN FARMINC. BY WILLI IM I - e their dili- I hap- . T< ) '. but the pra much on the man of : think, ex e for himself; tperience the nu- ect bim in I A true thei built up; hence the importance of experiments in practical . but . The time was when it was not known that 1 that would cut on imm : but the I - cultivators. T the importance of each farmer being an experimenter, tal one. . enl culth to allow a season to line of the vari without incurring much expense, for a half or a quarter of an a< :ient to test an i if it is performed with care, and clo Op ' es of equal width; and how easily can a farmer, ue of various manures, by applying the fermented and nented, the compost or pure barnyard manure, or any of the numerous fertilizers, on different r in the same field? And also test the various modes of cultivation; let one ridge be plowed only one the aft . lone with the cultival Ige plow twice, and a third one limes — and with care he can ascertain the ; that is best to applj the r the numerous ' each kind of grain. But he must be attentive, and watch i] of all hi : and ult with accurate certainty — not guess at it. All expt i be continued for a of years in succ test, even to ^.-probability, so numerous and va- ■ductions of the soil — causes, ton, which are beyond the control of the cultivator, so that he cannot always know. how much- ive for his labor. A great proportion of the very bountiful crops that are recorded, are tii' - . which the cultivator cannot foresee, nor control, and are not a which severe that it is necesi tinue them for a series of years, to < •ee of certai ary to h:v. for a numl •ofit of his A". Y., Oct., 11 MORS LI3HT WANTED. 3SRS. Editors: — In tl in that town. I which, " els 1 nothing about what farming mi;.;' PEAR TREE BLIGHT. The " Young Digger" in your N num- ber hi jervation ai plum trees, and • Trees — an to be for Would thath :tive of the Blight in Pear Tr< . i am after. His crii; worth. It. is no sms : Bafr , my art' i Pear Blight" and al my ideas of the bligl fter his j will ! with the "potato rot." JAwes H. Watts. Rochester, Nov., 1849. 282 THE GENESEE FARMER. Dec. 7 meas. 10 " STEAMER. -COOKING FOOD FOR STOOK. The following remarks in reference to the plan of steamer above represented, and cooking food gen- erally, are taken from the American Agriculturist : "If food is to be cooked, on a small scale, boiling may be cheapest; if on a large scale; steaming is not only cheapest, but infinitely more compaet; for the former would require a very large, or several fur- naces, for different sets of kettles, whereas, the latter may be done with one small furnace, steamer, and pipe, as shown in the cut, with any reasonable num- ber of vats or tubs surrounding, in which to steam the food. In order to do this, the steam pipe must be made moveable, with a screw, flexible, or be composed of some material that when the food is cooked in one tub, the pipe can be turned and inserted into another. We have seen no less than five tubs, holding 150 gallons each, surrounding a small steamer, all of which could be filled with food and cooked within twenty- four hours. Three tubs, however, are usualy sufficient for a large stock, in which the food of the first may be cooking, that in the second cooling, while that in the third is being fed out. A single person may be able to oversee, and efficiently manage all these operations. The furnace, steamer, and tub, are so plainly de- lineated in the above cut, that they need no explana- tion. In cooking potatoes and other roots, the tub should have a false bottom (as represented,) perforated with numerous small holes, and set resting on blocks from 3 to 4 inches above the true bottom. The steam-pipe should enter the tub nearest to the true bottom. The steam is thus introduced between the two bottoms, quickly rises upward, and is evenly dif- fused through the whole of the food. While the cooking process is going on, the top of the tub should. be kept down as tight as possible, so as to prevent the escape of any steam. In cooking grain or meal, the false bottom must be taken out and the tub filled with water, as the steam heats the water and brings it to a boiling point as readily as a blaze or hot coals around a kettle. Steaming is said to do its work more thoroughly than boiling, as it is so insinuating, it easily enters and bursts all the minute globules in the grain and vegetables. Be this as it may, certain it is, that either process renders the food more digestible, and easier assimilated by the absorbing vessels, and there- fore more economical. The following table in the Edinburgh Journal of Agriculture, shows very nearly the increase of bulk of different kinds of grain boiled to bursting: 4 meas. of oats increased to 4 " barley " 4 " Indian corn increased to 13 " 4 " wheat " 10 " 4 " rye '• 15 " 4 ,; beans " 8g " 4 " buck wheat or bran 14 " Boiled food, especially in winter, is much more nutritious, if fed as nearly blood warm as possible. If quite cold, or above all, if in the least degree fro- zen, we doubt wether it is so beneficial as if uncooked — grain and meal we are certain are not; for animals will eat the raw, cold, more greedily than they will the cooked. Stock fed upon cook- ed food will eat more of it than if un- cooked, and lie quicker to rest. Of course all this is better for them, as they will thrive faster, look finer, and do more work. It is particu- larly beneficial to give hard-working horses or oxen, just as much wholesome cooked food, as they can eat, soon after coming in at night. Toiling all day in the open air, man apreciates and knows well the ben- efit of a warm, hearty supper. Let him remember, then, that a warm mess and abundance of it, is equal- ly beneficial to the animals which a kind Providence has given him as efficient aids in his arduous labor. If southern planters also would give their mules cooked instead of raw food, at noon and night, we are persuaded it would put aa end to the colic, so often destructive among them. Cooking would also considerably economize the food." SALT FOR SWINE. Eds. Gen. Farmer: — I notice that some of your correspondents doubt the propriety of giving salt to hogs — some going so far as to imagine that it will kill them. This does not accord with my expe- rience. My hogs get salt in their slop while pigs, salt once a week while grazing on clover during the season previous to fattening in the fall, and after they are put up to feed, salt twice a week till driven off. None of them die or are made sick by it. On the contrary, I notice that they eat corn for a while, then go and take a little salt, then a little water, and back to the corn again. If hogs are not accustomed to the use of salt it will make them vomit once or twice at first, but this does them no harm. Salt them regularly, a dessert spoonfull to the hog twice a week, and a table spoon- full or two of wood ashes, unleached, and they will more than pay for the trouble and expense. L. M. Bourbon Co., Ky., Oct., 1849. Galls from Harness or Saddle. — "A Volun- teer" tells the New England Farmer that the follow- ing remedy was found to be invaluable in the fatigue- ing marches in Mexico: White lead, finely pulverized, is the most effective application. Rubbed on dry, or made into a paste with milk, and applied a few times: it will also pre- vent white hairs growing on galled places. To Cure Bloating or Hoven in Cattle. — A table spoonful of spirits of hartshorn, for an ox or cow, or a teaspoonful for a sheep, will afford instan- taneous relief. It should be diluted with water or milk. It acts by decomposing the gas generated in the stomach, which is the cause of the disease. 1819. the g i : n ks i : k f armer. •2n:i MODEL LETTERS. Among the various models offered to the public at these days," we beg to contribute our mite for the benefit ana edification of all interested. Our i in giving the annexed Letters, which are cer- tainly models ol taste and brevity, is two-fold. First >sen1 those who wish to "go and do likewise" with an excellent example — and secondly, to assure ch that WB can promptly till, and shall be most h:ii'l>\ to receive similar orders for back volumes of Genesee Farmer. The valuable reading and instruction on Agriculture and kindred subjects, em- braced in the five voluumes of the Farmer published in octavo form, (from 184fi to 1849 inclusive.) is worth far more than cost to any practical, thinking farmer or horticulturist — and the same amount of like knowledge can no where else be obtained so y and cheaply. But, to the "models": — Mr. D. D. T. Moore:— Enclosed I send $5 on the "Mar- ket Bank," Boston, .Mass., for which send me the back vol- I renesee Parmer — 6, 7, 8 and 9. The remaining £:} I wish to make me n subscriber for the next eight years — ii ing 1st January, 1S49. I hailed with joy the appearance of your advertisement in our principal paper, and trust that many of our farmer* will answer the call. I have thus far endeavored to procure ii. i subscribers, knowing that with a single number of your \ tillable paper in my hand. 1 can do more in an hour than I otherwise in a week. The farmers of central Indiana are beginning to cheer up the rail road has heen completed to the Ohio river; and i have no doubt but that your subscription list will be increased from this quarter. Calvin Fletcher, Jr. — . Ltd., 1819. Mr. Moore: — I send you $3 enclosed for the Genesee Fanner. Please forward volumes C, 7, 8 and 9, bound — volume ID when bound, and volume 11 as published. Send the four volumes that are bound by Express — the other vol- ume and numbers by mail. Hutchins Wight. Waterloo, Seneca Co., N. Y., Nov. 1, 1849. Weevil. — Caul ion to Farmers. — The Hon. E. Blackman, of Newark, N. Y., exhibited to the writer samples of Timothy Seed obtained by him at Buffalo, which was literally alive with weevils. The seed was understood to be ftom Ohio; and most of the seed from many parts of that State, having been ob- tained from grass in the wheat crop, the weevil falls into their timothy seed and thus is sown broadcast over the land. As the insect lives through winter, or, in some other way appears in the same locality every season, it may be possible that the sowing of this seed containing them may hasten the general prevalence of that dread scourge throughout the en- tire wheat growing section of our State. Ought not fanners to be on their guard against thus distributing destruction to their crops of wheat ? W. Agricultral Papers. — Every farmer can well afford to take a good agricultural paper, to assist him in the erection of suitable buildings and fences; the making and saving manure; the selection of agri- cultural implements; the best kinds of stock and fruit; the feeding and fattening of cattle; the man- ment of his land and crops — thus obtaining the united wisdom and experience of the best practical farmers, not only of our own country, but of the civilized world. I have known farmers to lay out through mismanagement, within the short period of a year, enough to pav for one hundred copies of any agricultural paper published in the land. L. Free- man Thurber. — Washington, Vt., 1849. SMITH'S VERTICAL GATE. The attention of the public is requested to the above gate, recently invented and patented by Lo- renzo Smith, of Easton, Mass. The above cut represents a large gate open and a smaller one shut. This gate does not swing, hut opens vertically by a parallel movement of rails. Its superiority to the gate in common use may be readily seen. As it does not swing, there can bo no sagging; thus avoid- ing a great objection to the swing gate. It requires no ground to swing upon; consequently it can be opened or shut while teams, carts, or carriages are standing close to it, or with a snow bank on both sides of it. It is opened and shut much quicker than the ordinary gate, and a man on horseback can open it without alighting. For very heavy gates it is designed to have weights attached to the ends of the rails, to assist in raising them; but gates of ordinary size do not require weights. This gate is more especially intended for carriage ways, but is admirably calculated for the doors of stables, and other places where the common gate cannot be used, and also may be made single for footpaths and narrow passages. It costs no more than the 6wing gate, (including the posts,) and is less liable to get out of order, and more easily repaired, if repairs are needed. The practical operation of the Vertical Gate has been thorougkly tested, and, so far as known, meets with universal favor. — New England Farmer. Husk Beds. — Now (the husking season J is the time to secure the best and most durable under beds. All the inner husks of the corn should be saved for this purpose. True, it takes a great many to make a bed, but when once the sack is tilled, it is a bed for life, and it is the lightest and softest thing of the kind that one could desire. The husks curl up and they dry and never mat down afterwards. Moreover no insects ever lodge in them, as vermin do in straw. They are perfectly cleanly; and being of a etong and tough texture, they will not wear out for years. We regard a good husk bed as cheap at $5. A young married couple, to the end of life, however long, will have no occasion to fill a new under bed, if they once have their sacks filled with good, soft, well-dried corn husks. We had all ours filled fifteen years ago, and they are to this day "good as new." — Maine Culti- vator. ' The tree is known by its fruit." The only ex- ception to this is the dog-wood, which is known by its bark! 284 THE GENESEE FARMER. Dec. A STRAY LEAF FROM A MANTJSCIPT WORE: What chs ige takes place in a kernel of wheat or it is about to put forth heat, air and moisture the starch jn the 'averted into sugar. The quantity rmed is often sufficient to make bread le taste when made of wheat which "little grown." Is starch an important substance in the economy of is. A ad its properties, and component parts :arefully sti How many simple elements enter into the compo- of starch? Three. I H; /en. Whaf are the proportions of carbon oxygen and en in 100 lbs., of starch? Dr. Prout 100 parts of starch dried . contain, ' 41 per cent or 12 atoms. a. 5,2 •• •• 10 •■ Oxygen -49,8 " :i 1U " 100 In what respect does the composition of sugar dif- fer from that of stan I and sugar are composed of the same simple nts, and in the same proportions, and yet starch it substances. How is that? ere are many changes in the form and proper- lies of mutter without any addition or diminution of led. Water is a liquid 32°; but ci and s ri cooled much below that point. /en — at one time solid ■ and another a gas or air. — So, th d water, maybe atone .^iarch, and then ■sat-. t plant is carbon and water? mo 94 per cent. What are itive proportions of oxygen and er? mixed with one of hydn et on fire, they will explode and con- .;' water. Suppose 10 gen be mixed with one of hydrogen and fired with an electric spark, what will ta ly 8 lbs. of th i will unite with the ing like commo i air above the artificial water. general lav table? It is atributed to what is called the law of " Defi- nite Proporl ' you mean by the " law of definite proportion You wil see in the above table of the component vh that while six an I ■ cent of hydrogen make 10 atoms in the compound substance called starch, 49.8 per cent, of en make precisely the same number of atoms. i explain tl Thi | rt that, eight ou or pounds of <>\ . quivatent to one of hydro- gen. In other words one atom of oxygen is eight times heavier than one atom d if we divide 49.8 — the proportion of oxygen in starch — by 8, the product will be very nearly ii.2, or the proportion of hydr If one is the proportional number of hydrogen and eight the proportional number of oxygen, what is the proportional number of carbon, which you other constituent in starch, woody fibre, gum, oil and sugar. is the proportional or equivalent number of How do you prove I If 6 ounces of carbon is burnt in 16 ounces of oxy- gen— 2 proportionals — the carbr combine and form 22 ounces of carbonic acid. All chemical combinations are governed by the la definite proportion; ot mon salt, nor other compound body would be trail in character. the Holland Purchase of V.' • Vncieut Remains; - - lution: and a history of Pioneer Settlements undt-r the an of Holland Coinpanj r;— including ReminiM- 1S12: the oi o: Publiske ; Thomas. &: Co. 1S49. Thi: . I to our thanks for a . From:* torical narrative, of no little value to the . It hi ust prove - - sing !' ev, — and bo Editors of t;; this Journal, that I James Vick, Jr. — a . time to the business oft':! Tn ral W -irtm number, but did not <■■ printer s h mds until the pages of that i ;: — t able i' with more re which he ean n in a previous num ' : — . ; • — Will you 211.] • ■ 1 25 Cull :> nee. Rklu Burritt.— Burdett, N. Y. 1 UE THB 0 i - little ie 50 other id 100 oth lly, rind in some out. ne of . ill be culti should be well u ..' made out . tioned by th he General Fruit < that will ac- Apples iiiion, ion as in it now. . of that c This would tion, when ■ hei of the . Convention. in only 01 iit1 ■ had an i lining it, or than 'Ction . not for the sake of ne, but n, and ruit Committee . ' ilted. The ble, in most parts of rkty that a or against, ck off. Th their lities, soon - (for c (for e a, ' Iroiim ;>oi>. . The folio I Pratt, untie, Vendee, Burr's ."- US"1 01 ippin. Whil istle. Admiral, Ami. ii Town, . lijiot, Beurre d fcullua. I Hays, ilturi . ii Holland, 286 THE GENESEE FARMER. Dec. Beurrc Sentin, Beurre of Bcswiller, Bon Chretien d'Esperen. Bon Chretien of Brussells, Bergainotte Sylvange, Bergamotte Fortunee, Beauty of Winter, Belmont, Bezi Vact, Bruno tie Bosco, Blangcnt a longue guene, Bingo Master, Cuvelier, Chat Grille, Chain a Dame, Charles Van Moris, Cassolette, ( onipte de Fresnel, Copea, Caillat Kosat, Clara, Clapp, Citron de Sierens, Dearborn of Van Mons, Downton, Duquesne d'Ete, Doyenne Mons, Deschamps' New Late, Dunbarton. Doyenne Diere, Endicott, Elton, Frederic of Prussia, Fanienga, Forme Urbaniste, Fantasie Van Mons, Forme des Delicaa French Iron, Green Zair, Grise Bonne, Garnstone, Green Catharine, Jargonelle, (of the French) Kramelsbrine, Lincoln, Louis of Bologna, Lederbrine, Louis Bonne, Lansac, Madam Vert, Millar's Seedling, Marquis, Marcelis, Navez, Orange, Orange Tulippe, Phillips, Pittfow, Piatt's Bergamot, Passe Long Bras, Princes Portugal, Pope's Scarlet Major, Pitt's Marie Louise, Royal d'Hiver, Rouse Lench, Rousselett St. Vincent, Sans Pepins, Swan's Egg, Surpass Meuris, Saint Bruno, Swiss Bergamot, Sousreine, Sickler. Thompson 0/ N. Hampshire, Tucker's Seedling. Trubserherdz Dulle, Whitfield, Winter Orange, Wurtzer d'Automne, Yutle, Orassane, Winter Crassane, Citron of Bohemia, Madotte. HINTS FOR THE SEASON. Up to this time, (Nov. 16,) the weather has been remarkably mild here. Many border plants, such as Monthly Roses, Scarlet Geraniums, Phloxes, Salvias, Pansiee, Mignonette, and many late blooming an- nuals, are yet in full bloom — looking better, indeed, than at any previous period this season. Dahlias even were not injured till about a week ago, and this is quite unusual with us. But with this mildness we have had immense quantities of rain; every third or fourth day has been rainy since about the first of October. Just at this time the weather is delightful, and is affording to every body who heeds it a fine opportunity for completing in a proper manner their out door planting and gardening matters. Transplanting will now be finished. It should be remembered that fall planted trees are not safe until properly staked and mulched with manure or litter, to guard the roots against the effects of frost, and every precaution should be taken to prevent water from lodging about the roots, in the slightest degree, as it is almost certain death. All trees and shrubs that are in any degree tender should, in addition to staking and mulching, be protected with a sheathing of straw tied loosely around them. Many trees and shrubs that are perfectly hardy when well established, require care of this sort the first or second year after planting. A simple and effectual way of protecting young plants of rare evergreens, that cannot be wrapped up in straw is to place a small box or barrel over them, after being well mulched. Strawberry Beds, particularly those recently made, should be covered a few inches deep with leaves. Raspberry Canes should be laid down and covered slightly with earth. Some seasons this is quite unnecessary, but it is always safe, as it insures a crop next season, whatever the winter may be, and the labor required is a mere trifle. The large plantations of market growers, near New York, are all protected in this way. Bulbous roots, such as Hyacinths, Tulips, fee, should have a covering of leaves or straw to prevent the frost penetrating to the bulbs or drawing them to the surface. In cases of newly planted beds this is quite indispensable. Rare or delicate Roses should all be carefully pro- tected. Standard or tree roses are best managed by taking them up and winteringthem in the cellar with the roots in the ground, and planting out again in the spring. This is the practice in France where the climate is not unlike ours, and where in many cases, whole acres of these rose trees are grown. Transplanting has a good effect upon them. The tops are always well cut back, when planted out, and this encourages a strong growth of flowering wood during the following season. If not taken up, they should be securely staked and the trunk well protected with straw, and a good mulching of manure or litter be placed around the roots. We allude to these matters because we know that many persons are now planting such things, that do not possess the necessary information to take care of them, and will most likely treat a rose tree as they would an apple tree. Carnations and Monthly Roses, and many half hardy border plants may be wintei'ed nicely in a little pit, some three feet deep, with a common hot-bed frame in it and covered with glazed sashes or boards and matts, or straw, and well lined around the out- side with manure, or banked up with earth. Such pits as these are valuable to persons who have no green house, and if well managed answer every purpose. They will require occasional airings in mild weather, removal of dead and decaying leaves and wood, and a sharp look out always for vermin. Every spring we hear people tell about losing their Dahlia Roots. They either freeze or rot. The roots after being taken up should be well dried in the sun, or if that cannot be done, near a fire, and then be put away on a shelf in a dry place. A little heat will do them no harm. A damp cellar is sure to rot them. They should be frequently examined and the decaying portions of the stem or tubers removed. A very good way is to put them, after being dried, in perfectly dry sand — dried by a fire. Rubbish of all sorts, piles of brush, stone, &c, that afford harbor for vermin, should never be permit- ted around a garden or orchard, and long grass or weeds in the neighborhood of trees is highly danger- ous. For the amount of a days labor of a man (cost- ing 75 cents) in removing such nuisance, whole orchards of trees are sometimes ruined, and hedges too. Towards Autumn people are too apt to slacken their culture, and allow weeds and grass to run wild — imag- ining that it will do no harm while growth is- suspend- ed, but experience to the contrary is often dearly bought. Trenching, spading and manuring of gardens, and spading and manuring around neglected trees, should proceed now, as long as it is possible to work the ground. It is the period of the year when most leisure is enjoyed by all classes of people, besides it is the very best period for performing this work. Fallen leaves should all be cleanly raked up from the garden walks, grass plot, and all around the premises, and be carried to the compost heap. If left where they are they become decayed before they are removed in spring, and injure the grass, and har- bor vermin durinjr the winter. 1849. THE GENESEE FARMER. 287 DESCRIPTIONS AND FIGURES OF TWO FINE PEARS. Thb FoRELLB or Trout Pbar. — This is the ForclUnbrine of the Germane, and Poire Trvite <»! the French, one of the most beautiful and at the same time one of the most excellent of pears, and so distinct in the coloring of the fruit and the appear- ance of the tree as to distinguish it at the first glance from a thousand sorts. For four or five years past we have had it bear every year, and the more we see and know of it, the more we admire it. It was described and figured in Hovey's Magazine of Aug- ust, 1847, and the description is so excellent that we choose it instead of giving onr own description, as giving additional authority on the subject. We must remark, however, that the size of Mr. Hovey's and Mr. Downing's cuts are rather larger than we find it on an average. It is always a trifle below me- dium with us. The ForeM» is, without doubt, the most beautiful pear which has ever been produced, and would deserve cultiva- tion for its appearance only, if it were even a second rate pear. But it stands almost as high for its excellence as for its beauty. Dr. Diel, in his Pomology, speaks of the Forelle as competing with the best French varieties, and Mr. Thomp- son states that it "merits his eulogium in all respects." The Forelle takes its name from the resemblance of its beautifully speckled skin to the Trout, and, in the French collections, it is generally called the Truite pear. When the fruit is produced in perfection, it is deeply colored with vermilion, and profusely covered with grayish russet dots, which are margined or rayed with crimson. The tree grows very rapidly, more resembling, in the color oi the wood, which is of a rich violet red speckled with grayish white, an apple than a pear: young shoots woolly: leaves, roundish ovate. It is very productive, and grows either; upon the quince or pear stock. Mr. Manning, who described it among the many kinds which lie proved in his collection, (Vol. in. p. 49,) stated that with him it had not come up to the character given it in the Pom. Mag., but we suspect he had not produced it under favorable circumstances. Our drawing is from a specimen produced in the collection of Mrs. Heard, of Watertown, in 1846. and, in beauty jis well as quality, it was a first-rate fruit. Where the locality is unfavorable as a dwarf or standard, we would recommend it as deserving a wall or an espalier. Size, large, abo. t two inches in diameter, and three long. Form, oblong obovate, regular, rather the largest in the mid- dle, and tapering to an obtuse point at the stem: Skin, fair, smooth, dull yellow in the shade, broadly shaded with ver milion on the tunny ride, and beautifully speckled whhgray- i-li dots, which arc deeply margined with crimson Stem, rather *hort. :ili havi also a numbei of dwarf pear trees in my yard. The ground has been spi 1 th< m every spring since tl i set. Mi I i f them have grown well, and are lii althy— one of I ( i i lias been troubled with blight, and that the growing and mosl puny tre rd. f had occa lion i ;■■' s I hrou, h I n rchai of my neighbors in I lai t, and ol : bearing pear trees, I inquin d of the owner if his trees v ' i ted vi il h blighl — h nol m the least. ! lis orchard had been d in corn I he pai t season-, il ha frequently manured, plowed Our il, v. ith b soil of marl and (day, intermingled w ith !im< gravel, from my ow n e» perience and > [ am satisfied Mr. erro- ik that, a uniformly cultivated and em i. hed si il, u Inch w ill keep the trees in a st< a ly ion will ren mo t health besl aide to resisl blight. F. I!. P. — Sweden, .V. Y., Oct., 1849. ANSWERS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Grapes.— (N. Simons, Castile.) Your se Grape is a large fine variety of the wild Pi quite unworthy of cultivation, in pared with the huhrl/n and Catawba. A i of this city, M. i>. Warner, Esq., culti , brought by him from Connecticut. Apples. — We are indebted to Mr. Andrew Cone, of Mast Bloomfield, for apples 'Make, fi- ling tree .r>i> years old— first rate for cooking good for eating." This is a beautiful j . How a with a nd cheek, resembling the Bel/flower in . ha, •■. We arc sure it is first rate for cooking, and a C. says it is very productive, is no doubt v ill -.' ■'■ this season. Mmson Sweeting. — We are indebted to Jesse Storrs, nurseryman, of Marathon, N. V., for a box of this delicious sweet apple. We sure ii is identical with the Northern Swei ti nibited at New York by Jonathan Batty, of J ville — one of the very best sweet apples for fall it we have seen. We will give a farther account of this apple at another time. Pears. Oswego Beure. — We are indebted to J. W. P. Allen, Esq., of Oswego, for specimens of the Oswego Beurre, in perfection; and they fully confirm the high opinion expressed by ourselves and others in regard to the fruit. It is truly one oi very host American pears. The flavor is almost identical with the New Winter Brown Beurre, figured in this number, and if eaten in the dark one mighl suppose them the same fruit. Among these specimens we find one larger than tho others, which Mr. Allen says was produced froma graft on an apple tree, set two years ago. It is high flavored and more mature than the others. We may add that this is one of the besl for pyramid-; on quince slock. Mr. A. has promised us a fuller account of this fruit than has yet appeare I. Comparative profits of cultivating Fall and Winter Pears. (P. P. Lyon, Plymouth, Mich.) We have nol time this month to give thi tention, but will as soon as possible. Rochester Commercial Nursery, No 8 E \sr WKM E, i."( HESTER, N, S ORK. Til!1: Subscribers respectfully ; tock of FRUIT 'J and oomprlses all thi , , : the task of culti .•im! intend 1 1 ti ted and To I ' rl Priced Catalogues fum .■ TJiKAl.'. Plum, Me, 1 Chi qui above trees 1 I ova Iso, all 1 , I I \ illl-S foi Oi in vi i n.i Co.,N . . ; I" 3i i Drain Tile, Pipes, and Ro liis kiln at ' •! inch hoi - - Ii ie I II I plied. . Back numb plied to Ogl HI- I THE GENESEE FARMER. 0TU3 OF lural 3iku-'i%krr, i Irated ngs. CONDUUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE. LYM G WORTHY, Esq., of Monroe County, ■ . •■ X, A. M. influei of th proper i journal as th ommunity. [nde< d, from the lion u] on tl h a tlm Industrial < 'ui>. tnpire •al ami I ,i ipi rly projected ductive Phese are some of the n . i i n tli rpri which we i Tin "ill be princi- ■ r ( ontributoi and Coi i i i lj to Hi-' i ne New ' ■ ach number of the papi c i -..■in contain of Di nd Ma ■ , kion will be given to Rural Ar- ■ ■ willi ■ Literature, Kducatlo I i he 'lay. we rtainment as will ■ i ■/. without 1 1 I youth- hcrs, young men and maldi That portion of I toGeneral lutein ntain a summary of the I and foreign News. No effort will bo spared to inuko thin depart. - • day of pi I Terms, in Advi ■ ■ fully . i : ■ m ni.-il ond n mail atom rii ! I). 1>. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y. Agentn Wanted— To Young Men. ■ very lib D. I). I Not lee to AgentM, Ad I d ■ . I), n. Nursery : for Sale. v and treet Rochester, N. V., Oct. 1. [10 •im\ 290 THE GENESEE FARMER. Dec. A New Book for Every Farmer ! SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE, or the Elements of Chemistry, Geology, Botany, and Meteorology, applied to practical Agri- culture: by M. M, Rodgers, M. D., with the approval and assis- tance of several practical and sicntiffc gentlemen. The work is illustrated by a large number cf engravings, and is published in a neat style, well bound, and sold cheap. NOTICES OF THE WOBK. "The general correctness, brevity, clearness, and multitude of its principles applicable to practical agriculture, that first and best of arts, commend the work to the youth of our land, as well as to its older and youger agriculturists. " — Prof. Chester Dewey, Principal Rochester Collegiate Institute. '•This is an interesting and much needed volume, well adapted to the wants and taste of that intelligent portion of the commu- nity for whom it is more particularly adapted— making combined a complete system of agriculture, easily understood and readily defined." — N. Y. Farmer and Mechanic. "It appears to be excedingly well adapted for the purpose ef in- struction. It is concise and plain— neither too much nor too little"— Hon. Za.dock Pratt. . •'We have seen enough to convince us that it is a work of rare merit, such an one as will meet with the approbation of all intel- ligent readers. Every agriculturist who reads and digests should procure the work."— Jlmerican Farmer, Baltimore. ••We commend the work to the Farmer, especially to the young farmer, as well worthy of his attention."— Berkshire Cuiturisl, Piltsjicld, Mass. '•We think the author has ably preformed the difficult task of rendering science easy to the practical farmer." — New England Farmer, by S. W. Cole. ERASTUS DARROW, Publisher and Bookseller, Corner Main and St. Paul-streets, Rochester. $3=- For sale by the Publisher; also, at the office of the Genesee Farmer, and by Booksellers generally. 1,% Darrow has a large stock of BOOKS at wholesale or retail, Orders promptly answered. [3-eom-tfJ Owen Morris.. CITY BINDERY, UNDER THE MUSEUM, Rochester. N. Y. THREE Silver Medals have been awS.ded to the subscriber for the best specimens of Book Binding, exhibited at the Mechan- ics' Fairs held in this city and Buffalo. Gentlemen's Libraries fitted up and repaired ; Music paper ruled. Music and Periodicals bound and finished to any pattern ; Blank Account Books executed at this establishment, have given unequalled satisfaction, by their durability and elegance. Strict attention is always paid to the quality of paper used, to render them equal to the best in the United States, or those imported. Ladies' Scrap and Guard Books, Albums and Portfolios, in all their varieties, manufactured to order in the best style. Banks. Institutions, Societies, &c, may be assured of work being done on the most advantageous terms. Gentlemen residing at a distance, by packing and forwarding volumes to the above directions, stating price and style, may rely upon their being well bound on the most favorable terms, also carefully and punctually returned. N. B.— The proprietor has spared no expense in fitting up the establisment, and introducing into Western New i'ork the latest improvement in Book Binding. ftr?-The Genesee Farmer and other periodicals bound to order. OWEN MOBillS. City Bindery, under the Jtuseum. Rochester Nov. 1, 1849 [11 -tf] Patent Improved Railroad Horse-Power and Overshot Thresher and Separator. THIS Power &. Thresher, which has been so long before the public, and given such perfect and universal satisfaction, has met with such a constant and rapidly increasing sale, that other manufacturers sometimes adopt headings similar to those of my advertisement — and. in some cases, parts of the advertise- ments themselves — which, if not observed, may lead to mistakes, and purchasers may get, instead of the machine which has earn- ed the reputation, one of a different construction. The machine has been much improved, and no pains or expense is spared to make it in the most thorough and durable mannor, as we have the greatest facilities as to power, room and materials at our command. It is the cheapest, simplest, most durable and portable set of machinery for the purpose in ude, and warranted in every case to give satisfaction to the purchaser. For further particulars see my advertisements in the agricultural papers of the United States and Canada. Catalogues and circulars fur- nished gratis on application by mail. HORACE L. EMERY, Agricultural Warehouse, 369 &. 371, Broadway, Albany, N. Y. Improved Well and Cistern Pumps. DOWNS, MYNDHERSE & CO., of Seneca Falls, N. V., would call the attention of Hardware Merchants and all others who have occasion to deal in or use suction pumps, to their CJ1ST IRON, REVOLVING SPOUT JlND CISTERN PUMPS, for which they have obtained Letters Patent of tho United States. For particular description and figures of our Pump, see August number of the Genesee B'armer. page 181. [9-tf] The Water- Cure Journal. THE WATER-CURE JOURNAL AND HERALD OF RE- FORMS, is published monthly, sit One Do Uar a year, in ad- vance, containing thirty-two large octavo pages, illustrated with engravings exhibiting the Structure and Anatomy of the entire Human Body ; with familiar explanations, easily to be understood by all classes. - . The Water-Cure Journal, emphatically a Journal of Health, embracing the true principles of Life and Longevity, has now been before the public several years. And they have expressed their approval of it by giving it a monthly circulation of upwards of Fifteen Thousand Copies. This Journal is edited by the leading Hydropathic practitioners, aided by numerous able contributors in various parts of our own and other countries. FOWLERS &. WELLS publishers, Clinton Hall, 129 and 131 Nassau-street, New- York.. The Phrenological Journal. This Journal is a monthly publi( atiou. containing thirty-six or more octavo pages, at One Dollar a year, in advance. To reform and perfect Ourselves and our Race, is the most ex- alted of all works. To do this we mus+. understand the Human Constitution. This, Phrenology, PhysioUgy, and Vital Magnetism embrace, and hence fully expound all the laws of our being, con- ditions of happiness, and eauscs of misery; constituting the phil- osopher's stone of Univeisal Truth. ' PHRENOLOGY. Each number will contain either tht analysts and location of some phrenological faculty, illustrated by an engraving, or an article on their combinations; and also the organization and character of some distinguished personage, accompanied by a likeness, together with frequent articles on Physiognomy and thy Temperaments. The Phrenologicrl Journal is published by ,FOWLt;RS&AVELLS, Clinton Hall, 129 and 131 Nassau-st, N. York. D. M. Dewey Agent for Rochester; T. S. Hawks, Buffalo; B. R. Peck, Syracuse; W. C. Little, Albany. Nursery of J. J. Thomas, Macedon, N» Y. **»,dpjf THIS Nursery now contains many thousand fine trees, o &Mt& large, handsome and thrifty growth, consisting of Apples, ***■*■ Pears, Cherries, Apricots, &c, and the smaller fruits, of the best standard sorts, and most of the finest new varieties; {frjr- in all cases they have been propagated for sale after being thoroughly proved in bearing. <=£$ The collection of APPLES, consisting of many thousand large trees, mostly 7 to 9 feet high, embraceig the finest stanard varie- ties, and nearly all the valuable new sorts. Very fine pear seedlings, at $12 per 1000, two years old apple seedlings, at $5 per 1000, Horse chesnuts 1 to 2 ft high, at $5 per 100, &c, &c. When purchasers desire, selections of the best for affording a regular succession of fruit throughout the seson, will be made by the proprietor. A carefully assorted collection of hardy ornamental trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennial plants, will be furnished at very moderate prices. Trees for canal and railroad conveyance, will be well packed in bundles, enclosed in strong mats, with the roots mudded and en- cased in wet moss, so as perfecly to preclude all danger of injury. All communications, post-paid, to be dircected Macedon. Wayne Co., N. Y. Oct. 1, 1849. Seeds and Implements. GENESEE SEED STORE AND AG. WAREHOUSK —In ing Hall, opposite the Eagle Hotel, Buffalo-st. — Having purchased the Agricultural and Seed department of Messrs. Nott, Elliott & Fitch, vje intend going more extensively iuto all thf branches of our business. We shall keep constantly for sale, all kinds of Im- ported and American Field aud Garden Seeds, and a large assort- ment of the most approved Implements and Machines used by the Gardener and Farmer. We manufacture I'ennoek's Wheat Drill, (the most perfect and substantial Drill in use,) the celebra- ted Massachusetts Eagle C Plow, Drags, Cultivators, kc, &c. all of the most approved patterns and construction, aud keep a full supply of all the Boston and Worcester Plows, Sub-soil. Delano's, Burrall's Shell Wheel, Anthony's Patent Index. Sic, &c. In addition to our stock of implements, &c, we think we can say with perfect confidence, we have one of the largest, most carefully grown and best selected stock of FIELD. GA UDENand FLO WER SEEDS in the country, including several kinds im- ported from Europe. Farmers, Gardeners and Dealers would consult their interest, and perhaps insure good crops, by calling at our establishment. RAPALJE & BRIGGS. Rochester, May 1, 1849. Removal to No. 21 Buffalo-st., Talniun iiloek. C. HENDRIX & SON. Wholesale and Retail Dealers in Iron, Steel, Nails, Spikes, Shelf and Heavy Hardware House trimmings of nil kinds, as cheap as the cheapest. Rochester, Oct. 1, 1849. [10-3t] Bound copies of the present (tenth) volume of the Far- mer will be ready for delivery on or before Dec. 1. Price 50 cents in paper — 62.J cts. in boards and leather. 1849. THE GENESEE PARMER. 291 .11 st p| BU8HED, BY DBRBT, UILLBR \M> CO., Id BURN] THE AMERICAN FRUIT CULTURIST, BY J. J. THOM \M A ORE \TI.Y enlarged and Unproved edition of the F roll Gui- tarist, containing more than triple the matter of the former editions, having been wholly re- written, bo as to embrace essentially all the valuable information Known at the present time, relative to FRUITS AND FRUIT CULTURE. It contains mora thrm HIMUU'.D ACCURATE ENGRAVINGS, Anil will inolad ■ oondensed and full descriptions of all fruits of oultivated or known in the country. To prevent OOnfasion in :i numerous list of varieties, careful at- tention has for years been given to effect the clear and systematic arrangement adopted in this work; and further to enable the rea- der to know at a glance, the various grades of excellence, tin- quality i< designated by the size of the typo used for the name. The numerous figures of fruits are EXACT IMPRESSIONS Of average specimen?. The descriptions have been prepared in nearly every case, from the fruits themselves ; and to distinguish fixe 1 from accidental characters, careful comparison has been ex- tensively made with specimens from several different states, and with the descriptions in the best American works on Fruits. To determine the qualities as adapted to different regions, assis- tance has been largely furnished by a number of the. most eminent pomologists of the Union. The whole forming a handsome duodecimo volume, of over 400 pages, at the low price of One Dollar. The work belongs to the author and is not traded. A liberal discount is made to Booksellers. DERBY, MILLER & CO., Oct. 1., 1849. [10-3m] Publishers, Auburn, N. Y. (JtJ- The above work just received and for sale at the office o^ the Genesee Farmer. It can be sent by mail. Price $1. " Every Man his own Physician." THE HOME DOCTOR. JUST PUBLISHED, a new and valuable book for every family in the country, and one that may be consulted- with perfect safety. As its title page indicates, it is •' THE HOME DOCTOR, or Family Manual, giving the causes, symptoms and treatment of Diseases ; with an account of the system while in health, and rules for preserving that state. Appended to which are recipes for making various medicines and articles of diet for the sick room. The whole written for general use and daily practice, by John B. Newman, M. D." Also, accompanying this book, or separate, is ,; THE HERB BOOK, a book devoted exclusively to Hrrbs, giving their names. varieties description, medical properties and doses, use, time of iug. and many other directions very useful for every family to know, and written expressly for family use." The Herb Book is devoted solely to Popular Medical Botany, and will furnish on that point all the desired information wanted for general use. The two books arc put up and bound together and contain 300 pages, price 25 cents, or sold separrte at 12>£ cents. The symptoms of each disease are carefully given, so that one kind may be recognized from another, to prevent practising in the dark ; also the treatment, a sketch of gen-ral physiology, and rules for keeping in health, together with observations ou their means of avoiding deleterious influences, and such other remarks as are deemed appropriate, for bolli male and female. The book has been written with great care, in a plain, simple, common-sense stylo easily to be understood by every person, and by a practical physician and thorough botanist. We can recom- mend it with entire confidence, as being a work superior in all respects to any book of the kind ever published, at the price. Families in the country, and especially those living in new countries and unhealthy climates, should not fail to procure a copy and have it at all times at hand, in case of sickness as they might thereby by some simple remedy save an expensive and pro- tracted doctors bill. Whether well or sick, such a book should be in every house as a safe and sure adviser in time of need, the di- rections given for persons in health cannot be ti o strictly atten- ded to by all. The price at which the book is sold is so low that every family may have a copy, and none should be without it. The book is put up in Paper binding, and can easily be sent by mail. Postage only 0% cents to any part of the United States. {£?=- Any person sending us one dollar by mail, and paying pos- tage on the letter, shall have four copiee sent him free of postage. Send in your orders, there is no risk in sending money by mail, it comes to us daily, and the books always roach their des- tination. {Jrj- Four families can club together and send a dollar bill, and have four books sent to one address. WANTED Agents in most of the States to sell this work, al- most every family wil. purchase it if carried to their doors. A small capital of from $20 to $50 will be necessary for each agent. Address, r"^ paid, FISHER & CO. March 1849. 6 Exchange-st., Rochester, N.Y. MOUNT HOPE GARDEN AND NURSERIES, ROCHESTER, N \ THE proprietors invite the attention of BVuit Orowers, Nur- serymen and dealers in treee t.. their prasent f'" a for -.!•■ Bj n oenl largi from E urop Ine i a stork of nui we offer them to purchaser on tie- moat liberal i <<< well known health vigor and hai raised n I the undivided and lorupulous attention department i.y the propli I to puivh STANDARD KIU.'II I Kl 1 >. Consisting of all the be I varieties of the AppU I fterry, Peach. ,v... ol suitable age and sise f'-r orchard planting I he principal stock is made up of the well know n p I hut all the new American and foreign kinds ar and can be furnished PYRIMTDAL and DWARF TRBBS, tlngof select varieties of Pearson Quirn dise, and Cherries ou St. Lucie, or Mahal) i. rdens, and limited grounds: and for nurserym obtain fruit from their trees at an eaily .1 .> Wo 1 years given special attention to this department and th believe we have probably the largest and best stock in the I i GOOSEBERRIES, RASPBERRIES, CURRANTS, ETC. Of these we have a large and complete assortment, and can sup- ply them by the 100 or 1000. The best I nglish 1 1 imported every year. All the new Currants can be supplii d. ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUB ROSES, ETC. Ml the leading sorts, such as Horse Chesnut. Mountain Ash, Ailantus, &c, can be furnished by the 1000 or 10 000 at mm low ordinary rates— besides a large collection of new and rare Trees Shrubs, Roses, &c, recently imported. HEDGE PLANTS. Buckthorn 2. and 3 years from seed; Osage Orange, land 2 years; Privet; besides Evergreens, such as Red Cedar. Hemlock. Nor- way Spruce, Arbor Vitae, &c, can be furnished to any extent required. STOCKS AND YOUNG WORKED TREES FOR NURSERYMEN. Pear Seedlings, 1 and 2 years transplanted; Plum do . 2 yenrs from seed bed; Paradise Stocks, for Dwarf Apples; Mazzard I herry Seedlings, 1 year; St. Lucie, or Mahaleb Stocks, for dwarf Cher- ries; Quince Stocks, of sorts commonly used. Young worked tres for distant transportation. NEW UPRIGHT QUINCE the most easily propagated, and freest grower. We have now obtained a pretty large stock, and can supply them in moderate quantities Wholesale Priced Lists and General Catalogues forwarded to all post-paid applications. Sep 1, 1849. ELLWANGER & BARRY. Albany Agricultural Warehouse, No. 369 &. 371 South Broadway. THE Subscriber having during the past season suffered in common with many of his fellow citizens— his warehouse being consumed. &c.— has procured the spacious new store erected for Ms business, No. 369 and 371 South Broadway, where he has an extensive assortment of all the best and leading AGRIi TURAL IMPLEMENTS and MACHINES in use. From his long and successful experience in the manufacture and sale of articles in his line, he Hatters hiunelf that he can suit the wants of the farming public to the best of its kind, and on as favorable terms as any other manufacturer in the States. Among his assortment are his celebrated Horse Powers, Thresh- ing Machines and Separators. Smith's Patent Cornshellera for horse power. Clinton Hand Shelters, single and double hopper ; Orant's Patent Premium Fanning Mills, for power and hand. S;c . &e. Also, a complete assortment of Garden. Kield and Grass Seeds [9-tf] H. L. EMERY. DR. KTTTRIDUK'S CELEBRATED SPRAIN E Swine: Galls from Harness or Saddle. 282 tirig or Hoven in Cattle 282 Modi ! I evil- Caution to Farmers, 283 .ite; Agricultural Papers 283 A Stray Leaf from a Manuscript Work— Notices' Hems, &.c.,. 284 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. The Congress of Fruit Growers— Its list of Fruits for General Cultivation, and those Rejected Hints for the Season 286 i pfcions and Figures of Two Fine Pears— the Foreile or Trout, and the Beurre Oris d'Hiver Nouveau, 287 Cause Tree Blight 288 I rri pondeni ..Acknowledgments. i ILLUSTRATIONS. iking Food, for Stock 2S2 rtical Gate 283 The Foreile or Truite Pear 287 The Beurre Gris d'Hiver Nouveau 288 Premiums for 1850! ri a view to extend the circulation and increase the useful- Farmer, the Proprietor offers the following I premiums to the friends of Rural Improvement, who may ' i procuring Subscribers to the work: 1st. A well ural Library handsomely put up in a case, and worth thirty dollars, to the person that shall send in the largest number of subscriber's, at the club prices. 2d. A v: 11 selected Library handsomely put up in a case, worth twenty dollars, to the second highest on the list in procuring sub- scriptions as above. 3d. A choice assortment of Agricultural Books worth fifteen dollars, to the third highest on the list. 4th. Such books as the receiver thereof may designate, worth ten dollars, to the fourth highest in procuring subscribers at the club prices. When it is recollected that our terms to clubs are only from 37,'< to '10 cents a volume, for one of the ablest and most valua- ble works hi ! i ery reader must see that it is only by a Farmer can pay anv profit whatever tot! tOPRIETOTt. Kind friends! will you not ] le enterprise, for col- ting to agriculture; and for the elevation of the profession? DANIEL LiOE. Editor and Proprietor. A CHEAP WAY TO OBTAIN GOOD BOOKS. No reasonable pel son can object to paying fifty cents for the .] rfor'1850. This being granted, any person who will send us ics and five dol 11 have ten copies of the Genesee Farmer for a year and Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry— a work 1. $1.25 at the book-stores, if 1) ten dollars and twenty names, he shall have Bu- singault's Rural ; conomy in addition to Joknston's Chemistry as int. At this rate, a young man who ha tire may easily obtain a good professional library by procuring subscribers to the Farmer, he get ting one-fifth or one-fourth of all the money received, in good books! We are indebted to some kind friend for a handsome pamphlet containing the Transactions of the New Haven Horticultural Society, and en Address delivered at mini Fair, on the 29th of September last, by S. B. Parsons, is is excellent, and we shall next month give some extracts that will he interesting to all, A New Article of Fuel. — Our attention was drown a few days since to a load at the door of a citizen in . which in appearance resembled unburnt bricks. Upon in- quiry we found that it v\as an article of fuel, mi vicinity of Newton's Corners, a few miles out of the city, from a swampy piece of low land which furni h article much resembling peat. We learn that this mi pcai is thrown into a mill and ground, then pressed in the of bri the ] e of thoroughly drying, it is r< for t . to be quite i 1 coke or coal, for | there . : smoke from it. Thousands oi have already been taken from a single acre in the above vi- cinity, affording a nice profit to the owners and manufac- turers.— Troy Budget. First in. Beauty and Value — Oieapest arid Most P THE GENESEE FARMER, A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE, ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS OF Farm Buildings, Domestic Animals, Implements, Fruits &c. VOLUME XI, FOR 1850. In issuing a Prospectus for the Eleventh Volume of the Genesee Farmer, the Publisher considers it unnecessary to state at length the design and objects of the work, or re- peat former pledges as to its management. Those who read the Farmer are the best judges of its value and character, and can decide whether it is worthy of contint; and those who are unacquainted with it are invited to exam- ine its pages. In popularity and usefulness it now ranks first among the various monthly journals of its class pub- lished in America, and every proper effort will be ma sustain its high reputation as an earnest and valuable aid to the Farmers and Fruit Culturists of the Counl The n»w volume will commence on the 1st of Jan 1850. It will be published in the best style, as heretofore— on handsome and clear type Mid superior paper. The volume will be appropriately illultrated — containing numerous and expensive Engravings of Farm B;;i; 'ed Implements, Domestic Animals, c- :-nibs, Sf-c. Indeed, in typographical aspearanc design to make the volume for it the present one is pronounced, the most beautiful Farmer's Journa \ in this country. [Tp Each number will contain T FOUR ROYAL OCTAVO PACKS ! making a large and handsome volume of about 300 pages, (with Ti,] dex, &c, suitable for binding,) at the close of the year. Placing its claims to support upon its merits alone, we respectfully submit the work as eminently calculated to promote the individual and collective interests of tin ■ culturists and Horticulturists of the United States. Grateful for the unexampled patronage already extended to the Far- mer, we solicit the aid and co-operation of all its friends and readers tc increase the circulation and thus augment the usefulness of the ch aziue ever offered to the American Pul Terms — Invariably in Advance — as follows: Single Copy. .r;0 Cents. Five ( number at the same to one person, Light op I any addition: the same rate. The entire volume sent to all subscriber^. {JU=- Post-Masters, Agents, tend all friends of improvement, are respectfully solicited to obtain and forward subscriptions. Subscription money, if properly enclosed, n • (post- paid or free.) at the risk of the Publisher. _l ddress to DANIEL LEI November, 1S49. Rochester, .'. , THE GENESEE FARMER, Published on the j'ir Y., by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE & D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. P. BARRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. Fifty Cents a Year, in Advance. Five Copies for rat i, if directed to each subs< at Copies foi if addressed er number, directed in like manner, nt the fame rate. \£f All subscriptions to commence with the the entire volume supplied to all subscribers. Advertisements. — A limited number of short and : advertisements will be given in the Farme i . r square or folio (ten lines or 100 wo ertion, and $1 for each a — in i e. The circulation of ' is from five to ■nov.n than that of an;, ultural journal published in the United Si [0= Advertisements, notices, &c. should be forwarded on • L5th of the preceding month, to secure inser- tion in any specified number. STEREOTYPED BY JEWETT, TII0MAS AND CO., BUFFALO, K. ¥.