UMASS/AMHERST * 312066 0308 1380 7 FIVE COLLEGE DEPOSITORY tm, Y> J ^7 LIBRARY SPECIAL MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE NO.__l;i-^-- DATE.7..i.lA_4 J O U R C E . L-^_Li A .^C- J^.UrArv^ .^. - mi ■ z r ■^^' ,^^H i THE 1^ m ^fSsQ ^rl ^% wl m ^ im ^'\ s44^ fm ^ii MmMMmMm WmmWimm A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE & HORTICULTURE. DOMESTIC AND RURAL ECONOMY. ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS OP FARM BUILDmCS, DOMESTIC ANIMALS, IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS, FRUITS, &c. EDITED BY DANIEL LEE, M. D. P. BARRY, CONDUCTOR OF HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. VOLUME VIII— 1847. ROCHESTER, N. Y. D. D. T. MOORE, PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR, TALMAN BLOCK, BUFFALO-STREET. 1847. \^ INDEX TO VOLUME YIIL A Address of the late Silas Wrighty read at N. Y. State Fair, 238 Agricultural Associ'n of Webster, 116 and School, 10 — Education, 187 — Fairs for 1847, 193, 213 — Society, Monroe county, 22 N. Y. State, 23, 45, 70, 117, 194 Fair of, 213, 236 premiums for 1847, 94, 118, 142 premiums awarded, . . . 262 Wayne county, 23 Agriculture of New York, 258 — Southern, 274 — trade and commerce, 235 Ammonia, 179 Animals, cooking food for, 15 — castration of, 19 Apple, the Red Astrachan, 219 — Early Joe, 73, 269 — Golden Reinette, 73 — Canada Reinette, 99 — the red Canada, 288 — Benoni, and Summer Queen,.. 244 — Yellow Newtown Pippin, 100 — stock, the Paradise, 221 — tree blight, 270 Apples, exportation of, 167 Ashes, wood, 66 — on corn, 87,281 — on dry plains, 36 — value of, and other manures,.. 115 April, hints for, 85 August, hints for, 192 B Barley, 155 Barn, a Pennsylvania, 188 Bees, 15, 70 Bee-hive, Dr. Reynolds', 24 Parks' reversed, 113 — hives. Premium, 233 Beer-making in England, 23 Birds, a plea for, 138, 162 Books, &c., noticed. American Agriculture, 57 — Journal of Agriculture and Science, 61 Address of David Thomas before Aurora Hort. Society, 50 Analysis of the Oat, 37 Annual Report Ohio State Bd. of Agriculture, 57 Cole's Am. Veterinarian, 237 Dictionary of Modern Gardening, 177 European Ag., by Colman, 61 Farmers Ag. Chemistry, 83 Fruits and Fruit Trees of A mer., 121 Fruits of America, by Hovey, 97, 221 Illustrated Botany, 250 Landreth's Rural Register and Almanac, for 1848, 250 Prince's Manuel of Roses, 29 Silliman's Chemistry, 201 Trans, of Am. Ag. Association,. 59 — of N. Y. State Ag. Society, for 1846, 177 — of Mass. Hort. Society, 121 The American Architect, 250 The Farmer's Book and Family Instructor, 250 The Trees of America, 28 The Piff, by Youatt, 177 Bone Mill, 37 Budding, experiment in, 222, 268 Buds, starting too soon, 269 Buckwheat, 17 — for coloring, 30 Butter, Chemung county, 19 — yield of, 167 — to make good, in winter, 291 — making, 199 — making, inquiries about, 282 C Cattle, improved breeds of, 47 — to cure hoven in, 227 — to destroy lice on, 23 — and sheep, transportation of on railroads, 143 Carrots and rowen, 109 Central N. Y., matters in, 284 Chatauque Co., Ag. Geology of,.. 214 Charcoal around peach trees, 35 Cheese, 156 — making, 223,284 — daires, -. 178 — how to toast, 283 Cherries, new American seedling, 286 Cherry, Wendell's Mottled Bigar- reau, (with outline figure,) 386 — Coe's transparent, 286 Chess, --.- 137 — transmutation, &c. , 67 Chimneys, to extinguish on Are,.. 253 Clevis, Van Brockhns, 161 Clover seed, cleaning, 66 Constitution, form of for Ag. Asso- ciation, 13, 116 Correspondents, notices to, &c. 21, 45, 57, 93, 97, 117, 141, 145, 249 277, 288 Corn culture, 105, 114, 136, 161 — Ashes on, 87, 281 — cobs, nutrition of, 229, 257 — for exportation, 85 — planted for fodder, — prolific, 15 — cultivator, a good, 140 Cottage, Italian, design of, 92 Cotton worm, war on, 250 Cow, " Lady Barrington," 212 Cranberry, cultivation of, 70, 139 Criticisms, Dr. Lee's, 84 Crops and the season, 160 Currant, double crimson, 219 — May's Victoria, 288 — Wine, how to make, 200 D Debt, running into, &c., 38, 107 December, hints for, 276 Dietetics, 202 Digestion and assimilation 33 Draining, 131, 135, 203 Domestic Economy — Items for house-keepers, fore planting the seeds, weigh the crops, and then Pf ^ pupils for entering the higher classes. A full course . , ^, I , ^1 • L- u »u 1 » ! of Study of the sciences shall extend tiirough a period and weigh the whole earth in which the plants grew, | embrace the lectures of four years, when those that pass a and note the loss inconsequence of producing tliorough examination by the Faculty shall- rsctive a parel »- any plant. Then, by knowing precisely what>^"''*'Plo™^.«!';l{e honorable degree of Masters of Aj ' . J r _ _ _ ^ -J . _or-. .'. , culture; the initials of which shall be M. A., or A. 3 the artificial, or natural sc* contains, and what ' « ^.i^,.,vote Magister." There shallbe two p'uhLic axaW:- the plant required, and has taken from the earth, nations a year. The students shall be subject to raoraJ^ as,-; we shall come to know something more about -^x! 't.-Ery' mlS^rtlrA^ation shall be..en- the organization of our crop, and the things that | titled to an annual volume of its transactions, and to have- nature uses in forming the same. Understanding ' so'ls> minerals, or other substances analyzed on paying the • 1 iU u t „„j „^»,j:*;^« ^e +u„ ^„ first cost of the materials consumed in making the same, precisely the character and condition ol the ma- 1 . r t .i, i n u i° ^ j- ^ . , -' , 11-1 11^ 11 Art. o. — In case there shall be more applicants for acf~ terials we have to deal with, and what we really j mission into the school than can be accommodated, they need to form a good crop, we shall make every : shall draw lots for the privilege by an equitable arrange- hour's work tell to the best advantage and Jl^us ^ -^ J-ea^^^^^^^^^^ secure a double reward for our know I edge and i.n- design, however, shall be, by an increase of stock on the dustry. With these come honor, plentv, virtue ' part of the members, and by Legislative and other aid from 1 1 • ' j pa'riotic citizens, to accommodate with comfortable board ana nappiness. j^^^^ rooms all that may desire to avail themselves of the pe- I culiar advantages of the Yoing Men's Ag.'l Schoui,. Form of a Constitution for an Ag. Association. I art. e.-The stock of the Association shaii i e heid as personal property, and transferable on its books, giving to rri 1 J t *T iur each shai-e one vote by proxy or in person, in the eleclioii, To IMPROVH ourselves, and promote the dlifu- ^f all officers. Trustees shall be elected annually on the- sion of useful knowledge among men, in regard fir^'t Tuesday in January, unless otherwise pro vide. 1 by the^ to the science and practice of Agriculture, thatN^''^^^'"-'!?"- • •, <• ,, .v u ^ .v • , . „ . '^ , 1 ° J I 1 .. I -^^T- 7.— A majority of all the members of the x\ssoe!a- thlS profession may be more honored and better tion shall have power to alter or amend this Constitution. — rewarded than it now is, We, the undersigned, ! But no person shall become a member, or be entitled to do hereby der the nf Associatic following CONSTITUTION. Article 1. — It shall be the leading object of this Associ' atiori to secure to its memljers, on the best practical terms. an opportunity to acquire a thorough knowledge of Agri- cultural Chemistry and Geology ; and of such olher scien- ,^^ exchange gives the following timelv and' ces, and branches of learning as will be most useful, and ., , i .i ■ , ■ ^ ° -i^r f ' i y ■ honorable to the possessors. , sensible remarks upon this subject. W e find the Akt. 2.— To carry into efifect the objects named in the | article credited to the Maine Cultivator — but we first article of this Constitution, the property and stock of presume its proper ancestor is brother HoLMESof this Association shall be divided into two thousand shares ; i jir ■ !?■.>.»,„,.. often dollars each, to be subscribed for and held by its , "^'^ mame r urmer . members. So soon as one thousand shares are taken, a| What shall a farmer, ^.s a farmer, do in the winter ? He- meeting of the stock-holders shall be convened in the city ; has niiu-h to do in the winter peculiar to his profession— irt of Rochester, agreeably to previous public notice to he giv- \ his house, in his bara, in the woods, -ind af market. Therev en in the Genesee Farmer, at least three weeks before the is no need if his being idle. He has a great deal to do for time of holding the meeting, to choose Trustees, and make j the promotion of his interest. In the first place, if the rig- all necessary arrangements to collect the funds of the Asso- ors of the se ison drive him in-doors let him think himself a ciation, purchase a suitable farm, and erect thereon plain, lucky man ; for it is to the family that his most important substantial buildings for an extensive Agricultural duties are due. Has he awife and children ? Let him make SeHooL. the first liis companion, friend, and equal ; and let hira de* Art. 3. — This School shall be organized substantially af- vote his thoughts and labors for the instruction and iiupro-ve- ter the following plan: A comfortable room for study and i ment of his children. See that they are well and tidily clacf» An IiPi-phv ni-o-aniyp r.uri of green wood is not increased by season- iing, and hence the latter can evolve no more ^JEBi^Jble heat than the former ; still, in burning ;§TO?«i wood, or wet wood, it is almost impossible %.Q a^/foid the loss of one-fourth of the heat gene- ir»tsd, in combination with wat3r, in steain and To^r, Most of the heat rendered latent in these gsiseous bodies j)asses up chimney, where they ■aj:« cruidensed, and give out their heat to warm M^e are anxious to give the most unscientific reader A vdear idea of this subject, for it is really one of great practical importance. Look at it, tlien, in this light : You have dirided your 100 lbs. of green oak, beech, or maple wood, into 65 ibs. of dry combustible matter, and 35 lbs of cold ^«.ter. Every pound of this water you evapo- rate in green wood, and fhrotv the heat away by Die consumption of a part of yojr 65 lbs. of fuel, aad then take the heat evolved by the balance cf your fuel to warm joir room. How many •ounces of perfectly dry wood are required to 'transform a pound of water into steam, we can ■:nct at this moment say ; nor can we determine Avhat portion of the heat taken up by steam in , , , , , , , *V,« «^..,k.,„t;-,„ ^r „„v. . ^„j . ' •'. , J ] ol Honest Industry should take some pains to make good to tne combustion ot greenwood is again evolved L^e publisher. bj condensing in the room where the fire is Kev^r give Labor ninety cents and take a dollar back, till ^■jade. We believe, however, that the usual loss >'o" -«- '^"l''' S^'o^J-iig spontaneously out of the earth. -•1. 1, i-jriiii |A man that is able to work, and unwilling to produce in lfi_ about equal to one-third Oi all the heat con- [ gome form, a full, and fair equivalent fair what he consumes, '•tailied in 65 lbs. of kiln-dried wood ; and that the from the cradle to the grave, should be driven out of civil- •^ain in seasoning wood undercover is at least ' j^'^^'^^^'^'^'^'J'' '^"'^ '"^'^^ ^"'^^^'^ '" '^^^ -io per cent. if all producers will only keep their own, or exact a per- Winter is a good tinie to cut and get up a^'^^''^^"'^'^!®"' **"" 'l^® ^^'^^'''^*^^^*'' ^'^'^'^ ^" *^'® ^'^^'*'^°'^* •«-,r.r..:>^ r,«^^l. ^r « J T? ' . iu- ers, all non-producers will be compelled to ear?( all (hat they yeai S stock of firewood. Farmers at this sea- jjc,;,,,,^, and all that they consume. But Humanity comes SOQ ha\ie less other work to perform, and wood into the world naked, huno;ry, and houseless. It can not is easier loaded and drawn when there is good k^epwhat it has not It is at the mercy of Capital ; and -1 • V. ■ ,1.1 • T1 . 1 Capital has hitherto been in the service of the Lvil One. — Slj?Jgli!ing, tnan in summer. But remember one Hence, the wrongs and suftbrings of poor Humanity, -thing: Don't attempt to warm all creation, by Humanity gives being to nil the capital in the world ; but "^oa-king hard to chop and haul fire- wood, and at , 1^ "" oflspring, falling into the hands of heartless strangers, is ■ •fW^ .^>^^^,^ ♦;. ,^ 1,^.,,,,,. .^ . 1... ir, ^ ti J muds to act the part of an infamous parracide. More sufler, £he same tune leave xour dwelling so open that h„,,^,,.,,_ f^om their own vices and follies than from the iiie oold wind will rush in on all sides. By all wrongs of others. means maJie your house comfortable. Bank it . The elevation of fallen man in morals, in knowledge, and J 1 11 •,. 11 .• 1 . 1 1 in physical comfort is the work oi time. Agrarianism, ana up, and have all its walls tight, and good non- lall ideas of a divisim of property, are at best mere quite conductors of heat. While taking good care of remedies, calculated to do infinite harm rather than good. those in-doors that can tall:, and tell their wanDf-blTlY, economy and peiseveiance is a ^^ j^^^^ ^^^ seUlshne-^s, and the little honors and emoluraenta .;^>0d motto for young men. | of office reign supreme in the human breaa. BY THE EDITOR. Every person sliould study the science of Productive Industry, that he may know.how to employ his menial and l)hysical powers to the best advantage, and give to the community more than he consumes. If produi tion did not exceed ionsiiiiiption, there could be no increase of the hu- man f nily on the earth. Evi^ry human being should study the science of Keeping Properly, for ignorance on this subject is the source of in- calculable evil. Somebody ought to write a good book on this important science, and fully illustrate its principles and economy. IJeware how you run into debt, and assume the payment of annual interest on money, or other dead matter, which can not add one particle to its own weight, nor one cent to its own value. Interest is a contrivance of the Devil, by which he enables one mau to retake from another all that he gives, and something more. Disguise the truth as best you cun, still it is a, fact that, that sometfii/ig which Human- ity gives more than it receives, is a consuming ulcer on its body and its soul. If you believe that you are not a brute — that you should cherish some hope of Heaven, some fear of a just God — then read yo ir Bible, and believe it when it tells you that, " it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." The devil invented Usury — the getting from Humanity .something for nothing — to entrap immortal, accountable beings in the snares and perils of "laying up treasures on earth, where moth doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal ," and in the crimes incident to that " love of money," which is ' .h'> root of a// evil.'' Christians are fast becoming idolaters. They buiLl unto themselves idols of brick and mortar, or other dirt, and com- pel their pastors like themselves, to fall down and worship them. We have waited 30 years to see people iegin to lay up treasures in heaven. There is no liberty of the Press in America ; because the most honest men in the community are but a little less dis- honest than the greatest rogues. Man's rank injustice to his fellow man forbids our writing and publishing truths of vital moment to Society, which ought to be proclaimed on every house top. We shall in- dite for volume vm of the Farmer as many as we dare, and not destroy the circulation of the paper. Our Laconics will cost us some subscribers, which the friends of Justice, and 1847. GENESEE FARMER. ir Letter from Seneca Count)'. Dr. Lee : — I have heard two of your subscri- bers speak in high commendation of your criticism on Dr. RoDGERs' agricultural school book. It is a blessed thing that something can stir up farmers to a state of mental activity. Had Dr. Rodgers published a better book, it might have fallen still- born from the press ; but the moment the farmers are told that a part of his compilation is made from "authers who wrote before analytical chem- istry was born," they become alive to the prof- fered indignity Hence Dr. R. carries off the palm for having done more to jostle our farmers into a living sense of the dignity of their calling, than a hundred Liebigs or Johnstons could have done. Out of the thousands of adult farmers who deal in our village, I believe I got, last year, 44 sub- •ssriters to the Genesee Farmer. If I was asked to give the reason why so few farmers read, I should reply that mental industry seems to be rare among them, in proportion as physical indus- try predominates. The cause is obvious : their early physical training is perfect, while their early mental instruction has too often been bar- barous in the extreme. A district school teacher is hired to teach farmers sons, not for his ability to instruct, but for the low wages he consents to receive. Before the boy can half spell, he com- mences reading. He is immediately taught -enough of arithmetic to add a column of figure?, divide, and subtract, when his school education is finished. I am proud to say that there are ■hundreds of farmers sons who, impelled by the ■afflatus within them, subsequently overcome the ■deficienc'es of their wretched school learning, by patient study. Such men are the subscribers to agricultural papers — they are the k\v who feel, with the poet, that "Ignorance is sin" — not bliss. I notice that our friend Bateham, of the Ohio Cultivator, plows his little 10 acre farm 16 inches ■ deep. Such practice ought to immortalize an • editor of an agricultural paper. He Is right in calling his a large farm ; with such a subsoil as is common in Western N. Y. and Ohio, a farm should not be estimated by its surface only. — With a like subsoil New England would hardly have been as manufacturing as she now is. I well remember with what reluctance the New-Eng- landers were compelled, by embargo, non-inter- course, and war, to abandon the Ocean and go to manufacturing. As often as I travel over our all alluvial Seneca, I am struck with the idea of the amount of labor which has been expended in clearing and fencing the land, then so little ad- vantage taken by the farmer of so great an outlay — fences rotting around fields scarcely tilled. — I instinctively ask the farmer the cause of this waste of capital. His reply is, generally, " My sons and daughters have gone west, and I can't afford to hire help." Such is life among farmers living on the finest soil ever warmed by the sun's rays. The young of both sexes foolishly give up such a birth-right, for a bare-foot exist- ence in the western wilderness — amid privation^ and toil, and sickness — where pork is the great- est luxury, and a log-house raising the most exci- ting recreation. It has been said that it is much easier for man to retrogade to barbarism, than to progress in civilization. Do we need further proofs of the fact ? S. W. Waterloo, December, 1846. Buckwheat, Is the grain of the Polygonum fagopyruniy amt and is said to be a native of Persia. It is usually sown on poor land, although, like other cultiva- ted plants, it does best on a good soil with good culture. Its blossoms yield considerable food for bees, although the honey thus obtained is in- ferior to that made from clover. Buckwheat meal or flour is much used in some sections of the United States for making griddle cakes. The seeds of this plant contain 50 per cent, of starch, and IJ per cent, of earthy matter. It is often sown and the crop plowed in, to fertilize poor land. From one to two bushels of seed are put on an acre. Figure a represents the Polygonum fagopyrum — b the Polygonum tartaricum. Yankee Enterprize. — The Traveller says a New Hampshire man was in Boston the other day with a few stockings for sals — only five hun- dred dozen pairs — being about half of his fall supply. It seems this gentleman is concerned in a cotton yarn factory, in a siiall town in the inferior of New Hampshire. The yarn is sent out to all the farmer's families far and near, and wrought into stockings, and the farm- ers wives and children are paid for their labor in part or entirely with goods from the store, and the stockings are then brought by the hundred dozen to our city for sale. This is but one speci- men out of a thousand of the versatility of Yankee traders. 18 GENESEE FARMEK Jan. The Farmer. -"Hi;s Position, liespisibiUties, and Duties. NUMBER FIVE. Thk District School System is one of the dis- tinguishing features of tlie New World. Its adaptatien and fitness for the country, and the almost irfiperutive necessity in view of our polit- ical iEstitutions and their perpetuity, renders ev- ■ery thing connected with it of decided interest and iraportatice. It is said that the Ancient Egyptians inscribed on their Libraries "Reme- dies for the diseases of the Soul;" and so might we write over the door posts of our School Hous- es, remedies for, and preventives of, diseases in the body politic, and promoters of the morality, good order, and safety of society. As New Yorkers, we may justly feel prouiid of our edu- cational advantages— and, as patriots and philan- thropists, we are bound to cherish and labor to improve and elevate them. Education is one of those indefinite terms which admit of almost any latitude. In its real and true signification, it is a progressive and nev- er-ending work. The whole liie-time of man is but a movement onward, and it is perhaps safest to believe the elevated and beautiful idea that throughout all eternity, man will continue to in- crease in knowledge and advance in wisdom. — But it is not in this broad view that I now pro- pose to regard the term Education. I will define it for present porposes, as a disciplinary process, fitting the mind for the business of life ; not only the accumulation of knowledge and intelligence, ■but the acquisition of habits of order, industry and economy, in proportion for the active duties ^nd responsibilities of life. This work belongs ■to the school-room ; there the boy is to be pre- {)ared for man-hood. In pi-ocess of time nature will develops the full capacity of tlie physical .system, but the mind is not made of thesame material, and cannot alone come to its full strength and capacity. Its food and nourishment is made of different matter than that which feeds and invigorates the body ; it must have the aid of other minds — must have facts and figures, ar- bitrary rules, and distinct principles, and obtain them not by instinct, but by hard study, severe thinking, and the rigid application of the mental faculties. The school book, the school house, and the school master, are these important requisites in training the mind and in bringing out its power and energy. Mind, like the body, is the work of the great Architect, it is the gift of God, and may and does exist in all its glory and majesty, in the poor man as in the rich ; it knows no dis- tinction, only in its means of devdjpment, and in its educational polish. Then how glorious to edu- cate all the i)eople — how high and solemn tlie duty to give to all the advantages of mental culture. The district school belongs, emphatically to ' the masses ; they are the people's schools ; they know no caste, nor recognize no distinction, but broadly unfold their beautiful panoply and cover all alike, and say without respect to person, or condition, "come and partake of my benefits." God has given thee Mind; ours isthe duty to unfold the power, and prepare for systematic and useful action, this richest and mightiest of God's gifs. It is the highest glory and proudest boast of the Empire State, that she has thus provided a system for the education of her children. Right- ly does she judge, and wisely act, when she thus provides for the safety of herself and the el- evation of her peoi)le. And have the. Farmers no interest in this matter ? Yes, they have, most of all ; for they are more numerous thsn all other classes. The district school is truly, almost exclusively their own; it is to most of them their only school, and it behooves them to look well to these seminaries, so peculiarly their own. Their childen, nine out of ten, if not ninety-nine out of every hundred, will be educa- ted in them, for they have no where else to go. Then let the district school be elevated, improved, and made what it should and may be. And as one improvement, almost indispensably necessa- ry to the formers, tb.ere should be, and must be, a department devoted to Agriculture. I can dis- cover no reason why it should not form a regu- lar branch of Common School Education — nor why every College and Academy in the State, should not have their professorship department, devoted to Agriculture, as a distinct branch cf study and education. Is there any thing in the subject which precludes this 1 Is there any dif- ficulty in reducing to a regular science, and of so arranging and classifying its different branch- es, as to permit it being made a part of the edu- cational process of the young ? I think not ; but on the contrary, Agriculture is a science, possessing, in all its ramifications, distinctive features — is governed by fixed facts and unerring principles — which the young farmer should learn, by study and close api)l!cation of his men- tal faculties. They should be engraven on his mind, when it is young and plastic, and capable of receiving and reiaining impressions, and this subject may, I imagine, be introduced into every district school in tlie State, without any detri- ment to the branches now taught in those schools, and without interfering with the regular course of common school education. Much reflection has satisfied my own mind of the great importance of the subject. I regard it as an essential step towards the elevation of the fixrming interests — a necessary ingredient in lift- ing up to their real position the farmers of this country. The State has been beneficent in her school funds ; but the farmer has not as yet had his full share of the benefits accruing from them. He has been content to look on listlessly, and let 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 19 othei" classes reap the karvest wiiich his own in- dustry had provided. Let him now arise from his lethargy, and begin to cast about, and see if there be no place where hissonscan go and learn to become farmers, as well as Doctors, Lawyers, and Divines. It seems to me that the farmers have a right to use a portion of the money which belongs to them, to advance their own calling: not, indeed, to tear down or prejudice others, but to elevate their own business to the dignity of a science, to be taught and learned in the schools of the state. First of all we want Agricultural School Books, and agricultural teachers, or persons qnaliiled to! teach Agriculture. The very initir.tory ste[). ; then, id to find men to prepare books adapted to ' the instruction of children, and then to find com- petent teachers who can use them. 1 wrfiiUl j then reverse the usual rule — begin attlie top and j work down. Begin by establishing and endow- j ing an Agricultural School, or schools, by th.e Legislature of the State; and with that. or them, as a nucleus, I would begin the work of makir.g] agriculture a regular science — a branch of edu- j cation for the older scholars in every school dis- 1 trict, just as much as arithmetic is now. The thing is in the highest degree practicable. It may and should be begun at the present session of the Legislature. That body should be called upon and forced to appropriate a portion of the Literature or other fimd, for this purpose ; and then ere five years shall pass away, the great work will have been accomplished. To me it appears plain and clear, and I ask the Farmers of the State to come up to the work and insist on their rights — demand for their children Agricul- tural Schools, aided by a fair portion of the liter- ature fund — insist that Daniel Lee and his School, or those of a similar character, be sus- tained by the funds of the State, as well as Ge- neva College. Stand up for your rights, and you will obtain them, but never until you do. In mv next I shall enter more into detail. D. A. Ogdex. Fenn Yan, Dec, 1840. Castration of Animals. Mr. Editor : — I have read one or two arti- cles in your paper on the castration of animals. I have tried almost all ways, but never became satisfied, until recently by cold water. My course now is to take pure cold water, and, for convenience, put it in a pitcher or coffee pot, and, after the operation is performed, pour in enough to cleanse the wound, and the work is done. The wound heals readily, and it causes the animal no pain. I have tried the above for two years past, and have had no trouble. If 3'ou think the above recipe is worth pub- lishing in the Farmer, insert it ; if not there will be no harm done. W>j. B. Waldron. East Leon, Cat. Co., 1846. Preserving Hams. Mr Editor — Many are the ways which peo- ple adopt to preserve hams for future* use. I have a receipe for curing hams, which I have used with good success for many years, and think it as good as any other I ever saw. The recipe is as follows, viz : — For 100 lbs of meat I use B grdlonsof water, 16 lbs. of salt, i lb. of salt pe- ter, and 5 gallon molasses, and so on in propor- tion to the quantity of meat you may have to prepare. Tiiese ingi'edients are put into a ket- tle, r.nd hung over the fire until it becomes scal- ding lict; then taken off and set away to cool. — Wlseu 1 pack my haais down I use a little salt, for fear the brine v/ould not be salt enough to keep them in hot weather. The hams should re- m tin in brine aloout 12 weeks; then taken out, waslied clean, and hungup in the smoke house. The smoke house should not be perfectly tight ; it should be freely ventilated. Some prefer brick houses for smoking hams, and some wood. ], for one, prefer wood, for this reason : in wood smoke houf-es the hams do not sweat, which by so doing injures their flavor. Harns should be smoked about three weeks, and those intended for summer use, I encase in small cotton sacks, which afterwards are thoroughly whitewashed and hung in some cool place. This way of preserving hams will keep them good through the summer. If others should have a better mode, by which hams can be kept sweet and good, I wish they would make it known through (he pages of the Genesee Farmer, and oblige your friend and brother farmer. Dec. 4, 1846. W. S. T. Butter. — The Elmira Republican contains the follovi'ing boastful account of butter making in Chemung county. Everybody in every town in the State is challenged to produce a case of equal success : Mr. John Holbert, of the town of Chemung in this county, mmufnctured on his own farm in the year 1845, 714'l pounds of butter, which brought him in market, at 21 cts. per pound, the comfortable sum of $1499,40. In addi- tion to this a tenant on the same farm made in the same year 2-520 pounds, which was sold in market at 19 cts. per pound, making in all $1978,20 for butter ia one year. During the present year, 1846, he has made 7227 pounds and sold the same at 29 cts., amounting to $1445,40. His teannt on tlie same farm has also made 1911 pounds which sold in mirket at 18 cts., amounting in all to $1789,38. Huge Ox. — The Buffalo Courier, of a recent date, says : Yesterday there passed through our city the largest and most perfect Ox ever )-roiiucod in Western New York. He was raised by Mr. Miram Cooley, of Attica, and sold to JoH!< CLAitK, of Toronto, for Iwo lumdred and Jifty dollars. He was a grade from Reniseer's celebrated stock, and about one-fourth Durham — six years old, and measured nine feet and nine inches round the girth. His weight was not as- certained, as he arrived here just in time to take the cars for the Falls, but it is estimated to be in the neighborhood of 3000 lbs. If the John Bulls of Toronto ever tasted more sumptuous roast beef at 'ome, than this ox will make, wo are much mistaken. 20 GENESEE FARMER. Jan- X\.%J 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 21 Spanish Merino Slieep. On the preceding page we give a Plate rep- resenting several Spanish Merino Sheep, from the flock of Mr. R. J. Jones, of Cornwall, Vt. As this breed of sheep is fast coming into favor in Western New York, and other sections where the Farmer circulates, we presume that our nu- merous readers will be gratified with the accurate and life-like portraits here given. During the past season quite a number of sheep have been purchased of Mr. Jones, and brought into this section. Gen. Harmon, of Wheatland, has sev- eral fine bucks and lambs of the same stock. The following extract of a letter from Mr- Jones contains definite information relative to his flock of Merinos : "My flock of Merino Sheep, about 12o in number, origi- rated from the importations of Messrs. Jarvis, Humphrey, and Livingston. For size and symmetry, and quantity anil quality of fleeces — the four cardinal points of a sheep — I have seen no sheep superior to them. My yearlings aver- aged 6 li 8. and 1 oz., per head, of washed wool ; the en- t re flock 05 pounds. The wool is worth now (.?eptember) 3-5 cts. per lb. The Buck represented in the accompanying engraving is t'lree years old. He was shorn the 1st of Juno, 1846 ; weight of fleece 11 lbs. 4 oz. — the grovMhof 11 months and 10 days. The Ewes received the tirst preaiium at the AddisSn Co. (Vt.) Fair, in October, 1845— and a Diploma at the Fair of the American Institute, the same month and year. They were purchased of S. W. Jewktt, and are, in every re- spect, very superior animals. In selecting my flock of Merinos (during the past four years,) I have seen nearly every flock of note in seven States, and have never purchased without having an en- tire selection — sometimes paying .$25 perifcad for ewes. — If I have not good sheep, it is for want of judgment in selecting. This breed of sheep are fast taking the precedence of all others — combining the greatest number of good qualities, and being well adapted to this climate, it is very impor- tant that farmers should learn to judge correctly of sheep, if they are desirous to make improvements. Here is the cifficulty : Not being judges of sheep, people buy miserable animals — and then, being disappointed, condemn the whole race. I once found a man who would not buy a Merino Buck, because he had preriously purchased a miserable Berkshire hog ! I send enclosed a few samples of wool — three of them from my stock bucks. They are not remarkably flne, but of good quality for sheep that will shear 10 or 11 lbs. of washed wool." The samples of wool alluded to by Mr. J. are of superior quality. They can be seen at the oflice of tliis paper. For history of the Spanish Merinos, &c., see "Morrell's American Shep- herd,' page 60. M. Rochester Flour. — The flour sent East from Rochester the past season amounted to .540,238 bbls. The receipts of wheat by the two canals amounted to 1,-504,546 bushel?. — There are in Rochester 18 flouring mills, with 82 run of stone. Next year two mills with 18 run of stone are to be added. Flouring in St. Louis. — There are 14 steam flouring mills in St. Louis, which turn out 2000 bbls. flour daily — consuming 10,000 bushels of wheat everv 24 hours, at a cost of $6,000. To Correspondents. During the past month Communications have been re- ceived from S. Williams, D. A. Ogden, Lewis F. Allen, H. P. Norton, J. W. Bissell, Alpheus Baldwin, W. J. Phelps, E. S. Bartholomew, W. S. T., Student, David Bell, A. G. xMelvin, James L. Ingalsbe, Hose* Straight, Monroe Co. Ag. Society, N. Y. State Ag. Society. Several excellent articles from correspondents are neces- sarily deferred. We are much obliged for the favors of our friends, and w ill give each a hearing— or answer their in- quiries— as soon as convenient. Books, &c., have been received as follows : " Experimental Researches on the Food of Animals, and the Fattening of Cattle ; with remarks on the Food of Man.. Based upon the experiments undertaken by order of the British Government. By Robert Dundas Thomson, M. D., Lecturer on Practical Chemistry, University of Glasgow." For sale by S. Hamilton, Bookseller, Rochester. " Six Lectures on the Uses of the Lungs ; and causes, prevention and cure of Consumption, Asthma, and Dis- eases of the Heart ; and on the mode of preserving male and female health to an hundred years. By Samuel Shel- don Fitch, A. M., M. D." Hall Colby, Agent for Western New York. For sale at the Bookstores in Rochester. " Prince's Manual of Roses. By WilliamRobert Prince." [See notice of this work in our ^Horticultural Department.] "The Apiarian's Guide — being a Practical Treatise on the Culture and Management of Bees. By William R. Kelsey." " Charter and By-Laws of the American Agricultural As- sociation. Adopted October, I846." " Transactions of the American Agricultural Association. Part I.'' " The Rural Register and Almanac for 1847. Philadel- phia—Lea & Blanchard."' For sale by S. Hamilton, State- street Rook-store, Rochester. " The Ready Reckoner ; for Ship Builders, Boat Build- ers, and Lumber Merchants. By J. M. Scribnrr, A. M." Published and for sale by Fisher &, Co., Exchange-street Bookstore, Rochester. "An Address delivered before the Onondaga Co. Ag. So- ciety, at their Annual Fair, Oct. 2, 1846. By Samuel B. Woolworth, A. M., Principal of the Cortland Academy." [See notice on page 11 of this paper.] " Dealings with the firm of Dombey & Son, Wholesale and Retail and for Exportation ; by Charles Dickens (Boz.) With illustrations by H. K.Browne. No. 1. To be com- pleted in 20 Nos. at 8 cents each." Published by Lea & Blanchard, Philadelphia. "Norman's Southern Agricultural Almanac for 1847 ; edited by Thomas AfHeck, Esq." Published by M. B. Nor- man, New-Orleans. Such of the above mentioned works as are not elsew here noticed in this number, will receive propor attention here- after. They were rec( ivad too late for examination previ- uos to the publication of this months paper. m. Our New Volume. The reader will perceive that we have made some im- provement in the appearance of the Farmer. Tiie paper upon which it is printed is superior to that heretofore used, and we intend that its mechanical execution shall be second to no other publication in Western New York. The Farmer will hereafter be printed upon a Steam Power Press, and in the best style of the art. In future, the paper will be issued and mailed with more promptness and attention. In a word, as the patronage of the Farmer is fast increasing" we shall avail ourselves of every facility within our reach to furnish its subscribers a handsome and correct journal in proper season, and thus endeavor to give entire satisfac- tion to all its friends and patrons. jj oo GENESEE FARMER. Jan. Monroe County A?;rieuUural Society. Art'ne Annual Meeting of the Monioe Coun- ty Agricultural Society, held at the Rochester Seed Store, Dec. 8th, the following named gen- tlemen were elected officers for 1847, viz : Pr,sUh7U—S\yiV.E\. MILl>ER, of I'eniH-ld. Vice rre.-iid>'iils—Gr.ofi(iE C. I.aita, of Greece, Rom- ANTv IIakt, of Urigliton, Jolis Kowk, of Riga. 7Vwsv,')Yr— .Fames 1'. Foi.?u, of Roc-hesler. Jiecordino .SV/-,.'?!/-'/— Jamks If. VVatts, of Rochester. Coirespimuiug .it, $'): Joseph Fairlcy, rroiideeinoit, ^2; John Ayrault, I'errinton, $1G ; Geo. C.' Latta, (;recce.'$2; .\llen Frost, Brighton, ,S 1 : R. Harmon, Jr., Wlicatland, $-5; Pardon D. Wright, Itoches- ter $4. H. Hooker, P.righton, $2; C. F. Crosman, Bright- ton, $3; N. Hayward, Brighton, f 2. FiKLn Ckors.— The Society cannot but regret that in the county that produees one tenth part of all the w heat erown in the State of New York, there should be no appli- caut for any of tlie premiums olVered on Field Crops, when il is within the knowledge of many members of the Socie- ty that several crops were made in tliis county, by mem- bers of this Society, particularly of wheat and corn, proba- bly second to none in the State, but from neglect of lue.as- uring and certifying, they were excluded from entering for premiums. It is to be hoped that the farmers in this coun- ty will not in future be deterred from entering their Field Crops, on account of the trouble to which the necessary regulations of the State Society, to prevent imposition, may subject them. Reports of the Committees on Farms.— I he Com- mittee for the East side of Genesee River, award as follows: To Rufus Beckwith, of Henri.?tta, the first premium of $4 and Colman's Reports. To Zera Burr, of Perrinton, the second premium, $3 and 1 Vol. of Transactions. To John .Mc(jonegal, of Irondequoit, the third premium. ,$2 and Washington's Letters. To George L. Beckwith, of Henri- etta, the fourth premium, .$1 and 2 Vols. Genesee Farmer. The following communication was read from Wm. Gar- liUTT, Esq., of Wiieatland, Chairman of the Committee on Farms for the west side of Genesee River. The Committee on Farms, for the W'est Side of the River, would respectfully REror.T, That they commenced their pleasing task on the last of June, and in three days took a hasty view of tlie various towns, but the linusual forwardness of the season render- ed the farmers all so busy that they liad not leisure to at- tend on the committee, so that they concluded to postpone further operations until the last of September. I'ut una- voidable circumstances prevented their meeting; yet from what they saw, they would respectfully state that, the gen- eral aspect of the County was delightful. Crops in gener- al, (with the exception of corn, which in many instances was much injured Iiy the worms.) bid fair to yield a bounti- ful return to the husl andman for his toil. And we cannot refrain from congratulaling our Farmers on their happy lot, blessed with a healthful climate, and a productive soil, con- venient to market, and accessible to all the rational enjoy- ments of social life; and when blessed with health, if not iiidepeiideJit and hapjm, ihefanlt is their cun. The extensive fields of wheat were splendid, and in most sections a spirit of i.mprovement was evinced; and the ma- ny well cultivated farms wkich we visited convinced us tliatthe fiirmers of Monroe were not last in agricultural im- provements. But when we look at the statistics of the County, and see that the average wheat crop is only 19^ bushels per acre, corn 30, barley 19, oats 32, rye 10, potatoes 110, and other roots only 180 bushels peracr<^, and then examine the re- ports of the ComiTiittees on Field Crops, we cannot avoid being forcibly impressed with the great difference in amount per acre, on the average crop, and the select pieces. And it speaks in language not to be contradicted, that farmers are deficient in their general culture, and that it is susceptible of great improvement. To point onttlie numerous means within the reach of the farmer to enrich the soil, and enhance the value of their la- bor, or to state all the defects in the general cultivation, would much exceed the bounds of this report. Yet they will state what appears to them to be the most prominent ones, and let the farmers test them for themselves. We would earnestly recommend to every farmer to keep an agricultural jouriiai, and enter down all the princip.al op- erations on the farm and keep an exact account of deiit and credit, so that they can know each year the exact amount of their profit and loss. And we feel con;ident that we cannot too strongly solicit their earnest attention to agricultural reading, and annual erliihif^- — knowing that they are powerful prompters to ac- tive industry, and the most el^icient means of acquiring ag- ricultural knowledge. Plaster and barn-yard manure are within the means of eve- ry farmer, but not suHiciently valued as fertilizers of the soil. " With but few exceptions, there is too much ground culti- vated for the labor to perform it. //■ one fourth, (and in many instances one third,) less ground was cultivated by the same amount of labor tliat is now done on the whole, there would be equally as much produce raised, and more profit realized. Plowing is generally done in too much of a hurry, too shrillow, and too wide a furrow slice, for a thorough culti- vation; and the value of the harrow is not sufiiciently real- ized. The more frequently that the surface of cultivated ground can be pulverised the better, and especially in dry weather. -And the use of the roller in pulverizing is too much neglected. Pastures are generally cut too close. A bare pasture im- proves not the soil, nor fattens the animals, nor makes the owner rich. On the most difl^.cult part of their duty, viz; that of awardins: the premiums, they would respectfully state that, from the limited means they had of judging, it was impos- sible for thi'iu to select three from amongst the many well cultivated farms vsliich they examined, that they could say had the decided preference over the others, without the fear of doing great injustice to many. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 23 New York State Agricultural Society. At thft regular Monthly Meeting of the Executive Commit- tee of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society, held at their rooms in Albany, on the 10th day of December, 1846, the following business was transacted : Present — 3Iessrs. Sherwood, Vail, Prentice, Tucker end M'Intyre. The minutes of the last meeting being read, were ap- proved. The following resolutions were passed: On motion of 3Ir. Vail, of Rensselaer, Resolved, That the Committee on loaning the surplus funds of the Society, appointed at the last meeting, (hav- ing reported in p:irt,) be continued with same power. On motion of Mr. Tucker, of Albany, Resolved, 'i'hat the thanks of the Society be presented to Lewis F. Allen, Esq., for a copy of his "American Herd Book," presented to the Society. The Committee then took up the Farming Committees on awards at the Annual Meeting in January next, and made the following appointments: On Farms— -Dt. J. P. Beckman, of Columbia County ; Anthony \'an Bergen, Green; \Vm. Fuller, Onondaga. E.vper/meiits and Essays — A. B. Allen, New York; Prof. Emmons, Albany; Sandford Howard, Albany. Designs for Farm Dwellings— Geo. Geddes, Onondaga; Jno. M'Donald M'Intyre, Albany; Ebenezer Mack, Tomp- kins. Cheese Dairy — Benj. P. Johnson, Oneida; Thos. Hill- house, Albany ;Ira Hopkins, Cayuga. Butler Dairy — Zadoc Pratt, Greene; Robert Dennison, Orange; E. W. Baseman, Cayuga. Selectimi of Fruits — L. F. Allen, Erie; V. A. Storms, TVew York; D. A. Thompson, Tompkins; J. C. Piatt, Clin- ton; Prof. J. Jackson, Schenettada. VV^Iieat, Barley, Rye and Oa'*— Daniel Lee, Rochester: Squire M. Brown, Onondaga; John Wilkinson, Dutchess. hidian Corn, Corn Fodder and Peas— Asa. Fish, VV'ash- inton; Benj. Enos, Madison; C. S. Button, Wayne. Root Crops — Caleb N. Bement, Albany; Jno. C. Math- er, Rensselaer; S. I>. Burchard, Madison. Hops, Fia^r, and Broom Corn — Sam'l Cheever, Sarato- ga; John Rankin, Canandaigua; Justus Harwood, Albany- Tohacco, Cabbage, Clove,- and Timoth>,—E. Marks, On- ondaga; G. V. Sacket, Cayuga; John Walsh, Albany. On motion of the President, Resolved, That Messrs. Prentice, Tucker and M'Intyre be a Committee to make all arrangements for the Annual Meeting of the Society in January. The Annual Meeting of the Society will be held in the city of Albany, on Wednesday and Thursday, the 20t]i and 21st days of January next, commencing at 10 o'clock, A. M. Farmers and the public generally are invited to attend. An extra meeting of the Executive Committee will be held at the Rooms of the Society, on Tuesday, the 19th day of Januaty, at 10 o'clock A. IM. ■The Committee then adjourned. Wayne Agricultural Society. At the Annual Meeting of the Wayne County Agricultural Society, held at Thayer's Hotel, in the village of Clyde, on the 9th inst., the follow- ing persons were chosen officers of said Society for the ensuing year : President — Reuben H. Foster, of Lyons. Vice Presidents — Joseph Watson, Galen; Joel Hall, Ma- rion; James H. Ferris, Butler ; W^m. P. Nottingham, Pal- myra; Henry Shaver, jr., .Arcadia; Jedediah Wilder, Hu- ron; W. D. Cook, Sodus. E. N. Thomas, Rose, Recording Secretary. J. J. Thomas, Macedon, Coiresponding Secretary. H. G. Dickinson, Lyons, Treasurer. Executive Committee — Samuel E. Hudson, Palmyra; Tru- man Heminway, do.; Wm. R. Smith, Macedon: Aaron Griswold, Galen; A. G. Percey, Lyons; Elizur Flint, Rose. The Society adjourned to meet at Landon's Hotel, in Ly- ons, on the second Wednesd ly in March ne.xt, at 10 o'clock A. U,— Clyle Eagle. To Destroy Lice on Cattle. Mr. Editor : — Having seen in the Genesee Farmei-, Cultivator, and other publications, ma- ny remedies (such as sand, wood ashes, water from boiled potatoes, soft soap, pork pickle, &c.,) to destroy lice on cattle, I beg leave, as a subscriber to your valuable paper, to otfer one of my own invention — and one which, from my personal observation, has proved more effectual than either or the whole of the above named remedies combined together. It is simply this : Make a wasli witli hot wa- ter and common clay, about as thick as common porridge, select a warm day, and wash the ani- mals all over, — taking care to rub it into the hair well with a woollen rag or cloth. HosEA Straight. Williamson, N. Y., Dec. 1846. Guide in Buying a Horse. A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer, con- trary to old maxims, undertakes to judge the character of a horse by outward appearances, and offers the follov/ing suggestions, as the re- sult of his close observation and long experi- ence : If the color be light sorrel or chestnut, his feet, legs and face white, these are marks of kindness. If he is broad and full between the eyes, he may be de- pended on as a horse of good sense, and capable of being trained to any thing. As respects suchhorses, the more kindly you treat them, the better you will be treated in return. Nor vvil^. a horse of that description stand the whip if well fed. If you want a safe horse, avoid one that is dish-faced; he may he so far gentle as not to scare, but he will have too much go-ahead in him to be safe for every body. If you want a fool, but a horse of great bottom, get a deep bay, with not a white hair about him; if his face is a little dished, so much the worse. Let no man ride such a horse who is not an adept in riding — they are always tricky and unsafe. If you want a horse that will never give out, never buy a large overgrown one. A black horse cannot stand heat, nor a white one cold. If you want a gentle horse, get one with more or less white about him — the more the better. A spotted one is preferable. Many suppose that the parti-colored horses be- longing to circuses, shows, &:c., are selected for their oddi- ty. But the selection thus made is on account of their great docility and gentleness. Beer Making in England. — During the first six months of the present year duty w-as paid on 22,682,823 bushels of grain (mostly barley) for malting in England. The amount on which duty was paid last year during the same period was 20,165,823 bushels, showing an increase of some 12 per cent. It seems ahtiost incredible that over forty million bushels of grain should be annually malted in England, mainly for making beer ; while the official returns before us show that no less than 23,682,715 gallons of spirits are annually manufactured in the United King- dom. The revenue derived from the latter du- ring the last fiscal year was £5,749,794 ; or some $25,000,000. 24 GENESEE FARMER. Jan. Western New York Agricultural School. This Institution will be closed in Wheatland, during the month of January instant, and opened in a better location, and under more favorable auspices, near Mount Hope, in the vicinity of Rochester. In the study of Botany, Horticul- ture, Arboriculture, &c., pupils will have the ben- efit of Messrs. Ellwan( !:r & Barry's exten- sive collection of Foreign and Indigenous Plants, Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Gardens, &c. — We shall have, what the School most needs, lar- ger and better buildings, a plenty of land for experiments, and the assistance of gentlemen of skill and large experience. To purchase chemicals for the Laboratory, and aid a little in diminishing the tax on the Principal for the high rent for the premises, the friends of Agricultural Science should contribute $300 to the Institution for the coming year. If we cannot place the School on a permanent basis in that time, we shall abandon the enterprise. — Hitherto, we have neither asked for, nor received a dollar from the public in any form. Had we started, as they have in Dutchess and Orange counties, by charging $!200 a year, instead of one half that sum, no public aid would be requir- ed. But our object has not been to make money, by founding an Institution for the exclusive ben- efit of "the upper Ten Ttiousand." It has been mainly, to place the great practical advantages of a good Laboratory for making analyses with- in the reach of yourg men of moderate means. To do this we must have some assistance. The friends of the Institution in the city of Roches- ter will give $lbO. Will not the wealthy Far- mers of Monroe county give as much more ? We shall keep a number of young men con- stantly at work analyzing the rocks, waters, soils, and all their products, of this and the adjoining counties. We hope to be able to send out into the community many competent teachers of Ag- ricultural Chemistry and Geology ; and ultimate- ly kindle the light of these modern sciences in every School House in Western New York. — Need we be ashamed to ask for a little aid in suf;h a cause 1 Our sympathies are all with the humble school house, and its inmates. If our friends would give us their sympathies at their school meetings, and contribute a little of the needful, due credit will be given in the Farmer, and the favor thankfully acknowledged. Every town should have at least one chemist capable of making an accurate analyses of soils, marls, and other fertilizers. We can supply the apparatus, as well as the instruction for that purpose. Per- mit us to spr^ak plainly on this subject. Instead of writing daily for a political journal, to defray the expenses of our agricultural researches, our time could be more usefully employed in ad- -dressing associations of Farmers. Agricultural Chemistry is soon to become a distinct and most honorable profession in the community. There is no humbug in the laws of Nature ; and whoever will diligently study them, will find much to invStruct, delight, and im- prove him. The human mind is ever eager to gain additional knowledge. It will push its in- vestigations to the utmost limit of its ever ex- panding capacity. It is in the study of the works of the Creator that man's natural desire for more, and brighter light, as his Intellect dis- covers clearer, and stronger evidences of the wisdom and goodness of its Maker, is to be ever gratified, without the possibility of attaining to the full comprehension of the Infinite. The true way to extinguish the grovelling passions, and sensual appetites that spring up so spontaneously in the compound natures of our children, is to furnish them with more agreeable, and exquisite pleasures, as well as those of a purer and more exalted character. Dr. Reynolds' Bee-Hive. — By reference to our advertising pages, the reader will find some information relative to a bee-hive invented and no.v offered to the public by Dr. O. Reynolds, of this county. We direct attention to Dr. R.'s advertisement for testimony of the value and util- ity of his hive. We shall cheerfully afford oth- er inventors the same mode of communicating with our numerous readers. m. Apples for England. — Elihu Burritt, whose disinterested philanthropy is so widely known, now in England, is making the most diligent use of his observations in that country, and ofTer- ing such hints to his countrymen at home, as may be of the greatest utility to them. He " ur- ges the people of Maine, an apple-growing state, to turn their attention to the shipment of apples to Gi-eat Britain. Apples, which in Maine, are permitted to rot on the ground, or made into cider, or fed to hogs, are worth Si the bushel, in many of the British seaports." He estimates the cost of sen ding them to England at twenty cents per bushel. Florida Olives. — The editor of the St. Au- gustine News has been presented with some fine fresh olives — the growth of that place. The soil and climate of that State are said to be well adapted to the cultivation of this fruit, which, be- sides being a delicious article of the table, is an important staple of commerce. Acknowledgments. — Among other pood things which have recently been presented us. we gratefully acknowl- edge the receipt of a jar of very excellent Apple Sauce, from Mrs. Jesse Harroun, of Ogden. It was •' done up" according to tlie foshion (in by-gone years,) of our maternal ancestor, in boiled cider, e addressed ourself to Mr. N. J. Wykth, of Cambridge, Mass., whose practical information on this sub- ject is probably fuller and more 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-hoiises near Boston — the largest and most perfect known. 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 nownever hiild or use an ice-house under ground; it never preserves ice as well as those built above ground, and costs much m )re. I. however, send you directions for the construction o.' both kinds, wiih slight sketches in explanation."' The following are Mr. Wylth's directions for building : " \st. An Ice-honse nbore ground. An ice-house above ground shouW 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 w'/tliout 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 the bottom, and two feet at the top. At the top these joints should be morticed into the cross-beams, which are to sup- port the upper floor. The joists in the two ran^res sho Id be placed each opposite anotiier. 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 oi 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 u-(t material for filling this space is, that during winter it freezes, and un- til 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- ereU 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 aUogethcr. "2d. An Ice-house beloii> ground. This is only thorough- ly made by building up the sides of the pit with a good brick 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 he covered with dry tan or sawdust. In this floor the door must be cut to give access to the ice. " As reiards the bottom of the vaidt, the floor, the lattice windows in the gables for ventilation, etc., the same re- marks will apply that have just been given for the ice-house above ground, with the addition that in one of the gahhs 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, theii 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." In tlie article we have quoted from are two fine engravings of ornamental Ice-houses above ground, and illustrations of the mode of building referred to by Mr. Wyeth. The descriptions here given are probably sufficiently intelligible to be understood by all without these. The fig- ure given shows simply the roof of a common underground Ice-house, ornamented with trees, &c., making it a pleasing object. Public Pleasure Grounds, &c. We learn from the "Tenessee Farmer and Horliculturist," that the Nashville Horticultural Society, in connection with other citizen.s, have held a meeting for the purpose of considering "the propriety of purchasing land, for the estab- lishment of a garden for horticultural improve- ment and ornamental pleasure grounds." It was ' 'R^solred, That a cotnmittee of three be appointed for the purpose of obtaining subscribers, in shares of 50 dollars each for the purpose of purchasing a suitable lot of ground for carrying the views of the Society into execution." This is certainly a gratifying demonstration of public spirit, and augurs well for the advancement of gardening in the west. Public grounds, of the character projected here, should be established and .sustained, if possible, by every city in the Union. They would be great sources of profitable instruction, as well as of delightful recreation and amusement. People must and will have amusement of some sort or other, and if a public taste of this kind were cul- tivated, and ample means provided far its gratifi- cation, it would be the means of keeping thou- sands of the youth of the country from vain and idle past-times, that scarcely ever'fail to eno-ender vicious and ruinous habits. But few appreciate the influence of places of public amusements and recreations on the moral and intellectual character of the people. If we had spacious and beautiful public grounds, collections of trees and plants, interesting lec- tures and reading rooms, public libraries in all our towns and cities, sustained by the vigorous support of those whose interests alone should urge them to support such institutions, we should not be disgusted, as we now are, by seeing our young people flock to circus exhibitions, theatre.s, two penny concerts, balls, and the thousand catch- penny movements of that sort that literally swarm in this country, there to gape and stare and frit- ter away their money, and what is more, their valuable time, and unfit themselves for high and worthy pursuits. Philanthropists! you cannot take up a better subject. 28 GENESEE FARMER. Jan. Reviews. THE TREES OF AMERICA ; Native and Foreign, Pic- torially and Boianically delineated, and scientifically and popularly described. By D. J. Bkow.nk, Author of the " Sylva Americana." In new, densely wooded countries, trees are divested of that interest and importance that are always attached to them elsewhere. The settler in the. forest is generally apt to regard trees as obstacles in the way, and his first labors are hewing them down, with an unsparing and indiscriminating hand. He has no ideas to ■waste upon the fuuire, when trees would become almost a< essesctial io his comfort as his house is now. The thing is to get rid of them, as soon as possible, and so his axe is plied diligently, till the last tree is felled. By-and-bye, when his fields are cultivali;d and the whole country clear- ed off, with only here and there a single tree left, as if by accident, to remind us of the past, he begins to think of the noble Oaks, Pines, Elms, Maples, Beeches, Chestnuts and Lindens, that he hewed down and cannot bring back. — «'0h!" he will exclaim, "What a treasure they would be to me now ! Those noble fel- lows that stood there and braved the storms of centuries." Yes! indeed they would be a trea- sure, and to the real lover of nature in its no- blest forms, almost unpurchasable. This subject brings to our mind the beauty and grandeur of the broad fields and meadows cf the Wads WORTHS, in the Genesee Valley. Al- most every field looks like an English, Park. — Beautiful groups and single trees* are intersper- sed so naturally around, that one would fancy the whole estate to have been under the manage- ment of a skilful landscape gardener for the last fifty years. Such an instance as this furnishes a beautiful and striking illustration of the influ- ence of taste and foresigiit on the clearing of wooded land. We wish that every settler would carry such a taste with him to his new home in the forest. He would earn the blessings of his family who would succeed him, and the thanks of his country. Trees are the noblest and finest features of a landscape. Where these are want- ing, in a rural picture, it is necessarily barren and desolate. The Trees of America like her other nation- al features, are vast and diversified, without a parallel. Only think of her possessing over 40 species of the Oak, and as many of the Pine, both noble trees, contributing largely to the commerce and comfort of man in all parts of the world. Those two species ahme would form a national treasure, to say nothing of her splendid Magnolias, Elms, Maples, Walnuts, Sycamores, Beeches, Chestnuts, Lindens, Tulip Trees, with a multitude of others, numbering, we believe, nearly 600 indigenous species. * Some of the Oaks and Elms on this estate, in the v-i cinity of Geneseo, are the finest on the Continent. What American is there, or who that has his home here but would be proud of a work on the " Trees of America," worthy of so great a sub- ject 1 Mr. Browne's work, we are very sorry to say, is not. Our readers will remember that we announced such a work as forth-coming near- ly a year ago. We then hoped we should have a splendid national work, that would be an honor to the country. Mr. Browne has extracted, and even condensed a great part of the information he gives us in relation to our trees, from "Lou- don's Arboretum," an English work, prepared by a man who never had his foot on American soil, but nevertheless the best book in the world, on this subject, and likely to be for a long time to come. One would hardly credit it until he has seen,, that in such a work the whole families of Oaks and Pines, and many others of the most valuable and important trees, are passed over wholly un- noticed, while such as the Camphor, Caroh trer, Casscva, Mahogany, Paraqua Lea, and oth- ers, natives of China and the Tropics, of compa- ratively small practical importance to the people of the United States, are lengthily described. — ■ Remarks relating to culture are here and there cnrelessly copied from European works, wiikout comment or qualification, liab'e to mislead per- sons in this country devoid of such information. Whole pages, too, are unnecessarily occupied' with descriptions of cultivated varieties of fruit, such as the Cherry, Plum, &c. Other complete works, devoted to this particular department, are accessible to all who wish correct information of* this kind. But notwithstanding it is not what we expect- ed, and far from being what it should be, we are glad to see it. It may contribute something to- wards directing public attention to this great sub- ject, and thereby lead to the improvement and completion of a work which Mr. Browne has commenced. He says : — "Should the public de- mand an extension of the work, conformable to the plan he has adopted, a supplementary volume will follow, embracing most of the other trees growing in America, with statements of the sources from which the information will have- been derived, copious indexes, &c." The classification is in the natural system; the arrangement in this respect is plain and per- fect. Small figures of many of the species are given, showing the general appearance of the trees, leaves, fiowecs, fruit, ti^c. The whole work is mechanically well executed, and is valu- able to every one who desires to cultivate an ac- quaintance with the Trees of America. It may be said in apology for the defects mentioned in the work, that it involves a gigantic labor, and a labor that but ^ew men in this country could or would undertake. The book can be had of S. Hamilton, at the State street Book-store, Rochester. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 29 'PRINCE'S MANUAL OF ROSES— Comprising the mosi complete history of the Rose, including all the most ad- mirable varieties that have appeared in Europe and Amer- ica; together with ample information on their culture and propagatiin By Willi \^m Robert Prince. Here we have a book of some 50 pages, treat- ing exclusively of the Rose. It cannot but be interesting. It is well, that among the multi- tude of useful and even pernicious books that are rolled forth from the press daily, the claims of the floral world are not forgotton. It is joy for the heart of the lover of nature to see the pen of science, of taste, and of genius, employed in scattering light on the culture of earth's beauti- ful flowers, and in directing the attention of men to a pursuit so well calculated to soothe and ren- ovate the mind, when pressed by the perplexing and harrassing duties of life, as well as to soften and refine the hearts and feeling of the world. The Rose is, to this day, honored with the proud title of the " Queen of Flowers." — Never, perhaps, at any time, has so much atten- tion been given to its culture, as at the pre- sent. All the lights of science and of art are called to its improvement. Whole broad acres are devoted to its growth and culture. Green houses, conservatories, and parlor windows are filled with Roses. They are grown in every shape, some as dwarfs, not over 6 inches in stat- ure, some as trees with tall stems and spreading bushy heads, some are trained on fantastic frames and pillars of various form ; others are grouped, mingling their brilliant colors, rivalling the tints of the rainbow. The amount of money expended annually for Roses, by amateurs, in England and on the con- tinent of Europe, to say nothing of America, would, to many, be perfectly incredible. Tico, ■three, five, and even ten dollars, are ordinary prices for such plants of neiv roses, and thou- sands are annually sold at these prices. In this country, in 1844-5, a vast number of the fine Hybrid Perpetual La Reine were sold •at #5 each, and so it was with Chromatella or Cloth of Gold, Solfatare, S{c. Who, then will :say, what's the value of a Rose ? We think we hear some sober money ma- king friends exclaim, " what fools, to pay such prices for a Rose!" A great portion of the world know but little of the feelings of the real enthusiastic lover of flowers — money to them has value only so far as it afFoi-ds them the means of life and the gratification of their taste. A beau- tiful flower, to them, is what money is to the mi- ser, but has a contrary effect, on their nature — instead of debasing, it exalts and purifies it. The title of the little volume before us ex- plains fully the character of its contents, and leaves us on that point little to say. It is in the main, a compilation from the excellent work of Mr. Rivers, an English nurseryman, who has the best Rose plantation, and is said to be one of the afnost successful Rose gix)wers in the world. Mr. Prince has added to it such facts as he had gathered in his practise, and on the whole it presents a great fund of useful and interesting in- formation, both for the amateur and general rea- der. It has, we perceive, been pretty severely criticised, on account of its lack of originality. For our own part, we care nothing about this, — Still, we think it bad taste for any one claiming to be an author, to quote page after page of an- other's book, in such a way that the reader who was not fortunate enough to possess both, could not know which was original and which was borrowed. It is all fair and right to quote, but in justice to readers and all, due credit should ac- company each quotation. Mr. Prince is well known to the Horticultural world, and entitled to some regard from it, for what he has done himself, as well as from being the representative of a pioneer family in Ameri- can Horticulture. His grandfather and father were ardent and enterprising men in the pursuit, and in their day, were great public benefactors in their eflbrts to introduce fruits and flowers. — The late William Prince was a kind, aniable, high minded man as ever lived, and a sound scientific and practical nurseryman, besides an honor to the science and his country. We love his memory. His son, the author, is one of the most indomitable, energetic, unconquerable men living, with a temperament and mode of getting along peculiarly and emphatically his own. We find he has dedicated his Manual "to the Memory of his Father," in the most exalted and reverential language. By way of conveying an idea of his nationali- ty, as well as style and mode of illustration, we copy the following description of a new variety •f that beautiful American class, called Prame Roses. Mrs. H-'iiry Clay is an admirable creamy wliite flow- er, extra beautiful, and produced in immense clusters. It is worthy in itself, as well as for its connection with this noble family of native roses, of being dedicated to the emi- nently worthy lady of that man, who stands apart, marked out in the minds of all candid Americans, and by the world at large, as the exalted combination of natural genius, of concentrated political knowledge, of energy of character, and of generous devotion to his country's prosperity ; thus presenting the concentrated amplitude of development, the veriest impersonification of Americanism. Horticultural Society of the Valley of the Genesee. At the Annual Meeting of this Society, held on the eve- ning of Dec. 28, 1846, the following gentlemen were elect- ed officers for the ensuing year ; President— Isaac Hills, of Rochester. 1st V. President— J. Gould, Rochester. 2d " " J. S. Wadsworth, Geneseo. 3d '• " H. U. Soper, Batavia. 4th " " L. B. Langworthy, Greece. 5th " " J. R. Thompson, Rochester. Corresponding Secretary — James W. Sibley. Recording Secretary — J. A. Eastman. Treasurer— J. VV. Bissell. On motion of Mr. Bissell, the following gentlemen were elected honorary members : A. J. Downing, Newburgh ; C. M. Hovey, Boston ; M. B. Bateham, Columbus, Ohio; H. W. Beecher, Indianapo- lis, la; L. F. Allen, Buffalo; David Thomas, Aurora. so GENESEE FARMER. Jan. LADIES' DEPAKTMENT. Sponge Cake. — One pound of sugar ; half a pound of flour ; eight eggs ; one teaspoonful of essence of lemon or rose water, and half a nut- meg gra'ed. Beat the yolks of the eggs, flour and sugar together ; then add the whites beaten to a high froth, when just ready for the oven. — Butter some tin pans and put in the cake mix- ture rather more than an inch deep. Bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes ; when cold, cut in squar3s. Buckwheat for Coloring. — The fresh blos- soms and succulent stems of buckwheat have been applied in Europe to the purposes of dyeing wool, &c. The infusion, by the addition of prepara- tions of bismuth and tin, produces a beautiful brown color. From the dried flower bundles, different shades of green are obtained. The Si- berian species of wheat, in particular, yields a fine yellow, which, upon boiling the wool still longer in the dye, changes into a golden tint, and at length becomes a beautiful yellow. — Farmers'' Encyclopedia. For the Ladies. — A neiv way to make Cali- coes wash well. — Infuse three gillsof salt in four quarts of boiling water, and put the calicoes in while hot and leave until cold. In this way the colors are rendered permanent, and will not fade by subsequent washing. A Friend to Humanity begs to inform the public, that, in the dangerous case of pins swal- lowed by accident, swallowingone egg, undress- ed, and in the course of an hour afterward, anoth- er, is an infallible remedy for carrying off the pins, if done immediately, and before the pins have worked themselves into the coats of the stomach. — U. S. Gazette, Jan., 1780. The Wife. — That woman deserves not a hus- band's generous love, who will not greet him with smiles as he returns from the labors of the day ; who will not try to chain him to his home by the enchantment of a cheerful heart. There is not one in a thousand that is so unfeeling as to withstand such an influence, and break away from such a home. . Agricultural Almanac for 1847. The Amef.ican Cur-Tiv.vTOR's Almanac, edited by Dr. Lee, just publi.slied and for sale at this office. It is got up in good style— printed on new type anuexcehenljiiiper, and illustrated with over :J0 engravings. Terms.— $15 per 1000 ; 500 for $8; $2 per 100— or three dozen for $1. All orders, (post paid.) will receive prompt attention. Address D. D. T. MOORE. Ellwanger & Barry's new Descriptive Catalogue for 1846 & 7 is just published, and will be sent gratis to all post paid applications. Mt. Hopr ^''arderi I'J' Nurseries, Rochester, Oct. 1, 1846. i't d Volumes of the Farmer. A few copi-; ' Volume VI, bound, for sale at this office. Trice 50 cents. xA^o, bound copies of Volume VII, 184d. REMOVAL. The Rochester Agricultural Ware House has been removed from rronl-street to Xo. 23 Buffalo-street, Talman iJlock, opposite Reynolds' Arcade. See advertise- ment bolov\. Rochester Agricultural Ware -House, HARD-WARE AND SEED STORE. {No. 23 Buffalo St., opjiosite Reynolds^ Arcade.) Where can be found most kinds of GARDEN and FIELD SEEDS, Hard-ware, Tin-ware, Wooden-ware, Willow-ware, House Trimmings, Kithen Furniture, &c. The late proprietor of this Establishment, (Thos. Nott,) feels grateful to liis many patrons for their very liberal pat- ronage during the past year, and would solicit a continuance of the same — promising to sell them as good articles in his line, and as cheap, as can be purchased at any other estab- lishment west of Boston or New York. He has formed a co-partnership with Mr. E. J. Elliott — and the business of the establishmeut will hereafter be conducted under the firm of NoTT & Elliott. We shall keep constantly on hand, a full assortment of Shaker Garden and Flower Seeds, the reputation of which needs no comment. Wt are continually manufacturing the celebrated Massa- chusetts Sward C Plow — to which has been awarded the greatest number of Premiums — which we shall sell at the low price of $7, with an extra jxiint. Also — shall keep on hand an assortment of the various approved Plows and Points, Cultivator Teeth, Root Cutters, Straw Cutters, and Corn Shellers— with a hundred and one other articles, too tedious to mention. Farmers from a distance, as also those in our immediate vicinity, are respectfully solicited to call at our new estab- lishment, and examine our assortment before purchasing elsewhere. NOTT & ELLIOTT, Rochester, Jan. 1, 1847. No 23 Buffalo-street. Ai^iicultural Implements. In order to accommodate the subscribers to the Farmer, from whom frequent inquiries and orders for implements are received, I have made arrangements to supply the fol- lowing articles : Pitts' Thrasher and Separator, price, $150 00 The above including Horse-Power, 250 00 Pitts' Corn and Cob Mill, 40 00 Seymour's Sowing Machine, 45 00 Sanford's Straw-Cutter, 15 00 Burrall's Patent Corn-Sheller, 10 00 Also, most kinds of Plows, Cultivators, &c., tkc, at the usual prices. As my only oBjeci is the accommodation of subscribers to the Farmer who reside at a distance, (without fee or reward,) all orders should be post paid and accompa- nied with the cash. The implements will be carefully se- lected, and shipped per order. D. D. T. MOORE. Farmer Office, Rochestei-, September, 1846. Wanted Immediately I--A practical nurseryman, who understands his business thoroughly, to take the place of foreman in an established nursery in Cleveland, Ohio. Satisfactory testimonials of ho7iesty and efficiency will be required. Apply immediately, (iihx\cHer, post paid,) stating sala- ry expected and other particulars, to P. BARRY, Dec. 1. 1346. Genesee Farmer Office, Rochester. Secdlins: Apple Trees wanted.— The subscriber wishes to purchase a few thousand seedling Apple Trees. Apply personally, or by mail, to S. MOULSON, Rochester, Jan. 1, 1847. Back Volumes of the Genesee Farmer— The sub- scriber has on hand the Volumes of the Genesee Farmer for 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, and 1845— neatly bound, which he will sell very cheap. JAMES P. FOGG. Rochester Seed Store, Front-st. Apple Seeds— Growth of 1846, for sale at the Rochester Seed Store, by JAMES P. FOGG. Straw Cotters, of all the most approved kinds, used Western N. Y.. for sale cheap, by RAPALJE & BRIGGS. .No. 10, Front-st. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 31 TO FARMERS AND BEE CULTURISTS. Dr. O. Reynolds' Non-swarming and Divi- ding Bee-Hives, constructed on the following principles. let. Multiplying colonies by dividing, thereby preventing swarming. 2d. Removing honey without injury to the Bees. 3d. Removing old comb when necessary. 4th. Pre- venting the depredations of the moth. 5th. Securing the Bee against the robber. Bejow is a few of tlie very flatter- ing testimonials which has been received iia its favor : Extract from the Report of the Committee on Improvements, &c., at the Exhibition of the Monroe Co. Ag. Society, at Rochester, Oct. 8 and 9, 1844. To Dr. O. Reynold's, of Webster, for a newly invented Non-Swarming aud Dividing Bee-Hive, combining all the advantages of form.er improvements, with some valuable qualifications for ventilation, removing old comb, dividing swarms, and preventing the depredations of the Bee-Moth ; the whole under the entire control of the operator, the Com- mittee award a Diploma. I certify thai the above is a true extract frjm the Report. M. B. BATEHAM, Cor. Sec^ij Monroe Co. Ag. Societi/. Rochester, Oct. 17, 1844. Rochester, Oct. 21, 1845. This certifies that the N, Y. State Agricultural Society, at its late Annual Fair, awarded a Diploma to Dr. Reynolds, of Webstar, Monroe Co., for the best Bee-Hive exhibited. DANIEL LEE, Cor. Sec'y. Extract from the proceedings of the Monroe County Agri- cultural Society, held at Rochester, October, 184-5. " Dr. Reynolds, of Webster, had a new principled Bee- Hive, with its inmates at work, which, if true m principle, will make a revolution in the manner of treating that very valuable insect. 2 vols. Genesee Farmer. L. B. LANG WORTHY, MARCUS ADA3IS, B. F. S3IITH." Stat«ment of John Webster, an extensive Bee Culturist of East Hamburgh, Erie Co., N. Y. I have used Dr. O. Reynolds' Non-Swarming and Dividing Bee-Hives the past season. I consider them a valuable im- prove»ent, and one that will make a complete revolution in the manner of treating the Honey Bee. I exhibited one of the Hives at the Agricultural Fair, held at Buflalo, Sept. 23 and 24, and the Committee awarded a premium. They are us-3d extensively in this section, and their principles have been thoroughly tested, and no Apiarian who wishes to render his Bees profitable should be without them. J. WEBSTER. East Hamburgh, llth Month, Bth, 1846. Extract of a letter from a gentleman who purchased the right for Erie Co. in Maich, last. Hamburgh, Dec. 5, 1846. Dr. O. Reynolds — Dear Sir: Your improved Bee-Hive ia coming into general use here. I have sold, the past sea son, over three hundred drllars worth of individual rights in this town, and over six hundred (including this town,) in the south part of this county. Vours Respectfully, ROBERT HOAG. Profit in cultivating Bees in O. Reynolds' Non-Swarming and Dividing Bee-Hives. Dr. Reynolds — Sir : Agreeable to request, 1 send you a statement of the profits of my Bees in your Hive the pres- ent season. I commenced with ten Hives, (common box.) From the ten colonies I have received eighteen .swarms, which were put in your Non-Swarming Hives ; six of which I havp divided, making an increase of twenty-four colonies. jN It has been found 'hat to increase the oil, starch,, or saccharine matter in the food of a cow giving' milk, with a view to augment the yield of butter, while the supply of tissue-forming or brain- form- ing elements was neglected, results in a loss in- stead of a gain in butter. To fatten an animal, it must have not only an excess beyond daily con- sumption of the elements that make fat, but en- joy a fair supply of all the other ingredients re- quired to form its lean meat, bones, &c. It is practicable by good and skilful keep, to augment the daily secretion of milk, and its rich- ness in butter and cheese. To attain this result, the comfort and health of cows must be studied, and lie at the foundation of the improvement — Their food in winter should be cooked, so far as roots, tubers, and grain are used in feeding them. They should be well bedded, watered and salted, as well as fed with a variety of suitable nourish- ment. The importance of variety in the food of herbivorous animals is too much overlooked by mo.st agriculturists. Remember this unvary- ing law : Every part of the system must be sup- plied with its appropriate elements in an availa- ble form ; and every excess of any element be- yond the requirements of nature is so much loss to the owner of the stock. We must resume the investigation of this interesting subject, and en- deavor to point out to practical farmers the com- position of various plants, and their true value in forming fat, lean meat, bone, brain, wool, cheese, and other animal products. We know that we tread on slippery ground ; for it is now six years since our study and remarks on vege- -able and animal physiology subjected us to pub- lic ridicule by grave Senators in their places at the Capitol of the State. Many of our readers doubtless now believe that it is all humbug to think of adapting food to the natural require- ments of the muscles, bones, brain and nerves of their domestic animals. They know that all animals eat food and make blood, but that the quality of the latter depends on the composition of the former they utterly discredit. All the consolation that we have is, that the next gener- ation will think better of men that give theii* time and money to investigations of this character. Charcoal. — Mr. Alex. Coffin says, in the Cultivator, that he put about a peck of charcoal around each of three peach trees in the spring of 1844, which greatly improved the bearing of the trees as well as the quality of the fruit. Those around which no charcoal was placed bore no good fruit in the years 1845 and '6, and if noth- ing be done to prevent it, will soon die. 36 GENESEE FARMER, Feb. "Science and Agriculture." Mr. J, J. Thomas replies in the January number of the Albany Cultivator to our criti- cism on his I'rize Essay, and makes the follow- ing remarks : " Dr. Lkk occupies nearly a col- umn in controverting the fact that, animals se Crete highly fertilizing substances ; and con eludes by saying 'no farmer must expect his domestic aninals to supply hitn with more or better manure t'lan their food and drink wi" furnish.' According to this assertion tlien, the richest stable manure is no "b^ ter" than hay :>traw, oats and water, spread o\n' the surface of the land — a ridiculous error, which every farm er must see at a glance." The question of transfonniiig "hay, straw and oats" into manure, and that of *' animals se creting highly fertilizing elements''' out of noth- ing, to enrich one's farm, is obviously a matter of great public interest, it is not then from any iove of controversy, nor a spirit of hypercriti- cism, nor feelings of hostility toward the re- spected author, that we again allude to this sub- ject, lie has received from the State Society more money for his agricultural compositions, within the last five years, if we mistake not, than all the other writers in the State and coun- try put together. This is mentioned to his cred- it, and higli reputation as an author, not as an in- timation of favoritism in certain influential quar- ters. Hence, what he says is entitled to re- spectful consideration. Mr. Thomas thinks we Gonmiit " a ridiculous error" when we say that "no farmer must expect his domestic animals to supply him witli more, or better manure than their food and drink will furnish." To make out his case, Mr. T. must sliow from what other sources besides their food and drink, animals can obtain " fertilizing elements" for the benefit of the dung heap and the crops. This he will not attempt to do, and if he should, "a ridiculous'' failure would be inevitable. So far frcm adding any thing to the weight and sul)stanceof the mat- ter taken into their stomachs, only about sixty j>er cent of tliis is voided by their bowels and kidneys. The other forty per cent escapes in the form of air or vapor from their lungs, and by insensible perspiration. On page 1377, Bous- singoult gives the particulars of an experiment of feeding a horse, in wiiich he consumed in 24 hours, 20 lbs of hay, 0 li)s of oats, and 4^3 water. He voided in his dung and urine only 4U lbs ; giving off from his lungs and through his skin 27'] lbs. Tiioroughly dried, his food weighed 22 lbs 6 oz.; while the dry matter in his excre- tions weighed only 10 lbs 3 oz. Here was a loss of more than one half in the dry solid matter taken into the stomach of the animal. The horse took into his system 10 lbs 6 oz. o{ carbon in his fjod. Of this only 3 lbs and 11 oz. were found in his dung and urine ; the balance having been burnt to keep the animal warm, and escaped from the respiratory organs in the form of car- bonic acid gas. A cow consumed in after math hay and po- tatoe i, dry weight, 28 lbs. 1 oz. 1 dwt, in 24 hours. This was her regular allowance. She gave in dry matter : In her dmr,'— 10 lb.>. 8 oz. 12 dvvt. '• '• iiriiiK — 2 ■■ 6 •' 17 •' '^ ■' milk— 3 ■• 1 " 00 '• 16 4 9 The loss in this case was 11 lbs. 8 oz. 12 dwt. out of 28 lbs. 1 oz. 1 dwt., or some 42 per cent. Must not a cow "secrete fertilizing elements" very powerfully out of nothing, to make good t'lis loss daily of 42 per cent of the elements of plants taken in her food, which escape into the air, and never go to the dung heap 1 Is the author of this ?^100 Prize Essay profoundly ignorant of these things ? Nothing is easier than to weigh all the sub- stances consumed, and voided by domestic ani- mals. According to some recent researches in- stituted by order of the British government, and made by Prof. Thomson, of the University of Glasgow, it appears that when a cow consumes 7 lbs. of carbon in her daily food, 6 lbs. go to generate heat, and escape into the air, like so much hay buiiit in a stove. He remarks that, in burning 6 lbs. of carbon, a co.v consumes all the oxygen in 9-36^ cubic feet of atmospheric air, showing the great necessity of ventilating cow houses, horse stables, &c. The expense of warming animals by the com- bustion of hay and grain deserves far more at- tention than it has hitherto received. Some four years ago we went into an elaborate calculation 0 1 the subject, and proved the needless annual loss in this branch of rural economy equal to $4,000,000 taken from the pockets of the fai'm- ers of this State alone. It is about time that we went over the ground again, for the Genesee Farmer has many new subscribers. Asiies on dry Plains. Mr. Ed tor : — I wish to know the flict wheth- er one busliel of dry or unleached ashes is wjorth as much as four bushels of leached ashes, to put on dry plains. It is contended by some that the lye of ashes is not what the dry plain land wants. Yours, respectfully, ROSWELI, LOCKWOOD. North Sjmngfield, Vf., 1847. Remarks. — For the first crop, one bushel of unleached ashes is worth as much as four of leached. But in the course of ten years the latter will be worth more than the former. — Ed. Cato, the Censor, said to a very debauched old fellow, " Friend, old age has deformities enough of its own — do not add to it the deformi- ty of vice." 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 37 Muck and Lime. At a recent meeting ol" the New York Farm- er's Club, the following remarks were made on Muck and Lime : Mr. Haggerty said he was an old man, but a young far- mer, and had come there to hear what vahiable suggestions might be made by those present. But he wished to rehite an experiment he had made with muck, drawn from a pond which was drained for the purpose. The muck was laid in winnows after being drawn out on the fields, and a com- post heap was formed by layering from six to eight inches of the muck, two or three inches of lime, then stable ma- nure, and so on until a lieap of from C to 7 feet in height was formed — no particular measurement being used. 'I'his compost was applied to a 10 acre field, and from it Mr. H. raised more than .300 bushels of wheat, 29(; bushels ol which were of excellent quality and sold to the miller at a good price, but we did not catch the figures. A gentleman who declined giving his name, stated that he had some experience with muck, and must dissent from any idea previously expressed that a mixture of lime with muck i.s injurious. He had drawn out upon his land 4,000 loads of muck, made it up in ranges, F^nglish fashion. and afterward mixed it witli one bushel of lime to the load, while the lime was in a Itol state, each range being then turned over. Now, if lime is not mixed with the muck un- til it has become carbonaceous, it will not answer the pur- pose nearly so well. The gentleman went on to state his reasons for this opinion, and said he would prefer one load of muck thus prepared to two of common stable manure. — By its use he had been enabled to commence digging pota- toes and sending them to market on the 1.5lh of .June, and by the last of July a five-acre field was entirely dug over, the product amounting to $380 clear of all expenses. By the use of bone dissolved in sulphuric acid he obtained from the same field 1,200 bushels of turnips, after the potatoes — thus forming the second crop. He related several experi- ments made ; we have not room for more, but the foregoing will show the manner of proceeding, all the fields yielding abundant crops. Dr. FiEi.ii disapproved, from his own experience, of using Plaster of Paris in stables, as had previously been recom- mended. In regard to the use of gypsum in horse sta- bles for the purpose of fixing the ammonia evol- ved from the urine and dung of the animals, there is no doubt that the oil of vitriol some how comes in contact with the stable floor, in passing from the lime in the gypsum, to the ammonia so as 10 corrode and rot it. Squire M, Brown, late President of the Onondaga Agricultural So- ciety, and others who have tried the use of plas- ter lor the purpose indicated have informed us that their stable floors have been speedily rotted by the application of gypsum to the moist places where the horses stand. Gypsum should be ap- plied to the dung heap. — Ed. ANALYSIS OF THE OAT : By Joh.\ P. Norton, Far- mington, Connecticut. This is the Essay for which the Highland Ag- ricultural Society awarded a premium of fifty sovereigns. We have perused it with care, and think i1 reflects much credit on the professional skill and industry of the author. Mr. N. has re- ceived the honor of a Professorship in Yale Col- lege, and has gone to Holland to fit himself for the station. He who acts without thought or design, acts foolishly, and he who aims at an unlawful end, acts wickedly. Bone Mil!. Dr. Lee : — The subject of ma lures has been often presented in the Genesee Farmer, and its paramount importance urged by the most cogent reasoning ; yet the fact can hardly be too often reiterated, that success in agricultural pursuits depends in a great measure upon economy in the manufacture and application of manures. I wish to call the attention of the friends of agri- cultural improvement, and tnanufacturing indus- try, to the mutual advantage which would arise from the erection of a bone mill in the midst of this grain-growing region, to increase the pro- ductiveness of our extensive and beautiful fields. The repeated croppings to which the soil is sub- jected on many farms, will be productive of ru- inous consequences, unless the most strenuous exertions are made to render available all the means of fertility that can be commanded. Rochester is perhaps more favorably located for such an establishment than any other place in Western New York, and the productiveness of the investment I think could not be a matter of doubt. Will not some man possessing the requisite enterprise and capital, by engaging in this undertaking, arrest the extravagant waste of this invaluable manure, one bushel of which is estimated to be equal to three loads of barn-yard manure ? About one-half of the substance of bones is phosphate of lime — a compound indis- pensably necessary to the production of a crop of wheat — yet very sparingly found in other fer- tilizers. Manure may well be termed the Phi- lo.sopher's stone ; for it produces results far more important to the human species, than would have been the success of the wildest day dreams of the Alcbymists. Every resource within the reach of the farmer should be brought into requi- sition, to restore the wasting aliment of the wheat plant ; for on its successful cultivation depends, in a great measure, the continuance of the un- paralleled prosperity of Western New York. The foregoing is respectfully submitted for publication, if you consider it of sufficient impor- tance to jLiftify the appropriation of the space it will occupy. Yours with respect, Peoria, N. Y. J. «., 1347. A. Blake. Breaking Steers. — Not long since I siw a lad of some ten or twelve summers, driving a pair of spring calves yoked to a little cart. (This was in Autumn.) They were perfecly orderly, and did not appear to have suffered, even in their growth, from having been early trained to habits of obedience. " Just as the twig is bent, the tree 's inclined," is true of animal nature generally, whether it be found in the shape of children, or of calves and colts. Try it, ye, who have occasion. H. The bar of the tavern leads to the bar of the bench, and the prison bar speedily follows. 38 GENESEE FARMER. Feb. Bmming into Debt, and pajing Interest on Money. Our brief remarks on this important subject, under the head "Laconics" have been greatly misunderstood, and called forth the communica- tions given below. We do not regard the pay- ing or receiving of interest, whether the sum be one or two per cent, as morally wrong, when considered as a separate and independent ques- tion. That is not the point at which our remarks were aimed. Interest is only one link, but a shining one, in a chain of causes and effects, which operate to enrich the few at the expense of the many, in all civilized communities. We hold this truth to be self-evident, that Society can not give one tenth of its members in annual yents or interest for their consumption and ac- cumulation, a sum equal to one half of the pro- ducts of the labor of the other nine tenths, and jK)t compel the latter to live on half allowances. If our esteemed friends McVean, and "La- borer" can contrive any way by which they will make a John Jacob Astor in every town, taking from human muscle and intellect half a jmillion a year, and leave nobody the poorer by the operation, then we will acknowledge our er- jTor, and admit that the "evil one" has nothing to do with any " contrivance" by which a person itwgins with nothing, produces nothing, and yet a'liquires a million of dollars. We beg them however, to bear in mind this important, this alarming fact : In all civilized nations, paupers, and especially those living from hand to mouth, just above pauperism, increase faster than popu- lation increases. Why 1 Because it takes all the surplus earnings of many families, over and above their necessary consumption, to make one family rich, and support them in the style they live in, without producing any thing. If our friend McVean will permit us to speak the truth pleiinly, we desire to say to him that we regard the "principles of political economy" which he supposes to be " so well settled," as very defec- tive, inasmuch as they operate practically to feed and clothe the few in idleness and extrava- gance by the sweat of other men's faces instead of their own. We have studied the economical writings of Adam Smith, Say, Malthus, McCul- loch, and other authorities with gi'eat care. But we regard the Bible as better than all of them, and feel constrained to judge their principles by their fruits. And what have been the fruits of the principles of the Political Economists of Eu- rope for the last .50 years ? In Great Britain they have made a few families exceedingly rich, and four millions of public paupers ! In the city of Paris there are 135,000 public paupers this day. All now admit, had it not been for the restrain- ing influence of the laws of entail and primo- geniture, the landed estates of the Kingdom of Great Britain would have fallen into fewer hands than tkey now are, owing to the gambling, spec- ulating oi>erations of trade and comnnr^e, and the almost universal love of games of chance. — In this country, there are no checks whatever on the centralization of property. Had we room, it would be easy to demonstrate that such is our morbid passion for the speedy acquisition of wealth by trade in lands, or speculations of some kind, that fortunes are acquired and lost at some- body's expense, both easier and faster in this country than in England. Will "Laborer" contend that he can take a part of what A. has and give it to B. and still have A. plus as well asB? Kind friends do not deceive yourselves in this great and weighty matter, and seek to muzzle a free press. Is it a fault in us that we have some slight appreciation of the evil consequences one day to result from our present habits, customs and ligislation, which operate continually ta make the rich richer, and the poor poorer, and more numerous as well as more dependent ? — Rely upon it, this is a bad system, an unnatural system, which cannot always last. Why then are you unwilling that we shall show up the su- preme folly of running into debt, and undertak- ing to pay annual interest on " dead matter, which can not add one particle to its own weight, nor one cent to its own value"? In a late number of this journal, " Laborer" said : " If you would be rich, you must produce more than you consume." This we contend is not enough, although it is good so far as it goes. You must learn to keep your surplus, over and above consumption as well as to produce more than you consume, or you may work hard, fare hard, live poor and die poor, to enrich others. — This is really all the difference there is between us : We would have others not only labor as he labors, but keep as he keeps, what he earns. In our "Laconics" we say: "The elevatiwo. of fallen man in morals, in knowledge, and in physical comfort, is the work of 7Vme. Agrari- anism, and all ideas of a division of property are at best mere quack remedies, calculated ta do infinite harm rather than good." We never had a particle of confidence in Fourier's excess- ively artificial system for reorganizing Society. In His own time, a good Providence will work out the highest happiness of our race on this plan- et. This is our faith; and we labor only for the obvious, attainable good, within our reach. — The best are less than half-civilized, half-moral- ized, half-christianized. We expect persecution because we dare to say that man has still some things to do, as well as some not to do, before every one shall have his own, keep and enjoy his own — no more, no less. The excellent farmei-s, however, whose communications we now insert are too liberal minded to censure any one for mere opinions, no matter how mistaken, if hon- estly entertained. We adopt the maxim of Solo- mon: " The rich ruleth over the poor, and the 1847. GENESEE FARMER. S9 borrower is servant to the lender ;" therefore it is the part of wisdom to keep out of debt, and pay no interest on money. We war not against Capital ; and would be the last to depreciate its value. All we desire is that more of it shall re- main permanently in the hard hands that give it existence, that all may have enough and to spare. Mr. Editor : — From the tenor of your editorials in the Genesee Farmer, the inference is unavoidable, that you en- tertain opinions, and inculcate principles, on the subject of Political Economy, perhaps somewhat peculiar, or at vari- ance with the teachings of our most esteemed and standard authors. The importance of correct views of this science cannot be overrated — connected as it is with the economi- cal, political, and practical relations of life — influencing, as it does, the prosperity and peace of society. Perhaps on no subject of equal importance is there so general lack of knowl- edge, OS upon this ; yet even upon this subject there is gen- erally much common sense, and particularly, much practi- cal experience. Hence there is no danger, upon a thorough disciission and exposition of the subject, but that the inter- ests of a J classes of society, will be found to harmonize and identify. It will be found that capital will yield nothing, unless united with labor — that labor will yield nothing unless uni- ted with capital. The greater the ratio of capital to labor, the higher will be the price of labor. The greater the ratio of labor to capital, the lower will be the rate of wages, and the greater the profits of the capitalist. Hence, the labor- ing classes are really more interested in increasing the cap- itsu of a country than the wealthy classes ; as whatever tends to destroy, or diminish, the annual accumulation of capital, tends directly to lower the rate of wages. Hence She inconsistency of leading one class of community to re- pine at the prosperity of another class. It is by a judicious connection of skill and industry with pre-accumulated capital, that simple laborers are enabled lo advance to the condition of laboring upon their own cap- ital ; and eventually of becoming, in their turn, lenders and capitalists. Do they by this process injure community, or cease to constitute "Humanity?" or become agents to pro- mote " a contrivance of the Devil, by which he enables one man to retake from another all that he gives, and something more ?" Certain it is, that by this process, all national and individual wealth is accumulated. And this is the happy condition of the great mass of the American people : they are laborers and capitalists. Of course lenders will sometimes be avaricious and op- preeeive, and borrowers fraudulent and profligate. The '®De is usually not more benevolent than the other. Each enters upon the transaction for his own advantage. And it is just as honorable to lend as to borrow. To the harmonious and beneficent connection of capital and labor there will occur exceptions, as when governments 90»8ume unproJuctively large masses of capital in war : or by injufllicious policy, suddenly direct industry from old into new channels ; whereby masses of men are thrown out of employment. To provide temporary labcr and pay for these, may well engage the attention of the philanthropist and statesman. But why should I dwell upon the subject — you must be femiiinr with it. You are doubtless aware, that the study of Political Economy has engaged the best minds of Europe and America — thatit is an established science — that its truths are demonstrable, upon the basis of observation and experi- ence of cause and effect — that there is little or no conflict of opinion among writers of established reputation, in regard to its principles — and that it would be an arduous underta- king to impeach their conclusions before an intelligent tri- bunal. You, as a teacher in Israel, must understand their views ; and if you disagree with them, must be able to ren- der a reason. If, in addition to, or conflict with, these, you have views which would tend to ameliorate the condition, or promote the happiness of mankind — if, as you say you have, " truths of vital moment to society, which ought to be proclaimed on every house-top," let us have them, sys- tematically, definitely, boldly. They cannot injure, but must benefit yourself and* community. I ask you to give them definitely, because I may ask the privilege of a friend- ly and respectful discussion in the Farmer. And to me, at least, there is an obscurity in the phrasology, and in regard to the raeauing and tendency of yoiu teachings. Does the terra " Humanity," of such frequent occurrence in your text, mean labor ? and if so, why not use the word? How happens it that money, (or rather the value, of which money is the representative — to wit. capital, ) which yott elsewhere represent as so productive, becomes to the bor« rower "dead matter, which can not add one particle to it* own weight or one cent to its own value ; and a consuming ulcer upon the body and soul of humanity" ? Is it more iniquitous, or consuming, to pay interest for money, (capi- tal,) than to pay rent for lands, buildings, materials, or ira^ plements in manufacture ? Are they not alike capital, and identical ? Can you suggest any disposition or use of cap- ital, more beneficial to society, upon the whole, than to let it increase and diftuse, in connection with industry, not' withstanding any temporary ineqmality of accumulation? What action of the " controlling majority will secure to every man an equal chance to labor for himself, and have all that his honest toil can call into existence," otherwise than in accordance with the profits of labor, as resulting from the laws of supply and demand ? What amount of coercive or arbitrary interferance, with the accumulation, (capital,) would it require to destroy or banish it, — to para-" lyze production — introduce anarchy, and reduce a prosper- ous people to the condition of savage hordes, or to welcome such order as prevails in Warsaw ? These are questions which appear to me to arise by natu- aal and legitimate inference ; from the spirit and seeming tendency of certain remarks in your January number. I have designed to treat these remarks with candor and mod- eration, as I may have misapprehended their import. If so, it will please me to be instructed. I wish to ascertain truth; and desire that the Farmer may be the vehicle of just views and truthful principles. And that there may be no disguise on my part, I subscribe. Yours respectfully, Wheatland, Jan. 13, 1847. J. McVeaK, Mr. Editor :— Pardon this freedom, for be assured thai it originates in the purest motives, and most sincere good wishes. I was exceedingly sorry to see the spirit of agra- rianism so strangely avowed in the January number of the Genesee Farmer, by the uncalled for attack on capital, and the unreasonable abuse of the capitalist. And what is capital that it makes men such demons ? It is the fruits of industry and economy, directed by skill. Wealth is the re- ward of toil ; the knave deserves it when he tills the soil ,. and no one has a right to deprive him of it, unless he give* what is considered an equivalent in exchange. Destroy the right of property, and the value of capital, and the ac- tivity, enterprize, and industry of the capitalist, must cease, and civilization will be at an end — for the active en- ergies of social fllan never can be called into action without them. If capital was not rewarded, we could not have the active enterprize of the capitalist, nor could we have any commerce ; no railroads nor canals, no labor-saving ma- chinery, no colleges with their thousands as endowments, no sciences, no literary men — nor any of the valuable im- provements of civilization, for individual labor never caa be collectively united so as to produce them. The Fourierites resolved to correct the evils in society, and renovate the world, by performing the necessary oper- ations of social life without the tax of capital, or the ag- grandizement of the capitalist, and what has been the re- sult ? Imbecility, starvation, and ruin are the fruits of th© experiment. In what respect or in what way does the employment of capital ever injure the poor? The value of labor, like ev- ery other thing, depends upon the demand and supply, and common sense must tell every one, that the greater the amount of capital there is employed, that there must 1^ more demand for labor, and the better will be the compen- sation ; and it is equally as self evident that if capital is not rewarded it cinnot be employed. What would be the ef- fect on society if the productive capital, even in this coun- ty, should bo withdrawn ? The hundreds which now re- ceive the comforts of life from their labor, would be throwa out of employ, and deprived of the means of subsistence ; and the productive industry of that capital lost to commu- nity, without benefitting any one, or producing any valua- ble result in society. , Under the head of " Yankee Enterprize," published m the present (January) number of the Genesee Farmer, it is stated that a man paid the wives and children of N. Hamp- shire for knitting ten thousand pairs of stockings. I think that it will be very difficult to imagine what harm the pay for knitting those stockings would do those wives and chil- 40 GENESEE FARMER. Feb. that account not desirable. \\ hen a hen wants to sit, a confinement of two weeks is sometimes necessary to wean her from her nest ; and if she- is allowed to take her own course, she will gen- erally break or spoil all the eggs in it. The Ostrich (sometimes called Bucks County,y are large, small boned, finely formed, black and white fowls — very hard}-, even while young.— The cocks are peaceable ; the hens are goo&' i^y-. ers and sitters, and excellent mothers. This is the capon fowl of Philadelphia, and when well fatted, often sell in that market at $5 a pair. At the head of this page (Fig. 10.) is a drawing of them, copied from " Bement's American P<»ai"-. terer's Companion." My best cock, 7 months, old, weighs eight pounds ; a pullet of same age five pounds ; a hen, eighteen months old,, six, pounds. I have but recently procured any Dorkings^. and of course have not given them u trial. They 44 GENESEE FARMER. Feb. are about the size and form of the last described, and have ordinarily five toes. Having been known in this county but few years, their repu- tation is chiefly imported. L. F. Allen, Esq , of Black Rock, who first introduced them, and who gave me mine, likes them better than any be has ever known. If they possess more good qualities than the Ostrich breed, they are a most valuable acquisition. Though they are now to- gether, I have two houses and shall breed them separate. (Fig. 11.) Section of a Hen-house. Figure 11 represents the section of a hen- house, the size to be proportionate to the number of fowls. The dots at A are roosts, rising a little toward the rear. B is a tight floor about two feet below ; this catches all the droppings of the fowls, which are thus saved unmixed with seed. Hen manure saved in this manner is about as good as guano. The floor under B should be covered with hay or straw a few inches deep; the fowls like to stand upon and scratch among it. C is a ladder — a board with cleats by means of which the fowls can reach the roosts without flying. than a small one, while it obviates the necessity of being frequently replenished. Figure 13 shows a foun- tain,— simple and easily constructed. An ordira- ry junk bottle forms a re- servoir; the trough below contains very little water, yet is never overflowed. ^ Pointed lath, nailed to the //' /^ J sides and stuck into the /|~M Z \| ^i ground, keep the whole ^^0^.-^}^.- upright. -^^"■^T^^ir -<.^_;-^--c^--w._ Young chickens require (Fig. 13.) Fountain, near them a constant sup- ply of clean water. If it is given to them in a dish, they will soon spoil it with dirt, and in cold days often injure themselves by getting wet in it. Tiiis plan obviates those troubles. (Fig. 12.) Feeder. Figure 12 will convey some idea of a feeder, which is alike on both sides, or may be made in half by cutting from the ridge of the cover down, and closing up that side. The dotted lines at the end represent the position of the boards forming the hopper for the grain. The lower edges should be left about an inch apart, and the same distance from the bottom board, to allow the feed to fall down to replenish the stock below. The slats should be made of lath or thin boards, and set about two inches apart. The lower front board upon which they are nailed .should be two or three inches wide to prevent the fowls spilling the grain. A large feeder co.sts but little more (Fig. 14,) Improved Nests. Figure 14 gives a perspective view of impro- ved nests, numbered for registering the day a hen commences to set. The front aperture should be about eight inches square, and the nests at least a foot square in the clear. They I are nailed or hung up at the sides of the house, I or in any barn or shed, and may be without any other back than that thus aftbrded. The board B should be at least 3 inches high in the narrow- est part, to prevent the first chickens running out before all are hatched. A is a narrow strip of board, fastened to the nests by projecting pie- ces ; without them the fowls would hardly find out what nice quarters were provided. Not more than two nests should be together. If placed in rows, with uniform openings, the hens trouble each other — and setting hens very often have their nests broken up by intruders, or by going to wrong boxes after feeding. A flour barrel saw- ed in two, with part of each head knocked out, and each half nailed to the wall by the bilge, makes two very good nests. I have followed your wishes to condense as much as possible. No newspaper communica- tion can contain all, or half the information on this subject that the man who wishes to make his fowls profitable will need ; the personal inspec- tion of a good "hennery" is necessary, and will save many useless and unpz-ofitable experiments. Yours, J. W. BissELL. Brighton, Dec. 15, 1846. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 45 3d do. 4th do. flth do. 6th de. 7th do. 8th do. Vice Presidents. Animal Meeting of the N. Y. State Ag. Society. We give below a synopsis of the proceedings at the Annual Meeting of the State Ag. Society, held at Albany on the '20th and 21st of January. The committee appointed to report the nair.es of officers of the Society, for the ensuing year, and to designate the place of holding the State Fair— reported through the chair- man— First, in favor of Saratoga Springs, as the place of hold- ing the Annual Fair. Secondly, in favor of the following as officers of the Soci- ety for the ensuing year : GEORGE VAIL, of Rensselaer, P esident. 1st District, Wm. T. McKown, 2d do. John A. King, C. N. Bement, Samuel Cheevzr, O. C. Chamberlain, Elic Frost, I Henry S. Randall, | William Buell, J B. P. Johnson, Recording Secretary. Joel B. Nott, Corresponding Secretary. 3. McD. JMcIntyre, Treasurer. Executive Committee — Wm. A. Beach, Joshua T. Blanch- ard, Luther Bradish. G. V. Sackett, and Thos. J. Marvin. The report was accepted. The following premiums were awarded by the several committees : On Cheeee Dairies and their management. — Newberry Bron- am, Warsaw, Wydming county, first premium, $50. Av- erage produce of 400 lbs. to each cow, in dairy of 40 cows. Mr. and Mis. Wm. Otley, Phelps, Ontario county, second premium, ,$30. Average produce of 400 lbs. to a cow, in a dairy of 8 cows. On Butter Dairies. — B. H. Hall, New Lebanon, Colum- bia CO., first premium, .$25. hidian Corn. — Charles W. Ellis, Kirkland, Oneida co., first premium, $15. 123g bushels per acre, and 56 lbs, to the bushel. Benjamin Enos, De Ruyter, Bladison co., sec- ond premium, $10. 11] 52-56 bushels per acre. Robert EJhs, Westmoreland, Oneida co., vol. Trans. 103| bushels per acre. Peas. — Amos Miller, Vernon, Oneida co.. second premi um, $10. 47 bush, per acre. Farms — Sets of Society's Transactions were awarded to James Callamar, New Scotland, Albany co., and to James Van Sicler, Jamaica, L. Island. Prize Essays. — " Extirpation of Canada Thistles," Am- brose Steveris, New York, $10. Lorenzo E. Todd, Lake Ridge, Rompkins co., set Transactions. Experiments on Indian Corn. — J. F. Osborn, Port Byron, Cayuga CO., $20. Root Crops — Carrots. — Wm. Wright, Vernon, Oneida CO., first premium, $10. 909 bush, on 1 27-100 acres, at an expense of $25.77. Wm. Risley, Fredonia, Chautauque CO., second premium, $5 ; 1590 bush, on Ig acres, at an ex- pense of $109.25. Sugar Beets. — J. F. Osborn, Port Byron, Cayuga co., third premium, vol. Transactions. 774 bush, on 1 acre 15 rods. Designs for Farm Dwellings. — Mr. J. M. Ellis, Onondaga Hill, Onondaga co. ; $15. Grain Crops — Barley. — Calvin Pomeroy. East Bloom- field, Ontario co., first premium, $10. 48^ bush, per acre on the whole crop. Samuel H. Church, Vernon Centre, Oneida co., second premium, $5. 44| bush, per acre. E. C. Bliss, Westfield, Chautauque co., third preminm, vol. Transactions. Spring Wheat. — Robert Ellis. Westmoreland, Oneida CO., second premium, $10. 20 42-60 bush, per acre. Oats. — Nathaniel S. Wright, Vernon Ca*er, Oneida co., first premium, $10. 75^ bush, per acreP Robert Ellis, Westmoreland, Oneida co., second premium, $5. 77 bush. per acre, for 1 acre 37 rods. Timothy Seed. — E. C. Bliss, Westfield. Chautauijue co., first premium, $10. Culture Flax.—E. C. Bliss, Westfield, Chautauque co. , first premium, $— . The Committee on Fruit made a report and recommded the following list of Apples as best adapted to home use and exportation : jBarty.— Early Harvest, Early Bough, Strawberry, Wil- liams' Favorite, Early Joe. Autumn.— VaW Pippin, Golden Sweet, Gravenstein, Jer- sey Sweeting, Rambo, Detroit. Winter. — Baldwin, Yellow Bell-flower, Hubbardston. Nonsuch, Newtown Pippin, Northern Spy, Blue Pearmain, Rhode Island Greening, American Golden Russet, Roxbury Russet, Swaar, Ladies' Sweeting, Talmans Sweeting, Eso- pus Spitzenberg, Vandervere, Waxen Apple. To Correspondents. Communications have been received, during the past month, from J. McVean, D. A. Ogden, A Laborer, B. Man- ly, A. W. Turner, A Woman, A. Blake, H., Another Farm- er, E. R. Porter, Roswell Lockwood, E. S. Bartholomew , Joseph Wykofi", Wm. Durfee, Jesse Hendrick, C. W. M., F. C. Kanaga, W. S. T., Wm. Martin, J. O. W., L. Weth- ereli, L. Barker, J. L. Randall, A. H. Powers, ***, — and several others, (in letters containing remittances, ) which will receive due attention. Answers to Inquiries.— Owing to the absence of the Editor we are unable to answer several inquiries recently received. They will receive attention next month. A. B., Westfield. — We have forwarded your letter, ask- ing mformation rtlativc to ribbond houses, to T. C. Peters. Esq., of Darien. Mr. P. will oblige us by furnishing an ar- ticle on the subject, for publication in the Farmer. W. J. P., Elmwood, III. — We will answer your ques- tions next month, or by letter previous to that time. Also the inquiry of 7^. C K., Urbana., O. M. [O' We occasionally send specimen numbeas of the Farmer to Post Masters and others who are not subscribers. Will those who thus receive it, introduce the paper to the notice of their friends and acquaintances, and obtain and forward subscriptions according to our club terms ? We think it will compare favorably with other agricultural pub- lications, especially when its size and terms are taken in- to consideration. Those who like the manner and matter of the Farmer can essentially aid in sustaining it, by exercis- ing a portion of their influence in its behalf— and we shall duly appreciate and acknowledge all such favors. 0° We shall endeavor to commence the publication of a list of acknowledgments in our next number, giving the names, &c., of those who have forwarded 13 subscribers or over. This will obviate the necessity of sending re- ceipts,'* and at the same time exhibit a goodly list of the substantial friends of improvement. In the mean time we shall be lucpy to hear again, and often, from those engaged in promoai% the usefulness of the Farmer by extending^its circulation. An Affghan Orchard. — The following description, which we take from an exchange, will serve to illustrate the natural ricliness of a portion of the Afi'ghan country: "Fine standards, of the size of forest trees — apples, pears, appricots, were surmounted and overhung with gigantic vines, festooned from tree to tree in a wild luxuriance of growth, such as I had never dreamed of seeing in fruit trees and the vine. It was the first month in spring, and they were covered with blossoms which perfumed the air and presented an appearance of horticultural beauty surpassing description. Winter Gardens. — We notice that one person in the city, who in the summer has a small, neat garden, has in- troduced into it various pine, fir, hemlock, and cedar trees and shrubs, and thus put it in winter dress. The eflfect of the evergreen shrubs about his dwelling and along his flow- er borders and skirting his enclosures is exceedingly pleas- ant, while the expense is very trifling. Fifty cents or a dollar in money, and a few hours time are all which neeil be required to put most of our city enclosures into aa at- tractive winter dress, and giving them an appearance of taste and comfort. — Bangor Wmg. 46 GENESEE FARMER. Feb. The Farmer's Interests and Rights. Mr. Editor : — It is not often that I take the liberty of troubling the conductor of a public press. This you will probably discover from the style of this communication. Yours is a paper through which farmers ought to be allowed to ex- press their sentiments on subjects which affect their own interest ; and, as they are the founda- tion of all prosperity, I may add the inter- ests of all classes of community. Oppress the tiller of the soil, and you sap the foundation of our national prosperity, and shorten the duration of our free institutions. Let the laboring man occupy the place in community which he de- serves, and we are in a measure safe in the en- joyment of our privileges. I have often won- dered why it was, that in the estimation of soci- ety, the primitive calling of man, had come to be the lowest calling. Why it was that a call- ing, which first received the sanction of Infinite Wisdom, as one fit to engage the time and at- tention of man, should become menial to so ma- ny other artificial employments brought into ex- istence by vice, folly and inhumanity. The or- der of nature seems to have been reversed, and the great Jirst has become the insignigcant last. By this, I only mean that the lawyer, the doctor, the merchant and the man who struts about with ♦' bullet buttons" on his coat, and " curled wire on his shoulder," look upon the farmer very much as the farmer looks upon his manure, a thing inseparable from his prosperity yet all the better for being trodden under foot. Is not this so in relation to these professional gentlemen } One answers, no. I grant that there may be some honorable exceptions, yet they are by far too few. Where we find one professional man, ©r one in pursuit of a profession, who when he meets a farmer in the street, greets him as a be- ing not his inferior in all that constitutes the noblest work of God, we see an hundred who •with '* soap-locks," delicate fingers, averted eye, and a gentleman's gait, pass by the n|^n of the sun-burned brow, and hard hand as a being un- worthy of their notice. And only when sordid interest dictates will they deign to open their delicate lips in conference with him. Perhaps they ought not to be blamed, for it is certainly owing to a weakness in the " upper regions," nor do I hold the farmer entirely blameless. It is certainly folly on his part to allow such a state of things to exist. Why do they allow them- selves to be trodden upon one moment and flat- tered into friendship the next ? Why allow pro fessional men to do the work which belongs to themselves ? I apprehend it is the want of confidence, a diffidence in assuming responsibil- ities which require a little mental application, and an unwarrantable modesty in accepting sta- tions that would bring them prominently before the people. These situations are generally courted by those who live by the tongue and the quill, but who never add one iota to the wealth of the people. And we, " good easy souls," are willing to lift them from their obscurity, and carry them on our backs to a pinnacle where we can but see them every time we lift our eyes from the work that employs our hands. And they, with no just sense of the responsibility that rests upon them, act with an eye single to their own aggrandizement. Now I hold this to be wrong ; men ought to be more jealous of their rights, and have more respect for themselves. Men who are the most independent of any on the globe, whose powers and privileges are unequalled by any set of men in any country, who are continually conversant witli the works of God, in forms beautiful and sublime, ought to know their duty better, and knowing, ought to do it. I think there is a want of associate feeling among farmers, altogether incompatible with their true interests. A man living isolated and alone, can never know the feelings and wishes of his neighbor. Men in every other occupation in life associate togeth- er, and by mutual council and information, ad- vance immeasurably their own interests. Now, if farmers would associate together more, im- part to each other advice and information, with more freedom, store their minds with knowl- edge appropriate to their occupation, have con- fidence in and support each other, they might take a position far in advance of what they now occupy. I am far from thinking that the information of the farmer should b-> confined strictly to a knowl- edge of farm operations. No, it should extend to every thing that interests an American citi- zen, and ever be ready to scrutinize the acts of his Legislative servants with an enlightened mind, a mind stored by reflection and reading, with practical wisdom, and common sense. |f farmers would oitener see themselves represent- ed in our halls of legislation, I have no doubt that their interests would be an hundred fold bet- ter attended to than they are at present, and the burdens they are now compelled to bear, mate- rially lessened. In conclusion, I wish to say, that every farm- er will find himself the gainer by subscribing for an agricultural paper, and the Genesee Farmer is certainly not the least deserving of them all. You may put this communication on the table, or under the table, or in the Genesee Farmer, as you please. Another Farmer. Batavia, January, 1847. Cutting Glass.— A great secret has been made of a discbve^pfor cutting and boring glass — which is nothing more or less than using a common drill with spirits of turpentine. The bottom of a tum- bler may be readily bored through by hand with a common saw file ground to a bevil. * 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 47 Breeeds of Improved Cattle. Mr. Editor : — In a paper generally so ac- curate as the Genesee Farmer, when errors or misstatements do occur, you will, I presume, have no objection to set your readers right in re lation thereto. For this purpose, I notice your article in the December number, (last issued) at page 281. Under the title, " Cattle," you re- mark : — " Bakewell, the celebrated English breeder of fine Cattle, so improved the New Leicester stock, (the old long-horned Durham,) from an inferior race to one that took precedence of all others at the time of his death, in the year 1795. The race degenerated in the hands of his successors. Figure 1 represents a new Lei- cester Ox." Now, with your leave — as I con- sider all erroneous statements of whatever kind exceedingly mischievous in their eflects — let me remark : that Bakewell took the long-horns, — there is no such breed of cattle as the long- horned Durhams — (which he afterwards named the "new Leicester,") from the elder breeders, (Sir Thomas Gresley, Welby, of Linton, and Mr. Webster, of Caxley,) of that stock, who had them in great perfection, (not an inferior race,) many years before he (Bakewell,) commenced breeding. He was certainly very successful in keeping up their quality and reputation, and made much money from the sales of his cattle. They have not "depreciated," although in the hands of his "successors;" and there are as good long-horns now in England — if we are to believe the accounts of eye-witnesses — as Bake- well ever bred. Neither is figure 1 a portrait of a new Leicester ox. It is an attempt at a portrait of " the Durham ox," a thorough bred short-horn, bred in 1796 by Charles Colling. Again you remark : " Mr. Charles Collins im- ported cows from Holstein or Holland, and by crosses and skilful management got up the Hold- ernee breed, one of which, his bull, "Comet," sold for 1000 guineas at auction, in 1810. — Closely connected with this breed are the "short- horned Durhams." Now, permit me to correct this : Charles Colling — not Collins — who was a celebrated breeder of short-horns, or Durhams — although they are no more Durhams, than Nor- thumberlands, or Yorkshires — never imported cows or bulls from Holstein or Holland; nor never, "by crosses and skilful management," or in any other way, "got up the Holdernes breed" of cattle ; nor was "his bull Comet," for which he certainly did get 1000 gu'neas, of the Holdernes or Holstein breed at all, but a pure short-horn, or Teeswater. Neither are the short-horns connected closely with the Holder- nes breed of cattle ; bu^ are of themselves a dis- tinct breed, or variety, as well knbwn and un- derstood in England, and by their breeders in this country, as any otiier kind of animals what- ever. As to their "popularity" and "superiority" for "dairy," or any other purposes, that is a matter of individual opinion, which those who breed and prefer them to all others will adjust to their own satisfaction. All they ask is, that their cattle be not misrepresented in the public prints by those not understanding the subject. And I am a little more surprised at this article, as you have the American Herd Book at hand, which does give the true history of the short-horns, or " Durhams," with which every one who pre- tends to write about them, should be well ac- quainted. Excuse this freedom. It is only to correct an error, that I ask you to insert this in your papen Very truly yours, Lewis F. Allen'. Black Rock, Dec, 1846. Remarks. — The article alluded to by Mr. Allen, was published in the absence of the Edi- tor of the Farmer, and without his knowledge. If the reader will refer to "Gardner's Farmer's Dictionary," and read from page 135 to 140, he will find that the principal statements in our ai-ti- cle were founded upon good authority. m. Red Ants. — A correspondent of the Albany Cultivator gives the following remedy for pre- venting the ravages of red ants, which are troub- lesome insects when domesticated : " He made a thick mark with chalk about an inch wide around the article or vessel to be pro- tected from the ants, at any convenient distance from the bottom of the vessel, and he found that they would not attempt to pass over it. I watch- ed their motions for some time. They crawled as busily as ever up as far as the chalk, where they seemed to get very much excited, but not one of them attempted to pass over. To MAKE Red Ink. — Take 2 oz. of the best of Brazil wood, half an ounce of alum, and half an ounce of crystals of tartar, and boil with 16 oz. of rain water down to half its bulk, add half an ounce of gum Arabic, after it is strained. To this add also one half ounce of cochineal, made into a tincture with 1 i oz. of alcohol. How TO KEEP Smoked Hams. — The best meth- od of keeping hams is, after they are smoked, to put them back into the pickle, an J the smoky taste is preserved as perfectly as M'hen put iu ashes or kept in a dry place. In Vermont they are making furniture and flooring of a beautiful variety uf green and red slate, lately discovered. It takes a beautiful polish, and splits into any sized slab required. The hog Crop of the United States, this year, is three times the worth of the cotton crop. — The "standing army" of swine consumes annu- ally two hundred millions of bushels of corn. 48 GENESEE FARMER. Feb. HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. CONDUCTED BY P. BARRY. Construotion and Management of Hot-beds. The prevalent opinion amongst farmers re- specting hot-beds, is, that they are expensive ar- ticles, requiring the skill of professed gardeners to manage them, and almost entirely outside the range of farming economy. Both suppositions are decidedly erroneous, and we hope that every one who reads this will arrive at such a conclu- sion. We do not propose that every farmer should go into the regular routine of forcing veg- etables, at extraordinary seasons ; but that every one, however humble his circumstances may be, should, at least, have one hot-bed to forward such plants as he may want to cultivate in his garden, and which he has either to purchase from gar- deners— and then get poor, weak, badly grown things — or else wait for the regular process of opsn garden culture, which, in our climate, un- der the most favorable circumstances, will not allow him the taste of a vegetable until the sum- mer is half gone. We are surprised to see farm- ers come to the city and purchsae a dozen of poor, weak withered cabbage, tomato, or celery plants, when they might have raised an abundance at home, far superior, and in better season. The value of culinary vegetables, as we have often said, is not at all appreciated by those who, of all others, ought to appreciate it — the professed cultivators of the soil. No effort, worth speak- ing of, is bestowed upon them, as a general thing. We have seen what is called the gardens of some of the best field farmers in this county, produce little else but 7veeds, at a season when it should hive been teeming with all the variety of healthy, nutritious vegetables. Let us urge upon them, for their own sakes, and for the credit of our ag- riculture generally, the importance of a reform in this regard. In the midst of the improve- ments of the day, the vegetable garden, that may contribute so largely to the health and comfort of every family, should surely not be negleted. Let it participate, largely and fully, in the im- provement, and it will yield ample compensation. This is the season to make preparations while there is leisure. A simple hot-bed for forwarding plants, such as cabbage, tomato, celery, brocoli, cauliflower, egg plant, pepper, melons, cucumbers, &c>, may be constructed by any man having but ordinary ingenuity. The size may be adapted to circum- stances. For raising such plants as we have mentioned, 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 three 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 ex- tornal heat and light to the plants within. If the beds are narrow 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 projection. The sashes are made in the ordi- nary way, but without cross bars ; and in gla- zing, the lights are made to overlap an eighth or quarter of an inch, to exclude the rain. Such a frame, costing a mere trifle beyond the labor, will last for years. Where so large a frame, as the dimensions here given, may not be wanted, an old window may be used for sash, and all ex- pense of glazing be avoided. The annexed fig- ure will convey an idea to those unacquainted 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 wa- ter during rains or thaws. They should be ex- posed to the east and south, and 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 will in such a case require not more than 2 feet deep of manure ; but when forcing and perfecting vegetables, a permanent heat must be kept up, and the bed must be made on the surface, so that fresh and wai-m manure ma}- be added when necessary. A depth of three to four feet of ma- nure will in such cases be wanted. Manure for hot beds should go through a regular process of preparation. It should be fresh stable manure, placed in a heap, and turned and mixed several 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 49 times, promoting a regular fermentation ; thus it is made to retain its heat a long time, otherwise it would burn and dry up, and become useless. Those who wish to force cucumbers, radishes, salad, &c., should begin, if the weather be favor- able, about the latter end of February, For raising plants it is time enough to begin in March. In forcing cucumbers, Bridgeman says: "The substance of dung from the bottom of the bed should be from three to four feet, according to the season of planting, and the mould 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 ; af- ter it has lain a few days examine it, and if no traces of a burning eft'ect are discovered, by the mould turning of a whitish color and caking, it will befit to receive the plants; bat if the earth appears burned, or has a rank smell, some fresh sweet mould should be provided for the hills, and pla- ced in the frame to get warm; at the same time vacancies should be made to give vent to the steam, by running down stakes After the situation of the bed has been ascertained, and the heat regulated, the hole should be closed, and the earth formed into hills; raise one hill in the centre under each sash, so that the earth is brought to within nine inches of the glass; in these hills plant three seedhngs, or turn out such as may be in pots, with the balls of earth about their roots, and thus insert one patch of three plants in the mid- dle of each hill. The plants should be immediately water- ed with water heated to the temperature of the bed, and kept shaded till they have taken root. The temperature should be kept up to 60o, and may rise to 80q without injury, provided the rank steam be allowed to pass off; therefore, as the heat begins to decline, timely linings of well prepared dung must be applied all round the frame. Begin by lining the back part first; cut away the old dung perpendicularly to the frame, and form a bank two feet broad, to the height of a foot, against the back of the frames ; as it sinks, add more; renew the linings round the remainder of the bed as it becomes necessary, and be care- ful to let off the steam, and give air to the plants at all op- portunities. Give necessary waterings, mostly in the morning of a mild day, in early forcing; and in the afternoon, in the ad- vanced season of hot sunny weather. Some use water im- pregnated with sheep or pigeon dung. As the roots begin to spread, and the vines to run, the hills should be enlarged by gathering up the earth around them, for which purpose a supply of good mould should be kept ready at hand, to be used as required. When the plants have made one or two joints, stop them, by pinching off the tops, after which they generally put forth two shoots, each of which let run till they have made one or two clear joints, and then stop them also; and after- terward continue throughout the season to stop at every joint; this will strengthen the plants, and promote their per- fecting the fruit early." Radishes, Lettuce, &c., maybe forced in beds similar to that described for cucumbers, and the earth in the dung bed should be a foot deep. — They do not require so much heat. The plants require to be well thinned out, air to be regular- ly admitted, and water gently and regularly sup- plied. In admitting air to hot beds, a mat should be thrown over the opening to prevent the plants from being chilled. Earth for hot bed plants should, in all cases, be good rich friable loam, mixed with a third of well rotted manure, and some coarse sand to make it porous. We will add some further re- marks in our next, and hope that the brief and necessarily imperfect hints here given will stim- ulate some, at least, to action. We have had several inquiries as to what work is best calcula- ted to aid beginners in the general operations of gardening. We may say here that, on the whole, Bridgeman's "Young Gardener's Assistant" is the best we know of. The latest edition, 1845, is quite complete, and may be had at the seed- stores or bookstores. Price $1.-50. Northern Spy Apple. We publish the following, with pleasure, from Ml-. Watts, who is one of the most tasteful am- ateurs in our city. He has a fine garden, well filled with fruits and flowers ; and amid all the cares of an active business life, finds it a source of much pleasure. Long may he live to enjoy it. The fruit growing world are indebted to him for his earnest efforts in bringing to notice and disseminating fine fruits. Mr. Barry : — In the February number of the Farmer, 1845, you gave the public an interesting account of the "Spy" Apple. As that paper may not be seen by all who wish to cultivate the fruit and have it, I wish you to join me in noticing the apple and tree again. I have what follows from Mr. O. C. Chapin, of East Bloomfield, N. Y., who kindly furnished the particulars. He says that the seeds were brought from Connecticut*, m the year 1800, and planted by a Mr. Elisha Taylor. (It would be interesting to know if an apple bearing a resem- blance to it is now known in Connecticut.) The original tree was set in an orchard by Mr. Hem an Chapin, and some sprouts from it were transplanted by a Mr. Roswell Humphrey, and by him the first fruit was raised, as the orig- inal tree, from some cause, died. East Bloomfield has, then, the honor of producing the first fruit in this region. It would be gratifying could we know why Mr. Himphrey or Mr. Chapin gave it the name Northern Spy. (I hope Mr. Chapin, when he sees this, will try to learn the reason.) In your article you mention the tree as being thrifty, raiJ- id, and upright. Mr. Chapin confirms it, and says, "it bears well every season, and that a portion of the apples are as good as any they have there, and under favorable circum- stances the apples will keep until June." What a valua- ble property this is : and to be so fresh at that season. He adds, " There is but one objection to it. A large pro- portion of the fruit is small and scrubby, and of little value." This we are sorry to learn ; nevertheless what good fruit there is, is saperior in size, beauty, flavor, and general ap- pearance, and will keep. Many inquiries have been made about it, and the numerous calls I have had to purchase and see samples of it, show what an interest is taken in it. I trust that if the trees bear but few, that more, on that ac- count, will be planted, to make up, in that way, for Us scarcity, as well as by grafting. I am, very truly, yours, Rochester, Jan. 2.5, 1847. James H. Watts. N. B. In the debates at Albany, at the meeting of the State Society, I see most honorable mention is made of the " Spy." The pleasure I have had the past season in dis- tributing them (some 6.5 barrels, sent all over the country,) is much added to by finding them so well appreciated. Yours, J. H. W. To Correspondent.s. E. R. Porter, Platisl>wg.—\Ve are much obliged for your communication on "Transplanting Evergreens." It will appear next month— it will then be just in season. We will be glad to hear from you in future. Laying out gro7i7tds.—^e\eTa.\ inquiries on this subject are on hand— they will be attended to in season. We have in preparation a design for a country dwelling, and will accom- pany that with some hints on this subject. Never engage in more business than wliat you are morally certain you can execute with pleasure and punctuality. 5d GENESEE FARMER. Feb. ADDRESS BEFORE THE AURORA HORTICULTU- RAL SOCIETY, September 1, 1846 : By David Thomas, President. We give a hearty welcome to the Annual Message of this excellent and flourishing Socie- ty, and congratulate the people of Aurora and that section of country on the success which has ao far rewarded their enlightened and public spirited efforts. May it be no less, but much greater in future. The address of its President, before us, is brief and confined wholly to the subject of Fruit; but like all of Mr. Thomas' productions, it is every word to the point. His intimate knowl- edge of the condition of Fruit Culture in this country, and of the difficulties that lie in the way of collecting and cultivating choice varie- ties, enables him to treat on these points in such a manner as cannot fail to interest and instruct those who can be interested on such subjects. — I..et us quote a few paragraphs : How many of the inhabitants of this blessed land of ours — under such glorious skies — raise any thing of the kind better than the old pie cherry, or the sour morello? — than the horse plum or the little damson ? How many feast, during the proper season, on apricots, the better class of peaches, and on the seckel and virgalieu pears ? There is not one in a hundred — probably not one in a thousand — who has a full supply of the finer fruits. In bringing about a better state of things, however, there are many difficulties to encounter. Trees cannot be had without some exertion : we may be cheated with spurious kinds, or they may die in transplanting ; they may be in- fected by disease, or infested by insects ; the fruit when young may be destroyed by frost, or when ripe, by plun- derers ; and under a view of all these discouragements, would it not be better and cheaper to buy our fruit? Here let us pause a moment, and ask. Of whom could we buy? if all the fruit of the country was divided amongst us, we should have so little, and that little so dear, (apricots three cents a piece at Rochester,) that we should only be tan- talized, and never satisfied. No — to have plenty, we Must raise it ourselves. The first step, then, is to select the best kinds ; and on this point we cannot be too carfful. Differences of cli- mate, even on some hardy sorts, is very great ; and three degrees of latitude may produce more than three degrees of Savor ; so that the excellent somewhere else, may not be ■excellent here. As an instance : the Bezy de la Motte pear fe very fine at Philadelphia, while with us, it is unsuited to human lips in four seasons out of five. Let me give another instance : From nearly twenty kinds of peaches — fiae on the sands of New Jersey, whence I procured them — I shall not have more than three or four well suited to (his district. But what a loss we sustain in trying such ex- periments I It is far better to get such sorts of high char- acter as have been fully proved to be adapted to this par- ticular climate, though the trees may be obtained from the aouth, east, or west. 1 once travelled on a steamboat with a gentleman from another state ; and in the course of conversation, he said. " You can't raise as good peaches in New York as we do in the south." What is the proof? "I never met with any 38 good." Where were they obtained ? " In the market." Why, that is not the place to find the best peaches. They are gathered while they are hard enough to bear transpor- tation ; but stone fruit improves by hanging on the tree — the longer th(; better. I might have added another reason ; Market men want the most showy or productive kinds ; and fine flavor is only a secondary object. Many sorts ol peaches, indeed, do better in the south, for this fruit never attains its highest flavor in cool weather ; but I am satis- fied that we — north of the Alleghany — have varieties equal to their best. To have the best in the best condition, how- ever, we mu t raise it ourselves. It is not desirable to have many varieties in a fruit gar- den, but we want the very best : and we want them to ripen in succession. People often inquire for the earliest fruit, — that is right ; but I should like to have some when the earliest were gone. Flavor, productiveness, and size, are three points of the greatest importance in the character of fruit. At the head stands Jlavor, — for without it fruit is worthless. Next stands productiveness, — for if the tree is a poor bearer, it is of little value. Size is the third in importance ; and still lower down in the scale is beauty, iiic\\iA\ngshape&x\Acolor. Many cultivators, however, reverse this order, recommend- ing large and showy sorts, chiefly because they are large and showy. The Monthly Reviewer once wittily said, " I prefer a peach to a pumpkin ;" and I conclude that a simi- lar preference has prevailed when I see small varieties cul- tivated. This is finely illustrated by the Seckel pear- small, but very superior. The closing paragraph of the address, though a perfect truism, cannot be too strongly or too frequently urged on all engaged in growing fruit. We know many, very many, who will take a world of pains to procure new and rare sorts, and when they have got them, starve them to death. Mr. Thomas says : I wish to make one more remark. Though we have the finest varieties, the finest soil, and the finest seasons, yet we cannot have the finest fruit, unless the ground be well cultivated, — ready to catch and detain every shower, or to attract moisture from the air in time of drought. General- ly, the largest specimens of any one variety, are the high- est flavored ; and some sorts are worthless unless they are well grown. This is particularly so with some kinds of pears. Wc should therefore remember that the better the culture the greener the leaves : and the greener and health- ier the leav( s the richer the juices, swelling into richer and finer fruit. To dig a wide circle round the tree, wUl do much good ; tut the whole soil, as in a potatoe patch, ought to be rcLUce 1 to a fine tilth. Entomology. We have been favored with a very interesting letter touching upon various odds and ends of fruits and fruit culture, from our friend A. HuiDKKOPER, Esq., of Meadville, Pa., an ama- teur Horticulturist of the right spirit. We take the liberty of e.xtracting from it the following re- marks and queries in relation to Entomology, as likely to draw some attention to a subject of vi- tal import to Horticulture : I observe Downing, in his work on Fruit Trees, page 66, speaks of the woolly aphis, or American blight, as a dread- ful disease of the apple abroad. The woolly aphis has been very common in our country, for many years, and large tufts or branches of it may be seen in the forest at any time, in the f dl on the limbs of the alder and beach trees — but I have not noticed it upon the apple trees until with- in two years past — though it might have existed and not been observed. I have observed more little tufts of this insect in the crevices of the apple trees this year than there were last; but as the insect does not attain its winged state, or show any signs of locomotion until about November, when the frosts chill it, I hav3 not observed any evil con- sequences from its existence. Have you any trouble from itwiihj'ou? The apple borer, which has been so destructive of fruit for some years past, first made its appearance in any great numbers in this country in 1839, until then we were nearly free from it. This year it has been less troublesome than usual, and the Hornet and Yellow Jacket much moreso. We will defer any remarks of our own, at present, as we have been given to understand, that the Committee of the Horticultural Society here, who has had the subject under investiga- tion during the past year, intend soon to present a full report. We are glad our Society hafe taken this matter in hand, and we trust it will 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 61 prosecute its researches with such vigor and ef- ficiency, from year to year, as will contribute greatly to the progress of the science and the in- terests of the community. Our correspondents and friends in all parts of the country will oblige xis much by communicating such facts as may come under their observation. It is the duty, as well as the interest of all engaged in the culture of the garden or the field, to be observing — mi- nutely and continually so in regard to this matter. Grafting the Pear on the Thorn. Mr. Barrt : — Will you please to state your experience or what you know about grafting Pears on the Red or White Thorn ?— and oblige a subscriber. Smiikville, N. Y. N. O. BoswoRTH. We have very little experience as to growing the pear on the thorn. We know that it is prac- tised to a limited extent for dwarfing the pear. We have a few trees thus grafted on our own place, but they do not flourish at all like those grown on the quince. Mr. Downing says, in his " Fruit Trees'': " The thorn makes very good stock for the pear, except, that if grafted above ground, the tree is often apt to be bro- ken off, at the point of union, by high winds. This is ob- viated by grafting a little below the surface. Grafting in the thorn is a very useful practice for strong clayey soils, as, on such stocks the pear may be grown with success, when it could not otherwise thrive." The remark, respecting the liability of the graft to be blown off' the thorn stock, applies to the quince to a certain degree, and to all cases of grafting or budding on a slower growing stock, for dwarfing ; it should be done low, at, or below, the surface of the ground. It might be inferred from the extract we have quoted from Mr. Downing that the pear cannot be success- fully grown, on its own stock, or "in strong clayey soil." This is not so, as far as our ex- perience and observation goes. Such soils, if free from standing moisture, and if kept well cultivated, will produce pears in great porfection. Some varieties, we know, require a lighter and warmer soil. We would recommend te all cultivators of the pear, to use the pear stock where standards for orchard culture are desired ; for dwarfing, gar- den culture, and early bearing, the quince, — Where the latter cannot be had, the thorn or mountain ash may be used as substitutes ; but they cannot be recommended as stocks to be used in a general way. Beurre d'Amalis Pear. We consider this fruit scarcely surpassed by any of the great number of fine varieties recent- ly introduced. This seems to be the opinion of ^1 who have tested it in this country. It is fig ured and described in Hovey's Magazine, Vol, 3X, page 369. He says, "Among the new Bel gian Pears, few are superior to the Beurre d' Amalis ; of large size, good form and rich flavor Beurre d'Amalis Pear. it is scarcely excelled by any of the varietiee which ripen at the same season." The late Mr. Manning says, in page 89, Vol. VI, of Hovey's Magazine, (which was the first notice as it in this country,) — "The scions of this new Pear were received from the London Horticultural Society. It is a first rate fruit, ri- pening in Sept. and Oct." It is figured and described in Ive's edition of the " New England Fruit Book." We think the figure is too large and too long to convey a correct idea of its average general appearance. It is there said to be of " large size, flesh melting and juicy ; flavor sweet and excellent ; tree vig- orous." Thus we see that all agree on its excellence. We imported our specimen tree from France, in 1844, and the past season it bore an immense crop ; indeed they requii-ed thinning, and the tree had to be supported. Every specimen ri- pened perfectly on the tree, and we thought, and so did our friends who ate of them, that they were not easily surpassed. We subjoin Mr. Downing's description which, we find corresponds minutely with our own ob- servations : "A Belgian pear, of excellent quality, nearly first rat«. Very productive. Fruit large, obovate, not very regular, a little swollen on its sides. Skin rather tliick, dull yellowish ijreen, with a pale reddish brown cheek, overspread with numerous brown dots and russet streaks and patches.— Stalk a little more than an inch long, set rather obliquely in 1 shallow, irregular cavity. Calyx open, with broad divis- ions ; basin shallow. Flesh yellowi-sb, somewhat coarse, but buttery, melting, abundant, rich, with slightly perfumed juice. September." 52 GENESEE FARMER. Feb. Swan's Orange Pear. Satan's Orange, (Ellwanger & Barry's Catalogue.) Onondaga tieedling, (of some.) Onondaga, (Horticulturist, and some Catalogues. ) Our readers will excuse us for introducing this pear again to their notice. We wish to give them all the information respecting it that has been obtained, opinions of ether journals, &c. The last number of the Horticulturist con- tains a figure, description and history of this fine fruit, all of which we gave a year ago in this journal, with some additional information respect- ing it in our December number. In our notice, (January, 1846,) we stated that " its large size,, productiveness, beauty, unsurpassed richness of flavor, and delicacy of texture, rank it among the very best autumn pears we have ever seen." Mr. Downing says : " It is a fruit of the first class unknown, to our cultiva- tors, and we have very little doubt, from what we have ourselves seen of Van Mans Leon te Clerc, a very celobra- ted recent variety^ about the same size and season, thatlhe Onondaga will prove superior to it." This is no small recommendation for the "Onondaga," surely, as Van Mons Leon le Clerc has been generally considered the best of all pears. We expect to have it bear next sea- son, and if it equals our Swan's Orange or On- ondaga, we will be well pleased — better we can hardly expect. We must be pardoned for claiming a little credit from the pear growing world, for our- selves and others in Rochester, for the public notice and general dissemination of this variety during the past two or three years. Many years ago an attempt was made to sustain a Horticul- tural Society in Rochester. Capt. L. B. Swan was one of its projectors and supporters. He brought this fruit from his father, in Onondaga, without name, and the Horticultural Society call- ed it "Swan's Orange," to distinguish it. Mr. H. N. Langworthy got some scions from Mr. Swan, and some three or four years ago his tree began to bear. As soon as we saw it, we began to cultivate it ; and since then we have grown and sold several hundred trees, (perhaps 1000,) scattered all over the country — and we have it now bearing in our own specimen grounds. — Here around Rochester, we feel indebted to Capt. Swan. Downing says: "Neither Swaii's Orange, nor Onondaga Seedling, local names, by which this fruit is somewhat known in western New- York, can, with any propriety, be retained as the name of this variety," and suggests that it be called simply "Onondaga." We have no objections. We like the name very well ; but we cannot see that it has any more meaning or appropriateness than " Swan's Orange." In this matter of nomenclature uniformity is of all things most desirable ; a change of name should be studiously avoided except where an error is to be corrected, or an act of plain justice to be done. Neither object was to be attained here. — Several hundred cultivators have prccjred this variety, and now cultivate it under this name ; and it is not known to a dozen cultivators by any other. Any other fruit might be re-named in the same way, and for similar futile reasons. We ought to have kept the popular name till we had traced out, if possible, the original. We find another instance of this throwing away a popular name and adopting a new in the case of the Oswego Beurre. This pear was originated by Mr. Walter Reed, and called there, and known, where known at all, as Reed's Seedling, a most appropriate name surely. We repeat that this changing of names is the very way to perpetuate and multiply the errors and difficulties in which American Pomology is so deeply involved. It seems that every man who finds a fruit he does not happen to be acquainted with, wants to give it a name of his own. The Horticulturist should discountenance this. Peaches. , We cannot forbear to call attention to the subject of an increased effort on the part of our horticultural friends, to produce new varieties of this delicious fruit. Our friend Dixie of Worcester, Mass., from a few stones taken from a basket of White Flesh Peaches from this mar- ket, six years since, has thirteen trees, each of which pro- duce difierent varieties of fruit, and none like those from which the seed was selected. Many of those raised by him this fall measured ten inches in circumference, and a few measured thirteen inches. The largest fruit, which is very early, he has named Eureka. Hehas alsoMalacaton, Yel- low and White Cheek Clingstone, Rareripe and late Frost Peach, and all from the same planting. Of his new variety, Mr. D. has sold buds and young trees budded from the Eu- reka, to the amouut of several hundred dollars. — Farmer and Mechanic. We have seen several seedling peaches of fair quality exhibited the past season in Rochester. Mr. H. N. Langworthy, of Irondequoit, had some beautiful specimen's of seedlings in the Horticultural Society's show-case, some of which may prove to be valuable. We hope the matter of producing new varieties will receive due at- tention at the hands of our peach-growers, who have the best facilities for conducting such ex- periments. What we want most of all, is a first rate early peach, to take the place of the poor Early Ann, and keep the New Jersey people out of our market. — Ed. The Weather. — So far our winter, here, has been remarkable for sudden changes and gener- al mildness— heavy and frequent rains and little snow. Some days in January have been as warm as May — succeeded immediately by se- vere frosts ; thermometer within 2 or 3 degrees of zero. We fear that young, tender trees and plants will suffer considerable injury. A Large Yield.— -Mr. Nathaniel Swift, of Andover, Mass., has picked this season sixteen barrels of merchanta- ble apples, and four barrels of inferior quality, from one tree ; twenty barrels in all. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 53 LADIES' DEPARTMENT. Mr. Editor : — I have noticed in the January number of your paper, in the '' Ladies' De- partment," a short article headed " The Wife ;" and would be glad to see the following, taken from an exchange paper, if it will not occupy too much space, in the next number of the Gen- esee Farmer. A Woman, Aurora, N. Y., Ja7i. 1847. Female Trials. My heart ulvvays " stirs within me" when I read selec- tions made by editors of newspapers, even " christian citi- zens," which are designed for its married ladies, setting forth our duty with relation to making our homes happy to our husbands, that we should always welcome them with a cheerful smile when they come in from the cares and fa- tigues of the day, and tlo all we can to make married life pleasant to them, &:c. IVow this is weil I acknowledge, and trust I strive daily to reduce a good theory to practice. But allow me to enquire if the cares and fatigues of the wife are always — I might say ever — appreciated by the husband ? Shall 1 give a short sketch of domestic life as it is, not of course describing a family as it should be, but I wish to give a fair example of every day life at home. iMy neighbor, Mr. Benson, a lawyer by profession, is what the world calls a respectable man. His income is small, but he married a lady who was able to furnish their small house handsomely, and they have some hopes of pros- perity in reversion. Mrs. B. was educated in modern times, and somewhat fashionably, so that the host of evils which ignorant young housekeepers are heir to, came thick and fast upon her when she started on the doubtful pilgrim- age of matrimonial life. But she had firm principles, energy of character and de- voted love for her husband — all good stimulants in the path of duty. She braved like a heorine all the "tea-pot tem- pests" which often come from clouds not so " big as a man's hand," and in due time succeeded in making a cheerful and faithful manager of their economical establishment. Mrs. B. has been a wife twelve years, and a mother of five chil- dren, the youngest but a babe, and tha family are as happy as a large portion of families. It is Monday morning and this speaks "unutterable things," to a INew England wife,, who has been married a dozen years. Mr. Benson has had his breakfast in season — has kissed the children and gone to the office where the boy has a good tire — the books and papers are all in order and Mr. B. sits down, to an?wer a few agreeable demands up- on his time, which will eventually turn to cash. He goes home to his dinner punctually and at one o'clock — it is ready for him, he takes it quietly, perhaps ; frolics ten min- utes with the baby, and then hurries back to the office. At the hour for tea, he goes home — every thing is cheerful, and to quote the simple rhyme of an old song, The hearth was clean, the fire was clear, The kettle on for tea ; Benson was in his rocking chair, And blessed as man could be. But how has it been with Mrs. Benson through the day ? She has an ill-natured girl in the kitchen who will do half the work only, at nine shillings per week. Monday morn- ing, eight o'clock — four children must be ready for school — Mrs. t>. must sponge their faces — smoothe their hair — see that books, slates, paper, pencils, pocket-handkerchiefs, (yes, four of them) are all in order, and now the baby is crying — the fire is low — it is time Sally should begin to wash, the parlor, the chambers, the breakfast things are all waiting. Well, by a song to the baby, who lies kicking in the cradle — a smile to smoothe ruffled Sally, and with all the energy that mind and body can summon, things are " straightened out," and the lofty pile of a week's rearing begins to grow less; but time shortens with it — it is almost dinner time — by some accident that joint of meat is frozen — company cills— Mr. Benson forgot to get any eggs on Saturday, Mrs. B. must do the next best way — the bell rings twelve — the door opens and in rush the children from school — J»hn has torn his pantaloonss — Mary must have some money, then, to get a thimble, she has just lost hers — Will- iam has cut his finger with a piece of glass, and is calling loudly for his mother. Poor Mrs. Benson endeavors to keep cheerful and to look delighted in the hubbub; and now the dinner, by her effort.s alone, is upon the table; her husband comes in and won- ders the " pie is not a little better warmed," and with this comment and a smile on thebahy, he is oil' till it is time for tea. I forbear to finish the day, Mr. Editor, and shall only say, the afternoon was made up of little trials too small to mention, but large enough to try the faith and patience of all the patriarchs. Now, sir, this wife has surely borne the burden and heat of the day, her limbs are wearied — her whole energy •£ mind and body exhausted, and she is exhorted "to welcome her husband with a smile." She does it, for a woman's love is stronger than death. I would ask, should not Mr. Benson give his wife a smile ? What has he done to light- en her cares through the day ? — How is it ? In nine cases out of ten, after sitting an idle hour, he " wishes Mrs. B. would put all those noisy children to bed— he should be glad to have her tell David to go to the post office for letters and papers," and at length, when halfway between sleep- ing and waking, he looks at his pale exhausted help-mate, and exclaims — " well, wife, you begin to look a little ex- hausted." I cannot ask you, Mr. Editor, if my picture is not a true one, for you are a stranger to the joys and cares of married life; but I pray you be more just, and now and then exhort husbands to do their part towards making home agreeable to their wives, when the latter have, like Atlas, borne a world of cares and vexations through the day. Recipe for makiii? Buckwheat Cakes. Do, dear Jane, mix up the cakes ; Just one quart of meal it takes ; Pour the water in the pot. Be careful that its not loo hot ; Sift the meal well through your hand ; Thicken well — don't let it stand ; Stir it quick — clash — clatter — Oh ! what light delicious batter. Now listen to the next command : On the dresser let it stand Just three quarters of an hour. To feel the gentle rising power Of powders melted into yeast. To lighten well this precious feast. See, now it rises to the brim — Quick — take the ladle, dip it in ; So let it rest until the fire The griddle heats as you desire. Be careful that the coals are glowing, No smoke around its white curls throwing. Apply the suet softly, lightly — The griddle's face shines more brightly. Now pour the batter on — delicious ! (Don't, dear Jane, think me officious,) But lift the tender edges slightly — Now turn it over quickly, sprightly. 'Tis done — now on the white plate lay it. Smoking hot, with butter spread, 'Tis quite enough to turn our head. Now I have eaten — thank the farmer That grows this luscious mealy charmer — Yes, thanks to all — the cook that makes These light, delicious buckwheat cakes, A Shrewd old gentleman once said to his daughter : " Be sure, my dear, that you never marry a poor man ; but remember, the poorest man in the world is one that has money, and noth- ing else." Children. — Speak to a child — any child — in a calm, positive, clear voice, and he will be sure to obey you, if you speak once, and only 01136. — Mrs. Sigourney. There is a luxury in remembering a kind act. 54 GENESEE FARMER. Feb. MODNT HOPE BOTANIC GARDEN AND NURSERIES, ROCHESTER, N. Y. The Subscribers respecifully soiicit the attention of the public to their laige a id ciioice sock of TREES, SHRBS. and PLANTS, wuicn they oHer for sale the ensuing spring, <1847.) The collection of FRUITS embraces all the leading sorts of established merit, and most of the recent varieties of Eu- rope and America. No pains or expense have been spared in makin? the collection as complete, in every way, as pos- sible. The trees are all thrifty, healthy, and well grown, and have been propagated with the utmost exactness from specimen trees on this establishment, or from sources of the highest reputation for correctness. The collection of spec- imen trees, for testing themeritsof the various sorts, is now among the largest in the United States. The assortment of Apples includes several thousand fine trees of the NORTH- ERN SPY, universally considered one of the best keeping apples yet known. Pears. — All the leading well known sorts, such aa Made- laine, Dearborn's Seedling, Bartlett, teckel, Virgalieu, &c., and a small supply of the rare and unrivalled Swanks Or- ange or Onondaga, Knight's Monarch, and Van Man's Lemi U Clerc 1 the price of these is $ 1 each. A few thousand trees of choice varieties con be furnished on quince stocks. These are beautifully adapted to garden culture, and gen- erally bear the second, and older trees even the first year al'ter planting. Plmns. — Besides the well known popular sorts, a small number of the Jefferson, Columbia, Laivrence's Favorite, and Den)iiso7i's Superb are offered at $1 each. Cherries — a collection of upwards of 40 of the best varie- ties, earliest to latest — beautiful trees. Peaches. — Forty choice varieties of established merit, in- cluding Tillotson, Early York, Crawford's Early, Jacques' Rare Ripe, Crawford's superb or late Malacatoon, &c. — beautiful trees. Onuimental Trees and Shrubs. — A large collection, inclu- ding all the finest popular articles in that line. Roses. — A supcrbcoUpctionof upwards of 250 select varieties. Double Da/Uias — 100 beautiful varieties, including several of the finest fancy sorts, such as Harlequin, Illuminator, Mar- chioness de Ormonde, SfC. Descriptive priced catalogues (edition for 1846 m four to six inches deep. They are cut frona the hills of old plants, whose roots have been laid bare by the plow. The portions planted should contain one or two eyes, of which eight or ten are enough for a hill. They should be well separated on the ground, i. e. placed a foot apart, that the future roots may have room, and easily spread in all directions . No poles are needed the first sea- son ; and a hoed crop may be grown on the land, which should be kept clean, and in good tilth. — In November, the ground should be plowed and the earth turned toward the hills. Early in the spring the hillocks are opened, and the last year's shoots cut off within an inch of the main stem ; and all the suckers quite close to it. Two or three substantial poles, from 16 to 25 feet iu length, should be firmly set with an iron bar in each hill. When the plant has grown three or four feet, it should be trained and tied to the pole below the third set of leaves, and started in its windings upward in a direction with the sun. Care should be taken not to let too many vines grow from a hill, as their foliage will shade the blossom?:, and greatly injure their fruitfulness. Two or three vines to a pole are enough.* — Hops are plowed and hoed in this State like corn. The gathering, kiln-drying, and bagging of hops, is an important branch of the business of the planter. It is in this part of the process that experience and good judgment are most valua- ble. The time to gather ihe blossoms is indica- ted by the turning of the lower leaves on the vine, and the bright straw color of the seeds. The vines should be cut a foot or two from the ground, as the bleeding, of the stems will weaken the roots if severed close to the earth. The poles are laid over long narrow boxes, which re- ceive the hops as girls and others pick them from the vines. After the latter become dry, they should be cut off the poles, burnt, and the ashes kept to apply to the hills of the parent roots next season. We will describe the drying and bagging pro- cess in our next ; as we have yet to illustrate by a drawing and description the anatomical peculi- arities of this cultivated plant. Don't be fright- ened at botanical names. The information com- municated will be found of much practical value to all hop-growers that happen not to be accjuaint- ed with the class Dixcia. and many are thus sit- uated. The Humulus lupulus belongs to the class Dicccia, i. e. to one in which the pistils and sta- mens, (the organs that form seeds and propagate the race,) grow on separate, and often distant, plants. Letter a, in the drawing below, shows a male, or staminate hop, which prepares pollen, or fertilizing dust, not unlike that which falls on the silk of corn from the spikes above. The male plant is often regarded as a wild hop, and S^orae hop-growers allow only one vine to a pole. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 59 is most unfortunately extirpated from some plant- ations. It is truly worthless as a bearer^ but in- valuable as ^.fertilizer, in the economy of nature. The letter b represents a female blossom, or W'^yy pistillate llovver, which is the part gathered for market. In Kent, (England,) where attention was first called to the dioecious character of the hop, Mr. Rham says : "A bushel of hops col- lected the fourth year from the seed, male plants being near, weighed 36 pounds. Those grown from cuttings under similar circumstances weigh- ed 35 pounds ; while a bushel grown in a gar- den where the male plants were carefully extir- pated, weighed only '22 pounds." Other exper- iments show that while the loss in weight exceeds 50 per cent., the loss in quantity is still larger by neglecting to provide staminate plants. One male to forty or fifty female plants is a fair pro- portion. The absence of staminate hops prevents the blossoms gathered for use from bearing seed; one of which should grow at the base of each petal, or flower leaf. A blasted clover blossom is very light, and nearly worthless without seed. So, too, is a hop blossom, and poor in bitter lu- pulin. In Flanders, great use is made of night soil in the culture of this crop, and it is said with signal success, owing to the large amount of ni- trogen it consumes, under the most favorable cir- cumstances. The chemical properties of the yellow dust {lupullii) of the pistillate blossoms [stroholi) de- serve to be studied. But we will let that pass, and amuse the general reader, contrary to our sober, working habit, with a few historical ref- erences apropos to our subject. Speaking of the dicecious, date-bearing palm tree, Pliny says : "If the male tree be cut down, his wives will afterwards become barren, and bear no more dates, as if they were widows.''' — Another author remarks : " It is the practice ofj and make it coufprehend the laws of nature which the orientals in war, to cut down the male dale j control the results of rural industry, trees of their enemies, which often produces blossoms of the male tree which was flowering at Leipsic sent them by post, they obtained fruit by these means ; and some dates, the offspring of this impregnation, being planted in my garden, sprang up, and to this day continue to grow vig- orously.' M. GeolTrey cites a story from Jovi- cus Pontanus, who relates that in his time there were two palm trees, the one a male, the other a female, in the woods of Otranto, fifteen leagues apart; that this latter was several years without bearing any fruit, till at length rising above the other trees of the forest, 'so as it might see' (says tlie poet) 'the male palm tree at Brindisi, it then began to bear fruit in abundance.' M. Geofli-ey makes no doubt but that the tree then only began to bear fruit, because it was in a condition to catch on its branches the farina of the male, brought thither by the wind." According to the census of 1840, there was grown in the United States the year previous 1,238,502 pounds of hops, of which more than one third was raised in this State. The yield per acre is exceedingly variable, and, crop of course quite uncertain. In looking over Eng- lish journals we find that 44,485 acres of hops in 1844 gave an average of 6 cwt. 2 qrs. 3 lbs. per acre. The excise duty on tliis crop exceeded £140,322. In 1845, 48,0.58 acres gave an av- erage of 6 cwt. 3 qrs. 6 lbs. per acre; yielding £158,008 revenue. In New York, crops vary from nothing up to 2000 lbs. per acre. We shall take another time to describe the best method of drying hops, and prepai'ing them for market. TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN AGRICUL- TURAL ASSOCLVTION. Tart L We find a copy of this quarto publication on our table, for which we suspect we are indebted to Andreav H. Green, Esq., of New York, Corresponding Secretary of the Association. The Transactions contain several valuable pa- pers : one from Dr. Gardner, author of the Farmer's Dictionary, "on the Chemical Princi- ples of the Rotation of Crops" ; another on the "Culture of Hops," by the Corresponding Sec- retary ; others from Messrs. Pell and Clark, on Manures and the Preservation of Timber. — This Association numbers many gentlemen of science and distinction among its members. — Hon. Luther Bradish is President. They are doing good service to th°ir country and their ace, in laboring to enlighten the popular mind, famine, for the female trees yield no fruit after the death of the other sex." — "Linnreus, in his Dissertation on the Sexes of Plants,' speaking The Farmer's life is shunned by many be- cause it seems one of mindless drudgery. If our farmers would studv and reflect more, they might of the date tree, says: 'A female date-bearing do less hard labor, and yet accomplish more in palm flowered many years at Berlin, without | the course of a year. Ten hours work in sum- producing any seeds ; but in the year 1749 the j mer, and eight in winter, ouj^ht, with good man- Berlin people, taking care to have some of the i agement, to give any man a good living. 60 GENESEE FARMER. Mar Maple Sugar. The season has arrived when every one blest have the merit of evaporating fast. In our bush we always had a stream of cold sap just equal to the water given off in steam constantly running with a Sugar Orchard, should have all things in into each kettle or pan. This arrangement us readiness tor the skillful manuflicture of this de- ] effected by having the kettles and arches low, licious sweet. Old buckets should be new hoop- land wastes no time nor sap in filling kettles, ed if needed, cleansed and soaked, so as not to | Great pains should be taken to keep leaves leak. Spiles must be overhauled, repaired to fit : and dirt of every kind out of the sap. After all exactly the size of the auger, or bit used to bore | your care, the syrup should be well settled before the trees, that no sap, or "sugar water" as the; it gets too thick, and the clear liquid poured off Kentuckians call it, be wasted. Whatever your [ for making into granulated sugar. The sedi- ^^torage apparatus may be, see that it is clean, merit should be diluted and settled again or strain- sweet, and water tight. ed. In some cases sti-aining as well as settling Don't be over anxious to begiii operations, and is necessary to remove all foreign matter. Wood lap too early, nor so dilatory as to lose the iirst for boiling should all be prepared before hand. good run of your trees. When to tap is a mat- ter that depends on all the uncertainties of the ■weather. The place to bore into the tree is to be selected, first, not too high, if the sap is to fall through the air, into a bucket standing on, or near to the ground, as the wind will occasion- ally blow the falling sap out of its perpen housed, or set on end, dry and close at hand. Foe " sugaring ofiV' large brass, copper, or common five jiail kettles are used. Care should be taken not to have too hot, nor an unsteady fire in this process ; nor should the evaporation be car- ried too far. A little experienc3 soon informs one of the proper time to pour the warm or hot su- dicular descent on to the ground. Tap low, or I gar into the vessel for caking it. Some have all suspend the bucket on the spiles, or a nail driven into the tree. Benches of a cheap structure can be made and used to bring the bucket up to the spile, and avoid their upsetting by the melting of snow, and other causes. For making the proper incision into the trunk 'ii' the tree, we prefer a bit, or a half inch or | auger fitted to a bit stalk, as the operation of tap- ping can be neatly and rapidly executed bv such an instrument. That side of, the tree which shows the largest, and most vigorous growth of top and root, will yield the most sap, and should bo selected unless too much cut already by pre- vious incisions. Trees yield sap the earliest on their south sides, and latest on their northern exposure. Three inches are deep enough to bore into the tree — some penetrate less than two. In our sugar making days, the custom of the bush was to gather the sap either with oxen or horses hauling a hogshead with two heads in, and fastened to a sled. This had a wooden fun- nel made of a sap bucket or trough. By driving (he load of sap on to an elevated spot, either nat- ural or artificial, and turning a faucet all the sap in the hogshead on the sled ran into the reser- voir, near the boiling pans or kettles. In small establishments most men gather sap with a wood- en neck-yoke, carrying two large 16 quart pails uv buckets at a time. This is pretty hard work in a widely distributed bush, when the snow is 2 feet deep, and not quite hard enough to bear up a man, or a boy that hopes soon to be one. their sugar for family use quite liquid, like mo- lasses ; others stir it off quite dry. Sugar trees vary greatly, both in the quantity and quality of their saccharine juice. As a gen- eral rule a bush that the sun can come in well, will yield less sap, but a good deal more sugar, than one in a dense, native forest. A bush should be well underbruslied, and all cattle and sheep kept out, if you wish young maples to spring up and gi-ow. They can be transplanted, with little labor and great pi'ofit. We have a specimen of maple sugar equal to double refined loaf from cane, made by Moses Eames, Esq., of Rutland, Jefferson county, whose admirably conducted farm and dairy es- tablishment we visited while giving lectures for the State Agricultural Society. Of our numerous young readers, how many can tell where the sugar comes from, which is dissolved in water, and circulates as sap through the alburnum of the maple ? What advances have you made the past winter in studying veg- etable physiology ? Where are the elements elaborated that form the large, and most beauti- ful developement of thousands of leaves on a sin- gle sugar tree ? Does Organic Chemistry re- veal any new light by which the quantity of su- gar can be augmented that any 100 trees will yield in a state of nature ? Young friends, we have a story to tell about what it is that nature uses to form sugar in the trunk of a leafless tree, and- how to increase the sugar. Do not begin farming by building an extensive For boiling, the kettles should be well set in a stone or brick arch, in all permanent orchards. — Furnace men are making cauldrons that will hold I house, nor a spacious bara till you have something some 16 gallons set in a stove, for ten, twelve or jto store in it. fifteen dollars, according to size, that look as Avoid a low and damp site for a dwelling house, though they would answer an excellent purpose | Build sufficiently distant from your barn and stock for sugar making. Sheet iron and copper pans ivard to avoid accidents by fire. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 6! Hints for the Month. If the sleighing lasts get your plaster home, as no good wheat farmer, who follows a system- atic rule of rotation with clover, can do without Price of Breadstuffs. - This is a delicate subject to handle, just at this time. From all we can learn, from a careful perusal of several cf the best English journals. jet your summer's wood, rail timber, posts, I iind the due consideration of the subject, w stakes, and timber and boards from the mill, and all other foreign jobs ; it is much handier than poking about on wheels — besides it relieves tiie spring work. Look well to the security of your potatoes, and to saving them in every way, for use and for planting. They will be dear and scarce this spring ; in many neighborhoods they will be worth 75 cts. to •*! per bushel. Try early plant- j ing, as early as the middle of April. | Litter your barn yards, sheds, and stables free- { ly ; every armful of straw under the catties' feet is a bushel of corn ; and if it is not decomposed ' and rotten, the hollow tubes of the straw retain I hazard the opinion that prices can not very much recede till near, or aftei-, the next hp.rvest in Europe. But nothing is easier than tor the best informed to misjudge on such a question. Panic and excitement are so easily awakened in either direction, by speculators on both sides of the Atlantic, that one can hardly guess what a day will bring forth. Freights to British ports are^ enormously liigh. We think they must come down, which will help dealers in this country- European Agriculture. Part viii of tliis work by Mr. Colman, siioulii ave been noticed in our February number. It" the urme and juices of the droppings, beyond U^ ,,^^^^.^ -^^^ ^^^^^ any of its predecessoi-s,. the reach of the rains and snows If you can- |^,-,j Jecidedlv an improvenient, conveving mucb not house the manure made in stab es, keep it as ^^^,^^^^,^j^ information on the culture' of crops., much in piles as possible to avoid leaching. , ^^^ ^^^.^^ ^,^j ^^.^^j j^^^ ^^ ^j^.^^^^^j^ ^^i^^^l^^ ^^^ ^L Slop and nurse cows that come in early, or :|ii,gbandry, and the manufacture and application you will have poor milkers next summer. Beets l^^f manures. and bagas, and carrots, are excellent for this ])ui pose. Mr. C. feels sore from the criticism of the Ag- ricultural press in this country ; but the applica- Put farming tools in order ; and make this tjou has evidently done him good, and will result month ttoo good farm ^«/e*— the sign is right in j,^ adding to his well earned reputation as an au- thor. Mr. J. H. Watts is agent for the sale of the heavens, as we have consulted them astro- logically — and get rid of two of those devils, ivarping bars, which are such a nuisance on your farm, especially if before your door. Cattle need a little extra feeding this month OT they will be in bad heart for grass. Smoke your hams, and as soon after as they are dry, put them singly into any kind of cotton cloth bags — tie fast and hang them up in tlie garret, the work in this city. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE ANT> Conducted by Dr. E. Emmoss and A. Os- AMERICAN SCIENCE BORS, Esq. This quarterly has been changed to a monthly journal, and the price reduced from three to two dollars per annum. Prof. E^nioxs of Albany, has been long, if Cut scions this month for grafting, especially 1'^"^ f™"i ^I'e commencement, connected with the cherries and plums. Apples and pears may be jCxeological Survey of this State. He has studied cut later, if neglected this month. Set t!ie ends I its ™cks and various soils, and their constituent in the earth on the cellar bottom. Mind and i elements, with peculiar care. His Journal of graft early, which is the great secret of success. Agricultural Science may be regarded by some ^ '„ . .... . as a whortleberry above the heads of practical Do up all of your cousin visiting— give your l^^^,^^^,.^^ .^^ ^ ^.^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^i^j^ ,^^^^. ^^ ^^.^^^ . mite to the suffering Iri.sh-take the Genesee 1,^^^ thev have only to hold their heads perpen- -pay for it— do your duty to j^jcular'to their feet, and let their minds ivork as Fan (lod and man, and -defy the foul fiend." * Wild Turkies. — Mr. Charles Louis Bona- parte, in his Natural History of the United States, asserts that the wild turkey is a native of America, and was a stranger to the old world, till after the discoveries of Columbus. It was sent from Mexico to Spain in the early part of the year 1.^14. By degrees it spread over Europe, Asia and Africa. The English supposing it to have come from Turkey, through Spain, gave it the name of Turkey. The wild and domestic Tur- key is of the same species. well as their hands, to comprehend the whole subject. To tlie young men who desire to raise the cultivation of the earth to the dignity of a learned profession, we commend this journal as worthy of their study. It contains a good deaf of information on the practice of various branch- es of rural economy. Weeds exhaust the strength of the ground, and if suffered to grow may be called garden sins. The hand and hoe are the instruments for erad- icating weeds yet; if there is room belween the I rows for the spade it is well to use it.. 62 GENESEE FARMER. Mar. Importance of Experimentiiig. Mr. Editor : — If the cultivators of the soil would but take the trouble, or I v/ould rather say, would tlsey but enjoy the exalted pleasures of testing by experience the numerous unsettled facts relative to their pursuits — was every farm- er an experimenter, and each one's farm an ex- perimental one, and the results of those experi- ments annually published in the agricultural jour- nals— what a fund of useful facts would yeaily be produced. It can easily be done, at a trifiiiig expense ; and the gratification of observing the various operations of nature, in producing the numerous vegetable and animal productions from the earth, would of itself be a sufficient recom- pense for the time s{)ent, independently of the valuable results which would follow an accurate knowledge of the various operations of our mul- tifarious calling. And, I repeat it, that every farm ought to be an experimental one. No cul- tivator of the soil should allow a season to pass without testing some practical experiment on tillage, on manures, j;eedp, breeds of animals, or on some one of the numerous varieties of vege- tables for animal food, &c., &c. One land, or ridge, could be plowed deep, an- other shallow — harrow one five or six times hrough the summer, another only once, or not at all. Treat some with the numerous varieties of manure, to determine the quantity most profit- able to apply at a time to each crop, and how to apply it, whether on the surface, slightly covered, or plowed under deep — whether barn-yard ma- nure ought to be applied green, fermented, or rotten. Test the quantity of the various seeds to sow per acre, with the best method of prepar- ing them. And many valuable facts migbt be settled rel- ative to the breeding and feeding of animals — the different kinds of food most profitable to feed with, for the various operations of labor — or for making Milk, Wool, and Flesh. Examine witii accuracy and care the result of those experiments, and publish them in our journals, that all may receive the benefit of each individual's experi- ence ; the beneficial results would be beyond calculation. And, Fellow Cultivators, why do we not do it< In no way can we spend a little time so usefully. Let each one of us resolve that in future no sea- son shall pass without our testing some practical experiment relative to our calling. Wm. Gar butt. Wkealland, Feb. 10, 1847. Large Cattle — The Auburn Daily Adver- tiser states that Mr. Elon Sheldon, of Sennett, has one pair of yearlings, weighing 2,100 lbs., one pair of two year olds weighing 3,000, and one pair of three year olds weighing 3,000, and one pair of four year old oxen weighing 4,5.")0, lbs. Can this be beaten ! Scientific Farming. Mr. Editor : — Will you oblige a subscriber and an occasional contributor to your paper by publishing the annexed extract from an article reviewing " Essays on the Progress of Nations in Productive Industry, Civilization, Population, and Wealth ; illustrated by Statistics of Mining, Agriculture, Manufactures, Commerce, Banking, Revenues, Internal Improvements, Emigration, Mortality, and Population." By Ezra C Seaman. The writer of the article referred to after speaking of Great Britain, says — " Turn now to our o%vn country. In the manufacturing .-^tsue of Rhode Island, the earnings of labor and capital amount lo 110 dollars annually for each person. In Massa- chusetts t!ie amount 103 dollars. In the agricultural State of Indiana it is only 44 dollars. These estimates are taken irom tables v. hich are considered too favorable to agriculture. Now we have nothing to do with the political bearing of these facts. We do not look at them with the eyes of a pol- itician ; it is our object rather to consider them as eeono- mists and lis lovers of moral truth. And first we are urged to say, that the case of agriculture is not so bad as it may al first appear. The cultivation of the soil can hardly be as profitable .is some other occupation, yet if is safe. And, moreover, it may be made tolerably profitable by the same application of scit nee which has secured such wonderful ri'sulls in the mechanic arts. Agricultural Chemistry is still in its infancy ; and yet it is already almost certain, that a small farm, scientifically cultivated, and not too remote from a market, may he made a mine of wealth. This mat- ter is not well understood. There is no wisdom in our practice of dispersing ourselves over immense tracts of coun- try, out of the reach of schools, churches, and markets. In- dividuals and the nation at large, are insane upon the sub- ject of territory. A vast amount of grain is every year wasted in our country, because it cannot be brought to mar- ket. We have no right, except in cases of necessity, to go into the wilderness. The culture of choice fruit trees and of fine vegetables, the dairy, the poultry-yard, and the flow- er-garden, are not made sufficiently prominent. There are articles suitable to be eaten besides beef and pork. Let the eastern farmer stay at home, and make ths old farm more productive. We cannot dispense with the intluences of ag- riculture. It is a most captivating and ennobling employ- ment ; the children of the earth gain strength from the touch of their mother, and drink in health with her warm sweet breath. And through the aid of system and of science, wc can accomplish all that is necessary in a thickly settled coun- try, and escape dangers to which onr western friends are exposed." — Christian Examiuer, 1847. What has not science done for the mechanic arts ? And yet the mechanic does not rest satis- fied— he is constantly seeking for new inven- tions— new discoveries — new and improved ap- plications of principles already known and used. Not so with farmers. Here you find a class of men, intelligent and industrious, who, to a considerable extent, are opposing the discover- ies and a[)plications of science to their art — speaking witli reproach of the application of sci- ence to farming — and ridiculing him whom they call a '■'■scienlific farmer." A brighter day is however dawning for the farmer — a day when the principles will be applied to his art as they now are to the mechanics'. L. W. Monroe County, Feb., 1847. Asparagus. — This delicious vegetable was first introduced into England in 1608. It is now extensively cultivated throughout Europe, and is one of the most desirable plants known. 184- GENESEE FARMER. 65 A nm Disease in Grasses. Mk. Editor : — I wish to call your attention, and that of your readers and correspondents, to a subject I deem important to the farming inter- est, and which I have not seen discussed in any of the agricultural papers. 1 allude to a disease of the Grasses, whicli has prevailed for several years past in this section of country. It atfecls all varieties, but especially the timothy. As many as five years ago, we began to discover scattering white dead heads among the timothy, just before haying. These greatly multiplied in after years. On taking hold of these white heads the stalk easily separates just above the upper joint, where it has the appearance of. having been eaten or rotted off. Of late years, how- ever, the disease has made its appearance earlier in the soason, so as to prevent the heading out of the grass at all. Consequently the crop is great- ly diminished. The evil has fallen most heavily on old mead- ows and rich bottom lands; and where we for- merly had grass waist high, yielding from two to three tons per acre, we now get less than half that quantity of short fine stuff like rowen, but more dead and dry ; easy to pitch to be sure, but requiring much patience. Plowing up old meadows and seeding anew have been resorted to, as a partial remedy; but what is most dis- couraging is, that the new ones and pastures also begin to Teel the effects. Indeed, I consider the evil to be alarming ; and, in this section, not less so than the potatoe disease itself. As to the extent of the evil I cannot say defi- nitely ; bul it seems to be spreading far and wide. [ have seen its effects more or less in the coun- ties of Tompkins, Cortland, Madison, and the last two seasons in the south part of Oneida. I have also heard of it in other parts of the State. As to the cause of this calamity I am not pre- pared to say much, except negatively. First : it is not the effect of the frost, as was at first gen- erally supposed. Although in some seasons past we have had untimely and severe frosts, which may have injured meadows in some degree, yet I think we cannot ascribe this wide spread, and continued malady, to such a cause. Beside, tlie manner of the effect will not warrant sucli a con- clusion. Neither can I believe the cause to be worms at the root of the grass. It is true we have plenty of the grub and v/ire worm always at work and making mischief, but not more than usual when our meadows were flourishing. But the question still recurs, what is it.? I think it may be an insect extremely minute, the egg of which is deposited about the joints of the grass, and may probably be discovered when the top begins to change its color ; but whence it comes or whither it goes is a mystery. What can be done to alleviate or remedy the evil — or how lasting it will probably be, are questions which I believe many of your subscribers would like to have discussed in your excellent paper. P. S. A subscriber wishes to know how to prevent S7imt in oats. H. H. Locke, Cay. Co., Feb. 6, 1847. We thank Mr. Hamlin for the above interest- ing communication ; and shall be happy to re- ceive any new light that our readers may be able to throw on the subject. — Ed. Potato Rot. Some well attested experiments made by Mi-. BiGELOw, of Hartford, Conn., show that potatoes under precisely the same circumstances, as to soil and period of planting, when manured in the hill with barn-yard manure and with house ashes, rotted excessively ; while those treated with mineral coal ashes and plaster were exempt. — • Lime, applied after cutting the seed and wetting, by putting as much dry slacked lime as would adhere, has, in some cases, proved beneficial ; in others of no avail. A better process would be, to scatter a handful over a larger space before covering. Ver}^ egrly planting should be tried, as it is pretty conclusively settled that potatoes left in the ground, or self sown, are never affected — if so, deep planting in the fall ought to be tried. — It is said that a potato may be frozen entirely solid and thawed, without contact with air, and not have its vital or nutritious chai'acter changed or affected. It does not seem that the rot is injurious to an- imal life, as many persons are feeding them, and a poor family of my acquaintance have been using the sound ends of those affected with per- fect impunity. Neither am I advised that the disease is propagated by using the diseased tubers. Yours, &c., L. Barker. Monroe Co., 1847. We think our correspondent is mistaken on the subject of freezing. The potato, when fro- zen and thawed in cold water, becomes soft and flaccid, and by tapping it you may squeeze out nearly all of its starch, gum, and farinaceous qualities in a liquid state. Its vitality is entirely destroyed, so that in fall planting it should be laid below the reach of frost, which, in this cli- mate, is not usually more than 6 inches. A po- tato completely frozen is not injured for cooking in any way, if used before thawing, or is thawed in cold water — in fact it improves in sweetness to some tastes. * The Cultivation of Yaws. — Yams have been cultivated in JeflTerson county, Ky., with success. They are considered an excellent sub- stitute for the potato. Lyell, the geologist, asserts that there is more coal in the single State of Illinois than in all Europe. (34 GENESEE FARMER. Mar. Tlie Siar\ing in Ireland. Farmkr^, what excuse do jou make for withholding your mite from the famishing poor in Ireland ( M. I\I. Noah, of tlie New York iSunday Times, a Jew. not always "outwardly," says — " The poor woman, with her iiungry, rag- ged children, stands but a poor chance of relief from the ladies benevolent societies in the city of New York, unless she can produce a certifi- cate that she belongs to Dr. so and so's church !" Methinks I liear many a fat farmei' exclaim — *'the Irish don "t belong to my church — a wide I have for years been a faithful reader of the Genesee Farmer, and other agricultural journals, yet I find myself deficient in the necessaiy knowledge how to commence my operations, not having been able to obtain the necessary infor- mation from any of my agricultural reading. Now, Mr. Editor, if you or any of the excel- lent farmers who are contributors to your useful joui-nal will give me the necessary information in the April number of the Farmer, you will confer a great favor on a new beginner. I wish to be informed how much men's help it will be ^ necessary for me to employ in summer, and in ocean is between ; s— we have poor enough at i winter, to carry on my operations to the best ad home, and besides, England, that great plunder- ' inmates, who consume ' '\^f''^ S^"^^^^ ''^''^ than in the section al uded to We agree, however, in the remark that shelter,or some kind, is as important there as here, and an average, about 22.> inmates about twenty thousand pounds of pork annually; weight of bone, at 8 lbs a hundred, 1600. — ; , , , i i • , i ■ , Twenty thousand pounds of beef, at 16 lbs a: "-oi'l^ ^^ «tte»dec with as great advantages in the lundred, 3200. For veal, mutton, &c., say saying of tood and in mcreasmg the comfort of hundrea, H'zvu. for veal, mutton, occ, say 500. Total weight of bones for one year in County House, 5,300 lbs., which, if ground, would make, at 50 lbs a bushel, 106 bushels. vSuppose the seventy thousand inhabitants of the County to consume in like ratio, they would animals. Plant Trees. — Plant trees every where, we say ; let them shade our streets, and grow wherever there is room for them. Especially plant them in the country, where open fields pick and wa^te no less than 1,613,333 lbs of i will admit, and be sure that in the end they will bones; which, if ground, would make 32,266 surprise the planter by their growth whilst he bushels of bone dust; which, if applied to land j and his children are sleeping! In evidence of at 3 bushels per acre (a quantity which it is said ' this, let us quote an anecdote to the purpose. — would increase the productiveness of the soil for j It is related of a farmer in Long Island, that he 6 years,) would manure near 11,000 acres. And planted an ordinary field of fourteen acres, with if one bushel is equal to 3 loads of barn yard | suckers from the locust (a native of this country) manure, which is considered to be a fact, it would j in the year of his marriage, as a portion for his be equal to 96,798 loads of manure, which is an- j children. His eldest son married at twenty-two. nuallylost and thrown away ; equal to -f 72,598, ; On this occoasion the farmer cut about 15 hun- at the moderate price of 75 cents a load. j dred dollars worth of timber out of his locust With these things to look at, which I believe : wood, which he gave to his son to buy a settle- to be within the bounds of truth, who can doubt I ment in Lancaster county. Three years after but a bone mill would be profitable, if erected in | he did as much for his daughter. And thus he the vicinity of Rochester, as well as other places. I provided for his whole family; the wood in the I was led to reflect on the above subject the i mean time repairing by suckers all the losses it more because my predecessor as keeper of the js'-iffered. — Boston Transcript. County Hou-e was in the uniform practice of| carting the bones to and throwing them in the 1 Never keep your cattle short ; kw farmers can Genesee river. I have for the want of a mill to ! aftbrd-it. If you starve them they will starve you. grind them, deposited them with the manure in the barn-yard. In the absence of a mill, will some one tell me what better can be done with them 1 I am satisfied it is not the best method except under the existing circumstances. .TOHN H. ROBIXSOX. Rochester, '2d mo. 1847. It will not do to hoe a great field for a little crop, or to mow twenty acres for five loads of hay. Enrich the land and it will pay you for it. Bet- ter farm 30 acres well than 50 acres by halves. In dry pastures dig for water on the brow of a hill; springs are more frequently near the surface on a height than in a vale. Remarks. — This is an important subject ; and I Rain is cash to a farmer. 66 GENESEE FARMER. Mar. Saxon and Merino Sheep. Mr. Editor : — It seeins tome that writers on this subject usually leave out one important part, viz : the living weight of their sheep, which they otherwise describe. We cannot judge any thing about the profits of a sheep or flock, with- out helving the weight of the animals at some particular season (say after shearing;) also the weight of their fleeces, and their fair cash value per lb. Several of your correspondents dwell particularly on the \\eight of their fleeces — for- getting that the weight of the fleece is no sure criterion of a profitable breed. It is now admitted by prominent wool-growers, that sheep consume food in proportion to their own weight; and also (other circumstances be- ing the same.) that it requires an equal amount of food to produce a pound of wool without re- gard to the size of the slieep. So, after having the weight of the fleece and its value per pound, it is necessary to have the weight of the living animal, from which to calculate the cost of grow- ing the fleece, before wi can decide on its profits. A part of my small farming business has been wool-growing for tlie last I'S years. My flock at present numbers 425, principally Merinos, which I have taken care of most of the time per- sonally. About one year ago I became of the opinion that as many pounds of Saxon wool from ewes weighing about 62 lbs. each (the common weight of a full grown Saxon ewe,) could be raised on one hundred acres of land, as could be grown on the same of (equally clean) Merino wool, from ewes weighing 88 lbs. each (about the common weight of a full grown Merino ewe.) Bucks, weathers, and younger sheep of each breed would weigh of course in the same pro- portion to each other as the ewes. With the view of testing this by experiment, I went last February to Saxon-Hill, Dutchess county, where Thomas W. Swift, Esq., owns a choice flock of sheep which am descended directly from im- ported Saxons. For symmctrj'-, quantity and quality of fleeces, coUecUvehj considered, I have seen none su[)erior to his. It is true they are not so large as Merinos, but this is of but little consequence when we consider that 100 lbs. of the Saxons produce the same amount of (equally clean) wool as the same weight of Merinos — and that it costs no more to keep 100 lbs. of the one than of the other. I am aware there are Saxons, ill-shaped, tliin wooled, with weak constitution^, )nade so by bad selections, and worse bree'ding; but Mr. Swift's sheep are free from these ob- jections. From this flock I pui'chased four ewes, (all he would then dispose of,) and five bucks. Fi-om a neighbor of his, who furmerly ol)tained his sheep from Swift's flock, 1 selected thirteen ewes from about 150. The reputation of this last flock was not as good as Swift's, but my opportunity for selecting was such that the ewes I got were equally nice in every particular. Should you think the above worth publishing, in another article I will compare the profits of these Saxons with Merinos according to my late experiments, and former experience in wool- growing. I liad forgotten to say that three gen- tlemen in our vicinity who have had considera- ble experience in growing Merino wool have just sent to Dutchess county, and to Litchfield county. Conn., for a lot of full-blood Saxons. — This breed is undoubtedly obtaining more favor than formerly in our county, which (the census of 1845 will show,) grows more wool in propor- tion to its size than any other county in the State. Solomon Hitchcock. Co)iesus, Liv. Co. Jan., 1847. Cleaning Clover Seed. Mr. Editor : — It has become a matter of some importance to this section of Illinois, to possess some facility for separating clover seed from the chaff. At present we have no means of doing this, except tramping with horses, which is very tedious ; and the consequence is, we import our clover seed from other states, instead of getting out and using our own. We are told a machine is in operation in your State, by horse power — and which is moved from place to place with no more inconvenience than an ordinary threshing machine — which successfully and cheaply accom- plishes this labor. If from your position at the head of Western New York farmers, you are able to furnish information of such a machine — its maker, cost, &c., &c., you will confer a spe- cial favor upon myself and neighbors by com- municating to iis. Our only apology for trou- bling you in this matter, is that we read your paper. Very truly yours, W. J. Phelps. Elmwood, III, Nov. 30, 1846. Remarks. — There are several kinds used in this State. The one we ard most acquainted with is manufactured by Thos. D. Burr all, of Geneva, N. Y. It is a small machine about the size of a wheat thresher, and is attached to any horse power. It costs, we believe, from 80 to 100 dollars, and performs its duties perfectly. — Persons in this vicinity travel with them over whole townships. * Wood Ashes. — Professor Jackson, in one of his highly able and scientific lectures in Boston, illustrating the manner in which the improve- ment of soil, immediate and permanent, may be effected, says that "a farm witliin his knowledge, with a blowing sand, a pine, barren, and almost hopeless soil, on which ten bushels of corn to tlie acre could scarcely be grown, by the judicious application of ashes, has been made to produce forty or fifty bushels to the acre." Good fences make good neighbors. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 67 Cliess. — A new case of Transmutation. Mr. Editor : — I do not know but I shall be sneered at by the knowing ones, but being only a plain illiterate farmer, I shall venture to relate among it. We poured this out, a half bushel at a time in one place ; (it was at the edge of an or- chard sowed with winter wheat, not on to what was sown, but close up to it. ) A thick moss of something, we did not then know what, came up, the facts of a singular case that occurred on my M'^'^d through the winter, came to maturity, and farm. I noticed them particularly at the lime, ^vas a thick moss of chess, without having my philosophy much disturbed ; but since the agitation of the chess question, and the light thrown on that subject, I admit that it has been a serious slumbling block in my mind — but to the facts. In 182.'"; I took possession of the premises on which I now reside, the county then being new and in the original forest state. In 1826 I cleaned off a small field on the west side of the creek, and on the 4th day of July sowed it to oats. The season was dry; and they were not all fairly up under four weeks. We had early frosts, and it was apparent that they would not ripen ; so, when about in the milk, I had them cut and cured for fodder, wliich proved excellent. The next spring on examining the ground, there appeared at the roots of the stubble a strong, new, fresh growth, appearing like oats or timo- thy; but when it headed out, behold it was c/ies5, every particle, and a glorious crop too. Tliese were cut and cured for fodder, which did me good service, as my cattle eat it with great avid- ity. But the vagaries of nature did not stop here; the next spring the ground was entirely green again, but the leaves were not as broad and stout as before. I rested till it headed out, and what should it be but timothy, and a fine heavy crop it was, which I continued to mow for a number of years, till it was turned into pasture, and within three years to turneps, flax, and corn. Now, sir, these are facts. I cannot, nor do I pretend, to account for these transformations, for I have not even a theory on the subject. There was no chess or timothy sown — that I am sure of. I expect some of your correspondents will blow me up on this subject, but they can't scare me out of the truth of these statements. Yours, &c., John Kishlar. Greece Center, Feb. 1847. Note. — We publish the above as it came to hand, without remark — premising that the wri- ter is a respectable farmer of the town of Greece, in this county — of an inquiring and speculative turn of mind, and of undoubted veracity. Now we cannot reasonably suppose that more than two or three, if any, kernels of chess could have fallen on there by the sowing of the winter wheat close to it — especially as there was no un- usual quantity in that, and spring wheat I sup- pose never has it in. Now the question is, what caused this growth of chess? If you will ex- plain it, a young farmer who does not believe "wheat will turn to chess" will be much obliged, and I presume it will interest your readers gen- erally. You may be assured the facts are as sta- ted above. Yours, &c., Sodus, Jan. .30, 1847. L. H. C. Remarks. — The only way we can account for the appearance of chess is to suppose that there wa^, by some means, kernels of chess in the cleanings of the spring wheat ; for our corres- p ndent will hardly admit that the defective grains of spring wheat could have withstood the winter, and lived over, even for the purpose of producing chess. * A few words about Chess. Mr. Editor : — I have a fact with regard to the growth of chess, that I think worthy of com- municating to you, and which 1 will state in as few words as possible. In cleaning a quantity of very smutty spring wheat, in the fall of 184.5, we blew out a number of bushels, composed al- most entirely of smut balls — a very few kernels cf good wheat, and some pretty sound were OftKiiN OF THE Upas tree story. — A real valley of death exists in Java ; it is termed the Valley of Poison, and is filled to a considerable height with carbonic acid gas, which is exhaled from crevices in the ground. If a man or any animal enter it he cannot return ; and he is not sensible of his danger, until he feels himselfsink- ing under the poisonous influence of the atmos- phere which surrounds him ; the carbonic acid of which it chiefly exists, rising to the height of eighteen feet from the bottom of the valley. — Birds that fly into this atmosphere drop dead ; and a living fowl thrown into it dies before reaching the bottom, which is strewed with the carcases of various animals that have perished in the deleterious gas. Tins ga.s is precisely similar to that formed in the human system, and in the bodies of all ani- mals by the combustion of a portion of their food. This gas is expelled from their lungs ev> ery time they breathe. In the particular locality in Java, the carbonic acid gas is disengaged in the earth by heat acting on limestone ; or on coal in the presence of oxygen. It is said that water in which potatoes have been boiled, sprinkled upon plantsof any kind, is sure death to all insects, in every stage of their existence. The depradations of birds are fully compensa- ted by the services they render in preying upon insects. 68 GENESEE FARMER. Mar. Meteorological Observations. 1 BY . WETHERELL. 1 Annual abstract of the Meteorological Observations made tn Rochester, in the years 1815 and 184C : 1 Monthly m?an temp, o Jan. Feb. 184(;, 27. M : do. •' 2:2.7!t ; do. 845, 23.05 " 23.10 i: Mar. " :}4.80 ; do. " 38.11 1 u April " 47.36 ; do. " 46.42 " May " (!0.:24 ; do. " .53.73 11 .lune '• (;4.45 ; do. " 64.6!; 11 July '' f)f|.87; do. " 69.-58 " Aug. " ti9.8G ; do. " 69.35 " Sept. " 65.71 ; do. " bS.iW II Oct. " 47.39 ; do. " 49.. 1 It Nov. " 4-2,67 ; do. " 39.41 eoiniiiiltee had been unable to ooriipleie ;hp Hst in liuu' fiir tliis meeting. And tliesamc was recoin- mi ted to the eornmiitee to report to the Board at their next (ueetini; — and the Sceretary was added sw a member of tiie i-ommiltee. Letters were read from Hon. Adam Furousos, Woixihill. Canada West; (jKORfiK Gkdijes, Esq., Eairmonnt ; W. II. SoTHAM, Albany. A coiTimunicalion from E. E. M. Gaf.e, M. 1)., on the ttause of abortion in cows, was read and referred to the com- mittee on preparations and transactions. Communications from Hon. ISknj. Enos, Madison county, and the Fkksidknt, on tin? adoption of rule.'? for measuring corn crops, ttc, wore read and referred to the committee on premium li.st. Statement of a crop of oats raised by Hamilton Morri- son, wa.s presented and read, and no premium awarded, as the rules required by tho Society as to the measurement of the land and of the crop, had not been observed by tlie ap- plicant, nor any sample of his grain presented. On motion of Mr. Stevkns, the plan of show grounds at Auburn w.is ordered engraved, under direction of Messrs. Mclntyre, Tucker, and Stevens. On motion of Mr. Johnson, the President, Mr. Sherwood and Mr. .Stevens, were appointed a committee to prepare regulations for grain crops. The Secretary was directed to return the thanks of the Society to 1'. E. Simmons, Esq., of London, for his valuable communication to the Society on grasses, and forward to him the transactions of the Society for 1844 and 184.5. On motion of Mr. Johnson, voK. 4 and .5 of the Society's transactions were ordered to be furnished to the N. Y. His- torical Society. On motion of Mr. Stevkns, Resolve J, That a set of the transacfions of the Society be furnished to the New York Agricultural Association. Messrs. Johnson, Stevens, and Bemenlvvere appointed a committee to superinted the preparation and printing of the transactions of the Society. On motion of Mr. Stevens, Resolved, That the show and fair of llie society be held at Saratoga Springs, on the 14th, loth, and ItJth of Sep- tember, 1S47, and that the (irst day be devoted exclusively to the examinations by the committees, and the 2d and 3d days to the exhibition — on condition that the persons who have presented a written guarantee to the board, furnish a bond executed l)y themscdves or others in exchange for the same at the next meeting of tlie board — conditioned, that this society shall not be charged with any of the expenses of the fair at that place. Messrs. Howard, Bement, and Johnson were appointed a committee to prepare sulyects for the weekly agricultural meetings. Resolved, Tiiat the meeting adjourn to Thursday, the liJih inst., at 11 o'clock, A. M. B. P. Johnson, Secretary. P. S. The premium list of the last year is left with the Secretary at the Society's rooms in the old State Hall, whore premiums will be paid, in the absence of the Treas- urer. OITicers of county scicties who have not forwarded their reports, are requested to do so immediately, to the Sec'y. Publishers of papers, and others who have business uith the Society, are desired to direct their papers and letters to the Secretary, at the Agricultural Rooms, Albany. B. P. JOHNSON, .Secretary. Corn in New .Iersky. — A corrospondent ol the Trenton New.s .states that persons competent to judge, estimate the surplus product of corn ot New Jersey as now worth a million and a half of dollars. Cultivation of (he Cranberry. We have been furnished by the Rev. H. B. Holmes, of Auburn, Worcester, Co., Mass., with the following extracts from a letter received by him from a friend, in regard to the culture of the cranberry. — CuUivatw. '- 1st. You must not tliink of sowing the seed — but set out the root.s, "2d. You wish to know how to prepare the ground. It is important that you contrive some way to prevent and destroy the growth of the grass and bu.shes, if there are any. This can be done either by plowing, burning, paring, or cov- ering with gravel. " 3d. How to set o>it the roots. After the land is prepareil, procure your roots in bunche-s about as large as it is convenient to take up with a common shovel, h is important to be careful in taking up the roots. Have a sharp shovel or .spade so as to disturb them as little aspo.ssible, and turn aside the vines, so as not to cut them otF. Dig a place in your prepared ground about the size of your bunches of roots and set tliem in. You can have them about as near as hills of Indian corn usually are, or nearer if you please. The nearer they are the sooner they will cover the ground. They are not difficult to make live, but the bet- ter you prepare the ground, and the more care- fully you set them out, the better they will flourish. "4th. As to the time of setting them out. — This may be done in the autamn or spring; but I should prefer the spring; because wlien .set out in the autumn, the frost is apt to throw them out of their place. This however can be prevented by a little flowing. [ should set them out as early as possible in the sj)ring. ••bxh. As to flowing. It is regarded as very important to be able to flow at pleasure. Sup- posing you set out your roots next spring; if you can flow them a little in the coming fixll and win- ter, just so they may not be troubled by the fro.st and consequent heaving of the ground, they will come out bright and healthy in the spring. "6th. During the sumitier when the vines are growing, and the fruit is upon them, it is important to look out for the weather, and f there is danger of frost, flush the water over the ground, so as to prevent the bad effects upon the vines and the crop. When you can flow at pleasure in this way, you are almost sure of a crop annually." — Bkks.— R. R. Child, of Rittsfield, Vt., thinks; keeping bees is very prolitable. He says every farmer may, by the investment of a few dollars, supply his family abundantly with honey, pro- vided the bees are properly managed. He says one of liis neighbors, Mr. A. Colton, has realized more profit for the last four or five years, in the produce of honey, than any other man in Pitts- field with "five times the amount of money in- vested any otiier way." 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 71 HOETICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. CONDUCTED BY P. BARRY. Hints for the Month. With this month Orchard and (larden labors begin in earnest, and it may not be amiss to sim- ply remind our readers of a few of the more im- portant items that require attention immediately. Scions for grafting should all be cut this month; and, where it is intended to procure some fj-om a distance, they should be sent for at once. Pruning orcluirds and trees generally, where necessary, may be done now, before the hurry of other work comes along. It is perfectly idle to expect a crop of fine, fair fruit from a tree that is grown into a perfect thicket, impenetra- ble to sun and air. We have lately been a good deal in the country, and have been much sur- prized to find so many fine orchards neglected in this respect. There are some sorts of apple, such as the Spitzemberg, Greening, Holland Pippin, Golden Sweet, &c., of an open, strag- gling habit, that will bear well without pruning for many years ; but there are others, of an up- right, compact, bushy growth, that require regu- lar, careful, thinning out of the weak surplus limbs, to keep the head open. Such are the Sweet Bough, Early Flarvest, Northern Spy, Swaar, Talman Sweeting, and many others. — Some excellent suggestions will be found in the communications of our correspondents to which we refer the reader. Transplanting Trees should be commenced as soon as the ground is free from frost. Spring planting should be done as early as circumstan- ces v/ill allow. Last season wc commenced here on the 24th of March, and the season pre- vious on the 10th. As a general thing, we be- gin in March. Those who desire information on this subject will find much in the past volume of this paper, and some good suggestions from our correspondents in this number. Gooseber- ries, currants, and raspberries should be trans- planted first, and all trees and shrubs that vege- tate early. Salt may be applied to plum trees this month. Considerable attention is directed, iiow, to this subject. We have collected a nitim- ber of important extracts on this point in another part of this paper. We suggest great caution and care in the application— better use too little than too much. Vegetables. — As2)aragus beds should be dress- ed as soon as the ground is thawed, by forking in the manure spread over them last fall. This loosens and enriches the beds, ^\hen this is done they should be carefully raked off. Early Peas, Lettuce, ^'c, may be sowed as early as the ground is open, in a warm border. Raise cabbage, cauliflower, celery, tomato, cu- cumber and melon plants in hot beds, as directed last month. Ornamental Department. — Prune shrubs, ro- ses, &c., where necessary to keep in proper shape or promote vigorous growth. Hedges and box edgings should be clipped. Destroy insects. This is a matter that should not fail to receive prompt and continued atten- tion. The means are now familiar to all who read our paper. Some suggestions will be found in the present number. The work should be commenced now, and vigorously followed up the whole season. Questions about the Plum Tree, Curculio, &c. A CORRESPONDENT at Morgantown, Va., asks the following questions : 1st. " What is the course to be pursued to pre- vent the depredations of the curculio ?" 2d. "What is the method of preventing the disease of the plum tree ?" 3d. " What is the proper time for grafting the plum, and what the process V Our querist is evidently quite a novice in fruit culture, and we fear that we have nei- ther leisure nor space to answer his questions as fully as he may wish or expect. We would ad- vise him to procure at once some such books as Downing's Fruits and Fruit Trees, or Thomas' Fruit Culturist. The former costs but $1,50, the latter only 50 cents. We will refer briefly, however, to his questions. QuEs. 1st. The Curculio. — We have yet to hear of a remedy that is completely effectual. — The most efficient we know, is, to begin as soon as the insect makes its appearance, shake them from the trees and kill them. David Thomas, of Aurora, first proposed this method through the Genesee Farmer, in 1832, and has ever since practised it with success. Our friend and nsigh- bor, J. W. BissELL, Esq., has practiced it the last season with great success — whilst he has found syringing with whale oil, soap suds, tobac- co water, &c., wholly ineffectual. In an article from Mr. Bissell, published in the January number of the Horticulturist, he says : By making each day last spring a careful examination, I ascertained that the Curculios commenced their depreda- tions upon Plums first, and on the first day of their appear- ance. (May 20,) I killed twenty. For the space of nearly 72 GENESEE FARMER. Mar. a month fror.i that time, tlie trees were thoroughly shaken almost every liay, anil ocuii.sionally until tiie loth of .Inly, though in llic latter part of the time very few were eaught. During the first month, the number killed from fifty trees .sometimes .inionnted to ."lOO each day ; in July hardly a dozen. 'J"he manner of taking them was efleetuai, tliough .somewhat laborious : a large white cloth was spread under the tree, reafhing as far a.s the foliage extended , the Ixxjy and the larger brunches were then repeatedly jarred with a l»ole about ten leet long, the end of wiiich was covered with thick cloth, and an old india rubber shoe to prevent injury to the barli, anii the insects as they fell were killed \ulh the fingers. .Shaking the tree or the branehes violently with the hand, slopped the operations of the Curculio for a short time, but they would not quit their hold ; to make them do lliut, required the sudden jar, such as was given by the pole. This is the mode of operating against the cur- culio that we recommend ; and beside this, to pick up carefully, and destroy all the punctured fruit that fall from the trees. QuES. 2d. We do not know what diseases our correspondent alludes to. The principal disease of the plum is the black knot, or toarl, the cause of which is not yet clearly determined — soine supposing it to be caused by the stings of the curculio, or .some other insect, and some to be owing to a deranged state of the sap. For our own part, we have found no difficulty witli this disease, and we think none others will, if the soil is properly cultivated, and these excresences re- moved as soon as they begin to appear. Salt is highly recommended by some experienced culti- vators as a remedy for tliis as well as for the curculio. .\so. M. Ivks, of Salem, says in the Horticulturist : I may fairly claim to have had some experience with salt, a% 1 have probably used as much or more of this article in the cultivation of the plum, as any inilividual, having ap- plied in February, \M^>, Jive hogsh-mh (of 8 bushels each.) on an acre, -and the year previous about one-tlnrd of this quantity ; and for the last two seasons my trees have pro- duced greatly, particularly the Green tiage." Dr. SHunTLEFi.', of Boston, who excels in rais- ing fine plum.s, says in a cotnmunication to the Horticulturist : In 1831), my plum trees were covered with the black fnn- .C{us, commonly known as the hlurk kiwi or war/. At the .same time they cast their fruit, so that I did not get speci- mens enough to decide the genuineness of the kinds. Ob- serving in several gardens that had l)een made on salt marshes, that the plum trees, in every case, were unusually vigoroas and healthy ; that they jiroduced full cn)pa, and did not cast their fruit ; I was led to the conclusion that salt was a preventive of the disease, and that it also destroy- ed the curculio. The next winter I gave each of my plum trees a dressing of about two quarts of salt. 1 directed my man to put it on in a circle, about twelve inches from the tree. [We pre- sume, meaning tliat the circle of salt did not come nearer the tnnik than twelve inches. — Kn. ] It being salt that was the rcsidum of a pork bairid, I cautioned liiin not to put on the brine. He did, however, put about a gaiiiin arounil one tree, and it killed it. The otliers blossomed well, and tlie fruit remained on the trees until fully ripe. In the spring I cut oH' all the fungi or warts, !)nt put nothing on. 'I'lie wounds healed up nicidy, and fn):n that time, 1 have been in the habit of luiiting on salt annually: and the only troulile now is, th;it my trees bear too much fruit, so as to destroy its fine quality, unless a portion is thinned out. In 1840, I set out some trees, (]uite covered w ith the fun- gus or warts. I treated them in the same manner as just described, cutting the trees deeply wherever any disease was found, and the next year the wounds were all healed, and no excrescences liave since appeard. Mr. Downing says : The Plum is naturally a marine tree, and it is surprising how much salt it will assimilate and thrive upon. We have, ourselves, given a single large tree a half bushel of salt itt. a season, applied to the surface of the ground in the spring, over an area as wide as the extent of the branches. Tlie tree was in a sickly and enfeebled state, and it had the ef- fect of restoring it to a healthy and luxuriant condition. — l!ut we consider tliis an extreme case, and should not re( - oinmend the abundant use of salt every year. (iuKs. ;^d. Time and process of grafting th-' Plum. — The time for grafting is just as .soon a* \ egetation starts in the spring, which is known by the swelling of the buds. In Virginia we suppose this occurs about the beginning of March — here, the latter end of that month, or beginning of April, as the season may be. The Cherry and Plum require to be grafted earlier than any other fruit trees, such as the Pear, Apple, &c. The process is the same in all trees, and for this we mu.st refer to back numbers of this paper, or to some of the books we have mentioned. Ilorticullural Premiums for 1847. TuR Horticultural Society of the Valley of the (Jene.see offers -^400 in premiums, for the ensu- ing year, as follows: Vegetables, .'?;40 : Fj-uit, %-200 ; Flowers and Plants, $124 ; Ladies' premiums for annual tlow- ers, )J;25 ; Native flowers, ^11. PREMir.MS FOR 184^. Herbaceous plants, best display, ,$!"> Flowering shrubs. do. lit Tulijjs, do 5 Hyacinths. do. .5 Herbaceous Pa'onies. do. r> Tree " do 5 The Northern Spy. — John .T. Thomas says in the last number of the Horticulturi-st — The rule may he laid down as nearly invariable, that in all cases the fruit of the Northern Spy ^vill b.» large, fine, and hand.'rome, provided the pruning and cultivation are sufficient to mriintam a vigorous ^^ron-tli of tlie t/oiiii;: hranrlie-i. Cultivation which does not produce tiiis effect, will not ac- complish the desired object. With regard to the value of this fruit for "market," I need only slate, that it commands a price two or three times as great as the Spitzeiiberg. Rhode Island (Jreening, and other tuie winter \arieties. One cultivator sold his entire crop the past season for !}:•.'. ■')U i>er liarrel. wliile most of our best winter fruil has sold consider.ibly less than a dollar pei- barrel. It will be seen that this corresj)oiids pi-ecisely with tlie opinions advanced by us in our last vol- ume, page 108, in noticing some statements made by Mr. W. R. Smith. To Correspondents. — Communications have been received from .1. H. Wright, Esq., New Haven, and A. W., of Marcellus. They will will receive attention in our next. C. Pierpont, AUru's Hill, N. Y. The apples you sent us are the Northern Spi/. Your re- marks as to late blossoming, hanging long on the tree, and keeping till July, are certain character- istics of this variety. Precioi s beyond rubies are the hours of youth and health, — Let none of them pass un- profitably away. 1347. GENESEE FARMER. 73 Golden Keioette. SYNONYMS. German (ioldon Reinelte. Kirke's Golden Keinette. Reinette Giclen, of the German.^. Reinetto Dore. ) r> i /• , i Reinette Jaune tardive. \ '^'""'' ^"^"^'^S'"'-^- Princess Noble, and many others. T.118 Apple is a great favorite in Eng- lartd, and more particularly on the Conti- nent of Europe, and like all other general favorites, is well furnished with a variety of names. It has fruited with us for three 1 years past, and we are now able to recom- mend it to orchardists and amateur fruit growers as a truly excellent and valuable sort. Mr. Ellwanger imported our tree from Germany some seven years ago. — ►Since it commenced bearing it has borne an enormous crop every year, more than iialf the fruit having to be thinned off. — The tree grows vigorously. Ours is on a paradise stock, on which it does well ; but we are sure it will do just as well as a standard. — It is noticed, but not figured, in Douming's Fruit and Fni/i Trees, page 129, (not 121 as the index has it.) We quota below the remarks and description, as being strictly correct: '"Tlie Golden Reinette is a very popular dessert fruit in England and on the continent, combining beauty and high fl.ivor. It is yet but little known here. " Fruit below medium size, very regularly formed, roundisli. a little flattened. Skin smooth, greenish, — becoming golden yellow in the shade, wa.slied and striped with fine soft red, on the sunny side, mingled with scattered, russet dot.?, ytalk long, and inserted moderately deep. Calyx large, set in a broad, but shallow basin. Flesh yellow, crisp, with a rich, sugary, or scarcely acid juice. October to January." The London Horticultural Society's Catalogue says it is "a handsome, regularly formed, and excellent dessert fruit, of first rate excellence; trees good bearers."' The Earl) Joe Apple. This is a seedling Apple of Western N. York, originated in Bloomfield, Ontario county, in the orchard of Oliver Chapin, Esq., of that place. It was first brought to Rochester by Judge Strong, who has had it bearing for a number of years; and it is now in the course of being dis- semminated as fast as scions or trees can be pro- cured. We have had an opportunity of learning the opinions of a large number of our best fruit growers and connosieurs, as to the merits of this fruit, and, without a single exception, they have pronounced it f/te finest of it-t season. W. R. Smith says in the Horticulturist — "It may safe- ly be set down as the best of any season." For our own part, we can say, that, although it par- takes of a deficiency, common, more or less, to many of our American Apples, that of high fa- vor, yet we have never tasted an apple more agreeable to our taste. It merits a prominent place among first class fruits, such as Dutchess of Oldenbiirgh, Grav- ensiein, St. Lawrence, Porter, Sfc. The tree while young is moderately vigorous, but when it attains a bearing size the growth is very slow ; it is a regular fine beai-er, and under careful cul- ture the fruit is generally perfect and beautiful. Fruit rather below medium size ; round and regularly formed — some specimens flattened ; skin, smooth, of a beautifiil bright red color, with stripes of darker in a pale yellowish ground; the whole surface covered with a delicate bloom, like a plum-stalk, short, set in a pretty deep, reg- ular cavity ; calyx small, closed, in a shallow basin slightly furrowed ; flesh white, tender and melting, like a fine pear ; flavor delicate and pleasant. The English language is a great puzzle. — Thus, one man maybe engaged in "sealing" on the water — anotlier in "ceiling" a room — anoth- er in "sealing" a letter, according to the best rules of Murray. 74 GENESEE FARMER. Mar. Fruit Trees.— Bestruction of Insect.s, Culture, Grafting, &c. BY A. HUIDEKOPKR, MEADVII.LE, PA. With the return of spring the attention of farmers will again be directed to their orchards, budding, grafting, pruning, &c.; and with the awakening interest in agricultural matters, all careful pomologists cherish the hope that a more general attention will be given not only to the right mode of culture, but also to the more effec- tual destruction of the injurious insects, which, for several years past, have been multiplying in our country. In addition to protecting insectiv- orous birds, one of the most effectual methods of accomplishing the latter, is the washing of fruit trees at the appropriate season. If incubation is perfected, and the young insect produced the same season that the egg is deposited, then the washing should take place as soon as the ovi- positer has accomplished its task. If hatching, however, is not effected until the following year, then early in the spring is a leisure and good time to anticipate and prevent the evil. A good deal has been said about the best ap- plication for this purpose — one recommending lime, another a solution of soft soap, and another a solution of potash. All these are very excel- lent, but sometimes fail of being applied from an unwillingness in the farmer to take a drive to the village in search of them, or from tlie false econ- omy which regards the slight expense of procur- ing them. If tliere is anything equally benefi- cial, and within every one's raach, we think it should be substituted, as doing away with the last apology which a lazy man can give for neglect- ing his trees ; and we think that this article may be found in wood ashes, of which every farmer has an abundance. 1 have tried the solution of black salts, the application of soap, and also that of wood ashes ; and so far as mv observation goes, for large trees with rough bark, the latter is quite as good, if not better than the former. — A wash of ashes and water can be made as strong as you please, and if put on some dry day, a good deal of the ashes will remain adhering to the bark, which the subsequent rains wash into the crevices. This wash, if applied in the sum- mer time, will, while the ashes remain on the tiee, make it offensive and disagreeable to the insects, and deter them from lighting upon it ; it also ultimately makes the bark smooth and healthy. Simple lime and water 1 should sup- pose would have the same effect. Whether tlie white-wash tliat is usually applied containing glue, and making a thick coating sufficient to ati'ect the solar and atmos])heric influences upon the tree, is equally good, I leave for those who have tried it to say — theoretically I should sup- pose it would not be. By those who wish for healthy and productive orchards, too much attention cannot be given to the bark of their trees. We frequently meet with foi-est trees whose interior has been almost entirely destroyed by fire or decay, and which yet seem healthy and floi-.rishing, by virtue of a vigorous bark ; and any one who has tried the experiment, must have observed how both shrubs and trees, that have become enfeebled by age and neglect, can be re-juvenated by attention to their exterior condition. We don't mean to recommend to any one to procure old or large trees for his orchard in place of young ones, but if he has an old apple tree worth improving, by removing the outside of tlie whole bark on it late in the spring, he will find that he has given to the tree much additional vigor. Upon smaller trees and shrubs a libei'al scraping with a trowel and an application of ashes and water will have the same effect. When trees grow in grassy land, a pretty good way to keep them from being sod-bound is to remove, in the fall, the sod for two or three feet around the tree, and on this turn about half a wheel-barrow full of manure ; the winter rains and snows will wash the strength of it down to the fibrous roots. In the spring the manure may be scattered about under the tree, and in lieu of it, substitute leached ashes. This, besides being beneficial to the tree, prevents the grass from approaching the stem of the tree during the sum- mer ; and what grass grows over the ashes is easily removed in the fall. I mentioned in an article on budding, in July last, that grafting could be done as well in Au- gust as in the spring. This is true so far as the condition of the tree and the scion are concerned ; but in observing the result of some grafting that I did on the last day of July, 1 notice that the scions that were screened l)y tlie other limbs, took and did well, while a few that were set on the extreme top of a tree, exposed to the sun, were destroyed by the heat, it is a good plan with regard to solar heat in grafting, to cover the grafting wax with a small strip of white pa- per, which, by reflecting the heat, gives addi- tional protection to the stock. In conclusion we would say, that the farmer who curries his horse twice a day, finds himself abundantly rewarded for his toil in the improved strength and appearance of his animals ; why won't he curry his trees one or twice a year, and reap a larger reward for the labor and the capi- tal thus invested 1 Transplanting Evergreens. Mr. Editor : — I have recently become a sub- scriber to the Genesee Farmer, and have this day received the first number. I observed at the head of the Horticultural Department, a pic- ture of a cottage, surrounded witli a few speci- mens of that beautiful evergreen tree, the "Bal- sam Fir." I thought I would send you, for publication, a iew hints on the subject that heads 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 75 this article— they being the result of several years experiance, which is allov/ed to be the best instructor. The popular idea has formerly been, and probably still exists in some measure, that ever- greens should be removed in the month of June, after vegetation has considerably advanced. — Some seven or eight years since, wishing to or- nament my grounds with the Balsam Fir, I adopt- ed the above plan, and the result was a total fail- ure. I have transplanted from ten to twenty fir treesannually, almost every yearsince; and have now nearly one hundred about my house grow- ing luxuriantly. I have learned by experience that, although the native soil of the fir is a swamp, they v, ill flourish better on rich, dry, gravelly, or sandy soils, than on low bottom lands where there is much water. My practice is to remove the trees from the swamp or nursery early in the spring, as soon as the frost is out of the ground ; dig them carefully, and not by any means allow the roots to dry, and set them in well prepared soil, and they are as tenacious of life as almost any other forest tree. The holes should be dug large, and a foot or more in depth, and then part- ly filled with cliip-dirt or muck, so as to raise the roots near the surface. In filling the holes, the earth should be mixed with fine chip-dirt, and a pail of water dashed in, so as to bring the earth in close contact with the roots. After the hole is filled, spread a bushel or more of chip- dirt, (a coarse article will answer,) about the tree, to retain the moisture during the drouth of sum- mer. In very dry weather, an occasional water- ing is necessary, the first season after transplant- ing. In soils partly, or wholly composed of clay, without the above preparation, I believe that nine- ty-nine trees in a hundred would die the first year. Three or four years since, I prepared a piece of ground for a row of fir trees, in the following manner, and with the following results : A land about six feet wide was plowed three or four times, turning the furrow outward each time, so as to make quite a trench in the centre, which i supplied plentifully with fine manure from the chip^ and barn yards. The land was then back- furrowed so as to bring it to a level, and the ma- nure and soil well mixed with the plow. My trees were carelessly p«/ZZerf from the swamp, and as carelessly planted. In a row of twenty- five or thirty trees, although they were six or seven feet in heighth, there was not a single fail- ure ; which I attribute principally to the above preparation of the soil. I have found chip-dirt to be the most valuable kind of manure, applied on the surface of the ground, around fruit trees and shrubs of every kind. The " whys and wherefores" I could explain, but 1 am reminded of the Printers' rule, "Be short." E, R. Porter. Prattshurgh, N. Y., Jan. 13, 1847. Culture of the Quince. Mr. Editor : — Will you or some of your correspondents give some information concerning the cultivalion of the Quince (—whether it may not be grafied with good success on stocks of other varieties of fruit, when grown on unfa- vorable soils? I have seen it grafted upon apple stocks, the past season, with promise of good success. 1 have never found any communication on this subject. Downing mere- ly says, "The better sort,s are frequently budded on com- mon seedling quince stocks, or on the common thorn." I have found its cultivation unsuccessful on a stiti' clay soil, while the apple and some varieties of pear grow luxuriously. If it can be budded or grafted w ith good success, what is the best time ? Very respectfully yours. Avon, La: Co., Feb. 1847. N. J. K. We have no doubt but the quince will unite upon the apple or pear, but we cannot say how successful the results would be. If any of our readers have experience of this sort, we will be glad to receive it. We know that it does very well on the thorn, and we should say that this would be the best stock to use under the circum- stances above stated. Grafting and budding the quince is performed at the usual seasons for these operations on pear and apple trees. Woodpeckers. Mr. Editor : — There is a small speckled bird called " Woodpecker," (I do not know its classical name,*) which frequently picks apple trees. I have known it sometimes almost to girdle the tree just below the branches, (and some- times also the larger branches,) by picking a regular row or circle of small holes, and sometimes several of them, jusE through the bark. I have not ascertained its object. Will you, sir, or some one of your correspondents, have the good- ness to inform me on the subject ? Are the little transgres- sors in pursuit of the eggs, or larvre, of insects? or do they pick the bark for food .' Is it advisable to kill them, or to let them alone ? Enquirer. Let them alone. They are only performing a service to your trees that you should do — that of removing the larvte and eggs of in.sects. It is only old, or neglected trees, where the bark and wood have become a prey to insects, that this bird attacks. It knows too well where its prey is to attack others. It does not feed upon bark or wood ; but it does upon ripe fruit, and gener- ally manages to get the first and finest. They are active, roguish fellows, and do much good as well as evil, in the garden and orchard. Neav Pkar. — A Seedling Pear has been orig- inated by Judge R. S. Livingston, of Red Hook, which was tasted by upwards of forty members of the New York Farmers' Club, and pronounced equal, if not superior, to the Virgalieu. The fruit is fair, of good size, prolific, and ripens in October. It was found wild in a hedge, and is now but eight years old, and bears freely. l. * The Woodpeckers belong to the genus Pints of Linnae- us : characterized as having the "bill long or medium size, straight, angular, wedge sh:iped at the tip , 7tostrils ba.sal, open, covered by setaceous feathers ; tongue round, veni- form ; legs strong ; toes two before and two behind — rarely one behind ; anterior toes pointed at their base, the posterior divided ; tad of twelve strong feathers, the lateral very short."— Ed. 76 GENESEE FARMER. Mar. LADIES' DEPARTMENT. Farmer's Daughters. Dri'mmond's Patent Candle Maker. — This is described in tlie New York Farmer and Me- chanic, as simply a Candlestick which makes its own Candles. That paper says: — " It is very in- It is often remarked with some surprise, thati geniously constructed, with a reservoir of tallow, farmers' daugliters seldom prefer husbands of Ifi"'' o^ similar materials for making candles, also that profession ; and many farmers believe, that K^ pl^ce in the bottom for a wick, which passes educating girls produces a disrelish for rural life, tiirough a tube in the center and comes in con- ■ • ■ • tact with the tallow on its being forced up, and, Others have thought the blame with mothers, in not confining them to business sufficiently to make it agreeable to them, or that they had ne- glected to impress them with the idea, that farm both going up together, form a perfect Candle, "ther in short or long length, as may be desired. The reservoir holds one-half pound of tallow. ers were the only men suitable for husbands.— enongh for four candles, and, when exhausted. In mv humble opinion, if they would look to j m"st be refilled Mhrough an opening at the top of themselves for the cause, they 'would be quite |t!ie reservoir.' The tube lias a screw cut upon sure of finding it. | '^ which, being turned, carries up a follower and It is not education we have reason to fear, but j •'^^"'^^'^ ^"t the candle." The thoroughly educated woman the want of it understands her duties and responsibilities better, and is far better qualified to discharge them than she otherwise could be ; neither do I believe want of employment to be any part of the reason. Our girls hear much sai PUBLISHEirS DEPARTMENT. Acknowledgments. We this month commence publishing a list d of the safety of the i gQj^^,:^j,-jj,^g ^^^ names of the agents and friends agricultural profession— of the almost sure inde-Lf ^i^^ Farmer who have obtained 13 subscribers, pendence of the farmer; but have they ever,^^. ^^.^^.^ ^^ ^i^^ current volume. The list will seen, or ever heard of inependence for the farm- kg continued in our next number ;— meantime ers wife ? Do they not see that for her there is ^^.^ j^^pg ^^ receive many additions from new no cessation from toil— that, as their father's lands | fi-jgnds, as well as those who have already sent increase, so does their mother's cares ? | f^.^^ 5 ^q 12 subscribers each. They hear that their father has worked hard\^ The list gives the number of subscribers for- long enough, and intends to relax from labor, i warded by each, as follows and only oversee his business, without hearing it even hinted that their mother could live more comfortably. Though they see their father em- ploy extra help when his work becomes trouble- some, (which makes the mother's task still hard- er,) they see no indication of her toil being ap- preciated as long as she can endure it ; and if help must be employed, it is not that she may live easier, but because she can not do what must be done. And when the farmer finally determines to take his ease, and sells or rents his farm, he pru- dently suggests to his wife the necessity (as he has given up business,) of her managing in such a manner as not to depend on him for funds; perhaps proposes to keep an extra cow, a few sheep, or something of the kind, to enable her to supply herself with necessaries. Who ever heard of a fanner's wife being able to live with- out work, while she had the use of her feet and hands 1 There is no class of women of whom so great an amount of care and labor is required, as among larmers, nor where the dependence of wives is more abject ; and while this is the case, it is as unreasonable to expect us to advise our daughters, or they to choose, to marry farmers, as it would be to expect, because a woman had married a drunkard, that she would advise her daughters to marry drunkards also. Covington, 1847. A Farmer's Wife. P. W. Van Alstvne, IC Henry Fellows. 50 Jas. Akh-ich, 13 J. H. Gould. 47 D. A. Agnew, P. M., Edw. Birdsall, 13 E. H. Gilbert, 37 48 J. M. Grover. IS Dr. E. Bo wen, 3i Jas. Gordon, P. M. 1(> E. C. Bliss, '24 D. T. Greeiileai; 14 E. S. Bartholomew. IS R. T. Howard, 4fJ C Brewer, 18 Erastus Hurd, 21 C. A. Bacon, P. M., 17 Wash. Hadley. 21 Paris Barber, 16 Aaron Hampton. 16 J. E. Beebe, lo D. Halsted, P. M.. 13 Ecfw. Burehell, 14 T. W.Hall, P.M.. 13 G. VV. Buel, 14 Thos. Harrop. 13 J. R. Brown, P. M, 13 E. B. Hawks, 13 Jno. Berrv, 13 John Hunt, P. M. 13 G. M. &, B. Copeland. .50 H. S. Jarvis, P. M. ■ 16 J. Chadwick, P. M., 32 M. Jackson, P. M.. 16 W. T. Codding, 21 S. Jaqueth, P. M.. 14 W. Chamberlain, P. M .21 C. A. Knox, P. 31., 23 L. P. Clark, P. M. IS Jas. Kevin, P. M.. 20 John Clow, 18 N. J. Kellogg, 13 0. C. Comstoek. jr.. 17 Jas. Liule, P. M., 28 Jno. Case. P. IM., 16 E. W. Lawrence. P.M. -24 Lincoln Cumniings, 16 T. T. Lake, P. M.. 20 \Vm. Cozzens, 13 G. H. Lapham, 14 W. J. Curiis, P. 31. 13 Jn). Lawson, 14 Henry Chapin, 1:3 CaUin Leet. 14 H. S. Carter, P. M., 13 J. Ladd, P. M.. 13 B. Densmore, 3(1 Thos. Lee, 13 (jJco. Dnnlap, 1<) l». McDonald. P. M • ?50 Jas. Ue Puy, 14 (,'. P. Stone, r S. D. Dudley, 13 H. Miinson, P. M., 27 John Davis, 13 H. McCnrty, P. I\L, 26 Moses Eames, JO I. N. Mead, 25 C. English, 30 R. Miller, P. M., 19 Hob" t Evans, 28 J. W. Merril, 19 M. Eager, P. M., 17 Chas. Miner. 16 S. A. Frost. 27 0. W. Moore, 16 L. C. Fargo, P. M., 2G D. D. T. Moore. P. M. 14 E. M. Foot. Ira L. Moore. 13 Wm. Frazer, P. M., 13 D. Munger, 12 l.esi Fay, P.M., 13 184^ GENESEE FARMER. 11 Prospects of the Farmer.— TJianks. Thanks to its numerous tirm and active friends, the Genesek Farmer is making line progress on its eighth voyage. The demand, for the present volume has been feuch that we were obhged to publish a second edition of the first number previous to tlie l.jth of January. We kave now, however, several thousand of that number on hand — and shall print a very large edition of the present (February) number, in order to furnish the entire volume to nil who may desire to become readers and supporters of the Farmer. Its Editors, and numerous Correspond- ents, (able and practical men,) are capable of making this paper worth ten times its sub-scripiion price to almost .every farmer in the country — and especially to those of Western New York. And, while we desire no jiatronage, we frankly ask the friends of industry, progress, and im- provement, to lend such portion of their inliuence toward extending its circulation as they tliink its merits may de- serve. Without liieir approval and aid, the Farmer would be restricted in circulation and influence — with them, we trust it will soon be second to none of its contemporaries in either respect. Post-Masters. Farmers. Editors, and all others to whom j we are indebted for timely and substantial favors, will please accept our grateful thanks — the only acknowledg- jnent we can now make in return for their liberality. — Pub. Farmer Office, Fcbnmry, 1347. [p= Persons ordering the Farmer will please slate wheth- er they have the January and February numbers. Rochester (N. Y.) Nursery. Fruit and Ornamental Trees and Shrubs. The Subscriber offers for sale a choice collec- tion of Fruit and Ornamental Trees, and Hardy Shrubs, which have been cultivated with great care, and are of suit- able size for tran.splanling this spring. Persons wishiu a succession of fruit, and not being familiar vvitii the neces sary varieties, fiy leaving the selectioit to the subscriber may depeiid npoti receiving the most desirable assortment. In every such selection, quality, and not the size of the trees, will be the rule adopted. 21),0l(0 of the celebrated Northern Spy trees, at .50 cents large, oTj cents medium, and small sizes at lower rates. The large quantity of trees furnished in this vicinity, for the last dozen years by this establishment — the excellence of the kinds furnished, when the selection has been left to the proprietor — and the fact, that another establishment ha.s of late adopted tlie same }ia:iie, is sufficient evidence of the excellent reputation that tliis establishment enjoys, and ren- ders a lengthy or puffing advertisement entirely unnecessary. inp For particulars see Catalogue, whicli may be liad by application. Orders from a distance will be carefully pack- ed and shipped according to directions. Nursery, East North St., 3 miles north of Rochester. Office 36 Front-st. March 1, 1847. SAJVJUEL MOULSON. MOUNT HOPE BOTANIC GARDEN AND NURSERIES, ROCHESTER. N. Y. The Subscribers respectfully solicit the attention of the public to their large and choice stock of TREES, SHRBS, and PLANTS, winch they ofler for sale the ensuing spring, (1847.) The collection of FRUITS embraces all the leading sorts of established merit, and most of the recent varieties of Eu- rope and America. No pains or expense have been spared in makinjr the collection as complete, in every way, as pos- sible. The trees are all thrifty, healthy, and well grown, ! and hare been propagated with the utmost exactness from ' specimen trees on this establishment, or from sources oftiie highest reputation for correctness. The collection of spec- imen trees, for testing the merits of the various sorts, is now among the largest in tiie United States. The assortment of Apples includes several thousand fine trees of the NORTH- ERN SPY, universally considered one of the best keeping apples yet known. Pears. — All the leading well known sorts, such as Made- laine, Dearborn's Seedling, Bartlett, :;ecke!, Virgalieu, &e.. and a small supply of the rare and unrivalled Sivan's Or- ange or Onondaga, Knight's Monarch, and Van Moii's Leon le Clerc : the price of these is $1 each. A few thousand trees of choice varieties can be furnished on. quince stocks. These are beautifully adapted to garden culture, and gen- erally bear the second, and older trees even the first year after planting. Plvms. — Besides the well known popular sorts, a small number of the Jefferson, Columbia, Lawreiice' s Favorite, and Deimison' s Superb are oficred at $1 each. Cherries— a collection of upwards of 40 of the best varie- ties, earliest to latest — beautiful trees. Peaches. — Forty choice varieties of established merit, in- cluding Tillotson, Early York, Crawford's Early, Jacque.s' Rare Ripe, Crawford's superb or late Malacatoon , &c. — beautiful trees. Ornamental Trees and Shrubs. — A large collection, inclu- ding all the finest popular articles in that line. Koses. — A superb collection of upwards of 250 select varieties. Double Dahlias — 100 beautiful varieties, including several of the finest fancy sorts, such as Harlequin, llluminalor, Mar- chioness de Ormonde, S^c. Descriptive priced catalogues (edition for 1846 & 7,) will be sent gratis to all post paid applications,, and only to such Trees and Plants packed in tlie best style, and shipped or forwarded according to orders. It will be for the interest of purchesers to send their orders early, in order to secure such kinds as they may want, and have them forwarded at the proper season. Address, post paid, Feb 1, 1847. ELLWANGER & BARRY. Winter Route for New York and Boston, VIA TROV AND GREENBUSH. Avoiding the expense, delay, and danger of crossing the River at Albany. Continuous Railroad Track from Rochester to Boston and Bridgeport, via Troy. The Cars leave Rochester at 1 P. M. and 9-4 P. M., daily, for Troy, through in 17 hours, carrying the United States Mail. The U. S. Mail Line for New York, leaves Troy at 6 A. M.. intersecting at East Albany the Western Railroad, which leaves at (J^ A. M. via Housatonic Road, through to Bridgeport, without change of cars or baggage, and to New York by day-light. The cars also leave Troy at the saine hour for Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Pittsfield, via Western Railroad, through in 12 hours to Boston, without change of cars or baggage. The trip is as quick, and the fair as low by Troy as by Albany, and passengers are set down and taken up by the cars directly in front of, and but a few steps from the Pub- lic Houses in Troy, thus avoiding the expense, exposure to cold and wet, and danger of crossing the river at Albany, at so 'early an hour as 6 oclock in the morning. The Housatonic Road has been relaid with the heavy H Rail, and the new and fast steamer Mountaineer placed on the route to run between Bridgeport and New York, for the passengers and the mails exclusively, which render the trip fiafc, pleasant, and expeditious. FREIGHT Will continue to be carried by Railroad until the opening of the canal, and that going east of Schenectady to Troy, New York, Boston, or any intermediate place, should be sent by way of Troy, care of L. R. Darrow, and avoid the delay, cartage, and transhipment in crossing the Hudson River at Albany. The Freight TarilV is the same by Troy as by Albany, and can be ascertained by calling at any of the Railroad Depots on the line between Buffalo and Troy. O' Remember, and mark freight via Troy, care of R. L. Darrow, Freight Agent, Troy, who will attend to receiving and transferring it to New York, Boston, and intermediate places, at Troy and Greenbush. March 1. N. RANDALL, Agent. Northern Spy and Swaar Apple Grafts.— The sub scriberhas a supply of scions catfrom the celebrated .Vorthern Spy and Swaar apple trees, from the Orchard of R. i. Hard, of Mendon, who has supplied the Rochester market with better apples of the kind mentioned than any other person. They can be sent by Express, and any orders (post paid,) shall be punctually filled. Price .$1,00 per hundred. Rochester, Feb. 20, 1847. JAMES H. WATTS. Ellwanger &: Barry's new Descriptive Catalogue for 1846 & 7 is just published, and will be sent gratis to all post paid applications. (iuERY. — Where can you obtain so much valuable Agri- cultural and Horticultural matter, for .50 cents, aa in the Genesee Farmer? 78 GENESEE FARMER. Mar. ROCHESTER COMMERCIAL NURSERY, MVI.N STREET— ONE MILE EAST OF THE COURT HOUSE, ROCHESTER, N. Y. Office "So. 1 Arcade Hall. The Subscribers olTer for sale the present sprifiii, a line assortment of TRUIT TREES, com- pri.'-ing several hundred of ilie most desirable varieties of Apple, Pear, Peach, Chekiiy, Plum, &c., &,c., ciiliivated with great care, thrifty, and warrmUed cor- rectly vnined. Northern Sjrj, Early Jof, and other choice Apples iu any quan- ly, and Onondaga and oth- er new Pears at regular Catalogue jr'ce^. \X'j' iH'ny of our trees are larger thun c n can be purchised clstw. ere. Pears on Uuince for Gardens. — We have some of the finest dwarf Pears ever offered for sale in this market, to which we nivite the attention of those per- sons wishing to purchase tliis deserijjtion of trees. Priced catalogues fur- nished to all post paid ap- BISSELL &, HOOKER. Deodar Cedar. plicants. March 1, Ul-i?. TO NEW YORK FARMERS and EMIGRANTS. ^^ Illinois Lands for Sale. — 115,000 .,JC acres, in tracts of 40, 80, li!0, 160, acres, or more, t ) suit purchasers. The lands are all first rate, and among the very best in the State, and are situated in the counties most densely settled, viz . Morgan, Scott, Cass, Mason, Menard, Green.' Sangamon, Logan, Christian, JMacon, McLean Woodford, and Macoupin. To actual settlers every reason- able indulgence will be given as to time of payment. The jwice from $3 to $.5 per acre. A correspondent of one the New York papers writes, rc- speclitig this section of Illinois, as follows ; Beardstown, Cass Co., 111., Jan. 10, 1C43. The Riches of the West—Gothainites on the H^/'7;g-.— It is now six weeks'since I left the city of Gotham, during which time 1 have seen considerable of the Western country, and I must say the beautiful prairies of Illinois far excel what I had anticipated, and this country may truly be called the garden of the world. Th(-re is nothing to prevent farmers in this country from getting rich, as the land is tlic most fer- tile in the world, and it \\ill produce everything grown in the vegetable kingdom. A New England man would hardly believe me if I would tell him that some farmers here produce ten thousand bush- els of corn and half as many bushels of wheat in a year, to say notiiing of cattle and hogs, of which some raise as many as five hundred head. One farmer told me he had raised, the last year, H,C)00 bushels of corn, and it was all produced by the labor of two men only. Cattle and sheep feed upon the prairies all winter, as they are seldom covered with snow." Mo.st of the above lands may be cultivated 100 years or more without manuring, being of the richest alluvial soil. The titles are indisputable and the lands will be sold at low prices and in quantities to suit purcliasers. Letters (post paid) addressed to I). B. AYitES, Esq., of .lacksonville, 111., or to the subscriber, will receive prompt ailention. As many persons out of the Stale have an idea that the taxes are very burdensome in Illinois, we state that they range from SL-OO to .$2,00 per annum on 80 acres of land. JOHN GRIGG, No. 9 Nortlt Fourthst. Philadelphia. March 1, 1847. ^ ^[3t] Peas Wanted. — Marrowfat and Field Peas wanted for k'hich the highest Cash price will be paid by RAPAL,1IE& BRIGGS, NEW SEED AND DIPLEMENT WABEHOUSE. GENESEE SEED STORE AND AGRI- CULTURAL WAREHOUSE. No. 10, Front Street, Rochester, N. Y. The Subscribers respectftiUy announce to the public, that they have opened the above establishment for the sale of GARDEN, FIELD, and FLOWER SEEDS, of all sortH—Agricitllnral and Horticultural Implements, Ma- chines, 4'C., lis-c. They intend to have always on hand a complete assort- ment of all the articles wanted in this line by the Farmer and Gardener. JN'o pains w ill be spared to procure articles of the best quality. No seeds will be oifered but such as are undoubtedly fresh and genuine — raised in the best es- tablishments of this and foreign countries. The implements will embrace all the newest and most approved kinds, from the best manufacturers in the country. Fruit and Ornament, l Trees, Shrubs, Plants, S^'c, will be furnished to order from one of the best establishments in the country — the well known Mount Hope Nurseries. The principal conductor of this establishment has had many years practical experience in the business in Roches- ter ; and being well known to a large portion of the agri- culturalists in Western New York, the undersigned hope, by devoting constant and careful attention to the manage- ment of their business, to merit and receive a liberal share of patronage. Farmers and others interested, are request- ed to call at the Genesee Seeo Store. The proprietors of this establishment gratefully acknowl- edge the very liberal patronage v\hich they have received from the public the past season, and most respectfully solicit a coniinuation of the same. From the very liberal share of patronage we have re- ceived during the past season, (which with us is the first and one of experiment.) leads us to believe that our exer- tions to get up an establishment of this kind, and to offer no Seeds or Implements of any kind but such as can be de- pended upon, duly appreciated by the generous public. We would say to the Farmers and others in this section and at a distance, that we are now making a large addition to our stock of Seeds and Implements, any and all of which we will sell at the lowest pricrs. Rochester, Feb. 1, 1847. RAPALJE Sc BRIGGS. New Agricultural Implesnent aud Seed Store, AT AUBURN, N. Y. The Subscriber is now opening a Depot for all kinds oi AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTi^, where the farmers can find, in their season, alt of the most impro- ved Implements manufactured in the United States. He has now on hand Rich's Patent Straw Cutter, Burrall's Premium Corn Sheller, the best ever invented, Arnold"s Washing Machines, &:c. He will also have in their season, a choice assortment of Garden, Field, tuid Flower Seeds, which are put up in the choicest manner, and are waranted genuine. JAMES R. GOOPER. No. 84 Genesee-st., Auburn, N. ]^.— Manufacturers who have Implements to dispose of will find it to their interest to leave them with me, as it is the only Agricultural Depot in Cayuga County. J. B. C. Agricultural Implements. In order to accommodate the subscribers to the Farmer, from whom frequent inquiries and orders for implements are received, I have made arrangements to supply the fol- lowing articles : Pitts' Thrasher and Separator, price, $150 00 The above including Horse-Power, 250 00 Pitts' Corn and Cob i\!ill, 40 00 Seymour's Sowing Machine, 45 00 Sanford's Straw-Cutter, 15 00 Burrall's Patent Corn-Sheller. 10 00 Also, most kinds of Plows, Cultivators, &:c., &c., at the usual prices. As my only object is the accommodation of subscribers tn the Farmer who reside at a distance, (without foe or reward,) all orders should be post paid and accompa- nied with the cash. The implements will be carefully se- lected, and shipped per order. D. D. T. MOORE. Fanner Office, Rochester, September, 1846. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 79 REMOVAL. The Rochester Agricultural Ware House has been removed from Front-street to No. 23 Biifililo-street, Talman Block, opposite Reynolds' Arcade. See advertise- ment below. Rochester Agricultural Ware-House, HARD-WARE AND SEED STORE. {No. 23 Buffalo st.. opposite Re'piolds^ Arcade.) Where can be found most kinds of GARDEN and FIELD SEEDS, Hard-ware, Tin-ware, Wooden-ware, Willow-ware, House Trimmings. Kitchen Furniture, &c. The late proprietor of this Establishment, (Thos. Nott,) feels grateful to his many patrons for their very liberal pat- ronage during the past year, and would solicit a continuance of the same — promising to sell them as good articles in his line, and as cheap, as can be purchased at any other estab- lishment west of Boston or New York. He has formed a co-partnership with Mr. V,. i. Elliott — and the business of the establishmeut will hereafter be conducted under the lirmofNoTT &. Elliott. We shall keep constantly on hand, a full assortment of Shaker Garden and Flower Seeds, the reputation of which needs no comment. Wt are conriiuially manufacturing the celebrated Massa- chusetts Sward C Fiow — to which has been awarded the greatest number of Premiums — which we shall sell at the low price of $7, with an extra point. Also — shall keep on hand an assortment of the various approved Plows and Points, Cultivator Teetli, Roo: Cutters, Straw Cutters, and Corn Shellers — with a hundred and one other articles, too tedious to mention. Farmers from a distance, as also those in our immediate \icinity, are respectfully solicited to call at our new estab- lishment, and examine our assortment before purchasing elsewhere. NOTT & ELLIOTT, Rochester, Jan. 1, 1847. No 23 Butialo-street. ROCHE.STER NEWSPAPERS. ROCHESTER DAILY DEMOCRAT, TRI-WEEKLY DEMOCRAT, and MONROE DEMOCRAT, the largest Daily and Weekly Papers west of Albany ! PRINTED ON Taylor's impkoveh napier steam press. The Rochesler Daily Democrat is one of the oldest and largest daily newspapers in Western New York, and contains a far greater amount of reading matter, than any daily paper west of Albany. Its columns will al- ways aftbrd ample room for a full summary of Foreign and and Domestic News, without the inconvenience to which smaller dailies are subjected of muiillating or suppressing important news. Corret, early, and full reports of the pro- ceedings of the National and State Legislatures will also be given during their sessions. The latest New York, Roches- ter, Buff do, and Western fliarkets will always be found in its columns, with extensive Commercial and Statistical ta- bles, of vast importance to all business men. THE MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH is already completed from Washington to Balfalo, and will very soon he extended to nearly every State and commer- cial city in the Union. The proprietors of the "Democrat' Will avail themselves of its advantages to obtain regular daily as well as special reports of every thing important in the way of news or business. The Tri- Weekly Democrat is issued every Tuesday. Thursday, and Saturday mornings, and contains every thing which appears in the liaily. To those who have only Tri- Weekly Mails, it w ill be found exceedingly convenient and useful. The MONROE DEMOCRAT IS isjued from the same ofliee every Tuesday morning, and iS the largest weekly paper v:est of t'le City of Ae-w; York. — It will contain an immense amount of reading matter upon Agricultural, Literary, and Miscellaneous subjects, together with News, Markets, Congressional and Legislative pro- ceedings contained in the Daily. Terms.— To mail subscribers the terms are as follows : Daily, (city sub.,) $8 per year, or (by mail) §6 in advance. Tri- Weekly. $5 " $4 " Weekly Democrat, $2 " •' Packages of ten subscribers to the Weekly, $15 Address orders to A. STRONG &; CO. Proprietors of Daily and Weekly Democrat, Rochester. ROCHESTER SEED STORE. [Established in 1831.] No. 4 Front Street, near Buffalo Street. By J A 31 E S P . FOGG. The subscriber begs leave to say to Farmers, and others, who have for the last three years so liberally patronized the Old Iioche.-:fn- Seed Store, that he has fitted up tlie Store, No. 4 Front street, on the west side of Frtnt street, where he will be happy to see all who may want any article usu- ally to be found in a Seed Store. The subscriber is well aware of the important relatior. which the seedman holds to the whole farming communi- ty, and that on his honor and veracity the crop and profit of a season in some measure depend. The greatest care has been used in selecting the seeds ofiered at this establish- ment for the ensuing year, and they can be relied upon as pure and genuine, carefully selected and raised from the very best varieties, and properly cured. Many kinds were raised in the immediate vicinity of this city, by Mr. C. F. Crosman, and under the inspection of the proprietor ; oth- ers were raised by experienced seed growers, and all can be recommended as genuine and true to their kinds. AGENTS for the sale of seeds by the package, put up a' the old Rochester Seed Store ; Attica, H. D. (Jladding, Wyoming, J. C. Farris & Amsterdam, .1. W. Sturtevant Son. Auburn, Hudson &, Buckbee Cleveland, Ohio, J. W. " James B. Cooper, Watson,^ Alb/on, Charles W. Perkins, Columbus, O., John Miller Bnfialo, W. &, G. Br van'. Mount Venion, O., H. A. Batavia, l.uc-As Sea\er, Raymond &.Co., Brockport, A. 15. Bennet, Sandusky City, O., W . T. Cananxiaigua, L. C. Cheney &. A. K. West, & Co., Toledo, O., Raymond & Caze7tovia, Dr. A. Ford. Co.. Castile, Halsted &, May, Adrian. Midi., Howard, Elmiru, Tracy Beadle, Smith, & Co., Geneva, Hemiup &, Cone, Detroit, Mh., J. \V. Strong Geneseo, L. Turner. Jr., Homer, W. Sherman &, Son, Monroe, Mh., L. B. Wing, /^/iara, Lewis H. Culver, Pontine, " Rogers &Dun- Lockport, S, H. Marks &. Co klee, Maniford, J. Phelps &Co., Ypsilanti, Mich., Hewitt, Mount Morris, R. Sleeper, Brothers & Co., Oswego, C. & E. Canfield, Chicago, III.. N. Sherman " Meade & Carrington Milwaukie, W. 2^., Holton Perry, R. H. Smith, & Goodall, Penu Van, John H. Laphara, " W. M. Cunning Paivnira, Wm. Blay, ham. Port Byron, Kendrick & Hamilton, C. W.,'ii.Y^etr Yates. (fc Co., Scottsville. Garbutt & Co., Kingston, C. W. C. Heath Schenectady, D. L. Powell, London, " Ed. Adams, Syracuse, rallman & Wil- St. Catharines, C. W., L. liams. S. St. Johns. Utica, J. E. Warner &Co., Toronto, C. W. R. Love. Troy, J. Daggett & Co. Port Hope, " C. Hughes Garden Seeds put up at this establishment in small pa- pers, may be found with mostof the merchants in the States of New York, Ohio and Michigan, and in Canada. Rochester, N. Y. JAMES P. FOGG. Back Volnmss of the Genesee Farmer — The sub- scriber has on hand the Volumes of the Genesee Farmer for 1841, 1842, 1343, 1844, and 184-5— neatlv bound, which hewillsell very cheap. JAMES P. FOGG. Rochester Seed Store, Front-st. Seedlins: Apple Trees wanted.— The subscriber wishes to purchase a few thousand seedling Apple Trees. Apply personally, or by mail, to S. MOULSON, Rochester, Jan. J, 1847. Cash for Clover and Timothy Seed.— 500 bushels Clover and Timothy Seed, wanted at the Genesee Seed Store and .Agricultural Ware Hou.-e, Front street, by RAPALJIE &BRIGGS. Straw Cutters, of all the ?nost approved kinds, used Western N. Y., for sale cheap, by RAPAL.TE 7,0U y,')!i l.li 1,12 53 3,00 a,oo 3,00 Pork bbl, .... 12,50 Pork, fwt 4,00 5.00 Beef, owl, 3.50 4,00 Lard, lb, 7 f! Butter, lb 10 14 Cheete, new lb ! 5 fi Eggs, doz, 14 Poultrv. .- 5 TalWvv G 7 Maple Sugar, . . 6 7 Sheep Skins, 38 50 Green Hides, lb 3.' Drv " ---- 8 Calfskins,.... (i 7 V. M. ; market [lit/ Mugndic Telegraph.] Nk« Vokk, Feb. 21- Pearls are uji to $5,G2.i n |5.71 : .s.iles 4!) I)hl continue.s sieudy. gales 4000 bbl.s. rionr ; Gencce $7 for export, nnd 1100 do. Oswego at f^'i.^i. To nrrive in JMay, 2tJ00 bWs. Gene- see, sold at i|?6. There were some sales mixed !Mi<-liigan at $6,87i, and 400 do. round hoop Indiana at |ti,(j9. 700 bbls. fancy Genes."e ut $7,50. Meal is ^c:\rcQ for early delivery ; to arrive in March it is worth $-3 ; .--lies 1000 since the steamer at .$5, 12.J. .4 sale GOO bbls. IJye tlour, to arrive at the opening of riv- er to .\lb;iny ai .s4,75. Corn r-.itlicr heavy ; sales 30,000 bu. ranged from 07 els. to $1. For [iarcel>i corn near at hand, ,$1. A lot of 20,000 i)U. to arrive on the opening of canal at 75 cts.; and some 5000 do. from the head of river at 90 cts. Sales 1500 do. old cut for distilling at 93 cts. Barley is neglected. Sales 1G,0''J bu. Oats to arrive from Albany at 44 for ex- port. Oals on the spot 50 cts. and scarce. Pork is quiet; .sales 500 bbls. at $13 a $15. Sales 60,000 lbs. pickled hams at 9.J cts.: 22 hhds. marked hams at Hi cts. ; and 2!I0 city 12 cts. Prime Lard firm ; sales 700 kegs at 11 cts. 2000 do. and 400 tierces lOj a lOJ 1000 packages Cheese 7h : Butter in good demand at 14 and 24 cts. PUBLISHER! OTICES To Post Masters, Agents, &c. We request all Post-Masters to act as Agents for the Far- mer, according to our club terms. Also such other persons as feel an interest in extending the circulation of the Far- mer, and thus promoting Improvement in Agriculture, Hor- ticulture, and their kindred sciences. Wo shall feel truly grateful to any and all persons who will lend their assist- ance. -\.ny person sending us IG subscribers, (remitting $6.) shall receive an extra copy gratis — or a bound volume of the Farmer for 184G. To Clubs. — .\ny Post lAIaster or other person who has sent us eight or more snhscribers, will be furnished with any additional number o( copies at the club price— 37^ cents each. We hope those who have formed clubs, will bear this in mind, and forward the subscriptions of such as may hereafter want the Farmer. Back numbers can be supplied -—so that all may have the entire volume. Hr Wr. oecasionally send specimen numbers of the Farmer to Post Masters and others who are not subscribers. Will those who thus receive it, introduce the paper to the notice of their friends and acquaintances, and obtain and forward subscriptions according to our club terms? We think it will compare favorably w ith other agricultural pub- lications, especially when its size and tkrms are taken in- to consideration. Those who like the manner and matter of the Farmer can essentially aid in sustaining it, by exercis- ing a portion of their influence in its behalf— and we sliall duly appreciate and acknowledge all such favors. JJ" All letters to the Publisher should be post paid or free. OCT Back numbers promptly forwarded to new subscribers. ^rj" Scf- Publishers' Acknowledgments, page 76. 1847.] voLUMK vai. [1847. GENESEE~FARraER, \ MONTHLY AGRICULTURAL AM) HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL : Illustrated v:ith manerons engravings of Improved Implemeiits, Farm Buildings, Domestic Animals, Fruits, &c. &c. The Proprietor of the Farmer gratefully acknowledges an INCREASE of over Four Thousand subscribers, since the commencement of the current volume. He considers this the most conclusive evidence of the merit and popularity of the work— -and respectfully presents it to the friends of Im- provement for their examination and patronage. Dr. Lee. its principal Editor, is at the head of the ' Western N. Y. Agricultural School ' — and his ability, and the means at his command for obtaining and disseminating information rela- tive to the Science and I'raclice of Agriculture, are un- surpassed by any agricultural writer in the country. — The Editor of tlie Horticultural Depfirtment, P. Barry. Esq., (of tlie 'Mt. Hope Guden and Nurseries,') is one of the most experienced Horticulturists in the State. Each number of tlie Farmer contains Twenty-four large Octavo Pages, and is illustrated with handsome and appropriate engravings, it is printed on new type and good paper. Since ils enlargement from 16 to 24 pages, (in January, 1S4G, ) it is universally pronounced the cheapest AND BEST paper OF ITS SIZE AND KIND IN THE LTnION. Terms— 50 cents a year, in advance; Five Copies FOR $2 ; Eight FOR $3 ; Thirteen for $5. Any person sending us 13 subscribers, (remitting $5,) will receive an extra copy gratis. Volume 8 will commence in January, 1847, — and all sub- scriptions should be sent in previous to that time, if con- venient, in order that the publisher may determine hov. large an edition will be necessary. 03= Specimen numbers sent gratis to all post paid appli- cations. All friends of Agricultural and Horticultural Im- provement who receive a copy of this Prospectus, are re- quested to Act as Agents for the Farmer. Subscriptionii may be sent (post paid,) at the publisher's risk. Address D. 1). T. MOORE, November, 184G. Pahlisher, Rochester, N. Y. XT' Back numbers supplied to new subscribers. Contents of this Number. To Correspondents ; Allen's American Agriculture : Report of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, 57 Hop Culture, 58 Transactions of the American Agricultural Association, 59 Maple Sugar, 60 Hints for the Month ; Price of Breadstuff's : American Journal of Ag. and Science ; European Agriculture, 61 Importance of Experimenting ; Scientific Farming ; Large Cattle ; Asparagus, 62 A new disease in Grasses ; Potato Rot, .-. 6.3 The Starving in Ireland ; Agricultural Information Wanted; A Curios.'t •, 64 Bone dust as a Manure ; Shelters for Stock ; Plant Trees, - 65 Saxon and Merino Sheep ; Cleaning Clover Seed ; Wood Ashes, 66 Chess, a new case of Transmutation ; A few words about Chess ; Origin of the Upas Tree Story 67 Meteorological Observations ; Preservation of Fence Posts; Agricultural Ware House, 68 Broad or f:it-taiied Seep : Buckthorn for Hedges, 69 N. v. State Ag. Society ; Cultivation of the Cranber- ry ; Corn in New Jersey ; Bees,_ 70 horticultural department. Hint-i for tlie Month ; Questions about the Plum tree, Curculio, &c. , 71 Horticultural Premiums for 1847 ; The Northern Spy ; To Correspondents, 72 Golden Rcinette ; Early Joe Apple, --.. 73 Fruit Trees — Destructian of Insects, Culture, Grafting, &c. ; Transplanting Evergreens, 74 Culture of the Quince ; Woodpeckers ; New Pear, ... 75 ladies' department. Farmer'.^ Daughters, .- 7t> Steam Press of Jfrome & Brother. Vol. 8. ROCHESTER, N. Y. — APRIL, 1847. No. 4. THE CiENESEE FARMER : Issued the first of each month, in Rochester, N. Y., D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE, EDITOR. p. BARRY, Conductor of the Horticultural Department, Fiity Cents a Year: Five copies for $2 — Eicht copies for $3. Subscription money, by a regulation of the Post-Master General, may be remitted by Post-Masters free of expense. [nr All sub- scriptions to commence with the first number of the volume. PcBucATioN Office in Talman's Block, Buffalo street, opposite Reynold's Arcade — where all subscriptions not forwarded by mail should be paid. Post-Masters, and all other friends of Agricultural Jour- nals, are requested to obtain and forward subscriptions for the Farmer. Address D. D. T. Moore, Rochester, N. Y. 0= The Farmer is subject to newspaper postage only. JUJ The Pmspe^it. At no period within our remembrance has the prospect of the American Farmer been so full of promise as at present. The facts that there are so many thousands of liuraan beings in Western Europe, almost entirely depend- ent on the potato plant for their ordinary mean? of sub- sistence— and that there is no cheaper article of fo)d down to which Avarice can force Humanity, but thes^fnil lions of our race must be brought up to the the daily consump- tion of maize, and other cereal plants — are destined to exert a most powerful influence on the foreign demand for American bread-stuffs. Although the present suffering of the destitute in Europe is awful to contemplate, yet it f.s consoling to believe that this fearful dispensation of Providence is to be made the extreme of human depres- sion— the turning poiut from which Man is to commence rising in his daily physical comfort, and in the enjoyment of that just care and consideration which are due from one accountable being to another. A higher standard of comfort for the laboring millions of Europe, and especitlly of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, is inevitable. These four United Kingdoms are now annually adding some 400,000 souls to their previous numbers. Consider for a moment the vast quantity of food which an army of 400,000 persons will consume in a year. Then con- template the yearly addition of such an army to the home islands of the British Crown. Then recollect the pro- Sreas of Civilizition, the extension of that Christian,! hat (iod-like maxim "Love thy neighbor as thyself," and you will see that the demand for our surplus food must be great, in all time to come. While each year adds scores of millions to the mouths to be fed on this planet, it adds nothing to the surface of soil for cultivation. How important, then, that infor- mation in tillage, in rural knowledge, and true science, be widely diffused among the farmers of the United States ? To scatter broad-cast over the land the practical wisdom of the best agriculturists in America, some hun- dreds of whom honor this journal with their correspond- ence, there is no other agricultural paper so cheap as the Genesee Farmer. Only three shillings a year, where eight copies are taken together — a large octavo volume of about 300 pages, with original engravings, &c., at thirtj. seven and a half cents ! The very liberal Publisher has rJOOO extra copies which must be sold before they can fulfil their high mission. As a Horticultural journal the Farmer is worth five times its cost to subscribers. Who will not lend a hand to extend its circulation and usefulness? — The expense of the publisher is large, and he richly de- serves a mammoth subscription list. Farmers, teach one another. Is not the united experi- ence of 20,000 tillers of the soil worth something to each man that shall avail himself of their practical knowledge? Peruse this number of our journal carefully, and see if it is not indeed a most useful medium through which a score of practical agriculturists instruct thirty thousand of their fellow farmers, while they learn from others ninety- nine ons-hundredths of all that they themselves know? Again we say, Farmers and Gardeners teach one another ; and all aid the publisher in extending the circulation of hi.s very cheap periodical. Think for a moment how much good might easily be done if each subscriber would only add one more to the list in his neighborhood. Does any one who knows the Editor doubt that his whole heart ia devoted to the advancement of Agriculture, and the ele- vation of those that till the earth ? His hope of useful- ness lies mainly in the extensive circulation of the Farmer. The many errors we all commit, afford proof positive that all have much to learn. Let us then, one and all, faith- fully study our noble profession, that we may attairi true agricultural knowledge. As THE New Post Office Law limits the pnvilege of publishers, relative to sending specimen numbers, pros- pectuses, &,c., to individuals, we request subscribers to introduce the Farmer to the notice of their agricultural friends — particularly in those sections where it is not gen- erally circulated. 82 CtExesee farmer. April Milk --Its Production and Properties. There is no product of modern husbandry that better deserves the study of the farmer than that of Milk. It is the natural and most appro- priate food for the young and growing bodies of the highest order of living beings. Milk is re- [the reader. will be likdly to grow better and better, for many generations to come, as it has already been im- proved for the production of milk, butter, and cheese. It is the improvement of the quality, and an increase of the quantity of milk from cows already iu hand, that now claim the attention of The writer has charge and the man- markable for holding in solutiorr every element ^igement of 50 cows belonging to the "Rochester required by nature to form lean meat, tendon, I Milk Company." Experience at this establish- bone, brain, nerves, hair, wool, and every other j "^ent has shown that steeping, or soaking cut organized substance found in the body of man, or : corn stalks in boiling water, or other food for bis domestic animals. When we compare the yield j cows, greatly increases the secretion of milk. — of this life-sustaining fluid, as dr iwn from the best j Carrots are regularly fed at least once a day to cows in civilized society, wit i that afforded by each cow. We intend to plant ten acres in car- the native wild cattle of Calif(Mnia, or the unim- li'ots and live with sugar beets, for feeding cows proved breeds of Missouri and southern Illinois, ! this season. The company have six acres of we witness a demonstration of the fact that, the natural secretion of milk can be vastly augment- ed by artificial means. It is a practical question of great moment to determine whether human skill and science can farther improve the milk-forming capacity of the one million of cows now kept in the State of New York. Can any available change be made, either in the breeding or feeding of these ani- mals, by which any given quantity of grass, roots, ©r gfain will yield more milk, more butter, and more cheese than it now does ? Is it possible in the course of time to produce a million of cows in this State all of which shall be as valua- ble for dairy purposes, as the one thousand best cows now kept in it ? That such a result can be accomplished, we entertain not a doubt. And were it accomplish- ed, the nett productive value of the cows of New York would be increased five- fold beyond what it now is. Let us suppose that the annual ex- pense of keeping a cow is ten dollars, making the cost of a million ten millions of dollars. As a whole, the capital invested in this property would yield a fair interest if the cows gave a nett profit of two dollars each. To yield this, each cow must pay all expenses and one quart of milk a day for 200 days in a year, worth a cent a quart. If all the cows in the State could be made to pay all expenses and yield five quarts of milk a day surplus, where they now yield but one quart, it is plain the profits would be five times larger than they now are, so far as pounds of but- ter, cheese, pork, and other products of the dairy are concerned. We make these preliminary remarks, because farmers are apt to forget that a cow which yields from a given amount of forage consumed only one quart of milk a day, over and above the ex- pense of her keep, is really worth only one fifth as much for dairy purposes, as she would be if her daily product was five quarts instead of one, surplus. It is not our present purpose to enter into the matter of breeding cows on scientific and physi- logi c al principles, in order to show how any race winter rye sown for early feed by cutting the same. The cows are kept in a stable or yard the year round. Major Stewart, who has had the control of the farming operations for the last three years, is confident that he has cut full eleven tons of dry corn fodder from a single acre sown broad-cast — the land of course is very rich. Oats and peas cut green are excellent for soiling, and on suitable land yield well. Clover mown, and about half made into hay, is capital food for cows. By keeping all animals off the field, ma- nuring well with the things that nature uses to make clover, and seeding thick, three heavy crops may be cut in a season. All ruminant animals need a vai-iety of food to preserve their systems in a healthy condition. Hence, a feed of clover, timothy, oats, peas, corn and cob meal cooked, brewer's grains, shorts, cornstalks, potatoes, tur- neps, carrots, beets, pumpkins, &c., can be vari- ously combined so as to suit the appetite or whim of each cow, and cause her to elaborate a generous quantity of milk, if nature has endowed her with the power for so doing. Water, salt, pure air, and clean stables must all be strictly attended to, as well as regular feeding and milking. Repeated analyses made by pupils in the labor- atory of the editor, show that two pounds of good milk*contain as much dry matter, exclusive of water, as one pound of fresh beef steak. The latter usually has 2.'i per cent, of dry solid meat, and milk 121 percent, of cheese, butter, and sugar. Of the twelve and a half parts of solid matter in 100 of milk as it comes from the cow, we usually find not far from three and a half butter, four sugar, and five cheese. The sugar of milk is obtained by evaporating whey to one-third or less of its bulk, and placing it in a warm oven to form crystal of sugar just as crystals of com- mon salt may be formed by solar evaporation. — Before evaporation, care should be taken to separate all the curd and oil or butter from the whey. We may take occasion, if we can find room, to describe the process by which any in- telligent person may test the quantity of cheese, butter, sugar, and water in the milk of any cow he may have on his farm. 1847. GENESEE FARMER 83 f. ■ There is but little doubt that the casein or curd ;in milk is held in solution by the presence of soda, which being neutralized so soon as lactic acid is formed in warm weather, the curd be- comes thick, and whey is evolved. The sal. soda of the shops is cheap, and the addition of a few drams in a p-an of sweet milk, will keep it so for 8 or 10 hours after it would become sour and coagulated without some chemical check. — Soda does no injury v/hatever either to butter or milk, for tea or coffee. Where cream is cliurned, its temperature should be about 55 degrees ; if all the milk is churned, its temperature should be ten degrees higher. — Considerable care is necessary to separate all the butter from the butter milk. By evaporating the latt'?r to dryness, and testing for butter,, we often find a quantity which, if saved, would add con- siderably to the products of the dairy during a season. Still greater care is necessary in making cheese, not only to coagulate all the casein, (cheese,) but to save from running into the whey the oil or butter in the curd. Cheese is apt to be injured by an excess of rennet, an excess of salt, or those of a bad quality. "Farmer's Agricultural Chemistry." We have received a long and fairly written defence of the above work from its author, in re- ply to our criticism, which we should gladly publish, if we could do so injustice to the many pressing demands on our columns. The subjects discussed relate to abstruse points in chemical and geological sciences. Dr. Rodgers has quite as good a right to entertain and express his opin- ions on these questions as we have ; but neither has a right to fill this journal with disputes, to the exclusion of matter of a more useful, and practi- cal character. Our criticism. Dr. R. will live to acknowledge, has done both him and his book an essential service — for it has prompted him to re- examine all his authorities, extend the sphere of his research, and correct whatever his maturer judgment shall regard as doubtful, or erroneous. This is precisely what we desired — not to give pain to him, nor to injure the sale of his book.^ — I He says : " The second edition of my book, enlarged and corrected, will be forthcoming, and I will send you a copy, which, iif it passes through the Jire, may come out unscathed, and with a better reputation than its not unlucky predeceswr. ' We ask the author to consider us as his friend, to weigh well our present remarks on the most important points in his communication now be- fore us, which we copy : " On page 49 of my book it reads, ' As the carbon and nitrogen are derived from the atmosphere, the benefit of manur- ing consists exclusivehj in the supply of the salts, and soluble earthy matters essential to the development ofplatits.' You say, ' This carries theory farther than facts and experience will wafrant.' On this subject I will give you the conclusion of Liebig in his own words. Agricultural Chemistry, page 5, he says : ' The carbon must be derived from other sources ; and as the soil does not yield it, it can o7dt/ be extracted from. the atmosphere. The facts which we have stated in the preceeding pages, prove that the carbon of plants must be derived exclnsivelij from the atmosphere.' Again, p. 12, ' Plants, and consequently animals, must therefore derive their nitrogen from the atmosphere.' Page 14. ' Dy means of manure, an addition is only made to the nourishment which the air supplies.' Page 15. ' No conclusion can have a better foundation than this, that it is the ammonia of tti>- atmosphere that furnishes nitrogen to plants.' " My position, then, is sustained upon the authority of » (•heraist who stands second to no man living as an analyst and experimenter." The above is your strongest evidence against the soundness of our criticism. It devolves on us to show tliat ^-^ou wholly mistake the meaning of your " authority," or that Dr. Liebig as well as Dr. Rodgers is mistaken. That plants and animals naturally die and rot on the surface of the earth, will not be denied by any one. Nor will it be disputed that v/hile decaying, they load the surrounding atmosphere with various gases, chief among which are car- bonic acid and ammonia. Water has a strong affinity for both of these gases. A common smelling bottle will give the unlearned reader fome idea of what ammonia in water is; and a glass of foaming soda water, some notion of car- bonic acid gas escaping from water when liber- ated from the great pressure of a soda fountain. The ni'ins, snows, and dews alike bring to the earth more or less ammonia and carbonic acid, and as the water enters the roots of growing plants, the gases named pass with it into the cir- culation of these living beings, which re-organ- ize the elements of former plants and animals, in their various tissues. So far we all agree. — Now for the matter in which we disagi-ee. Dr. R. says " the benefit of manuring consists exc/?i- sively in the supply of the salts, and soluble earthy matters essential to the development of plants." We say, " this carries theory farther than facts and experience will warrant." Manure is vegetable or animal matter in the process of decomposition. A sound, healthy an- imal or plant is not manure ; nor is a ton of sound grain, flesh, hay, or wood, manure. Sup- pose a farmer has a ton of rotting straw mixed with a like weight of the dung and urine of his horses, cattle, and sheep, duly spi-ead and plowed in, so as to be in contact with the roots of an acre of growing corn. Will Dr. Rodgers tell us how he can prevent the water that falls from the clouds from taking up the carbonic acid and ammonia liberated from the manure, and con- veying this food of plants into the circulation of the growing crop ? Again, dare you affirm that the open pores (spongioles) in the roots of plants can not imbibe gaseous nutriment as well as their leaves 1 Did you never hear of a plant being quite inverted, making its roots put forth leaves in the atmos- phere, and its branches roots in the ground? To assert that all dead plants and animals, all manures, discharge into the air all their carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen, to have these elements of plants fall elsewhere on the eartk ^84 GENESEE FARMER. April, than the place of their growth, or deposit, is a '' position" so contrary to nature, and common vibservation, that no homan "authority" can give it credibility. That a part of the organized ele- jnents of manure, while undergoing decomposi- tion, thus escape into the atmosphere, we freely ^adnlit But that every farmer sliould endeavor to prevent the loss of ammonia and carbonic acid from his manure heaps, that these elements of plants may be fed to his crops and enter their roots directly from the soil, is a "position" from which it will be hard to drive the editor of this journal — Liebig to the contrary notwithstanding. That the earthy salts found in plants and ma- nure are indispensable to their gr^ tvvth, we know as well as any one. But it is an absurdity to say •that, the carbonate of anmionia evolved in the •moisture of a potato hill, from a shovel full of •jdung, must first evaporate, travel to the clcuds, ^and fall back again in rain water, before it can •possibly enter the roots of this plant ! We assure Dr. R., in conclusion, that we will give his second and corrected edition as favora- ble a notice as our judgment will permit. Dr. Lee's Criticisms. ■In- tlie first number ,>f the current volume of tlie Cultiva- tor, an attack of Dr. Lke was noticed, showing that he had •strongly censured me for doing the same thing which the most eminent chemists had done, and which he liad himself ■done in a more glaring degree ; and also glancing at his er- ror in asserting that animal excrements were no l/etter as manure than water nnd dried vegetables. He has again appeared with nearly two columns in his paper, in which >ie avoids the original matter in dispute, and attempts to make his readers believe that I hold the opinion, that ani- .mal substances are secreted "out of 7wthmg." lie builds liis argument on this point on the very singular assumption, tfiiat the terms secrete and create »re synonymous. He must know that I have not advanced any such absurd position ; .«.nd I auk him, candidly, if he is not bound, as a just and Oionorable man, to retract his former censorious and uncalled /or remarks, now that I have shown their injustice, which .he himself tacitly admits, by attempting a new issue.— J. J. Tltomas, in Cultivator for March. 'Friend Thomas, thou art a strange man. — We ask thee "candidly," in reply, why hast thou twice asserted in the Cultivator that " Dr. Lee Tias attacked^'' John J. Thomas, while the read- ers of that journal are not pennitted to know one j)aragraph of his remarks on thy Prize Essay, •from which to judge of their truth or error ? It is a great mistake to say that "Dr. Lee has at- tacked " thee at all. Thy errors were pointed out in a fair manner, and with no feelings but tliose of kindness, and a love of truth. Know- ingly, we do " injustice" to no human being. — Our coluiTins are ever open to thee to correct Avhatever may even seem to be wrong in our re- marks on thy mo.st valued production. We lay no claim to perfection. ISpeaking of thy Prize Essay in our December number, it was remark- ed : '^ We have perpetrated our share of blunders, and trust few have endeavored to profit more by the criticisms of others* In our January num- ber we took the liberty to point out the palpable errors of Liebig, in reference to the compositiott of manures. We did the same thing in regard to Mr. Thomas, because he is justly looked up to by thousands as good authorit)^ on agricultural subjects." Tell us, kind reader, when you say of a writer that " iie is justly looked up to by thousands as authority," do you manifest unkindness toward such writer, that you should retract your friendly correction of his errors ? Would there not be gross injustice in misrepresenting the true letter, spirit, and meaning of your language, instead of copying it to the numerous readers of another paper — the Albany Cultivator 1 What "original matter in dispute" have we " avoided " ? Where has " Dr. Lee assumed that the words create and secrete are synonymous" 1 Friend Thomas, whether thou knowest it or not — such a design we will not impute to thee — thou hast, from beginning to end, put words into our mouth which we never used. Thou hast placed us in a false position before the readers of the Cultivator. As those of the F'armer had alone seen our criticism on thy Essay, to that journal thou shouldst have sent thy reply, that one tribunal might hear both sides of the ques- tion. Didst thou fear to speak to the readers of the Farmer ? They are thy friends, and will be the last to undervalue thy acknowledged pub- lic services. Better frankly confess thy erroi-s — " to err is human" — and seek to avoid their rep- etition in future, than attempt to carry them on thy strength of character, which must suffer by the association. Remember that placing "Dr.- Lee" in the wrong, does not place thee in the right. Long have we ardently desired to see the agricultural literature of America second to that of no nation in the world. Thou hast done good service in the cause, and we trust will yet achieve a higher and wider fame. Our friendly criticism will keep the on the right track, and in the end do thee infinitely more good than igno- rant, unmingled praise. Potato Rot. — It is known that the plat of ground formerly owned by the Wadsworth es- tate, in the south part of this city, was sold and mostly planted in 1846. The soil was first plow- ed last season. That portion owned by Mr. Isaac Hills, President of the Horticultural Society, was plowed in April, and planted early in May with Mercer Potatoes. They were dug in Sep- tember, and proved good and entirely free from rot — while the grounc's of the same lot on the op- posite side of the road were planted in June, with the same variety of potatoes, by Judge Sampson, and the whole crop perished. So much for ear- ly planting and digging. # Valuable Colt. — One of our subscribers — Mr. Nathan Case, of Perrinton, in this county — recently sold a two years old colt, of the Morgan breed, for one hundred and fifty five dollars. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 85 Hints for April. Don't play the fool ; the work of this month is the starting point of a year's operations. Sow your clover and grass seeds the first fall of snow, that you may be enabled to sow it even; and do it at any rate before the hard frosts are passed, as the heaving of the earth is important to the covering of the seeds. Regulate fences that are down, or want repair- ing. Stake and rider them if possible ; it won- derfully improves a low fence, and bothers unru- ly cattle. We prefer the process of placing the stakes in the middle of the rail, and not at the corners, ami ridering with long poles, or even heavy and mis-shaped rails — they are out of the way of the plow. Make two more farm gates this month, and if that is the extent of your ability we will forgive you, dear reader, for this year ; but those bars have got to come down — Delenda est Cathargo. Sow oats, spring wiieat and barley — and plant a few potatoes, sound ones and defective, and note the result. Clear some ore field of stumps; and when you come to plow it, say if you are pleased with the operation ; if not, charge the expense — not to us, but the town pump. Look to the furroios and ditches in your win- ter wheat; perfect drainage is so iniportant that it cannot be neglected with impunity. One hour's hot sun on a wheat plant immersed in wa- ter, scedds it, and turns it to chess — as some dun- «ler heads think. You may prune orchards this month, that is, thin out and properly balance the bearing wood; not by simply cutting off the lower limbs and sending up the top so high that you will need Jacob's ladder to reach the fruit. Cut scions, if neglected to this time, and per- form the grafting, particularly cherries and plums. In grafting old trees, use the lower limbs, and cat out the old center or large reaching arms. — About one half of the old wood may be cut away t})e first year, and the balance the year after. ^ Indian Corn for Exportation. Mr. Editor : — In my estimation, the attention of the farmers of Western New York should be called to the increasing importance which Indi- tlian Corn, as an article of export, is likely to assume. It is but two years since it began to at- tract attention, for this purpose, to any consider- able degree, and it has already increased to such an extent that the amount is measured by mil- lions; and, if it continues to increase in a pro- portional ratio, it will quickly be exceeded by no agricultural production, except cotton. Its price likewise has been higher, in proportion to the cost of production, than that of any other ag- ricultural production. Independent of the extra demand occasioned by the failure of the potato crop, it will hereafter enter largely into the con- sumption of the people of Great Britain, both a;^ an article of human food, and ai^o for consump- tion by domestic animals. In this state of facts if an annua! average of fifty or sixty bushels per acre can be raised, witii; a considerable increase in the amount of laou* laid down witli this grain, (which may be done without materially decreasing our other grain crops,) it will add many millions to the value of our agricultural productions — and, by inevitable consequence, to the wealth, comfort, and conve- nience of all other classes. All admit the value and excellence of Indian Corn, yet most farm- ers pay but little attention to it here. The most common objection we hear raised against it is, the great amount of labor required to produce it ; but this objection vanishes at once, if we only get good pay for the labor we do perform — f&f every man knows that it is only by labor that h^^ attains any thing valuable. Therefore, if yoa get pay in proportion to the time and labor em- ployed, the more labor the greater profit. It is true that with crops averaging l>om twenty to thirty bushels per acre, which is as much as many farmers get, the profit will be nothing, be- cause it requires about that amount of grain i& pay the expense of production. But with a very- small additional amount of expense and labor,, the produce may be doubled, making tiie average from forty to sixty bushels per acre — leaving a good profit to the producer. The writer of this thinks this can be done on most of the good grain growing lands of Western New York, in ordi- nary seasons, as he has verified it in his own ex- perience. Beside the value of the grain, there is no grain we produce of which the stalks or straw is of st> much value as feed for domestic animals. An. acre of good corn stalks, well saved, will gener- ally be wortii as m\v^h as one and a half tons o^7 hay, which, in Monroe County, will be as high s&> six dollars a ton — making the stalks worth abouc- nine dollars — n-> inconsiderable item towards de- fraying the expense of its production. He is the wise man, Mr. Editor, who uses tlit^ blessings Providence has bestowed ui)on him to-- the best ad\ antage for his own and the benefrt of his fellow men. If our climate is not so conge- nial to the growth of this great staple as that of u more southern latitude, we have a soil amply fer- tile, and our commercial position, and our means of getting our productions cheaply and expedi- tiously to market, are unrivalled. Why, tlien, should we not bestir ourselves and reap the gold- en harvest God has laid open to us ? Let us be- diligent, then, and labor for our own and the public good, and our children will rise up and call us blessed — and the children of other }\iidi> will rise up and call us blessed — and the blessing- of him that is ready to perish shall be upon us. Wheatland. March. 1847. W. S^ 86 GExNESEE FARMER. April. Clearing Land. Is my remarks on "Forests," (given in tlie preceding volume of the Farmer,) 1 have shown what I believe to be some of the legitimate ef- fects of clearing a country of its natural cover- ing, its forests. These effects I consider to be Ihe following : to wit, A change of climate and its consequences. — These consequences are seen, 1st. In the severe and parching drouths that have of late visited our own country as well as others, some of the effects of which are, the fail- Ture of crops, the drying up of streams, springs, wells, &c. 2d. In the uncertainty of raising grain, fruit, &c. 3d. In the multiplication of iroublesome insects, &c. These evils are by no means appreciated. — Many never think of them ; many do not be- lieve, or think of, the cause of them ; and many do not care for them, provided they can only make a few dollars. But the more I think on the subject, the more 1 am convinced of its truth and importance. I would, therefore, that the subject were known and understood through the length and breadth of the land. Let travelers and Geographers give attention to it, and collect and spread before the public the results of their observations, so that the present generotion may protit by the errors of the past. I will now endeavor to point out a few other evils resulting from the same cause, the destruc- tion of our forests. And 1st. All, or nearly all, our cleared land has been so long under tillage, and much of it injudicious tillage, as to require much care, labor, and expense, to secure a good crop ; and there being little more land to be cleared, the evil is likely to increase rather than diminish. A second evil is, that many farmers are now under the necessity of buying fuel. It is true, perhaps, that by clearing their lands they may have realized more immediate profit, than if they had left them in their wild state ; yet now, when fuel bears a high price, and the raising of grain has become more difficult and expensive, they are obliged to take of their former gains, or their present hard earnings, to purchase fuel, and to renovate an exhausted soil. What then have ihey gained ? Very little, perhaps nothing ; especially when we take into the account the in- jury done in many cases, to their own children. This evil, like the former, will increase with time. A third and still greater evil is, the injury we thus inflict upon posterity. The present gene- ration may not sufier for the want of fuel ; but unless means sliall be adopted to revive the growth of timber, or to preserve what we know have, posterity must suffer the consequences of our folly and extravagance. 1 am, aware that the reliance is upon coal ; but to this there are several objections. 1st. It j is rendering us dependent on others for that which every farmer ought to have of his own. 2d. It is reasonable to suppose that the price of coal will increase with the demand. 3d. To those who live at a distance from the coal region, or from any canal or rail road, it will be found a very expensive kind of fuel. 4th. The supply of coal may eventually fail ; for, although con- sidered by some inexhaustible, yet when we remember that only about two-thirds of the abso- lute quantity can be rendered available, and that this country has yet to sustain a dense popula- tion to the end of time, it cannot be wholly un- reasonable to think of the future. Hence, 1 may add, that the discovery of coal may yet, with all the advantages that result from it, prove an injury to some portions of the country. For, relying on coal, many will be less economical of wood, and thus waste what they have, because there may be a substitute within their reach. This will both increase the evils mentioned above and, by increasing the consumption of coal, sooner bring about its final failure. But allowing that the supply of coal is truly inexhaustible, I would still be unwilling, for rea- sons given above as well as for others that might be given, to see our country divested of its for- ests. I can hardly imagine a more uninviting prospect, than would be presented by such a scene. A sultry summer's sun pouring its scorch- ing rays upon a naked and thirsty earth, with nothing to mitigate its fervor ; and the chilling blasts of winter, sweeping in mad and unrestrain- ed violence over its naked bosom — alas! deliver' me from a sight like this ! Let any one look across a succession of naked fields on a scorch- ing summer's, or bleak winter's day, with noth- ing to break the monotony of the scene, and it appears to me the sight would be sufficient to cure him of his love of desolation. I know that some will consider me unneces-'. sarily anxious about posterity, but I hold it to be highly selrish to live for ourselves alone. No one can enjoy beyond acertain amount, however great his possessions. How selfish, then, for him to accumulate beyond the power of enjoyment, at tlie expense of posterity ! Even his own chil- dren will begin to feel the evils of his avarice ; and each succeeding generation will feel it more severely than the preceding. Again, it may be said that Providence will al- ways supply the wants of his creatures. To this it may be replied, — 1st. He has made provision, which, if judiciously used, will prove abundant ; and if the supply should ever fail, it will be the result of man's imprudence. 2d. He has not promised any thing without, and more especially in opposition to, our own exertions. He will only reward our diligence. He will not provide by a miracle. If he has promised results he has connected the promise with certain conditions upon which the fulfillment. of his promise de- 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 87 pends. Hence the attention of all who have op- portunity, is earnestly invited to the cultivation of forest trees, as well as of those for fruit and ornament. They should set them along the high- ways, about their dwellings, and on every spot, and corner, or fragment of land that is not capa- ble of profitable tillage. Thus the country would soon be covered, to some extent, with trees, which, though sparse, would exert considerable influence on the climate, enhance greatly the beauty and value of our lands, and provide, in soir.e measure, for tlie wants of coming genera- tions, n. Fairporl, Feb. 24, 1847. Hop Culture. Ma. Editor : — As you have stated some things, in your last Farmer, that do not correspond with the experince and practice of hop growers in this section of the State, where many hops are raised. I take the liberty to make some statements rela- tive to raising them here. In the first place, choose a piece of land near- ly or quite level, tliat will produce forty or fifty bushels of corn to the acre, on which, put fifty loads, or more, of good rotten manure to the acre. Also be careful to select such a piece, that you can readily make holes, for setting the poles, in a dry time. Having selected the ground as above, prepare it the same as you would for corn, by plowing it deep, and harrowing it well. Plant] the hills of hops eight by nine feet apart, so that the poles, when set, may stand eiglit feet apart I each way, by setting two poles to a hill, (which is enough,) one foot apart. It is also a good plan to set a stake about a foot long to each hill, as soon as planted, as no poles are set the first year. A hoed crop should be planted with the hops the first year. Corn is to be preferred, as a hill may be planted near to every hill of hops, the vines of which will run up the stalks, and thereby take root better. If the land be not suit- able for corn, any other lioed crop may be plant- ed, but in such a manner as not to disturb the hills of hops in harvesting it. The best time for planting is in the spring, about the same time . you would corn. The hills should be kept as nearly level with the ground as may be, care be- ing taken not to plow the dirt on to the hills, as it will only make large hills, which are a dam- age to the crop, besides being verv inconvenient. The pieces of roots should be about a foot long, and contain five or six eyes. Two such pieces will answer for a hill ; but they should, in no wise, be disturbed the next spring after planting ; ■ and after that, they should not be cut oft" closei- ' than eight or ten inches from the center of the hill, and many times not at all ; but the dirt may , be carefully loosened about tlie hill, before the poles are set — especially if the ground be rather hard. The |>olas should be set a little flaring, so that the tops be far enough apart to prevent the vines growing together. Two vines are enougli to a pole, and should be tied to the i)oles, as soon as long enough, and before they twist together. The remainder of the vines should be carfully lain on the ground, till those on the poles have attained the height of six or eight feet, so that those on the poles may be taken down, (if any thing should happen to them, which is often the case,) and others put up; after which, the rest should be cut ofl" close to the ground. The hops should be hoed at least three times, and be kept entirely free from weeds, in doing which a corn cultivator is much used. The poles should be stripped and stacked immediately after being divested of the iiops, as it is almost impos- sible to cut the vines when dry ; besides, I had rather pull, strip, and stack the poles at once, than even strip them after being thrown into lieaps I would fuggest one idea more, which is, that all statements respecting the cultivation of hops should be minutely written, if intended to benefit those wliolly unacquainted with the busi- ness. Yours, &c., Lincoln Cnvi.MiNO^. Ai(gusla, Oneida Co., March, 1647. We thank Mr. Cu.aimixgs for the above ; and shall be farther obliged if he will describe, at his earliest convenience, the best plan for drying and bagging hops after they are gathered. — Ed. Ashes on Corn. Mr.. Editor :- — I wish to inquire through the Farmer, of some of its able correspondents, what is tlie best method of applying ashes on corn. — Should it be put in the hill when planting ?— on the top of it after planting ? — or after it comes 'up ? And what is the quantity to be applied, ei;lier way, of unleached or leached ? A YouNCr Farmer. Macon, Mich., 1847. Remarks. — The above are questions of con- siderable importance. Last season we injured a crop of corn, or rather saw it injured, by the ap- plication of ashes and salt in contact with young, tender plants. These were thrown with the !iand on each hill. Had the application been made as soon as the corn was covered at planting, spreading the ashes and salt over considerable surface, no injury would have been done, while the fertilizers would have been extremely bene- ficial. We slmll use this season on a five acre field a compound of 3 bushels of unleached ashes, 1 of salt, 1 of gypsum, and a like quantity of bone' dust per acre. This we shall scatter over each hill as soon as planted. — Ed. When an implement is no longer wanted for the season, lay it carefully aside, but hi-st let it be v.all cleaned. 88 GENESEE FARMER. April. "Agricultural Information Wanted/' Mr. Editor : — In answer to D.'s inquiries ■i>n page 64 of the Genesee Farmer, it may not J»e improper to say, that the amount of men's 5ielp h-e will want will depend upon tlie area of land he^liall cultisale and the kind of grain, &c., ■lie shall raise. Wjten he makes up his mind how man}' acres lie will have plowed, and sown or planted, and then calculate that one team will ])low from an acre to one and a half acres a day, and l.arrow about six acres in a day, he can eari y see how much team work he will want — for the ■same teams that do his plowing and harrowing ■■can do all his otlser work. He will of coarse want one hand to each team, and an extra hand in the summer ; and, as he is ■'' not accustomed to labor himself," the extra hand should be more than an ordinary laborer. Ife should be well enough acquainted with prac- tical work on the farm to see that all hands do their duty, and advise Mr. " D." how much they •©ught to do, and how to do it. Whether some of his teams -should be oxen de- pends on his taste, for there are too many opin- ions on this point for settled advice. As to " wliat quantity of other stock it will be profitable for him to keep, viz : cows, sheep, and swine," I 'have no doubt that the present and prospective prices of wool will not sustain the wool growing business, where land costs •'^50.00 per acre, (the price D. paid.) The great facilities for trans- porting such a light article as wool from the •western cheap lands, will monopolize tliat busi- •«ess. The number of cows and swine will de- •^)end upon how many acres of pasture and mead- ow he has. In this section of country, we make the keeping of cows our principal business, and generally allow ii acres for a cow — 2 of pasture and one of meadow, with some coarse fodder. Mr. "D." has probably bought a '-grain farm," and if his land is suitable for all kinds of grain, .he should sow enough of barley, oats, peas, &c., to enable him to rest his wlieat fields, which should be his main crop. If Mr. "D." contin- ^les to he " a faithful reader of the Genesee Farm- er, (after becoming a. practical farmer,) au6 oth- er agricultural journals," he will be better ena- bled to realize their usefulness. 1 fear he will be greatly disappointed in his profits ; for he says as the average nott profits df the premium crops is #30 per acre, he has reason to expect $20 per acre nctt profit from his l.">0 acres of improved land. Now the accounts of premium crops gen- erally .show the bright side of tlie picture. They D.re nevuch information as I possess. In 1839 I set about sixty rods of high picket fence on the roud in front of my orchard ; the posts were black ash, first and second cuts from trees 8 to 10 inches in diameter. When com- pleted, one half of the posts were bored with an inch and half auger, in a diagonal line, from 3 inches above the earth to 3 inches below, and filled with fine salt and nicely plugged. The next spring, on examination, the salt was found missing and they were refilled, and not again looked after. In about 6 years some of the smaller ones began to fail and so on, to this win- ter, when about G rods blew down, in one piece of the salted posts, every one completely decay- ed and rotten. There was no other difference in the failure of the posts, except the salted ones seemed to fail first, as they were weakened by the borings. At the same time, to test the experiment in the shortest period possible, I chose two posts from the most fragile wood I could select, whicli was green bass-wood or Linden, cut in June, the bark peeled off, and set as horse posts in front of my yard. One was salted and one left without. The next July, a year or more after, a friend called upon me in a sulkey and fastened his horse to one of the posts. After sitting in the house a few minutes, a boy reported that the horse and sulkey was going off. On examina- tion it was found to be the salted post, completely rotten, and the horse was drawing it away by his halter. Considering the other as unsafe and dan- gerous, I then attempted to break it down, which, although evidently defective, I was not able to effect. It stood till the fall, when it was so much decayed that a man's strength broke it. So much for salt, and if any of your readers have a mind to try the experiment, I don't believe saJt will save them. I am aware of the good eflects of charring posts 6 inches above and 6 inches below the surface ; it adds a few years to their durability, but is not sufficiently erfective. I have great faith in setting tliem in leached ashes, and in lime mortar, liaving seen some no- table examples of durability. The ashes need not extend more than 6 inches below the surfiace, as within that distance the decay takes place. — A well seasoned post set in a tub of strong lye, or solution of Potash, or boiled until thoroughly saturated, would probably have the same effect. The rationale would seem in this case to be, that the alkalies neutralize the acids of the wood, to which all saps have an inevitable tendency, were it not that acids have the same or a more palpable effect. Kyanising — saturating with corrosi\ 0 sublimate ; and cupreisiiig — saturating with the sulphate of copper (blue vitriol,) — for both of which processes there is a patent — whicli renders wood as indestructable from decay by rot as the metals or the best stone. It has been well tested, and is indisputably a fact. Sulphate of iron (copperas) is said to have the same effect, and there is no good reason why it should not, as they are all salts with a metallic base. Both the copper and iron preparation are very cheap, and svorthy a trial, which I intend this summer to test again with my bass-wood experiment. The choice of timber for durability in their natural states, will be found about in this ratio : Red Cedar, Locust, Yellow or White Cedar, White Oak, Chestnut, Yellow White-wood and Black Ash, Pine, Hemlock, &c. Most woods will endure about one year for every inch added to their diameter. There are some remarkabb stories told, of the advantage of setting posts with the natural upper end down, which from their credibility I am not disposed to discredit. Now, Mr. Printer, if all your correspondents who have any experience on this subject, should inflict as long a yarn as I have, there is some doubt whether salt mould save you. Greece, Monroe Co., N. Y. L. B. L. Destroying Sorrel. Mr. Editor : — Having been for some years a subscriber for, and I trust a much benefited reader of the Genesee Farmer — but not having seen any thing in it which meets the particular point on which I wish information — permit me to propose the following statement and queries : I have a piece of land which I design to pre • pare for wheat the coming season ; the soil a yellow loam, thickly overrun with a growth of red sorrel, so much so in many places as to choke out the last crop of wheat almost entirely. When I last prepared it for wheat I intended to destroy the sorrel by thorough fallowing, but did not sue • ceed. What is the remedy ? Will lime, by neutralizing the acid in the soil, destroy the sor- rel ? If so, I wish to know at what time it should be ap}>lied — whether before breaking up, or at the time of preparing the ground for seed. Also, in what condition the lime should be applied — what quantity per acre, cVc. Finally, if lime is not tlie proper remedy, will you, Mr. Editor, or will s-ome one of your numerous correspondents, put me on the right track ? By giving the above an insertion in your jour- nal you will much oblige, Youi*s, &c., Webster, March 5, 1847. A. Reynolds. Will some one that has had experience ia tiie matter, answer the above '? — Ed, 90 •GENESEE FARMER. ApRn. The Farmer.— His Position, I^^poiisibilities, aii'l Duties. NUMBKR SFAEN. In my last number 1 referroJ to llie establish- ment of Agricuhural Schools, anvo admira- ble points in a Cottage Residence, whether loca- ted in town or country. feKCOND FLOOR. B, B Be»]-rooms ; H. H, Halls ; C. C, C, C, Chambers ; S, 8tore-room. Mr. L. I). Ki Y, of Brighton ig preparing to erect a Cot- tage from this doKign. It is to be situated on the souih eide of the main road from Roehester to Brighton, about one and a half miles from the centre of the city. The elevo- lioii, as above given, rcpresenls aside view of the building. First .story to be 10 feet high ; .second .story , 9 feet; brack- eted cornice ; terrace on north front. It is to be built of brick. The estimated cost is .$ '2,500. [The illustrationR here given are on a scale of 20 feet to one inch.] VVc liave no space to give, ia thi.s connection, an eseuy upon r^ottage Architecture. The intelligent reader will see from the plans, &c.. (which we doubt not will be readily understootl by all,) thai the design is creditable to the architect, and wel! adapted for .'i pleasan: and conve- nieiu resjcience. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 93 Pennock's Patent Grain Drill. T«E above engraving gives a fair representa- tion of this truly valuable labor-saving implement. This Drill was patented some years ago, and has been thoroughly tested in Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and other sections. If the testimony which we have seen relative to its operation be correct, its introduction into Western New York will prove very beneficial to our grain-growing farmers. The machine will sow from 10 to 15 acres of wheat, or other grain, in a day — at a saving of seed, and doing the work in the best manner. It received a Diploma at the last Fair of the N. Y. State Ag, Society — and previously awards of premiums from various other Societies, in this and other States. The Drill may be found at the Agricultural Warehouse of Rapalje &j Briggs, No. 18 Front street, in this city. They wish to have farmers examine and try it. If the machine proves as valuable here as it is reputed to be elsewhere, they will hereafter manufacture and keep it for sale. As we have referred to their establishment, we will add that Messr?. R. & B. have an exten- sive assortment of excellent Agricultural Imple- ments, Tools, &c., for the spring trade. To Correspondents. Communications have been received during the past month from Lincoln Cumiiiings, S. W., A. P., H., A. Reynolds, C. Robinson, A Young Farmer, W. S., A Suljscriber, A. C./ H. Y., *, A Young Farmers Wife, B. P., N. P. Stearns, L. B. L., Philip P. Bonesteel, Wm. Webb, E. L. Johnson, O. C. Comstock, jr., L. D., Anoth- er Farmer, Elias Parks, J. H. Watts. P. S., and W. C. R. Several articles from correspondents, intended for insertion in this number, are deferred for want of room. They will receive early attention. Foreign Demand for Breadstiiffs. We have received, by the steamer our regu- lar files of foreign journals down to March 4th. On a careful examination of these, particularly the Mark Lane Express, (the best informed, and most reliable paper in the Kingdom,) we see no reason to expect a fall in the price of bieadstufts till after harvest. It is difficult to condense the evidence into the small space we have left for this article, on which this opinion is founded. — We will give a few facts only : Bread is higher in Paris than it has been in fifty years. Several German States have pro- hibited the exportation of grain, from fear of a famine. There are not vessels enough in the world that can be spared from other branches of commerce, to overstock the British islands with food. The Government has recently borrowed forty millions of dollars, with which to buy grain for the destitute. They are to be fed till harvest, and have no potatoes. If the hungry millions can get one half that nature demands, they will consume more breadstuffs than we dare to esti- mate in figures. The London Morning Chroni- cle says, the grain needed will load some 2,500 vessels of 600 tons each. Nothing like this num- ber can be found to transport grain from the United States to England. Prices cannot well rise much higher here, be- cause flour, wheat, corn, and meal can only be shipped in limited quantity, no matter what their value in Europe. In the event of short crops, at the coming harvest, a wide-spread famine is regarded as inevitable. Many are hoarding grain in anticipation of such an event. Fresh meat is said to be very cheap, by reason of the fact that animals are killed to prevent their con- sumption of food needed for human sustenance. Great complaints are made of the bad condi- tion in which American Provisions and Wool reach the British market. Bales of wool have been returned, on account of dirt, gum, Arc. 94 GENESEE FARMER April. .\jinual Exhibition of the N. Y. State Agricul- tural Society, To be held at Saratoga Sprinos, September 14, 15, mid 16, 1847. The first day to be devoted exclusively to the examination by the Judges of the Animals and Articles exhibited, and 7to persons will be admitted toithin the enclosure on that day but the Officers of the Society, Judges and Exhibitors. List of Premiums for 1847. MANAGEMENT OF FARMS. For the best cultivated Farm of not less than Fifty Acres, exclusive of wood-land and waste-land, regard being had to the quantity and quality of produce, the manner and ex- pense of cultivation and the aciual profits : — First premiunj, $50 | Second do., $30 Third do., $20. The persons maitiiig application for these premiums, must submit written answers to a series of questions, printed cop- ies of which may be obtained on application to B. P. John- son, Sec' y, Albany. EXPERIMENTS AND ESSAYS. Stall Feeding Cattle.— Best experiment in stall feeding cattle or sheep. A full and detailed statement will be re- quired. Ist. Weight and age of animal when feeding com- mences. The weight weekly durmg the process. 2d. The kind and exact quantity of feed and its value. 3d. The weight when slaughtered, and the price at which sold, and the account of profit or loss. 4th. Any other particulars that may be important to a full and complete account of the w hole process, - - $20 Draining. — Best experiment in draining. . 1st. Statement of the situation of the land previous to the commencement »f process — the kind and condition of soil. 2d. The meth- od pursued, with a particular account of the expense. 3d. The result and increased value of the land, if any, $10 Top Dressing Grass-land. —Best experiment. 1st. Situ- ation of land and of soil. 2d. The kind, quantity, and val- ue of manure used. The manner of its application. 3d. The results— giving the increased product, &c. To be an- swered in 1848, - .- ---$20 Root Crops.— Best experiment on not less than half an acre. Ist. Stale of land previous to crop and how manured. 2d. The kind, quantity, and value of manure applied, and in what manner. 3d. The kind of soil, and the manner of cultivation, with a detail of the expense. 4th. The re- sult, - $10 ILcperimtnts in fattening Animals on Indian Corn, to test its value for that ] nrpose, ON PIGS. 1st. Lot of 10 Pigs of about 100 lbs. weight each, in lots of 5 ; to be shut up between 20th November and 20th De- cember, and weighed separately when put in— the weight to be registered, as well as the sex, breed and general char- acteristics of the Pigs, and arrange them in the pen by sex, »£€, and size ; to be fed on Indian Corn alone. 2d. Weigh a quantity of Indian meal, and feed it at regular hours— to be cooked and fed two weeks, and the corn dry two weeks, alternating the feed every two weeks. 3d. Have the pigs kept clean. 4th. At (he end of two weeks weigh each pig, and enter its weigiit, and make an account, to be entered, of how much all have gained, and upon how much feed.— vith. At the end of each succeeding two weeks perform the same process, and continue to do so for at least 12 weeks, and sum up the entire gain, quantity and value of the feed, Uie market value of the pork, and where marketed, at the time each of the pigs is slaughtered and disposed of. A pre- mium of $25 For experiments in fattening the like number of pigs, un- der the same regulations as above, on any other kind of grain or vegetables, - $25 The statements required, and every thing connected with il\e experiment in each case, to be verified by the affidavit cf the owner and at least one other person. FARM-DWELLINGS, &e. For the best design, accompanied with plans, elevation. and cost of construction, combining convenience, economy, and good taste, $20 For the best design, accompanied with plans and cost of construction, of a piggery, - $10 For the best design of a farm barn with plans and cost of construction, and out-buildings, $15 Competitors for the abo\e premiums must forward their manuscripts to the Secretary previous to the 1st of Decem- ber, 1847. Free of postage. The al)oye premiums for experiments and essays will be open to citizens of other Stat€8, as well us residents of this State. PRE.MIUMS ON CHEESE FAIRIES FOR 1847. The number of cows not les.s than 20. B. P. Joh.nsos, chairman of commitee. Special, $50 First premium 50 Second premium - 30 Third pi-emium, 20 The pers«ns making applications for premiums, must sub- mit written answers to tlie following questions : — 1st. What is the locality of your farm, its elevation, and latitude ? 2d. How mwch land under cultivation 1 How much in pasture and in meadow. 3d. What is the nature of your soil and subsoil ? 4th. What plants or grasses do you use for pastures ? What for hay, and how are your meadow lands treated, and how much hay do they yield per acre ? 5th. How many pounds of milk from each cow ? — How many from the wliole herd ? 6th. How many pounds of cheese to 100 lbs. of milk .' The quantity of milk and cheese during the season ? The quantity of milk and cheese to each cow ? 7th. .\t w hat time do you commence and close making cheese ? 8th. Do you rear the calves ? Do you keep swine ? 9th. Is any food used besides grass and hay 1 10th. A particular account of the method of making chee.se ? The quantity of the cheese, and its price in mar- ket, and place where sold .' 11th. The number of cows milked ? the breed of the cows and their age 1 12th. What diiTerence is there in the quantity of cheese yielded by the same quantity of milk given by diflerent cows ? 13th. Has any particular kind of herbage been noticed to have an in- fluence in increa.sing the proportion of c/ieMywia^er in a giv- en quantity of milk ? and what kind of herbage produces the most and best milk ? 14th. If any butter made during the season, state how much ? 15th. What are the principal causes which produce bad cheese ? 16th. State such other particulars as from expedience and observation are deemed important, so that correct results may be obtained as to the best manner of managing a Dairy. It is expected that the questions will be answered with precision, and that all the operations of the Dairy to be care- fully noted during the se-ason. The object of the society is, to ascertain as far as practicable all that relates to the man- ufacture of cheese, thequantity of milk and cheese per cow, and the quantity of cheese from each 100 lbs. of milk, and the kinds of plants and grasses best adapted to producing milk for cheese ; the best breed of cows, and the location of farms best adapted to the manufacture of cheese. The statements presented must be verified by the affida- vits of the competitors, and also by one or more persons who assisted in the dairy and is acquainted with the opera- tions. ON BUTTER DAIRIES. The number of cows not less than 20. Hon. R. Den.vis- TON, chairman of committee. First preiuium, - -..$30 Second premium, 20 Third premium, — - 10 Persons m iking applications for premiums on Butter Dai- ries, must in all respects comply with the regulations re- quired for Cheese Dairies, adopting their answer.? to butter instead of cheese. IJ^r" Statements as to Cheese and Butter must be forward- ed to B. P. JoHNSo.v, Secretary, Agricultural Rooms, Alba- ny, on or before the 1st of December, 1847. CATTLE. (L VSS I. — DURHAMS. Best cow, 3 years old,.. $20 Second best, 15 Third best,.. Am. Herd Book Best heifer, 2 years, $1S Second best, - 10 Tliird best, ..Am. Herd Book Best bull, 3 years old, . . $23 Second best, 15 Third best,. -Am. Herd Book Best 2 years old $15 Second best, 10 Third l;>est, . . Am. Herd Book 1847. GENESEE FARMER. d5 Best year old bull, $10 I Best year old Iieifer,-..-$10 Second best, 5 Second best, 5 Third bcst,..Am. Herd Book | Third best,.. Am. Herd Book Best bull calf, $5 Best heifer calf, $5 2d do.. Washington's L-^tters | 2d do.-Was!iington's Letters CLASS IL — Herefords. Best bull over 3 years old $20 I Best cow, 3 years old, . .$20 Second best, 15 Second best, - 15 Best bull between 1 and 3 years old, .. 15 Second best, 10 Best bull calf, 5 Second best. Wash. Letters. | CLASS III Best bull, 3 years old... $23 Second best,.. 15 Best bull between 1 and 3 years old 15 Second best, 10 Best bull calf, 5 Second best. Wash. Letters. Best heifer between 1 and 3 years old, 15 Second best, 10 Best heifer culf, 5 Second best, Wasli. Letters. — Devons. Best cow, .$20 Second best, 15 Best heiftir between 1 and 3 years old, 15 Second best, 10 Best heifer calf, 5 Second best, Wash. Letters. Best bull, overs y rs o!d-$2a Second best,.. 15 Best bull between 1 and 3 years old, 15 Second best,.. 10 Best bull calf, 5 Sci'ond best, Wash. Letters. CLAS-' iV. AVRSHIRKS Best cow, . -. .$20 Second best, 15 Best lieifer between 1 anJ 3 years old, 15 Second best, 10 Best heifer calf, 5 Second best, Wasli. Letters. CLASS v.— Crosses, Natives, &,c. Best heifer calf,.. $5 Second best, Wash. Letters. Best yearling heifer, $10 Second best,. 5 Third best. Vol. Trans. Best cow, over 3 y'rs old $20 Second best, 15 Thirdbest, 10 Best 2 year old heifer, . . . 15 Second best, 10 Thirdbest,.! 5 Working Omn. Best team of 20 yoke from I Largest number not less any one county, $25 than 10 yoke of oxen Second best, 15 | from anyone town,.. $20 .Best yoke of Oxen, 15 Second largest, 10 Second best, 10 Third largest, Col. Tour. Third best, Vol. Trans. I Three Year Old Steers. Best yoke, .$10 | Second best, $8 Third best, Vol. Trans. Best team of ten yoke from any one county, $15 To boys between the .ages of 16 and 20 inclusive, who shall exhibit the best broke yoke of three year old steers, of their own training, Colman's Tour. Second best do. Wash. Lett. | Third best do.-.VoL Trans. Two Year Old Steers. Best yoke, ...$10 | Second best, $5 Third best, Vol. Trans. To boys under 10' years of age, who shall exhibit the best broke yoke of 2 year old steers, of their own training, Colman's Tour. Second best, Wash. Letters. | Third best, Vol. Trans. Yearling Steers. Best yoke $8 | Second best,. $5 ' Third best, Vol. Trans. 'J'o boys under IG years of age, who shall exhibit the best broke yoke of yearling steers of their own training. Col. Tour. "Second best. Wash. Letters. | Third best, Vol. Trans. In awarding the premium* on working oxen and steers, the single teams will be subjected to a tri.il on a loaded cart or wagon under the direction of tlie committee ; and partic- ular reference will be had to the matching, training, and ■docility of the animals, as well as their general appearance. Fat Cattle. Best pair fat oxen, $15 \ Second best, $10 Third best,.. .Colman's Tour. Best ox or steer, $10 | Second best,. $5 Third best, Vol. Trans. Best fat cow or heifer.. -$10 I Second best $5 Third best, Vol. Trans. A fat ox taking a premium as one of a pair, caiinot com- pete singly for another premium. Fat Shk>:p. Best fat shc'»^ ..« 10 | Second best, Col. Tour. Thirdbest, Vol. Trirss. I Applicants for the premiums on Fat Cattle and Sheep, must furnish statement* of the manner of feeding tlie cuii- mals, and the kind, quantity, and cost of the food. Best Milch Cow. The cow to be kept on grass only during the experiment and for 15 days previous to each period of trial, ..$20 The time of trial, from lOlh to 20tU of June, and from 1st to 10th of September. Statement to be furnislied, containing — 1st. The age and breed of cow, and time of calving. 2d. The qu.intity of milk in weight, and also of butter, during each period of 10 days. 3d, The butter m:ide to be exhibited with the cow at Saratoga, and the statement to be verified by the affida- vit of the competitor and one other person conversant witii the fact.s, HORSES. CLASS 1. — For all work. Best over4 years old,... $15 I Third do.,.-Youattonhorse. Second best 10 | Fourth best, Vol. Trans. Best brood marc, (with foal at her foot,) for all work,. .$15 Second best,.. $10 | Third best,.. Youatt. Fourth best, Vol. Trans. CLASS II.— Draught. Best over 4 years old,. . .$15 I Third best, Youatt. Second best, 10) Fourth best, Vol. Trans. Best brood draught mare, (with foal at her foot,) $15 Second best, $ 10 | Third best, Youatt. Fourth best,.- Vol.Trans. CLASS IIL— Blooi>. Best over 4 years old,.. $15 I Third best .Youatt. Second best, .. 10 | F'ourth best, Vol: Trans.' Best brood blood mnre, (with foal at her foot,) $15 Second best, $10 | Third best, .Youatt. Fourth best,.. Vol. Trans. Thr^e Year old Stallio.vs. Best mare 3 years old, ..$ U' Second best. Third best . Youatt. .$10 Best 3 years old stallion $10 Second best, '-.. 5 Third best, Youatt, Fourth best, Vol. Trans. Geldings and Matched Horse?. Best Gelding, Diploma. | Second best, Youatt- Best pair matched horses, $8 and Diploma. Second best, $5 | Third best, Vol. Trans. SHEEP. CLASS L— Long Wuoled. Best buck, .flO I Bests ewes,. Second best, 5 Second best,. Third best,. -Am. Shepherd. | Third best,...\m. Shepherd. Best pen 5 lambs, $5, CLASS II, —Middle Wooled. Best buck,...'. $10 1 Best 5 ewes, $10 Second best, 5 Second best, 5 Third best,. .Am. Shepherd. | Third best,.. Am. Shepherd. Best pen 5 lambs, $5 This class includes the South Down, Norfolk, Dorset, Native, &,c. CLASS HI. — Merinos and their Grades. Best buck, $10 I Best 5 ewes, $10 Second best, 5 Second best, - 5 Third bcst,...\m, Sheplierd. | Third best,.. Am. Shepherd. Best pen 5 lambs, .$5. This class includes all those generally denominated Me- rinos, whetlier of pure or mixed blood, CLASS IV.— Saxons and their Grades. Best buck, $10 I Bests ewes, $10 Second best, 5 Second best,.. 5 Third best,. -Am. Sliepherd. | Third best,. .Am. Shepherd. Best pen 5 Limbs, $5 This ciass includes 'ill those generally denominated Sax- ons, whether of pure or mixed blood. When sheep are presented for premiums un'ihorn, evi- dence wi'l be required of the age of the fleece. [ liema'mder next month. ] No FRIEND of Improvement should allow an oj)portunity of advancing the cause to pass unheeded. Much maj' be done this month, if tlie time be improved, to promote the farming interest, by calling attention to the importance of sustaining Agricultural Societies, Journals, &c. 96 GENESEE FARMER. April. HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. CONDUCTED BY I'. BARRY. Culture of Annual Flowers. We are glad to perceivp, on all sides, a gro.. ing taste for the culture of Ornamental Annuals. I It would be strange, indeed, if such a taste should ' not keep pace with the other departments of or- ! namental gardening. Annual Flowers commend i themselves to us, not only by the vast variety ofj floral beauty they afford us, in a small space, but [ by the ease, rapidity, and trifling expenditure with which that beauty is produced. | In April or J\Iay we sow the seeds, and in a , short month or two of pleasant care and labor, we I are rewarded with bright and beautiful flowez's. ' This is the department that, in a particular manner, belongs to the ladies ; and in their ten- der care we must, in a great measure, leave it. We trust there arc but few of the fair readers of the " Farmer," who are blessed with the calm pleasures of a country life, insensible to the health and cheerfulness imparted by a little labor in the pure air, beneath the bright sun. Are men to monopolize these delightful and innocent enjoy-! ments of life, and woman to be caged up within j the walls of a dwelling, devoting their lives ex- ' clusively to the monotonous routine of household i duties ? We hope not. We know these duties j must be performed, but surely their performance j will be made lighter and sweeter by being min- 1 gled with the exciting exercises of labor among \ the floral gems of earth. A love of flowers is ! said to be natural to the gentler sex ; but it is | only when they rear them up with their own hands, that they can love them with that intensi- 1 ty that possesses a meaning and reality. ' The Horticultural Society of the Valley of the Genesee, with a view to encourage this taste, has offered two splendid premiums, exclusively to ladies, for the best display of annual floweis at their exhibitions the ensuing year. One is Mrs. Loudo7i^s Flower Garden of Ornamental Annuals— -A splendid work of three hundred pages, with colored plates of grouped flowei-s — worth about ilf). The other is the American Flora — a beautiful American work with colored plate??, worth $8. These premiums will justly call forth great exertions. They are in themselves valuable, but it will be a greater object to earn the credit of possessing the skill and taste that will bear the palm of success. Many will be induced to take up the lioe and the rake, the pruning shears and froioel, that have never before thought of using ti.ese implements. — They will begin to appreciate the interesting phenomena of nature that have hitherto been to them a dead letter. Rains and dews, sunshine and clouds, will became full of interest — and open on them a new existence, frauglit with glow- ing health, and a thousand elevating and pleasant influences. The number of species and varieties of annu- als now cultivated is almost without end. Some are worthless, and many are not adapted to com- mon garden culture — that is, they will not attain perfection without the aid of Green Houses or liot beds — appliances which (ew in the country can or will avail themselves of. It is therefore an important point to make a good selection. — Among the prettiest, of easy culture, we may name the Phlox Dnnnmondi of various colors ; Portulaccas, bright scarlet and crimson, requir- ing plenty of sun ; Dwarf Lupins, various colors ; Lobelia gracilis, and Ramosa, very pretty blue ; Gilia tricolor, and other species ; Clarkia ele- gans and pulchella, dwarf, with pretty pink flowers ; Scarlet Malope, showy ; Clintonia, Schizanthus ; Nemophilla insignis, very pretty, blue with white centre ; Erysimum, very showy ; Zinnia clegans, various colors ; Eutoca viscida^ deep blue ; Candy lift, white and purple ; Pe- tunia, varieties ; Golden Barlonia, very fine golden yellow flowers ; Yelloio Sweet Sultan ; Senecio elegans, purple and white ; Lotus joco- hea, very dark ; Euphorbia variegata, Scarlet cacalia. Globe Amarunfhus, Coxcombs, Pansies, 10 toeek stocks. Asters, Balsams, &c., are all well known. There are many beautiful climb- ing annuals that should be in every collection ; for instance, Cypress vine, both white and scar- let, with delicate and beautiful foliage. The seeds of this usually require to be soaked in boil- ing water. Convolvulus or Morning glory, sev- eral species ; Scarlet Jloivering beans ; Nastur- tium ; Siveei Peas ; the hardy Thunbergias ; Hyacinth Bean (Lablab ;) Mountain fringe {Fumaria,) besides the hardy species of TVo- pcpolum, Loasa, &c. The Stocet Peas, Mom- ing glory, Beans, &:.c., may be trained to simple 3-ods with the bark on, sunk in the ground and tied together at the top, forming a sort of cone ; or in any other form the fancy may choose. The cypress vine, and some other of the taller, finer climbers, ought to be furnish- ed with neat fixtures, when they are beautiful objects. This is matle by simply driving a strong stake deep enough in the ground to keep it firm. Small sticks are fastened to the upper end of this, to which strong twine or wire for the plants to 1847. GENESEE FARMER,, 97 climb on may be fastened, and connected with the ground by means of wooden pegs. The wood work of all such structures should be paint- ed green, except it should be made of a green stick with the bark on, which is more natural and simple, and therefore preferable. A beautiful ornamental ft nee may be made of rods or wire and covered with some of these climbing plants We have seen sucli fences covered with Lophospeiinum scandens, and even with Scarlet Beans, that were superb objects. — The Nasturtium, Convolvulus, Sweet Peas, s«ediings as stocks on which Pears should be grafted ; but l think, if the question is properly considered, it may be re- moved. Firtit, it is said that they are sliort lived, and that they die of diseases to which ihc' free or ^far stocks are not liable. That they are shorter lived than pear stocks, there IS no doubt ; but when we consider tliat they are brought into bearing in a year or two after they are grafted, and when quite small, while the pear stocks require many years to bring fhem to the same advanced and fruitful" slate, we thinlt, it is undeniably a compensation. It is also true that a pear stock may produce ten times as much fruit, when full-grown as a quince .stock, but the ad- vaatages are perhaps fully balanced in other ways, as fol- lows : Tear stocks must be planted at least thir/y feet apart, and even at this distance, when grown to any size, they will shade so much of your gronndias to interfere seriously with its cultivation ; the roots also extend in proportion to the he^ad, and exhaust of course, so much soil as they cov- er. Now quince stocks may be planted within ten feet of ^ach other, and have room enough for their heads ; while iheir roots, being all fibrous, are circumscribed in their growth, requiring very small space, and exhausting none of the soil under cultivation, and their heads shade no sround 111 consequence of being limited by pr/inmg, to six-feet in diameter, and not being allowed to extend upward more than eight or ten feet. On an area sixty feet square, you may plant four pear stocks ; these will shade with their branches, and exhaust with their roots, at least one-half of this square. On such a lot, you may place around its borders fire/if>j quince stocks, which will neither shade the ground, nor exhaust its soil. These stocks will })roduc.? you fine ineliin,ownton, May Bi^ar- reau, Elton, Black Eagle, Elkhorn, Carnation, Yellow Spanish, Lii.r?e White Biggereau, Black and White Tarta- rian, &:c. Price 40 cents each. The Peach trees are nearly all two years from the bud, with branching heads, and have been so well fitted for re- raoval by previous transplanting, as nearly to prevent all danger. '1 hey include some of the finest varieties for the climate of Western INew York. Price 20 cents each. The Apples are young and thrifty, and embrace some of the very best and most highly esteemed varieties, among which are the Gravenstein, Autumn or Late Strawberry, Ribaton Pippin, Yellow Bellflower, Peck's Pleasant, Rhode Island Greening, Early Joe, &c. Some of the best varieties of Nectarines. Apricots, Rasp- berries, Strawberries, Filberts, Sec, are for sale at low prices. THE ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT includes a very choice and select assortment of ornamental Shrubs and herbaceous perrennial Plants ; Balsam Firs and White Spruces, well hardened for transplantiii.g ; nearly all the linest double Pa^onias ; and many kinds of beautiful and celebrated Roses, among which is the splendid Queen of the Prairies, pronounced by the Boston Horticultural Soci- ety, " as without a rival in this climate for pillars and ar- bors;" all at low prices. Trees packed at a moderate charge, so as fo be sent with perfect safety by canal or railroad. Catalogues and information furnished gratis on all post- paid SLppUcAUom. April, 1847. (Im) FOR SALE. Short-Horn and Devon Cattle, each thorough bred of their kind. The cattle of these stocks have been bred for many years by the Subscriber, and have been selected from the best breeds, and bred with the best and latest im- ported blood, with a particular view to the development of f;heir most valuable qualities. Also — Cotswold, (long wooled,) and South- down Sheep, of the best description, descended from the choicest and most celebrated English flocks. They can be sent from the farm of the Subscriber, east and north by canal and rail-road, and west by steamboat, with safety and dispatch. Address LEWIS F. ALLEN, Black Rock, April 1, 1847. Black Rock, N. Y. SHAKER GARDEN SEEDS' The Subscriber is agent for the Neto Lebanon Society, and has on hand a fresh and full supply of these truly excellewt Seeds. (4-2m) L. B. SWAN, Druggist, Rochester, March 18, 1847. No. 18 Buffalo st. New Agricultural Implement and Seed Store, AT AUBURN, N. Y. The Subscriber is now opening a Depot for all kinds ol AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, where the farmers can find, in their season, all of the most impro- ved Implements manufactured in the United States. He has now on hand Rieh's Patent Straw Cutter, Burrall's Premium Corn Sheller, tlie best ever invented, Arnold"s Washing Machines, &c. He will also have in their season, a choice assortment of Garden, Field, and Flower Seeds, which are put up in the choicest manner, and are waranted genuine JAMES B. COOPER. No. 84 Genesee-st., Auburn, N. B. — Manufacturers who have Implements to dispose of will find it to their interest to leave them with me. as it fa the only Agricultural Depot in Cayuga County. J. B. C. MOUNT HOPE BOTANIC GARDEN AND NURSERIES, ROCHESTER, N. Y. The Subscribers respectfully solicit the attention of the public to their large and choice stock of TREES, SHRBS, and PLANTS, wliich they offer for sale the ensuing spring, (1847.) The collection of FRUITS embraces all the leading sorts of established merit, and most of tlie recent varieties of Eu- rope and America. No pains or expense have been spared in makins the collection as complete, in every way, as pos- sible. The trees are all thrifty, healthy, and well grown, and have been propagated with the utmost exactness from specimen trees on this establishment, or from sources of the highest reputation for correctness. The collection of spec- imen trees, for testing the merits of the various sorts, is now among the largest in the United States. The assortment of Apples includes several thousand fine trees of the NORTH- ERN SPY, universally considered one of the best keeping apples yet known. Pears. — All the leading well known sorts, such as Made- laine, Dearborn's Seedling, Bartlett, ceckel, Virgalieu, dec, and a small supply of the rare and unrivalled Srvan's Or- ange or Chtondaga, Knight's Mcnarch, and Vaii Man's Leon le Clerc ; the price of these is $1 each. A few thousand trees of choice varieties can be furnished on quince stocks. These are beautifully adapted to garden culture, and gen- erally bear the second, and older trees even the first year after planting. Plvms. — Besides the well known popular sorts, a small number of the Jefferson, Columbia, Lawrence's Favorite, and De!miso7t's Superb are offered at $1 each. Cherries — a collection of upwards of 40 of the best varie- ties, earliest to latest— beautiful trees. Peaches. — Forty choice varieties of established merit, in- cluding Tillotson, Early York, Crawford's Early, Jacques' Rare Ripe, Crawford's superb or late Malacatoon, &c. — beautiful trees. Ornamental TVees and Shrubs. — A large collection, inclu- ding all the finest popular articles in that line. Roses. — A superb collection of upwards of 250 select varieties. DonbU Dahlias — 100 beautiful varieties, including several of the finest fancy sorts, such as Harlequin, Illuvwtator, Mar- chioness de Ormonde, ^^c. Descriptive priced catalogues (edition for 1846 &- 7,) will be sent gratis to all post 2>aid applications, and only to such Trees and Plants packed in the best style, and shipped or forwarded according to orders. It will be for the interest of purchesers to send their orders early, in order to secure such kinds as they may want, and have them forwarded at the proper season. Address, post paid, Feb 1, 1847. ELL WANG ER & BARRY. Apple and P^ar Scions. Having increesed my stock of scions, I here- by oiTer the following varieties, in addition to the "Spy" and Swaar : "Yellow Bell Flower," "Seek-no-further,' Newtown Pippin, "English and Roxbury Russett," "Red Cheek Pippin," " Sweet Pearmain," and Virgalieu Pear. — As my object is to propagate the best varieties, orders for small quantities shall be furnished in all cases. For Apple scions, $1.00 per hundred ; Pear scions, ||3.00 per hundred ; or small quantities, 4 els. each. Rochester, April 1, 1847. JAMES H. WATTS. N. B. I wish to purchase 500 bbls. of apples of the Swaar. Russet, or Spitzemberg varieties — to be in good order and in clean flour barrels — for which a liberal price will be given. Call at my oitice, corner Buffalo and State streets. Clover and Timothy Seed.— 500 bushels of Clover and Timothy Seed, for sale at the Genesee Seed Store, No. 18, (old No. 10,) Front street, by Rochester, April 1, 1847. RAPALJE & BRIGGS. 50 bushels Spring Wheat.— We have just received and offer for sale, at the Genesee Seed Store, (that altogeth- er different concern farther down the street,) fifty bushels Italian and Liberian Spring Wheat. RAPALJE & BRIGGS, April 1. No. 18 Front street. Spring Rye. — 25 bush. Spring Rye for sale at the Gen- esee Seed Store ; it is a first rate article for sowing with oits. RAPALJE & BRIGGS, April 1. No. 18 Front street. ri02 GENESEE FARMER. April. ROCHESTER COMMERCIAL NURSERY, LVKN STRKKT— No. 10,) Front St., Rochester. At this F^stablishmenl can be found all sorts of GAJfDEN and FIELD SEEDS, a large and excellent assortment of Flower Seeds— a large lot of Clover and Tim- othy Seed, Orchard and Lawn Grass, Jvcd Top, Lucerne, White I'utch Clover, Millet, Hemp, Flax Seed, Spring Wheat, Spring Rye, Buckwheat, Barley, Oats, difTerent kinds Pcjs and Beans, Seed Corn of diff'rent kinds, various kinds of Seed Potatoes, I'otato Onions, Onion Seta, Top Onions, (Sec, &c. IMPLEMENTS, MACHINES, &c., .such as Pennock's Patent Wheat Drill — Broad Cast Sowing Machines — Corn Planters, Seed Sowers, Fanning Mills — 10 dilTerent kinds of Straw Cutters, prices from $3 .50 to $23— Plows as fol- lows : Massachusetts Subsoil, various sizes, do. Sward C, do. Eagle S."), do. different sizes Side Hill, Michigan Sub- soil, Delano or Di.amond Plows, BurralPs Wheel Plow, Wisconsin Plow, Gang and Corn Plows, and several kinds of plow points — Cob and Corn Grinders, ditVerent kinds of Corn Shellers, one and two horse Cultivators, Langdon's Horse Hoe or Cultivator, Drags and Drag Teeth; Horse and hand rakes, various kinds of garden rakes — steel and iron shovels and spades of different kinds — cast-steel and steel plated hoes, different kinds — ladies garden spades and hoes, toy spades and hoes — cast-steel and German steel manure forks and hooks— grain cradles ; cradle, grass and bush scythes — bush and grass hooks; grain sickles; Hay knives: grafting, pruning and budding knives; clover and grass seed sieves, pea sieves — cheese presses, hooj)s and tubs — com- mon and patent churns — cattle knobs and bull rings — curry combs and horse cards — ox yokes and bows — hedge shears, pruning saws — Canary birds and cages — hot bed plants in their season — Eglantine or Michigan running rose roots — and many other things which a limited space will not allow us to mention. We have done business through one season, and are pleased to be able to say that we have been more liberally patronized than we anticipated when we began. We hope, and believe, that we have so dealt with those who have fa\ored us with their custom, that they will not hesitate to give us their favors hereafter — and we hope others will try us. All favors will be duly and thankfully appreciated. AGENTS. — The following persons are Agents for the sale of Garden, Field and Flower Seeds, put up at the above named Establishment : — Bottrt) volumes i»f the Farmer, 1846, for sale at this Office. Attica, L. Doty, Albion, Nickison . T. Mooke, Rochester, N. Y. O" The Farmer is subject to newspaper postage only. JIH) Corn Culture. According to the census of 1845, there were 595,135 acres planted with corn the preceding year, in this State, wliich gave an aggregate oi' 14,722,115 bushels. The average was a frac- tion less than 25 bushels per acre. Small as this crop appears, it was larger by 3,636,973 bushels than that returned at the census of 1840. This is a large gain in five years, and will be taken as evidence that still greater improvement in tha culture of this great American staple is attainable. We have long entertained the opinion that New York soil can be made to yield an average of 50 bushels per acre ; or twice as much as it now does, with a three -fold larger profit. How is this result to be attained ? First, by manuring well with those elements that nature uses in making a large crop of corn, so far as they are lacking in the soil to be plant- ed. This application of fertilizers is indispensa- ble ; for no amount of hard work with the plow, hoe, and cultivator, can possibly create one par- ticle of the ingredients that form the substance of corn plants. A soil may contain in an avila- ble form, 99 parts in 100 of all the elements necessary to produce 80 bushels of corn per acre ; yet the lacking 1 per cent, will limit tho crop to one-half that amount. No one has ever seen kernels of this grain that did not contain some 45 or 50 per cent, of phosphoric acid in the ash left when tlie kernels were burnt. Suppose your cornfield possesses enough ofthis substance, com- bined with lime and other bases, and in an avail- able shape, to form the stems, leaves, roots, and cobs, as well as the seeds of this plant, up to the limit of 40 bushels per acre 1 Unless nature can organize kernels of corn v.ithout the presence of hone earth or phosphate of lime, it is obvious that the presence of every othor ingredient in never so great abundance, to form 80 bushels of grain» must all go for nothing at the harvest ! In this case, without any additional plowing, hoeing, or manuring, the addition of a few pounds of bone dust would double the crop. Suppose your soil was deficient in gypsum, as well as in the ingredients that form the bones of your doinestic animals. Then bone dust alone would not answer the great purposes of nature. As no animal can elaborate its brain without plaster or sulphur, nature, with infinite wisdom and foresight, refuses to cheat animals by the production of cereal plants in which sulphur is not a constituent eleinent. If then your soil con- tains enough of sulpliates to give 30 bushels of corn, and no more, how much tillage will it re- quire to create one grain of sulphur out of noth- ing, that nature may have all the materials neces- sary to form a crop of 60 bushels per acre ? Suppose that common salt, (chloride of sodi- um,) be lacking? Your land may furnish enough for two-thirds of a large crop. How will you supply the absent chlorine so indispensable alike in the economy of vegetables and animals ? It may happen that your corn plants need five tiine« more chlorine than your stable or barn yard ma- nure will furnish. Will you foolishly waste four- fifths of your most valuable manure to supply what chlorine your crop requires ; or will you add a little of "the salt of the earth" to your dung heap and thus give it a nve-fold greater productive power ? 106 GENESEE FARMER. May. In the ash of cornstalks and cobs we invaria- bly find a good deal of ])otash. Suppose your soil possesses all the other ingredients required to form a crop of 80 bushels per acre except tliis alkali ; but of that the supply is equal to the de- mands of 40 bushels per acre, and no more ? — Barn-yard manure contains salts of potash, but the per centage is small. If you have a goodly quantity of manure and little land to plant in corn, you will need no additional potash for this crop. But suppose you have but 100 loads, to ten acres of corn ground ? Ten loads will not give your plants all the potash they need. — Hence, the mixture of good wood ashes with gypsum, bone dust, and salt, in addition to a small dose of manure may give you a double crop. The relative proportions of ashes, salt, gypsum, and bones boiled to powder in strong lye, or ground, may be left to the good sense of the corn-grower. If the bones can not be had, the ashes, salt, and gypsum should still be used, where the land is not so rich as it should be to give 60 or 70 bushels per acre. A bushel of salt and a like quantity of gypsum to two bushels of un- leached ashes, would be a fair proportion under ordinary circumstances. In a soil that naturally lacks lime, or where leached ashes are used in- stead of unleached, we should invariably use twice as much lime to the compost as salt. If the compound is to be applied in considerable quantity — and it should be ]f the soil is poor, and the materials not too expensive — it may be spread broad-cast over the field just before planting. From experience we are satisfied that it is much better to apply ashes, salt, &c., on the hill im- mediately on covering up the seed, than to wait till the corn is up, or weeded. A single handful should be spread over a square foot or more sur- face. The rains and dews will dissolve these salts and take them down within reach of the needy roots of the plants cultivated. We advise deep and fine plowing for corn. — The roots of this plant in a mellow, pervious soil, will seek appropriate nourishment at the distance of 30 or 40 inches from the upright stem. Mr. Editor : — May I be indulged wilh troubling yoa with a few questions in relation to a field of about eight acres, which I purpo:^o to plant with Corn the coming season. ft has a clover sod of two years growth, on gravelly soil ; about one-fourth of an acre however, and near the center of the field is a hollow of black sand, which has never pro- diiccd well — worms or something else have always been in the way. The probability is, wilh ordinary usage the lield would produce 30 bushels of corn per acre — I want more. The soil is quick — lies warm — I mean to cultivate it well. Shall 1 plow it more than 5 inches deep?— what time? — What kind of seed, and how shall I prepare it? What distance should it be planted, and how many kernels in the hill? — with all the after process. Yours with esteem, Caleb K. Hobbie. Irondequoit, March, 1817. Remarks. — We should plow the field above referred to, at least seven inches deep, so soon as the ground gets settled and a little warmed by the vernal sun. If we had any well rotted ma- 1 nure, it should be evenly spread over the plowed surface, and well harrowed to incorporate it with the soil. And here let me suggest the impor- tance of having long, sharp harrow teeth, drawn by a strong, quick team, in order to pulverize and mellow the ground to a considerable depth. If our manure was long and very little rotted, ue should prefer to cover it with the plow in the first operation. Yellow corn is usually worth from 3 to 7 cts. more a bushel in New York market than any va- riety of white, and as it yields as well, it should be preferred. We have never seen any variety of yellow corn, so decidedly superior to all oth- ers, as to warrant us in giving it our commenda- tion. In this climate, 3 feet from hill to hill each way is about the proper distance, with 3 or 4 good stalks in a hill. We have elsewhere endeavored to give the reader some idea of the great value of a com- pound of ashes, salt, and gypsum, to augment the yield of this important crop. The value of ashes and salt as fertilizers for most cultivated plants has never been duly appreciated in this country. We will state a case in point in the culture of wheat : A light loamy soil in Scot- land, with a clay sub-soil, gave without any fei*- tilizers 30 bushels of wheat per acre. An ad- joining acre, similar in all respects, received a top dressing of 400 cwt. wood ashes and 200 cwt sulphate of ammonia. This gave 39 bushels. — The sulphate of ammonia was formed on the farm, by pouring oil of vitriol into a reservoir of the urine of cattle. Gypsum mixed with the liquid excretions of all animalti will form sul- phate of ammonia. Thinking that perhaps his soil lacked to some extent both chlorine and so- da, which neither the urine nor the ashes would supply in sufficient quantity this scientific Scoth farmer added to a third acre 200 cwt. of common salt, to the ashes and sulphate of ammonia. The result was not a gain fiom 30 to 39 bushels, but a yield of 49 bushels ! What wheat grower in Western New York would not rejoice to give 200 lbs. of salt for 10 busliels of wheat ? There is more common salt (chlorine and so- dium) in an acre of corn than in an acre of wlieat. This mineral being extremely solu- ble, as every body knows, it is very likely to be leached out of the surface soil, and of course de- ficient in quantity to produce an extra growth of any plant that requires it. If Mr. IIoBBiE wishes to increase his crop of corn from 30 to 50 or 60 bushels per acre, he must add those things to the earth which nature uses, and must have to organize this most prolif- ic plant. Draining and Deep Plowing have doubled the product of wheat, in England, within t e last 25 years— and quadrupled the annual yield of manure. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 107 The Culture of Potatoes. Potatoes are now worth some fifty or sixty cents a bushel in this city. If one could be sure of a good crop of sound potatoes, their culture would yield a large profit. As an article of hu- man food, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find a perfect substitute for this tuber. We are not of the number that regard this plant as likely soon to become extinct ; al- though we confess our inability to explain the occult causes which gave rise to the wide spread potato malady. Whatever may be the pestilent agent, experience has shown that much may be done to avert its destroying powers. The most successful preventives hitherto tried, have been founded on this principle in organic life : All living beings, whether animal or vegetable, can best withstand any epidemic, or other poison that excites the morbid action, and dissolution of or ganized bodies, by supplying the vital principle in the animal or plant with every element in due proportion, used by nature in the constant suste- nance of life. Other things being equal, a very weak, debilitated plant or anitnal, will sooner die and rot, through the influence of any poison common alike to all, than strong and healthy systems, wherein vitality possesses its highest powers of resistance. If this doctrine be true to nature, it becomes a question of the highest moment to learn what are the elements and circumstances most favora- ble to the perfect development of the potato plant. We have devoted a good deal of time to the prac- tice and scientificinvestigationof this very inter- esting subject. Early planting is one of the most important preventives of the blight and rot. But early planting alone is not sufficient. Thorough til- lage, the removal of all excess of moisture, and the application to the soil of any ingredients it may lack to form large, healthy tubers, stems, and leaves of plants, must not be omitted. What these lacking ingredients are, can only be rigid- ly determined by a critical analysis of the soil and of ripe potato plants, including every por- tion of the same. Different varieties of potatoes, as well as the same varieties grown in different soils, give unlike results as to the quantity of starch, water, ash, and mineral constituents of the ash of the tubers, stems, and leaves of the plant. As an animal may be very lean or fat, according to its keep — may have 2.5 or 50 per cent of bones in its system — so cultivated plants may be poor in starch, sugar, gum, legumen, or any other organized or earthy substance, or abound in the same. We find in 100 lbs. of ro- han potatoes, 80 lbs. of water. In the same weight of Mercers, only 74.50 lbs. In 1000 grains of perfectly dry potatoes, we usually find about 40 grains of ash, when thor- oughly burnt. 100 grains of the ash of potatoes ( tubers, ) yield the following constituents : — Carbonic acid,-- - 13.4 Sulphuric acid, - -- 7.1 I'hosplioric acid, 11.3 Chlorine, .--- - 2.7 Lime, - 1.3 Magnesia, - 5.4 Potash -.- SI..") Soda, --- - --. traces Silica, ._. - 5.6 Oxide of Iron nnd Alumina, - -. 0.5 Charcoal and loss, 0.7 lOU.O The above figures are interesting, because they show that 5H per cent, of the ash of pota- toes is pure potash. More than 11 per cent, in phoshoric acid, an element that exists largely in bones. To determine the practical value of pot- ash in the culture of potatoes, we have planted them in an artificial soil in which that alkali was wholly left out. A healthy crop cannot thus be grown, unless perhaps soda or lime may serve as a substitute. How far soda may supply the place of potash, or potash of soda, or lime of either, in the organization of starch, oil, sugar, and of other vegetable substances, no one has tried sufficient experiments to determine. Jn the present state of agricultural science, the only- safe course is to make and apply to the soil, a compound that contains all the elements found in the crop. In addition to stable manure, the use of wood ashes is of great service in growing potatoes. — Manure contains the same mineral elements found in the plants on which domestic animals are fed. The ashes derived from timothy and clover hay, cornstalks, wheal and oat straw, oats and wheat bran — the usual food of domestic animal.s — con- tain a great deal less potash than the ash of po- tatoes. Hence, it is found by experience that stable and common barn-yard manure will go three times farther in growing potatoes, if wood ashes be used at the same time. Common salt, bone dust, lime, and gypsum, are valuable aux- iliaries. We prefer to mix these fertilizers with ashes, either leached or unleached, before their application. They should be spread over each hill immediately after the seed is covered. Running into Debt. No farmer, who hrmestly mteiids to pay, need to fear to Sf- cnre his creditor by mortgage. Some must ever be in debt, otherwise none could have money at interest — none coul^ live on an income. Farmers can give the very best securi- ty for loans and thus allure capital to th ' aid of agriculture. The multitude of mortgag'^s on (arms proves that capital ta a large amount his been thus allured. — Mass. Plmighmmt. The Editor of the Ploughman enjoys a high reputation as a man of sound judgment ; but we greatly misjudge in the matter of borrowing money and mortgaging one's farm to secure prin- cipal and interest, at some future day, if the practice be not alike unsafe and unwise, as tl general rule. According to our observation for the last 25 years — and we claim to have been a pretty close observer of men and things — nine- 108 GENESEE FARMER. May. J-enths of the farmers that have borrowed money in any considerable sums and mortgaged their (arms, have either lost them outright, or been compelled to isell the cream of all that their la- bor produced, and live on skim milk for years before they could get out of debt. In no other business is capital more useful than in agricul- ture. But the money should belong to the man that uses it — not to another, and drawing annual or compound interest, at 7 per cent. Disbelieve it who will, no human being can long endure this drain on his productive energies, without some aid from the unrewarded labor of others. In- stead of wishing to allure millions of borrowed money into rural operations from the John Ja- cob Astors of large cities, secured by mortgages on farms at half their value, we feel in duty bound to caution our readers against the conse- quences of this popular error. The whole real and personal property of this great commonwealth is not far from one thou- sand millions of dollars. Of this Mr. Astor owns at least twenty millions ; or \he fiftieth part. The most careful investigation shows the start- ling fact that, 1000 men own more than one half of all l!>e wealth, both real and personal, in the State, wliilc the balance is concentrating in- to {e\\ and fewer hands with fearful rapidity. — Suppose that the cultivators of New York soil wore foolish enough to borrow $100,000,000, and mortgago all the unincumbered farms in the State ; and the lenders of the money should re- loan their annual interest on farming lands. In 10^ years the debt would be §200,000,000 ; in •21 years it would be $400,000,000; in aii years, $800,000,000! Can human beings in- crease eight fold in 31 J years to work and earn this money ? (!)an they possibly meet this rap- idly accumulating tax on human muscle mher, provided )ne half of the tillers of the earth will only join in the cood work of self imnr(ivement,\vould secure the benefits of a good Agricultural Library. Farmers Ihey will bo early enough for winter stock. * I of Western New York, what say you?— Eo. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 117 Foreign Demand for Breadstuffs. The news brought by the Cambria shows a falling off in the price of wheat, corn, flour, and meal, in English and Irish markets. It is im- possible to have any stability in prices where grain factors and the people are alike intensely ex- cited, the former by the hope of extravagant gains, and the fear of overwhelming losses; and the lat- ter by painful apprehensions of protracted famine. On the 3d of April corn was worth from 50 to 55 shillings a quarter — equal to about -$1,50 per bushel. At a fair price for freight, corn should still be worth a dollar a bushel at New York to ship to England. The price however is 90 a 93 cents. Genesee flour is worth in New York $•7,87^ a 94, (on the 26th April.) There are only two nations that have any con- siderable surplus of grain in the civilized world at this time. They are the United States and Russia. This surplus, so far as the U. S. are concerned, has been greatly over estimated in England. The Mark Lane Express of the 29th March, now before us, puts it down at one hun- dred and fifty millions bushels ! This estimate is based on that annual budget of extravagant guessing, the Report of the Commissioner of Patents. Our surplus is about 30 million?, or one fourth the estimated sum. The following are our exports for 7 months beginning Sept. 1st, 1840, and ending April 1st, 1847 : Wheat flour ...bbls. 1,440,838 Corn meal, " 325,127 Wheat, ....bush. 1,400,912 InJian corn, " 8,605,444 Rye,. " 1,890 Outs, " 158,326 Barley, " 130,591 The total exports to foreign ports during the same time were, of Wheat Hour, bbls. 2,223,139 Wheat, - bush. 1 ,916,367 Imlian corn, '^ 9,176,429 Of which there were from New Orleans — To Great Britain. France. Wheat flour, - _ bbls. 337,362 123,218 Wheat, bush. 60.593 125,782 Indiancorn, '1,247,525 1,916 and from New York To Great Britain. France. Wheat flour, bbls. 708,263 120,7.32 Wheat, .bush. 1,012,714 174,236 Indiancorn, •' 3,440,955 4,016 and of Rye to all foreign ports, 607,947 bushels. Reduce the flour to wheat in the estimate, and we have about 21,-500,000 bushels exported in 7 months of famine prices. If we export 18,500,- 000 by the first of September next, we venture to assert that there will remain in the country a precious little of the crops of 1846. Corn.— A Seasonable Hint.— The Pike Co., (111.) Free Press, says: — " In planting, use pure while or entirely yelloio corn for seed. A mix- ture will not bring as much in market, for com- merce, by from three to five cents per bushel, as either kind will when entirely pure." To Correspondents. Communications have been received, during the past month, from Cileb K. Hobbie, Solomon Hitchcock, Lucius B. Manly, *, A. Reynolds, David Thomas, N. Goodsell, B. Hodge, J. D C, J. W. M., D. C. B., G. C. Sprague, L. Barker, Conrad Miller, Morris Barton, Farmer Tim, *, R. D. Palmer, Duodecahedron, N. Y. State Ag. Society, E. R. Porter, A Farmer, A Subscriber, H. B. H., Lincoln Cummings, W. L. V. D., A. W., D. A. Ogden, J. M. Morrison, and D. W. Halstead. In order to make room for important and sea- sonable articles from correspondents, we have deferred several illustrations intended for this number of the Farmer. Cheese Making. — Will not some one en- gaged in the manufacture of cheese write us a communication, stating the present most improv- ed process for conducting the operation ? New York State Agricultural Society. The Executive Committee have the satisfac- tion to announce to the agriculturists of the State, that our distinguished fiellow citizen, the Hon. Silas Wright, has accepted an invitation ten- dered to him to deliver the annual address on the Fair ground at Saratoga, on the 16th of Septem- ber next. It will doubtless have been perceived from the published proceedings of the Executive Commit- tee, that they have in accordance with the rec- ommendation expressed by the Society, at the annual meeting in January, located the Cattle Show and Fair at Saratoga Springs, to be held on the 14th, 15th, and J[6th of September, 1847. A delegation of the Committee visited Sarato- ga, and selected a fine elevated plat of ground, within a quarter of a mile of Congress Spring, containing an area of fifteen acres or more, which will be enclosed. Spacious buildings will be erected within the enclosure, with ample accom- odations for all articles presented for exhibition. Care will also be taken that arrangements on an extensive scale appropriate to the occasion be made for the reception and exhibition of every description of stock, farm implements, articles of domestic manufacture, fruits, flowers, and arti- cles of mechanic skill. Arrangements will be made with the several Rail Road Companies for the gratuitous transpor- tation of stock, as well as other articles designed for exhibition, so as to arrive a day or two pre- vious to the first day of exhibition. The two rail roads leading to Saratoga will be in readiness to transport without hindiance or delay, the visitors who may desire to be present on the occasion. Geo. Vail, PresH. B. P. Johnson, Sec'y. Agricultural Rooins, Albany, April 8, 1847. 118 GENESEE FARMER. May. New York State Agricultural Society. List of Premiums for 1847. [^CuiUhtiied from page 95.] SWINE.— Large Brf.kd. Best boar, 2 years old,. .$10 I Best sow, 2 years old, .$10 " " 1 -ear old,-.. 8 " " 1 year old,... 8 <' •' 6mo8&.over, 5| " " 6mos.,.. 5 This includes Cheshire, Berkshire, Russia, Mackay, Lei- cester, and their grades. Small Breed. Best boar, 2 years old,. .$10 I Best sow, 2 years old,. .$10 " " 1 year old,... 8 *' •' 1 year old,.. . 8 " " 6 months,...- 5| " " 6 months 3 This class includes Neapolitan, Suffolk, Improved China, Chinese, Mocko, and their grades. Best lot of pigs not less than 4 in number, under 10 mos.-$r) Second best '• " " . Vol. Trans. In awarding premiums on hogs, reference will be had not merely to present condition, but to that proportion between bone and meat which promises the greatest value from the least amount of feed. POULTRY. For the best lot of Dorkmg Fowls, not less than 3, — I cock and -J hens $2 and American Poulterers Companion. Best lot of Black Poland, not less than three, $2 and Am. P. Comp'n. Best lot large fowls, not less thati3, 2 " Best pair of ducks, 2 Best pair of turkies, 2 Best pair of geese, ^, , " ,, . Best and greatest variety of barnyard fowls owned by the exhibitor, $5 and Am. Poulterer's Companion. PLOWS. Best plow possessing some new and val- uable improvements, - $ 1 0 and Diploma. Best subsoil plow, 10 Best sc irilier, 10 Best roller for general use, 5 |^ Best clod crusher ftnd roller, 5 WAGONS, HARROWS, &c. Best farm wagon, $ 10 &. Dip. Second best Col. Tour. Best harrow, -..$:i Best cultivator, 3 Best fanning mill, $5 & Dip. Second best, Trans. Best horse power, $5 & Dip. Second best, .Trans. Best corn stalk cut., $5 Dip. Second best, Trans. Best threshing machine, ...$10 and Dip. Second best, 'I'rans. Be.sl drill barrow, $:{ &. l)i[i. Best straw cutter, 3 &, Dip. Second best, .., Trans. FARM IIVIPLb:iVlENTS. &c. Best corn and cob crusher, by hor.se power,... $5 and Dip. Second best, Colmans Tour. Best clover machine,.. $■> and Dip. Second best, - Colman s Tour. Best tlax and hemp dresser, $o and Dip. Second best, Colman's Tour. Best horse cart, for farm, - i-i " ox cart, - $<^ " horse rake. $2 and Dip. " ox yoke... .Diploma. " farm harness, " saddle, \[ " giain cradle " eiiindrakes, " ehiyforks, " G gr.iss scythes, - " 6 cradle do - •■* (j dung forks,... - " 6 axes, - " hay rigging, *• loi grain measures, " " lot butter tubs and firkins, " For the best and most numerous collection of Agricultural Implements - $ 10 and Dip. Also, for iho best and most numerous coHeciion of \gricul- tural Implements, manufictured in the stiite of New York, by or under the supervision of the exhibitor, $ 10 and Dip. PLOWING MVTCn. First premium, $!•'• I Tliin! premium, $10 Second do 12 | Fourth do. ..Col. Tour. X.'i[ih, Vol. Transactions. For boys under eighteen years of age. First premium, $]U | .Second premium, $5 Third premium, Vol. Transactions. BUTTER. For the best lot, (quality as well as quantity considered,) made from live cows in 30 successive days, — 25 lbs. of the butter to beexhibiteJ, $25 Second best ..$1.) - -~ ■ Thirdbest, 10 Best 25 lbs. made in June, 10 Second best, Col. Tour. Thirdbest, Vol. Trans. Best 50 poimds made at any time,.- $15 Second best,.. 10 Third best, Col. Tour. Fourth best Sil. Medal. I'ift , best, Vol. Trans. CHEESE. One year old and over. Best 100 lbs., $15 I Thirdbest, Sil. MedaL Second best, 10 | Fourth best, ...Wash. Lett. Fifth do., Vol. Trans. Less than one year old. Best 100 Ib.s ..$ 5 I Third best Sil. Medal. Second best, 10 | Fourth best, ... Wash. Lett. SUGAR. Best251bs. maple sugar, $10 I Third best, Col. Tour. Second best, 5 | Fourth best, Vol. Trans. INo premium to be awarded unless the sample oU'ered shall be deemed worthy of it. The process of manufacture and clarifying the sugar must be particularly stated. SILK. Best specimen mmufactur- ed, (woven into cloth or ribbons, $ 15 Second best, 10 Third best, Col. Tour. Fourth best, Vol. Trans. Best specimen not less than 1 lb. reeled siik, $5 Second best, Col. Tour. Thii d best, Vol. Trans. Best specimen of sewing silk, not less than 1 lb., of do- mestic growth, $10 Second bckt, 5 Third best, Col. Tour. Fourth btst, Vol. Trans. Bes t one-half bushel I ocoons, 1847, $3 Second best Col. Tour. Thirdbest, Vol. Trans, DOMESTiC MANUFACTURES. Best woolen blankets, $5— 2d, $4 — 3d, $3. " ten yards llannel, $5— 2d, lS4— 3d, $3. " ten yards woolen cloth, $5— 2d, $4 — 3d, $3. " woolen carpet, $.5— 2d, $4 — :id, $3. " fifteen yards low cloth, $5 — 2d, Vol. Transactions. " ten yards linen. $-5— 2d. $4— 3d. $3. " ten yards linen diaper, $5 — 2d, !J4— 3d. $3. " hearth rug, $5— 2d, $4— 3d, $3— 4lh, $2— 5th, V. Tr, " ten yards kersey, $.i — 2d, $2 — 3d, Vol. Trans. " rag carpel, 15 yards, ■$'3 — 2d. $2 — 3d, Vol. 'I'rans. " double carpet coverlet. $4— 2d, $3— 3d, $2— 4th, V. Tr. " pair woo. en knit stockings, $2 — 2d, Vol. 'Trans. " wove uoolen stockings, $2 — 2d, Vol. Trans. " cotton wove stockings, $2 — 2d. Vol. Trans. " pound of linen sewing thread, $2 — 2d, Vol. Tranf. •' linen wove stockings, $2 — 2d, Vol. Trans. •' linen knit stockings, ij-'2 — 2d, Vol. Trans. " knit cotton stockings, $2 — 2d, Vol. Trans. Discretionary Premiums will be awarded for other arti- cles, deemed worthy, by the committee. NEEDLE, SHELL, AND WAX WORK. Best ornamental needle work, $1 and Diploma, " ottoman covers, " " " table covers, " " " grouptlowers, " " " variety of worsted work, " " " fancy chair work, with needle, " " " worked cushion and back, •' " " worked CO lar and handkerchief, " " " woolen shawl, " " " worked quilts, " " " white quilts; " " " silk pilch-work quilt, " " " fringe mittens, " " "■ port-folio, worked, " " " bonnets, silk, " " " " straw, " " " lace capes, " " " lamp stand mat, " " " orniniontal shell work, $3 " " specimen of wax tlowers, 2 " Discretion iry premimns to be awardecl for other article* which are deemed entitled to commendation. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 119 , FLOWERS. Professional List. Greatest variety and quanti- ty of Rowers, $5 Dahlias. Greatest variety, $5 Best 24(li!i«iinilar blooms, $3 Rnsei. Greatest variety,... $5 Best 24 dissimilar blooms, $'d Phloxes. Best 10 varieties, $3 Best seedling, 2 Verhe7ias. Greatest var. and number, $3 Best 12 varieties, 1! Best seedling, 2 Gennaii An tors. Best collection, $3 Pa/isys. Best and greatest variety, $3 Best 24 varieties, $2 Amatkur List. Greatest varieij^and quantity of llowers, Sil. Medal. Dahlias. Greatest variety, Sil. Medal. Best 12 dissimilar blooms. Horticulturist. Roses. Greatest variety, Sil. Med il. Best 12 dissimilar blooms. Horticulturist. Phloxes. Best G var.,.. Horticulturist. Best seedling, " Verbenas. Greatest var.,. Horticulturist Best 12 varieties, " Best seedling, " German Astors. Best collection, Horticultar't Pansys. Best and greatest var., -Hort. Best 12 va.-ieties, " General List, open to all Competitors. Best collection Groen House Plants owned by one per- son, bilver Medal. Best Floral design, - - " Best Floral ornament, " Second best, Colman's Tour. Third best, Washington's Letters. Best hfind Boquet, "flat," Horticulturist. Second best, Washington's Let lers. Third best,. ...Vol. Transactions. Best hand Boquet "round," Horticulturist. Second best, Washington's Letters. Third best,. VoL^Transactions. 'i\ best stalks celery, $1 (J best heads caulillower, 1 6 best heads brocoii 1 12 best white table turneps 1 12 best carrots, 1 12 best table beets, I 12 best parsnips, 1 12 best onions, - 1 3 best heads of cabbage,. 1 12 best tomatoes, 1 2 be>t purple egg plants, . 1 VEGF/PABLES. 12 best sweet potatoes, ... 1 Best half peck Lima beans, 1 Rest half peck \^'indsor do. 1 Wc^X. bunch double parsley 1 Three best squnshes, 1 Largest pumpkin, 1 12 best ears seed corn,.-. 1 Best half peck table pota- toes, 1 Second best, _ 1 Best seedling potato, 1 Discretionary premiums will be awarded on choice gar- den products not above enumerated. MISCELLANEOUS. Best iron gate for farm purposes, Silver Medal. " ornamental cast iron vase, on pedestal,. " " sample drain tile, " " quarter of an acre of osier willow, and the best spe- cimens m inufaetured from the product, $5 Best specimen wire hurdle fence, to be accompanied with an account of cost, ...Silver Medal. PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS. Best specimen, _ $ 1 0 and Diploma. " specimen of animal portr:iits, 10 " " drawing of show grounds and buildings, " STOVES. Possessing some new and valuable improvements. Best cooking stove for wood fire,... Diploma. Second best, _ _ Silver Medal. Best cooking stove for coal fire, Diploma. Sebond best,. Silver Medal. Best pnrlor stove, Diploma. Second best, Silver Medal. For improvements and michiriery useful to the farmer and having valuable properties, premiums will be awarded. Premiams on Fruit. Lewis F. Allen, Buflalo, chairman of committee, APPLES. Yox the greatest and best variety of good table apples, 3 of eac.i variety, n imed and labelled, grown by exhibitor, Uowning's Fruit and Fruit Trees of America, col'd plates. For the second best,... $5 and Downing's common edition. Third best, Vol. Transactions. Best 12 var. table apples, labelled,.. $5 & Down. com. edi. Second best, __ 2 " Best 6 winter varieties do., labelled, 3 " Second best, $1 and Trans. PEARS. I'or the greatest number of varieties of good pears, named and labelled. Dow ning's book, colored plates, Second greatest, $5 and Downing's common edition. Third greatest,. Vol. Transactions. For the best select collection of first rate autumn pears. named and labelled .$5 and Downing's common edition, Second best, -_ 2 " " For the largest and best collection of winter pears, named and labelled, $2 and Downing's common edition. Second best " " For the best collection of newly introduced pears, with a de-. scription, &c., as provided for new variety of seedling ap- ples, - Downing's book, colored plates, PEACHES. Best 12 varieties, labelled,... $5 and Downing's com n edi. Second best, 2 " Best 6 varieties, labelled, 3 " Second best, 1 " Best 12 peaches, 2 " Second best. .- " Best seedling var. 6 specimens .3 " Second best, 2 " PLUMS. Best collection of plums, 6 spec, each var., $5 and Down ings common edition. Second best, _ $3 and Downing's common edition, Best 0 varieties of good plums, 6 spec, each, |3 and Thorn' as' Fruit Culturist. Second best, -.$1 and Thomas' Fruit Cult, Best 12 plums choice variety,.. 1 " Second best, " Best seedling plums, with descriptions, as in apples, $5 and Downing s common edition. Second best $2 and Dow ning's common edition. NECTARINES AND APRICOTS. Best and greatest number of good varieties, 6 specimens each, labelled, $3 and Downing's common edition. Second best, $2 and 'I'homas' Fruit C'ulturist, Best 12 spec's of any good \ariety,-.$l and Down. com. ed. Secend best, $1 and Thomas' Fruit Culturist. QUINCES. Best 12 quinces of any variety, $3 .ind Down. com. ed, Second best, ...$1 and Thos. Fruit Cult, Third best,.. " GRAPES, Best and most extensive collection of good native grapes, grown in open air,... $5 and Downing's common edition. Second best, 2 " Best 3 varieties of native or foreign grapes, grown under glass, 3 bunches each to be shown. $5 & Down. com. ed, Second best, 2 " Best dish of native grapes, Thomas' Fruit Culturist, WATERMELONS. Best 6 specimens of any variety, $3 and Brjdgman's Gard-i ner's Assistant. Second best, $1 and Bridgman, MUSKMELONS. Best 6 specimens of any variety, $3 and Bridgman Second best,-- - - 1 " CRANBERRIES. Best peck of domestic culture, ---$5 Second best, - ^ To 1)0 accompanied with a full description of the manner of cultivation, nature of soil, &c. Any premiums may be withheld in the discretion of the committee, if the samples exhibited are not worthy of a pre? mium. The fruit exhibited and for which premiums are awarde<^ to be at the disposal of tlie committee. Six volumes of Downing, common edition, and twelve of Thomas' Fruit Culturist will be awarded by the committee, in their discretion, lor choice fruits not enumerated. 120 f4 GEXESEE FARMER. Ma the art of removing scir'ntifically certain branflips, or parts of them, for tiic purjio.se of iiicrfasin,!:!; productiveness or .size, or of iiiif.rovirig the pcncral liealtli of tlie individual (ip;nU('d upon. Sucii is itis true meaning, and v«c douln w iu'thrr the definition can be extended. .^kilfnl gardeners have but one way of performing this operation. Their method rnay he called " the clean cut''; and fonsists in removing a shoot by in aiis of a sloping HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. C"Oi\nUCTEl) BY P. BARRY. Pruning. " The object of the pruner," says Lindley's Tlieory of Horticulture, "is to diminish the num- ber of leaves and branches ; whence it moy be at once understood how delicate are the opera- tions he has to practice, and how thorough a knowledge he ought to possess of all the laws which regulate the actions of the organs of veg- etation. ,lf well directed, priming is one of the most useful, and if ill directed, it is among the most mischievous, operations that can take place upon a plant." Admitting that, in thiscountry, pruning is not, nor need not be regarded of such importance as it is in many parts of Europe ; yet it is more or less necessary — and as flir as it may be necessa- ry it is of the utmost importance that it be prop- erly i)erformcd. Every man who undertakes to cultivate trees should endeavor to make himself acquainted with the theory and j^ractice of pruning. Every aj)plication of the knife, on a tree, should bo made with skill and precision, and with a thorough appreciation of the results. For the benefit of those of our readers interested in these matters, we extract the following excellent sug- gestions and illustrations from the " London Gar- deners' Chronicle," which we presume are from the pen of Mr. Thompson, the head of the fruit department of the London Horticultural Society's Garden : The principles tliat should govern the practice of I'RDNJNG arc sadly neglet ted or misiinderstood ; and this by garden- ers as well as amateurs. At our saying this, no really skil- ful pruner should feel oflendcd ; for of course he is iiot in- cluded in the criiicisni. On the contrary, we doubt wheth- er in any country can bo found men so thoroughly conver- sant with the subject as in our own. The following remarks, indeed, arc founded upon their experience and example, and can only be regarded as an exposition of the present state of Knglish priuiing. Hut it do,-s not follow, because many men nnderstaml thoroughly the use of the knife, that thou- sands are not in want of instruction, and it is to the latter that we address ourselves. Jn all branches of science it is found convenient to com- mence by a few definitions. We shall follow the example. L^l it be understood, then, thai by pruning we do not un- derstand hacking or mutilating trees merely to reduce their bulk, nor that sort of random cutting out which is often sup- posed to bo expressed by this name. 'J'hoso operations be- long to plashing and slashing, not to pruning. Pruning is Fig. G. Fig. 5. Fig. 4. wound, forming an angle of about 45", just at the back of a bud, as at fig. 1. The reason is, that as soon as the bud liushes, this wound is readily and rapidly covered with new wood. In some trees it will, in fact, heal over in a few weeks. An awkward way of performing this, represented at Fig, 2, we shall name " the cut to the quick." Here the wound is made too low down, and exposes to the drying action of the air the communication between the base of the bud and tlic interior of the stem ; the consequence of whfch is that the bud dies, and the new shoot not only does not couio where it was expected, but is surmounted by a dead joint, which will afterwards have to be removed. In order to avoid the risk of " the cut to the quick," some gardeners make use of" the snag cut," (Figs. 4, 5, and G,) iu which the wound is made on the same side of the branch as that occui)ied by the bud, slanting downwards towards it, Of that plan we do not approve ; for it involves the ne- cessity of leaving behind a dead portion of the branch to be removed at a later i)ritning, so that work must be done twice over ; moreover, it is an admis.sinn of a want of the skill re- quired to make " the clean cut" skillft;lly. Lastly, there is " the slivcriiig cut,' (I'ig. U,) in which a long, ragged, miequal shave is taken off the branch, much too low in the beginning, and much too high at the end. It is the cut made by young ladies and maid servants, and mere garden laborers. It has no excuse. It is clumsy, ngly, awkward, and dangerous, for it is ayil to injure the branch on which it is made, if it does not extend to the operator's left hand. So much for delinilions. In all cases the amputation should be made by one firm- drawn cut. The clean cut can be performed by a dexterous operator to within a shaving of the right line : and the mas- tery of this art is no mean acquisition. We have seen ex- pert primers gr.isp a branch in their left hand, and with one sharj) (|uii-k draw remove a shoot as thick as the thumb.— Rut for this purpose a knife must be keen. Those things which some men call pruning knives, blunt and notched, a sort of crob^s between a file and a handsaw, used for grub^ 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 121 bing up weeds, drawing wall nails, and Irimming roots, are never syen in Ihe hands of a man who understands his busi- ness or attends to it. To a gardener his pnining knife is as much an object of solicitude as his razor. Indeed of the (wo he would rather hack his chin than his plants. Nor is the anxieiy to keep his pruning knife in the higliestordera piece of needless affectation ; work is done fastest witli a keen knife, and best, for the wounds that it inllicts are healed much sooner than those spongy, cottony, slivers which some people mistake for pruning. These preliminary remarks will serve to introduce the main body of observations vvhieh we propose to offer upon the subject of pruning; ; not however in the form of general propositions, but of det;uled instructions for each of the kinds of fruit, trees usually cullivaled in tiiis country. Each has its own pcculiaritifs of growth ; each has to be treated with reference to those peculiarities ; and, therefore, each must become the subject of separate consideration. We shall continue in future numbers such of the articles alluded to as we may consider to be useful or interesting to our readers. THE FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES OF AMERICA : By A. .1. Downing. The splendid colored edition of this work, which has been long and anxiously expected, will, we are infornaed, be forthcoming immedi- ately. The plates have already been received from Paris, where they have been colored, and the edition will, in all probability, appear some time this montli. We are sure that this will be a welcome item of intelligence to the lovers and growers of fruit throughout the Union. The ap- pearance of such works as these afford pleasant indications of the progress of taste and refine- ment. When we tliink of what the last 10 years has effected, we are half inclined to believe we are dreaming. " Onward " is the motto. Successful Planting. — "A Young Farmer,^'' Macon, Mich., — whose inquiries were noticed last month — says : " In the iall of 184.5 and spring of 1846. 1 planted .300 fruit irees of the various kinds, and have not lost one out of that number, notwithstanding the drouth so severe here last summer. Some of the apple trees have grown 3 feet, and peaches generally 2 feet — and some 4 to 6 feet. I set them on a piece of rich, new land ; dug the holes from 3,3 to 4.^ feet in diameter, and from 18 to 24 inches deep ; filled them up with rich muck and black sand and loam. The earth that came out of the bottorn was not thrown back. The roots were carefully trimmed, where bruised or broken, be- fore I sot them out." Such careful planting as the above can hardly fail of success. We hope such results will in- duce similar treatment. — Ed. Rapid Growth op a Plum Graft. — Allow me a small space in your valuable paper, to give the growth of a Washington Plum graft that I set in a wild plum stock, April 17th, 1846. I supposed I had noted the growth of it oftener, but on turning to my journal I find but three dates, as follows : July 5th, it measured four feet and two inches — July 26th, five feet and eight inches — September Ist, six feet and four inches, This is one of four shoots — three others from two to four feet, from the two scions. I feel particu- larly proud of it, as it is one of my own grafting. It shows how well a few odd minutes can be oc- cupied.— C, W. M., Fair Place, Onon. Co. Tr.'uisaflions of the M^. Horticultural Society. Hoiiricui.TUKAL Hall, School Street, ) Boston, March 2o, 1847. S The niassachusptis Horticultural Society announce to tiie Public, that its Committee of Publication is preparing to pub- lish the 1st number of a series of Transactions of tlie ^'ociety. This puhlicalion has been for some years in contempla- tion, and materials have been collected for this purpose ; but it has been hitherto delayed until the funds of the So- ciety should enable it to be produced in a style of excellence which could not fail lo render it both permanent, and an honor to the advanced slate of the Horticulture of the pres- ent day. It is intended that the work shall be in Royal Octavo, and the numbers shall a[)pear as frequently as materials ac- cumulate ; each shall contain from four to six Plates, chieliy of I^'kui rs, but occasionally of Flowers, drawn and colored from nature, by the best talent the country can produce, and also the proceedings of the Society, including the reports of the weekly and annual exhibitions, to the date of publication. The Society hopes soon to offer such premiums for able communications on Horticultural subjects, as shall secure to these Transactions papers containing information of great practical value to all interested in this pursuit. Although the authors of papers will alone be generally responsible for their contents, yet all accounts and descrip- tions of Fruits will be published under the immediate super- vision of the Fruit Committee, and of Flowers tinder that of the Flower Committee ; so th.it the autAenticity of THE Society will be attached to the most essential por- tions of their Transactions. To establish a standard for all the present varieties of fruit, and to fnabl« the public lo judge of the quality of new kinds, as they shall be presented from imported trees, or from varieties originating in this country, will be one of the principal purposes of these Transactions, and will receive the particular attention, not only of the Comitteesof the Society but also of the most experienced of its imlividual members. The price to the members of the Society will be about the cost of p.atcs, printing, rhood of Rochester was one on the premises of Mr. VVkst, on Washington street. I observed it, and called and requested the privilege of cutting out and burning the branch on which it appeared, but was refused. From that neucleus it spread in diiferent directions. That tree was a Bonchreiien. 1 have thought that the "liability^' might depend upon the shape and formation of the bud, as we know some af- ford a more ready slielter for insects than others ; while gome that are small, and lie close to the branch, do not af- ford any place for their secretion. Yours respectfully, Greece, Marrli 13, 1847. N. Uoousell. Friend Barry : — In answer to your inquiries relative to the I'ear tree blight, and what varieties with me have been most liable to be attacked with this disease, I reply in brief that my experience in the matter has been qui e limited. — After a residence here of 40 years, and having been for many years somewhat extensively engaged in growing the pear, ihe sum total of all the trees in my grounds, that have been afliected with the disease, is only six. Some eight years since, early in summer, I discovered in one of the nursery rows three trees whose leaves and branches had become withered and turned quite black. I cut them down close to the ground, and burnt them. This variety was the Winter Bell, of but one years growth from the bud, and had made a very vigorous growth the year previous. My present impression is that it was a clear case of frozen sap hl'ight. The other cases have been among standard trees, of which I have a very large number. Tlie Belle de Bruxelles, a tree some ten feet high was attacked, nearly one half of the upper branches turned black. 1 cut it down to within two feet of the ground, far below where it showed any elTeets of the disease. It again sprouted and flung up strong shoots, but no symptoms of the disease has since appeared. A large iree, planted about 35 years ago, some six years since exhibiter! signs of this disease in the upper branches. They were cut out; but nearly every year since some of the branches have withered ; the m lin trunk of the tree at last became affected, and the past year it was cut down to the ground. Three years ago last autumn a very large tree of the Or- ange Pear suddenly began to wither and droop. The leaves did not turn black, but merely drooped as when suffering from drouth. It was not very dry at the time: the tree was near 40 feet high, and the loots had spread wide and deep. During the fall the tree appeared to revive ; and in the fol- lowing spring it put out ai^ fresh as ever, and, as I then sup- posed, healthy and vigorous. But early in June the leaves and branches suddenly turned black, and the whole tree, roots and branches, died at once. The inner bark of the trunk and branches was quite black, and very readily remo- ved from the wood. Without farther experience and invesrigation, I am not disposed now to give an opinion in regard to the cause or causes producing this disease. Yet I am disposed, even now, to hazard the opinion that the last named case was not a case of frozen sap blight. Respectfully yours, B. Hodge. Buffalo Nursery, March 11. 1847. Woo;lpeckers. Mr. Editor : — On the 75th page of the cur- rent volume of the FariTier, I find an article signed " Inquirer,'* concerning "a snnall speck- led bird called Woodpecker" — and beneath, your answer to inquirer. It appears to nie that you did not rightly understand him. The bird in- quired about, although belonging to the " genus Picus," is more conimonly known to farmers by the naiTie of "sap-suckers" — from the circunti- stance that during the latter part of summer and fore part of autumn they appear to subsist entire- ly on the sap of certain trees, among which are the apple. In order to be supplied with plenty of food, these birds go fi-om tree to tree making circles of small holes through the bark of them. Into these holes the elaborated sap is forced, and the birds may be seen going froni one tree to anoth- er extracting the same, without making the least search for insects. I have often killed them while thus engaged, and have examined the con- tents of their stomachs, but have never discover- ed the remains of any insects, or their larva, in them. 1 have known them to greatly injure trees by their perforations, and in one instance an apple tree was entirely killed. From the known habits of this genus of birds, it is to be supposed that during throe-fourths of the year, this species may subsist upon insects, but whether the benefits conferred during this time over-balance the injury done during the remainder of the year, detnands a doubt. I rec- ommend killing all that frequent orchards at the season when they commence their depredations. Greece, March 7, 1847. G. Remarks. — We are much obliged to our cor- respondent for his intended correction ; still we believe that we understood the inquirer aright, and answered him correctly. We were aware of the opinion that existed about the "sap suck- ing," and of the provincial appelation given to the bird, of " sap-sucker ;" but considered them both incorrect and improper, if not absurd, and therefore did not mention them. The reasons we have for su?h belief will be found in the fol- lowing extract from Wilsoii's American Ornith- ology:— In more than fifty orchards which 1 have myself carefully- examined, those trees which were marked by the Wood- pecker (for some trees they never touch, perhaps because not penetr.iled by insects) were uniformly the most thri- ving, and seemina;ly the most productive ; many of these were upwards of sixty years old, their trunks completely covered with holes, while the branches were broad, luxuri- ant, and loaded wilh fruit. Of decayed trees, more than three-fourths were nntojched by the Woodpecker. Seve- ral intelligent farmers, with whom I have conversed, can- didly acknowledge the truth of these ohservaliims, and with justice look upon these birds as benedcial ; but the most common opinion :s, that they bore the trees to suck the sap, and so destroy its vegetation : though pine and other resinous trees, on the juices of which it is n H pretended they feed, are often found equally perforated. Were the sap of the tree their object, the saccharine juice of the birch, the sugar maple, and several others, would be much more inviting, because more sweet and nourishing, than that of either the pear or apple-tree ; but I have not observed one mark on the former, for ten thous'nd that may he s°en on the latter. Besides, the early part of spring is the season when the sap Hows most abundantly : whereas, it is only duriii'jr ihe mcmihs of Seotemier, October, and i\ovember, thnt Woodpeckers are seen so indefatigably eni^aped in orchards, probing every crack and crevice, boring through the bark, and, what is worth remarking, chiedy on the south 124 GENESEE FARMER. . May. and soutli-west sides of the tree, for the eggs and Inrvae de- posited there by tlio countless swarms of summer insects. These, if suffered to remain, would prey upon the very vi- lais, if 1 may so express il, oflhe tree, and in the succeeding summ.T give birth to myriads more of tiieir race, equally destructive. Here, then, is a whole species. I may say, genus, of birds, which Providence seems to have formed for the protection of our fruit and forest-trees from the ravages of vermin which every day destroy millions of those noxious insects that would oljiervvise blast the hopes of the husbandman, and which even promote the fertility of the trees ; and, in re- turn, are proscribed by those vviio ought to have been their protectors, and incitements and rewards held out for their destruction ! Lei us examine better inio the operations of nature, any many of our mistaken opinions and groundless prejudices will be abandoned for more just, enlarged, and humane modes of thinking. LADIES' DEPARTMENT. " Farmers' Daughters"— again. Mr. Editor : — Noticing in your last number an article written by a farmer's wife, entitled " Farmers' Daughters," I perused it with great eagerness; but I was somewhat disappointed with the tenor of it. I agree witn your correspondent in some of her statements — but in others, I can not. She inquires "if farmers' girls have ever | seen, or heard of independence for the farmers' wife ]" I am a farmer's daughter, and I have | both seen and heard of independence for the farmers' wife, as well as for the farmer. I am acquainted with several farmers, who have been accustomed to keep individually from five to nine cows, and one hundred sheep or more, who have retired from business, with only one cow and a few sheep, (and they retain those because their wives choose to manufacture their own butter, and prepare their stocking-yarn.) Now, I ask, are not the wives of those farmers as independ- ent as their husbands 1 She says, also, " There is no class of women of whom so great an amount of care and labor is required, as among farmers, nor where the de- pendence of the wives is more abject." Many undoubtedly, agree with her in the foregoing statement, whi^le others are of the saiDe opinion that I am. It is true, I know not ihe condition of the farmers' wives and daughters in the com- munity where she resides, (nor do I wish to if they are all as unpleasantly situated as she is,) — yet I think I can estimate, in some degree, the difference in the situation of the farmers' wives, and the wives of the traders and mechanics of this town, as it has been my lot to spend some time with persons who followed the above seve- ral occupations ; previous to which my opinions coincided witli those of your correspondent. I admit that at some seasons of the year the labor of the women among farmers is more fatigueing than it is among traders and mechanics ; but I do not think, at any time, they have to endure more fatigue, or care, or anxiety of mind, than does the wife of the physician. The physician is call- ed to visit the sick ; his wife knows not when he will come home : he may be at home in an hour or two, he is as likely to be absent a day or per- haps a week. This is wliat I have heard physi- cians' wives say many a time. And if there is any thing to be done, she is obliged, oftentimes, to do it herself, or provide some way for it to be done. The farmer is usually at home, (his farm is his home,) and if his wife wishes for his assis- tance, he is (or ought to be,) willing to assist her. She knows when to prepare the repasts for the day, having commonly, reason to expect they will be eaten when prepared, (and there is noth- ing that is more trying to a woman's patience than to be obliged to keep her victuals standing an hour, or even half, and much more a day, be- fore they are eaten.) What she says respecting farmers' daughtei-s marrying persons of the same occupation of their fathers, may be true in some instances ; but in this community there has been no less than fif- teen girls, farmers' daughters likewise, who in the space of two or three years have married farmers ; and I know of but two who have been married, who did not marry farmers. I think they must have chosen their compan- ions, or their parents must have preferred to have them unite their interests with those of the farm- er— and it is altogether probable, the girls and their parents were satisfied with their so doing. I think the situation of your correspondent is de- plorable in the extreme ; by her description of it, she makes it a parallel case with that of the drunkard's wife, I hope that hers is an isolated case ; and I dare to presume it will compare with the good chief magistrates of our government — very " few and far between." A Young Farmer's Wipe, Perry Center, March, 1847. Watering House Plants, — There is a great deal of discretion to be used in watering plants. The regular course of giving them all a regular forenoon and afternoon dab is the worst possible policy, Tiie roots of a well established plant penetrate and fill the entire earth of the pot, and by the usual process of giving a little water every day only keeps the surface wet and the bottom of the roots around dry and moulded. The true course is, to let them stand till quite dry on the surface, and then to give them a thorough water- ing even till it percolates through the bottom, if the pot is well drained with broken earthen or oyster shells. Occasional liquid manure, or 1 lb. of guano in 2 gallons of water, tells well on the growth and increased size and beauty of the foliage of flowers. * A DROP or two of honey well rubbed on the hands while wet, after washing with soap, pre- vents chapping, and removes the roughness of the skin. It is ])articularly pleasant for cliildren'e hands and faces in cold weather. — Selected. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 125 Pratt's Patent Corn and Seed Planter. Now is the season for planting and sow- ing, and Pratls Puteut Com and Seed Planters are just what 1 he Farmer wants to plant his Corn and J'eans, and sow his Beets, Onions, Carrots, Ruta- bagas, &c. The Machine will make the drill, drop the desired quantity of seed and cover it the proper depth, ail performed by the same operation, without the aid of a horse, and almosl with incredible despatch. The Machine is moved by hand in tlie same manner as a common wheel barrow, the periphery of the wheel making the drill. The seed is let into it by a tube from the hoppor, in wiiicU the seed is lir.st placoj, and at any distance apart desired by the farmer, and is properly and' evenly covered by the coverer, which is raised or lowered by a chain lo secure the even covering, which is sure and sitisfoctory. The only alteration nee; ssary for the different kinds of seed is to change a small plate in the hopper, whicl' can be done in two minutes. [^F Several hundred certificates can be produced of the merits of this Machine, if nec«i but two or three at this time is deemed sufficient. RECOMMENDATIONS: Gentlemen — Agreeably to your request I have given the Corn and Seed Planters, sent to me in the spring, a fair trial, and I have concluded lo keep them, and do not know what inducement would tempt me to give them up, and resort to the old method of sowing and planting by hand. I have drilled in 8 acres of carrots with the Seed Planter, and 12 acres of corn with the Corn Planter, both in drills one foot apart, (for fodder for our cows.) 'I'he carrots are now the most beautiful looking crop crop I ever saw, while the corn has produced the largest amount of fodder ever raised on my farm, — much greater than adjoining lots, of the same fertility, planted by hand. I have hesitate not to say that the saving in seed and labor, (over the usual method,) on the above twenty acres of corn and carrots, will more than pay the evpense of both Machines, besides greatly adding to the crop, by being more evenly sowed and ihoroughly covered. [Sept. 1, 184G.] C. B. STUART, Agent Rochester City Milk Coinpany. This is to certify that I liave used one of Pratt's Corn and Seed Planters the past season, and I do unhesitatingly say that I consider it one of the greatest improvements of the age. I have planted some thirteen acres of beans this season with the said Planter, and it did the work to my entire satisfaction ; and I would recommend it to all may who may be in want of a Planting Machine. [Brighton, July 24, 1846.] ROMANTA HART. 0° Manufactured and for sale at the Steam Factory of TAYLOR &, BROWN, No. 6 Hill street, Rochester. ROCHESTER COMMERCIAL NURSERY, MAIN STREET — ONE MII.E EAST OF THE COtJRT HOUSE, ROCHESTER, N. Y. Office No. 1 Arcade Hall. The Subscribers offer for sale the present spririg, a fine assortment of FR'JIT TREES, com- prising several hundred of the most desirable varieties of Apple, Pear, Peach, Cherry, Plum, &c., &c., cultivated with great care, thrifty, and warranted cor- rectly named. Nurtheni Spy, Early Jo' , and other choice Apples in any quan- ty, and Onondaga and oth- er new Pears at regular Catalogue jirices. O" Many of our trees aro larger than can be pur- chased elsewhere. Pears on Qulnce for Gardens. — VVe have some of the finest dwarf Pears ever offered for sale in this market, to whicli we invite the attention of those per- sons wishing to purchase tliis description of trees. J'ricod dialogues fur- nished to all post paid ap- Deodar Cedar. plicants. 0= An assortment of HARDY ORNAMiiNTAL TREES also kept for sale. Marclil, 1847. BISSELL & HOOKER. Seedlin'i Apple Trees wanted.— The subscriber wishes to purcliase a few thousand seedling Apple Trees. Apply personally, or by mail, to S. MOULSOV, Rochester, Jan. 1, 1847. Spring Rye.— 25 bush. Spring Rye for sale at the Gen- esee Seed Store ; it is a first rate article for sowing with oats. RAPALJE & BRlG(iS, April 1. No. 18 Front street. The Stud Horses l*erfection and Yonng Alfred Will stand the ensuing season, at my stable, three miles south west of Geneva. Terms — Perfection, $10, by the season. Young Alfred, $6, by the season. Insurance to be agreed upon. Pastu- rage will be provided for mares from a distance, and atten- tion given them. Accidents and escapes at the risk of the owners. Po.digree. — Perfection, sire imported horse Alfred ; dam imported mare Blossom. Perfection was awarded at the late State Fair, a discretionary premium for tlie best three years old in the Isl class. Also, the 1st premium in Onta- rio county. Young Alfred's dam drew the 1st premium at the State and County Fairs in 1845. GEORGE FORDON. Geneua, I\\ Y., April, 1847. Extract from the Report of the Committee on Horses- Class 1st and 2d — at the Fair at Auburn, of which the lion. Adam Furgesson, of Woodvilie, C. W.. was Chairman: " The Committee having found some difficulty in bring- ing Colts into fair competition with Horses of matare age, respectfully recommend the following uncommonly fine animals to the society for extra premiums ; •' 1st. Perfection, 3 years old,— George Fordon, Geneva. '•2d. Black Prince, do., — Reuben Tift, Chemung Co. "3d. Golden Farmer, 2 years old,— Cyrus Breed," &c. Agricultural Implements. Is order to accommodate the subscribers to the Farmer, from whom frequent inquiries and orders for implement* arc received, I have made arrangements to supply the fol- lowing articles : Pitts' Thrasher and Separator, price, $150 00 The above including Horse-Power, 250 00 Pitts' Corn and Cob xMill, 40 00 Seymour's Sowing Machine, 45 00 Sanford's Straw-Cutter, 15 00 Barrall's Patent Corn-Sheller, 10 00 Also, most kinds of Plows, Cultivators, &:c., &c., at the usual prices. As my only object is the accommodation of mhscribers to the Farmer who reside at a distance, (without fee or reward,) all orders should be post paid and accompa- nied with the cash. The implements will be carefully se- lected, and shipped per order. D. 1). T. MOORE. Farmer Office, Rochester, April, 1847. Bot;ND volumes of the Farmer, 184G, for sale at this Office. 126 GENESEE FARMER. May. C^uesee Seed Store and Agrricultural Warehouse. No. 18 (old No. 10,) Front St., Rochester. At this Establishmenl can be found all sorts of GARDKN and FIKLU SELUS, a large and excellent Bssorlment of l-'lower Seeds — a large lot of (-lover and Tim- othy Seed, Orchard and Lawn Cirass, Ked 'J"op, Lucerne, While Dutch Clover, Millet, Hemp, Flax Seed, Spring Wheat, Spring Kye, Buckwheat, Barley, Oat.s, ditferent kinds Peas and Beans, Seed Corn of different kinds, various kinds of Seed I'otaioes, Totato Onions, Onion Sets, Top Onions, &c., &c. IMPLEMENTS, MACHINES, &c., such as Pennock's Patent Wheat Drill — Broad Cast Sowing Mechines — t orn Planters, Seed Sowers, I-'anning Mills — 10 different kinds of Straw Cutters, prices from $3 50 to $28 — I'lows as fol- lows : Massachusetts Subsoil, various seizes, do. Sward C, do. Eagle 25, do. different sizes Side Ilili, Michigan Sub- soil, Delano or Diamond Plow-,, Burralls Wheel I'lovv, Wisconsin Plow, Gang and Corn Plows, and several kinds of plow points — Cob and Corn Grinders, different kinds of Corn Sheliers, one and two horse Cultivators, Langdon's Horse Hoe or Cultivator, Drags and Drag Teeth; Horseand hand rakes, various kinds of garden rakes — steel and iron shovels and spades of different kinds — cast-steel and steel plated hoes, different kinds — ladies garden spades and hoes, toy spades and hoes — cast-steel and German steel manure forks and hooks — grain cradles ; cradle, grass and bush scythes — bush and grass hooks; grain sickles, Hay knives; grafting, pruning and budding knives, clover and grass seed sieves, pea sieves— cheese presses, hoops and tubs — com- mon and patent churns — cattle knobs and bull rings — curry combs and horse cards — ox yokes and bows — hedge shears, pruning savs — Canary birds and cages — hot bed plants in their season— Eglantine or Michigan running rose roots — and many other things which a limited space will not allow us to meniion. We have done business through one season, and are pleased to be able to say that we have been more liberally patronized than we anticipated when we began. We hope, and believe, tliat we have so dealt vviih ihose who have favored us with their custom, that thfjj will not hesitate to give us their favors hereafter — and we hope others will try us. All favors will be duly and thankfully appreciated. AGENTS. — The following persons are Agents for the sale of Garden, Field and Flower Seeds, put up at the above named Establishment : — Attica, L. Doty, Albion, Nickison & Paine, Adams Basin, C. D. Graves, Adrian, Mich., D. II. Under- wood, Auburn, Quick and Hall, Aurora, H. & G. i*. Morgan, Batavia, J. P. Smiih, Buffalo, E. Raw.son. do. T. C. Peters, do. H. O. Hayes, Brockport, H. Lathrop, Canandaigua, Chipman &. Remington, Cobourg, C. W., G. Boyer, Dansville, M. Halstead&Co. Detroit, Mich., F. F. Parker &, Brother, Geneseo, Bond & Walker, Geneva, Lawrence & Barnes HoUey, H. N. Bushnell, Havanna, G. T. Hinman, Ithaca, Schyler &. Co., Jackson. Mich., S. Chadwick Le Roy. J. Annin, Lewiston, H. F. Hotchkiss & Co., Lockport, Wm. Keep & Co., Lyndonville, E. Bowen, Mt. Morris, L. J. Ames, Medina, J. Nichols &, Son, Middleport, J. Craig, Milwaukie, W. T., J, S. Moulthrop, Niagara, C. W., Wm. John- son &, Son, Penn Yan, K. II. Huntington Pt. Byron, Kendrick Si. Yates Scottsville, {,'alcb Allen, esq. Seneca Falls, Joseph Osborn Skaneateles, C. Pardee & Co Syracuse, E. J. Foster, Uiica, J. E. Warner &, Co., Union Springs, W. Cozzens, Vienna, S. E. Norton, Youngstown, A. Emerson. tJ3= Garden Seeds ])iit up at this Establishment can be found at most of the Stores in the State of New York west of Utica, and in some parts of Canada. RAPALJE & BRIGGS. Rochester, April, 1847. (4-tf ) Cash for Clover and Timothy Seed.— 500 bushels Clover and Timothy Seed, wanted at the Genesee Seed Store and Agricultural Ware House, Front street, by RAPAL.IIE & BRIGGS. Rochester Seed Store. [Established in 1831.] No. 4 Front Street, near Buffalo Street. By J A xM E S P . FOGG. The subscriber begs leave to say to Farmers, and others, who have for the last three years so liberally patronized the Old Rorhester Seed Store, that he has fitted up the Store, No. 4 Front street, on the west side of Front sireet, where he will be happy lo see all who may want any article usu- ally to be found in a Seed Store. The subscriber is well aware of the important relation which the seedman holds to the whole farming communi- ty, and that on his honor and veracity the crop and proiit of a season in some measure depend. The greatest care has heen used in selecting the seeds offered at this establish- ment for the ensuing year, and they can be relied upon as pure and genuine, carefully selected and raised from the very best varieties, and properly cured. Many hinds w:»i raised in the immediate vicinity of this city, by Mr. C. F. Crosman, and under the inspection of the proprietor ; oth- ers were raised by experienced seed growers, and all can be recommended as genuine and true to their kinds. AGENTS for the sale of seeds by the package, put up at the old Rochester Seed Store : Attica, H. D. Gladding, Columbus, O., John Miller Amsterdam, J. W. Sturtevant Mount Veriioii, O. , H. A. Auburn, J. H. Hudson, Raymond &.Co., " James B. Cojper, Sandusky City, O., W. T. Alh/on, Charles W. Perkins, & A. K. West, Bufalo, W. & G. Bryan'. Batavia, F. Follett, P. M. Canannaigua, L. C. Cheney & Co., Cazenovia, Dr. A. Ford, Castile, Halsled & May, Elmirr; Tracy Beadle Genera, Hemiup & ("one, Geneseo, L. Turner. Homer, W. Sherman & Son, Ithara, Lewis II. Culver, Le Roy. J. J. J. Thompkins, Lockport, S.H. Marks & Co Mii.mfiird. A. O. Cornstock, Mount Morris, R. Sleeper, Oswego, C. &, E. CanSeld, " Meade & Carrington Perry, R. H. Smith, P>^tn Yan, John II. Lapham, Palmyra, Wm. Rlay, Port Byron, Kendrick &. Yates. Scottsville. L. C. Andrus, Schenectady, D. L. Powell, Syracuse, I'allman & Wil- liams. Utica, J. E. Warner & Co., Wyoming, J. C. Farris &, Son. Cln-eland, Ohio, J. W. Watson, Garden Seeds put up at this establishment in small pa- pers, may be found with most of the merchants in the States of New York, Ohio and Michigan, and in Canada. Rochester, N. Y. JAMES P. FOGG. Toledo, O., Raymond & Co., Adrian. Mich., Howard, Smith, & Co., Detroit, Mh., J. W. Strong Jr., Monroe, Mh., L. B. Wing, Pontiac, " Rogers (feDun- klee, Yjjsilanti, Mich., Hewitt, Brothers & Co., Chicago, III.. N. Sherman Milwaukie, IV. T., Holton & (Joodall, " W. M. Cunning- ham, Brantford, C. W., Charles Woollen, Brockvdle, C. W., Allen Turner, Chatham, C. IF., Eberts &. Robinson, Hamilton, C. W., S. Kerr &Co., Kingston, C. W. C. Heath London, " Ed. Adams. St. Catharines, C. W., L. S. St. Johns. Toronto, C. W. R. Love, Port Hojie, " C. Hughef' Bonnd Volumes of the Farmer. A f "W copies of Volume VI, bound, for sale at this office. Price 5C cents. Also, bound copies of Volume VII, 184o. Flower Seeds. " The storms of winter fly. Earth smiles with flowers renewing." I have on hand a superior assortment of about one hun- dred varieties of flower seeds, riised by Messrs. Ellwanger &. Barry, and Mr. Wm. King, of Rochester, W. R. Prince &, Co., of Flushing, and llovey & Co., of Boston, which can recommend to the ladies who wish to compete for the splendcd premiums offered by the Horticultural Society, as being by fur the best ever offered in this city. They wil he put up in boxes containing 25 choice varieties, for one do lar, with a catalogue, staling the duration of the plants, the color of the flower, and the time of flowering. For sale at the Rochester Seed Store. The first Seed Store on Front street. No. 4. JAMES P. FOGG. Seeds for Root Crops. — Orange and White Carrot, Mangel and Sugar I?eets, Kula Baga and Flat Field Turnep, for sale at the Rochester Seed Store, No. 4 Front street. JAMES P. FOGG, 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 127 Seymour's Patent Broadcast Sowing Machine. The accompanying engraving; gives a view of SKVMOUH'S SOWING MACH[NK, which he has io sucoessfiilly introduced ' among the f irmiTs of Wes- tern New York. Ii sows correctly all kinds of grain and seed, from peas to grass seed ; also plaster, Time, &c. Witii this machine, any boy who cm diive a horse with common accuracy, may ride in an easy seat and sow much better than is usually done by hand, or thnn most people can sow by hand, — and windy weathar will seldom stop the farmer in his sowing, or previ^nt it froin being well dons. Thus he may save time, labor and seed, and be sure of better crops thin he can get by uneven sawing. Many testimonials have been received in f ivor of this M ichine, from as respectable firmers as any in ihii Stite— thus establishing, beyond a doubt, its value and effi ra"y. The following are among those who have given their Certirtcites of recom.nandation : — Bani Bndley, Es^., F. N. Toby, Esq., Frederick Munson, E. W. Fair- child. Hiram Steel, Calvin Pomeroy, Philo Hamlin, Wm. Carter, C. H. Chapin, Wm. Bradley, Sylvanus Emmons, F. W. Collins, Guy Collins. Josiah Porter, Esq., Myron Adams, Esq., J. H. Wheeler, of East Bloomfield ; J. C. Taft, Josiah Wendell, of West Bloomfield ; Azariah IJickford, Belden Seymour, of Victor, Ontario county; Augustus Stewart, of Benton, Yates county, . Y. Reference may be had to the following gentlemen, viz : J. T. Rathbun, Esq., Scipio, Cayuga county; J. M. Sher- wood, Esq., Auburn. J. H. Sutton, Aurelius: Wm. Scoby, Springport. John Searing, Ledyard; John Delafield, Esq., Fayette, Seneca county; Joel W. Bacon, Waterloo; Abner Barlow, Manchester; Ephraim Lacy, Caledonia; Abrara Brewer, Scottsburgh; Lester Bradner, Esq , Dansville; Elias Gilbert, Richmond. (CF This is a new Machine, patented less than two years since, and greatly improved within the last ten months, and is far superior to any before in use in the country. The Machine may bo had of the Sbscriber in East Bloomfield, Ontario county, N. Y., where all orders will be promptly attended to. Each Machine is accompanied with directions for using. Mechanics wishin to engage in manufiicturing this machine can be accommodated with rights. East Bloomfield, Ont. C.,., N. Y., April, 1847. PIERPONT SEYMOUR, Patentee. REMOVAL. The Rochester Agricultural Ware House has been removed from Front-.«lrcet to No. 23 Buflalo-street, Talman Block, opposite Reynolds' Arcade. See advertise- ment below. q q q q q Rochester Agricultural Ware -House, HARD-WARE AND SEED STORE. (No. 23 Buffalo st., opposite Reiptolds' Arcade.) Where can be found most kinds of GARDEN and FIELD SEEDS, Hard-ware, Tin-ware, Wooden-ware, Willow-ware, House Trimmings, Kitchen Furniture, &c. The late proprietor of this Establishment, (Thos. Nott,) feels grateful to his many patrons for their very liberal pat- ronage during the past year, and would solicit a continuance of the same — promising to sell them as good articles in his line, and as cheap, as can be purchased at any other estab- lishment west of Boston or New York. He has formed a co-partnership with Mr. E. J. Elliott — and the business of the cstablishmeut will hereafter be conducted under the firmofNoTT &c Elliott. We shall keep constantly on hand, a full assortment of Sfiaker Garden and Flower Heeds, the reputation of which needs no comment. W; are continually manufacturing the celebrated Massa- chusetts Sward C Plow — to which has been awarded the greatest number of Premiums — which we shall sell at the low price of $7, with an extra point. Also — shall keep on hand an as.sortmpnl of the various approved Plows and Points. Cultivator Teeth, Root Cutters, Straw Cutters, and Corn Shellor.s — with a hundred and one other articles, too tedious to mention. Farmers from a distance, as also those in our immediate vicinity, are respectfully solicited to call at our new estab- lishment, and examine our assortment before purchasing elsewhere. NOTT & ELLIOTT, Rochester, Jan, 1, 1847. No 23 Buffalo-street. Straw Cutters, of all the most approved kinds, used in Western N. Y., for sale cheap, by RAPALJE & BRIGGS. FOR SALE. Short-Horn and Devon Cattle, each thorough bred of their kind. The cattle of these stocks have been bred for many years by the Subscriber, and have been selected from the best breeds, and bred with the best and latest im- ported blood, with a particular view to the development of their most valuable qualities. Also — Cotswold, (long wooled,) and South- down Sheep, of the best description, descended from the choicest and most celebrated English flocks. They can be sent from the farm of the Subscriber, east and north by canal and rail-road, and west by steamboat, with safety and dispatch. Address LEWIS F. ALLEN, Black Rock, April 1, 1847. Black Rock, N. Y. SHAKER GARDEN SEEDS! The Subscriber is agent for the New Lebanon Sorieti/, and has on hand a fresh and full supply of these truly excellent Seeds. L. B. SWAN, Druggist, Rochester, March 18, 1847. No. 18 Buffalo st. Api'le and P:!ar Scions. Having increased my stock of scions, I here- by offer the following varieties, in addition to the "Spy" iuid Swaar : " Yellow Bell Flower," " Seek-no-furlher," Newtown Pippin, 'English and Roxbury Russett,'" " Red Cheek Pippin," " Sweet Pearmain," and Virgalieu Pear. — As my object is to propagate the best varieties, orders for small quantities shall be furnished in all cases. For Apple scions, $1.00 per hundred ; Pear scions, $3.00 per hundred ; or small quantities, 4cts. each. Rochester, April 1, 1847. JAMES H. WATTS. N. B. I wish to purchase. 500 bbls. of apples of the Swaar, Russet, or Spitzemberg varieties — to be in good order and in clean flour barrels — for which a liberal price will be given. Call at my office, corner Buffalo and State streets. Clover and Timothy Seed.— 500 bushels of Clover and Timothy Seed, for sale at the Genesee Seed Store, No. 18, (old No. 10,) Front street, by Rochester, April 1, 1347. RAPALJE & BRIGGS. 128 GENESEE FARMER. May. MARKET INTELLIGENCE. Rochester Produce Market— Wholesale. Wheat,. Corn, Barley, Oats, Flour, - - Beans, Apples, bushel. Potatoes, Clover Seed, Timothy, Hay, ton, Wood, cord,.. Salt, bbl,...- llams, lb, 1,18^ 4(5 44 5.50 '87 25 38 4,00 1,50 8,50 2,50 1,0« 6 1,00 .37 50 4,50 2,00 3.50 Pork, bbl. Pork, cwt, Beef, cwt, Lard, lb, Butter, lb, Cheese, old, lb., Eggs, doz, Poultry, Tallow, Maple Sufjar,.. Sheep Skins, Green Hides, lb Dry " -... Calfskins, 12,50 4,00 5,00 7 10 6 10 7 7 8 75 3.^ 7 Rochester, April 27, 1847. [Sy Magnetic Telegraph.'\ New York, April 26,-7 P. M. Fi.ouR AND Meal — Not much doing, and the market not very firm. On the spot sales of Flour to the usual extent at $7 75 a $7 oT^. — The former for Troy and Western, at which they were freely oil'ered at the close, t'or lots to ar- rive there were some buyers, but at rarher low figures : to arrive by 15th May, $6 62.^ was bid : the sales were 4000 bbls. Genesee in May at $o 50 ; 2000 do. in June at $6 a $6 25, and .500 do. in August at $5 75. Sales 600 bbls Alexandria and Georgetown, $7 44 a $7 50. For Mkal there are more buyers than sellers at $4 50; — 5000 bbls Jersey, North River and Brooklyn at $4 56i. Rye Flour $5 12|, and quiet. Grain — Nothing doing in wheat ; no samples in market. For Corn but little inquiry , tlie market is weak — about 15,000 bush yellow sold at 92 a 95 cts, and 500U do. while mixed at 90 a 93 cts ; about 30,000 bu. sold on private terms. Sales 7000 bush Barley at the opening of canal at 70 cts. Oats are firm, but less active ; sales 6 to 8000 bushels at 49 a 50 cents. PUBLISHERS' NOTICES, To Post Masters, Agents, &c. We request all Post- Musters to act as Agents for the Far- mer, according to our club terms. Also such other persons as feel an interest in extending the circulation of the Far- mer, and thus promoting Improvement in Agriculture, Hor- ticulture, and their kindred sciences. We shall feel truly grateful to any and all persons who will lend their assist- ance. Any person sending us 16 subscribers, (remitting $6,) shall receive an extra copy gratis — or a bound volume of the Farmer for 1846. To Clubs. — Any Post Master or other person who has sent us eight or more subscribers, will be furnished with any additional number ol copies at the club price— 37| cents each. W^e hope those who have formed clubs, will bear this in mind, and forvvardihe subscripiions of such as may hercalter want the Farmer. Back numbers can be 8up[died — so that ah may have the entire volume. {0= Our agents and friends will y)lease bear in mind Ihat we ofi'er, as a premium, (in addition to the per centage allowed to clubs,) a bound volume of the Farmer for 1846, or an extra copy of the current volume, to any person for- warding 16 subscribers, (remitting $6, post paid or free.) ^y We cnn furnish vobimes 6 and 7 of the Farmer, (the only ones published uniform with the current volume, ) either bound or in sheets. The previous volumes which we hiivo on Iviad, (4 and 5 hound together, in boards,) are not suitable for sending by mail. Agent at Lyons.— Mr. E, Hopkins, Periodical Agent, is our authorized agent at Lyons, Wayne county. Mr. H. will furnish back volumes (bound,) and also receive sub- scriptions for the current volume. Short Advertisements, which correspond with the Agricultural and Horticultural character of this paper, will be inserted at the rate of $1 per square of 12 lines, or 100 words. To secure an insertion, advertisements and notices fibould be in hand 10 days previous to publication. Monroe County Agricultural Society. The Members of the Monroe Co. Agricultural Society will please remember that the Society adjourned on the 8th December, 1846, to meet at the Office of the Genesee Far- mer, [in Tulman block, Buffalo .street,] on the first Tues- day in June, 1847, — at which time and place said meet- ing will be held. By order of the President, May 1, 1847. J. H. WATTS, Rec. Secy. Plows, Water Lime and Plaster for Sale ! N. T. Rochester, & Co., General Agency, Commission, Storage and Forwarding Business — dealers in Scotch and American PIG IKON, Lehigh, Erie and Bloss- burg COAL, Sand, Clay, &.C., &c., No. 69 Exchange st., [p= Have for .sale LAMPORT'S IRON BEAM PLOW, a superior article, warranted. Farmers are invited to call, and examine, and try them. Also, Chittenango Water Lime— and they will be prepared, immediately after opening of canal navigation, to furnish Farmers in this vicinity with Wheatland Plaster, from mills of Philip Garbutt. Fairbanks Platform Scales, of all sizes, continually on hand and for sale. Hames, from Messrs. Rice «&Childs, of York, Livingston county. NATH'L T. ROCHESTER, HENRY E. ROCHESTER, Rochester, April, 1847. JONATHAN CHILD. Choice Pear Trees. Ellwanger & Barry ofFer for sale, in addi- tion to the stock of their own growth, one thousand beautiful Pear Trees for pyramids — ^just receivad from Europe — in fine condition for planting. 'I'he assortment includes the moat scarce and estimable varieties. Orders should be sent in at once. E. & B.'s new catalogue of Green House plants is just published, and will be sent gratis to all post paid applications. Spanish Merino Sheep. For Sale. — A few choice Merino Sheep, bucks and ewes, of undoubted purity of blood, and a qual- ity that will give satisfnctiim to purchasers. They can be sent west, by canal, at the subscriber's risk. Cornwall, Vt., May 1, 1847. ROLLIN J. JONES. [nx" Persons in Western New York who are entitled to, and have not received. Diplomas and Premiums in money, awarded at the last P'air of the N. Y. State Ag. Society, will please notify Joseph Alleyn, at the office of the City Treasurer, in Rochester, who will see that they are for- warded, &c. Rochester Collegiate Institute. The Summer Term of this Institution will commence on Monday, May 10th, 1847. Contents of this Number. Corn Cultore, . 105 The Culture of Potatoes ; Running into Debt, 107 Potato Disease, ..-.,.. 108 Carrots and Rowen ; Calico Corn ; Small Farms, 109 Saxon and Merino Sheep, 110 Bone Manure, 111 Life in the West — Farming in Michigan, 112 Stone Wall ; Park's Niagara Patent Reversed Bee-Hive; Destroying Sorrel, IP' Culture of Indian Corn ; Hedges and Fencing, 114 The Value of Ashes and other Manures, 115 Hints for Miy; Webster Ag. Association, 116 Foreign Demand for BreadstufTs ; A hint about Corn ; N. Y. Stale Ag. Society ; To Correspondents, 117 Premium List of N. Y. State Ag. Society, 118 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. Pruning, (with illustraiions,) 120 'J'he Fruits and Fruit Trees of America ; Successful Planting ; Rapid growth of a Plum graft ; Transac- tions of Mass. llort. Society, 121 Pear Tree Blight, 122 Woodpeckers, (or sap-suckers,) 123 LALIES' DEPARTMENT. Fanners' Daughters, again ; Watering Plants, 124 Steam Press of Jerome & Brother, Vol. 8. ROCHESTER, N. Y. — JUNE, 1847. No. 6. THE GENESEE FARMER : Issued the first of each month, in Rochester, N. Y. , //y D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE, EDITOR. p. BARBY, Conductor of the Horticultural Dopartmenl. Fifty Cents a Year: F'lVE copies for $2 — Eight copies for $3. Subscription money, by a regulation of the Post-Master General, may be remitted by Post-JListers free of expense. [O^ All sub- scriptions to commence with the first number of the volume. Publication Office in Talman's Block, Buffalo street, opposite Reynold's Arcade — where all subscriptions not forwarded by mail should be paid. Post-Masters, and all other friends of Agricultural Jour- nals, are requested to obtain and forward subscriptions for the Farmer. Address D. D. T. Moore, Rochester, N. Y. inr The Farmer is subject to newspaper postage only. XD Study tlic Soli. There are many substances in all good soils which every farmer ought to study till he fully understands their nature and properties. First among these is the abundant mineral called silica, or pure flint sand. This earth has many inter- esting and important properties. It is usually from ten to fifteen times more abundant in all soils than any other mineral. After the organi zed matter is removed from a soil by burning it at a red heat, it is not uncommon to find nine- tenths of the earth that remains, nothing but pure silica ; the other tenth being alumina, iron, lime, magnesia, soda, potash, manganese, and carbon- ic, sulphuric, phosphoric, and hydrochloric acids. Pure siliceous sand is also an acid, having 52 parts of oxygen united to 48 of a metallic base called silicium or silicon. When ground down to an impalpable powder, (as some of it is in all soils,) silica is sparingly soluble in water. If the water be warm like a summer shower, and especially if it contain a little potash or soda, or both in solution, silica dissolves easier and more abundantly. The quantity of dissolved flint that finds its way through the roots of wheat, corn, Vioiothy, and otlicr plants, into their stems, is ' of this mineral much larger than most grain and grass-growers are aware of. Wheat straw usually contains about 67 per cent, of this mineral in its ash. The most interesting practical question in re- gard to silica or flint sand is the fact that, the al- kalies potash or soda seem to be indispensable to convert it into an available food for the growth of plants. These alkalies exist more or less in the ashes or earthy portion of all plants. Being extremely soluble in sandy, pervious soils, they are apt to be leached out by tillage, and the land is rendered sterile, unless often laid down to grass, and renovated by the application of wood ashes, salt, gypsum, and lime, or their equiva- lents in stable manure. Alumina is the next most abundant mineral usually found in all soils. Unlike silica, it has alkaline properties. Like potash, soda, lime, and magnesia, it is the oxide of a metal, i. e. a metal combined chemically with oxygen. The metal is called aluminum, of which there is about 53 parts to 47 oxygen in pure alumina. This earth combines chemically with theacid silicaand forms the pure porcelain clay, from which translucent china ware is manufactured. Alum is a com- pound salt formed by the union of sulphuric aoi<4 (oil of vitriol) with alumina and potash. Alumi- na does not enter plants, and form a necessary- constituent in their organization. Only traces of it have been found in their ashes. It exex"- cises an important office, however, in all fertile soils by increasing their capacity to absorb and retain moisture and nutritive gasses about the roots of vegetables. A soil that contained no alu- mina would be radically defective. It gives ad- hesiveness and plasticity to all clays. Without it, the valuable salts of potash, soda, lime, iron, &c. would remain but a short titne in the surface soil, and within the reach of plants. Phosphoric acid is often combined with alumina. Throwing the. organic matter out of the account, and the eighty- or ninety specimens of soil analyzed in the lab- oratory of the writer within the last year, ha?6 contained on average from four to seven per cent. lao GENESEE FARMER. June. The next most abundant substance in the soils of Western New York after silica and alumina, is iron. Like those just named, this metal is combined with oxygen forming the red rust of iron. This is called in the language of chem- ists the "pe?--oxide of iron." When a bar of iron is heated in a blacksmith's forge and ham- mered, tlie thin scales that fly off are called the proi-oxide of iron. The dilTerence between these black scales and the rust of iron is that the latter contains about a third more oxygen than the for- mer.* When the oxide of iron unites with the oil of vitriol, it forms the well known salt called copperas, (sulphate of iron. ) Iron is found among the incombustible ele- ments of all, or nearly all plants ond animals. — Thus iron is found in the blood of all red blooded animals, and of course must exist in their food. This metal exerts a powerful, but not very well understood function in the economy of vegetable and animal life. It is believed by Mr. Downing of the Horticulturist, to be a specific against the "yellows" in fruit trees. Copperas water has been thrown with a syringe over the leaves of pear and peach trees thus affected, and it is said with entire success. The application of old iron about pear and other fruit trees, is strongly rec ommended. We have found from two to six pej cent, of the oxide of iron in the soils that we have analyzed. In low land, there is apt to be an ex cess of copperas, and other salts of iron. Thor- ough draining is the remedy for this. In dry uplands, it is possible that old and long cultivated fields may lack salts of iron. Very few experi- ments have been made to test the value of this mineral as a fertilizer for grain crops. Lime is the next most abundant ingredient in the soils of this region. It is very seldom that we find more than 2i per cent, of this alkaline earth in any soil. There are exceptions, how- ever, where the proportion of lime increases till it amounts to a calcareous marl. In 100 lbs. of pure common lime-stone, irre- spective of water, there are within a small frac- tion 56 lbs. caustic lime united to 44 lbs. of car- bonic acid. This acid is expelled in burning lime in kilns. On long exposure to the air, quick lime absorbs both moisture and carbonic acid, and becomes a mild carbonate, such as is found in soils. It is an interesting fact that soils which over- lie a lime-stone rock, and that pretty near the surface, are often greatly benefited for producing wheat by a top dressing of burnt lime of 50 bush- els per acre. Judge Porter, of Niagara Falls, has tried this practice on a large scale, where the lime rock was within two feet of the top of the ground. It was followed by a marked im provement in his wheat crop. On Gen. Har * P/•o^o^ide of iron is formed hy tho union of an atom of iron with an atom of oxygen. The 7?<>/-oxide by tlie union of 2 atoms of iron with 3 of oxygen. mon's farm the application of lime seems to do little or no good. If our memory serves us right- ly it contains on an average less than 2 per cent, of lime in its surface soil. Gypsum, however, (which is formed by the union of lime with oil of vitriol) is of essential service. Pure quick lime i is i'ormed by the union of 20^ parts of a metal called calcium with 8 parts of oxygen. The most valuable compounds of lime are gypsum and apatite, (bone earth.) The former iiP.'Vf. com- pound of sulphur and lime, and the latter of phos- phorus. Both of these simple elementary bodies are of vital importance in the growth of cultiva- ted plants, and the organization of all animals. Combined with oxygen they form strong mine- ral acids, which are neutralized by readily uni- ting, with iron, alumina, lime, potash, soda, and magnesia, in soils. Practical farmers have too long neglected to study the economic value of the various compounds of sulphur and phosphorus. Gypsum is the only mineral, the importance of which is at all appreciated. Its superiority over lime consists in the fact that it furnishes clover, peas, wheat, and all other plants, sulphur as well as lime. A moment's reflection is sufficient to convince any farmer that no animal can form its bones without lime. And if his soil wholly lacks this mineral, his crops can not possibly create it out of nothing. Nor could an ox or horse have a particle of bone in its system if its food con- tained no lime. But lime alo7ie is not capable of forming bone. Phosphoric acid is indispensable for that purpose, associated with lime. Nearly air that is taken from the soil in the kernels of gi-ain, is removed never to return. A great deal of the phosphorus that escapes from the bodies of aniinals in their liquid and solid excretions, is lost to the fields that yield the daily food of these animals.. And yet pure phosphorus is so pre- cious, that a pound of it is worth to-day three dol- lars in the city of Rochester ! It is not book-farmers, but practical agricultu- rists in Holland and Belgium that make money by giving two pounds sterling for the urine of a single cow a year. They estimate the surface by the square yard which it takes to make a pound of beef, butter, or cheese. They feed their liv- ing growing plants, as well as their living grow- ing aniinals. Wheat is now worth in this city Si, 50 a bushel, and yet not one farmer in ten can afford to study, or let his sons study, the things that nature uses in forming 40 bushels of wheat on an acre ! Who cares whether the straw or stems of this plant are hard, bright, strong, and glassy, little liable to rust, or crinkle, by reason of its containing a good deal of silica in its tissues ? Science tells ihe wheat grower how to dissolve fine atoms of sand at the roots of his grain, and avoid the growth of coarse, open, weak, and spongy stems, which will break down with an ordinary shower and wind, and form a nidus for the seeds and rapid maturity of parasite 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 131 plants. Study the soil and learn how to dissolve flint, and form with it a covering to the stems of your wheat and other grain. Study the soil and understand the true value of alumina, iron, lime, potash, soda, magnesia, sulphur, phosphorus, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen. These are the ingredients thatj Providence has ordained to form the bodies of :ill that lives, whether vegetable or animal. In a future number we shall resume the con- sideration of this subject. , Draining Lands. The Mark Lane Express of a late date con- tains a long bill now pending before the British Parliament, designed to secure the well known advantages of perfect drainage to all the tillable lands in the kingdom that need it. We allude to this subject because we happen to know that there are many thousands of aci-es in this State, whose productiveness would be largely increased by the removal of surplus v/ater. We speak not of swamps, but of improved lands now in tillage. It is a curious fact in the history of British hus- bandry, that 100 years experience in draining has been necessary fully to impress on the pub- lic mind the necessity of removing all standing water that rises nearer than three feet to the sur- face of the ground, whether in pasture, meadow, or corn. It often happens in this State, and par- ticularly in the western portion of it, as well as in England, that where streams are very level, one farmer cannot drain his low lands without deepening the channel of the stream on the lands of others below him. To attempt this, as our laws now are, and those of England are at this time, is impossible without trespass. Besides this, it is unreasonable to expect one land holder to drain two, three, or ten farms, on a common level of low land, for the sake of making his vastly more productive and healthful. To say nothing of greater fertility, the increased salubri- brity of the neighborhood is of itself matter of sufficient importance to require the interposition of law. The English bill before us creates a Board of Commissioners, whose office is not un- like that of our road Commissioners in laying out highways for the public convenience through im- proved farms. Where the natural fall is insuffi- cient to take off the stagnant water, steam power will be used to pump it out into rivers or the ocean. Mr. Colman describes one large engine that effectually drains 20,000 acres of waste moor land, which now gives constant employment to 5000 laborers in its tillage. Monroe county has 281,01] acres of improved land. More than ten thousand acres of this needs draining. The erection of a dam by the State I across the Genesee river, on the very rim of the basin of the Genesee Valley, has driven the wa- 1 ter back, not over the surface, but too near the surface of several thousand acres of as good land as the sun shines upon. That this results in cre- ating much miasma, sickness, and premature death, no one doubts. Surely, if human life and health are worth anything, the wrong is one of fearful magnitude. To imparl a free draft to the water that falls on the broad level .surface above the Rapids, instead of building a dam across the river at that point, the highest edges of rocks should be blasted and dug out, that the fertile lands above might escape their present injury from standing, stagnant water. With skillful culture, and a reasonable price for grain and other crops, these extensive bot- toms would yield as much nett profit as is now realized from all the water power in this city. — Rely upon it, the amount of injury that annually accrues in this county alone, from under-surfaoe water that remains too long below the soil, is not one-tenth part appreciated. This excess of mois- ture rises by capilliary attraction, and arrests the salutary decomposition of the organic and miner- al substances, on which all cultivated plants de- pend for their due nourishment. The constant evaporation of this water, as every body knows, consumes much sensible heat, and keeps the ground cold and unproductive. Experience, (the true test,) has demonstrated that, the grass and herbage which grows un half drained land in England, v/ill not make so much nor so good but- ter and cheese, as may be obtained from the same surface, after thorough draining. An acid soil and .sour plants are not the things on which to make fat beef and mutton. Many a farmer knows this. Considering hov/ much we all depend on the prosperity of agriculture, it is a standing mystery to us that so little is done to improve the soil in New York. Think of it, in more than two-thirds of the towns in the Empire State, our rural population is diminishing ! In no part of the world is the science of agriculture more cordially and generally despised. It is now 26 years since Judge Buel began his efforts in the Legislature to induce it to establish at least one agricultural school. These have been kept up from that day to this. A report was made a few days since by a committee in the House, against an application to aid a little in starting a school of this kind near the city of New York, under the charge of the American Institute. This re- port seems to imply that to give a few dollars for an agricultural school, is not merely a waste of money ; but an intimation that both the soil and its cultivators can be improved in the State of New York ! Thousands believe this a libel on their skill and intelligence. Assuming that the laws of nature which control the production of cultivated plants are sufficiently understood by* the tillers of the earth, farme-rs in the Legislature are ready to vote tens of thousands a year to teach young men "to speak Greek, as natural a^ 132 GENESEE FARMER. June. pigs do squeak," as the following statutes show : By act, chapt. 2 i7, passed April 17, 183J, $6,000 aniuially was appiopriuetl to Geneva College, and ibe same sum to llie University of New York, and $3,001) to Hamilton (Jollege, to he p;iid for five years ' until otherwise provided by law,' wliitli has been, it appears, paid to this time, amounting in 9 years to.. - $135,00.) By aet chapt. 297, passed May 14, 1840, the Comp- troller was directed to discharge a certain judg- ment obtained against the University of i\ew York for a large quantity of cut stone furnished at the S>ing !Sing 8fates Prison, for that Institu- tion, amounting to - - 9,8G0 By act chapt. 221, passed May 25, 1841, $5,000 per annum was appropriated to Geneva College for three years, — .-. — - 15,000 By act chapt. 2T9, passed May 6, 1844, $1,000 an- nually was appropriated to Geneva College, and $3,010 annually to University of New York, for five years, 'and until otherwise provided by law,' which has been paid to this time, amounting to 12,000 Making actual sum received, $171,860 Besides this Geneva College and the University of New York are yeteniitkul by law, to $4,000 per annum for two years. - 8,000 Making the amount appropriated, $179,860 The new medical school in Buffalo has receiv- ed a bonus from tlie Treasury, of -$1,000. We do not complain of any ot these appropriations. They are alluded to merely to demonstrate the fact that, the idea of gaining anything frorn the study of agricultural chemistry, geology, and physiology is treated as utterly preposterous. But to return to our text, the draining of lands. We confess our anxiety to see this subject com- mand far more attention in this country than it has ever yet received. No soil can be warm and fertile that contains too much water. Nor can it be easily worked with the plow, or other implement. The English have been constantly- sinking their ditches deeper and deeper for 20 years, because drains 3 J and 4 feet deep give crops enough to pay, and more than pay the extra cost. A deep soil, pervious alike to air, water, and the roots of plants, is uniformly found to be the best land to produce, and the easiest to cultivate. "The Distribution of the Inorganic Mattter in Vegetables." Under the above heading the American Jour- nal of Agriculture and Science for April con- tains a paper of 29 pages, which gives the results of a vast amount of analytical research. Prof Emmons has been some years in the employ of the State in connection with its voluminous and original work, embracing the whole range of the natural history of New York. That part of this very expensive undertaking which relates to agriculture and rural economy, will be of in- calculable value for the iTiany new facts devel- oped, showing the mineral food of our fruit and forest trees, as well as annual and biennial plants. Let us first consider the ash of the Apple tree : « Sap wood. Heart wood. Potash, 16.19 6.620 Soda, 3,11 7.935 Chloride of sodium, 0.42 0.210 Sulphate of lime, 0.05 0.526 Phosphate of peroxide iron, 0.80 0.500 Phosphate of lime, 17.50 5.210 Phosphate of magnesia, 0.20 0.190 Carbonic acid, _ 29.10 36.275 Lime _, 13.63 37.019 Magnesia, 8.40 6.900 Silica, 0.85 0.400 Sol able silica,. : 0.80 0.30a Organic matter, 4.60 2.450 100.65 98.535 Bark of trunk. Potash, 4.930 Soda, __ '.. 3.285 Chloride of sodium, . _ 0.540 Sulphate of lime, .. 0.637 Phosphate of peroxide iron, 0.375 Phosphate of lime, 2.425 Phosphate of magnesia, Carbonic acid, 44.830 Lime, 51.578 Magnesia, 0.150 Silica, .- 0.200 Soluble silica, 0.400 Organic matter, 2. 100 109.450 On studying the composition of the ash of the bark of the apple tree, we are forcibly struck with the fact that 109J parts contain over 96 parts of lime and carbonic acid. In other words a very large share of the earthy elements taken from the soil, and stored in the bark of an apple tree, is nothing but common lime stone. The importance of lime in the organization of smooth healthy bark, and the vigorous growth of an orchard, can be inferred with the utmost certain- ty. There are other minerals in the ash of the bark of the apple tree that should not be over- looked. But as we are pressed for room, we must pass to the ingredients found in the ash of the sap and heart wood. We ask particular attention to the facts that, the sap wood contains 17 i parts of bone earth, (phosphate of lime,) while the heart wood has only 5^ per cent, of that mineral. It has long been known that the seeds and fruit of plants and trees contain a much largerquantity of phosphates in their ash, than is found in the ash of their trunks or stems. But if we mistake not, to Prof. Emmons belongs the honor of being the first to discover the curious law in vegetable physiology that the sap wood, through which all the fluids pass frorn the roots to the seeds and fruit in the top of the tree, contains more of the phosphates than either the heart wood or bark of a tree. If Nature is prolific in the production of seed to perpetuate tlie race, and exceedingly careful in protecting the germs of the next gen- eration, she is at no less pains to store up phos- phates along the surfaces of the ascending tubes or vessels, to be borne upward with the sap, when needed, to organize the embryo of each living being. By carrying the fruit of an orchard out of it every year, is it not plain that whatever amount of bone earth, alkalies, sulphur, iron, &c., is taken away from the soil in the crop, should be restored to it again in some available form ? — 1 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 133 How few fruit growers duly appreciate dinal principle. Ash of a Fiaiffus, ( Bolettis igiiarms,) growing pie-tree. — The inside of the fungus is soft and outside is hard and unyielding. The difference led to a separation of the fungus into two parts. Outside. Totash, '21.25 Sod.a, 4.29 Chlorine,... 1.58 Sodium. 1.04 Sulphuric acid, 2.58 Phosphate of peroxide iron, ) Phosphate of lime, >... 12.20 Phosphate of magnesia, } Carbonic acid, 14.39 Lime, .- 20.31 Magnesia, 0.60 Silica, 3.30 Soluble silica, 0.20 Organic matter, 11.20 this car- on an Ap- corky, the in texture Inside. 15.36 4.00 0.8iJ 0.52 2.30 18.11 10.80 2.13 0.20 8.30 0.70 16.50 92.94 90.45 The injury which fruit trees sustain by fungi and lichens growing upon them, is evident from their analyses. The nutriment is all derived from the bark and wood of the tree; and besides, these parasites produce and hasten the decay •f the tree. Ash of a Lichen, ( Gyrophora vellea, ) growing upon gneiss, at Little-Falls. Lichen. Potash, 8.8.50 Soda, 2.588 Chlorine, 2.938 Sulphuric acid, 2.738 Phosphate of peroxide iron, 10.937 Phosphate of lime and magnesia, 10.188 Carbonic acid, 25.667 Lime, 2.926 Magnesia, 0.380 Silica, 44.000 Soluble silica,... 1.000 Organic matter, 9.250 98.094 Several years since, seeing a lichen growing on a gneiss boulder, we tore it off, dried, pulver- ized, and moistened it with pure rain water, and planted timothy seed in it. The moss'was placed in a coffee cup. The crop was duly watered with rain water caught in a clean vessel as it fell from the clouds. The timothy came to maturity in due time, and was dried, pulverized and added to the decaying moss, in which it grew. Two kernels of peas were planted in the compound, and made to bear seed. From these seeds hu- man flesh could easily have been formed. Here was only three generations of plants intervening between a naked, solid, flinty rock, and a living human being. Who will disparage the study of rocks, soils and lichens, seeing as we do that they have a relation so intimately blended with our daily food and clothing ? The True Law of Population. bOME new ideas on population have been broached by Mr. Doubleday, in a publication lately made by him entitled " The True Law of Population." This law of population, he en- deavors to show, is connected with and depends upon the nature of the food of the people. Mr. Doubleday says "his theory is founded on the admissions of all medical and physiological au- thorities of modern times, and supported by many of ancient time/j, and is corroburated by an ap- peal to living generations." He affirms that " populations are uniformly found thin in pasto- ral countries, where the food is animal food chiefly ; denser, where it is mixed partially with vegetable element ; denser still, where it is veg- etable only, but with plenty ; and densest of all where it is vegetable, but with scarcity super- added." The examples which the author quotes from the history and condition of the world go far to- ward establishing his theory. If he be correct, the true remedy for excessive numbere, is not emigration, but plentiful and nutritous food. — He divides society into three clcisses — " the worst dieted, the moderately dieted, and the luxurious- ly dieted ;" and observes "that it is upon the numerical proportion which these three states bear to each other in any society, that increase or decrease on the whole depends." Mr. Doub- leday's argument derives considerable support from the decay of opulent families, and their rap- id extinction. We have abundant evidence of this at various epochs, and in different countries. Tacitus gives us one instance in the reign of the Emperor Claudius. If we turn to England we shall find that, but for comparatively new creations, both the peerage and baronetage of England would have been extinct. The number of English peers in 1837 was 350, of which 247 had been created since 1760. The decay of the baronets had been more remarkable still. So that if no new peers had been created since 1670 the present number would have been only 103, and but for perpetual new creations ther? would scarcely have been a baronet left. Mr. Malthus noticed a similar decay in the higher and wealth- er families of Berne, in Switzerland ; and Mr. Sadler cited Addison's authority to prove the ex- traordinary decrease of the Venetian nobility. If Mr. Doubleday's theory be true, and it be a law of nature that the worst dieted people shall become the most numerous, then pauper relief to Ireland, in the shape of poor food, will only aggravate the evil. The effectual remedy is to give the Irish people a sufficiency of animal food ; Irish produce must be consumed in Ireland in- stead of being exported. The standard of living must be raised ; but it will not be raised by *he introduction of the poor laws, and feeding the hungry crowds with poor-house food. This will only aggravate the evil through each successive g-eneration. Mr. D.'s book is deserving the se- rious consideration of political economists and statesmen. Rats. — A red herring firmly fastened by a string to any place where rats usually make their run, will make them leave the place. It is said to be a fact that a toad placed in a house cellar will have the effect of expelling the intruders. 134 GEXESEE FARMER. June. The Farmer.— His Position, Responsibilities, and Duties. NUMBER EIGHT. Patience and perseverance are cardinal vir- tues, and indispensable in enterprisesof difficulty. No great good was ever yet accomplished, no important work completed without their exercise. It is the continued effort, the unceasing labor, that, in the end succeed.s — it is the shovel full of earth oft repeated, that by and by removes the mountain. The principle is equally applicable in moral as in physical effects ; patient investi- gation and persevering experiment are the great levers in the advance of science ; and it is by the ofl repeated and long continued presentation of truth, that men are brought to adopt and fol- low moral precepts as well as the trutiiful results of science. In view of these general truths I would bid the farmer who is praying for the elevation of his calling, to be of good cheer. The work is progressing, the end will come, so surely as the few choice and truthful spirits who are engaged in the work faint not, nor falter in their slow but steady march. Patience and perseverance will overcome every obstacle, and triumph over all difficulties. Months nor years are not enough for the great work. The progressive movement requires a series of years ; nor must we antici- pate a smooth and easy march. No ; the ascent must be accomplished amid storms and trials — but if amid them all we keep the eye heaven- ward, and if, like the poet's mountain hero, we keep upon our lips the inspiring word "excelsi- or," depend upon it we shall in the end reach the mountain top, and find the great and ever- growing interest, the profession which embraces the mighty mass of the people of this country — in other words, find the farmers and the farming interest elevated to its true position, at the head and above every other class or interest in this land, in point of political influence, and moral, intellectual, scientific, advancement. In sucii a position ought the farmers to stand. From their bosom should emanate our statesmen, our judges, our professors, our scholars — and so it will be, in this land, before another half cen- tury. Look at the great inheritance whicli the God of heaven has given to this people — look at her boundless territory, her broad and cultivated fields, and her boundless forests, yet untouched in all their virgin purity and richness, and then calculate their capacity for agricultural produc- tioB — their limitless power to grow food fir mim and beast — then turn from the broad acres to the political institutions, which spread their genial and invigorating influence over the whole of land, and lake, and river, which unite to make up the mighty Re[)ublic, and then tell me if there be not a high and glorious destiny in reserve for the agriculturists of the- United States. Ancient nor modern times afford no parallel to the position and destiny which awaits the farmers of Ameri- ca, as a class, if they are true to themselves — if to their satural advantages of soil, territory, and institutions, they add that higher ingredient, in- tellectual suj)eriority. And how, I ask, is that to be done, but by intellectual culture, mental training and discipline ? Let me here repeat the adage, "knowledge is power ;" few will con- trovert this. But knowledge is not intuitive — it does not come unbidden — it does not bless un- asked ; it will be wooed if it would be won — it must be sought after if it be obtained. But how is it to be had, unless these means and advanta- ges at hand for the attainment of the end, Educa- tion, can only be had through certain channels or agencies — and it is idle to expect the result by intellectual superiority, without a supply and use of the m.eans adequate to produce it. Yet here is another and important difficulty which meets us at this point, and that is the disposition to use the means which, to a limited extent at least, are now open to the farmers of the country, and which may be hereafter opened to them, The first point to be aimed at, in my view, is, to con vince the agriculturist that intellectual culture, scientific attainment, and mental polish, are ei sential to his standing individually — to the elev. tion of his class, and to success in his calling ; and when the farmers and the sons of farmers have reached that point — when they come to see and acknowledge the importance and necessity of becoming intelligent and scientific men and farmers, they will then soon set themselves about providing the necessary facilities' to reach the desired end. There are various means of intellectual cul- ture in the 'general sense. The school, the lecture, the newspaper, the debating society, and various other associations and means, are all gen- eral instrumentalities for the mental culture of the masses in this country, and these the farmers of the country may use. Give them but the de- sire, and these means may, by the proper direc- tion and changes, be made beneficial to the farm- ers as a class; and so they will be whenever the farmers of the country demand and insist upon, and patronize agricultural schools, and lectures, and papers, etc., etc. Patience and perseverance are required on the part of the few, to bring the great mass to appre- ciate the importance of the intellectual part of farming. Gradually but surely the work is be- ing done. The last ten years has wrought a great cliange in the views and feelings of farm- ers on the piints indicated, and the next ten years will witness yet greater changes. The Legisla- ture of the State begins to feel the impulse, and this I look upon as an important fact and the be- ginning of better days. A bill has been reported for the establishment of an Agricultural and Me- 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 135 chanical School, upon what principle I am igno rant ; but the fact itself is instructive of public sentiment, and should be hailed as a good omen. The time is at hand when the Empire State, and other agricultural States, are to have their Agri- cultural Schools and Colleges, and when our sons will study and learn as a part of their education the theory of tilling the soil — the time and cor- rect principle for plowing, and sowing, and gath- ering in the productions of mother earth ; and from these higher schools shall go out a wave which, in the end, will reach the remotest district school house in the Union. I think I clearly see the future ; and seeing it, I can confidentially bid the farmers of America be of good cheer — the elements of progress are with them — the principle of advance has been planted in their midst, and it cannot be choked. Next month I will continue this subject with a more particular notice of the influence of news- papers to agricultural interests. Penn Yan, April, 1847. D. A. Ogden. Winter-killed Wheat. — Draining. Mr. Editor : — Foremost among the various farm crops produced in Western New York in importance to the agriculturist, man of com- merce, and the consumer, stands the Wheat Crop. Whatever affects that, for evil or for good, affects the temporal well being of all in the community. Among the many calamities which cause a fail- ure of this crop none equals what is usually de- nominated winter-killing. The past season, up to the present time, has been estimated by most farmers to have been one of our worst — and se- rious apprehensions may very justly be enter- tained that extensive damage will be sustained from this cause. However, in this town the last three favorable days have dispelled most of the fears of our farmers in relation to it here, as the sudden greenness it has assumed shows that it has not been much damaged. But the cause, and the cure, of this calamity is a matter f>f more importance to know, than any speculations in relation to the extent of dam- age done to the present crop. Both, to my ap- prehension, are easily understood. The cause is the superabundance of surface water in the soil : and the cure, to provide means, either by a thorough system of underdraining, or some oth- er method to draw it off so as to lay the young plants dry and warm. It is a common remark which all practical farm- ers make, that the longer they plow and work their land, the heavier and more retentive of moisture it becomes ; this explains the reason why, in numerous localities the land is so much more liable to heave, than when the country was new ; then, the subsoil being more permeable the water percolated through it, acting as a natu- ral conduit ; now, it stands upon the surface, or fills the earth like a sponge, till it is evaporated by the sun and winds. What are usually denominated timber lands, are the most liable to damage from this cause. — This description of lands have usually a retentive sub-soil, particularly where you find it to consist in alternate ridges and black ash swales; the ridges are esteemed the best wheat lands because they are dryer, but if the superabundance of moisture were drawn off the swales would be the best, as they have been enriched by receiv- ing the fertilizing elements from the high ground for ages, and therefore must contain all the grain forming elements in the greatest abundance. — But these are the lands which are most liable to damage by winter-killing. We have on one of our best fields for wheat growing a swale, or basin, containing about IJ acres of this description of land, which, for one or two crops after it was brought under cultiva- tion produced wheat well ; but afterwards utter- ly failed, for many years not producing enough to pay the expense of harvesting. Three years ago we put in some underdrains, sowing it to wheat in the fall ; tlie crop was much the best part of the field. We have it now in wheat, and it has gone through the winter with lesa^apparent dam- age than many other parts of the field. The first crop paid all the expenses of putting in the ditches ; they have not only rendered it perma- nently valuable wheat land, but improved it in nearly an equal degree for all other crops. If a thorough system of draining were adopted, it would add many millions of bushels of wheat to the annual product of this State. However rich the soil in all other necessary elements, if there be a superabundance of surface water, it will be ruinous to the crop. It is this, more than all her scientific manuring, that has so im- mensely increased the production of wheat \fx Great Britain, during the last quarter of a centu- ry. By its aid many millions of bushels of wheat have been added to the annual product of that island, from lands which forty years ago were esteemed only fit for growing oats and other spiing grains. But the question will naturally be asked. Will it pay the expense? In very many cases, per- haps most, it certainly would. If our farmers could buy good wheat lands for thirty dollars an acre, they would consider it cheap ; now, if they can cause that they already possess, which will not no.v produce wheat, to yield them from twen- ty to thirty bushels per acre, would it not well pay a pretty large outlay to attain so desirable an end — especially when it is remembered that it would make the land more valuable for other crops ? It is not the object of your correspondent to point out how this is to be done, but to call the attention of our farmers to this subject, which is one of very great importance to the agricultural 136 GENESEE FARMER. June. interest in this State. Who will make an exper- iment on a sufficiently large scale to test its ex- pense and its utility? Whoever will do this, will earn the title of a benefactor to his country ; j and, if successful, will be sure to have abundance of followers, as our farmers are not such dolts as , to refuse to do what they plainly perceive to be for their interest. W. S. Wkcalland, April 7, 1847. I On Growing Corn. Mr. Editor : — In looking over the pages of' your valuable paper from month to month, as | they are issued from the press, I am led to the ' conclusion that agricultural pursuits are, at the j present day, assuming an honorable place among j the professions of the age in which we live ; and ! that the friends of this calling are, or should be, I considered one great brotherhood, each endeav- oring to contribute something to the fountain of knowledge that already exists, at least to some extent. And we believe the tiller of the soil at! no very distant day is destined to stand (if not| first) among the most honorable of his age, and ' his profession will hold a conspicuous place among ! an enlightened and happy "American" people. I The department of husbandry to which I shall j allude, at present, is that of growing corn. This ' crop is now becoming a very important one to j the American farmer, and particularly so to those i living in the Western States — and we who live ' in Western New York are not a little interested I in the crop, as it will yield us a fair reward for our labor, provided the labor be judiciously ap- plied. And who does not feel an abundant assu- rance that a i-eady market is found in Ireland and in various parts of Europe, for all kinds of grain that may be converted into bread ? How long this state of things may remain is yet veiled in the future ; it will however remain for years un- questionably. By adopting the following method I have been more successful in growing corn than any other that has come under my personal observation. In preparing the ground spread on a very lib- eral coat of manure before plowing ; that taken from the cow stable is preferable on my land, (a gravelly soil.) Deep plowing will produce a greater growth in the latter part of the season, though the corn may not start quite as soon in the early part of summer. Cultivate or drag the ground with the furrows, that the grass may re- main under. Mark the ground three feet each way. Deep marking I have not found as good as light. — Sometimes soaking seed will facilitate its growth, though generally I choose to plant my seed dry. As soon as your corn is up so you can see the rows, start a cultivator — go tlirough each way — take the weeds and grass from the hill, and give the corn a light earthing. When you have got through this process, put on your plaster. The remaining team work for the season should be done with the plow, in order to bring up the soil to the rays of the sun, and also within reach of the fibres of corn that are despatched in every direction from the hill to secure nutriment for the stalk. Before hoeing the last time a liberal quantity of wood ashes should be applied to each hill. The plaster will produce a good growth of stalks — the ashes will greatly increase the num- ber of ears and add to the length and filling out of the same. I have tried manuring in the hill, but in dry seasons it will not do as well. I have also tried putting lime, ashes, and plaster in the hill, then droping the seed on that and covering it in that way — but with no very good success. Locke, March, 1847. J. D. C. Fences. Mr. Editor: — Your correspondent Mr. Man- ly has been treating the readers of the Farmer with an essay on the subject of the situation the country is exposed to in the want of rail timber and cheap fences — a matter which, in my opin- ion, requires more attention than is generally bestowed upon it. I have also something to say about fences, and, with your permission, will give my opinion and observations. Stone fences are not to be sneezed at, espe- cially by western farmers who have no stone to construct them with — for there is none more du- rable or more safe, and I hold that a good fence on a farm is better than opium to make the own- er sleep at night. He feels safe that he shall not wake up and find a whole drove of horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, holding festival in his corn and wheat fields. There are many who would be astonished to learn with what slim and contemptible means, what mere chips and shivers of stone, a good and lasting fence can be made. Let me enlighten you, dear reader. In the fii-st place, in the line of your fence, sink and embed all the large boul- ders and ugly shaped hard heads firmly in the earth ; then fill up the vacancies between with the next worst ones, till you form a pretty uni- form course. Then commence with the small ones, even if it takes three or four to make the width, and constantly interpose headers of white cedar, chestnut, or oak ; if no larger in diameter than your two fingers, they will answer. Build it quite littfering, as the masons say, — 30 inches to 3 feet at the bottom, and at 4J feet high, 1 foot. Now the next requisite to make the wall stand, and it is impervious, is to save and select from your materials a sufficient quantity to cap the whole. They should be a cleverly large size, considerably larger than a piece of chalk ; in short they should either be a foot long, so as to reach across, or one foot wide, and the longer 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 137 the better. If not as flat as is desirable, chink and cobble up till they lay firm and secure. Fences built of these light materials do not an- swer so well to set posts and increase their height by adding a couple of narrow boards, as the winds have too much power to disturb the structure. — But in those cases where stone enough cannot be found to build the entire fence a very pretty ex- pedient is resorted to. At about 6 inches from the ground a sill of 3 by 4 scantling or other wood is laid into the wall, projecting beyond it about 3 inches at each end — far enough to make a 2 inch augur hole at the same angle as the wall, in which are fitted two stakes or rounds, with one or more yokes of 2 inch stuff, bored and fitted on, to lay on poles or rails — or another short rail may be fitted on the top of the fence, into which the stakes enter, and into which is morticed a post to nail board to. This makes a very secure and durable fence, even when the stone work is only two feet above the surface. In your next number, if your readers will tol- erate me, I will give you another yarn about Fences, being something of an itenerant and an old pedlar — but now old Farmek Tim. Monroe County, 1847. Chess — Transmutalion of Oats, &€. Having seen in the March number of the Far- mer, a case of apparent transmutation of wheat to chess, which many suppose impossible on ac- count of the difference of species, I would like to call attention to the fact of the change of oats to rye, as given by the author of Vestiges of Cre- ation, on the authority of Dr. Lindley in the (London) Gardner's Chronicle for August, 1844 : "When oats sown at the usual time are kept cropped down during the summer and autumn, and allowed to re- main over winter, a thin crop of rye is the harvest present- ed at the close of the ensuing summer. This experimen; has been tried repeatedly with but one result; invariably the secale cereal (rye) is the crop reaped, where the avena saiiva (oat, ) a recognized different species was sown. Now it will not satisfy a strict inquirer to be told that the seeds of the rye were latent in the ground, and only superseded the dead product of the oats ; for if any such fact were in the case, why should the usurping grain be always rye." Again, in the " Sequel to the Vestiges," page 78-9, the following is related : " In 1843 the Rev. Lord Arthur Hervey sowed a handful of oats, treated Ihem in the manner recommended, by con- tinually sloping the flowering stems, and the produce in 1844 was for the most part, ears of a very slender barley, having much the appearance of rye, with a little wheat, and some oats." It is also stated as a certain fact that in orchi- aceous plants, forms just as different as wheat, rye, oats, and barley have been proved by the most rigorous evidence, to be accidental varia- tions of one common form, brought about no one knows how, but before our eyes, and rendered permanent by equally mysterious agency. Then, says reason, if they occur in these plants, why should they not also occur in corn plants? for it is not likely that such vagaries will be confined to one little group in the vegetable kingdom ; it is more rational to believe them a part of a gen- eral system of creation. How can we be sure that wheat, rye, oats, and barley, are not all ac- cidental offsets from unsuspected species ? And this supposition having at least some appearances in its favor, we may safely suppose chess to be in the same class, which would account for its appearance in the case cited by your correspond- ent. E. S. Johnson. Penfield, March, 1847. Eagle C Plow. Some competent person ought to write the his- tory of the Plow. The study of its progressive mutations and improvements from the forked limb of a tree, used by the Romans, Arabs, and Mexicans, up to the "Eagle C Plow" manufac- tured and sold by Messrs. Nott & Elliott of this citjfc would be alike interesting and instruc- tive. The Locomotive and the Railroad furnish no stronger evidence of the developement of in- tellect, when compared with the strength and lo- comotion of the ancient wagon drawn by a cow and an ass yoked together, than is exhibited in the apparently perfect construction of the most useful implement ever placed in the hands of man.- There are several millions of acres annually plowed in this State ', and a saving of one-tenth of the power of traction, by an improvement in the plow, will amount to hundreds of thousands in the pockets of New York farmers. The sa- ving of horse and ox flesh is, however, only one item in the gain that accrues from a superior plow. The mellowing of the soil, and the kill- ing of all pernicious weeds and plants, by cover- ing them deep in the earth, are points in a good implement, the value of which can hardly be over-estimated. We have seen a plow of the kind manufactur- ed by Messrs. Nott & Elliott, go a half mile or more through the soil on the Hudson river flats between Albany and Troy, and doing fair work, with no one holding it — so perfect and easy does it run. This was at a trial of several plows by a committee of the State Agricultural Society. — The inventors of this improvement are Messrs. RuGGLEs, NouRSE & Mason, Bostou, who have had orders from the Emperor of Russia. — Roch- ester American. To Grow Peas free prom Bugs. — We are indebted to Mr. Joel Chaffee, of Oswego coun- ty, for the following " remedy for buggy Peas": " Put your peas in a vessel, and pour on suffi- cient boiling water to cover them. Stir them as quick as possible, for nearly a minute; then turn the peas into a basket that the water may drain off. Do this every year, and your peas will not be infested with bugs." 138 GENESEE FARMER. June. A Plea for the Birtis. NUMBER ONE. I HAVE often thought, that if the affairs of earth were left to the will, or taste, of some, the world would soon be converted into a desert. Not a tree would be allowed to grow whose prospective value could not be estimated in dollars and cents, nor a bird permitted to live, that could offer a mark for the sportsman. "I love trees," said one, not long since, "but I want them in the woods where they belong ;" while the parching rays of the summer's sun fell upon and around his dwelling, unmitigated by the shade of a single leaf J and the chilling blasts of winter, in turn, swept by, in all their freezing majesty. " What else are they good for ?" asks another heartless piece of mortality, as he picks up the mangled object of his cruel sport. " What else are they good for ?"^ It is diffi- cult to reason with one who neither sees nor acknowledges any rights but his own, nor any profits but those of the purse. " What else are they good for ?" Deprive the world of its shades and its animation, and who that has the soul of a man, would not feel that it was no longer a fit residence for a social being ? " What else are they good for ?" To those who are disposed to listen, I will say : It will be difficult to prove that any thing "has been made in vain." But as this may seem too general, it may be remarked, that the appropriate food of birds is seeds, berries, insects, &c. It has been calculated that a single pair of sparrows, during the time of rearing their young, consurpe over 2000 caterpillars in a single week. Allowing each pair of little birds to consume even half that number of insects of different kinds, and we see at once that millions of bugs, worms, moths, cat- erpillars, &c., are daily destroyed by the vari- ous tribes of the feathered race. Hence, who- ever kills them, does an injury both to himself and to society. Should it be said, "Few birds will eat cater pillars," it may be replied, 'caterpillars do not always remain such, but are soon transformed into moths, butterflies, &c., and who does not know the havoc made among these by the birds ! We know the difficulty of raising some kinds of fruit, vegetables, and (I might add) grain too.— We know, too, that this difficulty is much great er in some seasons than in others, oa account of the multiplicity of insects. Mow much greater would it be if none were destroyed by the birds ! Again : many of them feed on seeds as well as insects. After all that they destroy or consume, the farmer often experiences great difficulty in keeping down troublesome weeds; and how much greater would be his task, if none of the seeds were consumed by the birds ! "But," says one, "they eat also our fruit and grain." Well, suppose they do ; do they not pay us for it, in destroying foul seeds and in- sects ? The truth is ; we overlook the good they do, because we are not in the habit of observing, and think only of the injury, which is generally more imrginary than real ; and hence, over-ra- ted. Besides, who, that has a spark of benevo- lence, would grudge them a few grains, if it were only to witness the happiness they seem to en- joy would feed them, if I received only a song m return. " But, what shall be said of hawks, crows, and blackbirds ?" Hawks, being birds of prey, will not spare even our domestic fowls. Man has the right to protect his own ; hence, he may destroy hawks in defence of his rights. The appropriate food of crows and blackbirds is bugs, worms, grubs, carion, &c. Every plowman well knows that these birds, if unmolested, will follow in the new-turned furrow and pick up the very bugs, grubs, beetles, &c., which are so destructive to our corn and potatoes. These birds, then, are really the friends of man. They are moreover, his scavengers, clearing the earth of foul, pestif- erous matter, as well as of destructive insects. — It is true, the crow sometimes steals an egg, or a chicken, and perhaps a few hills of corn ; but the former is merely incidental, being only oc- casional, and not necessarily any part of his ap- propriate work ; and the latter can easily be pre- vented. It has long since become a proverb, "No crows, no corn;" and who does not know that in seasons when no crows are seen, our corn is often nearly destroyed by worms ! It cannot be doubted, that the crow and the black-bird save to man ten-fold more than they destroy. But the most bitter complaint is made against the "cherry-bird." Of this bird I know little, but I believe that, if the truth were known, even this little thief does more general good than in- dividual injury, and that if he were left to him- self, and the " cherry-man's" loss were made up to him by a tax on the public, the tiller of the soil would be profited by the arrangement. I plead, then, for the birds. If need be, I will except birds of prey, which I leave to the dispo- sal of those whose lot brings them into more im- mediate contact with them. But, for the robin, the swallow, the blue-bird, and the thousand other little warblers that come into our gardens and orchards to place themselver under our protec- tion against birds of prey ; that fill the air with the music o^' their notes ; — for these I make my plea. " What are they good for ?" If they were good for nothing, I would not betray them. I would love them for their music, for their beau- ty. I love to vvitness their little sports. I love them because they are happy, and because they show forth the benevolence of their Creator. Fairport, March 9, 1847. H. Good fences make good neighbors. 184 r. GENESEE FARMER. 139 Disease in Grasses, &c. Mr. Editor : — In answer to " H. H.," upon the SLiljjectof "A new Disease in Grass," I would say that, from the investigations which I have made, I have come to the conchision that it is the effect of early springs and late frosts. Af- ter the grass has formed a joint, the center of the stalk immediately above the joint is nearly in a watery or liquid state, in which condition it is easily congealed, and the more thrifty the grass the more easily injured. By examining the stalk, two or three days after it is frozen, there will be found a small black decayed spot in the center. I have known meadows benefited by feeding the grass down in the spring, so as to keep it from forming a joint until after the- heavy late frosts ; but as a general thing the "cure is worse tlian the wound" — especially if the season comes off warm and dry. D. C. B. Persia, N. Y., March, 1847. Mr. Editor: — In the March number of your valuable paper, I noticed a request that some one would state the cause why the top of herds grass dies, and also sometimes the stem. From care- ful investigation of this subject for a number of years, I am firmly convinced that the cause is this : — A worm eats the stem, just above the up- per joint. They are plain to be seen with a good microscope. The first that I noticed of these worms was upon bent grass, some six or seven years ago, since which time they have multiplied remarka- bly fast. They work upon most kinds of grass, except clover. Some in this section have attrib- uted this damage to frost ; but it is not so. — There is a worm that works upon Johnswort, and in this section have mostly destroyed that pesty weed. These build their nests in the blos- som, and by closing the petals destroy the plant. There are two other kinds of worm that work upon Canada thistle — one in the stem and the other in the blossom — and where they both work they utterly destroy the thistle, as far as my ob- servation has extended, which is by no means limited. There is yet another worm that works upon dock, and I most anxiously hope they will destroy it. The potato rot has, in my opinion, been caused by insects, but I have not found any thing to prevent it, still I hope to the present year. The best thing that I ever tried to prevent the fii-e blight on pear trees, was to hang rusty iron on the body of the tree, and place cinders around the roots. I should be glad if individuals would take special pains to ascertain remedies to save our grasses and trees, and for you to publish the same in your valuable paper. To destroy aphides I bore into the body of the tree and put in sulphur, and then close the hole with a plug. I am now, and have been for some time past, the constant reader of three agricultural papers, and should be glad to see them in the hands of every farmer — for I find something valuable in them all. Solomon Hoxie. Leonardsville, ^th month, 1847. Diseases in Swine. — Inquiry. Mr. Editor : — As your paper, the " Farmer," is a medium for the interchange of thought, as well as experience among farmers, I will venture to relate a little of mine the past winter, in re- gard to raising swine. I have practiced some fattening early pigs, as they make much sweeter eating, and 1 think I make my pork cheaper, than when I winter them over, as they can easi- ly be made to weigh 300, or over, at eight or nine months old. I have a choice blooded sow, that I have kept for breeding, which on the 20th Febuary last far- rowed eleven pigs. I succeeded in raising eight for a time : after they became four or five weeks old, they began to die off strangely and suddenly, their necks swelling up, and their ears turning black or purple. I lost all but two, and these were in the same state, with their ears turned black, when I took them immediately away from the sow, cut their ears ofi* as far down as they were black, to start the blood, and shut them up by themselves, and have thus far succeeded in raising them. I have heard of two or three instances of the same kind. What the cause may be, or what will prevent it, I have not been able to learn, either from my own experience, or from others who have lost in the same way. If there are any of your subscribers weo can explain the cause, or give a remedy, it would oblige me, and perhaps benefit othei's. Respectfully, G. C. Sprague. Castile, April, 1847. Cultivation of Cranberries on Upland Soils. — The attention of the public having been called to the culture of this delicious fruit, and Mr. Gardner, of Massachusetts, having produced three hundred and twenty bushels to the acre, on upland soil ; I proceed to give his mode of culti- vation as follows : " I select a piece of cold wet land that will keep moist through the year — re- move the top soil to the depth of two inches ; this prevents all grass or weeds from growing, and the plant will require no cultivation after they are set out. After the top was removed, 1 har- rowed the ground smooth and marked it out in drills, eighteen inches apart. Some I set out on sods fourteen inches square, placed in holes a lit- tle below the surface. They all flourished far beyond my expectation : the first year they put forth runners three feet long, and every vine was loaded with fruit. The plants can be set out from September to December, and from April to the lastof June."— 5. G. Bosxoell in Farmer's Cab. 140 GENESEE FARMER. June. McCormick's Patent Reaper — Improved. Harvest time is fast approaching, with a •I'ospect of unusually high prices for grain. — This consideration (and the fact that the Farmer has now nearly double the number of readers than it had when we formerly noticed the ma- chine,) induces us to again call attention to McCorm/ck''s Reaper. We are informed that Mr, McCoRMiCK has made such improvements in the Reaper as are found to greatly facilitate its operation — especially in the work of raking the cut grain from the platform. In a conversa- tion with Mr, McC, a few weeks since, he in- formed us that he was manufacturing a large num- ber of Reapers at Cincinnati, to supply the south- -western country. He stated that the machines were being constructed in a superior manner, so that no fault should hereafter exist in that par- ticular. The Reaper is also manufactured and sold by Messrs. Seymour & Co., and Backus, Fitch & Co., of Brockport, in this county — and by H, E. Smith, of Fowlersville, Living- ston Co., N. Y. We are informed that it is also manufactured at Chicago, Illinois, where our western friends can probably obtain the machine — -but we are unable to give name of the man- wfactur at that place. An examination of this Reaper, and the relia- ble testimonials we have seen from those who li8.ve thoroughly tested it, convince us that it will y is with us. So you will indulge a little. We hope to hear from you often. I. S., Fayette, A'. Y. Your apple is too dry and tasteless. In our opinion it would be worthless if it would keep for seven years. .1. H. Watt"^, Ef5q. We are much obliged for your splen- did basket of apples — Northern Spy, Red Cheek Pippin, Cooper's Market Apple, &c. They are the finest we have ever seen at this season of the year. 146 GENESEE FARMER. June. Plants for Flower Beds and Borders. In another article in this paper we have rec- ommended, for small gardens, such plants as bloom all the season and are of early culture. — The chief of these are the everblooming roses, such as the Bengal, Bourbon, Noisette, Hybrid, Perpetual, Tea-scented, &c., and Verbenas and Petunias. No flowers so amply repay the care bestowed on them as these. If planted out now, they will bloom profusely till the frosts of next autumn. — Those who may not have a stock on hand can be supplied at the nurseries, very cheap, by the dozen or half dozen, as there is generally a good supply at this season. They can be turned out of the pots, as recommended for Dahlias. — Young plants can be propagated during summer for next year — roses from cuttings and layei's ; verbenas and petunias from cuttings, layers or seed. In planting in masses the various colors should be so mingled that each may appear to the best advantage. The attention given to the two latter tribes of late has added to them a thou- sand new charms by multiplying, to an almost unlimited extent, their colors and habits of growth. No other plants endure so well our hot and dry summers. In the "doe days," when everything is parched and shrivelled, they seem to be on the j way we allude to, have been levelled down, and very acme of perfection, (^ive us verbenas, pe- converted into lawn, and figures and beds cut tunias, portulaccas, and perpetual roses, and we; out for flowering shrubs, plants, «fec.,andthe pro- have the plot of ground, say 20, 50, or 100 feet square, in front of the house, improved and orna- mented. (The ladies, to their credit, generally move first in these matters.) She has it all spaded up and thrown into mounds, ridges, and all sorts of fanciful embankments — some of them high enough to serve our soldiers in Mexico for a defence — many looking precisely like graves in a cemetery, and, all in all, suggestive of any thing but symmetry or beauty. These errors however are quite pardonable ; and we do not speak of them to ridicule them, or find fault, but if possible to set taste and opinion against them. A piece of good green lawn in front of, or around a dwelling, is far preferable to this — looks infinitely more tasteful and beautiful and costs less. Ornamental trees and shrubs, judiciously selected, may be planted promiscuously over it, singly or in clumps, as the situation and dimen- sions require. Choice flowering plants, such as perpetual ro- ses, verbenas, petunias, &c , that bloom most of the season, can be grown in masses or beds cut in the lawn — not raised into mounds or ridges, or, if raised at all, only in the centre, and that not over 2 or 3 inches above the level of the sur- rounding lawn. At our request several small places that we saw this spring, disfigured in the will have a gay parterre throughout the season if deprived of all else. It makes us shudder to think of the miseries we have seen some people endure in the vain at- tempt to keep up a succession of flowers, with a few delicate short lived annuals, on a very dry and ill managed soil. We admire annual flow- ers, and wish to see them cultivated, but only when well done. This can only be where the proper requisites are at hand — a deep, rich, mel- low soil, unincumbered with coarse shrubs or plants — a hot-bed to forward the finer half-hardy species — plenty of leisure, to give them all prop- er attention, such as tying up, training, watering, &c. Where these appliances are not at hand the culture of annuals proves but a very unsatis- factory affair, and in such cases we would direct attention to those requirieg less delicate and com- plicated treatment. The present season threatens to be highly unfavorable for the culture of annu- als in the open ground, owing to the prolonged early drouth. Laying out and Planting Front Gardens. While on one hand we are delighted with the increased attention given to the embellishment of door-yards and grounds around dwellings in the country, we are, on the other, pained at the almost general and entire absence or exercise of correct taste or ordinary skill in conducting the operations. For instance. Miss A. wishes to prietors have been well pleased with the change. We did intend to present some suggestions on this matter early in the spring, before gardening had commenced, but a press of other matters pre- vented us. In our hot, dry climate, where plants require much moisture to flourish, it is a great error, even if it looked well, to plant them in narrow raised beds, surrounded by ditch like walks. All walks should be wide enough for two persons to walk abreast, and should be kept well gravelled and nearly as high as the adjacent beds. A good verdant turf is, beyond all comparison, the best to surround a flower bed. A few starved flowers,' on little beds of red earth, with a bad box edging and narrow deep clay walks, is a downright slan- der on a flower garden, and a violation of every thing like good taste. There is no comfort to be taken in them, and we object entirely to them. Growing Grapes and Peaches from Seed. Mr. Editor : — Will you please state in your next num- ber, whether grapes raised from seed will be of the same kind as that whicb produced the seed. Also whether peach- es will be the same raised from the stone. Yours, &c., A Subscriber. Parma, May, 1847. Remarks. — There is no degree of certainty that seeds of the improved varieties of either will reproduce the same. A distinct species, in its wild, unaltered state, will. The moment a spe- cies is removed from the natural state, by culti- 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 147 vation, it becomes a variety ; and its seeds, if productive, will yield varieties only — some bear- ing a nearer, and others a more remote, resem- blance to the pai'ent. For instance, you plant seeds of an Isabella Grape, which is but slightly removed from the natural state, and from an hundred seedlings you will most likely not get one identical Isabella ; and in like manner you may plant a bushel of stones of the Early York Peach, and the probability is you will not obtain a single tree that will produce the real Early York : and so on through the whole catalogue of our cultivated fruits — some being more and some being less disposed to vary. This fact is full of interest to the fruit grower, as it opens an im- mense field for interesting experiment, and vast and valuable improvements. To it we owe very many of the most delicious fruits now known. — Nearly all our American varieties, such as the Seckel, the Dix. Dearborn's Seedling, Blood- good, Swan's Orange, Oswego Beurre, and other pears, unsurpassed by any in the world, have sprung up accidentally from seeds of other vari- eties in no way, perhaps, similar to them. So is it with our Spitzemburg, Swaa.-, Newtown Pippin, Northern Spy, and other apples — the Washington, Columbia, Lawrence, and other plums — that certainly are entitled to tlie first rank among the improved fruits of the present day. Van Mons the great Belgian pomologist, based his whole life long efforts towards the ameliora- tion of fruits on this tendency of seminal varie- ties to change. By following it up with unexam- pled perseverance, and the utmost scientific ac- curacy, he succeeded in giving to the world such a variety of delicious Beurres that it is no longer an easy matter, barely possible, to make a choice amongst them. Thus we see what benefits have been and are yet to be derived from this law of vegetable life, and yet how many have blindly regretted its ex- istence ! How many now, even, in this enlight- ened day, had rather it were possible to repro- duce their favorite fruits from seed, than that such an unlimited field for progress should be kindly left open to them by Providence. Enormous Grape Vine. A CORRESPONDENT of the Horticulturist gives an account of a grape vine of extraordinary size, growing at Burlington, N. J. The following are its dimensions : " At three feet from the ground it measures six feet one inch around the Xrunk, and at ten feet high it is positively three feet in circumference. It is a native male grape, and has been the wonder of the neighborhood as long back as the memory of man reaches. It is still healthy, and its giant folds run over and cov- er four trees, one of which is a full sized white oak, and the others are quite large. This vine grows on upland near a springy soil, its roots no doubt penetrating to the water." The writer adds — " may this not teach us a lesson, to give the rootlets, wherever it is possible, access to a spring or running water." It is a pity that Mr. Brown had not given a history and description of this ancient, noble vine in his "Trees of America." Such an object is more worthy of being chronicled than a memor- able battle field, or mouldering ruins of castles or cities. Orchards. I WISH to make a few brief remarks in answer to a Syra- cuse coriespondent. In rearing an orchard, the ground should be plowed deep and be in a high state of cultivation. Then set out the trees and keep the grass dug up in a circle about 4 feet from the trunk of each tree, for 4 or 5 years, but no manure after the 3d or 4th year. Wlien the trees are large enough to bear, let the grass sward over under the trees, and keep the ground for mowing ; for if the ground is kept rich with manure and sometimes plowed, the trees will grow rapidly and yield but Utile fruit. This was the mode pursued by my near neigh- bor, Uan Bradley, Fsq. His trees grew rapidly and bore but little fruit. He knew not what was the cause. He re- sorted to the Genesee Farmer for information, and was told to stop manuring and digging about his trees, and turn his lot to meadow. He did so, and his trees soon began to bear fruit. [Manuring and working the ground around fruit trees may be carried so far as to ke^ up a continual production of wood, without fruit. But errors of an opposite kind are more fre- quently committed. For one tree surfeited with aliment there are a hundred, in this country, declining and perish- ing for want of a proper supply. Trees inclined to an over- production of wood, may be turned to fruiting by a shorten- ing of the branches, during the summer. — Editor.] We can see trees in poorish land that bear well. An old orchard sometimes becomes unthrifty, and the fruit small ; then resort to manuring and plowing. Plum trees may be raisd free from black knots by keep- ing the ground rich and well hoed, and spreading on leach- ed ashes ; and, two or three times each summer, put salt on the ground, about a pint to each square rod. By this pro- cess mine are doing well. Peach trees. — Examine your peach trees three or four times each summer, at the roots of the trees ; and if the gum oozes out you will find a white worm eating the bark, and sometimes deeper, which will destroy the trees : if not ex- tracted the tree will turn yellow and die in mid-summer. AiLANTUs Tree. — I have a few Ailantus trees, or tree of Heaven. On examining them this spring I find they are winter-killed, more or less, where the stems separated from tlie body. Tlu leaves grew until the frost killed them; and when they fell off, the body had not time to harden before cold weather. But I think I have in part found a remedy. Last September I commenced pruning off the leaves of sev- eral, some ten or twelve days before any frost appeared, and as far up as I pruned them they endured the winter well. I cut the leaves off about half an inch from the body, aud after a few days the remaining part dried up and fell off, and the wood at the base of the leaf stalks had time to hard- en before the frost came. Removing large trees. — I have never seen a notice upon removing large trees of any kind, but T would suggest the following methovl . Dig a trench in a circle around the tree from 3 to 6 feet in diameter, according to the size of the tree, and deep enough to cut off the greater part of the roots. Fill the trench again, and m the courso of the sum- mer the tree will send out a multitude of fibrous roots. In the fall open the trench again and fill it with straw, and when the ground is frozen enough take a rail and tie it to the trunk with a rope and lift it out and carry it to the place which was previously dug and filled with straw. Should there be roots running perpendicular cut them off, and in filling up, be careful to fill all the cavities. A. W. Marcellus, N. Y., 1847. 148 GENESEE FARMER. June. A Valuable Invention. We insert the following, because we think it will prove interesting and valuable to many of our readers. The card of the proprietors would be more appropriate in our advertising depart- ment, but we can not properly separate it from the figure and description of the Preserver : lephart's Patent Fruit and Vegetable Preserver. Description. — The outer cohimns in the above cut rep resent wallls of stone, enclosing the inner construction. Tlie light shading at the bottom, descending to the cen- ter, represents the earth. The dark shadings, A, A, and K, K, represent twobonrd- ings, with from six to ten inches space, and this space filled with a substance that will best exclude heat. F is the Fruit Room, in which articles are to be placed for preservation. C, C, a floor or cover to the fruit room, made watertight, with u coat of pitch over its surface to prevent moisture from penetrating. I, an apartment to be filled with ice, supported by the floor, O, C, and designed to contain ice enough, when filled, to last during the whole year. B, B, and L>, l), are spaces around the fruit room, intend- ed for the meltings of the ice on the top floor to pass off. — This ice water, as it passes down these spaces around the fruit room, and over the tight floor at bottom, in the space, D, I), serves to absorb any heat which may find its way through the non-conductor, K, K. O, the outlet for ice water. H. hatchway or entrance into fruit room. The fruit room, F, is intended to be below ground, and the ice apartment, I, if desired, can be above ; buildings above ground being now generally preferred for ice to those below ground. It will be seen from the construction that the non-con- ducting substances, A, A. and K, K, are designed to pre- vent the admission of heat from the earth, at the sides and bottom, into the fruit room F ; while the ice upon the floor, C, C, acts by keeping the fruit room at a constant uniform temperature, dry, and so cold as to exert a preserving in- fluence upon articles placed therein. A CARD. The undersigned having purchased the above Patent Right for the United States, (excepting the states of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and the cities of New York and St. Louis,) invite the attention of the Public to an ex- amination of the scientific prineiplea upon which the above invention is based, as well as its practical utility, and offer for sale patent rights for the constiuclion and use of the Preserver by States, Cities, Counties, Towns, or individu- al rights, upon terms which will induce all interested in the growth and sale of Fruits and Vegetables, or in tha curing and preservation of Meats — also dealers in Butter, Eggs, I3acon, &,c., — to purchabO rights and construct Pre- servers. As will be seen by the above drawing, its success de- pends entirely upon chemical truths. The room F, in which Fruits, &c., are placed for preser- vation, will remain the whole year at a constant, uniform temperature, so near the freezing point as to arrest the rot- ting as well as the ripening process of fruits, &c., without danger of freezing them. That the fruit room F will remain at this temperature, will be evident from the fact that tha air in contact with the floor C, C, on which the ice rests, becomes nearly as cold as ice itself. This condensed air will immediately sink, while the air at the bottom of the room, if but half a degree warmer, will rise to the floor C, C, and give oflf its heat — thus maintaining a uniform tem- perature corresponding with that in contact with the floor C, C. Articles placed in this Preserver will remain as perfectly dry and free from moisture, as if kept in the best ventilated apartments. The air descending from the floor C, C, being always about half a degree colder thaii the boxes or barrels of fruit, &c., cannot deposit any moisture therein — it being an established fact that no object cr.n condense moisture, unless colder than the air coming in contact with said object. It is a theory long maintained by Liebig and other emi- nent chemists, that a temperature, dry, uniform, and near 32° Fahrenheit, will arrest the process of decay that takes place in fruits, vegetables, (fee, — but never, until the above invention, could the truth of the theory be tested. Two years of experiments has proved the truth of the theory, and established the entire utility and success of the invention — as fruits, &c., foreign and domestic, viz : oran- ges, lemons, apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes, &c., as well as the most dehcate fruits — also potatoes, green corn, melons, &c., can be kept as long as desired. Add to these butter, eggs, bacon, lard, &c., which can be preserved througliout the year as fresh and sweet as when first placed in the Preserver. Fruits, &c. in common temperatures undergo saccharin* fermentation, or what is known by the mellowing or ripen- process, which is followed by vinous, ascetous and putre- factive fermentation, which completes the rotting process. A temperature dry, and so low, arrests the first process to- wards decay — so that all fruits, &c., if placed in the Pre- server when first plucked, will retain all their juices, fresh- ness and flavor as when first plucked from the tree or vine. It will readily be seen that the only way in which fruits, &:c., can be kept during all seasons of the year, is by the plan offered in this invention — and one of its greatest advan- tages is that fruits, &c. can be preserved in all climates at a trifling cost, not only in the north where ice is produced, but in the soutli where it has become an article of exten- sive commerce. Being shipped in large cargoes, housei must be liuilt for its reception ; for this purpose tlie room I will be most appropriate — thus efiecting the double purpose for selling ice from the top, and preserving fruits, Sac. below. All desirous of any further knowledge of the operations of this Preserver, can see one either by calling upon P. Kefhart, Baltimore, or upon the undersigned Coatcs at. Wharf, near Fairmount, Philadelphia. Flack, Thompson & Bro. [O^ All communications will receive prompt attention, if addressed either to Peter Kephart, Western Hotel, Bal- timore, or to FLACK, THOMPSON & BRO. Spriyig Gardm P. O., Pliila., Pa. Horticultural Societies. The " American Ag. Association" has taken measures to sustain periodical exhibitions of Horticultural productions during the season. The first was to be held on the 19th May. The first public exhibition of the Mass. Hort. Society waa to have been held on the l.'jth of May, when premiums were to be awarded for Green House plants, &c. We learn from the Horticulturist that a Hort. Society waa organized at Syracuse, on the 17th April, called the Onon- daga Hort. Society. The ofTicers— E. 'W. Leavenworth, Prest., RuFus, CossiTT, A. Dolbear, I. G. Tracev, and Dr. LooMis, 'Vice Presidents; Thos. Smith, Treasurer; D. C. Le Roy, Cor. Sec'y; and C. B. Sedgwick, Rec. Sec'y- The Ifortimlliira/ Sociely of the Valley of the Gefieseeheld its first public exhibition on the 26th May. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 149 LADIES' DEPARTMENT. Floriculture. Mr. Editor: — In a climate like ours where winter reigns four or five months, and natuie is disrobed of her beautiful apparel for hal( the year, why is it that so few of our dwellings are orna- mented with vases of flowers — so that while the wintry storm is raging around us, and the hail and sleet are rattling against our windows, the eye can be relieved trom the sterility and cheer- lessness without, by constant verdure and beauty within ? Who can minutely examine a delicate flower, and not admire its wonderful mechanism 1 The cultivation of flowers, whether in the gar- den or the green-house, is a source of almost endless enjoyment. Ask the enthusiastic lover of flowers, who, with her own hands, cultivates them, if she is not compensated for all her labor. She watches over and nurtures her plants, as a gentle nurse doth her offspring. She discovers new beauty in every bud, and expatiates with delight upon each expanding flower. While arranging her vases, or weeding her border, she gaily sings : I'll give thee, my flowers, A portiom of my hours ; And my hands I'll employ. With gratitude and joy, To rear theo ; — while I live, Ye'll unceasingly give Vigor to my frame, happpiness to my heart, The hue of tlie rose to my cheek yell impart. Life is a chequered scene. It has its lights and shadows — its joys and sorrows — and what- ever enables us to increase our own happiness, or the happiness of those around us, should re- ceive a due share of our attention. Human en- joyment is made up of little things. The culti- vation of flowers has a tendency to soften the heart, to calm tumultuous feelings, and relieve us from the dull, monotonous, every-day cares of life. Let a person whose passions are high- ly excited be introduced into a well stored green- house, and its varied beauties pointed out to him, the tumult within will be calmed, and his coun- tenance soon indicate smiles instead of frowns, r rejoice to find as I travel through the country, that there is an increasing interest taken in the cultivation of flowers in and around the house. When I. see a dwelling, (I care not whether con- structed of marble or of logs,) the windows of which are filled with vases of flowers, I think the hearts of the inmates of that house are made better by them. I often wonder why, in our vil- lages, and in the country too, so few of the dv^el- Kngs are ornamented with that beautiful append- age, the " Green House." Home should be made attractive. We should not spare reasonable time and expense to ornament our dwellings and grounds, so that our children may not spend their pastime and seek their enjoyments abroad, but find them in and around the paternal habitation. My principal object in writing this article is to induce the fair readers of the " Farmer" to peti- tion their husbands and fathers, to attach to their dwellings a green-house. Methinks I hear a large majority of my brother farmers, whose thoughts seem to be absorbed with fine wheat fields, luxuriant corn, handsome cattle, fat pigs, &c., exclaim, "What! expend twenty, fifty, or a hundred dollars to build a green-house, in which to raise flowers, that will not be worlh any thing when they are grown 1" But, my dear sirs, you forget that what contributes to the happiness of your family, friends, and neighbors— what pleases your wife and daughters, and affords them a de- lightful place for amusement and recreation, after going through with the dull routine of the kitch- en, and the every day occurences of household affairs, is or ovght to be worth something. A family green-house should be attached to the south side of the room mostly occupied in winter, and if of small dimensions, say seven by fourteen" feet, or even ten by twenty feet, can be warmed without any extra apparatus for heating, simply by an open door, or windows leading from the room to the green-house. If warmed in this way, the house should be made very tight, and without an outside door, as the frequent passing through the door would allow much heat to es- cape. I have a green-house arranged on the above plan, and during the past winter have made no fire in the arch during the day, and but on three or four occasions when the coldest nights occurred. When the sun shines, although the weather may be cold, my dining room, which is 15 by 18 feet, is often sufficiently wanned from the green-house alone. E. li. Porter. Frattshurg, N. Y., Apri?, 1847. Hard Biscuit. — One quart of flour, and half a tea-spoonful of salt ; four great spoonfuls of butter rubbed into two-thirds of the flour ; wet it up with milk till a dough ; roll it out again and again, sprinkling on the reserved flour till all is used ; cut into round cakes, and bake in a quick oven on buttered tins. Dahlias, Roses, Verbenas, &c. We have on hand a very large stock of choice Dahlias, in pots ready for turning out, th.at we can sell at unusually low prices, viz : 12 good varieties for $2,00 ; 12 of the finest $6,00 — selected by us. Verbettas — 1.5 fine varieties, good, strong plants, at $1,50 to $2,00 per dozen. Petunias — 6 select varieties, $1,.50 to $2,00 per dozen. Bourbon Roses, $4, .50 per dozen. ) Chinese do. 3,00 do. ( Strong plants with Tea-scmted do. 4,00 do. f flower buds. Noisetts, do. 4,00 do. J Fuschins. — a splendid collection of .'50 varieties — fine, strong plants, covered with buds ; 12 fine varieties for $3,00; 12 of the best for $5,00. The above plants are all in fine condition for turning into the border, and will furnish a profusion of flowers from July until the autumn frosts. Plants packed in the best manner for transportation to any part of the countrj'. Catalogues of Dahlias, Green House plants, &c., furnished gratis to all post paid applica- tions. ELLVVANGER & I5ARRY, Mount Hope Garden and Nurseries, 150 GENESEE FARMER. June. Kiiiderhook Wool Depot. This enterprise has been in successful opera- tion for the past two years, and has fully met the expecta- tions of the wool-growers, who have been its patrons and projectors. It will be continued the present year, conduct- ed as heretofore. The subscriber will be prepared to re- ceive wool as soon after shearing as may be convenient for the growers to deliver it. The fleeces will be thrown into sorts according to quality and condition. Those who desire it can have tlieir clip liept separate, and sold when ordered. A discrimination will be made between wool in good or bad condition. Sales will be made for cash, and the owners con rely on prompt returns. The charges for receiving, storing, sorting, and selling, will be one cent per lb. and in- surance. Liberal advances in cash made on the usual teriiis. Sacks will be forwarded to those who wish, by their paying the transportation and 12i cts. each for their use, or if fur- nished by the owner of the wool, will be returned, or sold «t their value, as he may direct. Reference can be had to Dr. J. P. Reekman, Kinderhook; D. S. Curtis, Canaan ; C. W. Hall, New Lebanon, Col. Co.; J. B. Nott, Esq., Albany; D. Rodgers ; Hoosick, Rens. Co.; C. H. Richmond, Esq., Aurora, Cayuga Co.; Col. J. Murdock, Wheatland, Monroe Co. June 1, 1837.— 3t. H. BLANCHARD. Turnep Seed. We have just received from England, by lasti Packet, 200 pounds White Norfolk Turnep, 200 " Globe do. 400 " Ruta Baga do. 50 " Scotch Yellow do. 100 " assorted kinds do. Also 200 lbs. best English Field Carrot Seed— all of which we now offer for sale cheap, and warrant the seed genuine. Farmers and dealers are respectfully requested to call at the Genesee (not Rochester) Seed kitore, No. 18 Front st. June 1, 1847. RAPALJE & BRIGGS. PLOWS. We have now on hand, and offer for sale at the manufac- turers prices, seven varieties of PLOWS — among which «tre the Iron Beam, Diamond, and Antlwnt/'s Improved Plow. We would particularly invite attention to the Anthony Plow, as it has a patent index attached to the beam, by which to change it from a two to a three horse plow. Far- mers are requested to call and examine our stock before purchasing elsewhere. RAPALJE & BRIGGS, Genesee Ag. Warehouse, 18 Front st. P3as, Peas !— 200 bushels Gold Vine Peas, just re- ceived from Canada, and free from bugs— for sale by R. & B. at the Genesee Seed Store. Those wishing a good arti- cle will please give us a call. It is not yet too late to sow them. June 1, 1847. Choice Pear Trees. Ellwanger & Barry offer for sale, in addi- tion to the stock of their own growth, 07te thousand beautiful Pear Trees for pyramids — just received from Europe — in fine condition for planting. The assortment includes the most .icarce and estimable varieties. Orders should be sent in at once. E. & B.'s new catalogue of Green House plants is just published, and will be sent gratis to all post paid applications. Agricultural Implements. In order to accommodate the subscribers to the Farmer, from whom frequent inquiries and orders for implements are received, I have made arrangements to supply the fol- lowing articles : Pitts' Thrasher and Separator, price, $150 00 The above, including Horse-Power, 250 00 Pitts' Corn and Cob Mill, 40 00 Seymour's Sowing Machine, 45 00 Sanford's Straw-Cutter, 15 00 Burrall's Patent Corn-ShcUer, 10 00 Also, most kinds of Plows, Cultivators, &c., &c., at the uaual prices. As my only object is the accommodation of iitbscribers to the Farmer who reside at a distance, (without fee or reward,) all orders should be post paid and accompa- ■ied with the cash. The implements will be carefully se- lected, and shipped per order. D. 1). T. MOORE. Farmer Office, Rochester, April, 1847. REMOVAL. The Rochester Agricultural Ware House has been removed from Front-street to No. 23 Buffalo-street, Talman l?lock, opposite Reynolds' Arcade. See advertise- ment below. q q q q q Rochester Agricultural Ware -House, HARD-WARK AND SEED STORE. (No. 23 Buffalo st., opposite Peynolds' Arcade.) Where can be found most kinds of GARDEN and FIELD SEEDS, Hard-ware, Tin-ware, Wooden-ware, Willow-ware, House Trimmings, Kitchen Furniture, &c. The late proprietor of this Establishment, (Thos. Nott,) feels grateful to his many patrons for their very liberal pat- ronage during the past year, and would solicit a continuance of the same — promising to sell them as good articles in his line, and as cheap, as can be purchased at any other estab- lishment west of Boston or New York. He has formed a co-partnership with Mr. E. J. Elliott— and the business of the establishment will hereafter be conducted under the firm of Nott & Elliott. We shall keep constantly on hand, a full assortment of Shaker Garden and Flower Seeds, the reputation of which needs no comment. Wn are continually manufacturing the celebrated Massa- chusetts Sward C Plow — to which has been awarded the greatest number of Premiums— which we shall sell at the low price of $7, with an extra point. Also — shall keep on hand an assortment of the various approved Plows and Points, Cultivator Teeth, Root Cutters, Straw Cutters, and Corn Shellers — with a hundred and one other articles, too tedious to mention. Farmers from a distance, as also those in our immediate vicinity, are respectfully solicited to call at our new estab- lishment, and examine our assortment before purchasing elsewhere. NOTT & ELLIOTT, Rochester, Jan. 1, 1847. No 23 Buffalo-street. To New York Farmers aod Emigrants. ^^ Illinois Lands for Sale. — 115,000 „«Ji. acres, in tracts of 40, 80, 120, 160, acres, or more, to suit purchasers. The lands are all first rate, and among the very best in the State, and are situated in the counties most densely settled, viz . Morgan, Scott, Cass, Mason, Menard, Green, Sangamon, Logan, Christian, Macon, McLean Woodford, and Macoupin. To actual settlers every reason- able indulgence will be given as to time of payment. The price from $3 to $5 per acre. A correspondent of one the New York papers writes, re- specting this section of Illinois, as follows ; Beardstown, Cass Co., 111., Jan. 10, 1846. The Riches of the West — Gothamites on the Wiiig. — It is now six weeks since I left the city of Gotham, during which time 1 have seen considerable of the Western country, and I must say the beautiful prairies of Illinois far excel what I had anticipated, and this country may truly be called the garden of the world. There is nothing to prevent farmers in this country from getting rich, as the land is the most fer- tile in tBe world, and it will produce everything grown in the vegetable kingdom. A New England man would hardly believe me if I would tell him that some fanners here produce ten thousand bush- els of corn and half as many bushels of wheat in a year, to say nothing of cattle and hogs, of which some raise as many as five hundred head. One farmer told me he had raised, the last year, 6,900 bushels of corn, and it was all produced by the labor of two men only. Cattle and sheep feed upon the prairies all winter, as they are seldom covered with snow." Most of the .above lands may be cultivated 100 years or more without manuring, being of the richest alluvial soil. The titles are indisputable and the lands will be sold at low prices and in quantities to suit purchasers. Letters (post paid) addressed to D. B. AYRES, Esq., of Jacksonville, 111., or to the subscriber, will receive prompt altenfion. A* many persons out of the State have an idea that the taxe* are very burdensome in Illinois, we state that they range from $1,50 to $2,00 per annum on 80 acres of land. ' JOHN GRIGG, No. 9 North Fourth-st. Philadelphia. Margh 1, 1847. [3t] 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 151 Geuesee Seed Store and Asrricultiu al Warehouse. No. 13 (old No. 10.) Front St., Rochester. At this Establishment can be found all sorts •f GARDEN and FIELD SEEDS, a large and excellent assortment of Flower Seeds — a large lot of Clover and Tim- othy Seed, Orcliard and Lawn Grass, Red Top, Lucerne, While Dutch Clover, . Millet, Hemp, Flax Seed, Spring Wheat, Spring Rye, Buckwheat, IJarley, Oats, difierent kinds Peas and Beans, Seed Corn of different kinds, various kinds of Seed Potatoes, Potato Onions, Onion Sets, Top Onions, &c., '°," f.^^ §')'< . floor of split logs; then, said he, our wants were jf^^"! °[ °/ i/ '. c 1 '""" ' ?K ""' - -° - - • rpi : leached ashes, It will wonderfully improve their entirely depends on the life of the posts, let them be of the most lasting timber within your reach — remembering that the butt cuts are worth double to those taken high up in the tree. .Set them and if you can give them few and simple, now they are legion pride had not invaded our neighborhood worked and saved, and were animated by the • J u J ♦ ■ 1 J • uu u J 11 durability — as will also charring a few inches pride had not invaded our neighborhood — we all '^^'^'^'^^'■y "^ r^u -i i? ^ ° -■ - - above and below the surface of the soil, rour and a quarter or four and a half feet is a sufficient oiilv'th'e h^'g'''^ ^s animals seldom attempt aboard or pick- i^l.^„„ let fence of any heiorht. The boards should be good in prospect ,• now that we have more than attained that fancied good, the good is farther from us, because our wants have increas ed faster than our means of indulging them. It I ''«'m"^i- "'" h;'/« . -- - -' J'"- TVTV""'!^ would seem now, that pride has comi among us ^^f ^hem be 16i feet long, or one rod ; that length only to make us the slave of fashion, at the ex- ^"«^^'"g }^^, P^^^s often enough to support the pense of all our homespun comforts, and domes- i et fence of any heigh hemlock or pine ; and if of your own procuring tic peace. If I mistake not. the first settlers of Michigan fence, and what is convenient, counting the lengths gives the contents of acres in the field. Four boards should constitute the fence, of 12, 10, 8, or 6 inches in width, placed (beginning at the commenced their struggle m the wilderness with bottom) at 4, 6, or 7 inches apart, 'the last one to more capital than is usual with new settlers gen- ; ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ top of the post, which is to be sawed erally, and that their outward civil'zation has in-l^g- ^bout 1 inch slanting, to receive the cap and creased in direct ratio with their means of mdulg- 1 ^ ^^Y the water. In putting on the boards, mg it, until the struggle between pride and pov- ^^^^ ^j.^^^ ^^ ^jtj^ ^„e oj. j^y^ eight-penny nails any there is now sufficiently developed to entitle I ^^^ ^^^^ ^he joints and at each post place a six Michigan to be ranked among the more advanced j j^^^j^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^ thoroughly nail into each board states of the west. Perhaps no other state ever | ^^-^y^ twelve-penny nails. The caps should break made a more rapid transition from the log-house I simplicity to the age of brick and mortar, and paint, and upholstery, and floriculture, &c., &c., than this same peninsular Michigan. But all these fixed facts only go to prove the romance of labor ; for what man in his senses would ever undertake, with money, to clear up, fence, and put good buildings on a quarter section of wild land, with any hope of ever realizing the amount of his outlay in dollars and cents '? 'Tis true that hundreds of industrious families have created to themselves a fine estate by such an operation ; but it is done at the expense of great economy, self denial, unceasing toil, and a privation that could hardly be borne, save under the influence of that exciting novelty and enthusiasm, which is the romance of labor. Oh that this magic influence could be invoked, in order that the labor which is now so rarely bestowed on the smooth old all alluvial fields of Seneca, may be cheated of its drudgery, so that our farmers sons may be induced to think and to feel, that with a titb.e of the labor and with the same economy and self denial required to make a new farm available, will make them rich on an old one. 3. W. Seneca county, N. Y., 1847. joints with the boards and slope so as to carry the water from the front. Such a fence will out last a dozen Presidential campaigns, and is comparatively a very cheap structure. There is in each rod of this fence 60 feet of boards, which, at $.5 for hemlock, and in proportion higher for pine, costs 30 cents. The posts 6 cents each, is 12 cts.; and 2 lbs. of nails 12 cts. more ; in all 54 cts., and 25 cts. for putting up — say 80 cts. per rod — which is defying time and unruly animals at a very modemte rate. I have not done making fence yet. I will in my next surround your small premises, Mr. Ed- itor, with an oddity which I like very well, so that if I dont get a hint from you to stop fencing and attend to my own afTairs. I shall go on, like the old minister of whom his congregation grum- bled that he preached too long sermons. He at last agreed to take a short text, which was " Nev- ertheless,^'' and after applying it about a half an hour longer than usual, said, " Now, my breth- ren, I suppose you are all grumbling that your dinners are getting cold, hut nevertheless 1 shall go on to the last but two heads of my dis- course." It was equal to the balsam of wild cherry — it cured them of grumbling. Old Farmer Tim. 160 GENESEE FARMER. July. The Crops and the Season. June has been a very favorable month for the husbandman. Crops of all kinds have come for- ward rapidly. Wheat, the great staple of Wes- tern New York, has suffered very severely by the ravages of insects and the frosts of winter. ]n Livingston county it is thought the injury from these calamities is fully equal to one-third of the usual crop. In Wheatland the damage is estimated, by the most intelligent farmers, at from one-third to one-fourth of the ordinary yield. — After taking much pains to obtain valuable infor- mation, we suppose that the Hessian Fly {cecido- myia destructor) has destroyed about 700,000 bushels, or one-tenth of the whole product, on a fair average. An equal amount has been lost by winter-killing — making the yield fall short of the usual crop one-fifth, or 20 per cent. Many sup- pose that this is quite too low an estimate of the damage done by the causes named. Taking all Western New York together, we can not esti- mate the loss over 1,500,000 bushels. Our wheat growers have still to incur the risk of injury from rust. The weather for the last two weeks has been favorable to the attack of this blighting mal ady. It has been quite moist and warm, giving a large growth of stem and leaves to the plant. Accounts from the wheat growing regions of the West represent the ravages of the Hessian % as alarmingly destructive. The following is an extract of a letter dated Cleveland, Ohio, June 16, 1847. [ have made a good deal of inquiry as to the crops in these parts, and the universal answer is, that the fly is making sad work with the wheat. Some fields will hardly return the seed sown ; and the corn, in consequence of the cold- ness of the weather, is very backward. The best fields 1 liave seen appear only two or three inches high, :ind some just coming up, whereas last season at this time it was two feet high. The Cobourg (Canada) Star of the 23d June says : In the Western Districts and the United States, the brown and white grub are destroying the wheat totally. In our own district numerous fields are being ruined by the same insects. The destruction of the crops appears to be pro- j.:ressing throughout the whole world. We could easily fill this journal with extracts similar to the above. Although e.xaggerated accounts are constantly .set afloat in the 1800 newspapers of the country, yet there can be no question that the crop of wheat in the United States will be very light, notwithstanding more than the usual breadth of land was sown last au- tumn. In our August number we shall have something to say on the best means of avoiding the attacks of the Hessian fly. Corn and potatoes now promise an abundant yield. How far the latter crop will suffer from the rot, time alone can disclose. We shall have a large surplus of corn to send to Europe if it shall be needed. Wool is coming into this market very freely. Our impression has been, and .still is, that the price of this staple will advance some on present rates before October. Should the crops in Eng- land come in as favorably a.s we have reason to expect from our foreign journals, all the woolen mills, suspended in consequence of high prices for food, and the exportation of specie, will be set at work, and create a foreign demand for American wool, not large to be sure, but enough to cause an advance on present rates in this coun- try. For prices see market report. Improvement of Sheep from Home Stock. Mb. Editor : — Amongst the numerous agri- cultural Improvements of the day, and the mul- tifarious ])ursuits of the farmer, the breeding and improving of domestic animals is of the most importance to the cultivators of the .soil, and to community at large — and none more so than the improving of Sheep, by uniting the greatest val- ue in both carcass and fleece, which can be done to a great perfection if farmers will but be judi- cious and persevering in their breeding. And those enterprising gentlemen who are at the trouble and expense of introducing choice and valuable animals from abroad, deserve the high- est praise, as being the promoters of the best in- terests of society. But yet this desire of having the name of an importer is sometimes carried too far, even at the expense of the farming in- terest. Every encouragement ought to be given to the farmers of our own county, and even sec- tion, to make these improvements. Farmers should always purchase near home, if they can procure as good animals as those froin a distance. By doing so they will savn trouble and expense, encourage a spirit of improvement at home, and promote the general interest of their own coun- try— for the more agricultural productions of any county, or section, can be increased or improved in quality and value, in the satne ratio will the prosperity of the country be increased. In passing through the west part of Livingston and the east part of Wyoming, in May, I called upon Mr. Alex. Boyd, in Covington, VVyoming county, to see his splendid flock of Merino sheep; and for size and symmetry of form, and hardiness in appearance — for eveness, fineness, and weight of fleece — I have not seen their su- perior, even amongst the Vermont and Connec- ticut sheep which have been brought into this section from those states, and that too at great prices. I was informed that there were several other flocks in that section which were not much inferior to Mr. Boyd's, so that the farmers of Wyoming might accommodate themselves with choice sheep at much less expense and trouble than going abroad for them — and at the same time encourage the spirit of improvement at home, and increase the value of the productions of their own county. Wm. Garbutt. Wheatland, June, 1847. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 161 Corn Culture. Mr. Editor : — In the last (.Tune) number of fne Farmer, is an article " On Growing Corn," overthe signatuae of "J. D. C," containing the following recommendations in regard to the after culture of this valuable plant: "'When you have got through with the process of first weeding and light earthing, then put on your plaster." We hive practiced with success the mixing of plaster and ashes in equal proportions, with an addition of one peck of salt to every two bushels of the mixture, and applying as soon as the corn was sufficiently up to distinguish the rows. An early application is preferable if the grub is at all troublesome, or the corn comes up sickly and yellow. Then comes the following suggestion : "The remaining team work should be done with the plow, in order to bring up the soil to the rays of tho sun, and also within reach of the fibres of corn that are despatch- ed in every direction of the hill to secure nutriment for the stalk." Of this 'remaining team work with the plow,' 1 wish to say a few words, as the doctrine of plowing among corn does not exactly harmozize with the principles laid down in my philosophy. 1 have condemned the principle from theory, practice and observation, and the following are a few of the reasons for so doing : No plant, whether in its natural or cultivated state, will ever put out its fibres or roots deeper in the soil or farther from the stock than the nature of the plant requires. Corn, for instance, spreads the most of its numerous fibres within a few inches of the surface of the ground ; in fact all the fibres that afford any essential nourishment to the stock lie within the depth of the original plowing for the preparation of the crop. Now nature will bring these roots just near enough the sun to be benefited by its genial influence, — and just for enough from it to protect from its scorching heat, without the use of a plow to give them an occa- sional airing, or sever them in twain just at the point beyond which the parent stock received the greatest portion of its nourishment. Who would consider it beneficial to occasion- ally clip the roots from a tree, and expose the bleeding wound to the sun's rays, and then in- dulge the vain hope of adding to its growth and and beauty? The result would be just the reverse. Infinitely more so is this the case when practised upon a tender plant of corn, the roots of which, in many cases, grow to a greater length than the stalk itself More than two-thirds of the fibrous roots of corn pass the point indicated by the plow as commonly used in cultivating corn, when planted three feet in the row. This accounts for the fact of corn "standing still," as farmers gen- erally term it, for a few days after hoeing and hilling. I have noticed some pieces in dry sea- sons, when deep plowing was practiced, that did not "stand still," but went backward so fast for a time that they never regained their former ap- pearance— the owners all the while wondering what could be the matter; the pesky worms or some other confounded thing must be at work, when in fact it was nothing else than the pesky farmer himself! I know not where this practice of plowing among corn was first obtained, but one thing is certain, it ought to be banished among the things that were. In plowing also, one portion of the root is laid bare, while the remaining portion is covered twice its original depth. I have never seen any thing of this kind indicated in tracing any of the fibrous roots of corn as they exist in their natural state ; hence I conclude it is a vio- lation of a natural law in the economy of corn culture, and consequently a pernicious practice. Keep your corn free from weeds; cultivate freely without disturbing the roots, always keep- ing the surface as nearly level as possible ; and if very dry cultivate still more freely, tor it is an established fact that a well pulverized soil, fre- quently stirred, will retain more moisture than a compact soil left undisturbed — and if the neces- sary requisites were attended to in preparing the soil, the laborer will be amply rewarded for his toil. A. ZOLLER. Minden, N. Y., June, 1847. Van Brooklin's Patent Clevis. The annexed figure represents a Cast-iron Douhle-gauged Clevis, recently patented by Mr. J. Van Brocklin, of Middleport, Ni- agara county, N. Y. This Clevis has been introduced in this section, and we learn that it is con- sidered a valuable improvement by those who have test- ed its merits. The main Clevis is made of cast-iron, secured to the plow with wrought- iron bolts, With this Clevis a plow can be so gauged as to run to or from land — and also to plow deep or shallow, at the op- tion of the holder. It is cheap and du- rable— and as it is warranted, no one will be the loser by trying the article. The above Clevis is for sale at the Implement Warehouses in this city, as will be seen by ref- erence to our advertising departnient — page 173 of this number, Jf. 162 GENESEE FARMER. July. Mutability of Wheat and other Cultivated Plants. Mr. Editor : — I do not desire to review that interminable subject the transmutations of the grains, but design to give some facts, as stated by some of the best authorities extant, and which are entirely antagonistical to the doctrine of the immutability of genus or species. A learned German author, Doct. Wissenborn, in the Magazine of Natural History for 1842, asserts, that oats sown in the spring and allowed to be kept down by pasturage, so as not to make seed stems, and kept over till the next spring, invariably produce rye, and relates it as a well known fact. Prof. LiNDLEY, than whom no man stands higher as a learned philosopher emd botanical in- vestigator, states that, "at the request of the Mar- omission of the pecu- llaj- treatment, that the experience of ages have taught as the requirements of improved organic being. May not the cerealic grains and grasses have one common origin — a unit of original ex- istence ? — and the production of chess be a re- lapse to, or towards its original existence 1 Man, without education, would be speechlefis, and the second generation all but one of the quadrumani ; the kind and faithful dog would become the ferocious wolf; the hog, the wild and untamable wild boar of the primeval forests. Every thing is subject to transition and change, from its original type to perfection, and for aught we know back again on the retrograde scale to primitive insignificance. Fresh water molusks, in a marine menstruum, change their vital organization and even the structure of their outward covering, and probably a very small and gradual change in the composi- tion of our atmosphere, from the neighborhood of cemetery influence, or other adventitious cir- cumstances, would people this earth with a race of strangers to the ghosts of the departed, both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Although the prevailing opinion among vege- table physiologists is decidedly averse to the doc- trine of transmutation, yet as we are of yester- day and know nothing, every thing that is not capable of analysis and demonstration, should be received cum grano salis. The writer has, in fifty years experience, ob- served so many cases of the wonderful quantity of chess produced from pure seeding, within his own observation and from undoubted authority from others, which can in no possible way be accounted for, or explained, except by transmu- tation, that his belief in the immutability of sj/e- cies is shaken to the foundation. L. Barkes. Monroe county, N. Y., April, 1847. A Plea for the Birds. NUMBER TWO. I AM a lover of Nature. I love her in her playful mood ; I love her even in her wildest state. I love inanimate nature much, but ani- mated nature more. I love her for her influence on the heart. I have studied books ; I have studied men ; I have studied nature. If there is any thing that will humanize, civilize, socialize, and I almost said christianize, the soul of man, it is the study and contemplation of the works of nature. I have yet to find an admirer of simple, unsullied nature, a lover of birds, and trees, and animated groves, who has not a warm and benev- olent heart. And I have yet to find one who- looks with a cold indifference on the works of creation, whether animate or inanimate, who has not a cold and selfish heart. And I envy not the feelings and the happiness of that man who- sees no value in any thing, except that wliich is- 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 163 (pecuniary ; and who estimates every thing by the narrow, selrish standard of dollars and cents. In my former communication. I spoke of the tpolicy of killing birds. I now proceed to speak of the right. I am aware that the right of man over the animal creation is, by some, considered absolute and unconditional : i. e. that he has the right to u&e all inferior animals acconiing to his pleasure : to kill and to destroy without motive or object, except the qualification of his own will. This is a claim on the part of those who make it, which cannot be conceded by us, nor established by them. Now it cannot be denied that the va- rious animal tribes were created for wise pur- poses, though we may not be able in every in- sftance to trace them. To argue otherwise would be "to charge God foolishly." Neither can it 'be denied that, to have created them merely to be the sport of a class of beings calling them- selves ratianal, would not be a wise purpose, un- less it be wise for intelligent and rational beings to indulge in acourse of action that is calculated, in its nature and tendency, to foster a spirit of •cruelty in ihose who indulge in it. What, then, is the true meaning of the per- mission given to man, by virtue of which he •claims, and is allowed to exercise, "dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air," &c. Evidently this : that man should have the pre-eminence ; that he should have the right to defend himself and his against the lower animals ; the right to employ them for all proper, useful, end economical purposes. More than this can- not be reasonably claimed, or contended for, without imputing either folly or cruelty to the Creator. To a truly benevolent mind, the idea of taking life under any circumstances is by no means agreeable. The thought of terminating, " for- ever," an existence, that, for aught we know, may be as capable of enjoyment as our own, is often truly painful, and should operate to damp our destructive ardor. Life should not be trifled with, nor innocent life taken, without a valid rea- son- We should not rashly, nor needlessly, " take away what we cannot give." Hence I would lay down the following rules, which I believe to embody the sentiment and doctrine of the Divine permission : 1st. That it is lawful to take the life of any animal, which, if -suffered to remain, would destroy either us or ■ours. This gives us the right over all beasts and (birds of prey, venomous reptiles, &c. 2d. That it is lawful to kill, for our own use, whatever ilives upon our labor. This gives us the right over our domestic animals. 3d. That it is law- ful for us to kill such wild animals as we may need and use for food and other necessary purposes. This gives us the right over such wild animals as constitute what is generally calledgame ; as deer, buffalos, pigeons, par- •tridges, water fowl, &c. With this agrees the sentiment so beautifully portrayed by the Poet : " The sum is this ; if mari':< oonvenisnce, health, Or safety interfere, his right« and claims Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs. Else they are all, — the meanest things that are. As free to live, and to enjoy that life. As God was free to form them at the first, Who, in his sovereign wisdom, made them alL" The same exposition of the divine permission will direct us in regard to the manner of taking away life whenever it shall become necessary or proper. To exercise unnecessary cruelty in taking the life of an animal, is no less reprehen- sible, than to take it away unnecessarily. Hence, whenever life is to be taken away, it should be done in the quickest and easiest manner possible. Fairport, March 9, 1847. H„ Fence Posts, —Milk and Butter. Mr. Farmer : — A question or two. Are leached a.shes valuable as a top-dressing in setting^ fence posta 1 Having got the impression that such was the fact, in making a good fence the other day with red cedar posts, I was at the trouble of hauling leached ashes a mile or two to finish filling the holes; and while in the act, one of my neighbors came along, and, not much to my satisfaction for the pains I had taken, in- formed me that it was the sure way to make my posts rot, for he had seen it tried. I doubted this, and still do ; but should like to have your opia- ion upon it. How many quarts of milk, of an average qual- ity, will it take to make a pound of butter ? — Some of our villagers who keep cows are loth to sell milk at three cents per quart, because they want to make their own butter. I should like U> know how niuch their butter cc^ts them per lb. at this price for milk. June, 1847. A Subscriber. Remarks, — Leached ashes will not hasten the rotting offence posts. The entire cavity around the post in the ground should be filled with pound- ed charcoal and lime or ashes, which will protect the wood from decay for a long period. Soaking that portion of the post which is to stand in the earth in lime water is also beneficial. It usually takes from 10 to 14 quarts of milk to make a pound of butter. For the two years preceding the last twelve months, we bought our milk in the city of Buffalo at 2 cents a quart, which was brought 22 miles into the city by rail- way, and purchased of farmers at one cent a quart, They found it better to sell milk at that price than to make butter at 11 or 12 cents a pound. Grant Thorburn has lately sent to the Em- peror of Russia 10 pounds potato seed, at twenty dollars per pound. He is happy who hath a friend at need ; but he is more truly happy who hath not need of his friend. 164 GENESEE FARMER. July. The celebrated Sherman Morgan Horse "Black Hawk.' EoiTon Gen. Farmer: — The above figure was got up to represent the Sherman Morgan horse "Black Hawk," bred by Mr. Matthews, of Dunham, N. H., and purchased a few years since of Benj. Thurston, of Lowell, Mass., by D. E. Hill & Co., of Bridport, Vt. He is 12 years old, perfectly sound, of a jet black color, and 15 hands and 1 inch high. Black Hawk is celebrated for symmetry, action, docility, endu- rance, loftiness in carriage, and great speed in trot. He is a sure foal getter — the colts gener- ally strongly marked after the horse, showing evident signs of the Morgan blood — attaining ^ood size— stand low for their weight— great ac- tion and spirit — move powerful, high, proud and graceful — very playful and mild, with clean sin- ewy legs, very free from long hair, except a small tuft on the fetlock ; equal to the most thor- ough bred horses in this point, with heavy waving main and tails, and sell at remunerating prices. Black Hawk for several years has been kept entirely for tlie improvement of the breed, and never used expressly for the turf— though in trotting matclies he never has been beaten, hav- ing won several purses of from $200 to *500. fn a match for *1000, that came off at the Cam- bridge trotting course, 12th July, 1842, he won with ease (though very fat, and not in train,) against "Osceola," 5 miles and repeat. The first heat was performed in Id minutes and 30 seconds — the second in 16 minutes. Without training lie has trotted his mile in 2 minutes and 42 seconds. On the points of symmetry, action, thorough broke to the harness, and speed in trot, Messrs. Hill last month, through the Cultivator, challenge the world to produce his superior on. all of these points : exhibition to come off on the N. Y. State Show ground at the time of the Slate Show and Fair in Sept., at Saratoga Springs. Black Hawk has a wide, clean, sinewly leg ; short from the knee to the postern ; short back ; high in the withers; heavy flowing main and tail; deep in the brisket; eyes bright, lively and prom- inent; open under the jaws; a lean head, face little dishing; open nostrils; small, delicate muz- zle; teeth and countenance savage ; action high, proud and graceful, moving bold in harness, and true as the spokes in a hub — combining in every respect strength and beauty, and evincing cour- age and power from the hind fetlock to the tip of the ear. The Morgans are generally great roadsters, well adapted for all work, good in every spot, except for racers on the turf: in fact, to sum up their respective qualitie;^, they may be called the perfect "Yankee harness horse." The Morgan blood prevail in Maine and New Hampshire, and are favorably known in the city of Boston. — Therefore, all in all, the "Vermont Horse" may be ranked equal, if not superior, to any of the species in any part of the world. Black Hawk is without fault, except it be in his size. His weight is about 1050 lbs.; many of his colts are 100 lbs. heavier. 1 have a stallion 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 165 and filley, two years old this month, sired by Black Hawk, that measure over 15 hands; and weigh over 9.50 lbs. in ordinary condition. Gen. S. M. Burroughs, of Medina, N. Y., has made a purchase of some of this stock, and those who have seen them must acknowledge the correctness of the above remarks. I anticipate exhibiting some of the colts at your State Fair, and Black Hawk will be on the ground, g^ Respecting the accompanying portrait: — In many points it delineates the horse. It does not rise bold enough on the shoulder; the head is too clumsy; the tail should have been longer and more waving. It would be quite impossible to show the flat, bony, sinewy legs to perfection, which so much characterize the horse. He is represented, in harness, in the present (May) number of the Cultivator. His contour, in some respects, is there quite well represented — and in others quite deficient, some of which are the most important. Those who will compare both of the cuts will get a very good idea of the horse. Having complied with your request, Mr. Edi- 'tor, in giving a brief description of this most noble animal, allow me to close by subscribing myself Yours truly, I S. W. Jewett. I Weybrldge, Vl., May 13, 1847. China Fowls The above are said to be very faithful portraits of the Cochin-China fowls recently introduced into Great Britain by Queen Victoria. They are the largest and most magnificent of the domes- tic breed known. They were supposed at first to belong to the family of Bustards, but it is now settled that they are genuine poultry. The cocks of this breed, well fatted, weigh alive from 12 to 15 lbs. ; hens, from 9 to 12 lbs. Their general j color, according to Richardson, is a rich, glossy brown, or deep bay ; on the breast is a marking' of a blackish color, and of the shape of a horse- shoe ; the comb is of a mediuni size, serrated, but not deeply so, and the wattles are double. — Besides their gigantic size, however, these fowl possess other distinctive characteristics, among which may be enumerated the following : — the disposition of the feathers on the back of the cock's neck is reversed^ these being turned up- wards ; the wing is jointed, so that the posterior half can, at pleasure, be doubled up, and brought forward between the anterior half and the body. " I am not aware," he adds, " whether trial has, as yet, been made of the flesh ; but from the white color, and delicate appearance of the skin, 1 feel confident that they would aflxjrd a luxuri- ous and a princely dish. The eggs laid by the hen of this variety are said to be large, of a choc- olate-color, and to possess a very delicate flavor. One of the hens, Bessy, exhibited by Her Maj- esty, laid 94 eggs in 103 days." The Cochin-China cock has been crossed with the Dorking hen, and the produce is said to be superb. Pullets of this cross hare been known to weigh 10 lbs. each at six months old. If the above portraits be correct, we should be afraid the cross would add too great a length of leg to the Dorking, and we very much doubt whether the best specimens could be improved by it. But there are poultry fanciers who will have size let the shape and other qualities of the birds be as they may. For our own parf, we much prefer medium-sized poultry as most delicate and prof- itable. We are not aware that any genuine 166 GENESEE FARMER. July. Cochin-China fowls have been introduced into this country. A Mr. Nolan has recently im- ported them into Ireland, and the Queen of Eng- land has occasionally made presents of them among her noblemen. We do not know how they can l>e procured except direct from Cochin- China ; and we must say to our friends in ad- vance, that we cannot undertake their importa- tion from any quarter. We here give them all the information we have upon this interesting subject. — American Agriculturist. A Chapter on Hogs. Strange as it may seem, in a county pecu- liarly adapted, both by soil and climate, to the growth of Indian corn, there is not pork enough fatted in it to feed its inhabitants. Even farm laborers have to buy pork at the villages, from harvest to killing time, for their own support. — The villages obtain their principal supply from Cayuga county, and from Buffalo. Our farmers have so long been accustomed to consider wheat and clover seed as the only pay ing crops, that the growth of almost every other product has been strangely neglected ; I say strangely, because a crop badly put in, and worse tended, is a sort of suicidal farming, which can not be accounted for on rational principles — and that such farming is practiced, very many corn fields have borne witness. The great fault in growing pork in Seneca county, is the neglect of the hog from his birth to the time he is shut up for fatting, say 1st Sept.; from that time to killing time, in December, he is fed on new raw corn. The quantity a lean starved animal will consume in two months and a half, is almost beyond belief. Still, so far from being fat, the hog has just commenced fatting when the season has closed, and he must be killed. I instinctively know the character of the farm- er by the quality of pork he offers for sale. When a man brings a long lank carcase, a "streak of fat and a streak of lean," he always complains of the great quantity of corn the hog has eaten. — On the other hand, when a farmer produces a load of pork all fatness, small short legs and short heads, 1 am certain to hear him aver, that it took only at the rate of five bushels of Indian corn each to fat them ; but it was old corn ground and scalded. The first man is behind hand, the last one is before hand, in the art of converting veg- etable food into animal fat. If there is no profit in a well fed and fatted animal, there certainly must be a great loss in one that is killed inwork- ing order, or before it is half fatted. A hog should always be in a gaining condition when shut up to fet; if then weighed every day, it will be found that the gain in weight will much more than pay for the meal eaten, and when the animal is near \y fatted, the gain in fat begins to increase in two fold ratio to the cost of feeding. I once bought two lean carcases of pork of a farmer who averred that they had eaten seventy bushels of ears of corn. My curiosity way exci- ted, and I went to see his hog pen : it was rect- angular, laid up with rails. Across one corner a few rails were laid; they were covered with straw to shelter the hogs at night; the mud over the whole pen, sleeping corner and all, was belly deep. Here the animals had toiled and suffered. Put a fat hog in such a pen and he would stick fast ; but nature was too great an economist to permit a hog to fat in such a place — her laws had been outraged, but the farmer's corn paid the penalty. S. W. Salt and Ashes for Stock. Some yeare since I saw it recommended in an agricultural paper to mix salt with ashes for stock. Having tested the utility of the practice, I am now prepared to speak favorably of it, and from a firm conviction that stock, of all descriptions, are essentially benefitted thereby. My cows, work horses, and young cattle, as well as sheep, have been regularly supplied with it as often as once a week, for two years, and notwithstanding the feed in the pastures, during a part of the gra- zing period of both seasons, was quite short in consequence of the pi-evalence of severe drouth, the stock generally has remained in excellent condition ; much better, indeed, than I have seen them for yeai-s. Sheep, especially, are extreme- ly fond of it, preferring it to fine salt, and par- taking of it with almost the same avidity with which, when hungry, they devour their meal or grain. As to the general efficacy of the practice, and its tendency as respects the health of the stock, I will merely say in conclusion, that I am acquainted with several discriminating farmers who have made the same trial, and that in no in- stance with which I am familiar, or which has fallen under our direct personal observation, has it been attended with other than the best results. The proportions in which the ingredients shouM be given, ai'e one part salt to seven of ashes. — The salt should be fine, and the ashes dry and free from coals. If thought necessary, the salt may be increased in quantity to two or three quarts instead of one. Try it, farmers, and see if it doth not " do good like a medicine." In the season of pasturing I usually have sev- eral boxes or long troughs placed in a shed or out building to which the animals can at all times have free access, and which I keep constantly supplied with a quantum sufficit of the mixture. This plan is necessary as an open exposure of the receptacles would subject the salt to injury in rainy weather. — Ccnr. Germantown TeJ, Isinglass and gin, dissolved together by slow heat, makes a good cement for glass. Rotten stone and turpentine, or gin, rubbed on with a clean cloth, gives a fine polish to brass. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 167 Farming on Thirty-five Acres of Land. J. G. Chadsey, of Wickford, R. I., states to the officers of the Rliode Island Society for the encouragement of Domestic Industry, that seve- ral yeai-s ago he purchased thirty-five acres of poor land, for which, it being near the village, fie paid the large sum of three thousand and fifty dollars. Only twenty-five acres of it are "|till- ageable, including three acres of meadow not plowed. The remainder is made up of hills and holes, rnarsh and beach, with a small sti-ip of wood-land." The arable land is described as un- even, with a gravelly soil, much encumbered with small stones, [t had been much worn down by repeated croppings without manure. He let it on shares, but got such poor returns that he was sick of his purchase. Finding that' he could neither sell nor rent it, he came to the conclu- sion to try farming himself, though he had "done nothing at it for nearly fort]) years ;^'' but as a " substitute for experience," he says he took an ^'' agricultural pajjer.'^ He began cultivating it hinjself in 1840. He divided the tillage-land into six fields, " from three to four acres each, a new one to be taken up every year, and after taking off three crops, let it lie three years in grass." About two were appropriated to root crops and garden vegetables, which are plowed every year. His success has been such, that land, which seven years ago would not rent for four per cent., now pays twenty per cent., after deducting all ex- penses. He makes the following statement in regard to the products and profits of his farm for the year 1846 : 10 acres mowing, 19 tons hay, at $12, - $228 00 3 acres corn, 124.^ bushels sound, at 80 cts., and 9 bushels offal, at 40 cts., 103 20 Corn fodder, $25, and pumpkins, $4,50, 29 50 3| acres rye, 77 bushels, at 80 cts., and straw sold, $24,81, 8G 41 2| acres potatoes, 348 bushels, at 37^ cts., and 50 bushels small, at 20 cts., 140 50 367 bushels onions, at 50 cts., $183 50 836 do. carrots, nearly all sold at 19 cts.,. 1.58 84 48 do. parsneps, do., at 33 J cts., 16 00 6 pounds onion seed, and 3 pounds carrot seed, 8 00 Peppers and sage sold, 41,88 Produce of 1 acre and 125 square rods 408 22 Half an acre summer vegetables, mostly used in family— sold,.. 7 69 Salt grass sold, standing, 24 00 Milk sold, 47 39 R«nt received for two gardens, 6 50 Milk, butler, and summer vegetables used in family, 35 00 $1116 41 Expenses.— Paid for labor, $182 62 Board of labor, 90 00 Molasses for drink, 20 gallons, at 30 cts., 6 §0 Manure purchased, and materials for the same, 81 46 Seeds of dilTerent kinds, 28 77 Wear and tear of farming utensils, 25 00 Taxes, ]1 81 Labor done by myself, 50 00 Cost of Cultivation 475 66 Cost of land, $L050 ; profits 20i per cent, for use- except the " little" he does himself. He states that he made 917 pounds pork, and bQO pounds beef, which are not included in the account, as they were fattened on part of the produce before estimated. His stock, he says, consists of two cows and a horse. He buys manure from the village. With the horse he does all the " team work," except breaking up the land. His pro- ducts for the year 1845, amounted to .^913 ; his expenses were $368 ; profits $555. — Alb. Cul. Yield of Butter. — I noticed in the Cultiva- tor for 184G, p. 157, an account of the yield of butter from a dairy of ten cows, being an aver- age of 2111 lbs. to each cow. I kept in 1845 four native cows, which constituted my whole dairy. Three of them were of middling quality as milkers, and the fourth one was below mid- dling. From these four cows I fattened two calves killed at four weeks old, and reared two other calves on the milk of the cows. We made dur- ing the season 1056 lbs. of butter, besides fur- nishing milk for a family of eight persons. This would be an average of 264 lbs. to each cow. — The cows were kept as follows : In winter they were fed upon hay, generally three times a day,, in some of the coldest weather five times a day. The hay, in the coldest weather, was not always of the best quality. They ran when they pleas- ed to a large stack of wheat straw in the yard. They were not stabled, but had an open shed for shelter, and no extra feed was given them except a slop once a day after calving, till turned to grass, of mill-shorts. My pasture was good. It con- sisted of about five acres ; the feed a beautiful mixture of early clover, timothy, and some of the finer grasses. It had a light top-dressing of plas- ter early in spring. The cows were kept in this pasture, with the exception of a few days, till late in the fall, though the drouth was such that our mowing fields produced but little after-feed. The pasture had a good running brook crossing one corner. Other stock was turned in and with- drawn as occasion required, to keep the feed about right. I would not pretend that this dairy product cannot be beat, but I think it is a good yield considering the feed, and thai the covra were small, and not high bred. — J. Wilson in Albany Cultivator. Exportation op Apples. — Elihu Burritt urges the attention of the people of Maine to the raising of apples for foreign market, stating that apples which in Maine are made into cider, or fed to hogs, will command a dollar a bushel in England. The cost of sending them he estimates at twenty cents per bushel. of land, _ $G40 75 Mr. Chadsey states that he hires all his help 'of white-wash Thatch on the roofs of houses, may be ren- dered incombustible by a common flame, by coating it over with a mixture of white-wash and alum. One lb, of alum will suffice for 5 gallons 168 GENESEE FARMER. July. Forwardness of Ihc Seasons. To present the reader with a comparative view oi" the forwar(h)ess of the seasons for the last I'leven years, I have selected tlie following facts : llie time of the llrst appearance of rohins ; the (lowering of maple, sliadbush, currant, peach, plum, cheny. ami apple : the ripening of straw- berries anti clierries ; the commencement of the wheat harvest ; and the first fi'ost in autumn. In l!!:i7. rot)ins were llrsi .seen Mnrcii -.'(Jtti ; peach uiul filiiin in blossom ftluy I'/tli, and clierry May y.id. In 18:jl!, rodins lirst seen Marcli 24t)i. In 18:ir April '23d ; first frost in nutinnn Oct. 13lh. In 1841, robin> lir.st seen March 2Cth ; frogs first heard .Vpril ITth ; cnrrants in blossom May 14th, peach !\lay 18th, plum 15th, cherry ;,'lsi, and apple 'J7th ; cherries ripe July 3d ; wheal harvest commenced July 28ih ; first fro.st in An- iiimn Oct. (3th. In 1842. robins lirst seen .March 3(1 ; frogs first heard March llh ; rnaple in blossom I'March 3d, shadbush April 23d, currant .\pril 24th, peach April loth, plum 19lh, cherry 22d, and apple Alay 2d ; strawberries and cherries ripe June 11th ; wheat harvest commenced July ISttli ; first frost in autumn •September 2.'>th. In 1843, robins first heard .April 3d ; frogs first heard April 21st ; maple in bilossom March 25th, shadbush April 2l8t, peach, plnm, and cherry all in full blossom at the same time, April 24th, apple .\pril 29th ; Strawberries ripe June II til ; cherries June ID: wheat harvest commenced July llth ; first frost Sept. 22d. In 1846, robins lirst seen IMarcl* 18th ; frogs first heard March 25th ; maple in blossom March 24th, shadbush April 26th, peach April 29tb, phim 28th, cherry 29tli, apple May "til ; strawberries ripe .May 28th, cherries June 1st ; wheat harvest commenced June 30th ; first frost October 3d. In 1847, robins first heard March 22ti ; frogs first lieard .April 9th ; maple in blosstmi April 9th, shadbush .May 7tli, currant I3tli, peach 14lh, plum 13th, cherry 14th, and apple 2l8t ; strawberries ripe June 9th, cherries June 10th. It will be observed that the facts praposed to be given are much more full for the last seven year.s, than for those years prior to this' period. Prof. J. H. Coffin was requested, by Dr. E. Emmons, to prepare an article on the cliinate and temperature of this State for that part of the Natural Ili.story of State relating to the subject of Agriculture. lie did .so ; and from tliat article I give the following results : From the observa- tions made at forty-four localities over the State for fifteen years ending with 1842, it appeared that the mean date for the appearance of the robin was March lOtli; the mean date for the flower- ing of the shadl>usli, from olxservations made at forty-eight localities, May 1st; do. peach, from tifty-seven localities, .May 2d ; do. currants, 58 localities, May 4th ; do. plum, .")2 localities, May 6lh; do. cherry, .')2 localities, May 7th ; do. ap- ple, 59 localities, May 15th ; strawberries ripe, ri8 localities, .Tune J2th ; wheat harvest com- jmenced, 45 localifies, .l^aly 25th j first killing j frost, 57 localities, Sept. 23d ; mean annual tem- perature, 59 localities, 46.40 degrees. Thus it appears that the average time over the State for the flowering of fruit trees, (including peach, plum, cherry, and apple.,) for the last 15 ! years prior to 184;}, was from May 2d to 15th. Tl)is season, which is regarded as being very late, the peach, plum, and cherrj'^ were in full blossom May i;3:h and 14th ; in 1837 they blos- .somed May 15th to 23d; in 1841, May 1.5th to 21st ; and in 1843, May 10th to 16th. In 1842 the peach, plum, and cherry were in blossom April 1.5tli to 22d ; in 1844, April 15th and 16th. In 1842 the maple was in flower March 3d, and shadbush April 23d ; and in 1844, maple March I 9th, and sh.idbush, April 14th. I This comparison shows that the present season i must be classed with the latest within the period 'named : not quite .so backward as was 1843 or 1841. The reader will observe that there is a difference of more than a month between the earlie.st and latest seasons, as shown by the ap- petirance of the robins and the flowering of the fruit trees. The observations presented in this article were made, for the last seven years of the eleven, by the writer, and may be relied on. — The other.s, what tew there are, were taken from the Regent's Reports, and are supposed to be, generally, correct. LE.tNDEn Wetherell. Roches! er, Jane 24, 1847. Preservation of Fenc« Posts. Mr. Editor : — 1 notice in the last number of the Farmer an inquiry, by D. of Ovid Center, relative to the best process of making durable fence or other posts .set in the ground. The fol- lowing 1 have taken from a Philadelphia paper : Pkf.sermng TiMBr.R. — The simple method of placing timber or wood used for building purposes in a small pond or vat of lime water, is found to be of incalculable advan- tage. After the timber is cut to the size required, it is im- mersed in the lime water for two or three weeks, according to its size. Wood that i.s known to rot in from three to seven years, has lately been found to be perrectly sound af- ter the lapse of more than forty years. Carpenters have found, on working such wood, that their t«x)ls qnickly be- come dull, which is owing to the .acid of the wood crystal- i/ing by combining with the alkali of the lime. If you consider the ab<:)ve worthy of a place in the Farmer, yon may make such use of it as you may think best. P. e found an elongated cone, a form of growth more substantial than would result from the same number of leaves, or even more, situated on branches at the top of an elsewhere naked stem. The same quantity of substance may be deposir.ed by the latter arrangement, btft more equally along the stem, and the stem itself may be com- pared to a strcnra which receives no tributaries in iiscourso. Clean stems are desirable, but in endeavoring to obtain such their stf ng'h mist not be sacrit eed. If laterals push from the shoot of the same summer's growth they must not 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 171 be cut claan off, they may be slopped aft«r mid-summer wL( r« Lhey appear insubordinate to the leader ; and instead ©f being cut close to the stem at the winter pruning, if one or two buds are left, these buds will furnish leaves on small shoots in tha following summer, which will contribute much towards strengthening the stem ; these shoots ought, how- Over, to be slopped in summer. V/hen the soil is good and the variety of vigorous growth, standard Pear trees may be reared without cutting hack the leader till it attain the required height of stem. But under lees favorable circumstances a somewhat different mode of proceeding is advisable, especially where stakes cannot be afforded. If the leading shocst is found weak, head it back to near its base ; a stronger shoot will result, which must bo kept as strictly upright as possible for a leader. Take care to check almost entirely the growth of the two shoots likely to proceed from the buds situated next to thit which fxirnishes the leader. The latter may he a little shortened in the following season, and in every season, till it attain tho proper height. By the time it does this the base of the stem will have acquired considerable thickness, and al- though gr-iat cure is necessary to keep the shoots erect while young, no stakes are afterwards required. This mode of rearing stems should be exclusively adopted in all exposed eituations, and in many other cases it will be foHud obvi- ously advantageous. The Chinese Wistaria. OcR pages were adorned last month with a por- trait of the Yidan, or Chinese White Magnolia, ihe pride of lawn and pleasure grounds in April.* Another hardy twining or climbing shrub, from the same " flowery land," is the gem of the garden and shrubbery, in the month of May. It is, indeed, one of the loveliest of all vines of a shrubby character. Its clusters of delicate pale purple (or French gray) blossoms, are so numerous and so large, each raceme being 11 or 12 inches long, that they are highly attractive. Their perfume is delicious. The plant is perfect- ly hardy in this latitude, and will bear a temper- . ature of 10 or 15 degrees below zero. It grows freely in almost every soil, and, in a deep, rich ioam, frequently makes shoots 20 or 30 feet long in a single season. Its foliage is abundant, and its color is a lively, pleasant hue of green. In a few words, we cannot but agree with Loudon, in thinkine it " the most magnificent of all hardy de- ciduous climbers."-}- When this plant was first introduced into Great Britain from China, about 30 years ago, it was sold for six guineas a plant, and it was considered too tender to bear the open air. It may now be had in all the large nurseries in this country, at from 30 to 60 cents each, and is found to be per- fectly hardy. As it is easily proppgated by lay- ers and cuttings, and requires no further than a slight training care, when once planted, we hope * The portrait of the Wistaria, intended to accompany this article, is necessarily omitted, the engraver having failed to get it ready in season. — Pub. t The Chinese Wistaria, though it will grow over arbors, pilars, or in almost any shape that it may be desirable to train it, appears to thrive best when growing in a warm sit- uation, such as the south side of a building, wall, &c. — Tljere is a plant trained on the south side of the gardener's house, here, which has been planted about twelve years, and which now covers a large space. Every year it has in creased in size, and in the number of its blossoms. While u^e write, (the middle of May, ) it is in bloom, and there are 64O clojters of blossoms fully expanded on it, to see it, and the Double Michigan Roses, — two of the finest of hardy climbers yet known, for the middle and eastern states — become the ornament of every rural cottage and countr}'^ house in the land. The comparative freedom from insects, th3 permanency and vigor of these climbers, added to their great beauty, must soon make them universal favorites. The genus Wistaria^ was named by Nuttali, in honor of Dr. Caspar WrsTAR, the celebrated Philadelphia savaiu There is also au indigenous species sometimes called the Glycine, Wistaria frutescens, a native of Virginia and the south and west Though a pretty climber, its clusters of flowers are not more than a third of the size of the Chinese spe- cies, and it is much less ornamental, as well as hardy, in the northern states. Its flowers are produced later, or towards mid-summer. A new variety of the Chinese Wistaria has lately been brought out to England, by the cele- brated collector to the Lcndon Horticultural So- ciety, Mr. Fortune. Its blossoms are white^ and the effect of this and the purple flowered species will both be benefitted, by planting and training them together. We have not learned as yet, of its introduction into this country. We find the following interesting hints for making the Chinese Wistaria a -perpetual bloom- er, in PaxtoTi's Magazine of Botany. " Mr. Knight, of the exotic nursery, Chelsea, has a simple method of causing this plant to flow- er three times a year, by the following ti-eatraent: After the first flowering is over, which will be about the end of May, he strips off" all the leaves, and cuts off all the young and superfluous shoots which have been formed, to within a few eyes of the stem, which causes it to throw out fresh leaves and to flower again in July and August ; and after this flowering is over, the same process is repeated of cutting off the leaves, and this causes it to flower again in the months of October and November. It may be said that this plant will naturally flower twice, and sometimes thrice, in the season ; but, when it does, (which is but very seldom,) the flowers are so very weak, and there are so few of them, that it is never worth notice ; whereas, by the above simple process, an abund- ant succession of flowers may be insured through- out the whole season. It should be remembered that these remarks will not apply to ymcng plants, but only to those that are well established." Sometimes we have seen plants sent out from the nurseries, which appear for a long time after to have a dwarfish, stinted habit, and do not climb freely. This is probably owing to their having been raised from downward or impoverished branches. It is necessary in such instances, to head the plants down to a single bud, as near the ground as possible, and to make the soil rich and deep, where they are planted. This will give them a vigorous start, and they will afterwards maintain a natural state of luxuriance. — Hart. 172 GENESEE FARMER. July. Horticultural Inquiries. Mr. Barry : — As the Editor of the Hort. Department of the Farmer, you will confer a favor on me and others, who value the paper scarcely less on account of information found in the pages over which you preside, than of that issuing more directly from your talenteJ colleague, by sat- isfying the following queries . — 1st. As to the most approved mode of propagating trees -and shrubs, by layers, slips and seeds — especially the last. 2d. As to the Rose, in particular. How to prepare the 3ccd — When and how to plant it — I'ime of germination. 3u. As to what the dwarfing process consists in — and ns to what kinds of fruit trees can profitably be made the sub- jects of it. 4th. Can the Fig be cultivated in the open air, and win- tered in tliis climate, and how? Also, can the pea-nut and sweet potato, or either of them, be brought to maturity in this country? Your brief solution of these queries will, I am sure, grat- ify many who look to your pages as their only source of information in matters of this kind. While asking I should be happy to give. Possibly the following may possess a trifle of interest. In your last Cat- alogue, in introducing the Michigan family of climbing Ro- ses you remark, among their other virtues, upon "their rapid, vigorous growth" — adding that it measures 'Hm to twelve feet in a season." My single Michigan has a shoot of the last season which measures twenty-four feet. A double — the same which, 1 suppose, you mean by "Queen of the Prairies ' — obtained at your Garden, and only put down the season before, exhibits this season a growth of sixteert feet. J. CHAMBERLAIN. Yates, Orleans County, 1847. ANSWER TO THE ABOVE. Rose seeds ripen at various seasons, from Au- gust to November, and should be gathered when fully ripe. The heps should be put away whole, in sand or light earth, and allowed to remain till the following spring, when the seeds may be taken out and planted in fine rich soil. They should be covered about half an inch deep. Some will germinate the first season, and some will not until the second. If sown in pots, in March, and placed in a gentle heat in a hot bed or green house, they will all germinate the first season. When they have appeared above the ground fair- ly, they may be pricked out and transplanted into rows ; if tender sorts, into small pots. Roses are increased froin layers in June, July, and August ; (see article on layering in this num- ber;) also by budding during the same period ; (see article on budding in July number, 1846.) The various sorts of Boursault, the common Dog Rose, and wild sweet briar, all make excellent stocks for budding upon. The strongest and most durable plants are obtained by budding near the ground. Handsome miniature trees are made by budding on strong stocks 5 to 8 feet high. Propagation from slips or cuttings requires to be done at various seasons and in various ways adapted to the character and habit of the species to be operated on. For instance — the climbing Roses, Prairie, Boursault, &c., as well as the Hybrid Chinas, may be propagated from cuttings of the ripe wood, taken off in the fall and buried in the ground till spring, when they are planted out. The cuttings are usually from 6 to 10 inch- es long, and about two-thirds their length is put below the ground. Such as are cultivated in the house, in pots, are propagated from cuttings of young but mature wood, taken oif just after the blossom falls. The cuttings may be made of two or more joints, the leaves allowed to remain on the upper part. A great number of such cuttings may be put in one pot. The soil for cuttings should be composed of equal parts of light peat earth and sand. Cuttings made in this way, in the spring, should be placed in a hot bed with a mild heat, watered regularly and shaded well from the sun. Those made at this season (July) may be put in a cold frame and kept well shaded and close. Pots in which cuttings are placed to root, should be filled one-third their depth with material for drainage, broken pots, in order to allow the sur- plus water to pass off freely ; this is quite impor- tant. Small pots, say 3 inches deep and 2 across at the top, if they can be had, are the best, and a single cutting may be put in each. If larger pots are used, the cuttings should be placed around the sides. Willows, Poplars, Currants, Gooseberries, Quinces, Altheas, Honeysuckles, tS^c, &c., are prepared, treated, and planted in a manner simi- lar to that described for Prairie, Boursault, and Hybrid China Roses. We will treat upon these matters more fully and satisfactorily at another time. "What does the dwarfing process consist in?'' It consists mainly in propagating trees on such stocks as are calculated to reduce their natural dimensions, and induce early fruitfulness : for instance — an apple, grafted or budded on a par- adise stock, may not attain over 6 or 8 feet high, and may be had bearing plentifully the third year, when not over 2 or 3 feet high. The advanta- ges are apparent. Small gardens may contain a great variety, and an immediate return is given. The Pear, at the present day, is cultivated as a dwarf, to a greater extent than any other fruit, and chiefly on the quince stock. To this meth- od we have frequently alluded in the pages of the "Farmer," heretofore. The apple, pear, and cherry, all of which, on free stocks, attain a large size, may be profitably dwarfed to fit them for limited grounds and other circumstances. We are not aware of any attempt having been made to cultivate the Fig in the open air, in this climate — nor do we think it could be done with any profitable or pleasant results. We presume it could be grown in cold houses, similar to those constructed for the culture of the grape without fire heat. We do not think that the pea nut could be cul- tivated here. We can not speak positively, as we have no evidence on the subject. It is a na- tive of South America, and is produced abund- antly in the open air as far north as Maryland, and farther for aught we know. The French, around Paris, raise it in hot beds and transplant it into the open ground, where it ripens. With similar culture, it might succeed here. We have 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 173 seen excellent sweet potatoes, raised in this sec- tion, in the open air. They should be started in a hot bed, and transplanted to the open ground when the weather is settled and the ground warm. A light sandy soil is the best for them, with a sun- ny exposure, and plenty of space for their trail- ing stems to run on. J. Van Brocklin's Patent Clevis. We, the undersigned, citizens of Niagara and Orleans counlies, having used J. Van Brocklin's CAST- IRON DOUBLE-tiAUGED CLEVIS, do not hesitate to pronounce it the most supeiior article of the kind ever of- fered to the public. This Clevis is perfectly simple in its construction, and is so arranged as to guage the furrow to the desired depth or width, in every variety of soil, and works equally well with two or three horses. In cheapness and durability it cannot be excelled, and we clieerfully recommend its use to every furmeras a most val- uable improvement. Phillip Truman, Solomon Richardson, Francis B. Lane, Oliver R. Brown, Jerome Phillips, Jason Sawyer, Ezra Kittredge, John P. Sawyer, John Johnston, Russell Brown, VV. S. Fenn, Alfred Colwell, John Kinvan, Chas. B. Lane, S. N. Spalding, Linus Spalding, Salmon Bickford. Middleport, June 9, 1847. The DOUBLE-GAUGE CLEVIS is Manufactured and (told by the undersigned. Patentee at Middleport, Niagara County, New York. J. VAN BROCKLIN. Middleport June 19, 1847. 0= The above Clevis is for sale, in Rochester, by Rap ALJE & Briggs, No. 18 Front st. : P. D. Wright, No. 120 State St.: Nott & Elliott, No. 23 Bufliilost.; and Wm. KiDD, No. 154, Slate st. [7-3t-i] United States Agricultural Foundry, MACHINE AND PLOW MANUFACTORY, 502 and 504 Water Street, warehousk 19.5 front st., near fulton st. , New York. The Subscribers respectfully invite the atten- tion of merchants and dealers in Agricultural Implement.^ to the superior assortment of goods which they manufacture, embracing Plows and Castings, of all the most approved patterns in use, and possessing all the latest improvements in style, workmanship and material. Gin Gear Segments, of various sizes; Wing Gudgeons; Mill Irons; Horse Pow- ers and Threshing Machines, of the most approved con- struction; Corn Shellers; Corn Mills; Straw Cutters; Store Trucks; Road Scrapers; Plow Bolts, and Castings of every description, all of which will be sold at the lowest prices. New York, 1847. [7-6i] JOHN MAYHER & CO. Rochester Commercial Nursery. BissELL & Hooker have sold an interest in this establishment to Mr. Wim. M. Sloane, and the business will hereafter be conducted by and under the style of BISSELL, HOOKER & SLOANE, who will execute with fidelity all orders addressed to them. Mr. Hooker will visit ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT during the coming winter, for the purpose of purchasing rare trees and plants,, and executing any commissions that may be entrusted to him by Nurserymen and others. He will leave here about the first of December next, and on his return will sail from Liverpool as early next spring as trees can be moved. He will personally superintend the pack- ing of all his purchases, and accompany them home, jier steamer, unless otherwise directed. Post paid communications promptly answered, and orders respectfully solicited. July 1, 1847. [7-lt] Short-Horn Durham Stock for Sale. The Subscriber has on his farm a few spring Calves, (Bulls and Heifers,) which he will dispose of when three to four months old, at from $75 to $100 each. These animals were all got by his premium bull Meteor, a descendant of his imported bull Duke of Wellington, and heifer Duchess, both of which latter animals he imported from the celebrated herd of Short Horns of Thos. Bates, Esq., Yorkshire, England. These Calves, being out of good milking Short Horn Cows, and possessing through the bulls Duke of Wellington and Meteor, some one half, and others thiee quarters of the blood of the Bates Bulls, they will be valuable to such as wish to improve their herds. Troy, N.Y., June \^,U\7. (7-21) GEO. VAIL. A Farm Wanted, Situated near Lake Erie or Ontario, in the State of New York. A letter addressed to " Farmer, Newport, Herki- mer Co., N. Y.," naming terms and describing the premises, will receive attention. June 20. 1847. [7-2i*] CORN MILLS. The Subscribers are now supplied with a newly invented Cast-iron Mill, for grinding Corn and other Grain, either by hand or horse power. It will grind from 3 to 4 busiiels per hour. Price ,'§30.00. Also the hand Corn-Mill, which grinds from 1 to 1| bush- els per hour. Price .$6.50. These Mills are highly economical and convenient, and every farm and plantation ought to have them. They are simple in construction, not liable to get out of repair, and are easily operated. When one set of plates is worn out, they can be repl.iced by others at a trifling cost. A. B. ALLEN & CO., 187 Water st.. New York. CHEAP PLOWS. Single-horse Plows, from .$2.00 to $3.00 each. Double-horse do. " .$3.00 to $G.00 " The woods of these Plows are made of the best of White Oak. The handles are steawed and then beiit (rooked, in- stead of being sawed out. This makes liiem much stronger and more dural)le. The castings are made from good new pig iron, without any aJniixture of old scrap. The wrought iron work is of excellent quality, with extras attached to the plows. A liberal discount to dealers. (7-2i) A. B. ALLEN & CO., 187 Water st., N. Y. Patent Revolving Horse Rakes, manufactured at Clarkson, by L. Swift— the best rake now in use — for sale at the mauufacturers lowest prices, at the Genesee Seed Sto.-e and Agricultural Warehouse, No. 18 Front st. — the only place in the city where they can be had. July 1, 1847. [7-if ] RAPALJE &. BRIGGS. Farming; Tools, sucli as fJrain Cradles and Cradle Scythes, Grass Scythes and Snaths, Wire-toothed and vyoodcn Horse Rakos and Hand Rakes, Sickles, &c., all a little clieaper than the cheapest, at the Genesee Seed Store No. 18 Front st., by RAPALJE & BRIGGS. ' July 1, 1847. [7-tfl Subsoil Plows.— We have just received from Ruggles, Nourse - lishmerii, and examine our assortment before purchasing' elsewhere. NOTT & ELLIOTT, Rochester, Jan. 1, 1847. No 23 Buffalo-street. To New York Farmers and Emigrant*. ^^ Illinois Lands for Sale. — 115,000 ZJ^ acres, in tracts of 40, 80, 120, 160, acres, or more, to suit purchasers. The lands are all first rate, and among the very best in the State, and arc situated in the counties masl densely settled, viz , Morgan, Scott, Cass, Mason, Menard^ Grec'.i, Sangamon, Logan, Christian, Macon, McLean Wooly personally, or by mail, to S. MOUJ/SON Rochester, Jan. 1, 1847. The subscriber g Apple Trees. Bound Volumes of the Farmer. A few copies of Volume VI, bound, for sale at this office. Price 50 cents. Also, bound copies of Volume VII, 184o, of New York, Ohio and Michigan, and in Canada. Rochester, N. Y. JAMES P. FOGG. Choice Pear Trees. Ellwanger &■ Barry offer for sale, in addi- tion to the stock of their own growth, one thousand beautifut Pear Trees for pyramids — ^just received from Europe — in line condition for planting. The assortment includes the most scarce and estimable varieties. Orders should be sent in at once. E. & B.'b new catalogue of Green House plants is just published, and will be sent gratis to all post paid applications.. Spanish Merino Sheep. For Sale. — A few choice Merino Sheep, bucks and ewes, of undoubted purity of blood, and a qual- ity that will give satisfaction to purchasers. They can be sent west, by canal, at the subscriber's risk. Cornwall, Vt., May 1, 1847. ROLLIN J. JONES, Turnep Seed. We have just received from England, by last Packet 200 pounds White Norfolk Turnep, 200 " Globe do. 400 " Ruta Caga do. 50 " Scotch Yellow do. 100 " assorted kinds do. Also 200 lbs. best English Field Carrot Seed— all of which we now offer for sale cheap, and warrant the seed genuine. Farmers and dealers are respectfully requested to call at the Genesee (not Rochester) Seed Store, No. 18 Front sU June 1, 1847. RAPAUE & BRIGGS. P^as, Peas I— 200 bushels Gold Vine Peas, just re- ceived from Canada, and free from bugs — for sale by R. &, B. at the Genesee Seed Store. Those vs-ishing a good arti- cle will please give us a call. It is not yet too late to sow them. June 1, 1847. Clover and Timothy Seed.— 500 bushels of Clove? and Timothy Seed, for sale at the Genesee Seed Store, Ne, . 18, (old No. 10,) Front street, by RoclvBster, April 1, 1847. RAPAUE & BRIGGS. 176 GENESEE FARMER. July, MARKET INTELLIGENCE. Rochester Produce Market — Wholesale. Wheat,. Corn,.. Barley, . 1,30 1,50 Pork, bbl, mess 15,00 «:< Pork, cwt, 5,00 50 Beef, cwt, 5,00 .'iO Lard, lb, 8 ;) (1.50 6,75 Butter, lb, 10 11 75 87 Cheese, old, lb , 7 7A 50 75 Eggs.doz, 9 10 50 Poultry, 7 4,00 4,50 Tallow, 9 1,50 Maple Sugar,.. 8 S,00 Lamb Skins, 10 '2'j 2,50 3,50 (irern Hides, lb 3d 1,06 Dry " 7 8 7 8 Calfskins,.... 8 PUBLISHERS' NOTICES, Flour, -. Beans, Apples, bushel Potatoes, Clover Seed, Timothy, Hay, ton, Wood, cord,.- Salt, bbl,.... Hams, lb, Wool Market. A large business has been done in wool during the past ■week — probably 50,000 lbs. have been sold in tliis market. The general range of prices is from 25 to 35 cents. .\ very few large lots of fine woo), in excellent condition, have brought 37 cts., and some lots 37^ cents. Dealers inform us that wool is brought to market in better condition this year tlian formerly — greater pains being taken to cleanse it. Farmers will find it greatly for their interest to see that their wool is brought to market in good condition. It is difficult to give the prices according to blood, as buy- ers look to condition, cleanness, &c., in making purchases. We however subjoin the general range : Full blood Saxony fleeces, 31 a 35 do. Merino do 28 a 31 Half-blood do. do 25 a 28 <,iuarter-blood to common, 20 a 25 Coarse English and bad conditioned wool, 13 n 20 Rochester, June 28, L847. New York, June 2G— 7 P. M. Flour to-day was in good demand, and considerable sales were made at .$7 for Midi., and $7,125 for Genesee. Some irregular lots Uhio and Michigan were procured at $6,75 a $6,87^. On 'change the market was slitfer, and Genesee m demand at .$7,122 and steady ; Michigan $7. Some300i) bbls. of the latter sold at .$7,12.|, and there was one buyer for Genesee at $7,18. Whe.\t is very heavy, and 5 to 10 cts. cheaper than yes- terday. The sales are some 5000 bu. at $1,57 a $1,60 for Ohio. New York Wool Market— 7/me 26. — The stock of Fleece is extremely light, and our quotations are nearly nominal. In Fon^ign, sales have been made of 200 bales Odessa, on private terms , and 35 bales Mexican at about 10 cents, 6 months. Saxony fleeces, 40 a 45 I Com. | blood Merino 25 a 27 Full blood Merino. . 35 a 38 Superfine pulled, . . . 30 a 31 3-4 blood do . . 28 | No. 1 do. ... 26 a 27 1-2 blood do .- 32 I Exhibition of the N. Y. State Ag. Soeiey at Saratoga. Those who intend to compete for premiums should re- member that all animals and articles must be ready for examination on the first day of the Exhibition— that is, on Taeeday, the fnurtet-nth of Septemher. The first day will be devoted exclusively to the examination by the judges of the animals and articles exhibited, and no persons will be admitted within the enclosure on that day, except the offi- cers of the society, judges and exhibitors. Kephart's Fruit and Vea;etable Preserver, By which Fruits, Vegetables, Butter, Eggs, Bacon, «&c., can be preserved throughout the year — a full description of which will be found in the 6th No. (vol. 8) Genesee t^armer. The undersigned having purchased the above Patent Right for the United States, excepting the States of N. J., Del.. Md., and the cities of New York and St. Louis, ofler for sale Patent Rights for the construction an•; ;• ""■■=- —r/^""" """r''"',".:^" '"^,~:,':'" of London and Philadelphia, with such addiiional informa-™"" '^^To'.^'^ obtanis from it 5/0 parts of soluble nutritive tion as may be obtained from hooks on the subject. It great- ">^",?^ ^f ^^'\'^''''lHl,l' 'Tf ' Tlim ?- P^n^ & - -.--•'- . J p ten. That IS, he gets 1 0!)9 parts from 1000. "l-romlOOO ly facilitates reference to any peculiar plant, or other matter discussed in the book, to have all its contents arranged in the alphabetical order of a dictionary. Mr. Johnson, of London, lias enjoyed the best opportuni- ties to be well informed on horlicuUural subjects, and has evidently brought to his task a large fund of practical knowl- edge. The directions which he gives for destroying insects injarious to vegetables and fruits are w^orth more than the price of a copy of the work. It should be in the hands of every one that has a garden, or land on which to make one. THE PIG: A Treatise on the Breeds, Management, Feed- ing, and Medical treatment of swine, with directions for salting Pork, and curing Bacon and Hams, by William You ATT. V. T., &c., &c., illustrated with engravings drawn from life, by William Harvey, Esq. Lea and Blanchard. Among all breeders of domestic animals, the reputation of YouATT is sufficient commendation for any work from his pen, relating to this department of rural affairs. The rearing of swine and the making of pork are very important branches of American husbandry. Messrs. Lea and Blanch- ard have done the farming community an essential service in republishing this stan<)ard English work. Both of the above works can be had at S. Hamilton's Boolistore, State street, Rochester. FARMER'S LIBRARY.— The July number of this monthly, edited by the veteran agricultural vvriur, John B. Skinner, commences the third year of its existence. It is profusely illustrated, abounds in useful matter, and deserves a place in any farmer's librarj- — giving two volui.ies of 600 pagOB each per annum, for five dollars. gets lU'jy parts i parts of oats he obtains 743 parts of soluble nutritive matter, 641 of starch or mucilage, 15 of saccharine matter or sugar, and 87 parts of gluten or albumen," &c. Here 1000 lbs. of oats give 1486 lbs. of matter, making of course 486 out of nothing ! No one can make tlie necessary corrections to these, and a host of similar blunders, without the copy. The Legislature pays almost as much for printing this an- nual volume as all the agricultural societies, including the !g700 given to the State Society besides, receive from the public treasury. The State has paid for the binding as well as printing of the present volume of 716 pages, which, judg- ing from past bills of this character, has cost some $6,000. Of course we do not object to the appropriation; but we sub- mit that, more attention and time should be devoted in ma- king the volume free from glaring defects. While the Leg- islature generously foots the printer's and binder's bills, and' the Society is investing its thousands in stocks, its annual' volume of Transactions should not be what it is. FARMERS' SOUVENIR.— This is the appropriate title given by Mr. Franklin Knight to a beautiful quarto edition of the Agricultural Correspondence of the illustrious Far- mer of Mount Vernon. The volume contains 200 pages, printed and bound in a style worthy of its great subject — Agriculture— and of the immortal name— Washington. As an illustration of the accurate manner in which the "Father of his Country" kept his farm accounts, independ- ently of the system and wisdom displayed in his writmgs, the book deserves to be in the hands of every agriculturist in the Union. It is admirably ad3pted to be offered as pre- miums in lieu of money by all agricultural societies, for which purpose we recommend it. 178 GENESEE FARMER. Aug. Chee^ Dairies. The best paper in the volume oF Transactions of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society for 1846, (lately published,) is one from the pen of B. P. Johnson, Esq., on "Cheese Dairies," together with the answers called forth by the dairymen and women who took the liberal premiums of $•50 and $30 offered by the Society. Had we room, we should gladly copy these communications entire ; as it is, we shall attempt a faithful summary, and give the statement of Mr. Bronson of Wyoming, who took the first premium. The whole number of cows in the State in 1845 was 999,400 which were milked. Of these Mr. J. estimates that one-third are employed in making cheese, or 333,163; producing about 110 lbs. each or an aggregate of 36,744,956 lbs. He says : In the county of Herkimer, where cheese ia more exten- sively manufactured than in any other in the State, and where the cheese is of superior excellence, much of it com- manding in the English market as high prices as the best Cheshire cheese, the amount per cow is 226 lbs. In the town of Fairfield, in that county, 350 lbs. per cow ; and in some dairies in that county, as high as ti80 ll^s. The annual average in one dairy, Mr. Alonzo L. Fish'.s. for three suc- cessive years, was 680 lbs. per cow. and in one of tUese years 714 lbs. was obtained. (Vide Trans. N. Y. S. Ag. Soc, 1844, pp. 227—8, 9.) The Cheshire dairies in England average 336 lbs. per eaw, and from selected cows .'560 pounds. Did we not know Mr. Fish and have reason to credit what he says, we should doubt whether a cow ever made 714 lbs. of cheese in one year ; or that a large dairy averaged 680 lbs. to each eow. We think that the Secretary of the State Society does not exceed the bounds of reason when he says that, all the cows in the State kept for making cheese can easily be brought up to an average of 400 lbs. each per annui^i. This would augment the product of cheese in New York from 36,744,956 lbs. to 133,265,200 lbs. from the same number of cows. The annual gain would be equal to five millions of dollars. From Mr. and Mrs. Ottley's statement it appears: That tlipy manufactured from the milk of eight cows, in the months of June and July, 1248 lbs. of cheese from 10,- 400 lbs. of milk ; 100 lbs. of milk averaging 9 lbs. of cheese. The average pounds of milk from each cow daily, is a little over 21 Ib.s. The highest yield being 23 lbs., and the low- est l-S. The cows are fed liay and grass only, and the calves are reared and .swine are kept from the dairy. His farm lies in the town of Fhelps, Ontario county; ele\ation above tide water estimated 4.50 feet. It is generally level, with some small ridges. He has two hundred acres under cultivation. Fifty acres in pasture and fifty in meadow , the residue un- der the plow. The soil is mostly gravel ; one-third sandy loam, subsoil gravel, and a small part clay. The meadows are timothy and clover. The flat land in meadow is red top, which Mr. Ottley states produces the best hay for cows. He plows up his meadows every third year. The pasture land is mostly clover, which is plowed once in two years, if the yield is not equal to two tons per acre. To the following remarks of Mr. Bronson we ask particular attention. It is a curious and in- teresting fact, that 100 lbs. of milk in June, when contams comparatively little nitrogenous, or cheese-forming elements^ gave only 9 lbs. 4 oz. of green cheese ; whilst in September, when herbage is rich in nitrogen, an equal weight of milk gave 12 lbs. 7 oz. of green cheese. Without any knowledge of what Mr. Bronson would say or do, Mr. and Mrs. Ottley remark, '•That when the cows were in eiover pasture, then the cheese was larger and rieher than when in other pastures. ^^ When every braw'ch of rural industry shall be studied as a science, keeping steadily in view the fact that it always takes something to make each product of the farm, whether vegetable or animal, and that that something admits of no sub- stitute, but must be the precise thing which God has appointed in the certainty of His unerring laws, then agricultural labor will be most boun- tifully rewarded. The transformation of culti- vated plants into beef, pork, muttcm, wool, but- ter, and cheese ; and the cheap production of the crops best adapted to these several objects should command more of the attention of our County and State Agricultural Societies than they have hitherto received. STATEMENT OF MR. BRONSON. To the Committee of the New York Stale Agricultural Soci- ety, 07i Cheese and Dairies. Gents : — In answer to the several questions submitted ia your printed circular, dated Feb. 14, 1846, relating to Cheese dairies, I, Newbury Bronson, of Warsaw, in the county of Wyoming, and State of New York, do state as follows : Question 1. What is the locality of your farm, its eleva- tion and latitude ? Ansicer. My farm is located in the town of Warsaw, about IJ miles south west from the vil'age of Warsaw, on the hill west of the valley of Allen's creek, from 300 to 400 feet above the creek ; gradually descends towards the east. — The hill rises west of my farm, in about four miles, some 500 to 600 feet above the elevation of my farm. My farm is about 30 minutes (of a degree) south of Roches- ter, and about I'y minutes west of that place. Ques. 2. How much land under cultivation ; how much in pasture and in meadow ? Ans. About 20 acres under cultivation ; 110 acres in pas- ture, and oO acres in meadow. Ques. 3. What is the nature of your soil and subsoil ? Ans. The soil of my present meadows is a deep black muck, with a clay hard pan subsoil. The soil of my pres- ent pastures is mostly a coarse gravel, with a sandt/ loam. Subsoil the same. The underlaying rock is Shale. Ques. 4. What plants or grasses do you use for pastures; what for hay. How are your meadows treated ; how much hay do they yield per acre ' Ans. White clover and timothy, with a mixture of red top, but the clover predominating for pasture. My mead- ows are timothy and red clover, with a small mixture of red top, and are highly manured from the barn, and no other dressing used. "They yield Ij tons per acre. Ques. 5. How many pounds of milk from each cow T — How many from the whole herd ? Ans. I have taken some pains, since receiving your cir- cular, in April last, to ascertain, and think the following correct : '; My cows in June last, consisting of 44 in number, ga^-e, on an average, in that month, each, 16 quarts per day, which weighed 3 lbs. 6 oz. per gallon, making the daily yield of each cow in June 33 lbs. 8 oz. The whole herd of course gave 176 gallons each day, weighing 1474 lbs. During the latter part of the season I had only 37 cows. Ques. 6. How many pounds of cheese to 100 lbs. of milk? The quantity of milk during the season ? The quantity »{ cheese during the season ; the quantity of cheese to each cow ? 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 179 Ammonia. " Abimonia, Liebig maintains, is a hody no: ir.debled to organism for its being ; that it is to be classed with iron and potash, soda and oxygen, whose quantity within the organism of plants and animals, and wiUiout, is, m general terms, constant. He holds that when the required jjAywVW properties have been given to a soil, and the necessary in- organic ingredients, in suitable solubility, the ammonia ana carbonic acid, with healthful falls of rain, will provide them- selves."— Prof. Horsford. The plain English of the above theory is, thai the organized carbon and nitrogen in manures ©f a vegetable and animal origin, are of little dr. oo account in the growth of good crops of grain, grass, and roots. Rains and dews will yield to cultivated plants all the ammonia and carbonic acid that they need; leaving the farmer no great- er task than to pulverize his soil, and give it " the required physical properties, and necessa- I ry inorganic ingredients." We are not pre- Remark. The extfeme drouth for six weeks this season, j pared to assert that this view of the growth and cut ofi' the quantity of cheese I have made this year, at Ljo^rishment of vegetables is not true ; but we X^Vl; what time do you commence making cheese? I can say that its soundness lacks evidence to an ^7M. I usually begin the 15th of April, and end the 1st of I extent which should make one hesitate betore December. . , i he adopts the theory for the purpose of making: Quee.Z. Do you rear calves ? Do you keep swine 7 -^ .u l • r » r .• i • w Afis. I do not rear calves. I keep swine. This year kept I it the basiS of^a system of practical agriculture, twenty-five, ^^ ^^ ^ ix Alls. Tiie quantity of cheese obtained from 100 Ibe. of milk, will vary at .difierent periods in the season. I have taken paias to asoertain the difference in this respect, be- tween the months ef June and September. In June, 100 lbs. of milk made 9 ibs. 4 oz. of green cheese. In Septem- ber, 100 lbs. milk wade 12 lbs. 7 oz. green cheese. Again, there is a difference in the quality of the milk, which will greatly effect the aimoimtoi cheese obtained from 100 Ibe. of milk. I have selected isy beet milk and made curd from it sepa- rately. I have done the same with my poorest milk, taking an equal quantity of each. The poorest milk yields 17 per cent, lefs curd tli&n the best, as I get it from my cows. I have heretofore had doubt on this subject, but my experi- ments have removed that doubt entirely. The average number of cows kept through the season is 40. The whole amount of milk obtained during the whole reason, computing that portion of the season now unexpired, ae an ordinary season, is 170,666 pounds of milk, from which is produced eight looas of cheese including the butter, that is, I have made 500 jjounds of butter, and that, according to cuetotfflL, which I think correct, I call equal to half a ton of cheese. The avenige quaatity of cheese to each cow, including the butter, is 400 Ibe. 9. What feed is ueed besides grass and hay ? Ans. None. Ques. 10. A particular account of the method of making cheese ; the quantity of cheese, and its price in the market, and place where sold ? Ans. For a particular account of my method of making cheese, see a paper hereto annexed, on that subject. For the quantity made see a part of my answer to the 6th question. I sold my cheese at my dairy this year, to H. Burrell & Co., of Herkimer county, on the 18th August, at 5g cents per pound. The purchaser furnishing boxes, and taking, on the 1st November all the cheese th47t (on 1st Nov.) 25 days old — I delivering it at Cuyler, 15 miles distant — and no allowance made for its greenness ; deli"vering five tons 1st Oct. and the balance Ist Nov. My last year's dairy I sold in Rochester, in May last, af- ter the market had sensibly declined, at 8 cents per pound. Quts. 11. The number of cows milked ; the breed of the cows and their ages ? Ans. The average number of cows milked this season is 40. Nearly all of the native breed. Their ages are nearly all between 5 and 10 years — a few older, and one or two younger. Ques. 12. What difference, if any h-as been observed, in Does Prof. Horsford find abundant evidence that Ammonia exists in the atmosphere independ- ent of the quantity given it by decaying organ- ized bodies, which ammonia falls in rain, snow, and dew to the earth in larger quantity than plants and animals furnish to the air ? Is this excess of available azote (nitrogen) adequate, not merely to feed all vegetables growing spoi*!- taneously on the earth, but to supply the much larger demands of a wheat crop equal to 60 bush- els per acre 1 Unless every acre on a whole continent possesses this excess of ammonia, equal to twice or three times the quantity famished by forests and natural meadows, and required by them in their organization, how can one acre receive a larger supply, except by human agency^ It is much to be regretted that our State Agri- cultural Society does not use a small portion of the thousands of dollars which it annually receives the^quantity of che^re yielded from "the sara^ the public, to determine the practical value milk given by different cows ? | of Ammonia, both with and without the addition giv^en -to'Se^ueSot'^to' whl^ir; "a^" To wTi" of the phosphates, sulphates, and chlorides found committee. Ques. 13. Has any particular kind of herbage been no- ticed to have an iniUience in increasing the proportion of cheesey matter in a given quantity of mil Alls. I have made no precise experiments on which I would rely in answering this question, but my observation for years has led me to give a decided preference to u-hite clover for a pasture. My answer to question 14 will be found interspersed in some of my previous answers, and in the annexed paper on my method of cheese making. Respectfully submitted. Neweurv Bro.Njov. Warsaw, Nov. 11, 1846. The Wheat Crop of Ohio, Michigan, &;c., (according to statements in letters and papers recently received,) proves much better than was anticipated a few weeks ago. We have similar information from other sections of the country. in the iishes of wheat and other crops. For the last thousand dollars paid in premiums for cora crops, in this State, by its several Agricultural Societies, we can not see wherein one new fact of the least value has been brought to light. — Such would not be the case if premiums were offered to gain information in the little explored fields of the organism of cultivated plants and domestic animals. Not a single dollar has ever been given to encourage investigations in vege- table and animal physiology. Men that devote their money to the importation of expensive ap- paratus, and their time to making researches into these subjects, must work for nothing and find themselves, if they live in the State of New York. Is this wise ? Is it just ? Pure science, 180 GENESEE FARMER. Aug. unmingled with private speculation — science that looks only to the public good — can find neither land nor buildings in the Empire State which it can occupy without paying a ruinous rent. One word more on the subject of Ammonia. Before -Mr. Horsford went to Europe, if we mistake not, he was present at an Agricultural Meeting in the Geological Rooms of the old State Hall, Albany, at which Mr. Humphrey, then Mayor of the city, stated that, on two acres of the naturally sterile sand plains near that city he had raised 120 bushels of shelled corn, sim- ply by puttinga handful of the scrapings of horns obtained at a comb factory, in each hill at plant- ing. On another acre hard by, of equal quality, on which no horn shavings were applied, the yield was less than 15 bushels. Did tlie large amount of ammonia, furnished on the decay of this highly nitrogenous substance, do no good in the way of augmenting the crop four fold? We should like to hear something farther on this im- portant subject, from bur friend Prof. H. Action of Lime on Soils. It would be amusing to publish, in one volume, all the reasons that have been given why lime is so benetieial in ;]griculture(!) were it not for the recollection of the mischief that the writers have done in leading farmers astray, and causing them to throw away their money. All may remember the various reasons that philosophers assigned to show why a pail of water would not weigli more with a fish in it than without the fish. At length one of them suggested a doubt as to the fact ! This led them to weighing, and weighing to laughing at each other. If this question could be settled at once by the steelyard, iwme would laugh, but more would have reason to cry. — Our New England and our New York papers have had less , and less to say in fevor of the action of lime on soils in gen- t'lal, for a number of years past. But occasionally an anon- yinous writer puts forth the old pntTs in favor of lime, assu- ming the position that it is beneficial on all kinds of land. A writer in the Maine Farmer, under the signature W. . came out last week with the following explication in the name of Von Timer : — "Action of Lime. — ' Both the chemical action of lime, and the effect which it produces as a manure,' says Von Thaer, ' appear to be of two kinds. On one hand, it acts on the humus by accelerating ils decomposition, and render- ing it soluble, and thus fit to enter the minuter fibres of the roots of plants. This is the reason that an amelioration, f-omposed of lime, is the more efficacious the richer the soil is in humus, and that its action Ls the more sensible the more this hamns is of an insoluble nature. Liinc deprives Mour humus of its acidity, and renders it fertilizing. But, on the other hand, there is every probability that by means of its carbonic acid, lime also produces some other effect, and furnishes the plant with some nutritive matter. The roots «f some vegetables, in a particular manner, appear to have the faculty of depriving lime of its carbonic acid, which it immediately re-absorbs in equal proportion from the atmos- phere, with which it comes in contact.' These hints are important. W." ID" It will be recollected by many of our re.iders that ' more than one correspondent of the Ploughman after trying the experiment, denies the fact that lime is useful on sorrelly soils— one of them says it rather promoted the growth of Horrel, than otherwise. In regard to another operation of lime, in the article now quoted, we undertake to dispute the fact stated. We say time does not accelei-ate (he decnmjioKitioii nfhiimus, or of any vegetable matter. And any one may satisfy himself of this by trial. We K-wc long suspected, as our re.-iders know, that lime is of no service unless it be to correct the acid occasioned by the prevalence of iron ore in the soil. This ore gives it a red color ; it is often found in clayey soils, but not in what we call sandy, the prevalent soil of Massachusetts. When this is generally known, the papers will liave it. Till then the old saw will go the rounds ; and lirae will be numbered by copyists among the excellent things to be applied to all kinds of soil. — Massachusetts PLoughman. WiTHOtrT endorsing what is said by the writer in the Maine Farmer, we must express our sur- prise that the action of lime is a matter of so much dispute in New England ; and to hear the editor of an agricultural journal question its Tal- ue "unless it be to correct the acid occasioned by the prevalence of iron ore in the soil." At the risk of being placed among the "copy- ists" and dealers in " old saws," on the books ©f the Ploughman, we must call attention to the fact that, no other single element found in all ciilti- i vated plants, has been so generally, and so suc- cessfully used as a fertilizer both in Europe and in this country, as this same mineral called lime. As Caleb Gushing would say, this is " a fixed fact." It would be no easy task to make a sound healthy bone in the body of any animal, unless there was a little lime in the food on which such animal subsisted. And if the soil was quite de- void of this mineral, how could the plants raised upon it, to feed man and his domestic animals, extract lime therefrom 1 Will the Ploughman assert that all soils con- tain a supply of available lime, fully equal to tlie utmost demand of wheat and all other crops ? If so, how does it happen that the limestone lands of Western New York have yielded for the last 30 years so fine crops of this bread-bearing plant, while all the counties in this State and New Eng- land, where lime exists in its minimum quantity, wheat culture is almost unknown ? Facts like these can hardly be put down by a sneer at "cop- yists and old saws." It is confessedly by the use of lime mainly, that hundreds of farmers in Ma- ryland are renovating their worn out fields, and harvesting good crops of wheat and grass. The same is true in Virginia and portions of Pennsyl- vania. But it is no less true that, lime alone will not sulhce on the granite soils of New Eng- land, nor elsewhere to bring forth abundant crops. No one mineral can perform the ofilce in the vegetable economy which God has assigned to the joint agency of some eight or ten earthy sub- stances. You might as well expect to increase the human race on a remote island in the Pacific, whose every inhabitant is an old bachelor. No suoli caustic single bles-sedness as lime alone, by neutralizing acid, will impai't fertility to the earth. f f the Massachusetts farmerswill mix with their lime all the other ingredients that nature uses in organizing the crop cultivated, we venture to as- sert that lime will do its share in giving fecundi- ty to the soil. Don't say that both blades of a pair of sliears are worthless, because neither half can cut alone. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 181 Plant More Trees! U.VDKR the above head the Farmer's Monthly Visitor has a capital article, from which we learn several interesting facts. Gov. Hill, the editor, sa>"s that "Valuable pine timber lots are now grown, whose origin was in the seed less than fifty years ago." The opinion has pretty gen- erally prevailed that pines grown by artificial culture are nearly worthless for timber. We see no reason why this should be so, any moie than oak, chestnut, or ash. Mr. H. remarks that *' Nature does every thing to make up for man's neglect in the planting and growth of trees; nor is she slow in her operations. She has made every acre of waste land in New Hampshire val- uable. The beautiful chestnut timber so much used in the New England railroads grows spon- taneously in all our poorest rocky lands which have been considered too hard for cultivation : the railway chestnut cross timbei-s are worth, standing, on the average, sixteen cents apiece ; trees of the suitable size making sometimes three and four cuttings. It is said these chestnut trees will grow to the suitable size of posts in the years thai these posts rot in the ground. A remarka- able feature in the chestnut is, that where a main tree is cut, sprouts the same year shoot forth from the roots growing up a clump of trees, some three to six of which soon grow into sizes to be used for timbei'." We have had some little experience in at- tempting to raise a small forest of chestnut tim- ber from the seed, but with poor success. We have been told that the seeds should never get dry afler they ripen in the fall, before they are planted, either in pots or a nursery. Such is the demand for fence posts and railroad ties, that the culture of chestnut timber, we are confident, can be made profitable. Every farmer has a wood lot, and as he thins it out, or cuts it off, he should set the ground full of small chestnuts. — Under favorable circumstances they grow rapidly. It is safe to calculate on the growth of a cord of wood on an acre per annum in Western New York. This, at $-2, is much better than no in- come— while the annual burden of leaves that fall to the earth enrich the land. Shade trees are equally an ornament and lux- ury during the intense heat of our summer months. Speaking of these the Visitor says : — " We boast in the southerly part of the Concord Main street as beautiful elms as can be shown in any part of the world. There are many charm- ing villas in the country range about Boston ; but we must say of these that their cleaned path avenues shaded and covered over by trees high before reaching the limb, or surrounded by the shr ubbery which entirely shuts out access of foot or of eye, do not compare with the unadorned beauty of the i-ow of elms opposite on the street to the place of our writing. There is a remark- able similarity in the spread of the isolated elm, which is a native of our intervale and stands ei- ther on that or the first upland of the river bank- The men who sat out our stately elms seventy- five and a hundred years ago. Hall, Shute, and others, have passed away : at this season, when hundreds of birds come there and build their nests, the elegant gold-robin, the gay blue-bird, the chattering wren, and even the shy crow, black-bird, the snarling cat and scolding thrusk both sing so beautifully and so alike when undis- turbed as to be mistaken each for the other — there is a charm in these venerable trees which bids us remember those who planted them there, and to present them as proof that planting trees is one of those "good deeds" of men which live after them." Deep and Thorough Tillage. W^E have noticed with pleasure that most farm- ers in this section have become converts to the system of deep plowing and fine tilth. Instead of making their soil mellow only four or five inches deep, as is still practiced by a kw, the general custom is to plow from seven to ten inch- es, and thoroughly pulverize the earth to an equal depth with the harrow and cultivator. Experi- ence has taught them that a deep mellow soil is vastly more productive, other things being equal, than" a hard shallow one. We expect soon to see a few enterprising men driving a second- plow in the furrow of the one that breaks the surface, and thus secure to their crops a double amount of pervious soil, in which a double quan- tity of soluble mineral elements may feed and bring to maturity a double harvest. Very few fields in Western New York lack vegetable mold. So far as the atmosphere supplies nutritive ele- ments, these are mainly dependent on the large develope of roots. A root of corn or other plant which is one-fourth of an inch in circumference and five inches long presents to the soil, the rains, dews, and air of heaven, only one-third the surface for imbibing nutrition that it would if ten inches long and three-eights of an inch in cir- cumference. In a deep mellow soil and a large growth of roots, the husbandman is sure to have a corresponding growth of green stems and leaves above ground, to imbibe gaseous food from every passing breeze. The atmosphere can only ful- fil its whole great office in support of vegetation on deep pervious soils like river bottoms. If the earth lacks any essential ingredient used by nature in the organization of the cultivated plant, no amount of tillage can create the absent element out of nothing. This fact should never be lost sight of. We have a parsnip in our office 31 feet long; and have pulled beans in a field, whose roots ran 30 inches into the ground. To give plants a fair chance in a poor soil, it should be very deep that roots may travel a good way to get their aliment. 182 GENESEE FARMER. Are. Hydraulics for Farmers. BY C. N. BEMENT. NoTHiN'c; adds more to the comfort of a farm house, or to the cleanliness of its inmates, than the luxurious flowing of a pure stream of water at the door. Few persons are aware of the great importance of a supply of running water, at the dwellings and stock yards, where cattle and other stock are confined in winter, unless they have enjoyed that privilege and afterwards heen deprived of it. I have often observed the want of this neces- sary element around the houses and yards of our farmers, while a stream was flowing, in the rich- est profusion, within a short distance, but unfor- tunately on a lower level ; and as often have I wished to see some cheap and effective engine at work, making the babbling idle brook work to some good account, and pour the necessary share at the door — a libation to neatness and economy. Numberless instances, where incalculable incon- venience and privation have been endured, and the most prodigal waste of labor committed from generation to generation, from that physical and moral lathargy of character which too often leads as to drag on through life, neglecting expedients that the least thought would suggest, and the slightest exertion bring to our relief For years and years have we known large families to be supplied with all the water used, but not a hundredth part of what was actually needed, by keeping a person continually on the trot to a distant, and perhaps an unclean spring, bringing pails full at a time, when a constant Bupply of water from streams of the smallest vol- ume, might with a very simple hydraulic contri- vance be made to afford a constant flow at the door of the kitchen, the dairy and stock-yard. — For :hia purpose, the Hydraulic Ram, appears the most simple and economical contrivance yet discovered. A simple calculation of the remu- neration to be derived from the saving of labor, and the money value, to say nothing of the lux- ury of a full supply of water, would convince them that a single year, some even less, would reimburse them. Then again it is to be con- sidered, for example, as to the use of it for do- mestic animals, not only tlie time that is saved through the whole winter, especially in sending them to a distance to drink, but that they of\en suffer from not having a supply when nature demands. The saving of manure, too, is not to be overlooked. Among all the devices or contrivances for con- veying water from a lower to an upper level, nothing as yet has been discovered equal to the Hydraulic Ram. It is a very ingenious and ef- fective machine for raising water by its own im- pulse, and comes Bearer to a perpetual motion than any other machine that has ever fallen under my notice. If a column or body of water, moving rapidly under a head, through a pipe, is suddeoly check- ed, its tendency is to burst the pipe. This is well known in aM places where there are water works, from the bursting of the leaden supply pipes where these are not strong enough^ on the sudden shutting off the hydrant cocks. — If a small hole is made in the pipe, just above the cock, the water will escape f^rom it in a very high jet, much higher than the head, whenever the cock is shut. It is this principle which is brought into action in the Hydraulic Ram. If a small straight upwright pipe is attached to the hole, just mentioned, in the main pipe, having a valve shutting downwards, which will permit the water to pass upwards, but not to return, each opening and shutting of the cock will force up into the smaller pipe a quantity of water in pro- portion to the head upon the main pipe until the weight of the water in the smaller pipe is greater than can be moved by the momentum of the water in the main pipe, when the latter is suddenly closed. Every person accustomed to draw water from pipes that are supplied from very elevated sources must have observed, when suddenly closed, ajar or tremor communicated to the pipes, and a snap- ping sound, like that from small blows of a ham- mer. These effects are produced by blows which the ends of the pipes receive from the water — the liquid particles in contact with the plug of a cock, when it is turned to stop the discharge, be- ing forcibly driven up against it by those consti- tuting the moving mass behind. Waves of the sea act as water-rams against rocks or other barriers that impede their pro- gress; and when their force is increased by storms of wind, the most solid structures give way be- fore them. The increased force water acquires when its motion is accelerated, might be shown by a thou- sand examples. A bank or trough that easily retains it when at rest, or when slightly moved, is often insufficient when its velocity is greatly- increased. When a deep lock of a canal is open- ed to transfer a boat or vessel to a lower level, the water is permitted to ascend by slow degrees. Were the gates opened at once, the rushing mass would sweep the gates before it, or the greater portion would be carried in the surge quite over them, and perhaps the vessel also, A sluggish stream drops almost perpendicularly over a pre- cipice; but the momentum of a rapid one shoots it over, and leaves a wide space between. It is so with a stream issuing from a horizontal tube. If the liquid pass slowly through, it falls inertly at the orifice; but if its velocity be considerable the jet is carried to a distance ere it touches the ground. That the force which a running stream thus acquired may be made to drive a portion of the liquid far above the source whence it flows, is obvious from several operations in nature. — 1847. GENESEE FARMER. life During a storm of wind, long swelling waves in t^e open sea alternately rise and fall, without the crests or tops of any being ele- vated much above those of the rest ; but when they meet from opposite direc- tions, or when their pro- gress is suddenly arrested by the bow of a ship, by rocks, or other obstacles, part of the water is driven to great elevatioriS. The Hydraulic Ram raises water on precisely the same principles; a quantity of the liquid is set in motion through an inclined tube, and its es- cape from the lower ori- fice is made suddenly to cease, when the momen- tum of the moving mass drives up, like the waves, a portion of its own vol- ume, to an elevation much higher than that from which it descend- ed. This may be illus- trated by an experiment familiar to most people. Suppose the lower orifice of a tube (where the upper one is connected to a reservoir of water) be closed with the finger, and a very minute stream be allowed to escape from it in an upward direction, the tiny jet would rise nearly to the surface of the reservoir. It could not of course ascend higher. But if the finger was then moved to one side, so as to allow a free escape, until the whole contents of the tube were rapidly moving to the exit, and the orifice then at once contracted or closed as before, the jet would dart far above the reservoir ; for, in addi- tion to the hydrostatic pressure which drove it up in the first instance, there would be a new force acting upon it, derived from the momentum of the water. As in the case of a hammer of a few pounds weight, when at rest on an anvil, it exertsa pressure on the latter with a force due to its weight only ; but when in motion by the hand of the smith, it descends with a force that is equivalent to the pressure of perhaps a ton. At a hospital in Bristol, England, a plumber was employed to convey water through a leaden tube, from a cistern in one of the upper stories, to the kitchen below; and it happened that the lower end of the tube was burst nearly every time the cock was used. After several attempts to remedy the evil, it was determined to solder one end of the smaller pipe immediately behind the cock, and to carry the other end to as high a APPARATUS FOR RAI8IN!'i WATER.— No. 1. Birkvnhine's Ram — (Fig. 1.) level as the water in the cistern. And now it was found that on shutting the cock, the pipe did not burst as before, but a jet of considerable height was forced from the upper end of this new pipe. It therefore became necessary to increase its height, to prevent water escaping from it; upon which it was continued to the top of the hospital, being twice the height of the supplying cistern; but then, to the great surprise of those who constructed the work, some water still issued. A cistern was therefore placed to receive this water which was found very convenient, since it was thus raised to the highest floors of the build- ing, without any extra labor. Here circumstan- ces led the workman to the construction of a wa- ter ram, without knowing that such a machine had been previously devised. It is now more than fifty years since the first discovery was made known, and it has, until within a iew years, been regarded more as a sci- entific toy, than of practical utility. It is a mat- ter of surprise, too, that so beautiful a contri- vance should have laid dormant and neglected, and scarcely known, except to the scientific. The first person who is nown to have laised water by a ram, designed for the purpose, was Mr. Whitehurst, a watch-maker of Derby, in England. He erected a machine similar to the one represented by the next figure, in 1772. 184 GENESEE FARMER. Aug. A represents the spring or fountain, the surface of the water in which wfs of about the same level as the bottom of the cistern, B. The main pipe, from A to the cock at the end of C was nearly six hundred feet in length, and one anda half inch bore. The cock was 16 feet below A, and furnished water for the kitch- en, &c- When opened, the liquid column in A C was put in motion, and acquired a ve- locity due to a fall of 16 feet, and as goon as the cock was shut, the mo- Jnentum of this long column open- ed the valve, upon which part of the water rushed into the air vessel and up the verti- cal pipe into B. This effect took place every lime the cock was used ; and as water was drawn from it at short intei-vals, for household purpo- ses, " from morning till night, all the days in the year," an abundance was raised into B, without any exertion or expense. Such was the first water ram. As an original device, it is highly honorable to the sagacity and ingenuity of its author; and the introduction of an air-vessel, without which an apparatus of the kind could never be made durable, strengthens his claims to our regard. In this machine he has shown that the mere act of drawing water from long tubes, for ordinary purposes, may serve to raise a portion of their contents to a higher level; an object that does not appear to have been previously attempted, or even thought of. Notwithstanding the advantages derived from such an apparatus, under circumstances familiar to those indicated by the figure, it does not appear to have elicited the attention of en- gineers; nor does Whitehurst himself seem to have been aware of its adaptation as a substitute for forcing pumps, in locations wliere the water drawn from the cock was not required, or could not be used. [To be continued.'\ Taxes for the support of schools are like vapors, which rise only to descend again to beautify and fertilize the earth. The Fanner. His Position, Eesponsibilities., and Duties. NUMBER NINE. I pnoMiSED in this article \o spea\<. o{ t fie Press and its infiuence in the elevation of Agriculture, It is diflicult to comprehend the power of the Press, and still more difficult to determine what the condition of the world would have been at the present time, had the art of printing never been discovered and perfected. It would seem hardly possible for the present advance in any of the industrial or liberal arts, without it — and sure I am that it is an indispensable ingredient or power in advancing and perfecting any in- terest in a country where the masses require to be enlightened. I grant that the earth would yield her fruits without books or newspapers ; but while I concede that grain would grow, however destitute of learning or intelligence, he who plows and sows might be. I cannot for a moment admit that it is possible for any calling or interest to flourish or advance to any great extent where the operative is without the means of knowledge. The slave may toil, like the ok, at the bidding of his master, but all experience in this and every land proves that such labor is after all most expensive and least productive, — and it is of course not to be tolerated in a state of society where equality is aimed at, and caste and class repudiated. The intelligent, well-inform- ed man, be he proprietor or laborer, can never be made a slave nor a serf. With the spread of intelligence is the advance of personal indepen- dence, and with knowledge comes manly pride, which will not brook or submit to slavish bond- age or degrading servitude. Hence the impor- tance, to a free people, of the Press, and of its freedom. A moment's recurrence to the past is the best commentary which we can make on the power and importance of the art of printing. Since its invention and general application to the printing of books and newspapers, the advance of man in civilization has been truly wonderful. More has been accomplished within a century than for ages on ages before — greater advances in sci- ences and in all the arts, and greater improve- ments in every branch of trade aiid every de- partment of life since the printing of books, newspapers, tfec, than in all time before. And there is little doubt that type, with their impress on paper, has been one of the chief agents and instruments in this rapid march onward towards perfection. But this art, like nearly every other, shed its light upon almost every other calling and pro- fession before reaching that of Agriculture. — The sun's rays first strike the barren mountain top, before it reaches the rich and fertile valleys, and first glimmer amid the foilage of the trees 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 18& and shrubs ere it reaches and warms the earth — and 60 with knowledge; it seems generally to fasten first and thrive best in its dawn upon pro- fessions and interests less substantial and useful. But the sunshine must warm the vallies, and its light and heat fertilize the earth, ere it will yield its riches; and so intelligence and knowl- edge must reach the farmer, and spread among the laborers of the country, before the full ad- vantage of their blessings can be realized, and their mighty influence felt in their length and breadth. That farmer little values his calling, and is ignorant of the chief element for its improve- ment and progress, who treats lightly the Agri- cultural Publications of the Country. They are doing, to-day, more to elevate and advance his interest and secure him respect and influence than any one agent. They tread noiselessly over the land — they silently visit the firesides of the people — they speak words of wisdom to them in their hours of retirement, and whisper the re- sults of experience to the tired husbandman in his moments of refreshment and rest. They are companions which the laborer can carry with him to the field and the forest, and they will speak to his heart and understanding when far away from society; they have a word for all sea- sons, and rules for all circumstances; they are good school-masters for children, as well as sage councillors for grown men; and no farmer should be without one or more in his family, and no la- borer, fail to read and study them. Men may say they can learn nothing from Agricultural papers, and many doubtless honest- ly imagine it is time and money thrown away to take and read them; but how little do such men comprehend their own nature and charac- ter. It is a moral impossibility for a thinking, reasoning man — one who has a mind with mem- ory attached to it — to read the Genesee Far- mer one year without advantage; that person must be low in the scale of intelligence, who would not be wiser and better fitted for his busi- ness from such a practice. Books are valuable, nay indispensable; but they are of little worth without the newspaper. The one is to be stu- died, and is invaluable in the library of the man of leisure, the scholar, the writer, and in the | professor's laboratory; the other is for the mil- j jions to read, little by little — they are printed in | a form and at intervals, just adapted for the mas- j ses, and they can be taken up at the dinner table | and at the fireside, in the workshop or the barn, I and read and reflected upon — and no truth is | more sure than that they exercise a mighty in- 1 fluence on the public mind. Politics has been j the great field for newspapers in this country, j and the subject, as well as the Press, has been most foully abused in the course political dis- cussions has too often taken. But there is a broader and better field where the printing Press may exert its power, without fear of evil, and where it may scatter broad-cast its seeds of knowledge, with a perfect assurance that they shall vegetate and produce fruit. It is 'la cheering fiict that Agriculture ha5, in almost every State, its distinct organ — while scarce a village ) ^per but has its page or its col- umn devoted to i .at noble calling. The last ten years has produced a wonderful change in this particular. There are ten Agricultural papers now published, where, fifteen years ago, one was issued; and what is more, each now printed has ten times more readers than the one did then. — I speak on this subject from personal knowledge. The Post Ofiices of the state will show a wider circulation of Agricultural papers than of any other class, with the exception ot a few city weeklies. And this circulation of newspapers devoted to the subject of farming is rapidly in- creasing. Nothing more clearly evidences an increasing intelligence among farmers, than this fact. No enlightened farmer will be without his paper, and many men who ten years ago ridi- culed the idea of "book farming," and Agricul- tural publications, now do not plow or sow or build without consulting that truest and best friend, his Agricultural paper. Prejudice is wearing away — intelligence is spreading far and wide — and slowly but surely the great in- terest upon which all others are based is rising up to its real dignity and importance. The Press is the great agent in this progres- sive movement, and every farmer \\>\\o loves his calling, and who respects his interests, should encourage and sustain the Agricultural publica^ tionsof the State and Nation. He who will not do it is recreant to his truest interest, or has butalim- ited view of his duty to himself and his fellows. No man can plead poverty. In this land of health and plenty none can say "I am not able." The Genesee Farmer costs, postage and all, but four shillings a year, and none are so poor as to be unable to raise that sum. But some may say, '■ I do not wish to read it; I can farm with- out a newspaper." That man must be very wise who cannot learn more than one, ten times over, who will not — who lacks not t!ie ability, but the disposition. Well, my wise and unim- provable farmer, go on, and till your soil your own way. But you have a family — children who are growing up, and for their sakes sub- scribe for some approved Agricultural paper. — Do not shut them out from the means of im- provement; do not dwarf their minds, by deny- ing ihem light and knowledge. The cost is nothing; it may, it will do good, either to your- self or family. Let no householder be without a newspaper, and no farmer without one devoted exclusively to Agriculture. Penn Yan, July, 1847. D. A. Ogden. Warm.— The Thermometer, to-day, (July 19,), at 2 P. M., stood at 96 degrees, in the shade.. 186 GENESEE FARMER. Aug- Fences. NUMBER THREE. Mr. Editor : — I think I hear some of your readers exclaim, " Well, here comes the old pedlar again, astride the fence." Not so fast, my old covey — I am not straddle of the Fence any way you can fix it, either in Politics or Re- ligion ; on those two subjects I know where I sleep ; but if I can get astride of some of the miserable excuses for good fences that I observe about the country, and can ride them down, I am content to be "straddle of the fence." Now for a new variety, and a very clever and not very costly one. Procure posts of almost any kind, of the most desirable wood within your power — say chestnut, pine, white cedar, tamarac, &c., from 10 to 12 inches in diameter ; mortice into the two opposite sides, five or six holes, 2 by 5 inches, at the proper distances; the rails should be 12 feet long and split as nigh like bars, or the old post and rail fence, as possible. Dress the ends to fit the mortice, and you are ready to commence putting up, which is done by setting one post and then fitting in the bars and standing up the next one till adjusted and firmly set, and so proceed till finished. If sawed stuff is used, make the mortice of its width. The great advantage of this fence over the old post and rail, which it somewhat resem- bles, is the much greater sized posts that can be used, (size and durability are nearly concomi- tants,) and 'the cheapness with which they are prepared — as they are used in a state of nature as tkey come from the forest Another. Plant some fast growing tree, (I would prefer locust, were it not that it is liable to be destroyed by the borer, or Lombardy Pop- lar, Chestnut, Abeel or Silver Maple, (fee.,) in every other corner of a worm fence on east and west roads, and on the south side of such roads to avoid shades ; and when of about 6 inches in diameter, mortice into the tree as in the other fence, and spring in the bars. The annual growth will soon fasten them, and heal over fast- er than the ends of the bars will decay. When the trees are becoming unnecessarily tall, top and trim them to your fancy. These posts never ask '* if salt petre will explode," and laugh to scorn salt, lime, and ashes, and other prevent- ives of rot and dissolution, and may be used with great advantage in peculiar locations. The only strong objection that I see to this *' live hoosier" fence being used is, that whoever commences it must feel convinced that he will be the owner of the land eight or ten years. — Now, in this country, where the laws of primo- geniture do not prevail, and property cannot be entailed, it is rare to find a farmer who is not ready and anxious to sell and start for the " big west;" in fact he has all but got his axe on his shoulder, ready to start for "Nova Zem.bla, or the Lord knows where," or some other terra in- cognita. We are such an uneasy, go a head, roving, unattached set of geniuses, that we know nothing of the feeling of attachment to family homesteads. We talk of the hardship of driving the poor Indian from the graves and bones of his fathers, but such kind of sentimental logic is all heathen Greek to the true Universal Yankee Nation. Do we lack sympathy and that feeling of home and local attachment to the land that gave us birth ; and family pride that distinguishes man from the lower migratory races 1 Oh that " al- mighty dollar," whose shining disc flashes on our diseased imaginations, and roiling on just ahead, puts quicksilver in our heels, to follow it almost to the very verge of space ! What a homily for a fence-maker I Old Farmer Tim. "Hedges and Fencing." Mr. Editor : — I noticed in the May number of the Farmer, an article by Mr. Manly, enti- tled " Hedges and Fencing." With his opinions respecting the present and prospective scarcity of fencing material I fully coincide; and argu- ments miglit be adduced to prove that the agri- cultural products of many sections, already but half fenced, might be greatly augmented if fen- cing materials were sufficiently cheap, or plente* ous, to enable farmers to divide their land in the best manner, to derive the advantages of a sys- tem of rotation. Want of fences produces want of system in farming — and, as in other business, where no system is practised, little success can be expected. His remarks concerning hedges are also val- uable, as being one more effort lo call the atten- tion of farmers to the importance of this mode of fencing, the only mode which man has ever in- vented which will bear practising on through an indefinite period of time. He is mistaken, how- ever, in supposing that our indigenous thorns have never been tested to ascertain their fitness for fencing purposes. There are four species of native Hawthorn, {Cratuegus,) which abound principally in Western New- York. They are the Cratuegus crus-galli, (known to the eastern nurserymen as the New Castle, or Cockspur thorn,) C.latifolia, C. coccinca, and C. punctata. The writer of this article has seen all the above species fairly and thoroughly tried, under the most favorable circumstances. The C. crus-galli is the best, and indeed seems the most admirably- adapted by nature to forming an utterly impassa- ble barrier of any thing yet discovered in the vegetable kingdom. The C. lahfolia will make a fence, but it is not so good, not growing suffi-' ciently thick at the bottom, and being liable to spread from the root, which the crus-galli never does; it also requires more priming to keep il' 1S47. GENESEE FARMER. 187 in shape. The coccinea is not equal to the lati- folia, and the punctata has proved nearly worth- less for fencing purposes. The coccinea and punctata are the common thorns in this part of the country, and one can hardly ride a mile in any direction without seeing more or less of them, growing along fences and the road-side. The latifolia is more scarce, and the crus-galU quite rare — its scarcity probably owing to the difficulty with which its seeds vegetate. As many may not be familiar with the latter species I will endeavor to describe it, so that it may be identified by any one. In the tirst place it is very late in leaf, ten days or two weeks later than the common kinds. Its leaves when full grown are from an inch to an inch and a half in length and about one-third as wide as long; obovate, or egg-shaped, with the stem at- tached to the narrowest end; serrated; rather a light green, smooth and shining, appearing as if varnished. Its thorns are unusually long, fre- quently three inches, very slim, very numerous, and extremely sharp. The berries, or haws, usually contain two seeds, but many of them contain one only, differing in this respect from any other native species. The branches of old trees frequently run along on the surface of the ground eight or ten feet, perfectly green and thrifty, and I have seen trees standing fifteen feet apart, whose branches were so interlocked down to tlie very ground, that no animal larger than a weasel could pass between them with a Whole skin. The whole tree has a very flat and spreading appearance, old trees seldom being more than eight or ten feet high, but completely covering with their dense foliage and branches, an area of sixteen or eighteen feet in diameter. Of all the Cratuegus \.r\\ie this species is the slowest to vegetatate, its seeds generally remain- ing in the ground two and a half, and three and a half years before they will sprout. In the Genesee Farmer for June, 1841, are directions for managing the seed, and I would merely add fhat cleaning the seed from the pulp will greatly facilitate germination. Like all Hawthorns, this species is liable to be injured by mice; and the best modes of obviating the difficuly are, to plant them on a small embankment, or keep the hedge clear of all that will harbor them. A more formidable enemy is the insect known as the apple borer, which has destroyed many hedges in other sections of the country, but has never injured them here as yet, and perhaps never may. If it should, the only alternative wdll be to adopt some other plant, and probably the best substitute will be found in the Buck- thorn, (iJ^amnra cathartiem,) for a description of which see Downing's Horticulturist, February number for the current year. Yours, truly, A. H. Powers. Ontario Co., May, 1847. In. freezing water expands oearly one-17th. Agricultural Education. What profession are you preparing for?" This is a question often asked those who are at- tending academies or other institutions of learn- ing aside from common schools, — as much as to say, "you have no business here, unless you in- tend to follow some of the so-called learned pro- fessions." While attending an academy a few years since, (for the writer of this is not one of experience, but a young farmer,) I was frequently asked the above question, and was looked upon with un- feigned surprise when the reply was given "that of a Farmer." And almost invariably the fol- lowing remark, or something similar, would be made in return. "Then why are you here spending your time and money in getting an education which will be useless to you amidst the toil and drudgery of the farm?" At that time a classmate and intimate friend was pre- paring for college, with the intention of study- ing law after graduating. We were equally- advanced, occupied the same room, recited in the same classes, engaged in the same pastimes, and so far, were equally entitled to public patron- age. After completing our academic course, he entered a college which is receiving a goodly- sum from the state to aid in its support, is amply endowed with teachers, books and apparatus to enable him to prepare for the duties of his pro- fession— while not an institution can be found that has for its object the study of the science of Agriculture. Thus,while my friend stands first in his class in college, I am compelled to obtain the little knowledge that I have of my occupa- tion without teachers or libraries, and deprived of all public patronage whatever. Can any one call this equal rights and no monopoly? — or shall we adhere to the old maxim, the greatest good of the greatest number, and establish and support Agricultural Schools for the benefit of the sons of farmers, whose influ- ence shall give character to our District Schools? June, 1847. Dariub. Remarks. — We thank "Darius" for the strong point which he has made in few words, and hope to hear from him again. The study of Agricul- tural Chemistry, Geology, Comparative Anato- my, and of Vegetable and Animal Physiology, will not always be denied to the sons of our far- mers, except what they can teach themselves at home without a Museum, a Laboratory or instruc- tors. Every day-laborer is furnished with tools to work with. How long shall we withhold the tools of the chemist from the hands that ache to use them? Interesting Chemical Fact. — Water satu- rated with one-third of its weight of common salt will still dissolve sugar ; and if completely- charged with carbonic acid, it will dissolve iron. 188 GENESEE FARMER. Aug. De>scription and Illustrations of a Pennsjivahia Barn. TuK high dogree of perfection which agricLilturo has attained in Pennsylvania, compared with some other [)ortions of tlie Union "has been commented upon b\ travellers from ICurope as well as from every section of our country. Perhaps there is no particular feature which more distinctly indicates that perfec- tion than the farm buildings — certainly there is nothing which ^^ more forcibly attracts the stran- -^ r]:^ ger's eye on entering within the bounds of that State, where he is atonce assured that no niggardly regard to expenditure for useful purposes, influences a Pennsyl- vania farmer; though his own dwelling be of an unpretending character, the means for housing his crops and sheltering his flocks, are on an omple scale. Poor indeed would he judge that economy to be which permitted a sheaf to suffer in- jury for want of adequate protection. The accompanying drawings illustrate a Bai-n of moderate size, but judicious con- struction, yielding as much advantage as it is possible to possess within the same space.. Its dimensions are GO by 40 feet, with an elevation of 30 feet to the eaves. It is on the estate of James P. Hutchinson, Esq., Montgomery county, nine miles from Phil- adelphia. The barn-yard is supplied wit! water by Moutgolfier's hydraulic ram, from a reservoir 900 feet distant ; the sup- ply is 800 gallons per day ; the dwelling house is also supplied by the same power, (2,000 gallons per day.) The elevation from the ram to the barn is 40 feet perpen- dicular height; these items are stated to show the great power of this simple and comparatively cheap invention. It is pre- pared by Mr. H. P. M. Birkinbine, of Philadelphia, to whom those interested can address themselves. Fig. 40 exhibits a front view of the barn, the stable doors opening into the baan-yard, in which there is a constant stream of water from the ram. The yard, which is •of sufficient space for cattle to take air in Avinter, and for other purposes, is flanked by sheds, drc, and substantially enclosed ioy a stone wall. Fig. 41 represents the ground or lower jfloor; A, is the "overshot," 8 feet high; B, B, horse stables; G, cow stables, 7 stalls; Front Elevatio.n. — (Fig. 40.) Ground, or Lower Floor. — (Fig. 41.) m ^=Ji E D mm rj^r-^^ wr. Second Floor. — (Fig. 42.) D, stairway to upper floor. There are besides ample passages and elbow-room for feeding, 6cc. Figure 42 is a plan of the second floor; eight feet head-room; A, harness- room, eight by 20 feet; B, tool-i-oom, eight by twenty feet ; 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 189 Third Floor. — (Fig. 4^5.) C. C, hay-mows, each 20 by 26 feet ; D, granary, divided into bins, with passage through the center ; E, stairway. Fig. 43 represents the third floor ; A, i:^ the wagon-way or entrance, as shown in fig. 44 ; B, B,' upper part of the hay-nwws (marked C C, on second floor;) C, threslb ing-floor, 47 by 15 feet 8 inches. Fig. 44 is a rear view, showing the wagon-drive and entrance to what appears as the third story or floor, when viewing the building in front ; it is reached by a gradual rise in the ground from front to rear, and by an artificial elevation of the soil as is shov/n in the passage between the abutments, so as to form a gradual ascent, easily surmounted by a heavily laden wag- on; on the apex of the roof are 2 ventilatoi-s which serve a double purpose, admitting light and permitting the escape of foul air. The whole building is besides thoroughly ventilated by doors and windows suitably placed. — On the whole, we can safely cora- mend this as an admirably con- structed barn, and worthy of imi- tation. It will be perceived that by the arrangement adopted (now commonly followed,) the hay and grain, when unladen from the wagon, are cast down, rather than pitched upwards, an advantage of the greatest moment at a season when time and help are of double value. The hay and fodder reacts the feeding floor by means of fun- nels or conductors, which carry it to convenient points. The harness-room, and tool-i^oom, Rear Elevation.— (Fig. 44.) should be on the first floor, the space occupied by them on the second, would be serviceable for other purposes. A natural inquiry presents itself, the cost? That must of course depend on the expense of materials, the price of labor, and the proportion of work by hauling, quarrying stone, hewing timber, &;c., which the proprietor himself may be able to perform ; also the kind of material for the super- structure, whether it be wood, stone, or brick. In view of all these circumstances, it is inexpe- dient to attempt a statement; the prudent farmer will obtain estimates of all particulars, carefully prepared by responsible mechanics, and any estimate of ours might tend rather to his injury than benefit. The barn of Mr. Hutchinson is of'stone, rough-cast ; one of less cost (and in one respect better, because dryer,) would be of frame, on a basement of stone extending to the floor of the second story. — American Agriculturist. A New Term. — Stercologj'. Mr. Editor. — 1 wish to propose, through your paper, a new term, which I think will sup- ply a deficiency in agricultural language. We have no generic term which embraces in its signification, the science or art of enriching the soil. I, therefore, propose the term Stercolo- GY, which is compounded from the word stcrcus, which means manure or dung, and logos, a dis- course. Although hardly general enough in its strict meaning, this word may, by a little exten- sion, be undei-stood to embrace everything un- der the head of manuring, enriching, ameliora- ting or amending the soil. And although word« are only the signs of ideas, and technical lan- guage should not be used unnecessarily, — still a systematic division of any branch of science inio parts, embraced under generic heads, is al- ways convenient. Yours, M. M. RODGERg. Rochester, June, 1847. 190 GENESEE FARMER. Aug. Merino Sheep. Mr. Editor. — Blacklock tells us that there cannot be a more certain sign of rapid advances being made among a people in civilization and prosperity, than when increasing attention is paid to the raising and improvement of live stock, — and a;* this invaluable variety (the Merino,) is fast taking the place of the coarser, lighter fleeced, and consequently less hardy animals, and as the Mountain State, so celebrated for this variet]/, seems to attract the greatest attention for a :5upply, it may not be out of place for me to sa}-' that I have at different times visited va- rious portions of that State, and have seen some flocks of Merino sheep that I think are truly ex- cellent. The most that I have seen are in or neeir Addison County. They are valued high, especially so where they have been properly bred and where the ownei-s can produce unques- tionable evidence of their sheep being pure de- scendants of the early importations of the Span- ish Merino. Possibly, in the absence of such evidence, a picture, or some high sounding title may be substituted sometimes; perhaps Paular, in some instances. But as the wool-grower re- quires the purity of the blood and the merit in the animal, I would suggest to those who wish to purchase and who think the purity of the blood essential, the propriety of getting information respecting pedigree from some very reliable source. That there are pure bred Merino sheep tliere, in the hands of different men, I suppose no one will doubt; but that there are very many that are not such, but are high grades. I have every reason to believe. Now I will not call names, nor do I wish to reflect upon any particular flock unfavorably, but merely state, as it may benefit others, that I have been in that vicinity at differ ent times for the only purpose of obtaining Me- rino sheep that M-ere thorough bred beyond a doubt, and I think with success. It have taken much pains, in different places, to examine flocks and converse with individuals, and am satisfied that some owners of flocks may and probably do think their flocks are purely Merino, but have no good evidence of that fact. 1 called on one who favored me with an examination of his sheep ■and after selecting a favorite animal, for which he asked me forty dollare, I asked him if he was a pure Merino. He answered, that he was as pure as any; lie said he was a certain man's kind of sheep. Of another I inquired respect ing a certain flock of sheep, some of which he had himself become the owner, which he called full blooded. I told him that the purity of their blood was questioned; his reply was that when he purchased them for full bloods and received a certificate of their blood it was sufficient, and if there should happen to be anything wrong 4ibout it he was not to blame. Another said his were full blooded; but on inquiring from what flock they descended, he said they descend- ed from a flock his father owned; he did not know from what particular flock of Merinos they descended, but that they were full blooded, &c. Now I think this very poor evidence of any of these sheep being pure; and as it is necessa- ry and highly important that this most valuable variety should be kept pure and unmixed for the benefit of the country, would it not be well for those who raise sheep to be distributed through- out the country to be very careful about this matter, and look carefully back to the time of the introduction of the Saxonies and see whose hands they were in then. I think the breeder of pure sheep should be in possession of a certi- ficate from a reliable source, certifying that his sheep sprang from imported stock, and that they are known to have been bred pure ever since, and perfectly free from any mixture with any other variety; otherwise how can imposition be guarded against. The late H. D. Grove says, (in Morrel's American Shepherd,) that a large portion of the imported Saxon sheep were not pure blooded, but that they were all sold as pure blooded Elec- toral Sheep; and that thus unfortunately in the outset the pure and impure became irrevocably mixed. He also informs us of one or two car- goes being imported that were exclusively full blood Electoral Saxon sheep. I think, there- fore, with all due deference, that the owner of the sheep should be in possession of unquestion- able evidence of the fact. I know of no reason why sufficient evidence of the purity of the blood of animals is not as essential when sending them from one part of a country to another, as it is when sending them from one country to another. It seems by a letter written by Hon. Wm. Jak- vis, to the editor of the Watchman and Journal, on the subject of importing Merino sheep, that he deems it highly essential. When importing he says no sensible man would ship animals to another country for breed, without a certificate of the purity of their blood; also the port from whence exported; the name of the tessel in which exported; the captain's name; at what port in the United States they arrived; the time, and a certificate from a proper officer of that Government, oflficially verified by an American Consul, that they were pure blooded. And who would suppose that any man in Vermont would go to the expense of purchasing these sheep of Consul Jarvis, or any other man known to have them, without a certificate attesting their blood that cannot be questioned. If purchasers would be very particular respecting this I think it might often protect thera from imposition. Let the pure blood stand on its own merits, and also the grade; let the purchaser get what he pays for, and I think he will be better pleased than when he pays for a full blood without being sure that he gets it. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 191 It is the opinion of those with whom I have conversed on the subject, (that had the best means of getting information,) that the number of pure Merinos in the United States is small. Such I understand to be the opinion of Mr. Jarvis. — But if we take into the count all those flocks that have been improved by the use of the Merino, so as to be more like them than they are like any other, the number will be very much in- creased,— for Blacklock seems to think that the greatest value of the Merino consists in its giv- ing rise to a variety equal if not superior to it- self. The improvement of the sheep in Saxony has, it appears, all been brought about by the use of the Merino; and history informs us that even there the purest Merinos produced both finer fleeces and more wool those engrafted on the common slock of that ceuntry; . and the same history informs us (the Ameidcan Shepherd,) that when they were being sent to this country, the German newspapers teemed with advertise- ments of sheep for sale, good for the American market, and that they were purchased in suffi- cient numbers for a cargo, at prices varying from one-fourth to one-eighth the price that full blood sheep would cost, together, sometimes, with a few full bloods to make a flourish on. — Sometimes a cargo was selected altogether from grade flocks of low character, some hardly half blooded, and represented as being of most miser- able character. Thus we see imposition has been practised on the country to a great extent, and to its great injury, and it has also prejudiced the minds of some against the acknowledged foundation of all improvement of the fleece, both in the United States and in Europe. The real Merino, the fineness, compactness, length, and beauty of whose fleece, when properly bred, is rarely if ever equalled — they are also constituted hardy and well adapted to our climate. Thus we see that impositions have been practised upon the country with apparent ease; and I think, there- fore, that there can be no harm in having an eye to this matter, that, whether impositions have or have not been practised in the sale of Merinos, they may not be hereafter. Lysander, N. Y., 1847. J. L. Randall. Remarks. — The suggestions of Mr. Randall are worthy of attention. No one should pur- chase fine-wooled sheep, for the purpose of breeding, without good evidence of their purity. Proper caution ought always to be exercised in making selections and purchases. Comparative weight of Fleece and Carcass. Mr. Editor : — My attention was some time since called to an article in your paper, signed by Solomon Hitchcock, in relation to Saxon and Merino Sheep. The writer contends — first, that sheep consume food in proportion to their own weight ; and, second, that they produce clean wool about in proportion of one pound to from 18 to 19 lbs. of carcase. The former is undoubtedly correct — the latter may be, as a general rule, but I think by increasing the lengtli of wool the weight of the fleece may be increased in proportion to the weight of carcase, without decreasing the quality. I this year weighed my sheep as they were shorn, and found they varied from 1 pound of wool to 8 lbs. .5 oz. of carcase, to 1 to 28. My yearling ewes averaged 1 to 13i — yearling bucks, 1 to 16 J — yearling wethers, 1 to 16i ; these were about 13 months old. My 2 years old buck, 1 to 14 — 2 year old wethers, 1 to 17 §. Fat sheep, 1 to 171 — breeding ewes, 1 to 18i. The whole flock, consisting of 176, averaged 1 pound of wool to little short of 17 pounds of carcase. This wool was well washed, free from gum, and nearly so from oil ; the pur- chaser thought it would not waste more than 15 to 20 per cent, by scouring. The sheep that sheared the most in proportion to its weight, was a yearling ewe weighing 40^ lbs., and yielding 4 lbs. 14 oz. of wool, about 4 J inches in lengtli. Another weighed 50^ and sheared 45 lbs., making 1 to about 10? — a sam- ple of which you will find enclosed. My year- ling ewes were the lightest sheep, averaging only 46 pounds, and had the finest and longest wool, except my bucks, of any that I sheared. Victcrr, June, 1847. W. D. Dickinson-. We thank Mr. D. for his valuable communi- cation. It is brief but to the point, and worth' more than half a dozen pages of theory upon the subject Early Sowing of Wheat. Mr. Editor. — I sowed nine acres on the 5th of September last, after plowing four times. — The soil was good, and worked very fine; in consequence the wheat grew very large in the fall. The ground being wet I did not feed it oflf until the ground froze; then I turned on horses, cows and sheep, but it was too late — it had got into spindle and the frost killed it, so that it will not pay for harvesting. One of my neighbors has twelve acres nearly as bad as my own. He sowed the first of Sep- tember. 1 think farmers frequently sow too early. If you tliink this worthy a place in your Journal, please insert it. A. D. Marvin. Cambria Centre, June, 1847. Remarks. — Our readers will recollect that we particularly alluded to the impropriety of sowing wheat early in September, last autumn. Mr. Sheffer, of Wheatland, informs us that the field in which the insects worked last fall, (some account of which we gave in the Farmer,) has been wholly destroyed by them and the frost. This w£is an early sown piece on the Genesee flats. — Ed. 192 GENESEE FARMER. Aug. Hints for August. Haying and harvesting now being about closed, except oats and peas, look well to your summer fallows ; let them be thoroughly harrowed and plowed. Composts and well rotted manures may be spai-ingly applied. Plaster only benefits wheat ■ fattening by being plowed or dragged in before seeding. ; of January Do not sow your wheat before the 10th nor later than the 20th September, if you can avoid it, exsept to follow corn and potatoes. Never sow a bushel without brining and limeing ; it is infallable against smut, and beneficial to the young plant. Cut brush and shrubs about the middle of this month, and but few species will survive the next year. Scrub oak, elders, briars, and a few oth- ers, are exceptions. Canada thistles should be cut when in full blossom. A few years' mowing, when in meadow land, extirpates them. Set out strawberry runners early this month, for next year's beai-ing ; water well and see that they get a good start. The soil should be deep and rich. Grapes should be now summer pruned. Cut away the vines upon which are clusters, one or two leaves beyond the fruit if they are shaded, and young suckers that are in the way may be pruned off or deleaved to give the fruit sun and air. The latter part of this month, and as long in September as the bark will slip, is the period for budding. Insert the bud as near the ground a-s possible in small trees ; they are much surer to survive the winter, and make better stocks. three hogs, which weighed on that day as fol- lows:— No. 1—18 months old, 274 Ibe. No. 2—17 " " 227 " No. 3—16 " " 196 " —697 lbs. They were fed on barley 48 days, and on corn 48 days — making 96 days that they were They were butchered on the 18th They then weighed, alive, as fol- lows:— No. 1- rj72 lbs No. 2- 464 " No. 3— 363 " — Gained 298 lbs. ' 237 " •' 167 •' Total weight 1399 " Total gain 702 " They weighed dressed :- No. 1— No. 2- No. 3- 468 lbs. 387 " 300 •• -1155 Ibfi. They consumed in the 96 days and 1641 lbs. barley meal, 1630 •' torn &cob meal Total of corn and barley 3271 '' The gain in live weight was 702 lbs., which gave a pound gain in live weight for a frac- tion over every 4i lbs. of grain consumed. There was nothing fed these hogs besides the grain mentioned, except water, and salt enough to season it well. This feed was all boiled from 6 to 12 hours; the barley was all ground, and a part of the corn. Grinding the corn I consider a dead loss, for I think it equally as good with- out grinding, provided it is cooked long enough, and it is no more labor to cook it whole than ground, with proper conveniences. Cooking barley without grinding 1 never tried, but think it would be equally as good as ground. These hogs had run in the pasture through the summer Look to your potatoe vines and see if the leaf i up to harvest time, and then were turned into curls ; if so. next observe the stalk an inch or two above the soil ; if it is discolored and soft you have got the Rot. The story of insects be- ing the cause is all humbug; the worm in the pith of the stalk is as old as the cultivation of the potato, — and what is fatal to that theory is, that the tuber is not afi^ected particularly in those containing the worm. ^ Experiment in Making Pork. the wheat stubbles and fed nothing else of con- sequence. By turning to the 127th page of the last vol- ume of the Farmer, you will find the result of two experiments in pork making; one in which they estimate the gain in live weight to be 1 lb. for every lOi lbs. of grain consumed; in the other they estimate the gain in live weight to be 1 lb. for every 9 J lbs. of grain consumed. This I should think a small gain, even for uncooked feed. Yours, &c., B. Densmorf. Kendall, N. Y., July, 1847. REiMARKS. — Mr. Densmore deserves the thanks Mr. Editor. — Some months since I promised several gentlemen, and among them the pub- lisher of the Genesee Farmer, a statement for publication of an experiment that 1 made last fall jof tlie whole farming community for his highly in making pork. But you have been so over- interesting and instructive experiment. The run with cammunications for the Farmer, from cases referred to in the Farmer were experi- raonth to month, that I have felt unwilling to troub- ments made in France by M. Boussingault, and le you with it. However I will give you the state- 1 doubtless state the facts as they occurred. But ment, and you may dispose of it as you please, no one, two or three single experiments, made ' do not make it thinking that there is anything ■ -~ extraordinary in the experiment or the end at- tained. There was no more done than any man can do with good hogs, good grain, and good care. On the 31st of ]a<5l October, I put into the pen with different herds of swine and under different circumstances can be sately regarded as settling the question how many pounds of corn, barley or other grain are required to make a pound of good pork. We commend the experiment of Mr. D. to the imitation of othei-s. 1847 GENESEE FARMER. 19a Soils and Timber. I HAVE remarked that a lime on flinty soil is most congenial for winter wheat. I wish to ask some of the correspondents of the Genesee Far- mer to state the reasons why a hemlock soil will not also produce winter wheat, as well as spring grain? Or I will ask why the natural timber in some places is beech, maple and hem- lock, while in others beech and maple? — and again in others, handsomely sprinkled with oak and whitewood, — again, pine and oak, — and again, all oak, even in the same town? Also, the most profitable agricultural products the far- mer may cultivate on these various soils? Yours, &;c., Wm, Brown. East Pembroke, N. Y., 1847. Hall at Wyoming. The above cut represents the front elevation ©f a dwelling, in the castellated style, to be erec- ted the ensuing summer at Wyoming, near Bos- ton. It measures 75 by 36 feet. The walls are rough stone, and the flat roof is covered with bricks, one inch thick, laid in cement. The gothic doorway opens into a hall 32 by 10 feet. On the left of the hall is a drawing-room .32 by 22 feet, 16 feet high. On the right, are a libra- ry, dining-room, and two bed rooms ; above are eight spacious bed-rooms. The location of this mansion is well adapted to the style of its archi- tecture, being on high ground, fronting a lawn of five acres in extent, and overlooking one of the most beautiful lakes in New England. Wyoming is seven miles north of Boston, and was about a year since laid out in lots for orna- mental cottages and villas. It comprehends a great variety of scenery — hill, dale, open lawn, dense forest, extensive lake, murmuring brooks, and cascades rushing down romantic glens — well } deserving a name so immortalized by the poet Campbell. ! The building now presented to the notice of! our readers was designed by William Bailey j Long, author of " Views of Highland Cottages," which work is for sale at the store of Messrs. Clark and Austin, No. 205 Broadway, New York. Anier. AgrkuUurist. The Wheat Crop, in We^ern New York, yields much better than was anticipated. The weather, for three or four weeks past, has been •very favorable for wheat. Agricultural Fairs for 1847. N. Y. State Ag. Society. — The next Annua] Exhibit^sr of this Society will be held at Saratoga Springs, on the 14th, 15ih, and IGth days of September next. Hon. Sila.s Wright in to deliver the Address, [for list of Judges, an>:! other information, see page 194.] [Ij= Those who intend to compete for premiums shouk' remember that all animals and articles must be ready for examination on the Jirsl day of the Exhibition — that is, or. Tuesday, (he fourteenth of September. The first day wil' be devoted exclusively to the examination by the judges ol the animals and articles exhibited, and no persons will be admitted within tlie enclosure on that day, except the offi- cers of the society, judges, and exhibitors. Erie County.— The F'air is to be held at Buffalo, on th."- 22d and 2:5d days of September. Address by O. Allek, Esq., President of the Society. We notice that there are seventeen classes of premiums offered by this Society, em- bracing all descriptions of live stock, field crops, dairy pro- duce, implements, fruits, tkc. Senkc A CocNTY. — The Annual Fair is to be held at O vj(i . on the 14ih and 15th of October. We are indebted to the President, J. Delafielp, Esq., for a pamphlet cont.ainiBi the list of premiums, which are numerous and liberal. Yates County. — Annual Fair to be held in Pen Yan or. the 1st of October. The list of premiums is very extensive embracing all branches of agriculture, horticulture, &;c. — The Address will be delivered by Dr. Daniel Lee, Edito- Genesee Farmer. Oneida County. — The 7th .Vnnual Fair and Show oT this Society is to be held at New Hartford, on the 23d and 24th of September next. The Secretary, James Rkes, Esq., has favored us with a pamphlet containing rules, prcraiuia list, &c. The list is extensive and liberal. Wyoming County. — The Show and Fair is to be held a: Warsaw, September 29lh and 3(tth. We have not received the premium list. Jefferson County.— The Annual Fair is to be held a; Watertown, September9th and 10th. Address by Dr. Dan- iel Lee. Cayuga County. — The Annual Fair will be held at Al- bum, on the 6th and 7th days of October next. The ad- dress is to be delivered by B. P. Johnson, Esq., on th? first day of the exhibition. Genesee County. — The eighth annnal Show and Fai- ls appointed to be held at Staiford, October 7th and 8tlu — The Society has offered premiums amounting to upwards ot $500, on 2-00 enumerated articles. Ontario Cou.nty. — We are indebted to Oliver Phelp?, Esq.. for a copy of the Premium List, &c., for lb'47. The Cattle Show and Fair is to be held at Canandaigua, on thp 12th and IStli days of October. As usual the premiums are liberal and extensive. No speaker yet selected. LiviNGfeTON County. — The Annual Fair (and Meeting for the election of Officers,) is to be held at Genesco, on the 28th of September. The Secretar>', B. F. Angel, Ef"<|,, has our thanks for a copy of the Premium List, &c. Orleans County. — The Society is to hold its next F d* at Albion, on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 30th and Oct. 1st. Arad Thomas, Esq., of Albion, has been designated te deliver the annual address. For these particulars we a-? indebted to H. J. Sickles, Esq., P. M. at Albion. Saratoga County. — Show to be held at the village ;f Dallston Spa, on the 8th of September next. QU' The Societies in Monroe, Onondaga and Wayae countie-i have not yet designated the time, &c., of holding their Exhibitions. From other counties we have no infor- mation. Secretaries of the Societies not mentioned above will oblige us by forwarding Premium Lists, &;c., a-s early as practicable. M. FAIRS IN OTHER STATES AND CANADA. Caledonia County, Vt. — Fair to be held at St. Johr.i- bury Plain, October 7th. Rutland ('ounty. Vt.— The Exhibition will be hcW if. Rutland, on the 29th and 30th of September. Worcester County, Mass. — This Society holJs its an- nual Exhibition on the 23d of September next, at Worcester. Canada West. — The Provutcial Agriculture/ Association is to bold its next Exhibition in tlie City of Hamilton, or the 6th and 7th days of OcUjber, 194 GENESEE FARMER. Aug. New York State Agricultural Society. At a meeting of the Executive Committee, at the Agricul- tural Rooms, July 8th, 1847— present, Geo. Vail, Presi- dent ; C. N. Bement, Vice President ; A. D. McIntyre, Treasurer ; B. P. Johnson, Secretary. Letters were read from Hon. Edmund Burke, Com. Pat- ents ; P. L. Simmonds, London, corresponding member of the Society ; J. B. Dill, .Secretary Cayuga Agricultural So- ciety ; Aaron Clement, Sec"y Philadelphia Ag. Society ; D. D. T. Moore, Publisher Genesee Farmer ; Hon. Adam Fer- guson, Canada West ; M. B. Bateham, Editor Ohio Culti- vator ; James Rees, Sec'y Oneida Ag. Society ; B. F. An- gel, Sec'y Livingston Co. Ag. Society, with an interesting account of the annual plow ing match, held on the 29th of May ; J. Delafield, President Seneca Ag. Society, with an account of the systematic effort making to arouse the farm- ers to a more thorough course of farming ; and from several gentlemen who had been appointed as judges for the ap- proaching fair. The President exhibited some very large and line spec- imens of Quartz, taken from his farm near Troy, which were referred to Prof. Hall, for examination, &,c. Col. Sherwood, late president of the Society, having become overstocked, offers for sale at his residence in Au- burn, on the 8th of September next, his choice herd of Short Horns. The original cows of Col. S. were selected from the herds of the late Patroon, Francis Rotch, Esq., of But- ternuts, and L. F. Allen, of Black Rock. An opportunity like the present to select choice animals, it is not probable will soon occur. The sale is to be without reserve. Pedi- grees of the animals can be had on application to the Secre- tary at the Agricultural Rooms, Albany. The committee would specially invite the attention of Breeders and Farm- ers to this sale of valuable stock. The committee appointed on the removal of the remains of the late Judge Buel, reported, That they had waited upon the family of the deceased, and presented the request of the Society ; and were informed that they highly appreciated this testimony of respect to their esteemed relative, but de- clined at present to have the remains removed to the Cem- etery. The President reported that he had, with the Secreta- ry, visited Saratoga Springs during the past week, and was happy to inform the committee that the citizens of Saratoga have organized their committees as requested by the Exec- utive Committee at their last meeting ; and that they are making arrangements for the erection of buildings and en- closing the grounds. Assurances were given that every thing required would be in readiness for the approaching Fair of the Society. The Secretary reported that he had, in pursuance of the directions of the Executive Committee, corresponded wilh the officers of the Railroad companies, and that the usual facilities would be furnished to the Society at the Fair. Articles and stock for exhibition to be transported free. — Visitors in special trains, at half the usual fore. Officers of the Society to be carried to and from the Fair in any of the trains at the same rates. Washington's Agricultural Correspondence, edited by Franklin Knight, was presented to the committee for exam- inatien, and they esteem it a very valuable work, and one desirable to be adopted as one of the works to be awarded as premiums. They could recommend it to the favorable notice of the officers of the County Agricultural Societies for premiums. DONATIONS For the library of the Society have been received— From the Philadelphia Society for the promotion of Agri- culture, 5 volumes of their Transactions. From W. H. Starr, proprietor N. Y. Farmer and Mechan- ic, 4 bound volumes, and the volume of 1S47, as far as pub- lished. From Hon. E. Burke, commissioner of patents, 4 copies of the Patent Office Report for 1846. From S. H. Terry, secretary of Rensselaer Ag. Society, several copies of the Transactions of the society for 1846. From James Rees, secretary Oneida Ag. Society, pam- phlet containing constitution, regulations, premiums, and committees for 1847. From Franklin Knight, New York, Washington's Agri- cultural Correspondence. Thanks were tendered to the respective donors. JUDGES FOR THE FAIR. The vacancies in the list, which was made at the last meeting of the board, were supplied, and the secretary di- rected to prepare the same with directions, &c., in pam- phlet form. The Judges are as follows : On Durham Ca«2c.— Effingham Lawrence, Flushing, Long Isl- and ; Henry Holmes, Washington ; Thomas HoUis. Otsego. Oil Herefords, Devons, and ^iyrcshires.—Lvmu<:\ Hurlbert, Win- chester, Conn. ; Fred. Ingersoll, On(?ida; Thos. Bell; Westchester. Cross-improved and A'atice—Richaid Griswoltl, LjTne, Conn.; Wm. Fuller, Skaneateles; John Budd, Greene co. fVorking Oifn— Sanford Howard, Albany; Jwi-ph Bennett, Ot- sego ; Hiram Clift, Onondaga. ii7eer»— John Boice, Homer; J. B. Dill, Auburn; Julius Curtis, Oneida. Fat Cattle— HiTSLUi Slocum, Troy; Thomas DcToc, New York; Lester Barker, Oneida. Milch Couis— Newbury Bronson, Wyoming; John Bathgate, Morrissania; Elias Cost, Ontario. Horses, Class 1 and 2 — Hon. Afiam Fcrgugson, Canada West; Theodore S. Faxton. Oneida; A. M. Clarke, Jefferson. Blood Hor,9es— Charles Henry Hall, Harlem ; John T. Cooper, Albany; Alexander O. Spencer, Wayne. Matched Horses and Geldings — SUas K. Stow, Troy; W. S. Stoutenbergh, Coxsackie; Barent P. Statts, Albany. ion? fVooled SAecp — Edward Halleck, UIstCT county; L. D. Clift. Putniim; Thomas Dunn, -\Ibaiiy. Middle Wooled Sheep— ¥i:a.xicis M. Rotch, Gt«fgo county; S. Wait, jr.. Orange; Henry Mesier, Dutchess. Merinos— Henry G. Tainter, Hampton, Conn.; Robert L. Rose, Ontario; J. L. Randall, Onondaga. SaioKs — James M. Ellis, Onondaga; S. C. Scoville, Salisbury, Conn.; M. Y. Tilden. Columbia. Sioine— Henry Rhodes, Oneida county; Martin Springer, Rens- selaer; Wm. Howard. Cayuga. Poultry— H. A. Field, New York; F. C. Mogc,?, Onondaga; Mr. Potter, New York. P/oiiis — John S. Gould, Columbia county; Edwin N. Hubbeil, Greene; Morgan L. Brainard, Oneida. iVa^ons. Harrows, ^-c— W. H. McCulloch, Gro(^nbush; Mathias P. Coons. Rens.selaer; Richard Van Dyke, jr., Greene. Farnt Implements, 4c. —T. A. Burrall, Ontario county; Benj. N. Huntington, Oneida; Hart Massey, Jefferson. Plowing Match — John McDonald, Washington county; Isaac TaUmadge, Rensselaer; Joseph Ball, Otsego; Leonard Bronk, Greene; Hiram Mills. Lewis. Butter — Israel Denio, Oneida county; Washington Putnam, Saratoga; John Bloom, Albany. CAeese — Joseph Carey, Albany; Joel Woodworth, JeffersOn ; Joel Root, Saratoga. Sugar— Robert McDonnell, Saratoga; George Tuckerman, Ot- sego; James M. Cook, BaUston Spa. Si7fc — Ebenezer Proudfit, Rensselaer; James Clark, Hncison; Henry Carpenter, Albany. Domestic Manufactures- OTyiH^e HuDgcrford, Jeflerson; Le Grand B. Cannon, Ren8,'iam may direct his negligent or unskillful neighbors to visit Mrs. McCoys. Her little garden is a perfect model of its size. Raising of Pea Nuts. — A correspondent of the Genesee I'armer asks ita editor whether Pea Nuts can be raised in this country? The editor says he don't know — but thinLn they can not. M'e can inform the editor and his correspondent that pea nuts can be raised here. The son of the editor oi this pa- per raised a small quantity in the garden last year, which came to maturity previous to the middle of September. — They were planted at the usnal time of planting in the spring, and ripened before frost without being transplanted. . This spring he planted a more extensive quantity, which are doing well. — Batavia Advocate. The editor of the Advocate, or his son, will oblige us by giving a detail of the process.— E». 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 197 The Cherry Plum. That remarkably early, very pretty, and very distinct little fruit, the Cherry Plum, better known, in some gardens in the United States, as the Early Scarlet, and in the collections of Eu- rope a-s the Myroholan, is perhaps deserving of a few remarks from us, and of more attention at the hands of fruit cultivators, than it has hitherto received. The Cherry Plum is not a high flavored fruit; it is only what may safely be called one of pleas- ant flavor. But it is, we believe, the earliest of plums; it ripens at a season when fruit of every kind is exceedingly scarce ; and it is quite an ornamental as well as acceptable addition to the in the month of July. The Cherry Plum. (Fig. 45.) This variety is a rapid grower, and soon makes a neat bushy tree, remarkable for the great num- ber of its small pointed leaves. It always blos- soms nwst profusely, but it is considered by many as a very poor bearer, and therefore rejected as of little value. It is on this point, that we wish to offer a suggestion of some practical importance. Mr. Samuel Reeve, of Salem, N. J., is the most successful grower of this plum, that we know; and the method he pursues, is worthy of attention, since he finds the Cherry Plum the most profitable variety, as a market fruit. Mr. Reeve attributes the usual non-pi*oduc- tiveness of the Cherry Plum, to the fact that it is inclined to too great a production of leaves and wood. He therefore Iransplajits his bearing trees, every five or six years. In this way, the over-luxuriance is checked, and an abundaiit crop of fruit sets and ripens every year. As he is able to send this variety to the Philadelphia markets early in July, when there are no other plums to be found, he usually realizes from five to eight dollars per bushel for them. This, of course, makes a plantation of the Cherry Plum more profitable than one of any other variety, unless, perhaps, we except Coe's Golden Drop, or some such fine variety, equally valuable, fi-om the usually late season at which it matures. We presume root-pruning, performed every two or three years, would answer the same pur- pose, in rendering the Cherry Plum productive, as transplanting, and it would be attended with less labor and expense. — Horticulturist. Culture of Sea Kale— ( Cr«/rtZ>e Maritima.) [in answer to J. TV., OF LYONS.] Your seeds may have been unsound. Soaking in boiling water for a few hours is better than cracking ; but if the seed be fresh, neither i^ necessary. The culture is quite simple. Any good, dri> rich, and mellow loam is suitable. The seed.?. may be planted as soon in the spring as the ground maybe in good working condition, and the weath- er favorable for vegetation. Your seeds, by being cracked and planted while tJie soil was yet wet and cold, may have rotted. The seeds may be^ sown in a seed bed, in drills a foot apart, and allowed to remain there the first season. The second they may be transplanted into rows two feet apart, and six or eight inches in the row^. Or, the seeds may be sowed in rows where the plants are intended to remain. The seeds ^ould be covered about two inches deep, and when they have made three or four leaves may be thinned out to proper distances, leaving the best pknts, of course. Some prefer the mode of planting in clumps, three or four plants to the clump, with space enough around each clump for walking and work- ing. Pots or boxes can in this way be easilv placed over the plants in the spring, to facilitate the blanching process, which greatly improves the quality of this vegetable for the table. In the fall, before heavy frosts set in, the beds shonld ?>e covered with a good coat (six or eight inches) of rotten ma- nure, and in the spring, as soon as the leaves begin to pu.sh. through this, the pots or boxes for blanching may be placed over them. The time to cut for use is when the leaves have attained three or four inches above the covering, and it should be cut at the surface of the ground, taking care not to injure the crown of the plant. It should not be cut till the third year. Those who can. not wait for the slower process of raising from seed can al- ways procure roots at the nurseries, that may be cut from the year after planting. Fifty roots, or thereabouts, will be found sufficient to supply an ordinary family. It is boil-^ ed, dressed, and served up like a^iaragus. 198 GENESEE FARMER. AUGo Exhibition of Hort. Soc" y of the Valley of the Genesee. "We present below, in a condensed form, the Reports of the Committees on the June exhibi- tion. The detailed Reports occupied three full columns of the daily papers. The Flower Com- mittee, in particular, deserve great credit for the faithful and efficient performance of their duties. The names of every contributor, as well as of every article, including the splendid collections of Wild Flowers, have been presented in detail. We have now hopes for the success and useful- ness of the Society. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FLOWERS. The Coramittee on Flowers, having carefully examined the great number of specimens presented for exhibition, would respectfully report : That they have awarded the following premiums for the best display of Flowers comprising the greatest varietie« : Miss Francis Ward, for best Floral Ornament, $3 GO Mrs. S. O. Smith, for 2d best do. 2 00 Mrs. Alonzo Frost, for 3d best do. Mrs. Loudon. Miss L. J. Whitney, greatest number and varieties of Boquets composed ofRoses, &c., $2 00 Miss E. Child, for beautiful collection, Mrs. Loudon. Mrs. W. B.Williams, " Miss Julia West, " '• Mrs. A. Gardiner, " " Miss S. Shaw, " " Mrs. J. W. Sawyer, " " Mrs. Geo. H. Mumford, " " Mrs. D. W. Powers, " " Mrs. Fitch, «f Riga, •' " Mm. C. C. Lathrop, " " Mrs. H. BJUing, for fine collectioB of Pansies, " NATIVE FLOWERS. Miss Rogers presented 66 species, Mr. Wetherell " 55 " Dr. Clark " 45 " all correctly named. Premiums on the above are to be awarded at the close of the year for the greatest number o[ species correctly named and tastefully arranged. NimSFRYME.V. John Donalan — Paeonia hfimeii and W^hitlejii, and a va- riety •f roses. Charles Powis, Mon.oe G:iidens — A pyramid of Paeonia, Whitlejii and humeii, Amaryllis formosissima. Ellwanger &. Barrv. Mr. i4ope Nurseries — One splendid pyramid oflx'o vnri<;ic5 oi roses, 6 feet high, measuring at the base about 9 feel. Four large boquets, consisting of the finest Roses, Pelar- goniums, Verbenas, Phloxes, Spiraeas, Deutzeas, &c. E. &, B. also exhibited the following Roses, separately, nnmed, in small vials: Hylniu 1'erpetual.s, 25 varieties; Perpetual, 5 vars. ; Provence, .'> vart-.; Hybrid China, 34 vars.: Moss Roses, 12 vars.; Hybrid Provence, 4 vars.; French Reses, 5 vars. ; Damask, 4 vars. ; Prairie Roses, 3 vars.; Ayrshire, 4 vars.; Boursault, 3 vars.; Scotfh. 3 vars.; besides Austrian Briars and other miscellaneous varieties. Also a handsome collection of Green House plants. The Committee would further report : That owing to the limited time for observation, they were unable to give a full report of all the varieties offered for ex- hibition. Your Committee unite in the opinion entertained by all present, that the Exhibition of Flawers, and particu- larly of Roses, far exceeded in quantity and variety any previous Exhibitions, and they hope that future Exhibitions will be equally deserving of the interest manifested in the present. Mrs. J. Wiluams, ") Mrs. D. .Scoville, Miss S. Shaw. ) CommUtee. G. H. Smith, | S. Thompson, Jr., J RErORT OF THE FRUIT COMMITTEE. The Fruit Committee beg leave to announce the follow- ing premiums : Stravobirries. — For tlic best quart, Jno. Williams, Esq.; variety, Hotey's Seedling, |3 00 For the second best,. Wm. Pitkin, Esq., 2 00 For the greatest number of varieties, (13) and t)«st grown, Isaac Hills, Esq., President of the Soc;ety, 3 00 nurservmen's class. The only nurserymen exhibiting were Messrs. Bissell, Hooker, & Sloane, who had nine varieties and were award- ed a Diploma. The Committee having power to award diecreiianary pre- miums for articles of merit, have awarded one dollar to M. G. Warner, Esq., who exhibited three dishes of fine well grown Strawberries, and the same to E. K. Blythc, Esq., for a large and beautiful dish of well grown Strawberries. There were a few Cherries presented just beginning to color, from Messrs. T. B. Hamilton and Ira D. Hall, and ripe Herefordshire Whites from Bissell, Hooker, & Sloane. In addition to those above mentioucd, fine spe<-inie»8 of Strawberries were exhibited by Mr. H. Leutweiller, and Mrs. E. N. Buell, of this city. The number of exhibitors were comparatively limited, but the specimens were per- fect and beautiful. Besides those exhibited at our former shows, there were in the collectioa of Isaac Hills, Esq., five specimens of My- all's British Queen, a large and fine fruit, and Stafford's 3Iammoth, a very large fruit from Ohio, but hollow and coarse. In the collec tion of Bissell & Co. , w ere a few specimens of Boston Pine and Black Prince, but not enough to pass a decided opinion upon — beautiful specimens of the Pine Ap- ple and Carolina Pine were shown by Wm. Pitkin. The Committee regret that a large number of fine speci- mens and collections around the f ity were withheld, be- cause it was rumored that others had larger ones. This is wrong. All friends of the society and of the progress of Horticulture should, in our stage of advancement, present all they have of even medium quality. This suggestion ap- plies with equal force to all fruit, and the CommiUee beg attention to it in future. P. Barry, ] A. Sawyer, i S. Miller. J CGmmittee, J. W. Bissell, S. MOULSON, J Buffalo Horticultural Socieiy. The June Exhibition of this enterprising So- ciety passed off admirably, as usual. We intend- ed to be present on the occasion — and while read- ing the following glowing account, from the Commercial, Ave regretted more than we had done before that oar engagements deprived us of such a pleasure : The floral exhibition of the Horticultural Socjety last eve- ning, was one of the most beautiful aftairs we ever attended, and reflected infinite credit on the oflicers and ladies' com- mittees engaged in getting it up. When it '\g recollected that the almost fairy scenes presented in the fioral temples, alcoves, chandeliers, wreaths, festoons, and other rich and beautiful designs which crnamented tlie hall, were begun and completed in about five hours — our language will not be considered extravagant. The displr.y oi hcKjuets was rich in the extreme, both in the taste in making up, and the exquisite beauty and rarity of the flowers. In the fruit de- partment were numerous rich and tempting plates of straw- berries, cherries, currants, &:c. — the strawl>erries in partic- ular, were very fine. Some fine fruit and flowers were ex- hibited by Mr. Mcintosh and Mr. Cable from Cleveland, and by Col. H. H. Coit, of Euclid, Ohio. Altogether, the June exhibition may be considered as an era in the history of our Bufi'alo Horticultural Society. We were pleased to observe that the attendance in the evening was large, and the bids at the sale of fruits and boquets, both spirited and liberal. When all was so tasteful and beautiful, it were im- possible to discriminate with justice. When the committee report, full justice will be done to all. How beautiful does woman appear among flowers — their white and red deli- cately blended on her cheeks, the former shining through the latter at every movement of her lips, their fragrance on her sigh, their purity in her heart, their delicacy in her very existence. No wonder that woman loves to breath the at- mosphere of ilowers, reflecting their smiles apd rivaling their beauty. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 199 LADIES' DEPARTMENT. [0= The rnlar^fimentof the Farmer enables us to resume the " Ladies' Department.'" We shall endeavor to give at least a page, and more if possible, in each subsequent number, for the exclusive benefit of farmer's Wives and Ihiughters. It will afford us pleasure to receive and publish short communications upon Domestic Economj', &.C., from those interested. m. Making Presenes. Currants, — Strip them from the stems. Al- low a pound of sugar to a pound of currants. — Boil them together ten minutes. Take them from the syrup, and let the syrup boil twenty minutes, and pour it on the fruit. Put them in small jars, or tumblers, and let them stand in the sun a few days. Currant Jellt. — Pick over the currants with care. Put them in a stone jar, and set it into a kettle of boiling water. Let it boil till the fruit is very soft. Strain it through a seive. Then run the juice through a jelly-bag. Put a pound of .sugar to a pound of juice, and boil it together five minutes. Set it in the sun a few days. Blackberrv Jam, — Allow three quarters of a pound of brown sugar to a pound of fruit. Boil the fruit half an hour, then add the sugar, and boil all together ten minutes. Raspberry Jam. — No, 1. — Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Press them with a spoon, in an earthen dish. Add the sugar, and boil all together fifteen minutes. Raspberry Jam, — No, 2. — Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Boil the fruit half an hour, or till the seeds are soft. Strain one quar- ter of the fruit, and throw away the seeds. Add the sugar, and boil the whole ten minutes. A little currant juice gives it a pleasant flavor, and when that is used, an equal quantity of sugar must l>e added. Pears. — Take out the cores, cut off the stems, and pare them. Boil the pears in water till they are tender. Watch them, that they do not break. Lay them separately on a platter as you take them out. To each pound of fruit take a pound of sugar. Make the syrup, and boil the fruit in the syrup till clear.— Mm Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book. Polishing, — The ladies are very fond of keep- ing the door knobs, spoons, plates, &c., in bril- liant order. Now, if instead of water and chalk and such preparations, ladies will use camphene and rotten stone, a far brighter, more durable, and quicker polish can be obtained that in any other way. Camphene is tlie article used for producing the exquisite polish of the Daguerreo- type plates ; and nothing has been found to equal it. Making Butter. — Mr, Wm. Merripield, of Guilderland, who received a premium for butter from the New York State Agricultural Society, in 1842, adopts the following mode for making butter : In winter, the milk stands in the cellar twelve hours ; is then scalded over a slow fire to near boiling heat, the pans removed to the cellar; the cream only churned, which seldom requires more than five minutes to produce butter, I can testify to the superior quality of Mr, M,'s butter, having been using at my table for some days a sample made in the way described, and which ie as high colored and nearly as rich as the best of June butter, though the cows were only fed with hay, and no coloring substance used. — Alb. Cult. Dairy Utensils. — All dairy utensils should be scalded, rinsed and dried every time they are used. Glazed pottery is not considered desira- ble for milk or cream, as the acid contained in them acts upon the glazing (which is generally an oxide of lead,) and converts it into an active poison. Vessels made of wood are preferred by many to any others, for this purpose; although they are liable to become tsinted with the acidity of the milk, in which case they can only be thoroughly cleansed by boiling; and when this fails, a little sala^ratus added to the boiling wa- ter will effectually neutralize the acid. The vessels must afterwards be immersed for two or three days in water, which should occasionally be changed. Milk vessels may be made of ma- ple, white ash, hickory, or white pine. — Se- lected. Green Corn Pudding. — The Louisville Jour- nal says one of the very best things ever brought to the table, in the pudding line, is green corn pudding, prepared according to the following recipe. Let every wife, who would like to sur- prise her husband by a rare delicacy, try it. — Take of green corn twelve ears and grate it ; to this add a quart of sweet milk, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, four eggs well beaten, pepper and salt as much as sufficient ; stir all well together, and bake four hours in a buttered dish. Some add to the other ingredients a quarter of a pound of sugar, and eat the pudding with sauce. It is good cold or warm, with meat or sauce; but ep- icures of the most exquisite taste declare for it, we believe, hot and with the first service. "A word to the wise," &:c. Try it. — SeL To DESTROY Red Ants. — As every house- keeper may not know how to get rid of these troublesome little intruders, I will state my expe- rience. Place a piece of fat bacon, or a pan of grease or butter near the place where they en- ter the kitchen or pantry. This will soon attract them together, when they can be easily removed, or destroyed by a little hot water. Thousands may be destroyed in this way in a few days. — Ohio Cultivator. *200 GENESEE FARMER. Aug. How TO MAKE Currant Wine. — Break and squeeze the currants; put three pounds and a half of sugar to two quarts of juice and two quarts of water. Put in a keg or barrel. Do not close the bung tight for three or four days, that the air rnay escape while it is fermenting. After it is! done fermenting, close it up tight. Where rasp- berries are plenty, it is a great improvement to use half raspberry juice, and half currant juice. Brandy is unnecessary when the above mention- ed proportions are observed. It should not be used under a year or two. Age improves it. — Mrs. Child's Frugal Housewife. We give the above in answer to inquiry of S. Training of Children. — The instruction of your children cannot commence too early. — Every mother is capable of teaching her chil- dren obedience, humility, cleanliness, and pro- priety of behavior; and it is a delightful circum- stance that the first instruction should thus be c-ommunicated by so tender a teacher. It is by L'ombining 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 children are early trained to be docile and obedient, the future task of guiding ihern aright will be comparatively easy. — Nich- ols. Several articles from correspondent are de- :%rred, for want of room, until next month. MAKKET INTELLIGENCE. Rochester Produce Market— Wholesale. Acknow ledgm«nts. Wi; continue, tliis month, our list of acluiowledgments — giving the names of those persons who have forwarded Z3 subscribers or over. It would afford us pleasure to add the names of numerous friends who have procured from 5 to liJ subscribers, each — but are unable to do f3r want of "ample room and verge enough." All, however, will please accept our hearty thanks for their substantial favors. Wheat,. $1 00 1 12 Corn, - Barley,- Oata, Flour, Beans, Apples, bush. Potatoes, Clover Seed,. Timothy, Hay, ton, Wood, cord,- Satt, bbl, Hams, lb, 63 50 40 5 50 75 87 50 4 50 1 50 2 00 9 0<1 2 00 1 06 7 Pork, bbl. mess 15 00 Pork, cwt., ... Beef, cwt., ..- Lard, lb., Butter, lb.,... Cheese, lb., .. Eggs, doz, Poultry, Tallow, Maple Sugar, . Lamb Skins,.. Green Hides, lb Dry CalfSkina, 5 00 5 00 8 12 7 9 O' The Wool Market is about the same as last month. Prices range from 20 to 40 cents. Rocheater, July 39, 1847. New York Market. [By Magnetic Telegraph.^ New York, July 00—7 P. M. Flour akd Mhal— Before steamer's news was received market firm at 5 75 for Genesee, and good demand for tilling contracts. Western 5 50 for strait brands. Steady demand. After the ad- vices per Waphington were received the market became unsettled and holders generally withdrew from the market. There were some sellers of Genesee at 6 25, and Michigan at $6, and buyers offered $6 for Genesee to some extent. The only sales are 500 bbls. western at $6 next week, and another small parcel Mich, at same liguro. A contract for 1000 bbls. Genesee was settled at $6,25. There was a fair inquiry, but an indisposition on the part of holders to meet buyers. Sales 400 New Orleans at $4,75. After chanfrs the market was tirm and meal was held up at $4 for Jersey. A sale of 400 bbls. was made before the news at $2,87 for western. Wheat was in fair demand before the Washington arrived, and pricee without change. A s;»le of 3000 bu. fair red Illinois $1,02; •2000 do New Orleans $l,20,and 600 or 700 new imported Genetiee, the first received this season, supposed at $1.31^;' for milling.— Com was selling before the news at 59 a 60 for heated, e2>i for mixed, and 64 a 65 for flat yellow, but holders afterwards advanced their demajid to 75 cts. for round, -70 cts. for flat yellow, and 66 a 68 ct,s. for mixed. The aggivgate sales of the day were 30,000 bu of which about 10,000 were sold after the steamer at 663-2 to TO cts. for flat yellow. Round could be bought at the close at 71 a 72 cts. Oats are more plenty and a cargo sold at 50 cts. In Rye nothing done. Sales 2000 bu. barley at 55 cts. The improved feeling in Pork continue*. Tendency upward. — Sales 600 bbla. at $12.50 for prime, $15.25 for mess. At the diose $15.25 was refxised for metis. Salos 500 bbls. old at 12 and 15 for prime and mesa. Beef without movement. In cut meat,s some- thing doing. Sales 108 t.w. and 100 bbls. hams at 7>ij' a 1% cts.— 63 tea. shoulders at 6V cts. Butter, fair demand. G. H. Arac. P. M., 30 ApoUus Kent. 16 .laoob Bover, :i5 J. Ladd, P. M 14 18 John Lew-.'!, 17 .'uo. F. Bai'u. r. 16 J. L. Lewis, 16 r. L. BeeU, 15 A. Langworthy, P M 13 14 J. W. Merrill, 30 (. H. Butterfield, 14 A. O. Melvin, 18 H. G. Buffum, 14 E. 8. M.irvin, 16 S. Booth, P. M., 13 Wm. McGown, P M 14 0. C. Comstock, Jr., 30 D. Munger, 13 H. H. Cole, P. M. •M C. Nye, Jr., li> A. Cleveland, Jr. 17 H. P. Norton, 13 1). Carpenter. P. M. Chas. Carter, P. M. 16 R. Northrop, 13 16 D. A. Ogden. P M 6.'> W. Churchill, 14 P. M. at Oxford, N. Y. 17 W. Chapman, P. M. 13 A. Oslx>m, (Ohio,) 16 P. K. Deyo, 17 Allen Payne, 19 L. S. Dudley, P. M. 14 R. K. Perry, (.Mich.) 13 R. Davis, 14 O. Robinson, (Canada,) 16 T. Donnellan, (Texas,) 14 J. W. Runyan, P. M. 13 Geo. Earll, P. M. (Iowa.) 17 R. Rockwood, 13 J. K. Kshleman, (Pa.O 16 W. M. Sprague, P. M .30 R. Edwards, 16 J. A. Smith, (Ohio,) Henry Swan, P. M 28 C. Fcnton, P. M. 14 '£i T. Foster, P. M. 13 J. D. Stone, P. M. 19 E. H. GUbert, bO L. Smith, P. M. 19 B. F. Gage, 13 C. C.Sutton, P. M (Mich 18 Ira Green, P. M. 13 S. G. Smith, P. M 16 0. B. Hopkins, P. M. 16 MUton Smith, P. M 16 C. HuU, P. M. 14 G. C. Spencer, P. M 16 C. H. Howe, P. M. 13 J. A. Stimson, (Mich.) 14 E. Jones, P. M. (TVlich.O 25 A. Scott, )'. M 23 J. L. Jenkins, 22 I. R. Trembly, 13 C. Jarvig, P. M. 14 N. Wesson, P. M. (Wia.) 19 Hervey Johnwn, 13 Wm. C.Ward, PM. (r». 14 Contents of this 3r umber. To Correspondents; Notices of Agricultural Books, &:c. 177 Cheese Dairies, ITS Ammonia, ^ 179 Action of Lime on Soila, 180 Plant more Trees; Deep and thorough Tillage,. 181 Hydralics for Farmers, 182 The Farmer, hia position. &c., 134 Fenoet) ; Hedges and Fencing, 186 Agricultural Education.. 187 Description and Illustrations of a Pennsylvania Barn,. 188 A New Term— Stercology, _: 189 Merino Sheep, 190 Comparative weight of Fleece and Carcass ; Early sow- ingof Wheat, 191 Hints for August ; Experiment in making Pork, 192 Agricultural Fairs for 1847 ; Soils and Timber ; HaJI at Wyoming, 193 New York State Agricultural Society, 194 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. Horticulture in the West, 195 Riiising of Pea iN uts, 196 The Cherry Plum; Culture of Sea Kale 197 Exhibition of the Horticultural Society of the Vallley of the Genesee ; Buffalo Horticultural Society, 198 ladies' depaftme.vt. Makiag Preserves, Polishing; Making Butter; Dairy Utenii's. ( reen Corn Puddinp, To Ueslroy Red AMb, 199 To make Cu'niat Wiae; Trainin-: of Childicn, 2(W Vol. 8. ROCHESTER, N. Y. — SEPTEMBER, 1847. No. 9. THE GENESEE FARMER : Isisued the Jirst of each month, m Rochester, X. I'., by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE, EDITOR. P. BARKY, Conductor of the Horticultural Department. To CorrespoiidPiits, CoMMPNiCATioKS have been received, during the past month, from S. L., Nathaniel Smith, C. N. Bement, J. Majlory, Arator, H., J. M., One who is willing to learn from tke experience of others, *, Geo. Vail,. Young Joe, J. Carpenter, A. C, Alvin Wilcox, John, A Subscriber. Correspondents whose communications do not appear in tliis number, are informed that their favors are on file for ptiblication or notice. We have a large number of articles on hand, and are consequently compelled to defer many of them from month to month in order to give a sufficient amount of seasonable and other matter. Silliman's Chemistry. — Few men have an equal oppor- tunity to acquire a critical knowledge of Chemistry with the author of tlie text book before us. A careful examination of the work enables iis lo speak adviseilly of its merits. For the use of schools we know not its equal. The explana- tions of chemical phenomena are plain, the illustrations abundant, and the arrangement of questions at the margin of eich page greatly faMlitates the teaching and study of the text. For sale by Erasius Darrow, Bookseller, cor- ner of Main and St. Paul streets, who has a general assort- ment of Agricultural Books. Notices of several Books and Periodicals deferred until next month— among others "Cole's American Veterinari- rian,"' an excellent work, published by John P. Jewett & Co., Boston, and C. M. Saxtox, New York. Hints for September. This is the month for seeding, and its prepa- ration. In the region where the fly has prevailed do not sow too early, and in no case before the 10th. Brine and lime your seed — a process that many object to on account of the labor and trouble, but it is an effectual remedy against smut. The following process answers every purpose, with little labor. After a thorough winnowing through the mill, put the seed in a heap and sprinkle over it fine salt, about a peck to 10 bushels, and then dash on wate.- Irom a small basin or cup till the brine shotvs itself on the floor. Shovel it over two or three times, and leave it over night ; add as much slaked lime as will adhere to the kernel, and if not moist enough ad ! more water. It is much sooner done than floating it in a tub of brine, and equally efficacious. If you sow late, or on soil liable to heave, put more seed to the acre — and if you wish to lay it down as a meadow, and not for a regular rotation of grain, sow your Timothy with the grain in the fall. There is no other certain method, as a dry May or June is fatal to spring seeding with that grass. Timothy is of very little use as a fertilizer, and is a detriment to the wheat crop — and is only to be tolerated, as sown with wheat, for the hay and feed it produces. Clover is the only cheap, natural pabulum for wheat f it contains nearly all the elements required to produce it. See that your fallows are well and perfectly drained. Do not trust alone to the plow; let the hoe and shovel be put in requisition to deepen and open all obstructions. So much wheat was winter killed the past sea- son that a great quantity of seed will be produ- c 3d ; many crops that we have observed, the grass seed, at ordinary, prices will be worth the most money. In those cases the threshing ma- chine, without the separator, should be used, or most of the seed will be lost. The kinds of wheat now preferred in this wheat region, are the Improved White Flint, Sovle''s, and Hutchinson. — A sample of either, compared with the trash that comes from some quarters of the west, is a caution lo Grahamites. The White Turnep should now be thinned out, if sown too thick, leaving the width of a hoe blade between each plant. If you wish thoroughly to eradicate all weeds from the Garden, now is the time to do it, as all the foul seeds have by this time vegetated — or if they again appear they have not time to ripen. Bud young trees immediately, and use in all cases well formed and well ripened buds, from large and well ripened wood, ^j^ 202 GENESEE FARMER. Sept. Dietetics. The philosophy of Eating is a much neglected, but very useful and interesting study. The legitimate purpose of taking food into the stom- ach is to supply the brain, spinal tnarrow, nerves, muscles, bones, lungs, liver, and other organs, with aliment appropriate to each tissue ; and furnish suitable fuel to be consumed in the sys- tem and keep u[) a uniform temperature of the body at about ninety-eight degrees. A large portion of the diseases which now so painfully afflict civilized communities, might be prevented by never eating nor drinking too mucli of any thing, and always giving to the circulating blood its appropriate elements in due proportion, to re- pair the constant waste of every part of the body. Animal life can only be maintained by the con- sumption of organized matter, which owes its or- ganism to vegetable vitality. If there were no plants on the earth there could be no animal>. The former alone are endowed with the power of organizing crude minerals, like salts, water, and air into food for animals. Tlie light and heat given out in burning 100 lbs. of corn, or other organized matter, were imbibed from the light and heat of the Sun, at the time the corn or other plants grew. No vegetable or animal sub- stance, whether consumed in the furnace of an iron locomotive, or in a locomotive , man, can emit a particle more of heat than was taken up and rendered latent at the time carbon, nitrogen/ and the elements of water were organized in the de^'elopement of the germ of some plant. In selecting the flesh of herbiverous animals, and the seeds, fruits, and tubers of plants, for human food, there is room for the exercise of much wis- dom in choosing organized matter best adapted lo meet the peculiar wants of the brain and nerves, the muscles and bones, as well as the breathing process, which often suffers sadly from sfimie defect in the fuel that should keep the hu- man locomotive in a sound condition and healthy motion. Our daily food should be carefully se- lected and prepared, with reference to the daily wants of each organ and tissue in the system. — It should never contain too much or too little starch, sugar, butter, or fat, nor too much or too 5ittle gluten, albumen, casein, or other substance that abounds in nitrogen, sulphur, and phospho- rus. Appetite, the senses of taste and smell, and instinct are worth something as guides in select- ing suitable nourishment. But these advantages do not supersede the necessity of cultivated rea- son, of science, in directing aright the nutrition of the human larain and nerves, which are at once the highest expression of organized matter, and the organs of feeling, thought, and con- science, the most liable to derangement. Weak- ness of brain and feebleness of intellect, as well as defective digestion, imperfact respiration, and muscular lassitude, pften arise from the use of improper food. Judicious exercise, or suitable manual labor, can do much toward imparting both health and strength to the physical man. But neither bodily nor mental toil can transform food which is constitutionally defective, into that which contains all the nutritive elements in due proportion. Physical labor is good for the great purpose that God designed it. It can not, how- ever, perform the function of enlightened reason. For the investigation of ti»e laws of health, and its preservation, that each bone, muscle, nerve, and tissue may have just what it needs, man's intellectual powers must be called into active exercise. Grind a bushel of wheat, and use for making bread only the very white, superfine flour, and you get little beside the starch in the grain, losing most of the muscle and brain forming elements in the "middlings." It is in the latter that the chemist finds most of the gluten, bone earth, sul- phates, and chlorides. As the stomachs of all the higher order of animals contain hydrochloric acid in some form, (one of the elements of com- mon salt,) the separation of this in bolting makes the bread of superfine flour likely to weaken di- gestion and induce costiveness. A little salt may remedy this defect ; but what will give to the blood the bone earth, and organized sulpliur, phosphorus, and nitrogen, which are indispensa- ble to repair the waste in the bones, muscles, tendons, membranes, nerves, and brain of the system ? A very little of the coarse bran may be removed without injury, but thecanel should be eaten with the white starch called superfine flour. In making cheese, nearly all the sugar of milk is lost in the whey. We are aware of the fact that the pigs or cows get this ; still we want every house keeper to know that two quarts of new milk made into a baked Indian, rice, or bread pudding, are worth a great deal more as food for man than the milk would be if made into cheese or butter. If most families would consume a little less butter and fat, and a little more sugar, molasses, or honey, the wants of nature would be better provided for. Be careful never to overload the stomach, nor weaken it by the presence of an in- digestible substance. Beware of mellons, green corn, unripe fruit, and too much meat, whether salt or fresh. Neither work too hard nor be guilty of the vice of laziness, under the pretence that you are sick ; but study at least two hours each day. Beware of all quacks whether homoe- pathic, allopathic, Thomsonian, or what not ; but trust much to temperance in all things, and dailv ablution of the whole body. Burdock leaves will cure a horse of the slav- ers in five minutes ; let him eat about two leaves. I have tried it niany times. My horses will always eat them when the slavers are bad. — Ploughman. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 203 Thorough Drainiag. irrigation. The Royal Agricultural Society of England is still urging the importance, and encouragieg the practice of deep and thorough draining of all moist lands. Pipes sunk two and a half feet deep were regarded as low ep.cugh a few years since ; but larger expetience lias denwnstrated the su- periority of drains four feet ft-om the surface. — With such a hydrostatic pressure above the open tube, one of two inches in diameter will carry off twice as much water as it would if a foot and a half rklgher up, or nearer the top of the ground. Few are fully aware of the great benefits that accrue from the removal of all stagnant water, whether above or below the surface of improved land. On all clayey soils, or those that have a bard pan subsoil, draining is found to be useful. If a farmer were able to irrigate every field when too 4ry, and drain it when too wet, it would add immensely lo his choices of always growing m©st abundant crops. Our hot summer sun and quite common lack of timely rains, render irri- gation of far greater importance in this country than in England. There are hundreds of small streams that might be turned from their natural beds at a trifling expense, and made to water and fertilize hundreds of acres. The govern- ment of Egypt is now expending some eight or ten millions of dollars in darning the Nile and cutting canals to use water for agricultural pur- poses. To carry it on to still higher levels, sev- j eral enormous steam engines are making in Eng- 1 land to be used to pump this indispensable liquid j to an elevation high enough to water thousands ! of acres above the high water mark of the Nile, i American agriculturists are in their infancy so i far as understanding the advantages of removing j all excess of water by draining, and all deficien- 1 cy by irrigation, is concerned. One half of the \ land now so poorly managed, if cultivated with i all practical skill, and attainable science, would | yield a nett profit twice as large as is now ob- j tained. Instead of striving to make every rod j of land yield its maximum product, the common j effort is to struggle to get tlie biggest farm in j the neighborhood or town. A broad surface isj coveted above all things. Charcoal. — Pounded charcoal, or the refuse of the heap, should be thickly strewed over every place where filth is allowed to accumulate. It absorbs the bad smell, and makes an excellent ma- nure of what otherwise would not only be useless but offensive. It also prevents the larvte of in- sects from becoming flies or moths. Pigs like to eat charcoal, and are thought to fatten on it ; and in the course of the summer months, 1 frequently have a bushel or so at a time thrown over the pen. It makes the manure so much more valuable that I find it worth while to buy it for the purpose; and in doing so the pens are never offensive. — American Agriculturiit. Analysis of Soils. —■ Agricultural School. Dr. Lee — Dear Sir: — I am favored with your note of the 9th inst., containing some of your views touching the establisnment of an Agricul- tural School at Pvochester. You do not over-rate the importance to the agriculturist of having correct analyses of the soil he cultivates, as I can testify from experi- ence. Had my different fields been analyzed for the past three years, and manured with ref- erence to the crops to be grown thereon, supply- ing instead of stable manure those inorganic sub- stances that were needed, it would have been hundreds if not thousands of dollars in my pocket. Please to consider me a subscriber to the amount of $100, or $500 should the latter sum be necessary, upon the terms specified in your note, and believe me Your ob't serv't, J. W. BiSSELX, Rochester, July, 1847. Mr. BissELL is the owner of a large nui-sery, a part of which is on land that lacks lime. He was not aware of this fact till he got the writer to analyze his soil. Of the mineral elements found in the bark of an apple tree, fifty-one and a half are j;w.re lime united to carbonic and other acids. In the heart wood the amount qf pure lime is over 36 per cent.; in the sap wood 18.63 per cent. Estimating this alkaline base with its associate acids, and more than half of the ash of this tree is lime.* If we remember rightly, Mr. Bissell inform- ed us that he had lost some 17,000 small apple trees grafted, choice fruit, on the land we exam- ined. Hence, he truly says, that it would have been hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in his pocket if he had been early informed by critical analyses just what his soil lacked, and his fruit trees must have to flourish in the same. Where lime exists in a soil in a free, available form lo the extent of one part in one hundred thousand, we find no difiiculty but labor to separate and weigh it. The following is the result of the analysis of a better sample of Mr. B.'s nursery soil : Water of absorption, 3.00 Organic matter, 5.94 Alumina, - 4,26 Oxide of iron, 3.56 Silica, 79.00 Lime, 1.50 Carbonic acid, 44 Sulphuric acid, 27 Chlorine 19 Phosphoric acid combined with alumina, iron, and lime, 17 Magnesia, 32 Potash and Soda, traces. Loss, 1.33 100.00 We thank Mr. Bissell for his good opinion * See American Journal of Agriculture, and Science, by Dr. Emmons, Albany, forApriU 204 GENESEE FARMER. Sept. and the generous offer to give from one to five hundred dollars toward establishing an Agricul- tural School. At first sight, there would seem to be little difficulty in raising !ft6,000 to pur- chase 100 acres of good land, as a foundation for such an institution. One half of our subscribers giving a dollar a piece, or 600 of them contribu- ting ten dollars each, would secure the object. — ]f a farm was purchased and held by trustees for a public institution, we have good reason to be- lieve that the Legislature would give $6,000 more to erect suitable buildings and place the school on a permanent basis. But they would hardly be justified to grant public funds to erect buildings on any man's private property ; nor will individuals be likely to give money lor such purpose. But the advantages of uniting the study of analytical chemistry and other sciences with practical agriculture are not appreciated. The popular mind seems not to grasp the immense benefits of giving to 100 young men the use of one acre each, to cultivate under judicious in- struction at school, and thus aid them in paying for their board and tuition, by having all that their best skill can produce, while learning both the science and art of agriculture. Men will not believe that any improvement in education on the common collegiate system adopted more than a century ago, is attainable. We have long contended that an important improvement in the education of farmers and mechanics is entirely practical — but what can one man alone do in opposition to popular prejudice, without capital sufficient to found an institution ? We have had no difficulty in getting pupils. The only •bstacle has been to get land and suitable build- ings for boarding, lodging, rooms for study, re- citation, museum, cabir et and laboratory. These necessary conveniences we never had. Nor can they be hired at any reasonable rate. The time will come when the study of the natural sciences that have a direct bearing on rural affairs, will be jopular in this state. They will be taught in all our academies, colleges, and high schools, as well as at institutions estab- lished on purpose to connect their investigation with the art of tillage, fruit culture, &c. But, before academies can teach analytical chemistry in its application to agrioulture, their teachers must obviously go into some Laboratory and learn the trade. And where can a Laboratory to teach practically agricultural chemistry be so cheaply maintained as on a good farm where students can work three or four hours a day at some healthful rural labor, and thus pay a por- tion of their expenses ? Who will deny that in- dustry and economy are important lesions to be taught to boys^ and young men ? We are right in this matter, but shall not pursue the sub- ject. J ' Don't forget to attend y^ ur County Fair, and become a competitor for the premiums. Salt for Plum Trees. Judge Cheever has called on us to say that he \\a^ lost three plum trees in consequence of putting salt rownd them. The trees were from two to three inches in diameter, and he used two quarts of salt to each. He was induced to ap- ply the salt in consequence of having seen it recommended as a remedy for certain diseases in.lUe i)lum tree, and as a piomolive, also, of their growth and thrift. As to the quan- ti y he tlwnghl he had seen it advised in the Cnltivator. — In this we think he must have been mistaken, as we can find nothing of the kind. Jn the Horticulturist for Deccr - her, is a communication from S. A. Shurti.eff, Rl. D., of Brookline. near Boston, in which he states that in the win- ter of 1839-"40, he gave each of his plum trees a " dressing of about tvvo quarts of salt." He was careful, however, not to put it nearer than a foot to the body of the tree. — The salt was that which had been used for pork, and he cautioned the gardner not to use the brine; but he, not- withstanding, did use aliout a gallon of it round one tree, wliich killed it. Dr. iS. states that he used .^alt in the same way the next season, and, as he thinks, with beneficial re- sults, so much so that he is " fully convinced that it is, if pro, er y and judiciously us(d, a sure preventive of both the fungus [b/ar/c hint or wart,] and thecurculio." We should be glad to hear.from others who have tried salt for plum trees, and hope results will be furnished fof the benefit of tl e public. It is in this way only that we can ascertain with certainty the specific operation of any substance. — Al- haiiy Cultivator. We beg to assure our friend the editor of the Cultivator, that all "specifics" are e.xtremely dangerou.s, whether administered to man, his do- mestic aniinals, or cultivated i)lants and trees. — A "specific," as salt for plums and quinces, a [nostrum, and quackery are nearly synonymous 1 terms. Certainly, all are not quacks that rec- ommend "specifics," as Mr. Downing does iron for yellows in peach trees, and as another gen- jtleman does com.mon salt for quinces, in the Au- gust number of the Horticulturist, whom its edi- tor endorses. We are anxious, as a matter of public good, that the conductors of the Albany agricultural and horticuhurcl journals should lake true scientiiic ground in regard to the feeding of all living things on the farm, whether animal or vegetable. Common salt is very useful to sheep and quince trees in very small doses ; but salt alone will make poor mutton, wool, quinces, or plums. Equal care, equal study sliould be cen- stantly given to supply every other constituent of the animal, or vegetable, as well as the chlo- rine and sodium of salt, — as well as iron to peach trees afflicted with the weakness called " yel- lows." We repeat the remark that, all "specifics" 3re dangerous remedies. Had Judge Cheever been told tliat common salt formed less than the twentieth part of the small quantity of ash or minerals in a healthy plum tree, he would have been more cautious how he used this mineral for the manufacture of the wood and fruit of the trees, to which it was fatally applied. Twenty- five years study and experience have taught us the proneness of the popular mind to adopt a sys- tem of empiricism in the treatment of all dis- eases. The splendid fortunes made by the deal- ers in nostrums or specifics furnish proof posi- i tive that the people really love humbug. For 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 203 the honor of rural science, we hope neither the love of money nor of popularity will betray our Albany contemporaries, unconsciously, into the ranks of those that foster and profit by the follies of the age. It is so much easier and pleasanter to sail with the current than to, grasp the laboring oar and roe with might and main up stream, for no other compensation than the consciousness of doing good, that not one in ten thousand is wil- ling to forsake the former and adopt the latter course. Hessian Fly — {CecidomyJa desfructcr.) Great complaint has been made this season of the ravages cf this well known insect. As the fly lives only some teia or fifteen days during the last weeks in September or the first in Octo- ber, if no wheat was up, and prepared as a nidus wherein to deposit its eggs, very few, if any, Hessian flies would be found in the spring. Un- til farmers shall come to some understanding, and make a common and simultaneous elTort to, destroy this insect, it will continue to increase, j Sowing a land in a field early, to furnish young j plants for the fly to work on, and then bury with the plow in the earth, both the wheat and the larvcE of the fly, will destroy countless millions of them. Late seeding is indispensable unless the wheat grower desires to propagate more insects than grain. No wheat sliould be sown before the 20th of September. One man may raise flies enough on a 20 acre field, sown in the first week of September, to destroy half the grain in a whole township the spring and summer following. — We have been surprised at the indifference with which many farmers regard the increase of in- sects injurious to their field and garden crops. — The annual loss to the agricultural intei-est from this source alone is many millions. The man that raises a large crop of Canada thistles, or of Hessian flies, injures a whole neighborhood by their spreading, as well as him- self. Plowing only once for Wheat. Many good farmers are adopting the practice of plowing both stabble and pasture lands only ®nce before seeding with wheat. The after cul- ture is performed- with the common, or the wheeled cultivator. Mr. C. H. Raxdall, of Portage, Livingston county, put in fifty acres last autumn with once plowing, which has turned out equal to any in the town at the recent har- vest. He plowed twelve inches deep with a stout four horse team in the first instance. Deep and fine plowing (by fineness we mean not running too far to land,) are giving larger crops with less labor than were raised three or four years ago. Every man sho«ld lime hi« wheat before he sows it; and instead of wetting the seed with simple water, it is better to use a strong brine of common salt. Those that believe in the doctrine that it always takes something from the soil to make 30 bushels of good wheat grow on an acre, will do well to try the experi- ment of applying 10 bushels of unleached ashes, a like quantity of slaked lime, 3 bushels of salt, 1 of gypsum, and 2 of burnt bones, to an acre of this grain. The ashes, lime, salt, gypsum, and bones, will contain all the earthy elements found in a good crop of wheat. Any time before snow goes off will answer 1 3 scatter the compost over the field. Some prefer to apply the ashes, lime, &c., at the time of seeding, covering all with the har- row, or cultivator. Seeding with Timothy after Barley. Mr. Editor : — Last year I sowed a piece of ground that I was calculating to lay down for meadows, part with spring wheat and the re- mainder with bailey, and seeded the same with clean timothy seed. This spring I began to no- tice that the grass on the barley stubble appear- ed to be all timothy — while that on the wheat ground was a mixture of timothy, small clover, and red top. When the grass came to maturity, another striking difference became apparent — the timothy on the barley ground grew thriftily, turning out a good swath and all headed out — while on the wheat stubble it was little dwarfish stuff"", very little of it heading out. Indeed the difference was so apparent that one would have supposed there must have been a difference in the seed, which was not the case. I think it could not have been mere accidental, at any rate I have come to the conclusion that by seeding with timothy after barley we can again raise it and make it profitable. I submit the above state- ment to your consideration, and if you think it worthy of notice, you will oblige a subscriber and perhaps benefit others by giving it a place in your columns, with your opinion upon the same. Young Joe. Groton, N. Y., Atigust, 1847. Remarks. — We are always glad, to receive short communications giving new facts on rural subjects. Barley exhausts the soil of the most important elements in the formation of perfect timothy plants less than wheat. Hence this grass will head out and do much better after the former than the latter crop. Return to the land where the wheat grew, all the straw in manure, and as much night soil as the wheat would make, and timothy will grow most luxuriantly. Be careful not to let any of the fertilizers that ac- crue from the consumption of the barley and timothy be wasted. And never forget that ashes, lime, gypsum, salt, and burnt bones well pulver- ized will make either timothy, clover, or wheat grow almost anywhere if judiciously applied. Ke-ep farm tools under shelter when not in use. 306 GENESEE FARMER. Seft. Blight in Timothy. Mr. Editor : — Within a few years past the farmers of Central New York have observed a blight in their meadows, particularly those of Timothy [Plihum ])ratens,) which has during the past season become very destructive, particu- larly .in the counties of Otsego, Madison, Che- nango, Cortland, Onondaga, and some others, I believe, and is becoming truly alarming, as it threatens to work great mischief to this highly valued grass. Having my attention called to this, I set myself about ascertaining the cause of this blight. On examination, the straw was found to be decayed just above the joint, some- times the upper one and sometimes lower down. By the naked eye no cause of this decay was perceptible , but by placing the straw under a good compound microscope a little insect magni- fied to the size of a honey bee made its appear- ance, and seemed so much at home that I did not doubt but the death of the straw was the result of his depradations. The animal, when you know where to look for him, may be seen by the naked eye, of a whitish yellow and about as large as a grain of Indian meal. When magnified, it is a perfectly developed insect without wings, having six legs, with scattering hairs on its body, and except its color, which is a light yellow, resembles a bee with its wings removed. It is easily injured by handling and therefore needs care in searching for it. The most natural conclusion concerning its origin, is, to my mind, that it hatched from an egg dropped down between the leaves before heading, and as the grass grew and headed, it remained between the stalk and leaf, where it in due time hatched and commenced its work of destruction. In some meadows it hatches and begins to work (for it must eat sometliing) so early that the grass does not head at all. This was the case in some parts of the meadows of A. N. Annass, Esq., of De Ruyter, Madison Co. The insect, to be found, must be looked for as soon as the head begins to turn white. But your next inquiry is, how can it be prevented ? This question I cannot answer satisfactorily to myself; yet if it is produced as I have supposed, its rav- ages might be somewhat mitigated by feeding off the grass just after the egg is deposited, if this time could be ascertained. It might be well to BOW clover instead of timothy, and then, if my conclusion is true, no danger of blight from this cause need be feared. I hope that future obser- Tation will put this matter beyond a doubt, and if possible devise a plan for preventing the evil. GiTUDON Evans, De Ruyter, Av^. 5, 1847. The wisest man may occasionally do a weak thing — the niost honest a wrong thing — and the worst of men will sometimes do a good thing. Hydra#€s for Farmers. BY e. N. BKMENT. NUMBLR !1. Monlgolfier's- Ram. — To Montgolfier, of France, we are indebted for the discovery, or rather the improvement of this useful machine — hence its name, Montgolfier'' s Ram. The belier hydraulique of Montgolfier was in- vented in 1796. Although it is on the principle of Whitehurst's machine, its invention is believed to have been entirely independent of the latter. But if it were even admitted that Montgolfier was acquainted with what Whitehurst has done, still he has by his improvement, made the ram entire- ly his own. He found it a comparatively use- less device, and he rendered it one of the most efficient. It was neglected or forgotten, and he not only revived it, but gave it a permanent place among hydraulic machines, and actually made it the most interesting of them all. The device by which Montgolfier made the ram self-acting, is one of the neatest imaginable. It is unique. There never was any thing like it in practical hydraulics, or in the whole range of the arts ; and its simplicity is equal to its nov- elty and useful effects. Perhaps it may be said that he only added a yalve to Whitehurst's machine. Be it so; but that simple valve in- stantly changed, as by magic, the whole charac- ter of the apparatus. Montgolfier's great improvement, which made the machine self-acting, was to substitute an out- let valve, shutting upwards in the place of the cock used by Whitehurst, which valve was weighted so as just to open when the water in the main pipe was in a state of rest. But the moment the outlet valve was opened by the weight upon it, the water then rushed out acquir- ed a power in addition to its gravity — the power oj its momentum — which was sufficient to close the outlet valve, when the same effect was pro- duced that was produced by the shutting of the cock, and a jet of water was thrown upwards into the smaller pipe, which may be called the " raising main." The water in the main pipe was thus brought to a state of rest, when the weight on the outlet valv.e was again sufficient to open it, and the water rushing out of it crea- ted again the momentum necessary to close it, when a further supply was forced into the rais- ing main and so the outlet valve kept constantly opening and shutting, or pulsating, as it may be termed, and a regular stream was made io pass up the raising main. An air-chamber was at- tached to the last, to produce an uniform flow of water, similar to that used in a common forcing pump. Bui the weight on the outlet valve was an imperfect contrivance, after all ; because if the head of the water varied, the weight required to be varied also ; and so long as the weight was the only method of making the ram self-acting. 1-847 GENESEE FARMER. 207 Fig. 4.) the machine did not get in- to general use, being found oftener on the shelves of physiological cabinets than on the premises of the farm- er. The late improve- ments of using springs and screws does away with the weights, and makes the hydraulic ram as nearly perfect as any other ma- chine for the same purpose. A small vacuum valve sup- plies to the air chamber, as well as to the air vessel, which makes the flow from the raising main uniform, enough air to compensate for that which the water absorbs, besides aiding the opening of the outlet or escape valve, by the partial vacuum consequent on the rebound or re- action. Montgolfier positively denied having borrowed the idea from any one. He claimed the inven- tion as wholly his own, and there is no reason whatever to question his veracity. The same discoveries have often been and still are made in the same and distant countries, independently of each other. It is a common occurrence, and from the constitution of the human mind, will always be one. A patent was taken out in England, for self- acting rams, in 1797, by Mr. Boulton, the part- ner of Watt ; and as no reference was made in the specification to Montgolfier, many persons imagined them to be of English origin — a cir- cumstance that elicited some remarks from Mont- golfier. The patent was granted to " Matthew Boulton, for liis invention of improved apparatus and methods for raising water." For the information of those unacquainted with the operation of the hydraulic ram, it may here be well to sketch briefly its operation. Explanation. — The head or motive column descends from a spring or brook A, through the pipe B, near the end of which an air chamber D, and raising main F, are attached to it, as shown in the representation. At the extreme end of B, the orifice is opened and closed by a valve E, instead of the cock in Whitehurst's machine be- fore described. This valve opens downwards, and may either be a spherical one, as in fig. 4, or a common spindle one, as in fig. 3. It is the play of this valve that renders the machine self- acting. To accomplish this, the valve is made of, or loaded with such a weight, or adjustment of the spring, as just to open when the water in B is at rest ; then as in shuUing the cock of Whitehurst's machine, a portion of the water will enter and rise in F, the valve in the air chamber preventing its return. Meantime the water in B has been brought to rest, and relieved APPARA'J'US FOR RAISING WATER.— No. 2. Monlgoljier's Ram. (Fig. 3.) for a moment of the pressure and rush of water, the pressure is insufficient to sustain the weight of the valve E, which drops, and re-opens the outlet hole at E, when the current is again put in motion, and acquires force enough to close the valve E, when another portion of the water iS8 again forced into the air vessel C and pipe F ; and thus the operation is repeated, as long as the spring or brook afibrds a sufficient supply, and the apparatus remains in order. This process, or pulsation, like the click of a clock, continues until accident or wear stops the working of the valves. The valves make from twenty-five to sixty strokes per minute. The machine is set in motion by pressing down the valve E, fig. 3. The surface of water in the spring or source, should always be kept at the same elevation, so that its pressure against the valve E may always be uniform ; otherwise the weight of E would have to be adjusted, as the surface ol' the spring rose and fell. As the eiscending column of water communi- cates with the air in the reservoir D, this would soon be exhausted, if a fresh supply or portion af the air were not introduced at each stroke of the ram. Thus when the flow of the water through B is suddenly stopped by valve E, a partial vacu- um is produced immediately below the air cham- ber, by the recoil of the water, at which instant the small valve B, in fig. 3, opens, and a portion of air enters, and aupplies that which the water absorb?. In small rams, a sufficient supply is found to enter at the valve E. Air-vessels are indispensable to the permanent operation of these machines. Without them the pipes would soon be ruptured by the violent con- cussion consequent on the sudden stoppage of the current of the motive column. The air be- ing elastic, breaks the force of the blows. This beautiful machine may be adapted to numerous locations in the country. When the perpendicular from A to the valve E, is but a few feet, and the water is required to be raised to a considerable height through F, then the !508 GENESEE FARMER. Sept length of the driving pipe B must be increased, and to such an extent that the water in it is not forced back into the spring, when the valve in E closes, which will always be the case, if the pipe B is not of sufficient length. Fence Making. Mr. Editor : — I began to build fence on the following plan 17 years ago, and it answers well. It is generally approved and rapidly getting into use. I first stake out the ground where I want the fence built ; then set or drive my posts about 18 inches in the ground, and then roll in all my big stones and place them so that they will not be over about two feet high. Then line the top of the posts and get the top of the fence as near level as the ground will admit, not over 4 a feet in height. 1 usually put on three boards, about six, seven, or eight inches wide, beginning at the top with the narrowest and put them about seven and five inches apart. All that remains to be done is to fill up under the boards with smaller sized stones, and banking the fence up te the boards with dirt. This should be well seeded with grass seed. Boards may be used 14 feet long, with one post in the middle ; or the boards may be 16 feet and two posts in the mid- dle. When the posts are well fastened in this way, I do not think capping pays the cost. Yours, Nath'l Smith. Gorham, July, 1847. Improvement in Hemp-Brakes. [We copy Uie following description and illustrations of an improved Hemp Brake from the " Farmers Library and Monthly Journal of Agriculture." It a matter which will interest, and perhaps benefit, many of our readers in the south and west.] John S. Skinner, Esq. — Dear Sir: — I send you the description and drawings of a Hemp- Gin, invented and recently patented by my broth- er, Franklin P. Holcomb, under the following oircumstanees : My brother, who is a civil engi- neer by profession, but possessing fine mechani- cal talents, was stopping with me at my farm, when I happened one day to be reading, from the Farmer's Encycloptedia, what Mr. Clay says in an article he furnished to that work on the subject of Hemp-Machines, which is'to the effect that no mechine had ever been invented, and he feared none ever would be, to answer as a substitute for the hand-brake. I told my broth- er that he owed it to the fact of his having been a farmer'' s boy to supply, if possible, this great desideratum to the hemp-growing interest ; and also expressed the opinion that we might proba- bly grow hemp here to advantage, if the break- ing and scutching could be done by machinery. He finally went to work at it, and I sowed a small quantity of hemp, wliich we water-rotted. This we got out with the machine. Still he did im- g, for .not think it perfect or right, and went on proving, and altering, and experimenting, _._ almost f.nother twelvomoiith ; and meantime I 'grew a tejond crop of hemp (or him. This we also got out with the machine, and had a portion of it manulactured into rope. And, finally, the great difliculty that liad troubled him so much — the waste in the scutching— was overcome, and v ewe gave 7 lbs. 14 oz. My sheep were thor- oughly washed. The man who bought my wool was much pleased with it, and gave me the top of the market, 37 i cts. per lb., cash for my en- tire clip. My flock consists of about 2§0, about half of which are pure bred Merinos of the Pau- lar kind, which 1 have bred from about 40 ewes and two bucks that I purchased from the most approved flocks in Vermont. The other half of my flock is a high cross of the common Merino on the native and Saxony, which makes their wool about as fine as my full blood Paulars, but do not give near as heavy fleeces. Now I say let every one make his own calculations, andi keep the kind of sheep he pleases. Very respectfully yours, Reed Burritt. Burdett, Tompkins Co., N. Y. July, 1847. Stone Rope. — A rope, nearly three miles long, now lies at Gateshead, England, which Was the other day a stone in the bowels of the earth ! Smelted, the stone yielded iron. The iron was converted into wire. The wire was brought to the wire-rope manufactoy near Gateshead, and there twisted into a line 4,660 yards long. It is the stoutest rope of the kind ever made. It weighs 20 tons 5 cwt. and will cost the pur- chasers $5,508. It is intended for the incline on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway near the latter City. A rope of hemp, of equal strength, would weigh 33 J tons and cost 1:1,400 more. 216 GENESEE FARMER. Sept. Ilecis from S. W., of Seneca County. THE WEATHER, CHOi'S, CflEESE, CORN, &c. Dear Doctor: — Our farmers are in the midst of their wlieat harvest; crop is hardly an aver- age. If you would lielieve the croakers, it has been more than half winter killed. The tropi- cal regionn might envy us our long hot days, and dry, calm, stilling, warm, short nights, during the last three weeks; corn can't grow in their 12 hour cool nights as it does here in our 8 hour hot ones. Now and then I hear an ignorant lazy farmer say that his corn is suffering for water — while all those who planted early and put fresh manure at the root, boast how fast it grov/s. I never saw the good effect of artificial water, made by the union ot the hydrogen of stable ma- nure with the air's oxygen, as during this hot dry ■weather. Had Ptetzholdt lived in our hot dry climate, he would have said less about burning vegetable matter for the benefit of its salts alone. As our seasons are, it seems to be indispensable to a good garden to spade in long manure every spring for its water forming agency alone. I believe that one half the benefit fruit trees in our climate receive from artificial manure, is from the water it forms during our summer drouths. Why is it that of all the trades and callings pursued by man in this country, farming is the one doomed to traditionary error, and the vaga- ries of the crazy moon? It is precisely the re- verse of this in China, for there the earth is im- proved to its utmost capacity, in the productions thereof; while the unwieldy Junk, now exhibit- ing at New- York, shows thattheir naval architec- ture is the same it was before the Christian era. Many a man has lost his labor, and a crop with it, waiting to plant in the new or the o]d of the moon. Three farmers out of five, will tell you that Indian corn will yield more with suckers on than off; yet actual experiment, at the same time, in the same row, proves that with the suck- ers off the ears form earlier, and that both ears and stalk are much larger. I have heard one farmer of long practice sav that sandy land should never be plowed deep, \ while anoth.er farmer whose farm is a very light sandy loam, says that his wheat failed entirely, until he commenced deep plowing, and that this alone has restored the foraier yield to his 'land. But if the economy of farming was committed to farmers' wives, I cannot but feel that there would be less stolid prejudice, and iriore of mod- ern progress in it— if I may judge from the adroitness with which some of them contrive to sell salt and buttermilk for butter, and the quan- tity ©f cream others abstract from their cheese. I defy organic chemistry with ils alkali's and acids to bleach a cheese so thoroughly of its oily coloring maftei', as some good farmer's wife has done to a heavy, well bandaged indi- vidual of the cosine family, lately imported here from Buffalo. 1 fear such frauds will be as long as our naughty, though thriftless coun- try merchants continue to offer their tempting merchandise in exchange for poor butter and worse cheese. I believe there are twice as many acres of corn in Seneca county this season as usual; with the aid of the present rain the crop is certain to be good. Prices of breadstuffs and provisions must be very low the coming season, unless there is another short crop in Europe. 'Tis true that the keeping open of the English ports until Feb- ruary, will induce larger shipments from this country as soon as freights fall to correspond with the fall in produce; but what market can maintain even moderately low prices, in the face of such an avalanche of produce as our great west is now growing to send forward. S, W, Walcr/oo, Sen. Co., July, 1847. "Slobbers'' in Horses. I WAS not a little surprised on reading, in vol. VI of the " Farmer," that the cause of this trou- blesome malady, (or whatever it may be called,) is unknown to farmers. I had supposed, and I still think, that the "Slobbers" were caused by the plant called by Botanists, '■'■Lobelia ivftata,'" generally known by the name of '• Wild Tobac- co," "ludiau Tobacco," &.c. It grows, accord- ing to the quality of the soil, from 6 to 18 inches high, is branching, hirsute; has a pale blue, ir- leguiar corol; capsule, or seed-vessel, bladder- like, i. e. inflated, whence its name "inflata;" has a sharp, biting taste, and if eaten causes tem- poi'ary sickness at the stomach, and generally a flow of water from the mouth. It is used by some physicians as an emetic. It generally grows in thin grass, particularly on poor soils, and appears in flower in July, about the time when horses begin to be troubled with the "Slob- bers." H. Fairport, July, 1847. Nkw Era in Navigation. — On the 20th May, a three masted schooner anchored outside Chica- go harbor, loaded with 10,000 bushels of wheat, with which she had cleared for Liverpool. She goes by the way of the Welland Canal and St. Lawrence. This is the first clearance of the kind ever made from the inland waters of the great lakes for a European port, and constitutes a new era in the history of navigation. To Relieve Colic in Horses. — Rub spirits of turpentine on the breast of the horse, and if he be drenched with it, also, he will be relieved. Horses should never be put to severe work on an empty stomach ; but more horses are hui-t by hard driving after a full feed, than by a full feed after hard driving. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 217 How to use Straw as ]\Ianure. Mr. Editok : — I wish to inquire of tlie wheat ^rjvving readers of the Genesee Parmer what, in their opinion, is the best and most econuniical mode of convening straw into maniire. ^\'hcn we iiave large quantities of straw, I con- c'eve it to be quite an object to tl e wheat grower to en- deavor to return it agiiii to the soil in the shortest possible lime, and in that way in which it will be likely to be most beneticial to the growing crops. 1 have observed that some farmers allow their straw to remain for years, in slacks or heaps about the barn, or other place when it was threshed, allowing their cattle to run to it at pleasure. Others per- haps will draw it out early in the spring, and throw it in heaps upon the ground which they intend for a f illow, let- ting it lay until they are about to break up the ground, and then spread the straw. Others again, as soon as the ground is sufficiently settled in the spring, draw their straw on to their fallow ground, and spread it as even as possible over the surface in order that the clover and other grass may sprout up through it, and before time for breaking up it will probably be so far roiled that it will not interfere with the plow. And again, there have been others so anxious to dispose of their straw in a summary manner, that -lliey have even applied the torch to it ; but 1 trust that in this day of agricultural improvemcBt there are few farmers but what know how to make a better use of it. I will here state the mode I have practiced for the last two or three years, not because I conceive it to be the best that may be adopted, but because I hope by so doing to get the experience of others through the Genesee Farmer, as I am comparatively a new beginner. At the time of thresh- ing I make a pen sufficiently large to contain my straw, and keep the fence up until the straw is all taken out, as 1 con- sider this to be a much better plan than to let the cattle run to it at pleasure, as in that case perhaps not more than two or three jf the most able ones will get any or but little if any ; besides there have been instances of cattle having bsen killed in that way, by having pulled out so mich from one side as to cause it to fall upon them. As soon as win- ter sets in, I commence cutting down my straw stack and throw it out profuse ly into the yard, once or twice each day. My object is two-fold— tirst,' to let the cattle and sheep pick out of it what ihey choose, which is no inconsiderable item towards wintering them ; and secondly, while so doing they are trampling the straw to pieces and manufacturing it into manure. J3iit, by the way, for the past winter I have sta- bled my cattle every night, giving them plenty of straw for litter, and I would just say to any who are not satislied that the superior condition of their cattle in the spring will pay for the extra trouble of stabling them — why, then, try it, that 's all. But to return. By the time winter is fairly through my straw is pretty much all under foot in the yard, and havin; become thorouglily saturated with tke rain and snow, is in process of decomposition. There I let it remain until after breaking up ray fallow, and just before cross plowing I haul out all my barn yard manure, including straw ; spread it as even as possible, and plow it in. Now I should like to know if, after the straw is in the condition described above, it will pay the extra expense of money and labor to purchase lime and leached ashes in order to make it into compost heaps — lime to cost ten cents per bushel, and leached ashes twenty- live cents per load ; the ashes to be hauled one mile, the lime four or five miles. By giving the above an insertion in the Genesee Farmer, you will much oblige. Yours, «5cc.. WebsUr, April, 1847. A. Rkynolds. Our correspondent's views in relation to the best methods of returning straw back to the land as manure, are generally correct. All that the barn-yard and stables will carry, should be thus used. Top dressing pasture and meadow lands in the fall with an evenly distributed and not too heavy a coating, is also one of the best methods of disposing of the over plus ; and a top dressing to wheat immediately after sowing, and especial- ly knolls, that are liable ta blow bare of snow, and low places liable to winter-killing, are won- derfully protected and benefitted. Such a pro- cess will in all cases add one-quarter to the crop. So important is it considered in England that the process is dignitied by the appelation of " Gur- neyism," (fee Colman's Tour.) Its distribution on meadows is objectionable when performed in the spring, as it will not become sufficiently packed and rotlen but what it will rake up with the hay. Burning is decidedly injudicious and wasteful. * Gates. — Every fiold on the farm should be entered by a good self shutting and self-fastening gate. How long does it require to take down and put up a set of bars 1 At least two minutes, which, if repeated three times a day for a year, amounts to thirty hours, or three days of working time — which would nearly pay for a good gate. Or, examii.e it in another point of view— three times a day is eighteen hundred times a year ; now is there any man between Halifax and Cal- ifornia who w^ould take down and replace a set of bars eighteen hundred times in succession in payment for a farm gate 1 Hardly — yet this is the price yearly paid by those who use bars thai are constantly passed and the gate is not obtained by it. Agaiii — how much better is a well hung gate, than one half hung ?— or one with a good self-fastening latcli, than one with a pin crowded into an auger hole 1 Try it by dragging a badly hung gate over the ground, eighteen hundred tirraes in succession, securing at each time with a pin, and see if you do not think tiiis labor would pay for good hinges and latch. To PREVENT Oxen hauling apart. — -Some oxen have a very vexatious trick of hauling apart when in the yoke. Mr. Francis Wingate, an experienced farmer at Hallowell, informs us that he prevented this in a yoke of oxen, by placing a small rope or line, a cod line for instance, across fronn the horn of one ox to the horn of the other, thus bringing their heads in some degree together. The line should be tied round the tips, which, if they have balls on, may be kept there very easily, and should be proportioned in length to the length of the yoke. If this simple remedy will obviate the troiable in all oxen addicted to this trick, it is worth know- ing. If the rope be tied around the tips instead of around the roots of the horns, they will have less purchase upon it, and smaller cord will an- swer the purpose. — Me. Farmer. Recipe for making Black Ink. — '^Two quarts of rain water, one half lb. nutgalls, three ounces gum Senegal (arable,) three ounces sul- phate of iron; soak the nutgalls in three quarters I of the water; the gum arabic in one half of fihe j remaining water, warmed ; the sulphate of iron 1 in the other half; let them stand in the several j vessels 48 hours, the*n mix them, and the ink is I made. This recipe was received from Dr. \^'eb- [ster, Prof, of Chemistry in Harvard Ufiiversity." 218 GENESEE FARMER. Sept. HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. CONDUCTED BY P. BARRY. The " Insect Blight " on trees is, in many sections of the country, prevailing to an alarm- ing and quite unusual extent. Up to the present moment it has dealt out more destruction, this season, than in the whole course of the last sev- en years put together. We have watched the manner and progress of its attack, and battled with it from day to day for nearly two months past, and yet feel utterly unable to say a word more satisfactory in relation to it than what has already been said in the Farmer and elsewhere. The apple, pear, quince, crab, and even the walnut and hickory in the forest, have all suffer- ed. We have seen several orchards that seemed as though they had been scathed by lightning, and some persons have attributed it to that cause. We first noticed it here in the latter partof IVIay, just when the apple was passing out of bloom, and when the fruit were just formed. And now (July 26,) it seems not to have abated a whit. — It has followed up its attacks on some trees, par- ticularly the pear, which is most susceptible, un- til they are cut nearly to the ground, and not a few are entirely killed. This is what is gener- ally known in this section of the country as the " Fire Blight," and there is no doubt on our mind but that it is solely produced by some mi- nute venomous insect, the sting of which is as (»oisonous to the juices of the pear tree as the bite of a rattle snake is to the human body. On its first appearance with us this season, the fruit spurs on both apples and pears were first affected. Suddenly we observed them turn black, as if killed by a severe frost, and on cutting them away we found the branches bearing the spurs to be black and dying for several inches, in some cases a foot, below the first point of attack. Im- mediately afterwards the attack was began on the extremeties of the young, newly formed wood. If these were instantly cut away, perfect- ly clean, below the affected part, its progress was arrested ; but if not cut, it proceeds down the branch into the old 'vood. In the apple, quince, and crab it usually stops after it has proceeded a foot or so below the first point affected ; but in the pear it seems to pass downward with great rapidity, until the whole tree is dead — producing as it goes along nearly all the symptoms and in- dications attributed to the frozen sap Might, of which much has been said at the west. The sap becomes brown and thick, the bark cracks and blackens, and in spots appears burnt and hard as iron. We have just examined trees, to-day, dying in this way, despite all efforts to save them. — One limb after another was attacked and cut away, until it finally reached the trunk, and then all is lost : the destruction is complete. These trees we know were not affected by frost. In the month of June they were as healthy as trees could be, standing on hard dry land, with welt ripened firm wood. Among them were a Seckel, a Pttsse Colmar, a Steven's Genesee, a Pound, and a St. Ghislain. It is worthy of remark that here, this plague has operated mainly on large bearing trees. In close proximity to these trees we have mentioned as seriously affected, stood thousands of young nursery trees, pears, apples, quinces, &c., from one to three months old, and so far not one is affected, more or less. It is further remarkable that it prevails in certain sections of the country, in certain neighborhoods, and in particular spots in the same orchard, to a much greater extent than in others. We have seen some orchards and gardens where not a tree escaped — others at hand of these that escaped entirely in certain sections. Syracuse, for in- stance, it has been remarkably destructive in — others it has not even appeared. The insect we believe to be gregarious, like the locust, and that it operates mainly in the night. We are led to this opinion from having noticed one morning, quite early, part of a row of very thrifty young quinces that had apparently just been operated upon. The evening before, there was not a symptom of any blight to be seen on them, nor in a large 25 acre lot where they grew. Now some 30 or 40, all standing in the same row, were attacked at once; the ends of the shoots were drooping, and the leaves and wood of the affected ones were sprinkled with large drops and globules, from the size of a pea to a pin's head, of a whitish, thick, viscid fluid, which we found soon dried up in the sun, to a small brown globule. The affected branches, too, in a few hours became black as though burnt, as is usual with the blight. We have watched close- ly, by day and night, for the insect, but have not, so far, found the one which we believe commits the mischief. We can not for a moment believe that it is caused by the Scolytus Pyri spoken of in Harris' "Treatise on Insects." We have had branches examined by a powerful microscope and no trace of an insect on the pith or interior could be found. We have thus given a few facts as we have found them, for the purpose of directing attention 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 219 to the subject. We hope that persons possessing Since writing the above we have reason to be- the requisite leisure and ability will spare no ef-|lieve that we have made some approach to find- fort in the endeavor to trace out the true cause { ing out the true cause of the "blight," — but have of this monstrous plague of fruit trees. | not room for further remarks this month. (Fig. 50.) The Double Crimson Carratit. Double Crimson Currant. This new and beautiful hardy Shrub was noticed in the Horticulturist a short time ago. We now copy the following description and figure from that journa,l, as it will be inter- esting to those of our readers who are form- ing collections of really choice and rare ornamental things : "This new and charming variety of the Crimson Flowering Currant, is a seedling, raised in Scotland, from R. sanguineum, by Mr. David Dick, gardener to the Earl of Selkirk. It is but just introduced into this country, but since, like all the Currant genus, it is very easily propagated by cuttings, we hope speedily to see it in every good collec- tion of shrubs. The blossoms are larger than those of the the single variety, the racemes from three to six inches in length, and the effect of the shrub, when laden, in spring, with these fine pendant blossoms, is very rich and striking. Its flowers open, according to Paxton's Mag- azine, about three weeks later than those of the parent species. Ribes sanguineum, north of New York, should be planted in a somewhat shaded situ- ation— on the north side of walls or buildings, or in places where it is partially shaded by evergreens. In such sites, it is perfectly hardy. It is quite likely that this double va- riety, being a Scotch seedling, will prove perfectly hardy with us in any situation." The Red Astrachan Apple This is an early fruit, of unsur- passed beauty and excellence. It is said to have originated at or near the city of Astra Khan, or at least in the Province of that name, in Russia. — It has for many years been cultivated in European and American collec- tions to a limited extent, but remains •at this day unknown to three-fourths of our fruit growers. The tree is remarkably vigorous, with firm upright habit — foliage very large, doubly serrated, and whitish beneath, with long foot-stalks, tinged with red at the boUom. It is distinct in its appearance, and the eye soon becomes able to distinguish the tree from all others. The fruit is at once known by its rich crimson color, spread over with a delicate white (Fig. 51.) Ihe Re in Wyoming County. — A late number of the Westcra New-Yorker, published at Warsaw, says: — "The whole num- ber of sheep in our county two years since was about one hundred and ninety-three thousand six hundred and four. The amount is now probably 10 per cent. more. The town of Middlebury then had -21, .560; Perry 19,784; Covington 15,- 988; Attica ir>,777; Pike 18,.538; Warsaw 1.5,- 735; &c. All the remaining towns a less num- ber. The whole number of yards of woollen goods made at the different factories is set down at 65,518; value of manufactured articles -$51,- 358; value of raw material used .'S>23,880. The factory of Utter, Day & Co., located in this town, manufactured nearly 26,000 yds. of cloth, and used about •'§9,000 worth of raw material. — Our markets for wool have been many this sea- son. Attica, Wyoming, Warsaw, Gainsville, Pike, Perry, &c.; besides much of the wool, in the eastern part of the county has found a mar- ket at Geneseo; and north of us some have sold lo buyers from Elba, Genesee county. There has been at the lowest estimate, (and it proba- bly exceeds this,) 500,000 lbs. of wool sold this se:"ison by the farmers of our county. Admitting the sales to average 28 cents per lb. which will hot vary much, if any, trom that, the amount of money paid out for wool will be one hundred andforlfi thousand dollars. A nice little sum to be scattered broadcast over our county." MARKET INTELLIGENCE. Rochester Produce Market— Wholesale. Wheat, %\ 06 Corn, Barley, Oats Flour Beans, Apples, bush, Potatoes, ClovtT Seed,. Timoihy, ilay, ton, W^ood, cord,- Sait, bbl, Tlums, lb, 50 44 31 5 25 75 12 81 4 50 1 50 8 00 2 00 1 19 8 1 09 53 33 f!7 37 2 00 10 00 3 00 10 Rochester, Aug. 28, 1847. Pork, bbl. niess 15 00 Por Beef, cvvt., Lard, lb., Butter, lb.,... Cheese, lb., .. Eggs, doz, Poultry, Tallow, Maple Sugar, . Lamb Skins,. . (Jreen Hides, lb Dry Calfskins, ... 4 5!J 3 00 9 5-00 4 00 10 14 (i A New Mode of Preparing Cream for Chtjrning. — When cream is being collected for churning, as soon as the first skimming is put in- to the vessel, add at the rate of half a pint of vin- egar to each gallon of cream. Suppose you churn six gallons at a time, and collect only one gallon per day, put si.x: half pints of vinegar in the ves- .sel, at once, to the first day's cream, and so in pro- portion to any other quantity. Let all the vin- egar for the whole churning be added to the first collected cream. I had this from a friend who supplies a large quantity of butter of the best quality to one of the crack shops at the west end. — Gardeners'' Cronicale. Mince Pies. — Boil a beef heart gently in water till very tender ; then fake it out, and chop it very fine; add to it enough common molasses to moisten it ; plenty of spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. Put it in a stone pot, and keep it in a cold place. It will keep all winter, and make richer pjes than when first prepared. Other pieces of beef will do instead. To Cure Warts or Corns. — Take the yolk of an egg, thicken it witli fine salt, which apply as a poultice at night, leaving it off in the morn- ing. Thus continue for two or three nights, un- til the part alFectod bears a whitish appearance, then leave it off entirely, and the wart or corn, it is said, will come out, root and branch. Bfe-»v Yorlt Market. [By Magnetic Telegraph.] NEW YORK, August 27-7 P. M. Fi.ovR AND M EAi^-The demand has been good —the market steady . P'resh Genesee is selling at $5 75 a 5 87% : Oawego 5 69, according to brand. Mich. $5 50a5 62J^. Kound hoop in less demand, steady at $5 50 a 5 87'^. Reseipts about 1200 bbls. Sales are 6 to 65C0. including 3000 Oswego at $o &Z}i : 2500 Genesee at 5 75 ; 800 brls sour flour at 4 37 a 4 56. Mciil steady at $2 62)< a 2 87>2'. Rye tiour 4a4 25. Ghain— Inquiry continnes good for wheat. Quotations steady. Sides 2000 bu. Genesee at $1 30 ; good do mixed Ohio at 1 20 : 4000 do fair red western at 1 15. and 4000 do inferior at 1 05 a 1 07, all for milling. Com not very_ active, but the tendency of the market is upward. Sales 25.000 at 73 a 74 for mixed. 75 a 76 for nearly yellow and flat yellow, and 77c for round yeUow. Rye- demand good. Sales 7 or 8000 bu at SOc. for new to arrive, and 9"! a'JZa for old on the spot. A small sjile of barley at iiOc. Oats are lower, New Northern 48 a 50. Old 53 a 55. S-ales 1600 bis mess beef for government pur- poses, about $13. 500 bis good lard 10';,' a lO.V— 400 packages Ohio butter ll'j a 13c. Pork heavy. E;.:glish Linseed Oil sold at 65o. 50 bLs clover 7%. timothy 16a-18.— Flax seed 1 40k'. 5000 lbs Gin- seng 32 a 33. 4O00 lbs beeswax 34c. 2500 bis Whiskey 28>4 a 28>i. Market didl. Sugar V to .^j of a cent lowt r. on low grades, and ."^c on sugar grades. — Low qualities of molassf>s 2c cheaper. Higher grades steady. Coffee steady. Sterling firm. 6% a 7. Freights ls6d and 7d to Liverpool. AsHF.s— Market is steady ; $5. 5 25 for pots. Contents of this Number. To Correspondents ; Notice of Silliman's Chemistry ; Hints for September, 201 Dietetics, 202 Thorough Draining — Irrigation; Charcoal; Analysis of Soils — Agricultural School, 203 Salt for Plum Trees, 204 Hessian Fly; Plowing only once for MTieat ; Seeding with Timothy after Barley, 20S Blight in Timothy; Hjdraulici for Farmers, No. 2,... ^0 i Ill(i.slrations of Montgoliier's Kam, 207 Fence Making ; Improvement in Hemp Brakes, 208 lllustraiions, iitc. of Holcomb's Hemp and Flas Gin,.. 209 Farming, &c., in the West, 210 Deep Plowing; Soaking Seed — The '• Farmer," Black and While Paints ; Medicine for Hog.«, 211 Mr. Vail's Premium Cow "Lady Barrington 3d," 212 Fair of the State Ag. Society; Fairs for 1847 ; Winter Killed Wheat, 213 Lstteis from Chautauqu — Vgricultural Geology, &c.. 214 Saxon and Merino Sheep; Stone Rope, 215 Items f.om S. W. of Seneca County; Slobbers in Hor- ses; New era in navigation; To relieve colic in horses, 21G How to use Straw as Manure; Gates, to prevent Oxen hauling apart ; Recijje for making Black Ink, 217 HORTICULTURAl. DEPARTiMENT. The Insect Blight, 218 The Double Crimson Currant, (illustrated ;) The Red Astrachan Apple, (figured,) 219 Strawberries; Horticultural Societies and Exhibitions, 220 Notice of the '• Fruits of America;" The Paradise Ap- ple Stock; Acknowledgments, 221 Protection of Fruit Trees against late Frosts ; Experi- ment in Budding. 222 ladies' department. Cheese Making ; Recipe for making Yeast ; Baked Fish, 223 Vol. 8. ROCHESTER, . N. Y. — OCTOBER, 1847. No. 10. THE GENESEE FARMER : Issued the first of each mcnith, in Rochester, N. Y., by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE, EDITOR. P. BARRY, Conductor of the Horticultural Department. Study the Soil. — Magnesia. In former articles under the heading " Study the Soil," we have noticed silica, (pure flint sand,) alumina, iron, and lime. We now ask attention to a ^ew remarks on the alkaline earth called magnesia. This mineral is found in the ashes of all, or nearly all, cultivated plants ; and exists in the blood and lean meat of animals as well as in their bones, in the form of a phosphate, but in a much smaller quantity than phosphate of lime. The magnesia found in soils is mostly derived from a rock, technically called dolomite, which is a magnesian limestone. Where the propor- ; tion of magnesia is large, and the rock near the ' surface, the soil is apt to be wet, and very sterile, j This is particularly the case in some places in England and Germany. The free use of burnt lime has often proved injurious, from the cir- cumstance of its containing more magnesia than -can be safely applied to soils and crops at once. All the salts of this mineral, unlike those of lime, are extremely soluble, except the carbonate. — It is in this form that all sedimentary magnesian rocks are found. Rocks of an igneous origin, i. e., those that have been melted in volcanic iire, or something of the kind, which contain magnesia, present it to the chemist, not in the form of a carbonate, but a silicate of that base. Serpentine and talc (minerals of a volcanic ori- gin,) are nearly pure silicates of magnesia. In hornblende and augite, (minerals of a plutonic or granitic origin,) we find a considerable amount of the same compound. The student (and are we not all students ?) who desires to learn something more of agricul- tural geology, will not take exceptions to the introduction of such terms as hornblende, augite, serpentine, and talc, when he is informed that it is from the slow decomposition of these crys- talline rocks, througli the agency of carbonic acid in the atmosphere, aided by frost, rain, and electricity, that all stratified rocks of carbonate of magnesia and of lime are produced. The sil- icates of lime, potash, and soda, are decomposed by the same atmospheric agents which decom- pound the silicate of magnesia. Hence, almost all limestone rocks contain more or less carbon- ate of magnesia. Stratified sandstone is the sili- ca with more impurities, separated from the alkalies and alkaline bases in granitic rocks. Both Liebig and Boussingault suggest that magnesia will perform the function of lime in the economy of plants ; and hence, if a soil is found to possess a fair supply of either alkaline earth, the other need not be applied. With due deference to these distinguished names, we must say that this idea of the isomeric* character of lime and magnesia in building up the organized tissues of vegetables and animals, is not well founded. Those excellent chemists have failed duly to consider the important fact in animal physiology, that the phosphate of magnesia never serves as a substitute for bone earth. Hence, if cultivated plants could grow and perfect their seeds without lime, using magnesia in its stead, all such plants and their seeds would be worse than useless as food for man and his domestic animals. The truth is that, Nature furnishes and uses both phosphates, but more of the salt of lime than of magnesia. When we study rocks, soils, and plants, with reference to their agricultural value, we must never omit to consider the various elementary bodies which Providence has appointed to form the whole system of a healthy liuman being. — All authors with whom we are acquainted, that have written on agricultural geology and chem- isty, have failed in this respect. Dr. Sprengel, whose analyses of plants are the frame work of * Isomeric. — In chemistry it is one substance that can ex- astly fill the place and office of another. 226 GENESEE FARMER. Oct. Prof. Johnston's excellent Lectures on Agri- cultural Chemistry, found that the sulphate of magnesia and the sulphate of lime had precisely the same etiect on a variety of crops ; and in- ferred that the one salt might be used in all cases as a substitute for the other. Had Dr. S. stopped to consider how different must be the operation of an ounce of epsom salts (sulphate of magne- sia) from a like weight of gypsum in the stomach and bowels of a man, he would have discovered the error of his opinion in regard to organising food for man. The sulphur in epsom salts is quite as good for peas or clover as the sulphur in gypsum. But the magnesia of the former can not do the work of the lime of the latter. In the September number of the Albany Cul- tivator, Mr. Howard, its editor, notices the soil of a farm belonging to Mr. Johnston near Geneva, which effervesces with acids, and is supposed to abound in lime, and yet it is much benefited by the use of burnt lime. It is not im- probable tliat this soil, on analysis, will be found to contain more carbonate of magnesia than lime; and that the foaming on the application of a strong acid, is owing rather to the decomposition of the former than the latter mineral. Caustic lime possesses properties and exerts influences which do not belong to the natural mild carbon- ate. We should like to examine that portion of Mr. J.'s field to which no lime Wcis applied, in his interesting experiment. The circumstance that wood ashes produce little or no good effect on this farm, seems to indicate that the soil is either quite clayey aud wet, or that it abounds in all the mineral elements of maple, oak, and hickory, as well as of clover, wheat, corn, and potatoes. We have helped to clear a good deal of land, and have seen thousands of acres of vir- gin soil yield their first harvest ; and do not now recollect ever to have found the place where a log heap was burnt, and more or less ashes left on the ground, that did not give a little larg- er wheat, rye, corn, oats, clover, or timothy, than grew elsewhere in the field. There are exceptions to all, or nearly all, general rules. But, as wood ashes contain about the same amount of the salts of magnesia which ordinary crops require, we do not hesitate to recommend their application to meadows, pas- tures, and tillage lands, to supply the magnesia taken oft' in hay, grain, milk, and the urine and dung of animals, v/hich are foolishly wasted. — Being very soluble, the' salts of magnesia are extremely liable to dissolve in the water that falls in rain and snow, "and pass with it into the Atlantic ocean. Prof. Johnston says that 100 parts of its water contain 3 J of epsom salts (sul- phate of magnesia. ) So soon as we get our canals and railroads completed, and all the boys that read the Gene- see Farmer grow up to be men, and know just what is required to form every crop, old Ocean will be called on to give back the cream of con- tinents and islands, which a thousand rivers for indefinite ages have never for a moment ceased to pour into her bosom. A few fish, oyster and clam shells, a little guano, and other fertilizers, will not meet the wants of the rapidly augment- ing millions of our race. The water of the ocean must be evaporated and its salts carried back to the cultivated fields from which the rains of heaven wash so many millions of tons in the course of time. How much magnesia and other elements of wheat, think you, kind reader, the Genesee River has poured into the basin of Lake Ontario, to flow thence into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, within the last ten thousand years ? Every gallon of the water of this river contains an appreciable quantity of magnesia. The whole Onondaga Salt Group abounds in this mineral. Some of the wells in this county furnish epsom and glauber salts enough to physic strangers not accustomed to the use of their saline liquids. By irrigating his meadows with the water of the river Sauer, M. Boussingault was able to take off in hay annually, without injury, the fol- lowing minerals : Phosphoric acid, 1254 lbs. Sulphuric acid, 627 " Chlorine,. 602 " Lime,.. 4155 '' Magnesia, 1672 ' ' Potash and Soda, 5456 " Silica, 7312 " The hay was fed to beasts fattening for beef, and the above minerals were carefully saved in the shape of manure, and made into wheat and other grain, which were sent annually to market. Without the salts from the Sauer the system could not work ten years. Most of the salts of magnesia contained in the food of animals escape from their systems by the urinary passage. "Lime Mania." The attentive reader of this journal will rec- ollect that we commented, in the August number of the Farmer, on some remarks in the Massa- chusetts Ploughman on the action of ?me, and asserting its small value as a fertilizer. That journal copies what we said and makes the following reply under the heading — '■'■ JAme m Mania : " I Such are the arguments that are relied on fo prove that I lime is the most important article which a farmer can pro- » cure for his fields 1 It will be seen that the writer docs not attempt to prove ^ that lime hastens the decomposition of othT materials (a 1 position which most of the advocates of lime assume) but f asserts that " no other clement, &,c., has been so generally « and so successfully used ns a fertilizer, both in this country '* and in Europe, as this same mineral calledUme" This we utterly deny, and should like to have some evi- dence of it before the writer proceeds any farther. Can the Genesee Farmer pretend that lime has been more generally applied and wiili more success to enrich lands than the ex- crements of horned cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs ? Can he make us all believe that lime is more enriching than the putrid flesh of land animals or fish ? Or that it has longer been in use .' i Oh, no, but "bones cannot be formed without lime," 1847. GENESEE FARMEH. 227 therefore the food of animals must contain lirae in order to make bone, and therefore lime must be procured and spread on to lands or the plants on whicli animals feed v\ill lind no lime, and cattle will have no bones ! Our Genesee friend seems to forget our admission that lime is beneficial on certain soils. We admit its usefulness wliere iron ore abounds, and has he shown that it is useful any where else .' He supposes that the adding of lime to all soils has im- proved tliem. .He ought to recollect that in England many farmers deny that lime has been of the least service when applied to their lands. But " lime is found in all plants." So is sand, or what is called silex — but it does not exactly follow that sand would always prove a very useful adjunct to our New Eng- land soils. Lime is found in all the varieties of soil, and plants liave lime in them. What then ? It was found by Dr. Jackson, on analyzing the soils of Maine, that soils containing the greatest quantity of lime did not produce tiie largest crops of wheat. It is a singular fact, admitted by all the lime advocates, that lime, spread on the surface of soils that are based on limestone rock, daes more service than on. soi/s without such liasis. It may be inferred from this that the more lime there is the better is the soil. Is this the theory of our friend ? We have lands here that would be improved by spread- ing 100 casks of sand on an acre. We have peat bogs tliat are more benefitted by one load of common gravel than by 100 loads of lime. Mixtures of di.lerent kinds of soil are generally useful ; and we much incline to ihink that many who have been so much delighted with the advantages they have derived, from spreadir^ a hundred casks of lime on an acre of their land, will find that 100 casks of sand, well spread, well mixed, and well tended, with a view to a pre- mium crop, will help them as much as the 100 casks of lime. It is pretty evident that the writer of the above thinks very little of lime, either as a constituent of cultivated plants, or as a hastener of vegetable decomposition. We do not regard (as he inti- mates) " lime as the most important article which a farmer can procure for his fields ;" but as one of several equally indispensable elements in all cultivated crops. There are instances in which humic and other organic acids so abound as to arrest decomposi- tion in swamp muck, and peat bogs. Draining and liming these hasten the rotting of the organ- ic matter. We shall not dwell on this property in lime, for we understand the Ploughman as admitting that lime is useful in the way of cor- recting all acidity in soils. When we say that " no other element has been so generally and successfully used as a fer- tilizer, both in this country and Europe, as lime," we do not intend to offset it, or one element, against fertilizers that contain from ten to four- teen elements, like " the excrements of horned cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs." We took especial pains to guard against such a mistake, by comparing lime "to the half of a pair of shears" — worthless without the other essential elements of plants. We know not how to ex- press ourself in plainer terms. What we said about the formation of bones in domestic animals without lime, is not met at all by the Ploughman. No animal can know wheth- er gras.-:, hay, or grain, contains bone earth or not ; and if Providence permitted vegetables to grow without the elements out of which animals form their solid frames, it is obvious that a calf could have no more bones than a naked snail. — To prevent a catastrophe that would be alike fatal to all birds and mammalia, Nature will not organize the seeds of plants like wheat, corn, and flax, no farther than the soil contains phosphates in an available form. Neither can timothy, clo- ver, or red top be grown to perfect maturity without some lime, as well as other minerals. Nothing is more common than for drift over- lying lime rock to lack available lime. The loose earthy matter drifted on to rock, is made up of the debris of sand stone, and other rocks which contained little or no lime. Beside this cause of deficiency, this mineral readily sinks down into the sub-soil on tilled land ; and hence is often deficient in surface soils that abound in lime stones which are hard and yield slowly to the action of the elements. If they are soft, as are most of the Onondaga limestones, (which are remarkab'le for yielding great crops of wheat,) there will be no lack of available lime in the earth. As to using " 100 casks of sand on peat bogs," we have seen both sand and gravel applied to such land with signal benefit. Nevertheless, after peat meadows are well drained, as they should be, our personal observation, as well as reading, lead us to believe that lime with sand is much better than to apply the latter alone. Our friend observes truly " mixtures of differ- ent kinds of soils are generally useful ;" and why ? Because a wheat, corn, timothy, or pota- to plant, when ripe and perfect in all its parts, is a most admirable mixture; and by mixing differ- ent kinds of soil together, the chances are great- ly in favor of getting in the last compound, of several compounds, all the elements used in or- ganizing the crop. Feed the latter to cows, sheep, pigs, horses, and men, and save all their excretions, and then you will have the raw ma- terial for making a second harvest. To CURE HovEN IN Cattle. — Among the numerous recipes for curing hoven in Cattle, I have never seen published the following easy and simple method : — Melt an half pint of hogs- lard and an half pint of molasses together, and drench the animal with it. We have used it several times with invariable success; it is as speedy as sure. If you think the recipe worth publishing, it is at your service. Yours truly, E. S. R Romulus, N. Y., 1847. Potato Rot. — A farmer of this (Monroe) county has called to say to us, that the rot has attacked his potatoes which grow on new land that has borne but one crop (wheat.) The cir- cumstance most worthy of record in this case is the fact that the potatoes near the woods ^.re much more affected than those remote from . e forest. The ground is quite moist generally over the field. 228 GENESEE FARMER. Oct. Hints for October. It is of great importance to those who intend to follow corn with wheat, to do it early. It is quite a labor to remove a large field of corn pre- paratory to plowing, and we plant so close that it is impossible to sow between the rows £is they do at the west on the prairies; therefore cut your corn by the roots, and make it into stouts, in straight and parallel rows ; plow all but the three feet occupied by the stouts, and if you please, snake plow between thexo. Sow your wheat, and drag both ways, and the loss is but trifling. Remove the corn with a team at your leisure. Dig Potatoes early. The rot is abroad. The fii-st symptoms are rusty-colored rough spots, which only aflect the skin, and soon corrodes the pulp, particularly in wet weather. If dug early and kept dry — entirely dry — it will extend no farther. Moisture and heat are the very ele- ments of eremacaxisis, or vegetable decomposition. Dig in dry weather, and house or bury them in a dry state. If you have a dry sandy knoll, dig a hole 2 or 3 feet deep, run a pole; over the cen- ter, and cover with boards and straw and a suffi- ciency of earth to prevent freezing. Cover the ends of the boards to prevent mice getting in. Gather winter apples before axij severe frosis, to prevent premature ripening in the barrels or i)ins. Apples that are intended for market, or for long keeping, must be carefully hand picked, and put into good tight barrels, well headed, and laid on their sides. Apples carefully picked and put into water-tight casks, and allowed to stand over winter, in any building sheltered from sun and rains, will open in May as fair as when barreled, notwithstanding freezing and thawing. Cider is very much improved by putting a pint of mustard seed into each barrel ; it fines beau- tifully and never gets hard. Save your own seeds — cucumber, melons, lettuce, &c., &;c. It will save a great deal of grumbling at seed men. Fall plowing for spring crops is a very im- portant item ; but if your land is in June or other foul grasses, or if you have reason to apprehend the wire-worm, or grub, don't do it till the last minute before freezing up. In the first instance, if you plow too early, the grasses come up to see the stale of things above ground and get a bit of fresh air, and never dream of going back again — and before winter your field is as green as before you plowed it. Secondly, the larva; of all the troublesome insects descend to the roots and are perfectly at home again; but if plowed late, in cold weather, the insect is paralized and frozen, and makes its exit. Keep cattle oiT from new meadows, as soon as the ground becomes wet and soft. Begin to increase the feed of your hogs in- tended for fattening; shut thera up in all of this month. Fallen apples, cooked with a little mill feed, or barley or corn meal, will push them ahead finely — and one week now, with good feed, good shelter, and dry beds, is worth a month in cold weather, particularly if they have a six rail fence for a pen, and the sky for a covering. * Wagon Shelvins. The following kind of wagon shelvins I have- used for 28 years, and believe them to be handier and better than any others I ever saw, and they are not a few. I take two sills or side pieces 12 or 14 feet long, and 3 J inches thick by 6^ wide ; I put three mortices through each of these sills, 6< inches wide and 1^ thick. Two of these mor- tices are about one foot from the end of each sill^ the other in the middle ; these should be near the bottom of the sills as they lay on the wagon bolster. Into these mortices in the sills are framed three cross piec&s, and mortices through them slanting close to the sills, into which arms or upright pieces are fitted, resting on the sills- to support them. These arms are raised or low- ered just high enough to keep all the loading- clear from the wheels. On these arms put two or three boards, and fasten them with nails or screws, so that in removing the shelvins from- the wagon these sides are taken off separate from, the bottom or sills. Put one mortice, 3 or 4 inches wide, in tke- forward end of each sill. Into these mortices fit two upright pieces about 7 feet high, with two^ or three cross bars of a suitable length. This, answers for a ladder for building a load against,, for fastening lines, and for putting the fore end of the boom when binding is necessary. Nath'l S.MITH. Gorham, N. Y., 1847. Vermont Farming. — The largest farm in Vermont is said to be that of Judge Meech, at Shelburn, eight miles south of Burlington. A correspondent who has been over it, says this year he will mow over .500 acres and cut 1000 tons of hay. He keeps 300 sheep, and has now 400 head of neat cattle. A few days ago he sold, fat oxen enough to amount to the sum of #2460. He has also sold this season 1000 bushels of rye. Crops in Wisconsin. — The Buffalo Com- mercial Advertiser says: "The Brig Giddings arrived here on Saturday with a cargo of 10,000 bushels of Wisconsin wheat of this year's crop, which for plumpness of berry and general ap- pearance, exceeds anything ever before receiv- ed from that quarter." Recipes. — For drunkenness, drink cold wa- ler ; for health, rise early ; to be happy, be hon- est ; to please all, mind your own business. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 229 Nutrition of Corn Cobs. Mr. Editor : — Allow me to inquire if there is any nourishment in the cobs of corn ? It is a question too important to remain unsettled. For, on the one hand, many farmers, supposing that there must be some nutriment in the cobs, have their corn intended for feeding horses and neat cattle, ground in the ear. On the other hand, many, believing that the article possesses no nu- tritive property, throw away, or burn their cobs. If then, you will please to bring a portion of cobs to the test of your chemical labratory, and give to the public the result of your experiment, whatever that result may be, you will in doing so, perform the service of a benefactor. Canandaigua, 1847. A Subscriber. Remarks. — A good analysis of cobs cannot be made at less than fifteen or twenty dollars. They contain however very little nutritive mat- ter. It is because corn meal is very concentra- ted food and lacks due bulk to fill the stomach, that cob meal can be advantageously combined ■with it. An equal bulk of well cured and pul- verised cornstalks would doubtless contain more nourishment than clear cobs. Preparation of Seed Wheat. — By sieves, of suitable size, the largest and best grain may ' be separated. By washing in water, light seeds of various kinds, and the lightest grain will swim, and may be skimmed off. By adding salt to the ; "water, which will increase its specific gravity, | old imperfect grains, and barley and oats will rise to the surface. Then it will be well to steep the seed a day or two in salt and water ; after ■which add half a peck of fresh slaked lime to a bushel of grain, mix thoroughly, that every ker- nel may become coated with lime. Let it re- main half a day, or night, after liming, and then sow. — Ex. pcqyer. Heavy Wool Operation. — William McKie, a heavy wool operator of Salem, N. Y., has ve- ry recently effected a cash sale of upwards of three hundred thousand pounds of crossed and pure Saxon wools, to the Middlesex company at Lowell, Mass., all of which was grown in the counties of Washington and Rensselaer. In ad- dition to this, the company have purchased from other individuals, over a million and a half pounds of very superior wools, all of the present clip. Agriculture, says Socrates, is an employ- ment the most woi-thy the application of man, the most ancient and the most suitable to his na- ture ; it is the common nurse of all persons, in every age and condition of life ; it is a source of health, strength, plenty and riches ; and of a thousand sober delights and honest pleasures. It is the mistress and school of sobriety, temper- ance, justice, religion, and in short, of all virtue, civil and military. Hydraulics for Farmers. BY C. N. BEMENT. NUMBER III. Bensoti's Ram. — The first water ram erect- ed in this country was imported a few years since from England, at an expense of one hun- dred dollars ; and put in successful operation at Fairy-Knowe, the residence of J. H. Latrobe, Esq., near Baltimore, Maryland. Within a ievi years, some of our ingenious mechanics have taken hold of the subject, and they are now made for a trifling expense in com- parison to the one imported by Mr. Latrobe. Among the earliest to improve the machine, I would name B. S. Benson, near Baltimore, Md., by which pure spring water may be forced up by a stream or brook of impure water. The following is a representation of Benson's Patent Water-ram, for raising spring or other water for supplying farms, towns or vilages. By means of this ram, persons having a small branch or spring, that will afford one gallon per minute, with a small stream of impure water, can have a portion of the spring or any other water, raised to his house or barn, through a small leaden tube. This ram, says the inventor, will raise twice the water that any forcing pump will with the same water power, there being on- ly three valves to keep it in motion, in place of the heavy water-weel and piston. This ram can be driven by branch water, and raise spring or branch water to the house at pleasure, by simply turning a cock, without any derangement of the ram, and is very simple, and easy to keep in or- der— the valves being faced with leather, and ea- sy of access, can be replaced by any person, there being no other part that can wear. This ram difl^ers from most others, in having three valves, and a passage for spring water at the head. Description. — V is an impetus-valve in cham- ber A, opening inwards ; when open, permits the spring water to flow from resorvoir N, through valve C, and driving the branch water out of the end of the pipe D, that having acted as a piston in the last stroke ; also permitting the branch water to flow from reservoir I, through the pipe J, and passing through the opening of the impetus-valve V, with increasing velocity, closes the valve ; thus suddenly shutting off the escape of water. The ram pipe J, being fifty feet long, and six feet fall, filled with water, be- ing nearly an uncompressed fluid, exerts its force against the columns of spring water in pipe D, as a piston, forcing it into chamber B, and clos- ing valve C, driving it up through the air cham- ber valve B — the air chamber being supplied with air for a spring, receives the water, and gradually presses it up through pipe P, to the re- quired height. When the water in the long ram 230 GENESEE FARMER. Oct. Benson''^ Ram. ving the outlet valve a ijger or shorter stroke, by which the number of strokes in a given time is ] diminished or increased ; ^ and in each individual case ^-jT*^- there will be found to be a ' " If^"' certain number of strokes, w\N-- \ that will cause the machine ^'^^>; to raise the most water of which it is capable, without regard to the quantity it uses to produce this etfect; (Figure 5.) pipe has spent its power, the superior height of|'^"t when it is desirable that the quantity of water water in pipe P causes the water in pipe J to re- |"sed shall raise the most water possible, then the coil, and a small portion to repass the valve, and j m^mher of strokes must be regulated to produce drive the water back in pipe J, though in a ri- j sing position, continues to flow a short time af- \ ter the air chamber valve has closed and opened, and shut by the ordinary action of the machine. Thus, when the flow of the water through D is suddenly stopped by the valve E, a perfect va- cuum is produced immediately below the air-cham- ber, by the recoil of the water, at which instant the small valve opens, and a portion of air en- ters and supplies that which the water absorbs. Strode's Pneumaio Hydraulic Engine. — Since the foregoing was written, I have received the following description of an improvement on the hydraulic ram. It is the invention of Mr. Joseph C. Strode, of East Bradford, Chester co., Penn. "I have as yet," says Mr. Strode, '■ made only three different sized machines, excepting the model which I left in the Patent oflice, which is of glass, and a brass one of the same size, which is now in the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia. The latter is an operating model : its linear di- mensions have a ratio to this cut, fig. 6, of about 32 to 7. This model, under a head of 5i feet, with a driving pipe about 15 feet long, § inch calibre, forced through a \ inch pipe 1.8 lbs. of water, 40 feet high, in one minute, which ■ is about 324 gallon*, or 10 2-7 barrels in 24 hours. The three sizes above mentioned have a ratio to the aforesaid model of 3, 2i, and 2, in their linear dimensions. The largest of these is calculated to work v.ith a 2 inch driving pipe, but will work very well with 1 i inch. These machines will work under all heads, where they have yet been tried with driving pipes of vari- ous lengths. I have not yet made a sufficient number of experiments to' determine what the length of driving pipes of given calibre, under a given head, to force water to a given eleva- tion, should be so as to produce a maximum per ceutage, nor what the length should be to force up a maximum amount, without regard to pei' centage ; but I am well satisfied that they do not exist contemporaneously. The quantity of w^a- ter used, and of that forced up may be varied by this effect.' "I give you one solitary experiment that was made with my largest machine, to produce the former of these effects. It worked under a head of 12 feet ; the driving pipe was \h inch calibre, 40 feet long. By using 13.5 pounds of water per minute, 20 pounds, {which is 114 2-7 barrels in 24 hours,) were forced through a k inch pipe 60 feet high in the same time. The machine du- ring this time made about 32 strokes, which was the right number, with this length of driving pipe and the attending circumstances, to force up the most water, without economising the wa- ter used. It is altogether likely, as the length of this pipe was taken at hazard, that some other length, in the same situation vvould have forced up more in its maximum operation. You will perceive that the above experiment gives for the machine a little above 74 per cent. By increas- ing the number of strokes to 40, about 75 per cent was obtained; but the quantity raised was diminished a little, and the quantity used was di- minished in a little greater ratio." The following specification is taken from tlie Journal of the Franklin Institute : '"The nature of my invention and improve- ment consists in making use of a column of con- densed air between the propelling fluid and the fluid that is to be raised ; said air being condens- ed in a pyramidal channbcr, by means of the momentum of a descending column of water — the chamber having a communication, by a small opening at its top, with another chamber, into which the spring water or fluid to be raised is introduced, called the spring water chambers, and upon which the condensed air in the fii'st named chamber is made to act, causing said fluid to rise through a tube placed in the spring water chamber, (open at its lower end, and closed al- ternately at its upper end, by means of a valve,) into a large air vessel or receiver, of the usual form and construction, being conducted thence to its place of destination by pipes, or hose, in the usual manner. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section. Fig. 7 is a transverse section. Fig. 8 is a perspective view. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 231 Similar letters in the several figures refer to cor- responding parts. A is the main pipe for conducting the propel- ling water from the head, or reservoir, to the pyramidal air-chamber. The pipe descends be- low the level of that portion of it which connects with the air chamber just before it reaches the said chamber, and then ascends in a curved line to it, forming a curved bend in the pipe, as at A\ for the purpose of preventing the air received at the valve B, during the time in which the vacuum is produced in the air and water cham- ber, as hereafter described from filling the pipe A, as the air will not descend at said bend in the tube, so that tlie surplus of said air. after having filled the condensing chamber L, may be carried off by the current of water through the valve B. The pipe A is enlarged below the air chamber L, as at A2, and has an opening O into the air chamber L, through which the water passes when the valve B is closed. B is a valve attached to a curved, vibrating lever C, turning on gudgeons D, in boxes, as its fulcrum, having a set screw E, for regulating the descent of the valve, and a counter balance F, for adjusting the valve. When this valve B is down, as shown in fig. 7, the water from the head flows through the opening, which it closes; when it is up, as shown in fig. 6, the water rises into the pyramidal chamber L, through the open- ing O, and condeses the air therein. H is a pipe for conveying the spring water to the spring water chamber. 1 is an air chamber into which the water is forced. J is tlie valve for holding it. K is a pipe, or hose, for convey- ing the water to its place of destination. The above named parts, lettered from A to K, inclu- sive, are made and operated in the usual manner. The improvements are as follows : Lis a pyramidal chamber, into whicli air is admitted through the valve B, when it descends by the pressure of the external air, to supply the partial vacuum created in the pipe A, and cham- bers L and N. This pyramidal chamber has a communication, by a small opening M, at the top, with another chamber, N, called the spring or pure water chamber ; through which opening M, the air, so condensed, is forced, and presses on the spring or other water, introduced into the same through the pipe H, by which pressure the water in said spring water chamber is forced upward through a tube P, i-eaching to near the bottom of said chamber N, through the valve J, into the air chamber I ; said valve being represented as open in fig. 6, and as closed in fig. 7. To raise water with this machine, open the valve B, the water, which is now in motion in the pipe A, will pass through the opening O, into the pyramidal condensing chamber L, and condense the air the same as before ; the con- densed air will force the spring water up the tube P, (whicli had entered through the pipe H, during the continuance of the partial vacuum above spoken of,) into the chamber I, and con- dense the air therein, until its density is equal to that in the condensing chambers Land N, below. At this time the spring water will cease to flow into the air chamber 1, the valve .T closes, and the air in the chambers I, L and N commences expanding, that in the lov.er chambers, L and N, giving motion to the propelling fluid and driving it backward, producing a partial vacuum in the machine, and ihe air in the upper chamber L, forcing the spring water to its place of destina- tion. The said partial vacuum in the machine-, caused by the reaction of the machine, as aforesaid, and the pressure of the external at- mosphere on the valve B, will cause it to open again. The water from the head then flows through this valve with an accelerating move- ment, until it has acquired that degree of veloc- ity as to cause the valve to close. The water having no longer any vent through the valve B, passes through the opening O, into the pyramid- al air chamber L, and repeats the operation above mentioned, successively. In this manner the operation will continue as long as the machine remains in order, and there is a head of water to propel it. The ', alve V is for the purpose of supplying the chamber I with air, by almitting said air into the tube P. The said air is admitted during the time that the par- tial vacuum above mentioned takes place. The 232 GEx\ESEE FARMER. Oct. air thus introdnced into the tube P, ascends to the top of the same, and is forced into the chamber I, at the next stroke of the machine ; said valve V is represented open in fig. 7, and may be closed or regulated by screwing the thumb-screw V. The principal advantages this machine pos- sesses over other machines are : 1st. In case of forcing up pure water by the propelling power of a running stream of water less pure, there is no possibility of the impure water mixing with the pure, there being at that time a column of condensed air betM'een the two waters. 2d. The water being forced into the upper chamber I, by the condensation of air in the low- er chamber, the valve J opens more slowly than when water alone is made the propelling medi- um, and also shuts more slowly, thereby pre- venting the water from escaping back through the valve J, after it is forced up ; the valve J be- ing nearly closed when the water ceases to flow •upward into the chamber I. This advantage, upon trial, is found to be of considemble impor- tance, enabling the machine thus operated, to force with a given quantity of water, several Taking. Honey from Hives. Mr. Editor : — The season of the year ha& arrived for people to take the honey from their bees, which is taken from the various improved boxes in different ways and sometimes in such quantities as not to leave enough to winter the swarms. The course T have pursued this last few years, has been to take the honey from the two or three year old swarms, and the weakest swarms, and saving the earliest, largest, and hea- viest to raise bees from. Last year I wintered six swarms. I have had fourteen swarms out this- season ; twelve I saved ; two the heat drove off. Should any read these i'ew lines who have bees to take up, I hope they will not do as a man who I once knew did, that came in possession of a number of swarms of bees by the death of a re- lation. As soon as the honey of harvest was past, he would kill the bees of the heaviest swarms; in a few years his bees run out. One of my humane neighbors, took 300 lbs. of honey from his bees last fall. He told me on a cool evening he would take two swarms into a dark room ; the one he wanted to take the hon- ey from he would turn bottom uppermost, pla- barrels more of water per day than it would oth- cing the other on top, and then wrap a cloth round erwise do. where the boxes join and in the morning the bees 3d. There being no valve between the con-j^ould all be in the top box, aad thus he saved densed air in the lower- chamber and the driving 'the lives of his bees. Care should be taken not water, or at the opening O, said air is permitted to act a longer time in forcing back said driving water, and therely making a more complete vacuum than in other machines, and rendering useless the spring for opening the outlet valve B, as used in several machines. It is not necessary that the spring wafer cham- ber N, and the air chamber L, should be en- closed by the same envelope, but they may form separate chambers, and they may be arranged in any convenient way or manner most acceptable to the constructor, provided that the capacity of the air chamber does not exceed a due ratio between the propelling power and the water to be raised. to wrap the cloth round too close to suffocate the- bees. Joseph Carpentek. Prairieville, W. T., 1847. Mr. Editor : — Two years ago my cow (I kept but one) was taken suddenly with a stop- page in one of her teats ; so bad that most of the- time it was impossible to get a stream from it^ and I was obliged to fix a tube to get the milk out At first, the milk was good for ought that I could see, but soon became bad. My neigh- bors said it was the " garget in the bag." I gave her garget root, thi-ough the summer and fall, but without material benetit to the milk, or in milking. The next spring I commenced feeding garget root before she came in, and had no further trouble from it, except that that part Mr. Moore : — Enclosed I send you $1, for 'of the bag was smaller, and gave less milk. — which I wish you to credit me for the present This spring the milk in that part of the bag did and next volume of the Farmer. [ not get good as soon as the others, but milks as Will you, or some of your correspondents who I easy, and the milk appears to be good, except have had experience in the business, give us the that it is thinner. I have set it ; and the cream, best method of clearing land ? Shall we chop j and milk after the cream is taken off; appear in the winter, and clear off the next summer— 1. just like other cream and milk, or let it lay over, or girdle and let the timber What caused the stoppage without injuring, stand until it is dead ? Shall we gather our ash- the milk I — why that part of the bag grew small- Clearing Land. es and sell them, or spread them evenly over the land ? Yours, H. Bristol. Mason, Mich., 1847. We have over a thousand subscribers in Mich- igan, many of whom are able, from experience, to answer the above properly. Who will do so? er 1 — and why the milk is thinner without ap- pearing bad 1 — are questions which, if some of your numerous readers will answer, they will greatly oblige a subscriber and Portage, June, 1847. Mechanic. Will some correspondent answer the above ? 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 233 The Genesee Farmer. Mr. Editor : — I wish to say a word or two in regard to tiie " Genesee Farmer." I really wonder why more of the farming population do not take the paper. Many will spend three or four times the price of it on some public occa- sion, and return home " nothing better," but of- ten "rather the worse," and yet think they can- not afford to take your paper. Others think their own experience better than the notions of theo- rists. Others again think, that in regard to far- ming "there is nothing like the good old way." And others still are not willing to be enlighten- ed ; &c. &c. I imagine however that many more would take the paper, if it could be thrown in their way. One thing is certain ; unless the present generation shall begin to read, the next will have both to read and labor, or suffer. I am not a farmer, but I would not be without the paper for many times its value. There is no better "kitchen garden" in this vicinity than mine, and yet my ground has not been regular- lay naanured for years ; although by the aid of your paper I am able to enrich it in some way, with raarterials that most of my neighbors throw away. Every paper furnishes me with hints by which I can profit. Thanks to the " Farmer " for these hints. One who is willing to Learn from THE Experience of Others. Menroe County, 1847. Premium Bee-Hives. Mr. Editor : — Bee-hives " is the subject of ray story ;" but should I digress occasionally, I trust you will allow that the fault is at (east pardonable. If I am somew hat severe, it will be nothing more than, in my judgment, the circum- stances of the ease demand. In the lirst place, then, a word in relation to Agricultural Fairs. Laying aside the consti tutionality, I would like to ask. is it honorable, is it just, is it even/a(V, that a State Society should av\-^rd premiums to citizens of foreign States, while llie present principle of distributing awards to our oum citizens is exciting the in- dignation and disgust. of many worthy men? Were we to judge of men's motives from their acts, what opinion are we to form of, or what confidence to place in, committees who are ever ready to bestow a prize upon tlie wealthy and in- fluential Mr. , for best breeding Mare, when the/arf is, the animal is ten years old and has never iiad a colt? — while, at the same lime, the poor man. whose influence is limited to his own immediate neighborliood, not knowing the importance of securing the services of some pettifogging friend, brings forward his noble animal with the proof at her side, and has to return to his home the wiser for hav- ing learned that it is "Money makes the mare go." This, Mr. Editor, is no flighl of the imagination — no fan- cied grievance — as ! am credibly informed a like case actu- ally occurred in our own county. But we set out to speak of Bee-hives ; very well, at the Fair at Auburn, in 1846, the first preference was given to an article, (I think no sens- ible man will hardly call it a Hive,) from VennoiU — while the secwid was given to Mr. Kelsey's "only one of real value and utility," and the residue were deemed unworthy the attention of the public. (Wonderful ! wise ! commit- tee 1 ! No doubt they are the very identical persons with whom all knowledge is to die !) Where, let me ask, was the Hive for which a diplovia was awarded in 1-845 ? Did the committee not see it ? or have the inventions of the past year so far eclipsed it as to render it unworthy our attention? I would like to ask that apiarian committee, what are the qualities most essential in a Bee-hive of "real value and utility." We of Monroe county are inclined to believe that the Hive which last year was deemed worthy a diploma, and which " combines all the advantages of former im- provements, with some valuable qualifications for ventila- tion, reinuving old couib, dividing swarms, and preventing the depredations of the bee-noth, — the whole under the entire control of the operator,"— is one which is at least worthy of public notice. But that Vei-mont Pyramid, which no one will venture to eay is well adapted to the multiply- ing of colonies, the preventing the ravages of the bee-moth and the robber , yet, from its mathematical figure and me- chanical con.-it ruction so far captivated the committee, that it was allowed to bear ofil' the palm, much to the disappoint- ment of experienced bee eulturists. And now, Mr. Editor, we will notice the second and last regarded worthy our attention by that wise committee ; or in other words, Mr. Kelsf.y's " only one of real value and utility." And what are the merits claimed for this wonder- ful invention ? Let Mr. Kelsey answer for himself : First, "Tlie bees are easily hived." Now can any one be found so a/lli/ as to argue that the same cannot be done by numerous patent hives, and even with the old box and straw hives ? Second — "It never becomes necessary to kill ofl" the swarms." If this be a newly discovered principle, or even first applied to Bee-hivee by Mr. Kelsey, it is for me yet to learn. Third—" Honey can at all times be taken away when it can be spared by the swarms." Strange as it may appear, this principle has been successfully applied by Dr. O. IIey- nolus and others, long before Mr. Kelsey secured a patent for his " only one of real value and utility." Fourth — " Young swarms can be taken away at the prop- er period iind put into other hives." This principle has been practiced by Br. O. Reynolds with great success for two years, and by others for even a longer period. Fifth — " The swarms are entirely protected from robbery by neighboring bees." This priniiple depends for success as much upon the care of the apiariam as upon the construc- tion of the Hive. Sixth— " The eggs or embryo of the bee-moth, or miller, c^n not hatch or mature around these hives." This, Mr. Editor, is to mo a stumper. I think an apiarian will have to divest himself of his experience at least, to swallow so gross an absurdity. No observing man can have kept bees for one year even, without having learned that the miller will enter wherever there is a passage for the bees, and once in the hive they deposite their eggs at pleasure iu every waxen crevice, where in due time a worm is brought forth to annoy, and if not removed, to destroy the bees. — The idea that a zinc plate will prevent the ravages of the moth, is too absurd to publish to the world. I am fully- satisfied from experience and careful observation, that inju- ries from the moth can only be prevented by closing the hive when the bees have ceased their labor for the day. — The alternating principle of Mr. Kelsey's hive is such that honey taken for use will be more or less mingled with brood comb. And now, Mt. Editor, notwithstanding a wise(!) com- mittee has said that the Vermont Pyramid, and Mr. Kel- sey's "only one of real value and utility," are the hives, and the omy hives worthy our attention ; yet I can say, and from experience too, that "Dr. O. Rey.xolds' Non- Swnrming and Dividing Bee-Hive," has with me proved itself well woith the attention of the public in general, and of Bee culliirists in particular. 1 remain, sir, your humble subscriber, Webster, N. Y., 1847. A. G. Melvin. Remarks. — The vibove communication has been on hand nearly a year. In publishing it, we must dissent from the views of the writer rel- ative to Agricultural Societies. The fact that one man has been deprived of a premium on his horse or bee-hive — by some unintentional error or oversight of a committee — is hardly a suffi- cient reason for condemning both State and County Societies and their committees. We express no opinion as to the comparative merits of the hives mentioned by friend Melvin, not having examined all of them. 234 GENESEE FARMER. Oct. Experiments in Wheat Culture.— Hessian Fly. Mr. Editor : — Last year I told you I had tried experiments with unleached tishes at the rate of 72 bushels, salt five bushels, and lime from 50 to 80 bushels per acre. I saw no dif- ference in the wheat from the ashes ; the salt was a decided improvement, so much so that I shall sow about fifty barrels this season. Part I shall reserve until early in the spring, and see if there is any difference from that sown in the fall ; and a few lands in each field I shall not salt, to see if the experiment holds good another season. That salted was at least four days ear- lier than that not salted, and a much heavier crop. The hurry of harvesting prevented me from trying, from actual measurement, how much it yielded more than an equal quantity of land adjoining. The field 1 limed was very much winter killed ; still that with 80 bushels to the acre, was decidedly best. Now for the Hessian fly. In your last number, page 205, you say — "As the Hessian fiy lives only some 10 or 15 days during the last weeks in September or the first of October, if no wheat was up, and prepared as a nidus wherein to de- posit its eggs, very few, if any, Hessian flies would be found in the spring." Now the late sown wheat is often much more hurt with the fly than early sown ; farmers of experience will tell you so. For instance, in 1845, I sowed a field on the 14th and 15th of September; my neighbor sowed one adjoining late in October, so late that it was barely up when winter set in. Mine was a very good crop — his was consumed by the fly, so that 1 do not suppose he got five bushels to the acre. — Our land was of the same quality, and divided by post and board fence. When did the jly get in his wheat ? Another query to solve. I exchanged seed wheat with a Mr. Rees, of Clyde, Wayne Co., in 1845. I sowed it on half of a 11 acre field, and on tlie same day sowed the other half with other wheat, (Soule's wheat.) That which I obtained from Mr. Rees came up yellow and sickly, while the other came up green and healthy ; they continued so all the fall. I ex- amined it, and found that from Clyde alive with the fly, and none in the other ; and while that part sown with seed from Clyde gave only V2h bushels per acre, my whole crop gave within a fraction of 31 bushels per acre — and I was satis- fied that the soil in the part of the field on which the Clyde wheat was sown was as good as any of my other fields. Now, where or how did the pj come into the Clyde ivheal, if it did not get in the kernels of seed ? And if the fly only lives a short time in September or October, how does it come that many fields of barley have been destroyed by it, when barley is sown the end of April or beginning of May, and harvested in July or early in August. Now, when farm- ers see such things, and Editors tell them the fly only lives a few weeks in the end of Septenv ber or first of October, they may well say the men who write for papers know nothing about it. I believe that the eggs of the fly are depos- ited in the seed before cutting. From experi- ence 1 have always found that wheat that was early ripe or the crop raised from it, was sel- dom hurt with the fly. Yours respectfully, John Johnston. Near Geneva, Sept., 1847. We thank Mr. Johnston for the above inter- esting letter. He seems to have overlooked the important fact stated by us that, the Hessian fly produces two generations in a year ; and that the one which is at maturity in the spring does the principal injury alike to late and early sown winter grain and spring crops. It is to avoid producing a spring crop of Hessian flies that we advise late seeding, not by one or two farmers, but by all wheat growers where this insect pre- vails. We ask Mr. J. to review his comments on our text, a part of which is in these words : " One man may raise flies enough on a twenty acre field, sown in the first week of September, to destroy half the grain in a whole township the spring and summer following." The fly whose larvas are sown with the seed is the cccidomyia trilici ; while the Hessian fly of which we spoke is the cecidomyia destructor. Friend J. has confounded the two — one attacks the stem near its roots, and the other the heads of the wheat plant. The New Settlements, vs. the Old. I Asi glad to see another Richmond in the field, tilting a lance in favor of emigrating to new lands in the west. J. W. Falley does not an- swer my query by a case in point. He however makes out a very good one; and I am under no temptation to give the converse of his picture, as 1 feel certain that he has it, in his own neigh- borhood, in full relief before him — else why is it that the newspapers there give such an array in their columns of Sheriff's sales and Mortgacre advertisements. But friend Falley only reiterates that which I before asserted, to wit: That Michigan had made the transition from log h(Hise simplicity, t© tlie age of orange peel and paint, with a magical celerity heretofore unknown in tl;e annals of new States. Is he not a little illiberal, when he says that I "do not understand tiie character of Mich- igan's first settlers 1" Let any man ride through this county and see the great breadth of smooth half tilled fields — the rootless decayed log houses — the large but sparsely scattered farm man- sions— methinks he will understand diat the bone and muscle which had made and fenced these 1847 GENESEE FARMER. 235 clearings, had gone to Michigaa or some where west, to clear, and, fence, and toil anew. Our impulsive young men are the salt of that earth on which they bdild their cabins ; their industry, enterprise, and enthusiasm works out a problem in our domestic economy, which Diogenes in his tub never dreamed of; for his philosophy embraced ease, not action. I might go farther, and say that the first set- tlers of Michigan gave an immediate impress of civilization to the country and the age, which no other new State can boast ; yet I still contend that the alluvial plains, and still alluvial hills, of Western New York, should not suffer a diminu- tion of population, in order that such a consum- mation may be attained in a sister State. In- stead of that consolidation here, which adds farm to farm, as if to increase the domain of naked- ness, I would rather see a continual sub-division and improvement of the soil by the farmer's sons, until something near the hundredth part of its maximum yield was attained, from the arable surface. Then the farmer's wife would not have to go a thousand miles to sympathize in the joys, and sorrows, of her children. Then the neat cottage with its shrubbery, its clambering vines, its garden, and its little highly cultivated fields, would give to the eye the impress of that thrift and good taste, which is the reward of industry in an old country ; certainly more comfortable and picturesque, if not more substantial and im- posing, than the great wheat fields, and coarse improvements, of the new west. But I hope to hear more from J. W. FALLEt about Michigan ; he tells the truth well. I only ask him to tell the whole truth ; give us the shady, as well as the bright side of the picture. Speak of the singing birds if you please, but don't neglect the musketoes. S. W. Seneca County, N. Y., 1847. Comparative Profits of Agriculture, Trade and Commerce. In regard to the relative advantages and actu- al profit of agriculture and trade, a considerable diiference of opinion exists among those having the best means of information on these subjects. It has been asserted on strong grounds of confi- dence, at least probable reasons of belief, that of the whole number of men who have been con- cerned in trade or commerce in the United States, at least two-thirds have become bankrupt or insolvent, and some assert a greater propor- tion. Those also are not wanting, who confi- dently affirm, that agriculture is the best and most profitable business, and will often afford a profit of 15, 18, and 20 per cent, on the capital established in it. There is great reason, how- ever, to doubt the truth or correctness of this as- sertion. According to the statement relative to the farm of Mr. Chadsby, at Wickford, Rhode Island, as contained in the Albany Cultivator for June, in which the produce and the expenses of the same are detailed, it would appear that al- though in the actual cultivation of the farm, he cleared 20 per cent., yet, taking into view the cost of subsistence of the family, even on a mod- erate estimate of $400 or $500 per annum, there will remain only a small profit from the farm. Perhaps, taking all things into view, the prof- its of trade and commerce will, on the average, considerably exceed that of farming, when man- aged by merchants or traders of experience, skill, and judgment, and on an adequate capital. — Sometimes a profit of 20 and even 25 per cent, has been realized ; but this is seldom the case. A rate of 8 or 10 per cent, is considered to be a good profit on the average of the business when fairly conducted. But taking into view all the various circumstances connected with the busi- ness, the certain and great expenses of a com- mercial establishment, the rent of the store, pay- ment of clerks and other labor, fuel, stationary, &c., — all which will probably vary in amount from 1,000 to 2,000 or 3,000 dollars, according to circumstances — the great cost of house-keep- ing, or the subsistence of the family in its vari- ous details — which also will vary from 400 or 500 up to 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, or 4,000 dollars, according* to the circumstances, condition, or disposition of the man, or his family — and but few men in trade in our large cities can live comfortably (with their families) on less than 700, 800, or 1,000 dollars per year: the dan- ger of bad debts, loss from goods of inferior qual- ity, those damaged, or otherwise not suited to the markets, and perhaps more than all, the great risks of loans from the banks, especially in times of commercial revulsions, when it is their cus- tom to contract their loans at the very period most wanted by the small trader — we have rea- son to believe, that a farmer, having the experi- ence, skill, and caution to manage his farm prop- erly, and not to live beyond his income, but who will be contented with a comfortable subsistence and a moderate income, or 2 or 3 percent., (and under favorable circumstances perhaps 8 or 10 per cent.,) he will find the business of agricul- ture better on the whole than trade or commerce. Wm. Jknnison. Boston, Mass., July, 1847. Wheat Crop of Michigan. — The wheat crop of Michigan, for the present year, as estimated by a gentleman now preparing statistics for the Patent Office in Washington, will not fall short of 8,000,000 bushels, nor exceed 10,000,000 bushels. The quality of the grain this year is superior in every respect to the crop of last year. Col. Noble, of Cincinnati, exhibited at a late meeting of the Horticultural Society, a spe- cimen of Indian corn bearing twelve ears on a single stalk. 236 GENESEE FARMER. Oct. Gen. Harmon's Merino Buck, "King of Vermont." Above we give an engraving of a Merino Buck, owned by Geri. R. Harmon, of Wheat- land, in this county. Gen. H. has quite a flock of Spanish Merinos — among them many fine Paular bucks. They are well worthy an exami- nation by those wishing to improve their stock, without the trouble and expense of importing from abroad. Gen. Harmon writes us as follows relative to the animal represented by the engraving : — King of Vermont was got by the celebrated buck "Fortune," owned by S. W. Jewett, Esq., of Weybridge, Vermont; his dam was a pure blood Merino, owned by the same. The accompanying drawing was taken when he was nine months old. When thirteen months old King of Vermont sheared 7mic poiitids of clean washed wool. His weight at that time, with the fleece on, was 94 pounds ; at the next shearing his weight was 126 lbs., and he sheared 9 lbs. and 2 ounces of well washed wool. King of Vermont has proved himself an excellent stock getter, as the superior stock of lambs I have got by him will show. Reports from almost every section of the Union, speak of the fine promise of the corn crop. A much greater quantity has been plant- ed this season than any previous year, and the harvest must be immense — altogether beyond comparison with any former crop. Fair of the State Agricultural Society. A LACK of room prevents our offering any ex- tended comments on the leading features of the recent Fair at Saratoga. Last year $4,400 was taken for tickets and membership at Auburn ; , this year, the receipts were -^700 less. As a I whole, the exhibition was meagre. There was I a good display of horses. The Vermont stallion, "Black Hawk," was much admired. The Mor- gan Horse and his stock attracted much atten- tion. There was a fair show of Devon Cattle ; a few fine Durhams and scarcely a half dozen. { Herefords. In Sheep and Swine, we have nev- \ er seen so few competitors at any preceding I State Fair. In Dairy Products the display was ! poorer still. The mechanics of Troy and AI- j bany added largely to the interest of the occa- Isioii by a splendid exhibition of Stoves, Carria- ges, Harnesses, Trunks, Glass Ware, and Agri- cultural Implements. There were several ma- chines for drilling wheat and other seed, some of which, M'e doubt not, will come into general use. The operation of a "hydraulic ram," carried conviction to every mind that it is truly a valua- ble machine. We saw many things worthy of notice which we cannot even name in this num- ber of the Farmer. Senator Dix was very hap- py in his brief eulogy of the lamented Silas Wright. There were a number of gentlemen of distinction from other States. Among them 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 237 was Ex-President Tyler, Prof. Hare, of Phila- delphia, Hon. Ellsworth, Indiana, and Gov. Hill, Editor of the Farmer's Visitor, of New Hamp- shire. The able and interesting address we publish elsewhere in this number. We shall endeavor to give the award of Premiums next month, a copy of which we have not yet received. Monroe Connty AgricuUural Fair. The officers and friends of this Society have reason to congratulate themselves on the eeal and spirit with which the farmers of the county turned out and competed for the numerous pre- miums. An equal display of Horses, Cattle, Sheep, and Swine, we have never seen at any previous Fair of the Society. The exhibition the second day, in connection with the Horticul- tural Society, was truly splendid. We have never seen so good a show of Fruit and garden vegetables in the State. This is saying a good deal, for the writer has probably attended more Fairs within the last five years than any other man in New York. The Editor of this journal delivered a short address to a crowded audience. Jefferson County Fair. We attended the recent Fair of the Jefferson County Agricultural Society, at Watertown. It is truly a model Society, which owns a perma- nent Hall 105 feet in length and .50 in width. Large as this building is, it could hold only about one-third of the farmers, their wives, sons and daughters, who attended the recent Festival. In many things they beat the Fair at Saratoga. Had we room, we should take pleasure in naming many things we saw, and in commending the zeal of the President and other officers of the Society in the cause of agricultural improvement. The Editor's address is published in the Wa- tertown newspapers. We are not certain whe- ther it will do to give so much space to it in the Farmer or not. It is not often that we write out our remarks on such occasions. To Correspondents. Communications have been received, during the past month, from John Johnston, S. W., A Subscriber, H. Bristol, Nathaniel Smith, T. P., Jefferson Scott, *, R. P. Stevens, D. A. Ogden, N. Simons, S. D. Beers. The publication of the Address delivered at the State Fair compels us to defer several com- munications intended for this number. Orleans County Fair. We are informed by a gentleman who was present, that the late Fair of the Orleans County Agricultural Society, held at Albion, was numer- ously attended. He speaks of the exhibition as highly creditable to the Society and the farmers of Orleans. Eveiy thing passed off spiritedly and pleasantly. We regret that we were unable to attend. An English Clergyman, at Brussels, has invented a motive power, which promises to rival steam. It is founded on the compression of fluids. Eight pails of water it is computed, would be sufficient to cai-ry a vessel to the East Indies. COLE'S AMERICAN VETERINARIAN, or Diseases of Domestic Animals, showing the Causes, Symptoms, and Remedies, and rules for restoring and preserving health by good management, with full directions for Training and Breeding. By S. W. Cole, Esq., one of the edi- tors of the Boston Cultivator. Published by John P. Jewktt &l Co., Boston, andC. M. Saxton, New York. The above is the title of a very useful work, a copy of which we have received from each of the publishers. It is replete with valuable mat- ter to all persons who are breeders or owners of domestic animals, and worth ten times its cost to almost any farmer. We are informed that it has already had an extended sale. It is a neat vol- ume of nearly 300 pages, bound in leather, and sold at .50 cents. We presume it can be obtained of booksellers generally throughout the country. Livingston County Fair. We learn from persons present that this ban- ner county for noble stock fairly beat herself at its recent Cattle Show. We rejoice to see so many evidences of progressive improvement in all rural pursuits, in Western New York. Ag- riculture is rapidly rising in public esteem, and ere long Practical Science will achieve the most auspicious results. Let the labor of the Hands and the culture of the Intellect go together, and we shall soon possess a nation of Farmers such as the wise men of the last generation never dreamed of. Learning, science, and rural in- dustry must rise or fall together in this Republic. The next Fair is to be held at Mt. Morris. — The following gentlemen were elected officers for the ensuing year : John R. Murry, Jr., President ; Samuel J. Mills, Secretary ; and Henry Swan, Treasurer. Agricultural Fairs, this Month. Agricultural Fairs are to be held, the pres- ent month, as follows. From other counties in which Exhibitions will be held we have received no correct information relative to time, &c. Cayuga County, Auburn, Oct. 6, 7. Genesee " Stafford. Oct. 7, 8. Ontario ■' Canandaigua, Oct. 12, 13. Onondaga " Syracuse, Oct. 7, 8. Seneca " Ovid, Oct. 14, 15. Wayne " Lyons, Oct. 6, 7. Yates " Penn Yan, Oct. 1. Vernon Center, Vernon Center, Oct. 6. FAIRS IN OTHER STATES AND CANADA. Caledonia County, Vt,, St. Johnsburg Plain, Oct. 7. Provincial Ag. Assoc'n, Hamilton, C. W., Oct. 6, 7. 238 GENESEE FARMER. Oct. ADDRESS OF THE LATE SILAS WRIGHT, Read before the State Agricultcral Society, at Saratoga Springs, on the 16th of September, BY JOHN A. DIX. * Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the State Agricidtural {Society : Had it been iny purpose to entertain you with an eu- logium upon the great interests confided to your care, the Agriculture of the State, I should find inyself fore- stalled by the exhibition which surrounds us, and which has pronounced that eulogy to the eye much more forci- bly, impressively, eloquently than I could command lan- guage to pronounce it to the ear of this assembly. Had I mistakenly proposed to address to you a dis- coiurse on agricultural production, this exhibition would have driven me from my purpose by the conviction that I am a backward and scarcely initiated scholar, stand- ing in the midst of maslers, with the least instructed and experienced of whom it would be my duty to change places. The agriculture of our state, far as it yet is from ma- turity and perfection, has already become an art, a sci- ence, a profession, in which he who would instruct, must be first himself instructed far beyond the advancement of him who now addresses you. The pervading character of this gi-eat and vital inter- est, however — its intimate connection vith the wants, comforts and interests of every man in every employ- ment and calling in life, and its controlling relations to the commerce, manufactures, substantial independence and general health andprosperity of our whole people — present abundant subjects for contemplation upon occa- sions like this, without attempting to explore the dep:hs or to define the principles of a science so profound, and to the uninitiated, so difficult, as is that of agriculture. Agricultural production is the sub-stratum of the whole superstructure; the great element which spreads the sail and impels the car of commerce, moves the hands and turns the machinery of manufacture. The earth is the common mother of all, in whatever employment en gaged, and the fruits gathered from its bosom are alik^ the indispensable nutriment and support of all. The productions of its surface and the treasures of its mines, are the material upon which the agriculturist, the mer- chant and the manufacturer are alike bestowed, and are the prize for whi'-h all alike toil. The active stimulus which urges all forward, excites industry, awakens ingenuity, and brings out invention, is the prospect or the hope of a market tor the jiroduc- tions of their labor. The farmer produces to sell — the merchant purchases to sell — and the manufacturer fab- ricates to sell. Self-consumption of their respective goods, although an indispansable necessity of life, is a mere incident in the mind impelled to acquisition. To gain that wiiicli is not produced or acquired, by the sale of that which is possessed, is the great struggle of labor- ing man. Agricultural production is the first in order, the strong- est in necessity, and the highest in uselulness, in this whole system of acquisition. The other branches stand upon it, and without it could not exist. Still it has been almost uniformly, as the whole history of our state and country will show, the most negleeted. Apprenticeship, education, a specific course of systematic instruction, * Mo.st of our readers are probably already apprised of tho sudden demise of Ciov. WaniHT, at hi.s residence in Canton, St. Lawrence county, on the "iTth of Augast. This Address was completed tlie eveniug before his death, and read at tlie Kxhibi- tiou by the Hon. John A. Dix. It treats mainly on the importance of a foreign market for the agricultural product.iof this country. To bo complete. Ih:; author should have stated, in the same con- nection, tlie advajitages of liuisliing at the earlie.st practicable period, the enlargemeut of the Krie fanal, that tliis foreign mar- ket may be reached at a smaller cost of transportation. Nor should ho have oraittod to point out the benetits of a reliable home marlvet for the fruits of American rural industrj'. We sh;Ul not attempt to supply lh« ommission. have been, time out of mind, considered an indispensa- ble pre-requisite to a creditable or successful engagemerU; in commercial or mechanical pursuits; while to know hov.' to wield the axe, to hold the plow, and to swing the scythe, has been deemed sufficient to entitle the possessor of that knowledge to the first place and the highest wa- ges in agricultural employment. A simple principle of production and of trade, always practically applied to manufactures and commerce, that the best and cheapest article will command the market, and prove the most profitable to the producer and the seller, because more beneficial to the buyer and consu- mer, is but beginning to receive its application to agri- culture. The merchant, who from a more extensive ac- quaintance with his occupation, a more attentive obser- vation of tlie markets, belter adapted means, and a more careful application of .sound judgment, untiring energy and prudent industry, can buy the best and sell the cheapest, has always been seen to be the earliest and surest to accomplish the great object of his class, an in- dependence lor himself. So the mechanic, who, from a more thorough instruction in the principles and handi- craft of his trade, or a more intense application of mind and judgment with labor, can improve the articles he fabricates, 'or the machinery and modes of their manu- facture, and can thus produce the best and sell the cheap- est, has always been seen to reach the same advantage over his competitors, with equal readiness and certainty; and that these results should follow these means and ef- forts, has been considered natural and unavoidable. Still the agriculturist has been content tfi follow in the beaten track, to pursue the course his fathers have ever pursued, and to depend upon the earth, the seasons, good fortune, and providence for a crop, indulging the hope that high prices may compensate for diminished quan- tity or interior quality. It has scarcely occurred to him that the study of the prmciples of his profession had anything to do with his success as a farmer, or that what he had demanded from his soils should be considered in connection with what he is able to do for them, and what he is about to a.sk them to perform. He has almost overlooked the vital fact, that his lands like his patient teams require t'l be fed to enable them to perform well, and especially has he neglected to consider that there is a like connection between the quantity and quality of the food they are to receive, and the .service to be required from them. Ready, almost always, to the extent of their abilitv, to make advances for the purchase of more lands, how lew of our farmers, in the comparison, are willing to make the necessary outlays for the profitable im- provement of the lands they have 7 These and kindred subjects, are beginning to occupy the minds of our farmers, and the debt they owe to this society for its efforts to awaken their attention to these important facts, and to supply useful and practical infor- mation in regard to them, is gradually receiving just appreciation, as the assembh^ge which surrounds us, and the exhibitions upon this ground most gratifyingly prove. Many of our agriculturists are now vigorously com- mending ihe study of their soils, the adaptation of their measures to the .soil and the crop, the natures of the plants they cultivate, the food tliey require, and th» best methods of administering that food to produce health and vigor and fruit ; and they are becoming convinced that to understand how to plow and sow and reap, is not the whole education of the farmer ; but that it is quite as important to, know what land is prepared for the plow, and what seed it will bring to the harvest worthy of the labors of the sickle. Experience is steadily proving that, by a due attention to these considerations, a better arti- cle, doubled in quantity, may be produced from the same acre of ground, with a small proportionate increase of labor and expense, and that the farmer who pursues tliis improved system of agriculture, can, like tlie merchant and mechanic referred to, enter the market with a better production, at a cheaper price, than his less enterprising competitor. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 239 This change in the agriculture of our state and coun- try, opens to the mind reflections of the most cheering diaracter. If carried out to its legitimate results, it pro- mises a competition among our farmers, not to obtain the highest price for inferior productions, hut to produce th" most, the best, and the cheapest of the necessaries of human life. It promises agricultural prosperity, with cheap and good bread, furnished in abundance to all wlio will eat within the rule prescribed to fallen man in the sacred volume ot the Divine law. Steady resolution and persevering energy are requisite to carty for>.vard these improvements to that degree of perfection dictated alike by interest and duty ; and the stimulus of a steady and remunerating market will rouse that resolution and nerve that energy. Without this encouragement in prospect, few will persevere in ma- king improvements which require close and constant mental application, as well as severe physical labor. — Agriculture will never be healthfully or profitably prose- cuted by him whose control ing object is his own con- sumption. The hope of gain is the motive power to hu- man industry, and is as necessary to the farmer as to the merchant or manulacturer. All, who labor, are equally stimulated by the prospect of a market which is to remunerate them for their toil, and without this hope, neither mental activity, nor physical energy, will char- acterize their exertions. True it is that tlie farmers of our country, as a class, calculate less closely by the pro- fits of their labor and capital, than men engaged in most other pursuits, and are content with lower rates of gain. Tiie most of them own their farms, their stocks and farming implements, unincumbered by debt. Their business gives but an annual return. " They live fru- gally, labor patiently and faithfully, aid at the close of die year, its expenses are paid from its proceeds, the balance remaining, being accounted the profits of the year. Although a moderate sum, it produces content- ment withr.ut a computation of the rate per cent, upon the capital invested, or the wages it will pay to the pro- prietor and the members of his lamily. The result is an advance in the great object of human labor, and, if not repaid, it is safe and certain. It is a surplus beyond the expenses of living, to be added to the estate, and may be repeated in each revolving year. If, however, this surplus is left upon the hands of the farmer, in his own products, for which there is no mar- ket, his energies are paralyzed, his .spirits sink, and he scarcely feels that the year has added to his gains — he sees little encouragement in toiling on to cultivate be- yond his wants, productions which will not sell ; and the chances are, that his farm is neglected, his husband- ry becomes bad, and his gains, in fact, cease. To continue a progressive state of improvement in agriculture, then, and to give energy and prosperity to this great and vital branch of human industry, a health- tul and stable market becomes indispensable, and no object should more carefully occupy the attention of the farmers of the United States. Deeply impressed with the conviction of this truth, benevolent minds have cherished the idea that a domes- tic market, to be influenced only by our own national policy, would be so far preferable, "in stability and cer- tainty, to the open market of the commercial world, as to have persuaded themselves that a sufficient market for our agricultural products, is thus attainable. It is not designed to discuss the soundness of the theory, where it can be reduced to practice ; but only to inquire whe- ther the state of this country, the condition oi its society, and the tendency and inclination of its population, as to their industrial pursuits, are such at the present time, or can be expected to be such for generations vet to come, as to render it possible to consume within 'the country the surplus of the productions of our agriculture. The theory of an exclusively domestic market for this gi-eat domestic interest, is certainly a very beautiful one, as a theory, and can scarcely fail to strike the mind fa- vorably upon a first impression. Still, examination has produced diiierences of opinion between statesmen of equal intelligence and patriotism, as to its influence up- on the happiness and prosperity of a country and its population. Any examination of this question would lead to a discussion properly considered political, if not partizan, and all such discussions it is my settled pur- pose to avoid, as inappropriate to the place and the oc- casion. Apply these bright and brightening prospects to the almost boundless agricultural field of our country, with its varied and salubrious climate, its fresh and unbroken soils, its cheap lands and fee simple titles, and who can hope, if he M'ould, to turn the inclinations of our people from this fair field of labor and of pleasure 1 Here, the toil which secures a certain independence, is sweetened by the constantly varying exhibitions of nature in her most lovely forms, and cheered by the most benignant manifestations of the wonderful power and goodness of nature's God. Cultivated by the resolute hands and enlightened minds of freemen, owners of the soil, pro- perly educated as farmers, under a wise and just admin- istration of a .system of liberal public instruction, should, and will be, and aided by the researches of geology and chemistry, who can calculate the extent of the harvests to be gathered from this vast field of wisely directed hu- man industry ? The present surplus of bread-stufls of this country, could not have been presented in a more distinct and in- teresting aspect than during the present year. A famine in Europe, as wide-spread as it has been devastating ana terrible, has made its demands upon American supplies, not simply to the extent of the ability of the sutfering to purchase food, but in superadded appeals to American sympathy in favor of the destitute and starving. Every call upon our markets has been fully met, and the heart of Europe has been filled with warm and grateful respon- ses to the benevolence of our country and our country- men, and yet the avenues of commerce are filled with the productions of American agriculture. Surely, the consumption of this country is now equal to its agricul- tural productions. If such is our surplus in the present limited extent and imperfect condition of our agriculture, can we hope that an exclusive domestic market is possible, to furnish a demand for its mature abundance ? In this view of this great and growing interest, can we see a limit to the pe- riod, when the United States will present, in the com- mercial markets of the world, large surpluses of all the varieties of bread-stuffs, of beef, pork, butter, cheese, cotton, tobacco, and rice, beyond the con.sumption of our own country '? And wlio, with the experience of the last few years before him, can doubt that the time is now at hand, "when the two great staples of wool and hemp will be added to the list of exportations? These considerations, and others of a kindred charac- ter, which time will not permit me to detail, seem to me, with unfeigned deference, to prove that the agriculture of the United States, for an indefinite period yet to come, must continue to yield annual supplies of our principal staples, far beyond any possible demand of the domestic market, and must therefore remain, as it now is and has ever been, an exporting interest. As such, it must have a direct concern in the foreign trade and commerce of the country, and in all the regulations of our own and of foreign governments which affect either, equal to its interest in a stable and adequate market. If this conclusion be sound, then our farmeis must sur- render the idea of a domestic market to furnish the de- mand, and measure the value of their productions, and must prepare themselves to meet the competition of the commercial world in the markets of the commercial world, in the sale of the fruits of their labor. The marts of commerce must be their market, and the demand and supply which meet in those marts must govern their prices. The demand for home consumption, as an ele- ment in that market, must directly and deeply interest them, and should be carefully cultivated and encouraged, while all the other elementsacting with it, and constitu- ting together the demand of the market, should be studied 240 GENESEE FARMER. Oct. with equal caje, and, so far as may be in their power, and coasistent with other and paramount duties, should be cherished with equal care. Doe€ any one believe, that for generations yet to come, tie agricultural operations of the United States are to be circumscribed within narrower comparative limits than the present ; or that the agricul(m-al productions of the country are to bear a less ratio to our population and oonsumption than they now do ? I cannot suppose that any citizen, who has given his attention to the consider- ations which have been suggested, finds himself able to adopt either of these opinions. On the contrary, I think a fair examination must satisfy every mind that our ag- ricultural surplus, for an indefinite future period, must increase much more rapidly than our population and the demand for domestic consumption. This I believe would be true without the eflxjrts of associations, such as this, to improve our agriculture. The condition of the country, and the inclination and preference of our popu- lation for agricultural pursuits, would render this result unavoidable ; and if this be so, when the impetus given to agricultural production by the improvements of the day — the individual and associated efl^orts constantly making to push forward these improvements with an accelerated movement — the mass of educated mind turned to scientific researches in aid of agricultural la- bor— the dawning of a systematic and universal agricul- tural education — and the immense bodies of cheap, and fre^h, and fertile lands, which invite the application of an improved agriculture, are added to the account, who can measure the extent or duration of our agricultural surplus, or doubt the soundness of the conclusion, that the export trade mu>t exercise a sreat influence r.pon the market lor the agricultural productions a' the country for a long series of years to come ? Such is the conclusion to which my mind is forced, from au examination ot this subject, in its domestic as- pect simply ; but there is another now presented of va.st magnitude and engrossing interest, and demanding alike from the citizen and the statesman of this republic, the most careful consideration. All will at once understand me as reterring to the changes and promises of change in the policy of the principal commercial nations of the world, touching their trade in the productions or' agricul- ture. By a single step which was nothing less than commer- cial revolution, Great Britain practically made the change as to her trade, and subsequent events have clothed with appearance of a most super-human sagacity, the wisdom wliich thus prepared that country to meet the visitation of famine which has so soon followed without the additional evil of trampling down the systems of law to minister to the all-controlling necessilies of hunger. Changes similar in character, and measurably equal in extent, though in many cases temporary in duration, have been adopted by several other European governments, under circumstances which render it very doubtful how soon, if ever, a return will be made to the former policy of a close trade in the ne- cessaries of human life. I>iew markets of vast extent and incalculable value have thus been opened for our agricultaral surplus, the durabili- ty and steadiness of which it is impossible yet to measure with certainty. It is in our power, however, to say that a great body of provocations to countervailing restrictive commercial relations, is now removed, in some instances permnently, and in others temporarily in form; and it woiUd seem to be the part of wisdom, for the agriculture of this country, by furnishing these markets to the extent of the demand, with tlie best articles, at the fairest prices, to show to those countries, and heir respective governments, that reciprocal commercial regulations, if they ofier no oth- er and higher attractions, present to their people a safe- guard against starvation. Such is ihe connection, now, between our agriculture and export trade and foreign market ; and these relations are to be extended and strengthened, rather than circum- Kcribed and weakened, by our agricultural advances. The consumption of the country is for short of its production, and caruiot become equal to it within any calculable peri- od. On the contrary, the excess production is to increase with the increase of population and settlement, and the im- provements in agriculture and agricultural education. These appear to me to be fac;s, arising from the condition of our country, and the tastes and inclinations of our people, fixed beyond the power of change, and to which theories and principles of political economy must be conformed, to be made practically applicable to us. I simply propose to inquire as to a fact, which must con- trol the application of theories and principles of political economy touching this point, to our country and its agri- cultural population, without raising any question as to the wisdom of the one, or the soundness of the other. Is the consumption of this country equal to its agricultural pro- duction, or can it become so within any calculable period of years? How is the fact? May I not inquire without offence, or transcending the limits I have prescribed for my- self in the discussion ? Can a fair examination scrupulous- ly confined to this point, take a politiral bearing, or disturb a political feeling ? It is certainly not my design to wound the feelings of any member of the Society, or of any citi- zen of the country, and I have convinced myself that I may make this inquiry, and express the conclusions of my own mind as to the result, without doing either. If I shall prove to be in error, it will be an error as to the fact inquired af- ter, and not as the soundness of the principle in political economy dependent on the fact for its application, because as to the soundness of the principle, I attempt no discussion and olTer no opinion. It will be an error as to the applica- bility of a theory to our country and not as to the wisdom or policy of the theory, when it can be practiaally applied, I studiously refrain from any expression, as inappropriate here. With the indulgence of the Society, I will inquire as to the fact. Our country is very wide and very new. It embraces every variety of climate and soil, most favorable to agricul- tural pursuits. It produces already almost every agricul- tural staple, and the most important are the ordinary pro- ductions of extensive sections of the country^ and are now sent to the markets in great abundance. Yet our agriculture is in its infancy almost every where, and at its maturity no where. It is believed to be entirely safe to assume that there is not one single agricultural county in the whole Union, filled up in an agricultural sense — not one such county which has not yet land to be brought into cultivation, and much of which is to be materially im- proved, before it can be considered as having reached the measure of ite capacity for production. If this be true of the best cultivated agrictiltural county in the Union, how vast is the proportion of those counties which have entire towhships, and of the States which have not merely coun- ties, but entire districts, yet wholly unpeopled and unre- claimed from the wilderness state. When to this broad area of the agricultural field of our country, we add our immense territories, organized and un- organized, who can compute the agricultural capacities of the United States, or tii a limit to the period when our sur- plus agricultural productions will increase with increasing years and population ? Compare the census of 1830 and 1840 with the map of the Union, and witness the increase of population in the new States, which are almost exclu- sively aguricultural, and who can doubt the strong and re- sistless inclination of our people to this pursuit? Connect with these considerations of extent of country, diversity of soils, varieties of climate, and partial and im- perfect cultivation, the present agricultural prospects of this country. Witness the rapid advances of the last dozen years in the character of our cultivation, the quality and quantity of our productions from a given breadth of land, and the improvements of all the implements by which the labor of the farmer is assisted and applied. Mark the vast change in the current of educated mind of the country, in respect to this pursuit ; the awakened attention to its high respectability as a profession, to its safety from hazards, to its healthfuluess of mind and body, and to its productive- ness. Listen to the calls for information, for education up- on agricultural subjects, and to the demands that this edu- cation shall constitute a department in the great and all pervading system of our common school etlucation, a sub- ject at this moment receiving the especial attention, and being pressed f.irward by the renewed energies of this So- ciety. Behold the numbers of professors, honored with the highest testimonials of learning conferred in our country, devoting their fives to geological and chemical researches calculated to evolve the law-^e of nature connected with ag- ricultural production. Go into our colleges and institutions of learning, and count the young men toiling industriously 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 241 for their diplomas, to qualify themselves to become practi- cal and successful farmers, already convinced that equally with th« clerical, the legal, and the medical professions, that of agriculture requires a thorough and systematic edu- cation, and its successful practice the exercise of an active mind devoted to diligent study. Tlie American farmer, then while carefully studying, as he should not fail to do, the necessities, the wants and the tastes of all classes of consumers of his productions in his own country, must not limit his researches for a market within those narrow bounds. He must extend his observa- tions along the avenues of commerce, as far as the com- inerce of his country extends, or can be extended, and in- struct liimself as to the necessities, and the wants and tastes of the consumers of agricultural productions in other coun- tries. He must observe attentively the course of trade, and the causes calculated to exert a favorable or adverse influ- ence upon it ; watch closely the commercial policy of oth- ea- countries, and guard vigilantly that of his own ; accom- modate his productions, as far as may be, to the probable demands upon the market, and understand how to prepare them for the particular market for which they are designed. Next to the production of the best article at the cheapest price, its presentation in the market in the best order and most inviting condition, is important to secure to the far- mer a ready and remunerating market. So long as our agricultural shall continue to be an ex- porting interest, these considerations, as second only to the science itself will demand the careful attention aud study of our farmers, and in any well digested system of agricultu- ral edncaiion, its connection with manufactures and the me- chanic arts, with commerce, with the commercial policy of our own and other countries, and with the domestic and foreign markets, should hold a prominent place. A tho- rough and continued education in these coUatteral, but highly necessary branches of knowledge to the farmer, will prove extensively useful to the American citizen, beyond their application to tbe production and sale of the fruits of his labor. They will qualify him the more safely and in- telligently to discharge the duties of a freeman : and if call- ed by his fellow-citizens to do so, the more beneficially to serve his State and country iu legislative and other public trusts. I hope 1 may offer another opinion in this connection, without giving offence, or trespass upon the proprieties of the place and occasion. It is that this edacation is the just and true connection between the agricultural, the commer- cial, and the manufacturing interests of our country, equal- ly and impartially disseminated among the classes of citi- zens attached to each of these great branches of labor, would effectually put an end to the jealousies too frequently excited ; demonstrating to every mind, so educated, that, so far from either being in any degree the natural antagonist of the other, they are all parts of one great and naturally harmo- nious system of human industry, of which a fair encourage- ment to any part is a benefit to all ; and that all inviduous aad partial encouragement to any part at the expense of any other part, will prove to he an injury to all. The educa- tion proposed, will do all that can be done to mark the true line between natural and healthful encouragement to eith- er interest, and an undue attempt to advance any one, at ttie expense of the united system, merely producing an un- natural and artificial relation and action, which cannot fail to work disease and injury. The labors of this Society, and of kindred associations, have done much to inform the minds of our farmers in these collateral branches of knowledge useful to them, and much remains to be done. The science of produciian claims the first place, and is a wide field, as yet so imperfectly cultiva- ted as to aflbrd little time for collateral labors. To secure a stable and healthful market, and to learn how to re- tain and improve it, also opens an extensive lield for the mental labors and energies of the farmer. Between these objects the relation is intimate and the dependence mutual. The production makes the market, and the mar- ket sustains the production. The prospect of a market stim- ulates to activity in the field of production, and the fruits of that activity urge the mind to make the prospect real. Suc- cess in both contributes to the health and vigor and pros- perity of agriculture, and of that prosperity, commerce and manufactures cannot fail largely to partake. All are willing to promote the cause of agriculture in our State and country. 3Iost are ready to lend an active co- operation, and all are cheerful to see accomplished any val- uable improvement in this great branch of productive in- dustry. The difficulty hitherto has been in adopting any general plan to effect this desirable object. Hence, most usually, when the public mind has be^n awakened to the subject, arbitrary, and in many cases visionary experiments have been introduced, based upon no philosophical investi- gation of cause and effect, but upon some accidental trial, by a single individual, of some novel mode of culture, which, under the circumstances attending the experiment, has met with success. The single experiment, without an inquiry into, or a knowledge of the cause which, in the given case, has secured the successful result, is at once recommended as an infallible rule of husbandry. The publication and dissemination of detached experiments of this character, for a long period, constituted the most material additions to the stock of literary information connected with agriculture, supplied to our farmers ; while many of the experiments were too intricate and complicated to be reduced to prac- tice with any certainty of accuracy, and others were so ex- pensive that the most perfect success would not warrant the outlay. Unsuccessful attempts to follow the directions given for making these experiments, brought what came to be denominated " book farming," into great disrepute with the industrious, frugal and successful farmers of the coun- try, and excited a jealousy of, and a prejudice against this description of information upon agricultural subjects, which it has cost years of patient and unceasing effort in any mea- sure to allay, and which are not yet removed. In the mean time, geological research, heretofore princi- pally confined to investigation into the mineral kingdom proper, has been extended to its legitimate office, and has brought within its examinations the formation of its various soils, and their minute constituent parts. Chemistry has commenced where geology closed, and by a careful analy- sis of these constituent of the various soils, of the principal agricultural products, and of the usual measures, is labor- ing to establish upon philosophical principles, the true re- lations between the soil and the manure to be applied, and between both and the crop to be planted and produced. It is seeking out, with rapid success, the appropriate food of the various vegetables cultivated by the farmer, ;he soils and manures in which the food for each is found, and the way in which it may be most successfully administered. So with the food of the domestic animals, and the most economical manner of feeding it. These investigations are the reverse of the former sys- tem of arbitrary experiments. There, a result was made- to justify the arbitrary means adopted to produce it. Here, causes are ascertained, and, being so ascertained, are relied upon to produce their natural effect — which effect is the re- sult sought. The importance of this great subject is effectually arous- ing the attention of the literary and scientific men of the country, and the success already experienced is drawing; to these researches minds qualified for the labor, and energies equal to its rapid advancement. The progress made is bringing together the unsettled mind of the country, and producing the very general impression that the time has ar- rived when the foundations of a systematic, practical agri- cultural education should be had, and the superstructure commenced. It is universally conceded that agriculture has shared but lightly in the fostering care and government patronage ■ which have been liberally extended to commerce and man- ufactures, nor is it believed that additional public expendi- ture is necessary to enable the State to do all that can rea- sonably be required of it, to accomplish this great object. Our educational funds are rich, and the colleges, academies and common schools of the State share liberally in the dis- tributions from them, while a Normal school, for the edu- cation of teachers, instituted at the seat of government, is also mainly supported from these funds. These institu- tions present the origanization, through which, perhaps better than through any independent channel, this instruc- tion can be universally disseminated among the agricultu- ral population of the State. The annual additions to the school district libraries maybe made with reference to this branch of education, and thus place within the reach of all, the discoveries as they progress and the rules of husband- ry deduced from them, as they shall be settled and given to the public from the pens of the competent professors enga- ged in pursuing the researches. This Society, and like associations, may, through appro- priate committees, their corresponding secretarier., public spirited commercial men, and otherwise, collect and embo- dy in their transactions, facts and information respecting 242 GENESEE FARMER. Oct. ihe markets, foreign find domestic ; the present and proba- ble supply of agricultural products ; the mode and manner of presenting the principal productions in various markets m the most acceptable form ; the state and prospects of trade at home and abroad, and the changes present and prospective in the commercial policy of our own and other *ountries, with the probable inlluences upon the agriculcul- tural market. The commercial and agricultural press will doubtless come powerfully to the aid of the associations, in all efforts of tliis character, and having these great objects in view. In this way the foundation may be gradually laid, and the materials collected for the commencement of those agricul- tural studies, which time and application, with the constant evidence of llieir utility in practice, would ripen into a sys- tem, to be engrafted upon the course of regular studies pur- sued in the colleges, academies and common schools, and made a branch of the studies of the male classes in the Nor- mal School, placed under the superintendence.of an instruc- tor selected for the purpose, and qualified to prepare his classes for teaching ihe studies in the common schools of the State. Thus a generation of farmers would soon come forward, well educated in the great and essential principles of agri- cultural production ; in the true relations existing between agriculture, commerce and manufactures, and in the adap- tation and preparation of their products for the agricultural markets. Such farmers, with the continued aid of the schools in which they were taught, would become the best manual labor instructors for their successors. The passage of time reminds me that I am extending these remarks beyond the proprieties of the occasion and tJie pa- tience of my audience. A single reflection shall close them. However confidently the opinion may be entertained that other circumstances and relations might present a prospect for the agriculture of our State and country more stable, in- dependent and flattering, certain it is, that the future here opened is full of cheering promise. We see in it the stron- gest possible security for our beloved country, through an indelinite period against the scourge of famine. Our vari- ed soil and climate and agriculture double this security, as the disease and failure of any one crop will not, as a neces- sary consequence, reduce any class of our population to an exposure to death from hunger. We see also, in addition to feeding ourselves, that our surplus is almost, if not alto- gether, sufficient, if Aiithfully and prudently applied, even now to drive famine from the length and breadth of Europe. And that it is in our power, by faithful mental and physi- cal application, soon to make it equal to the expulsion of hunger from the commercial world. We see that, depend- ent upon the commercial markets, our agriculture may bring upon our country a high degree of prosperity, and enable us, when extraordinary occasions shall call for its exercise, to practice a national benevolence as grateful to the hearts of the humane as to the wants of the destitute. And we see that by the wider diffusion and more secure establishment of a successful agricultiu-al among our citizens, as a perma- nent employmc^nt, we are laying broader and deeper the foundations of our free institutions, the pride and glory of our country, and prized by its freemen as their richest earthly blessing ; the history of all civil government, con- firmed by the experience of this republic, furnishing demon- strative proof that a well educated, industrious, and inde- pendent yeomanry, are the safest repository of freedom and free institutions. Science with Practice. Upon this subject the Rev. Mr. Huxtable, of England, observes — " By what process of cultivation, when we manure high- ly for wheat, the straw can be so much stiffened as to bear the increased weight of ear, is at present, in my humble judgment, one of the great problems in agriculture that presses for solution ; as it is well known that this stilTness arises from the presence of the silicate potash (an imperfect sort of glass,) chemists have suggested that this soluble sil- icate, or that of soda, should be added to the ammoniacal manures. which we use for wheat : but these salts are ex- pensive ; nor am I aware of any experiments having been made which would justify our incurring the outlay for them. M(ir over, seme interesting facts mentioned by Professor Johnston (Jouriud of Agrictdture, p. 10;j, 1845) shew that there is already abundant.silica in our cultivated soils, and that plants are able to decompose and extract silica for their use, even from the most stubborn silicates. If there be al- kali enough at hand, the vital forces of the smallest living plant will form the silicates it needs — a process w hich man accomplishes only by the blast of the hottest furnace. I think, therefore, that in seeking to remedy weakness of straw, we should rather try to diminish that rankness of vegetation in our corn crops, which causes that weakness ; and this I think wc can accomplish by a simple application. I think there is one cheap and effectual remedy : it is com- mon salt. This will make the straw heavier and stiffer, and correct the tendency of the ammonia, in the manure, to produce a rank vegetation. Mr. Prideaux, of Plymouth, in- forms me that wheat ^rown very near the sea stands up better than that grown inland. 31r. Hannam testifies to the in( reascd weight of the straw. Mr. Gardiner ( Highlmid Tniiisartioiis, p. 239, 1844) states. ' tliat 3 cwt. of salt per acre, thrown over wheat in May, produced no change of color, but improved the tillering of the plants, which had small stiff, shining, wiry straw.' "Bones digested in sulphuric or muriatic acid have the same tendency to check rank vegetation and to strengthen the straw ; see Mr. Gardiner's Experimpiit, p. 242 ; also an experiment of Mr. Fleming (Jolmstoii' s Lectures, Appendix, p. 28,) who dissolved his bones in muriatic acid, and ap- plied the mixture to oats sown upon moss : he says that the straw appeared as stiff and shining as if it had been grown upon stiff loam. " I think, then, that a perfect top dressing for the wheat crop, on light lands, should be composed of 2 cwt. of bone.s, well digested in 1 dwt. of sulphuric acid. 5 cwt. of shoddy, and 3 cwt. of salt ; thus, in good years you might, I believe, grow six quarters of wheat per acre. On all light soils this assistance to the wheat should be given in the spring ; but as in clay the decomposition, of the shoddy is so slow, I should apply this manure when I sowed the wheat on my heavy land in the autumn. There is yet anotlier way of growing a heavy crop of wheat on clay : lime the fields in autumn, two or three weeks before sowing ; top dress, in the spring witli superphosphate of lime, 3 cwt. of salt, mix- ed with 30 busliels of clay ashes, \\ liich have repeatedly been soaked in urine. I am vain enough to believe that this manure, suggested for wheat, will prove valuble, and quite worth the half-crown which you paid for your tickets.'' Speaking of the lecture of which the above is an extract, the Mark Lane Express remarks : — " We earnestly recommend every farmer to get a copy of this lecture ; it is published by Sim- onds, of Dorchester. A cheaper eighteenpenny- vvorth of useful information has never been of- fered to the agriculturist." Three New York shillings for a single lecture — the price of the Gene.see Farmer a year to most of its subscribers. The tickets to this lec- ture were sold at a "half-crown" each. How many days and weeks have we not .spent in delivering agricultural lectures, the analysis of soils and fertilizers, for nothing 1 The first whole year (1844) that we wrote for the Gene- see Farmer we received jvisl four dollars in Can- ada money for the service. Our compensation- now, it is but jiistice to say, is all that the Pub- lisher ouglit to pay at the low price of this jour- nal. If each number was sold at six cents in- stead of three, the great principle would be prac- tically acknowledged— that "the laborer is worthy of his hire." It would be an easy matter to charge six cents instead of three ; but "book-farming" is so lightly esteemed in this country, that prob- ably threc-fourlhs of the readers of the Farmer would stop their paper. Dig potatoes early. Look out for the rot. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 243 i%^ HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. CONDUCTED BY P. BARRY. Peaches. The Peach Crop, in this section, has been the roost abundant we remember to have seen. — Trees have broken down, in all directions, under their load, owing to the neglect of a proper thin- ing. The backwardness of the early part of the season, cool nights during August, and the ex- cessive load have together retarded the ripening process as much as ten days or a fortnight be- yond the usual period. The early varieties par- ticularly have been belated. The Early Tillot- son, Early Purple, Sweet Water, Early York, Cole's Early, Haine^s Early, Cool edge'' s Favor- ite, &c., have nearly all come in at once. The above are all fine varieties, and have been sufficiently tested here to enable us to rec- ommend them for Early Peaches in Western New York. The three latter varieties are but recently introduced here ; this is the second year they have borne with us, and they have proved first rate. Cole^s Early Red is an uncommonly produc- tive, medium sized fruit ; deep red on the sun- ny side, of a rich and delicious flavor, farexccling the Early Purple in this respect, and ripening about the same time, or perhaps a few days later. Cooledge''s Favorite, a Massachusetts peach, is a fruit unsurpassed bv any we have ever seen, in any place, for beauty and excellence. It is remarkably productive, the tree is one of the hardiest, fruit of medium size to large, about as large as the Sweet Water, with a bright crimson cheek, and mottled all over with great beauty and delicacy. This must be a popular Peach everywhere ; if we had only two trees, one should be of this. Haines'' Early Red has borne with us this year for the second time, and proves to be a fruit of great excellence. The tree is one of the most vigorous and hardy, and bears abund autly. The fruit is large, and uniformly so, re sembling the Grosse Mignene or Royal Ken singtott of this section ; skin, pale in the shade deep red in. the sun ; flesh, greenish white, abounding with a sweet fine flavored juice. — This Peach has been tasted and examined by hundreds of persons on our grounds this season, and without an exception it has been pronounced first rale. It will be a popular and very valua- ble early orchard variety for the market. The Snow Peach .is a regular and productive bearer, and is now (Sept. 14,) beginning to ripen. It is a beautiful and delicious fruit. It is perfectly distinct, being white as snow, almost, both skin and flesh. George the Fourth and smooth leaved Royal George, or Bellegarde, prove very fine large fruits — ripe this season about the 8th to 14th of September. Those that we have mentioned are all white fleshed freestone Peaches, and all what may be called early sorts. The best yellow fleshed peaches are the Jacques, Crawford's Early Mal- acatoon, Yelloiv Alberge, and Red Cheek Mala- catoo7i—a\\ large, productive, delicious fruits, well adapted for the market, and all ripening before the 20th of September, in ordinary sea- sons. The Morris' White Rare R'qje, Old Mixon free, and WeWs free, are large, fine, later varieti(}s, and the Lemon and Orange clings are among the best of that class. We believe those we have mentioned cannot be surpassed for market varieties in this or more northern sections. We have not mentioned sev- eral fine varieties that do well here, nor the Crawford's late Malacatoon, as we have not yet seen it ripened here. The abundant crop this season, such as we have not had for many years, and may not again for some years to come, has reduced the price to something like a fair reasonable standard, affording to thousands of persons who before never tasted a good peach, to indulge partially in that luxury. For a week or ten days Early Purple, Sweet Water, &c., sold at S2,50 to $3 per basket — then they came down to ^1, and we believe less. But even at the lowest, large fine specimens sold for $2 to .S2,.50 ; yet a dollar a basket is high enough, and our fruit growers have no reason to complain. At that rate a good five year old tree will produce 4 to 5 or more dollars — a most ample remuneration. We re- joice to see peaches growing plenty and cheap, and hope they will continue to do so until the whole working population of our cities and vil- lages will be able to eat plenty of good peaches, and until our Canadian neighbors, and those who cannot grow peaches in our own State, may be supplied with choice Sioeet Waters, Cole's Haines, Kensingtons, Crawfords, Jacques, &c., instead of the miserable, stony, sour, hog peach- es now shipped to them, and that we have really felt ashamed to see leave the shores of our fine peach growing country. 244 GENESEE FARMER. Oct. The "Benoni" and "Slimmer Queen" Apples. Benoni. — This is an early apple of the very finest quality — ripe, here, latter end of August and beginning of September.— Fruit, medium size, sometimes large — roundish, of a beautiful bright red coloi*, showing a little pale yellow ground in the shade. Stalk short, in a regular cavity. Calyx open, in a narrow, smooth and pret- ty deep basin. Flesh, white, crisp, juicy; pleasant sub-acid flavor. This apple has been kept longer with us, after being pick- ed, without losing its juice, freshness and flavor than any other, and this is a quality of some importance. The tree is a vigorous, upright grower; young shoots of a reddish brown color. — Leaves large, slightly folded in at the edges, and deeply serrated. This is a Massachusetts fruit, introduced by E. M. Richards, of Dedhara, and stands at the head of their summer apples in Mass. (Fig. 57.) Benoni Apple. Summer Queen. — This is a beautiful as well as an excellent dessert summer fruit — ripening, here in Western New York, du- ring the latter half of August and first of September — coming in just after the Early Harvest and Red Astrachan. It is above medium size, being quite large on youug thrifty trees — inclined to conical shape, being broadest a little below the crown and taper- ing to the eye, where it is usually quite pointed. Stalk lonk, over an inch, deeply inserted. Calyx closed in a shallow plaited basin. Skin pale yellow, striped and mottled with bright and deep red — quite covered with red in the sun. Flesh yellowish white, rich and fine flavored — stained with red on the exposed side. The tree is of rapid growth, and has a peculiar spreading habit ; young wood of a light reddish brown, covered with whitish down easily rubbed off". Leaves light deli- cate green. The tree is distinct. It is an early and most abundant bearer, and makes an orchard tree of the first class. Sumvier Queen, Answer to Lvquiries. — Our correspondent at Ithaca will find his inquiries, respecting the 12 best varieties of peaches, anticipated in the leading article in this Department of the present number. All the varieties there mentioned have been fruited here under our own eyes, and the remarks made are consequently based on actual observation. As to the season for planting we cannot speak decidedly. On dry ground, not wholly exposed to the north and west winds, we prefer early fall planting — say middle of October, for all hardy trees; but on ground where water would be likely to lodge around the roots for any great length of time, or where the trees would be exposed to the unobstructed severity of the north and west winds during winter and early spring, we would advise spring planting. In either case prepare your soil well by two or more thorough, deep plowings. Procure good trees, of good varieties, and have them planted in the very best manner. See remarks on this subject, in another place. H.'s article, on the Blight, next month. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 245 Horticultural Festivals in Boston and PM'a. We had, during the past month, the pleasure of attending the exhibitions of the two oldest and best Horticultural Societies in America — those of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. They were both unusually fine. It was a feast, such 6is we have not had in some years, to see so many new and rare fruits, flowers, and vegetables, — and to meet with so many distin- guished amateur and professional cultivators. We also visited several of the best collections of fruits in the country, and have collected a budget of memoranda that will be serviceable to oui-selves and to the readers of the Farmer here- after. Philadelphia excels in plants and flowers and floral designs — Boston in fruits. Philadel- phia turns out whole Green Houses of plants, and immense quantities of everything. Boston excludes nearly everything but Pears ; of these Mr. Manning, of Salem, exhibited over 200 va- rieties ; M. P. Wilder, Esq., Pres't of the So- ciety, over 150; Messrs. Hovey & Co., S. Walker, Esq., of Roxbury, and many others — great collections. Splendid Grapes, grown un- der glass, were exhibited by Messrs. Hovey & Co., and others. We saw magnificent bunches of Black Hamburg, Syrian, Wilmofs neio Black Hamburg, White Frontignac, St. Peters, Rose Chasselas, (this is a beautiful Grape,) Golden do. These are the leading sorts grown. This is becoming a great business at and around Bos- ton— in every direction there are grape houses. There is every encouragement for them — the common market price, at which there is nothing like a supply, is 75 cts. to #1,00 per lb. We hope to see grape houses erected in West- ern New York and other sections soon. Other people could eat fine Black Hamburgs and Mus- cats as well as the Bostonians. We shall refer to this matter again. of securing the tree against the winds and pre- venting the frosts from penetrating to the roots. To all who are about to plant we would say, be sure to select good sorts — get good healthy trees — have them carefully dug with the roots unin- jured— carefully packed before taking them from the nursery — and then planted in the very best manner. Transplanting Trees. Autumn planting should be commenced just as soon as practicable — that is, as soon as cold •weather and frosts have fairly arrested vegeta- tion. By early planting you gain a month or more before heavy frosts set in, and trees be- come firmly fixed in their new situation, and in many cases will have made new roots. Plant- ing at this season should be done only on dry ground, where there cannot be the least appre- hension of water lodging around the roots ; but this caution is unnecessary, as few persons will think of planting trees on wet ground till thor- oughly drained. In our last volume (page 263) we gave a de- scription and illustration of a mode of supporting autumn planted trees, to which we must refer those who are now about pleinting. It has been found to answerj completely, the double purpose Horticultural Exhibition at Rochester. The Horticultural Society of the Valley of the Genesee held its annual exhibition in Mi- nerva Hall, OH the 23d ult. The display of Fruits, Flowers and Vegetables was unusually fine. The increased number of contributors, and the great variety and superior quality of the articles exhibited on this occasion, bears grati- fying evidence of the zeal and rapid progress that we are now making in every department of Horticulture. The reports of Committees have not been prepared until our day of publication, so that we are unable to give any details. We shall do so in the next number. The ladies, we are glad to say, did their part well — four, we believe^ exhibited 150 varieties of flowers each. Don't Steal that Fnii*. Sure, an' ye don't call it stealing to get over and take a little fruit, do ye ? Yes we do, and the meanest kind of stealing, too. You would'nt walk into that man's house and take his money from his draw, nor his bread from his table, and yet very likely that money and that bread has not cost its owner half so much labor, and is not half so much prized and valued as his fruit. — Don't steal it. Children and young people are generally the trespassers on this sort of proper- ty. They ought to be carefully cautioned by their parents, — by their guardians, — by their school-teachers, and by the whole of the older parts of the community, to avoid these species of transgression. Nothing is more aggravating to a person who has for years spent his time and his money in rearing up good fruit of any kind, than to have it filched from him by any body. — The theft is contemptibly mean, and yet there are many who look upon it as a very trivial af- fair, and as one hardly deserving the trouble of a rebuke, when the whole community ought to frown it down. — Maine Farmer. Give Credit. — Editors copying articles from the Genesee Farmer will please give proper credit. We almost daily find articles in our exchanges, copied from this journal, without the least acknowledgment. Many articles, which originally appeared in the Farmer, are going the rounds of the papers, credited to other journals, *' A word to the wise," 246 GENESEE FARMER. Oct. The Ripening of Winter Pears. Cultivators of the Peai- begin to understand the necessity of properly ripening sorts, in order to bring them to perfection. Hence we have lately had many inquiries on the subject, and even requests to furnish through this paper plans for fruit houses. The following article from the "Horticulturist," on this subject, by S. Walkkr, ! Esq., of Roxbury, Mass., is the best we have; seen, and will furnish to those of our readers j who are interested in this matter, some valuable \ hints : The increasing demand for fruit, and more particularly for autumn and winter pears, has caustd frequent inquiries to be made by the cuhivalors of this delicious fruit, as to the best mode of keeping and ripening the different varie- ties for the table and for the market. The subject, at pres- ent, is but partially understood ; but, with your permis- sion, I will venture to offer a few crude hints, and all the practical experience 1 possess on the subject. " To begin at the beginning," I consider it very desira- ble that every fruit-grower should have a Fruit-House, or Fruit-Rooms, consisting of at least two apartment;, viz : a keeping and a ripening room. For this purpose I would sug- gest an ornamental building of brick, stone or other mate- rial, so constructed as to keep out the frost, divided into two rooms of such size as may meet the wishes and wants of the cultivator. The floor of the keeping-roorh to be of brick or stone ; the ripening-room floor to be of wood, if you please, cover- ed with a carpet, and to render it comfortable and suitable for the purpose, a fire-place to heat the apartment when ne- cessary. The same treatment will not, I believe, suit all the kinds of pears (maturing at tlie same season) whether they be au- tumn or winter varieties. For illustration, let us compare the Chaumonlal &x\il X\\e Vicar of W ink field (Monsieur Le Cure ■) the first will ripen when subjected to great chan- ges and exposure to frost ; indeed, it may be left upon the ground with only a slight covering of leaves, grass or other light substance, at limes covered with snow, the thermom- eter varying from 10 ° above zero to summer heat, and still the ripening process advances, and is, in all probahility, ac- celerated by these sudden changes until the fruit is nearly ripe, at which time, if the fruit is taken into a cold cellar for a few days, (if frozen put into some soil to take out the frost,) and then removed into the keeping-room, there box- ed up vvitli cotton batting, and then placed in the ripening apartmeni, the maturing process will be promoted until the fruit has acquired its highest state of perfection. These remarks, I have no doubt, will apply to other varieties, of which time and experience will give, to the close and at- tentive observer, further information on this important sub- ject. I will, however, veniurc to express an opinion that the Beurre Ranee and Easter Beiirre may' be put into this class. On the contrary the Vicar of Winkfiehl belongs to a class of pears requiring a very different course of treatment. This -variety should never be exposed to frost, but for late keep- ing it should be placed upon the floor of the keeping-room, and whenever the fruit is wanted for the table it should be put into tight boxes, wrapped up in cotton, and placed in the warmest part of the ripening-room, the temperature va- rying from .')5 » to 75°; in this manner the fruit will be ripe in from fifiecn to twenty days. Having thus attempt- ed to show lluit the same treatment is not adapted for the ripening of all the varieties of the pear, (and this I have no doubt will apply to the apple,) I shall proceed to give my views as to the general treatment of autumn and winter pears. All pears which come to maturity in the autumn and win- ter, should not be ^«//(c)W until the fruit has attained its full growth, (the middle of October is about the srason in the neighborhood of Boston.) This should be done by hand, some fine day when the fruit is perfectly dry, put- ting it away carefully into barrels,* buckets or boxes. f ac- cording to quantity, keeping each kind separate, labeling the same with its name, the day it was gathered and the iseascn of its ripeaing. The fruit having been thus gather- ed and secured, it should be arranged in the keeping-room of the fruit-house, as the owner may tliink proper. The barrels may be placed upon the Hoor, the baskets hung up, and the boxes placed upon shelves. Where large quanti- ties of any one kind are raised, bins may be proper. The fjuit being now placed in the keeping-room, care should be taken to keep the room cool, dark and dry ; shut- ters and curtains should be provided for the windows, to close them up. during the day, if the weather is bright, dry and hot ; at night, when the weather will permit, the ther- mometer not ranging below 30 - , the windows may be all, or in part, left open for fresh air and ventilation. The win- dows and shutters should be closed early in the morning, to keep ill the night air and to preserve the fruit. If mould or mildew should be seen upon the fruit, it should be re- moved with a dry cloth or silk handkerchief; if about the floor, or other part of the building, strew a small quantity of air slaked lime about the room. As the period of ripening approaches, all the varieties. should be examined ; the fruit that shows signs of its soon coming to maturity should be carefully packed up with lay- ers of cotton batting, in tight boxes, and in no case should the box be opened or the fruit unnecessarily exposed to the air. From the time fruit is gathered, until it is fully ripe, it should, in my opinion, be kept in close, dry vessels. The pears thus boxed up should be placed in the ripening-room, keeping the room at a temperature of from 55 ° to 75 ° of heat. As the fruit becomes ripe, send it to the table. When the fruit is intended for sale, it should be sent to market a feio days befor it is fully ripe. Samuel Walker. * All vessels u.sed to keep fruit in should be perfectly dry, clean, sweet and tight. Barrels, after they have been used as ■ flour barrels,'" are not at all suited for fruit, unless well washed and dried, as the particles of flour left in the barrel will mould, and impart to the fruit an unpleasant odor and flavor. Fruit put into lime casks has kept well. Every thing in contact with fruit .should be sweet and clean, and the vessel in which it is placed dry and tight. It should be handled or disturbed as little as possible. t When fruit is put into small boxes, to ripen, it may be wiiiup- pcd up in cotton batting, but while it remains in the keeping- room, neither straw, paper or other like material should be placed with the fruit, as it is always more or less injurious. Acknowledgments, To H. K. Norton, Esq., Brockport, for a couple of branches loaded with very pleasant juicy little pears, now in eating (Aug. 25.) In size less, and in shape somewhat similar, to the Madalaine, but with a much longer stalk. — We suppose it to be the Long stem Blanquet. It is not so fine flavored as the Skinless, ripening at the same time — but as it appears to be a fine bearer, it may be worthy of cul- ture. — S. WoRDEM, of Oswego, for a box of fine specimpns of the Pie Apple. We noticed this fruit last season. It is a valuable variety, being a remarkably tine grower, an abund- ant bearer every year, and withal a most excellent fruit for cooking and dessert. We shall give a figure and descrip- tion of it soon. — W. E. Arnold, E.sq., for beautiful specimens of his " Genesee Chief Apple," "Fall Russet,' and another ex- cellent variety which he has been in the habit of calling " Sour Bow," a not uncommon synonyme for the '' Early Harvest," in this section. Tfiis apple, however, is on au average more than one-third larger, in eating three weeks to a month later, and is much more flattened. The color and flavor are the same as the Early Harvest, and the wood is similar. Mr. A.'s apples are somewhat of a puzzle to us. The trees were planted by an Englishman, many years ago, and appear to have been imported. — John Morse, Esq., of Cayuga, for a box of specimens of the Augustine Apple — a large, oblong apple, pale yel- low in the shade ; bright red, sprinkled with gray spots, in the sun. Flesh, fine grained, rich, and sweet. In ajJpear- ance it resembles the Arneri(^an Summer Pearmain, but is lighter colored. In our opinion this is a most desirable summer sweet apple. — L. RisLEV, Esq., of Fredonia, for specimens of the Risley Orange Apple — a very large oblong fruit, incli'ni ig to conical — of a greenish color, becoming deep yellow when ripe. Flesh coarse, but crisp, juicy, rich, and fine flavored. In eating now, ( Sept. 12. ) This is an excellent Seplerabor fruit, very popular through Chautauque coucty. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 247 LADIES' DEPARTMENT. Making Pickles. This is the season for making pickles, «and we are sure many of our female readers will thank us for inserting the following extracts from Miss Beecher's Receipt Book : Pickles. — Do not keep pickles in common earthen ware, as the glazing contains lead, and combines with the vinegar. Vinegar for pickling should be sharp, but not the sharpest kind, as it injures the pickles. If you use copper, bell metal, or brass vessels for pickling, never allow the vinegar to cool in them, as it then is poisonous. Add a table spoonful of alum and a teacup of salt to each three gallons of vinegar, and tie up a bag with pepper, ginger- root, and spices with all sorts in it, and you have vinegar prepared for any kind of common pick- ling. Keep pickles only in wood or stone ware. — Anything that has held grease will spoil pickles. Stir pickles occasionally, and if there are soft 'Ones, take thers out and scald the. vinegar, and pour it hot over the pickles. Keep enough vin- egar to cover them well. If it be weak, take fresh vinegar, and pour on hot. Do not boil vinegar or spice over five minutes. To Pickle Tomatoes. — As you gather them, throw them into cold vinegar. When you have enough, take them out, and scald some spices tied in a bag, in good vinegar, and j)0ur it hot over them. Fine Pickled Cahhage. — Shred red and white cabbage, spread it in layers in a stone jar, with salt over each layer. Put two spoonsful of whole black pepper, and the same quantity of allspice, cloves and cinnamon, in a bag, and scald them in two quarts of vinegar, and pour the vinegar over the cabbage, and cover it tight. Use it in two days after. To Pickle Caulifioioer or BrocoJi. — Keep them twenty-four hours in strong brine, and then take them out and heat the brine, and pour it on scalding hot, and let them stand till next day. Drain them, and throw them into spiced vinegar. To Pickle Onions. — Peel, and boil in milk and water ten minutes, drain off the milk and water, and poui' scalding spiced vinegar on to them. To Pickle Gherkins. — Keep them in strong brine till they are yellow ; then take tliem out and turn on hot spiced vinegar, and keep them in it in a warm place, till they turn green. Then turn off the vinegar, and add a fresh supply of hot, spiced vinegar. Mangoes. — Take the latest growth of young muskmellons, take out a small bit from one side, and empty them. Scrape the outside smooth, and soak them four days in strong salt and wa- ter. If you wish to green them, put vine leaves over and under, with bits of alum, and steam them awhile. Then powder cloves, pepper, and nutmeg in equal portions, and sprinkle on the inside, and fill them with strips of horseradish, small bitsof calamus J bitsof cinnamon and mace, a clove or two, a very small onion, nasturtions, and then American mustard seed to fill the crev- ices. Put back the piece cut out, and sew it on and then sew the mango in cotton cloth. Lay all in a stone jar, the cut side upward. Boil sharp vinegar a few minutes, with half a teacup of salt, and about a tablespoonful of alum to three gallons of vinegar, and turn it on to the mellons. Keep dried barberries for garnishes, and when you use them turn a little of the above vinegar of the mangoes heated boiling hot on to them, and let them swell a kw hours. Sliced and salted cabbage with this vinegar poured oa hot is very good. An Improvement in Bread-making. — Per- sons who are so unfortunate as to be poorly pro- vided with those agents of mastication, good teeth, -vill be glad to know that there is a method of making bread which obviates the necessity of a hard crust. The crust commonly attached to the loaf is not only troublesome to such persons, but is often the cause of much waste. The way to be rid of it is as follows : When the loaves are moulded, and before they are set down to 'rise,' take a small quantity of clean lard, warm it, and rub it lightly over the loaves. The result will be a crust beautifully soft and tender throughout. This is not guess-work. — Prairie Farmer. CoiiN Meal Cakes. — Excellent breakfast cakes can be made in the following manner : Mix two quarts of corn mesl, at night, with wa- ter, and a little yeast and salt, and make it just thin enough to stir easy. In the morning stir in three or four eggs, a little saleratus, and a cup of sour milk, so as to leave it thin enough to pour out of a pan ; , bake three-quarters of an hour, and you will have light, rich honeycomb cakes — and with a good cup of coffee and sweet but- ter at breakfast, one finds with Hamlet, "in- crease of appetite to grow with what it feeds on. Frying Fish. — A writer in the Boston Cour- ier says that fresh fish should never be put into cold fat when they are to be fried. They thus ab- sorb it, and become unfit to eat. The fat should be plenty enough to prevent the fish sticking to the pan, and boiling hot when the fish is put in. It is thus cooked quickly, and is in fine eating order when taken up. These rules will not ap- ply to meats. The Pear leaf has 24,000 pores to the square inch, on the under side. The Pink has about 38,500. Some plants have as many as 160,000. ^248 GENESEE FARMER. Oct. Paring Peaches. — There may be some who have an abundance of peaches this season, who would like to know some more expeditious way of pairing to dry, than the common way of flay- ing with a knife. I have tried the plan of scalding as an experiment, and found it success- ful, and would suggest it through the medium of the Farmer, that others may try it if they see fit. The method of scalding which I prefer is to have a kettle, of convenient size, partly filled with water heated to about the boiling point ; then have the peaches in a basket, or vessel with holes in the bottom, and immerse in the scald- ing water. The peaches must be ripe (or mel- low all over,) for scalding. They can be paired in this way with much facility, by slipping off" •the skin. They should be stoned and spread for 'drying soon after pairing, as they become more soft and of a darker coler by lying in a mass. Summit Co., Ohio, 1847. A Subscriber. Music in the Family. — Its beneficial effects may not be doubted. No family should fail to encourage the largest possible amount of musical talent. Independent of its happy influences on the mind, it should be fostered on account of its physical advantages. The late Dr. Rush said, *'The Germans rarely die of consumption, be- cause they are always singing." If this beauti- ful accomplishment tends in any degree to miti- gate a malady so terrible, for the world's sake, let us have a world of it. But there are other reasons — it induces amiability and banishes bad passions. We have somewhere read the testi- mony of an excellent clergyman, possessing much knowledge of human nature, who instructed a large family of daughters in the ordinary prac- tice of music. They were observed to be amia- ble and happy. A friend inquired if there was any secret in his mode of education, to which he replied : " When anything disturbs their tem- per, I say to them, sing; and if I hear them speaking against any person, I call them to sing to me ; and they sing away all the causes of dis- content, and every disposition to scandal." Such a use of this accomplishment, might seem to fit a family for the company of angels ; young voi- ces around the domestic altar, breathing sacred music at the hour of morning and evening devo- tion, are a sweet and touching accompaniment. The Affections. — How beautiful are these words of Longfellow : "One by one the objects of our affection depart from us. But our affec- tions remain, and like vines, stretch forth their broken, wounded tendrils for support. The bleeding heart needs a balm to heal it ; and there is none but the love of its kind — none but the af- fection of the human heart." MARKET INTELLIGENCE. Rochester Produce Market— Wholesale. Wheat, $1 10 Corn, - 50 Barlef, 50 Oats, 38 Flour, 5 12* 1 12 75 12 18 4 50 1 50 Beans, Apples, bush. Potatoes, Clover Seed,- Timothy, Hay, ton, Wood, cord,. Salt, bbl,...- Hams, lb, Rochester, Sept. 30, 1847. 40 18| 87 37 25 2 00 8 00 10 00 2 00 3 00 1 25 8 10 Pork, bbl. mesa 15 00 16 Pork, cwt., Beef, cwt., ... Lard, lb., Butter, lb.,... Cheese, lb., .. Eggs, doz, Poultry, Tallow, Maple Sugar, . Lamb Skins,.. Green Hides, lb Dry Calfskins, ... 4 50 3 00 9 12 5i 10 5 00 4 00 10 14 IVcw York Market, [By Magnetic Telegrceph.^ New York, Sept. 30—7 P. M. Flour and Meal — Market without marked change, and good enquiry from home trade. Sales 4 or 5000 bbls at $5,87^- for new Genesee ; $5,69a$5,75 for fresh ground do : $5,62^a$5,75 for fresh western and Oswego, and $5,- 50a$5,75 for old weste/n and Genesee. Nothing sound below $5,50. Sour flour $4,25, and uninspected $4,87,^ a$5,12.i. About 2G00 bbls sold. Receipts of Flour mod- erate. Rye Flour is $4,25, and supply very small. Buck- wheat Flour $2,25a$2,50. Grain — Good enquiry for wheat ; receivers firm, for a good parcel Genesee $1,25 ; sales 1000 bush Fredericks- burg at $1,19, and a cargo North Carolina under negoti.i- tion at $1,20; 7 or 8000 bush red western and New Or- leans at 92ca$l,06, according to quahty. Corn, fair en- quiry, but dull at the close ; sales 25,000 bush at 66a67 for mixed, 68a69 for yellow, including 3000 bush round yel- low at 67 cts in slip. Rye fell off 3 or 4 cts ; sales 8000 bush at 80a83c closing at 81c ; new Barley 80c asked, no sales. Oats 54a56 cts at retail. Provisions — Pork firm' but not active ; sales 700 bbls at $10,75c$ 11 for prime, and $14,25a$14,50 for mess. Beef is dull at $7,75a$8,25, and $ll,75a$12,25. Lard quiet.— Cheese in fair request ; 1500 boxes Herkimer sold at $7^, and 500 do Ohio at 6ia75G. Obituary. Died, in this City, on Sunday morning, Septembers, LILLA, only daughter of Daniel D. T. and Anna E. Moore, aged 1 year and 22 days. Contents of this Number. Study the Soil — Magnesia, 225 "Lime 3Iania," 226 To cure Ho ven iu Cattle; Potato Rot, 227 Hints for October ; Wagon Shelvins ; Vermont Farm- ing; Crops in Wisconsin, 228 Nutrition of Corn Cobs; Preparation of Seed Wheat; Heavy Wool operation ; Hydraulics for Farmers,... 229 Clearing Land; Taking Honey from Bees, 232 The Genesee Farmer; Premium Bee-Hives, 233 Experiments in Wheat Culture — Hessian Fly; The New SeUlements vs. the Old, 234 Comparative Profits of Agricuhure, Trade, and Com- merce; Wheat Crop in Michigan, 235 Gen. Harmon's Merino Buck, "King of Vermont;" Fair of the State Ag. Society, 236 Notices of Agricultural Fairs in Monroe, Jeflerson, Or- leans, and Livingston counties; To Correspondents; Cole's American Veterinarian; Ag. Fairs this Month, 237 Address of the late Silas Wright, read at the recent State Fair, 238 Science with Practice, 242 horticultural department. Peaches, 243 The " Benoni" and "Summer Queen" Apples; An- swers to Inquiries,... 244 Horticultural Festivals in Boston and Philadelphia; Transplanting Trees; Horticultural Exhibition at Ro- chester; Don't Steal that Fruit; Give Credit, 245 The Ripening of Winter Pears ; Acknowledgments, . . 246 ladies' department. Making Pickles; An Improvement in Bread-Making; Corn Meal Cakes: Frying Fish, 247 Parijog Peache8; Music in the Family; The Affections, 248 Vol. 8, ROCHESTER, N. Y. — NOVEMBER, 1847. No. 11. THE GENESEE FARMER : Issued the first of each month, in Rochester, N. Y., by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE. EDITOR. p. BARRY, Conductor of the Horticultural Department. To Correspondents. Communications have been received, during the past month, from G , N. Simons, G. C, G. W. Pratt, H. of Fair port, *, H., T. W. Painter, Geo. Bishop, jr.. Spectator, S. W., and S. E. S. H. Nott, M. b. Books, Periodicals. &c., have been received as follows : " The Farmer'' s Book and Family Instructor.'^ A work embracing a variety of useful matter. It contains over 550 pages, and is illustrated with numerous engravings — some of which might perliaps be omitted without impairing the value of the work. For sale by S. Hamilton, State-st., Rochester. " Landrelh's Rural Register ajid Abiumac, for 1S48." — This little annual contains much useful information, and will prove valuable to farmers and fruit culturists. For sale by Hamilton, State st. Price 25 cents. " Tlie American Architect — comprising original designs of Country Residences, adapted to the taste and circum- stances of the Merchant, Farmer, and Mechanic." We commend this valuable work to the attention of all interest- ed in architectural matters. Jt is illustrated with excellent Lithographic designs. Published monthly by C. M. Sax- ton, New York, at $3 per annum — 25 cents for single num- bers. For sale by E. Darrovv, corner of Main and St. Paul St., Rochester. " Daily Am-^rican Directory of the City of Rochester for 1847-8," from the Publishers, Messrs. Jerome & Brother. This is a work of about 300 pages, containing a vast amount of correct infarmation which cannot be obtained from any other source. It is got up in good style, creditable to its enterprising Publishers. Price $1,25. " Illustrated Botany." We have received several num- bers of this beautiful work. It is edited by J. L. Comstock, M. D., a distinguished Botanist. Each number is illustra- ted with splendid colored portraits of Plants, together with botanical descriptions, &c. We commend the work to all who have a taste for Botany, and to the ladies particularly. Published in Magazine style, by B. H. Culver, 139 Nas- sau St., New York— .$3 per annum. We are indebted to Henry O'Reilly, Esq. for an able pamphlet relative to the "Atlantic, Lake & Blississippi Telegraph Company," — embodying an " exposure of the schemes for nullifying the ' O'Reilly Contract' for extend- ing the Telegraph to the Mississippi and the Principal Towns on the Lakes." How should Manure Le applied to Land? At a Convention of Farmers, held in the city of New York on the 12th and 13th of October, Dr. Underbill, of Croton Point, who has dis- tinguished himself for his success in producing grapes and in horticultural operations, made a speech in which he advanced some new ideas on the use and application of Manure. He con- tends that it ought to be buried at least one foot below the surface, either with a plow or spade. According to his experience, manure never wastes by leaching and running deep into the ground. It always rises — the dissolved salts by capillary attraction from the heat of the sun and drying of winds ; and the gasses rise by their own specific levity. So long as the rain is fall- ing. Dr. U. admits that the water does sink deep into the earth or runs off on its surface ; but so soon as the rain ceases and the surface becomes dry by evaporation, the liquid rises from below upward. Most of the farmers and horticulturists near the city of New York concur in this opin- ion. If true, it will modify the general practice of agriculture in this country. We think quite favorably of this theory ; but incline to believe that its author carries it too far. It is an exceedingly interesting question in me-* teorology to determine what portion of the rain which falls on a cultivated field in summer runs into the earth and off from it, and what amount evaporates from the surface. All that evaporates must leave its mineral fertilizers behind ; while that which dissolves manure, and runs of}', to keep up the fountains of creeks and rivers, can never restore its constituents of plants. It is a remarkable fact that the dead bodies of persons in graves 4 and 5 feet deep in sandy soils, give off gasses which, till the decomposi- tion is complete, cause grass and weeds to grow most luxuriantly. Dr. U. thinks that salts or minerals in porous soils rise to that depth by the capillary attraction of moisture. . For Award of Premiums, at late Fair of the York York State Agricultural Society, see page 262. 250 GENESEE FARMER. NoVo Twentieth Annual Fair of the American Institute, New York. It was our good fortune to spend several days at the recent Fair of the American Institute. It has served to give us a higher opinion, as well as a juster appreciation of the natural mechani- cal skill of the American people. If we are proud of our country, we glory in the high in- tellectual powers, which Providence has confer- red on its inhabitants. These powers are still in their undeveloped infancy. It is only the twilight of our intellectual Sun soon to "arise, that we discover in the highest achievments of American genius. By what has been done and is doing, we may rightly infer what will yet be accomplished. Look at the improvements in the Mechanical Arts; the use of Steam in dri- ving vessels on the wide ocean, railroad cars through mountains, over rivers and valleys, and •loing every thing but talk and reason ! Among the hundreds of new inventions at Castle Garden no one has interested us so much as an admirable apparatus for drying Meal, Flour, and Grain. It employs steam to heat the cylin- ders, and thus maintains at all times a uniform and proper temperature. Steam passes through the center of the cylinder, which is made of sheet iron, has flanches on its outer surface, which carry the meal or grain as it revolves, and thus effectually dries it without scorching. It is cheap and can be made to dry several thousands of bushels in 24 hours. Jajies R. Stafford, patentee, Cleveland, Ohio. The elasticity of India Rubber is now applied to railroad cars, taking the place of heavy steel springs, as well as of all lighter ones for ordina- ry carriages. Even the very wheels of freight trains are cast double so as to admit a collar of ijum elastic around the periphery of the smaller wheel, to break the force of constant percussion on the rail. The display of American cotton, woolen, and silk manufactures, is very creditable to those en- gaged in these important branches of national industry. Compare the fabrics now on exhibi- tion with the American prints, ginghams, mus- lins, flannels, and broadcloths of 1827, when the Institute held its first Fair. The advancement is truly astonishing. In cutlery, shelf hardware, n^echanic's and farmer's tools of all kinds, to say nothing of cabinet ware, stoves, household furni- ture, grates that vie with the most exquisite stat- tuary, one can not fail to admit the rapid pro- gress of improvement. It is in great cities, where man is most active in body and mind, where thought is ever in collision with thought, that all the inventions of genius and works of art receive their highest polish. If the tillers of the soil would often meet together to compare ideas, as mechanics, manufacturers, and mer- •bants do in cities, their progress in improve- ment would not be so painfully slow and uncer- tain. American manufacturers have paid liber- ally for the assistance of chemistry and other sciences in teaching them how to turn the im- mutable laws of Nature to the best account, in making iron, steel, and copper — in compounding colors for cotton and woolen goods — in dissolving gum elastic, converting water into steam, and performing a thousand other operations of the highest practical utility. Analytical chemistry revealed the fact that Vermont contains a bed of exceedingly fine silex which is pure ; and sug- gested that it would make flint glass of surpass- ing clearness and beauty. An establishment is now in operation in Brooklyn whose goods make a grand display at Castle Garden. Some of the tumblers made of this silica sell as high as $10 a dozen at wholesale. We are told that the sup- ply of the material for making this superb glass is inexhaustible. Albany clay is melted into an admirable colored glass, which is used for a great variety of purposes. When will the farmers of the United States appreciate the value of true science, applied to their first, most honorable, and most useful of all arts? Why treat with utter neglect or repel with seeming disdain, the best service of those that seek to kindle the lights of modern science in every school house in the Union ? All im- provements in cotton and woolen mills— in canals, railroads, steamships — in the mechanical arts of all kinds, are the legitimate fruit of close study, long and patient research, with the aid of the best appliances, the best opportunities for discov- ering all existing defects. Simihr opportuni- ties, similar appliances should be made available for the study and advancement of agriculture. — Geology, chemistry, physiology, anatomy, bota- ny, natural history, and the mathematics, should have their light brought to a common focus on the great business of the husbandman. In short, the intellect which is to effect the cheap and skilful transformation of crude earth, air, and water, into grain, grass, beef, pork, wool, but- ter, cheese, apples and other fruit, needs as well as deserves a liberal and thorough education. — American Mind has an acknowledged right to a large development. The brilliant exhibition of the American Institute has impressed us deeply with the importance of improving and enlarging our system of educating the children of the masses. God has given to all of woman born a capacity for doing infinitely more good in the world as physical, intellectual, and moral beings, than any now accomplish. The grand question is, shall this capacity be abused and perverted to evil, or wisely turned to the good purpose for which it seems to have been created ? High in- tellectual culture, embracing the whole range of the natural sciences, is eminently due to the young farmers and mechanics of this Republic. To these we sav, be true to yourselves, study 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 251 and obey the laws of Nature, and the God of nature will reward you liberally for your well directed labor. Expect nothing truly valuable without patient industry. Read books which are worth reading as carefully as you would break up a summer fallow for wheat. Allen's " Amer- ican Agriculture" can be studied with advantage. The persons who took the premiums at the Fair, were all men of much thought, much study. New England and New York mechanics evince great research, such, in truth to speak, as one seldom meets with among the mass of farmers. The latter study too little. We hope not to give ofTence. What we say is prompted from good motives, and for a good purpose. All the intel- lect associated with American agriculture, should be fully and universally developed, to place this great interest in the most successful, honorable, and useful position of which it is capable. Un- developed mind, in this country, is like a rich garden unplanted, unfilled, and full of pernicious weeds, whose prolific seeds are borne far and wide by birds and winds, and scattered broad- cast over the whole land. Wise and thorough mental culture must precede wise and thorough agriculture and horticulture in America, where every man is a sovereign. If enlightened Reason is to govern and direct the action of human hands, it must be qualified for its office before the duties of the same can be discharged aright. Instinct will answer for brutes; but not for moral, reasoning man. The farmer can no more do without scientific knowledge in this age of the world, than he can dispense with comfortable food and clothing — dispense with civilization, law, and religion. The great benefits which science has conferred on our race, when known to less than one in a thousand in the most en- lightened nations, lead us to expect benefits a thousand fold larger, when the most ignorant shall know as much as the wisest now do. Give every agriculturist, every mechanic a gooc scientific and moral education, and no imagina tion can conceive the blessings that will accrue to our whole population, and indirectly, to the whole of mankind. Onward and upward is our destiny. Let no one hang back. To Extinguish Chimneys on Fire. — First shut the doors and windows of the room contain- ing the fire ; stop up the flue of the chimney with a piece of wet carpet or blanket ; and then throw a little water or common salt on the fire. By this means the draft of the chimney will be checked, and the burning soot will soon be ex- tinguished for want of air. If every fire-place were provided with a damper, or shutter of tin plate, or sheet-iron, fitting sufficiently tight to stop the draft, fires in chimnies would become of little consequence, as it would only be neces- sary to apply this damper to put them out. Let this be remembered by the reader. Faitening Swine. — A Steaming Apparatus. An Ohio correspondent requests information on the subject of cooking food for swine. As the matter is one of considerable importance at this season of the year, we think the following extract from Allen's "American Agriculture" will be read with interest and profit by maTiy of our readers : Where there are many swine to fattrn, or grain is to be fed, a steaming apparatus is at all times an economical ap- pendage to the farm. It has been shown from several ex- periments, that cattle and sheep will generally thrive as well on raw as on cooked roots ; but horses do better on the latter, and swine w ill not fatten on any other. For all animals excepting store sheep, and perhaps even they may be excepted, grain or meal is better when cooked. Food must be broken up before the various animal organs can appropriate it to nutrition ; and whatever is done towards ejecting this object before it enters the stomach, diminish- es the necessity for the expenditure of vital force in accom- plishing it, and thereby enables the animal to thrive more rapidly and do more labor, on a given amount. For this reason we apprehend there may have been some errors un- detected in the experiments of feeding sheep and cattle with raw and cooked roots, which results in placing them apparently on a par as to their value for this purpose. The crushing or grinding of the grain insures more perfect mas- tication, and is performed by machinery at much less ex- pense, than by the animals consuming it. The steaming or boiling is the final step towards its easy and profitable assimilation in the animal economy. With a capacious steaming-box for the reception of the food, the roots and meal, and even cut hay, straw and stalks may be thrown in together, and all will thus be most effectually prepared for nourishment. There is another advantage derivable from this practice. The food might at all times be given at the temperature of the animal system, about 98 degrees of Farenheit, and the animal heat expended in warming the cold and sometimes frozen food, would be avoided. The steaming apparatus is variously constructed. We have used one consisting of a circular boiler five and a half feet long by twenty inches diameter, made ofboiler iron and laid lengthwise on a brick arch. The fire is placed under- neath and passes through the whole length and over the end, then returns in contact with the boiler through side flues or pockets, where it entered the chimney. This givee an exposure to the flame and heated air of about 10 feet. The upper part is coated with brick and mortar to retain the heat, and three small test cocks are applied at the bottom, middle and upper edge of the exposed end, to show the quantity of water in it ; and two large stop cocks on the upper side for receiving the water and delivering the steam, completes the boiler. The steaming-box is oblong, seven or eight feet in length, by about four feet in depth and width, capable of holding 60 or 70 bushels, made of plank grooved together, and clamped and keyed with four setts of oak joist. We also used a large circular tub, strongly bound by wag- on tire and keyed, and holding about 25 bushels. The cov- ering of both must be fastened securely ; but a safety valve is allowed for the escape of steam, which is simply a one and a half inch auger hole. Into these, the steam is conveyed from the boiler, by a copper tube, attached to the steam delivery cock for a short distance, when it is contin- ued into the bottom of the box and tub by a lead pipe, on account of its flexibility, and to avoid injury to the food from the corrosion of the copper. It is necessary to have the end of the pipe in the steam-box, properly guarded by a metal strainer, to prevent its clogging from the contents of the box. We find no difficulty in cooking 45 bushels of un- ground Indian corn in the tub, in the course of three or four hours, and with small expense of fuel. Fifty bushels of roots could be perfectly cooked in the box, in the same time. For swine, fattening cattle and sheep, milch cowi~ and working horses, and perhaps oxen, we do not doubt a large amount of food may be saved by the use of such or a similar cooking apparatus. The box maybe enlarged to treble the capacity of the foregoing, without prejudicing the operation, and even with a boiler of the same dimensions, but it would take a longer time to effect the object. If the boiler were increased in proportion to the box, the cooking process would of course be accomplished in the same time. 252 GENESEE FARMER. Nov. Letter from Europe. Dr. Lee — Sir: Having been spending my time for four or five weeks past in the north of England, I thought perhaps the following com- mujiication might possess some little interest to your readers, and if you should deem it worthy of an insertion in the Farmer, it is at your dis posal. The country between Carlisle and Newcastle, (the part through which I passed,) is beautiful and interesting to the traveller ; and it is well adapted to the cultivation of grains. Yet in some places 1 observed that the soil was quite shallow, having a claj^ hard pan underneath. The soil generally did not appear to be in any way superior to the soil in the county of Mon- roe, and yet the average yield of bushels per acre is much above what farmers obtain in said county. Thirty bushels of wheat per acre is a very common yield, I was informed, and the yield of other grains bore a like proportion. This thirty bushels is an average yield, and they often obtain forty and sometimes fifty bushels. I think that this superior yield may be attribut- ed in a great measure to the climate, and per- haps in some degree to the mode of cultivation. The weather at the time that grains are ripen- ing here, is peculiarly favorable or at least was so this year. It is cool, attended with occasion- al showers, and the time that it takes to ripen from the time that the head makes its appearance, is fully double of what it takes in Monroe. This allows the grain to fill well and to come to great perfection, whereas with you at the time of rip- ening, the weather is often excessively dry and warm, and the grain cannot fill as well. The most common and I may say general practice is to sow the ground to wheat only once in four years — so that they have only one-fonrth of their tillable land sown to wheat each year. The bare fallow they plow from four to six times during the summer ; and after the first plowing they do not plow more than six inches in depth. Draining with the draining tiles is quite gen- eral, and they experience great benefit to the land from it ; though it is expensive to lay the drain, yet the farmer is soon repaid by the extra crops, and has his drains left as clear profit. Although the seasons are often very dry in Western New York, I think that the farmer would experience much advantage from draining in some soils. The clay soil I think would be- come much looser by draining and would endure drouth better. Great use is made of lime as a fertilizer, but none of plaster. As there are more frequent showers in this country and not so warm weath- er as with you, the plaster is not so much need- ed ; but for this same reason, as it appears to me, the lime is necessary to give to the soil a warmth [ that it otherwise might lack ~ erally applied before the wheat crop, which is very judicious. The principal agricultural productions are wheat, barley, oats, beans, turneps, and potatoes. I saw none of the field beet cultivated, but the turnep is raised extensively for keeping sheep and cattle. The short horns are the favorite breed of cattle for fattening, as far as I learned, and the Leicestershire and Cheviot sheep are the kinds generally kept — the Leicestershires mostly, though for killing a cross between the Leicesters and the Cheviots is preferable. Though farmers do not own the land which they cnltivate here, as they do in America, yet I think that their profits are greater. They bear a more just propoi-tion to the profits received by people engaged in other occupations, because there is a good market for all agricultural pro- ductions. Since I came to England I am doubly convinced of the great importance of building up the manufacturing interest in America that the farmer may receive an adequate compensation for his labor; for a foreign market can not be depended upon. The following prices will perhaps give you some idea of the profits of farming in this coun- try. Though prices have continued to decline for two and a half months past, the following prices in sterling money were paid in Edinburgh, yesterday, for the best samples : Wheat 8s. per bushel; Barley, 4s. 6d.; Oats, 3s. 9d.; beans, 6s. 6d. The following prices of Sheep and Cattle were furnished me by an intelligent butcher living near Newcastle : Leicester fat lambs from 2.5 to 26 shillings sterling per head. When 15 months old, £2 per head. When the prices were high, and before the sheep were shorn, full grown fat sheep sold as high as 3 guineas, or £3 3s. per head — nearly equal to $14. Present price of a two year old beef, that would weigh 40 stone when dressed, £15 The harvest in the part of which I have been writing commenced on the 19th of August. — , The cradle I observed was used to a small ex- tent, but those which I saw were the most awk- ward and clumsy tools of the kind that I ever beheld. I would also mention here that I have seen no plow as yet in this country that I considered equal to the plow generally used in , the State of New York. Yours with respect, G . Banockburn, Scotland, Sept. 9, 1847. The Farmers' Cabinet says: "We are advi-| sed that a dairy farmer in Lancashire, England, lately realized £42,125. dd. by the sale of 131 cwt. of cheese, the product of thirteen cows, in thirty eight days — full 40 cents a day for each cow." A profitable dairy, indeed, — and rarely The lime is gen- 1 equalled we imagine. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 253 The Farmer. — His Positioxi, Responsibilities, and Duties. NUMBER TEN. The subject of printing and its influence, is one which only increases the more we contem- plate it. The human mind, with its mighty powers of expansion, and in its restless desire for improvement, requires just such a machine as the printing press to give it full play ; it puts within its grasp a power just suited both to means and end. It is the philosopher's stone to the mind — multiplies the thoughts of man into infi- nite numbers, and scatters them over millions of the race at the same time. It catches up every important discovery, and gathers together the mighty thoughts and great conceptions of the master spirits of the earth, and with one effort scatters them far and wide, to instruct and en- lighten the world. The farmer at his fireside, the mechanic in his shop, and the student in his study, may, through the agency of the press, collect together, in a small compass, all the valuable information and discoveries appertaining to their respective callings, and by proper application make them available to the every day business of life j but to no one class does the press promise so much good as to the agriculturist — to none is it a means so easily effective for advantage, and by none should it be cherished so heartily and warmly. The mechanic may have his journals and period- icals devoted exclusively to his interest, but after all there is an intricacy in the details of his trade, a vast amount of minutise, which cannot be re- duced to paper, or explained only by practice, and much is lost by the attempt, and half the effect is destroyed by reading what it is so diffi- cult to communicate with tool and material be- fore him. But a great deal of the operations of the farmer is so plain and simple that it may be spread on paper and made intelligible by words and figures ; and the farmer may study to-day and practice to-morrow, and reduce to immediate test and advantage knowledge thus communica- ted— and particularly is this the case when he has been educated a farmer and trained to habits of thought and action, suitable to a tiller of the soil. I do not wish to be understood as advancing the idea that any body can make a good farmer in a day, a week, or a year. I verily believe that men should be educated and trained from their youth up for farmers, and when thus fitted and prepared they are in a position to receive the full advantage of the press ; then it is that knowledge comes to them in all its force, and they are fully prepared to adopt, use, and profit by it, at less expense and with less trouble than any other class. I repeat, the farmer, above every body else, should prize the press — for who, like him, can enjoy his newspaper, his magazine. and his books 1 — who has so much leisure to peruse, read, and study them 1 — who so free from mental strife and perplexing cares ? — and who, then, can so fully enjoy intellectural pur- suits, and so easily store the mind with useful information 1 — whoso cheaply partake the pleas- ures and gather in and enjoy the fruits of knowl- edge ? Just look at the position of the farmer in this particular. He has no profession with its office, to harrass the mind with its perplexing questions relating to property or to life ; nor (as is the case with most of offices,) to dissipate the mind with idle visitors. He has no store with its goods and wares, its day-books and ledgers, tJ distract his attention and trouble him by day and by night. He has no shop in which to toil, and labor, and sweat, day and night, without recreation or rest. The farmer's retreat and place of rest when the labors of the day are past, is his own home, by his fireside and in his family circle. And what place on earth so sacred, hallowed, and so like heaven, as the farmer's peaceful, quiet home 1 Pride has not entered there to de- spoil it of its simplicity and purity ; fashion has not sung her syren song within its bowers, to lure its inmates into habits of extravagance, and to deform them with its outside gear. Nor has vice and dissipation crept in, satan like, to distract the harmony and break up the peace of the happy family. At least in thousands of farmers' homes, none of these things have yet entered ; and is not such a place sweet and holy. What a beautiful place is such a family cii-cle ! — what a charmed spot, where kindred hearts gather around the same fireside, and mingle to- gether under the same roof common sympathies and n:utual affections. This world has no bright- er or better pictures. And it is within this holy place, his own good home, that 1 would have the farmer enter when the day's work is done, after all the bars are put up and the barn doors se- cured—and after the beasts of the field have been cared for — and there, surrounded by his idols, his household gods, whom to love is no sacralege and to reverence no idolatry — there, with his little ones about him, I would have him take his newspaper, his periodical, and his book, and amuse and improve himself by reading and conversation, by study and reflection. There, in his sanctum sanctorum, the farmer may share the highest social and intellectual pleasures, and there fit and prepare himself for the good farmer, the useful and virtuous citizen, and the honest, upright man. There are doubtless seasons of the year when the farmer cannot enjoy all the advantages above indicated — when the hurry of the harvest is pressing and when the fatigues of the long sum- mer day have exhausted the system — but this is comparatively but a short season ; at least nine- twelfths of the year the farmer has abundant 254 GENESEE FARMER. Nov. opportunity for mental culture, for reading, study and reflection, and may, if he will, lay up day by day a little useful information and be contin- ually filling up his mind with important facts and valuable knowledge, to use and improve upon as occasion in after life requires. If the farmer, then, is ignorant — if, in point of intelligence and influence, he stands second — is not the fault his own 1 — is it not because he has neglected to improve the means, and take advan- tage of the circumstances within his reach for acquiring knowledge, as well that which is gen- eral as that relating exclusively to his own busi- ness ? If the farmers will improve a due portion of their leisure hours by study and reflection, instead of lounging them all away in idle con- versation, and with vicious companions — if the precious time which their occupation affords them for improvement be wisely occupied in the cultivation of the intellect as well sa in the en- joyment of social pleasures — it would not be long before they would stand forth the first in point of inielligence, and be thus prepared to exercise their proper influence and assume their true po- sition in society. The press with its mighty power steps in to aid and assist the farmer ; it gives him an intelligent, truthful companion, which he may safely intro- duce into his family circle, and when properly selected, is sure to make all wiser and better. He may take his " Genesee Farmer," his " Cul- tivator," his " Farmer's Library," or his " Hor- ticulturist," by his fire side, in the long winter evenings, and commune with them and learn many useful and amusing lessons. The truth is, the farmer has no excuse for being behind his neighbor, of whatever class or profession, in mental acquirements and in general knowledge ; and I am glad to know that many, all over the land, are second to none in these particulars. In the good little county of Yates, there are many who till the soil, who labor day by day on their farms, who stand second to none in intel- lectual culture and strength — who, when occa- sion requires, can wield the pen or tongue in vindication of their rights, and to instruct and enlighten their fellow citizens on any subject of general interest. And this may and should be- come universal, and an ignorant dolt of a farmer should form an exception to the class, and be looked upon as a disgrace to the calling. I have no idea that every farmer ever can or will become an orator, author, or scholar ; but I do think that all may be and are guilty of gross neglect if they do not become well informed, in- telligent men, and be fully qualified and pre- pared to discharge honorably every duty, public or private, which may devolve upon a citizen in a free country. The means are within the reach of all — the facilities are at the door — they have but to be used, and I ask the farmers of New York if they will not bestir themselves and strive after an intellectual and moral elevation — seek to thus raise to its proper pre-eminence their noble calling. The power is in your hands — you can do it if you will. The advance is now being made— every year adds to the num- ber of well informed farmers; but let the mo- mentum of advance be increased, and then the consummation so devoutly wished for will be sooner effected, viz : the rescue of agriculture from a secondary position in society, and its ele- vation to its true position above and at the head of all other callings, in point of intellectual, mor- al, and political standing and iufluence, as well as in numbers and wealth. This subject is by no means exhausted, but my sheet is full and I must close till another month. D. A. Ogden. Fenn Yan, Sept., 1847. Hydraulics for Farmers. BY C. N. BEMENT. NUMBER IV. Ellswortli's Syphon Ram. — This apparatus, invented by Erastus W. Ellsworth, Esq., of East Windsor Hill, Conn., is intended for elevating water from springs, wells, and other sources, wherever sufficient falls of water can be obtain- ed in their vicinity, for the operation of a sy- phon. In principle it consists of a combination of the syphon with a machine long known as the hydraulic ram ; but is different in its construc- tion and mode of operation, from similar combi- nations, which have heretofore been attempted, and proved of little value for practical use. It has now been operated a sufficient length of time to place its durability and utility beyond conjec- ture, and to give it at least a tolerably fair title to the rank of a useful machine. One of these machines was put in operation by L. B. Armstrong, last fall, at the house of Mr. G. Harvey, at Sandy-Hill, Washington county, the operation of which is described in a letter to me, as follows ; Dear Sir— I comply with your request, made at the time I was at the American in September last, to inform you of the result of my trial of Ellsworth's Self-acting Pump. I did not receive the pump until some time about the first of October. 'I'he setting up ocrupied about ten days ; and when things were all riglit, off she went and has not stop- ped since ; and what is more, it has not required a mo- ment's attention from that time. The elevation overcome is thirty-eight feet; the AiII fifteen feet, of the longest leg of the syphon. The amount delivered is half a gallon per minute, about one-sixlh of the wafer used. There are some little alteriitions needed in the leather of the valves, which will add much to ihe syphon. But as the weather was cold when I put up the apparatus, I did not seek to make the machine do its work, and considering certainty of ope- ration through winter, without stopping, more desirable than a large per cent, of water raised, I did not like to strain the pipes with the full power of the machine, as the quaa- lily raised is more than is needed. For sixty-seven sturdy knocks per minute, eacli one something like the blow of a heavy mallet in the h.and of a stalwart carpenter, " is a caution" to put down none but strong and sound pipes. L. B. Armstrong. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 255 Ellsworth's Ram. (Figure 9.) Its construction may be seen from the above sectional drawings, where a bis a. hollow dome or cap, the cavity of which is divided into two distinct chambers by a partition c. This dome is fastened to a flanged joint, to the circular plate d d, to receive the bearing of the partition c. The central portion of the plate dd is sunk in the form of a box or chest, g.f; that part of which lying under chamber a, is roofed over by d, d, but communicates with a, by a valve n, opening upwards. That portion of the chest marked g, is still further enclosed by an upright plate m, held to its |)Iace by a couple of wedges opposite manner at h, the air at b is varified, or under less than the pressure of the atmosphere. As water under pressure, in contact with air, has the property of absorbing more or less of it, and then liberating it ; when the pressure is remov- ed, the air in a has a tendency to diminish, and that in b to increase in quantity ; but the posi- tion of the valves in this machine is such, that when it is in action, a is constantly replenished from the overplus in b, for the recoiling move- ment in i above mentioned, which allows valve g to open, draws in a few bubbles of air from b,f, at 0, which air lodges in the cavity under n, and not shown in the section. This plate has an ori- 1 is driven into a by the next pulsation of the wa- fice at 0, furnished with a valve opening towards ter in i. g, which is suspended on the spring, I. From Farmers, manufacturers, and others, have fre- quently attempted to carry water over elevated ground to some situation below the fountain head, but have been troubled, and often compelled to abandon the plan, from an accumulation of air in the more elevated portions of the pipe, which in the course of a few days cuts off the stream en- tirely, and requires it to be re-filled. This is owing either to a want of sufficient fall between the level of the supply and the point of discharge, or to some contraction in the pipe, to that de- gree, that the air liberated from the water, (ow- ing to the diminished pressure 1o which the water is subjected in the higher portion of the syphon,) remains in the pipe. The only remedy is to ob- tain more fall, or give the pipe a freer aperture, until the current has sufficient velocity to carry the air through. A velocity of between one foot and eighteen inches per second, is ordinarily sufficient to accomplish this. The quantity of water which the machine above described consumes, may be, to a consid- erable extent, regulated by a small crank, which enters at right angles with the plane of the sec- tion behind valve g, which, when turned, gives the valve more or less play, and may, if desired, be made to close it, and stop its action entirely. There is also a small fixture for opening and starting the action of the valve. When the ap- paratus overdraws its supply, and stops from that y passes h, the long leg of the syphon, and from g, i, the short leg. In operating the machine, i and n are first filled with water through the screw plug at e; as soon as the syphon is free to act, a current commences in the direction, i, g,f, h. It is this current, acting on the valve at^, soon overcomes the elasticity of the spring, I, and the orifice o, is suddenly closed : the water in i then acts with a momentum due to its weight and up- ward velocity, upon the valve n, and a quantity of water escapes into a, which when the momen- tum in I is exhausted, is prevented from return- ing by the closing of n. The moment that n closes, a slight recoil of the water in i, allows / to throw open the valve at^, and the above pro- cess is then repeated. The water which accum- ulates in a, is conducted by a curved pipe attach- ed at k, to any situation above the machine where it may be wanted for use. The chambers a and b, are never full of water ; they confine each a quantity of air, which, by its elasticity, equalizes the currents through k and A. These air-cham- bers are both indispensable to the perfect action of the machine, and if k and h are of considera- ble length, it will not operate at all when they are filled with water. The air in a is obviously under more or less pressure in proportion to the height to which the water is elevated through k, while owing to the same cause operating in an 256 GENESEE FARMER. Nor. cause, the syphon pipes do not empty themselves of watei-, as would be the case with an ordinary syphon ; the first few bubbles of air then ascend the short leg of the syphon, disturb the action of the valves in such a manner that they cease to operate, and the pipes i n, remain full of water. In the foot of the short leg of the syphon is a short plug, which may be drawn up a little dis- tance into and thrust down out of the pipe, by means of an iron rod attached to it, and passing up along side the pipe, to a convenient place for I'eaching it. This plug is drawn up into the pipe for the purpose of stopping it when the sy- phon is filled, and is also used in starting the machine, when the pipes are filled and ready for operation. The starting is done by drawing the plug up and thrusting it out of the pipe pretty quickly. This acts by removing the pressure of the atmosphere for a moment from the col- umn of water in the short leg ; consequently the spring throws the main valve open, and the plug immediately passing out of the pipe, allows the machine to commence its operation. The advantages which this syphon apparatus is claimed to possess over the ordinary hydrau- lic ram, are, that it can be applied in many situ- ations, where, from the form of the location, the ram could not be used, as for instance, where the i source of supply is a well, or where, as is often: the case in mills and factories, a pipe may be passed down into a place, to obtain the requisite | fall, in which, from want of room, the ordinary ' water-ram could not be placed ; that it is more ! commodiously situated than the water-ram fori repair or regulation, inasmuch as it stands high ' and dry above, instead of below, the head of water which operates it ; and that, when water i is required to be raised to a considerable height, the elevation of the working parts of the appara- tus upon the summit of a syphon, divides the load to be lifted, relieving the strain upon the air-vessel, and making the valves less violent in their action, and consequently more durable. For operating this machine, not less than five feet fall should be obtained, below the level of the supply, and more than twenty is not desira- i ble. The fall may be obtained within the dis- ! tance of twenty rods, or twenty feet indifferent- ly, and the pipes may be laid any angle, to ac- commodate circumstances. The sizes of the syphon pipes required for ele- vating water for domestic purposes, are ordinari- ly between five-eights and one and a quarter in- ches in diameter, according to the amount to be elevated, the height to be overcome, the quanti- ty of supply, &c. Machines between the sizes of five-eights and one and a quarter inch syphon pipes, can be furnished, and ordinarily set up (exclusive of pipe,) at prices ranging between fifteen and thirty dollars. The expense for pipe will of course depend on the quantity and size required. To Prevent Smut in Wheat. Mr. Editor : — I have been a constant reader of your paper, and very much interested in it; and, on perusing it, 1 have many times wished that all our farmers knew its value — for then they would not be without it. This is the first time that I have attempted to write for a public print, and it may be my last, as I am no grammarian, as you will perceive. But there has been something said about smutty wheat — and one article, in the 9th number of the Farmer, signed by Ira F. Gleason, tells us to soak the seed in vitriol. This has been tried in this town, some years ago, and I learned by those who tried it that it was of no use. Now I wish to give a better way, or I may say one that I like better. It is this : sow clean seed ; and if you can not get it in your town, go where you can, and get all your neighbors to do the same — and my word for it you will soon drive smut out of town. And I want to tell you how you can raise smut by the quantity. Take 10 bushels of clean wheat, and one bushel of smut ; mix them well together and sow — and I assure you that you wont ask your neighbor what makes smutty wheat. I once raised six heads of wheat from one stool ; three of them I rubbed out and sowed with as many heads of smut. The produce proved to be two-thirds smut ; the heads were counted to ascertain the fact. The other three heads my neighbor sowed at the same time, and not ■ more than six or eight inches apart — and there was not a particle of smut produced. This satisfied me that sowing clean seed was the best way to prevent smut, and I think smut has been drove out of town in this way. I would add that I have tried lime and brine, but it did no good. I dare say there has been as much smut raised in this town as in any in the State, and there has been many experiments tried, some of which have proved beneficial — but not as good as clean seed. We now proba- bly raise as good and clean wheat here as in any town in the State. I think that lime is benefi- cial to wheat ; but the small quantity that is gen- erally sown with it, is, I think, of little use. Yours, &;c., N. Simons. Castile, N. Y., Sept., 1847. Botanical Curiosities. — Mr. Gregg, the distinguished traveler and author of ihe Com- naerce of the Prairies, has exhibited to the American Institute an assortment of Mexican plants, numbering in all upwards of 800 speci- mens. They were collected from every part of the country, and to the scientific world must be of great value. They are well worth seeing on account of their many peculiarities. Mr. Gregg, by the way, as we are informed, is on the eve of performing another pilgrimage into the wild- erness of the far-off" South.— iV. Y. Express. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 257 Letter from Wyoming. — Farmer's Clubs. D. D. T, Moore — Dear Sir : I forward you the names of forty-seven subscribers for the Genesee Fanner, for the ensuing year. By this you will perceive that we are beginning to ap- preciate the benefits of your valuable paper. It is perhaps unnecessary to speak particularly of its merits, so generally are they admitted. But should you deem the publication of a few remarks a source of encouragement to others, I would say that the farmers of this town are beginning to take an interest in the great sabject of agri- cultural improvement. A farmer's club has been organized here con- sisting of nearly fifty members — meetings once a week. The discussions have been interesting and profitable, and the interest is increasing. — We have as important matters to talk about as the N. Y. Farmer's Club, and if we have not eloquence, we have at least experience on these matters. We are favored with the assistance of Mr. Sanpord, recently a teacher in the Agri- cultural School in Wheatland, now a tutor in the Academy here. We earnestly recommend the formation of these associations in every town ; not only for the information thus acquired, but for the greater advantages that will result from creating a spirit of investigation and inquiry. Though I am not a fanner, but a mechanic, still I am induced to favor the cause in view of the general good to community ; also with the confident expectation that when the farmers prosper I may be permitted to partake of their benefits, in return for harnesses and such other *' fixins" in my line as they may need. Yours, &c., I. H. Gould. Wyoming, N. Y., Dec. 31, 1847. Remarks. — The above should have appeared before, but was filed with numerous other letters containing remittances. We trust the sugges- tion relative to the formation of Farmer's Clubs will receive attention. Mr, Gould is entitled to much credit for his exertions in the cause of Improvement. We shall be glad to receive similar favors in behalf of our next volume. How many of our friends will do as well on or before the 31st of Decem- ber this year? We offer several large premi- ums for new subscribers, as will be seen by ref- erence to the last page of this number. Large Tomatoes. — A few days since I pick- ed from my plants three -very large tomatoes, which weighed one pound and ten ounces each. I do not know but others may have seen larger, but these were the largest that I had ever seen. They were the large red ; or, as I have called them, the " mammoth." Many of them weighed a pound, or more ; and some of the plants pro- duced, I doubt not, more than fifteen lbs. of fruit. H., OF Faibport. Cob Meal. Mr. Editor : — In your October number, "A Subscriber," dating at Canandaigua, inquires if there is any nourishment in the Cobs of Corn. During the winters of 1845-6 I had about 300 bushels of Corn in the cob ground, and fed the same to sheep, hogs and horses. The results of this experiment satisfied me that the Cob meal was not only useless, but positively injurious. Horses fed upon corn and cob meal were not in as good condition as those fed upon hay alone. 1 think it is only necessary for a farmer to exam- ine a cob to see that its particles must necssarily be almost as indigestible as pounded glass. If corn meal is too concentrated and requires bulk to fill the stomach, I should decidedly prefer sawdust to cob meal, as being safer and more di- gestible. Allow me to recommend Indian meal shorts as an excellent feed for horses ; say 1 bushel of meal to 3 bushels of shorts. But by all means, if you use the cobs at all, substitute them for pounded srlass in the destz-uction of sharks. G. W. Pratt. Greece, Oct., 1847. Slobbers in Horses. Editor GexN. Farmer : — I have read an ar- ticle in the N. Y. Courier and Enquirer, ex- tracted from your paper, the writer of which ac- counts for the slobbering of horses from their eating Lobelia. In this region we have always charged it upon the second crop of clover, either red or white ; it cannot be Lobelia, for none or very little grows here. Horses that feed exclu- sively on Timothy and Blue grass never slobber, in this section of Kentucky. I have ascertained the horse weed to be a cer- tain preventive ; and if horses can get it they will be cured in a few hours. The horse weed, as we call it, (not knowing its botanical name,) grows very abundantly in grain fields, but is soon exterminated in pastures, by all kinds of ani- mals—and, in its absence, slobbering soon fol- lows. But if a sufficient quantity of this weed can be procured, the disease may always be ar- rested in a few hours. Yours, Jeffrson Scott. Bourbon Co., Ky., 1847. Onions. — Most gardeners now prefer sowing their onion seed in the fall. September is the month most commonly selected for this purpose, but as considerable inconvenience not unfre- quently attends the adoption of this practice, many prefer sowing in October or November ; the onion being a hardy production is in no way liable to injury from cold or frost. — Selected. Do not keep a horse too fat, or too lean, as ei- ther disqualifies him for hard labor. 258 GENESEE FARMER. Nov. Agriculture of New York. Dr. Lee — Dear Sir: I have been lately look- ing over and examining Vol. I. of Prof. Em- mon's Agricultural Report, being Part V of the Natural History of the Stale. The eyes of many who have been waiting for this part of Prof Em- MON'slabors, expect from his erudition, his careful observation, and his well known skill in analytic chemistry, a valuable acquisition to the agricul- tural literature of the day ; and we have not been disappointed. Tlie volume presented is every way worthy of his fame and an honor to the State, which authorized the work and pub- lished it. It ought, in some form, to be in the hands of every practical agriculturist of the State. it is a source of regret, that being published as it is, in uniformity with the other volumes of Natural History, and especially, distributed as it will be, so very h\\ copies will reach that class of our fellow citizens the most to be benefitted by its information. It is not my intention to go into a careful nor extended review of the whole work. This is not my province ; I leave that to the able edi- tors of agricultural journals. I shall content myself with looking over the table of contents, and bringing the work before the numerous readers of your valuable paper. Our author, after giving a sketch of the to- pography of the State, divides it into six agricul- tural districts; and this division is not arbitrary nor fanciful, but has its origin in nature. These divisions are — 1st. The Highland Districts, one and by far the largest, lying in the north east part of the State ; extending from I^ittle Falls to the north eastward as far as Lake Champlain. Some parts of this district are so elevated that water freezes in small pools every night in the year. Its ag- ricultural resources, as one might suppose, are very limited. Oats, peas, barley, rye, and wheat may be raised in the valleys. The two first are constant crops. The other highland district lies partly in the counties of Rockland, Putnam, and Westchester. It is of not much importance. 2d. The Eastern Agricultural District extends north and south along the borders of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, to the Hudson River Valley. Corn grown in this district the Professor thinks the best in the State — owing, he also thinks, to the magnesia of the soil. 3d. The Third District comprises the Valleys of the Hudson and Mohawk, Here are rich alluvial bottoms, and the hills are fine grazing lands. 4th. The Western District. Beginning near the Little Falls, it extends West to Lake Erie ; and from Lake Ontario southward to about the middle of Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. This is emphatically the Wheat District. 5th. The Southern District. It embraces the southern counties from Lake Erie to and inclu- ding the Kaatskill range, and the counties of Delaware, Greene, and Otsego. This is a gra- zing district. 6th. The Atlantic District. This compre- hends Long Island with its sands and light soil, the latest gift of Ocean. Whoever has traveled much through the State, will acknowledge the correctness of these in the general outlines. It is perhaps as good as could be made. Founded as it is upon Geological sub- stratum, would not our future committees on farms, in the State Agricultural Society, do well to recognize it, in offering their premiums ? It is quite apparent that a farm located on the rich gypseous shales of the Onondaga Salt Group, of the 4th District, would in a report overtop the farm located on the primitive formations of the 1st or Highland District. The suggestion is thrown out for what it is worth. Chap. Ill is occupied with the climate and temperature of the State. It is worthy of con- sultation by all or any who d^esire to change farms from one part of the State to another. — From it we learn that, in Western New York we have as enviable a temperature as is to be found in the State. Our seasons are longer than in any other portion, save the Atlantic Dis- trict. Chap. IV is devoted to Agricultural Geology. Chap. V to the Taconic system. Nearly fifty pages are occupied with this. The vexed ques- tion as to the relative position and age of the rocks grouped in this system, the Professor learn- edly discusses, and we might reasonably con- clude too much room has been occupied by it. It is a matter of more interest to the grouper of rocks, than the herder of cattle or grower of wheat. Chap. VI the Professor devotes to the New York system. Here he succinctly gives us the combined labors of his able coadjutors. From it much valuable information may be obtained by all practical men. His concluding chapter (VII) he devotes to the soils, their origin and distribution ; their ele- ments, classification, and temperature, he ably discusses ; their composition and analysis he dwells largely upon, though not so largely as we could desire; yet from the material furnish- ed full as much as could be demanded. One is led to wonder that so few persons forwarded to him samples of soil, iri answer to a circular sent to the farmers of the State. Indeed, he tells us that not one answered it, and he was compelled to visit different sections of the State for this purpose. In his preface he candidly confesses that he was among those who doubted the utility of anal- yzing soils ; but experiment and observation have wrought a change in his views. The im^ 1847 GENESEE FARMER. 259 provement of the soils is worthy the close atten- tion of the practical farmer. The whole work is amply illustrated by draw- ings and sections. Some of the plates are beau- tiful, especially the large ones illustrating the scenery of the different Districts. A large ag- ricultural map adorns the volume. On the whole, the Professor is deserving the thanks of the pub- lic for his work ; and, which would the more readily and abundantly be yielded him, a rich harvest, if it only could be published in such a form as the great public could get hold of it — - The Legislature could not do a better deed for the farmers of the land, than to direct Professor E. to publish an octavo edition, abridged some- what, and also more popular, and place a copy in each school district library, and have a supply for all the farmers and others who might wish to add it to their libraries. R. P. Stevens. Ontario Co., N. Y., Sept., 1847. Wheat Crops increased by Amoniacal Manures. — On a space of ground cultivated in 1843, by Mr. J. B. Lawes, of Rothamsted, Eng- land, which had not been manured, the yield per acre was 16| bushels of wheat, and 1,116 lbs. of straw. This may be considered as the natural produce of the soil, subject only to the atmos- pheric influence of that particular season. The same space of ground was cultivated and ma- nured for three consecutive years, with the fol- lowing results : — In 1844, the application of 560 lbs. of burnt bones and 220 lbs. of silicate of potash, pro- duced 16 bushels of wheat and 1,112 lbs. of straw. In 1845, Ih cwt. each, of sulphate and muri- ate of ammonia, produced Sli bushels of wheat and 4,226 lbs. of straw. In 1846, 2 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia yield- ed '21i bushels of wheat and 2,244 lbs. of straw. In another experiment, a quantity of farm- yard manure was weighed into two portions, at the rate of 14 tons each per acre, one being burnt to ashes, and the other plowed into the soil; the product of the unburnt dung was 22 bushels of wheat and 1,476 lbs. of straw ; and that of the ash, 16 bushels of wheat and 1,104 lbs. of straw. Hence the absolute necessity of supplying ni- trogen (the essential part of ammonia,) to ena- ble the soil to produce more wheat than it could do in a natural state. — Am, Agriculturist. Extracts from the Farmers' Creed. — We believe in small farms and thorough cultivation. We believe in large crops which leave the land better than they found it. We believe in going to the bottom of things, and therefore in deep plowing. We believe that the best fertility of the soil is thespirit of industry, enterprise, and intelligence; without this, lime, marl, plaster, bones, and green manures will be of little use. — lb. Potato Kot. Last year, in consequence of the dryness of the season, my potatoes ripened in August, and were dug and deposited in the cellar by the 1st of September. I found a few rotten ones at the time of digging, and a very few of them rotted afterwards. The weather was dry when they were dug, and they were kept dry in the cellar. The present season I planted the same spot of ground, and chiefly with the same kind of pota- toes. Last year I spread ashes over a part of the ground before plowing, and put ashes in the hill at the time of planting the other part. This year I neither used ashes nor any other kind of manure. Owing to ths early summer rains, the potatoes did not ripen this season till in Septem- ber, and in consequence of wet weather and a multiplicity of business, although I commenced digging about the middle of September, I did not finish till this day, (Oct. 15th.) In the first that I dug I scarcely found a single rotten tuber. When about half done, I found several, and to- wards the close, still more. The different kinds of potatoes planted were. Mercers, Merinoes, Long Pink Eyes, and Early June potatoes. In regard to the several kinds, I think I have ob- served the following particulars : viz. Isl. That the Mercers seem most affected by the rot, the Pink Eyes next, the Merinos next, and the June potatoes least, or none at all. 2d. That the rot was evidently aggravated by the wet, the potatoes being left too long in the y ground after being ripe, and the rains being fre- *• quent. 3d. That those tubers that lay nearest the sur- face were oftener aflfected than those below. — This I suppose to have been caused by the great- er influence of the wet and cold upon them, in consequence of their great exposure. If you think the above of any value, Mr. Ed- itor, it is at your disposal. H. Fairport, Oct. 15th, 1847. War on the Cotton Worm. — The Wood- ville (Miss.,) Republican records a very inter- esting circumstance in what follows. After say- ing, " We hear little or no complaint of the worm at present," that paper of a recent date, adds — " A little fly, called by some the ' ichneu- mon,' in consequence of similarity between its habits and those of the Egyptian animal, seems to have taken the worm and crysalis in hand, and devoured nearly all of them. This they do, we are told, by boring into the shell or crysalis and eating its contents. Myriads of the crysalis may be found in the cotton fields thus conditioned, and had it not been for this fact our cotton fields would doubtless have been destroyed before now. What a wise order of Providence, and what an impressive example of a trust in his dispensa- tion!" 260 GENESEE FARMER. Nov. Our next Volume. On the first (advertising) page of this number we publish a prospectus for the next volume of the Farmer, The reader will observe that the price of the paper is to remain the same as heretofore. When it was enlarged, in August, we contemplated changing the terms, at the end of the volume, from 50 to 75 cents for single copies, and from three to four shillings to clu But, although we have apprised many of our subscribers of the probable change, we have recently determined to publish the ensuing vol- ume at tne present terms. We believe that the paper will accomplish a greater amount of good — though we may realize no pecuniary profit from its publication. A very large subscription list will be necessary to pay its actual expenses. To enable us to meet these expenses we confi- dently rely upon a large increase of substantial friends and supporters. We believe that most of our subscribers will promptly renew theii subscriptions, and trust that all who can consist ently do so will lend their assistance to augment the circulation and usefulness of the Farmer. In this connection we wish to return grateful acknowledgments to the many individuals, in va- rious sections, who have essentially aided in the extending the circulation of the Farmer. While we have labored for much less pecuniary recom- pense than we might easily obtain in other pur- suits, we have been constantly cheered by words and tokens of encouragement from distant friends of Improvement — those who have done, and are doing, much to advance the Agricultural Inter- est in their various localities, by enhancing the usefulness of the Farmer and other similar pub- lications. Without the aid of such friends — men of influence and benevolent motives and actions — the agricultural press would be comparatively powerless ; but, seconded by their efforts, it is accomplishing a great and glorious work. True they are few in number ; yet there is hardly a county from Maine to Texas in which you will not find earnest advocates of Improvement in Agriculture and kindred pursuits — "book farm- ing," if you please. They are introducing ag- ricultural publications to the notice and patron- age of their friends and acquaintances, and by precept and example, endeavoring to raise the profession of Agriculture to its proper position. We rejoice that there are such men, all over the land, and bid them God-speed in their worthy and noble labors. Well conducted agricultural journals are now published at the North and South, East and West. Agricultural books are being multiplied — the steam press is preparing the way for the stea?7i plow. Let these journals and books be generally distributed, and carefully perused by the Agriculturists of America, and the rays of intelligence and science will ere long take the place of ignorance and prejudice. But we are digressing. We designed merely to state that the terms of the paper would remain unchanged — to thank our friends for former aid, and solicit a continuance of their influence in its behalf. We can promise that no exertion on our part shall be lacking, for we are determined to deserve success. We solicit no patronage., as such — but frankly ask every one who believes our paper to be useful., and calculated to benefit individuals and communities, to make it known to their neighbors and friends. There are thou- sands of farmers, in Western New York alone» who would readily subscribe for the Farmer, if solicited to do so by a friend or neighbor. Are we, then, asking too much in requesting our readers to form clubs of subscribers in their re- spective localities ? We believe not, inasmuch as the benefit will be mutual. We leave the decision of the question to each of our friends — not doubting their response will be favorable to the advancement of the cause in which we are engaged. Let us all strive to "Teach one an- othei-." Stevens' Spiral Straw Cutter. This machine was introduced into this section last spring, from Boston. Persons who have used it for several months, assure us that is an excellent article. It is a very perfect self-feeder. The knives are spiral, and firmly set in an iron arbor, cutting against a raw hide roller placed on the top. It cuts from one to one and a half inches long, according to the number of blades on the arbor. For sale at the Ag. Warehouse of NoTT & Elliott, 23 Buffalo-st., Rochester. Genesee County Fair. — An account of this Fair has been sent us by a friend at Batavia, but was received too late for insertion in this num- ber. We shall endeavor to give it next month. Our correspondent says that "although it rained almost constantly, and the roads were very bad, the turn out was equal to that at any Fair ever held in the county." 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 261 McCormick's Vinginia Reaper. The editor of the Chicago Democrat, speak- ing of the wheat harvest in Illinois, says : — " The difficulty in harvesting the present crop has been great on account of the inadequate number of Machines to be had for reaping. — About 200 of McCormick's Reapers have been disposed of here the present season, and yet the demand for them has much exceeded the supply. They are furnished at a cost of $120, and will cut from 12 to 20 acres of grain per day. "We learn Mr. McCormick has associated with him Mr. Gray, of this city, in their manu- facture, and that they have made arrangements to put up an establishment near the Lake House, when they will be enabled to fill all orders for them hereafter. These reapers are a great im- provement upon the old cradle system, and no farmer should be without one." It will be seen by reference to an advertise- ment in this number of the Farmer, that Mr. McCormick has contracted with Messrs. Fitch, Barry & Co., of Brockport, in this county, for the manufacture of 300 Reapers for the harvest of 1848. We hear favorable accounts of the operation of the Reaper, in Livingston and oth- er counties, during the past harvest season. — Can any of our correspondents give definite in- formation on the subject. County op New York Cattle Show. — This was much better than we expected to see. The exhibition was held at Haerlem. There were many fine steers, and a kw excellent blooded cows on the ground. In brood mares and colts there was not so good an exhibition as we expected from the proximity of the Long Island race course. At the Plowing Match a very exciting competition was had between a half dozen spadesmen. A Yankee took the pre- mium away from his disappointed Irish competi- tors— spading faster, deeper, and better, in the opinion of the bystanders, than they. The Wire Worm. — A subscriber at Clark- son, N. Y., inquires for information relative to exterminating the Wire-worm. Will some cor- respondent answer the inquiry through the Far- mer? The following plan for the destruction of wire-worms was communicated to the British Farmer's Magazine, by a practical English far- mer, Mr. Tarrant. He cleans the infested field of all weeds and roots, and drills white mus- tard seed, keeping the land hoed, and by the end of the season finds the worms entirely gone. Correction. —In an article headed "Experiment in Making Pork," published in our August number, (page 192,) one er two errors were made by the printer. In last line of first column, for "31st of October," read 13th of October; and in 21st line from the head of second column, for " corn and cob meal," read corn and corn meal. Race's Self-regulating Parlor Stove. This is decidedly a superior article in the stove line. We have one of them, and from ex- perience in using it last winter, are satisfied that it combines more good qualities than any other parlor stove with which we are acquainted. The regulator (as will be seen in the engraving,) is placed upon the outside of the stove, and is con- sequently governed by the atmosphere of the room. The advantages of this stove over most others, are, that it requiras but little fuel, and can be so regulated as to keep a room at any de- sired temperature. It is also a beautiful article, and generally much admired by the best critics — the ladies. The economy in fuel, and even temperature obtained, must bring this stove into general use. It is manufactured and sold by Messrs. H. C. SiLSBY & Co., of Seneca Falls. It is for sale by J. E. Cheney, Exchange street, Rochester. We presume it can also be obtained in most oth- er principal towns in Western New York. Receipts at the State Fair. — It appears that we were in error last month, in stating that the receipts at the recent Fair at Saratoga were $700 less than the year previous — though our information was obtained from an officer of the Society. We learn from the Secretary, B. P. Johnson, Esq., that the receipts at Saratoga were $4,034 22— about $3.50 less than those of the previous year, at Auburn. Enormous Pear. — Mons. Calle, of Brionne, France, has raised a cooking pear, which he has named the Belle Angevine. A specimen of this fruit weighed two pound and fifteen ounces avoir- dupoise, was thirteen inches in circumference, and eight inches in height. The Potato Rot is prevailing to a consider- able extent, and causing much damage, in many sections of the country. 262 GENESEE FARMER. Nov. Premiums Awarded at the New York State Fair, 1847. CATTLE— Class I.— Durhams. Bulls over 3 years old. — 1. Bell & Morris, Westchester county. '-Marius," $20—2. H. N. Carv, Marcy, "Ore- gon," §15—3. J. B. Packer, Charlton, '■ Tecuraseh, ' Herd Book. Two years old Bulls. — 1. Z. B. Wakeman, Herkimer Co., " You I If; Meteor," $15—2. George Vail, Troy, " Buena Vista," $10. Yearling Bulls. — 1. E. P. Prentice, Mount Hope, " Bep- po," $10—2. D. D. Campbell, Sclienectady, $5. Cows.—\. Geo. Vail, " Hilpa," $20—2. E. P. Prentice, " Charlotte," $15. Two years old Heif(.rs.—\. Z. B. Wakeman, "Sylvia"$15. Yearling Heifers.— \. Geo. Olen, Schenectady, "Lilly," $10-2. D.D. Campbell, $5.-3. Jane T. Gould, Troy, "Jenny," Herd Book. [In addition to the cash prizes mentioned, each of the above persons received a copy of the American Herd Book.] Bull Calves. — 1. Z. B. Wakeman, " Kirkleavington," $5—2. Geo. Vail, " Major," Washington's Letters. Heifer Calves.— I. Geo. Vail, " Willy 4lh," $5.— 2. Geo. Vail, " Willy 3d," Wash. Letters. Class II. — Herefords. Bulls 3 years old.—G. Clarke, Otsego co., " Major," $20. " 2 " E. Wells, Fulton CO., '•Fulton,"$15. Cows. — Edward Wells, " Adelaide," $20. Class HI. — Uevons. Btills 3 years old. — Nelson Washburn, Butternuts, Ot- sego co,, "Baltimore," $20. Bulls 1 and 2 years old.— I. S. A. Law, Meredith, Dela- ware CO., " Rover," $15—2. Nelson Washburn, $10. Bull Calves.— I. Nelson Washburn, $5—2. Nelson Washburn, Wash. Letters. Cotes.— I. Nelson Washburn, " Connecticut," $20—2. Same, " Baltimore," $15. Heifer Calves. — 1 & 2. Nelson Washburn, for his heifer calves, $5, and Wash. Letters. Class IV. — Ayrshires. Yearling Bulls.— \. E. P. Prentice, Mount Hope, "Dun- dee," $15. Cows. — 1. C. N. Bement. Albanv, " Fairy," 5 years, $20—2, E. P. Prentice, " Ayr," 9 years, $15. Heifers 2 years old.—]. E. P. Prentice, " Mida Ist," $15 —2. C. N. Bement, " ftlaggie " $10. Bull Calf.—C. N. Bement, " RhoderickDhu," $5. Heifer Calf.—\. E. P. Prentice, •' Mida2d," $5. Class V. — Cross and Native. Cows 3 years old. — 1. John Lee, Cambridge, Wash, co., $20—2. N. Washburn, $15-3. Phineas Fletcher, Saratoga Springs, $10. Two years old Heifers.— \. C. N. Bement, $15—2. N. Washburn, $10—3. David Gillet, Butternuts, $5. Yearling Heifers.— \. John Lee, Cambridge, Wash, co., $10—2. C. N. Bement, $5—3. Joshua Biiven, Saratoga Springs, " Fanny," Vol. Transactions. Heifer Calves.— \. Job Lee, $5—2. H. H. Lawrence, Saratoga Springs, Wash. Letters. Bulls.— \. Maynard Deyoe, Saratoga Springs, Col. Tour. —2. Joseph Wood, Greenfield, Wash. Letters— 3. Daniel Beers, Rallston. Transactions. Working Oxen— best yoke.—\. Elon Sheldon, Sennet, Cayuga co., aged 4 and 5 years, $15—2. Pliny Gould, East Nassau, Rensselear co., 4 years old, $10—3. John Lee, pair twins, 5 years old, Transaciions. Three years old Steers.— I. Elon Sheldon, $10— David Gillet, $8—3. James S. Wadsworth, Geneseo, Livingston CO.. Transactions. Best 10 yoke Steers.— I. James S. Wadsworth. $15. Best2yeais old Steers.— 1. Elon Sheldon, $10—2. Lew- is E. Smith, Halfmoon, Saratoga co., $5—3. H. N. Cary, Marcy, Oneida co., Transactions. Yearling Steers.— 1. A. Gilbert, Hamilton, Madison co., $8—2. James P. Noxon, Stillwater, Saratoga co., $5. Boys training pair 3 years old.— I. J. N. Adams, Butter- nuts, Colmnn's Tour. Training 2 years old Steers.— I. Seth Whalen, Jr., West Milton, Saratoga CO., Col. Tour. Training pair yearling Steers.— I. A. S. Gilbert. Colman's Tour. Milch Cotes.— I. Ambrose Stevens, New York, Durham cow, " Grace," 6 years old, Diploma— 2. E. P. Prentice, Durham cow, " Esterville," 5 years. Herd Book— 3. H. N. Cary, Durham heifer "Rose," 3 years. Trans.- 4. John Lee, native cow, Trans. ; 5. H. H. Lawrence, Trans. ; 6. Wm. Wolford, Albany, " Red Daisy," Trans. FAT CATTLE. 1. Warren Halsey Trumansburgh, Tompkins co., $15— 2. Edward Morrison, Sennet, Cayuga co., $10 — 3. JohnB. Holmes, Saratoga, Colman's Tour. HORSES. — Class 1. — All work. Stallions. — 1. Joseph Milliman, Greenwich, Washington CO., " Chief Justice," $15—2 Simeon Christie, Mayfield, Fulton CO., " Young Dread," $10— 3. Daniel A.Cornell, Pittstown, Rensselear CO., " Peacock Diamond," Youatton the Horse — 4. Lorenzo M. Lown, Sand Lake, " Rocking- ham," Vol. Trans. Mares. — 1. J. B. Burnett, Syracuse, $15 — 2. Joseph Daniels, Greenfield, $10— 3. Henry W. Dennis, Saratoga, Youatt, — 4- Maynord Deyoe, Saratoga Springs, Trans. Class II — Draught Horses.— \. Wm. Larman, Pittstown, Rensselear co., " French Emperor," $15. Class III— Blood Horses.— I. Ed. Long, Cambridge, " Tornado," $15—2. Elias Ireland, " Alexander," $10—3. " Abra," Butler, Wayne co., " Young Mogadore," Youatt. Three years old. — 1. Simon Schermerhorn, Rotterdam, " Waxy," $10—2. S. R. Garrett, Ballslon, "Highlander," $5—3. H. Bailey, Bethlehem, " Sampson," Youatt — 4. D. Davis, Guilderland, " Rough and Ready," Trans. Three years old Mares. — Harman Becker, Easton, " La- dy Jane," $10. Two years oW.— Hiram Hall, Grafton, " Empire $8. Ponies. — Four imported ponies, very finely trained, were exhibited by the sons of E. P. Prentice, Mount Hope, and J. H. Prentice, New York. They were exercised by the lads with great skill and judgment, and the committee re- commend a Diploma to each. GELDINGS AND MATCHED HORSES. Geldings. — 1. Arden Merrill, Rome, gray geld.. Diploma — 2. P. M. Moriarity, Sar. Springs, gray, 6 years, Youatt. Matched Horses.— I. Herod, Otis, Jordon, Onondaga co.. hays, 7 years, $8 and Diploma — 2. A. Freeman, Milton, Saratoga co., browns, 5 and ti years old, $5 — C. Gasper, Onondaga co., dark gray, 4 years old. Vol. Trans. — N. W. Moore, Sauquoit, Oneida co., black, 5 yrs.old. Trans.; L.G. Morris, Morrisiana, Westchester co., bays. Sand 6, Trans. — D. R. McCarthy, New Baltimore, grays, 6 years old, Trans. — Lester Hungerford, V/atertown, Jefferson co., brown, 4 years old. Trans. — Henry Vail, Troy, sorrels, 7 years old, Eclipse horses. Trans. SHEEP.— Class I.— Long Wooled- Best Buck. — 1. L. J. Van Alstyne, Canajoharie, $10—2. E. H. Ireland, Watervliet, $5. Best 5 Ewes.— I. Wm. Rathbone, jr., Springfield, $10. Class II. — Middle Wooled. Bucks.— Z. B. Wakeman, Herkimer, $10—2. J. McD. Mclntyre, $5 — 3. Z. B. Wakeman, Am. Shep. Best Ewes.— I. Z. B. Wakeman, $10—2. do. $5—3. J. McD. Mclntyre, Am. Shep. Best 5 Lambs. — 1. Z. B. Wakeman, $5. Class III. — Merinos and their Grades. Best Backs.— \. Joseph Blakeslee. Salen Centre, West- chester CO., $10—2. J. B. Holmes, Saratoga, $5—3. D. S. Curtis, Canaan, Columbia co.. Am. Shep. Best Ewes.— I. Jos. Blakeslee, $10—2. D. S. Curtis, $5. Class IV.— Saxons and their Grades. Best Bucks. — 1. Joseph Haswell, Hooswick, Rensselear CO., $5—2. W. Joslyn, Buskirk's Bridge, $5—3. Hiram Whitlock, North Salem, Am. Shep. Best Ewes.— I. Wm. Joslyn, $5—2. J. L. Randall, and Sylvester Milliman, Clay, Onondaga co., $5—3. Joseph Haswell, Am. Shep. FAT SHEEP. 1. Z. B. Wakeman, Herkimer, $10—2. J. McD. Mcln- tyre, Albany, Colman's Tour.— 3. L. J. Van Alslyne, Can- ajohorie. Trans. SWINE. Large Breed.— Best Boar, 2 years old, Henry Holmes, Saratoga, $10— Best 1 year old boar, Berkshire, J. Pitney, Sar. Springs, $8— Best boar, 6 months and over, J. Pitney, $5. Best sow, 2 years old, Z. B. Wakeman, Herkimer, $10 —Best sow, 1 year old, Berkshire, James Stewart, Sarato- ga Springs, $8. Small Breed.— Best sow, 2 years old, James Stewart, $10 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 263 — Best sow, 1 year old, J. Pitney, $8 — Best lot of pigs, J. Piiney, $5 — Second best, N. Mann, Saratoga co., Trans. POULTRY. Best lot of Dorking fowls, H. Vail. Troy, $2 and Am. Poulterer— Best lot of large fowls, J. T. Blancliard, Sara- toga Springs, $2 and do. — Best pair of ducks, $2 and do. — Lot of Poland fowls, $2 and do.— Best and greatest variety of barnyard fowls, J. A. Brackett, §)5 and do. FOREIGN STOCK. Horses— Best Stallions.— I. D. & N. Hill, Bridgport, Vl., "Black Hawk," $15 — 2. Silas Hale, Royalton, Mass. Green Mountain Morgan, $10—3. S. C. Smith, Blooms- bury, N. J., " Top Gallant, jr." Youatt. Brood Mar es.—i. E. H. Morgan, Rutland,, Vt., $15—2. Calvin Blodgelt, " LaJy Burbank," $1U— 3. F. A. Wier, Walpole, '■ Lady Wildair," Youatt. Cattle. — A. H. Jerome, New Hartford, Conn., best yoke working oxen. Diploma. Sheep— Coiswold.—C.W. Reybold, Delaware. Diploma. Saxons — S. C. Scoville, Salisbury, Conn., Diploma. Me- rinos— Joseph Hinds, Brandon, Vt., Diploma. — J. N. Saw- yer, Salisbury, N. H., 5 bucks and 5 ewes, Diploma— Jacjb N. Blakesly, Conn., 1 buck. Diploma. FARM IMPLEMENTS, &c. PLOWS.— Minor Horton & Co., Peekskill Plow, $10 and Diploma. Farm Implements, Wago7is, Harrows, Sfc. — 1. Silas Briggs, Ballston, lumber wagon, $10 and Diploma — 2. Hol- lister, with 3 pair steel springs. Col. Tour. — 3. John W. Sherman, market and spring wagon, new and ingenious construction. Trans. Harrows. — Z. H. VVakeman, Herkimer, $*). Cultinafors and Scarijiers. — Anthony Van Bergen, Cox- sackie. $3. Fanning Mill. — 1. I. T. Grant, improvement on former mill exhibited, Silver Medal— 2. J. E. Clapper, Trans. Horse Power.— M. S. V. D. Cook, Pittstown, $5 andDi' ploma ; 2. A. &. W. C. Wheeler, Chatam 4 corners. Trans atalk and Straw Cutter. — Geo. Catchpole, $5 and Diplo ma ; 2. Byron Densmore. Trans. Drill Barrows and Seed Planter. — H. L, Emery, Albany, $3 , Pennock's Seed and Grain Planter, certificate ; C. Masten, Patent Lever Drill and Grain and Seed Planter, Diploma and Trans. Portable Grain Mills. — Chas. Ross, " Fitzgerald's Burr- Stone," Trans. Smut Machine. — Leonard Smith, Troy, Trans. Broadcast Sowing Machine. — Peter Gleason, Trans. Corn Sheller and Separator. — Luther 1 ueker, Trans. Root Cut.er.-Luihei Tucker, " Ruggles, Nourse &, Ma- son's vegetable root cutter," Trans. Hay Fork. — L. Bachellor, &s Son, a very highly finished hay fork. Trans. Mowing Machifie. — F. Ketchum, Buffalo, Diploma. Reaping Machine. — T. R. Hussey, Diploma. Fidd Cultivator.— 1. Doras Hinkston, South Barre, Or- leans CO., Diploma ; 2. Nathan Ide, Shelby do.. Trans. ; 1. Alanson T. Odell, Royalton, Niagara co.. Trans. Seed Sower and Weeder.— Exhibited by Noadiah Moore, Chazy, N. Y., Diploma. Corn and Cob Crushers.— Battei&eld & Greenman, Uti- ca, $5 and Diploma. Flax and Hemp Dresser. — James Anderson, Louisville, Ky., $5 and Diploma. Ox Cart.—G. B. Powell. Saratoga, $5. Horse Rake. — Henry Warren, Troy, $5 and Diploma. Ox Yoke. — 1. Azor Monroe, Galway, Saratoga co., Di- ploma ; 2. Elon Sheldon, Sennett, Cayuga co.. Trans. Saddle. — Lyman J. Lloyd, Albany, Diploma. Grain Cradles. — Myers & Bryan, Schaghticoke, Diplo- ma ; I. T. Grant & Co , do.. Diploma. Six Manure Forks. — Luther Tucker, (Partridge's) Diplo- ma. Six Hand Rakes.— iMhet Tucker, " Mayher & Co., N. Y.," Diploma. Grass Scytlvs. — Hiram C. White, Albion, Orleans co., made by R. B. Dunn, Wayne, Maine, Diploma ; Six cradle scythes, Knickerbacker & Hurlbut, Saratoga Springs, Di- ploma. C/i?/r«.— Nathan Parish, Rush. Monroe co., Diploma. Portable Grain Mill ajid Bolter.— Charles Ross & Co., Broadway, N. Y., Diploma ; D. C. Duncomb, Rochester, Bradfield's patent bolter, Diploma. Corn Cutter Seth Whalen, West Milton, Sar. co., Di- ploma. D.ig Power and Churn. — A. Burdick, Moreau, Sar. co.. Diploma. Two Hay Forks. — Deming & Hart, Farmington, Conn., of excellent workmanship and finish, Diploma. Eutter Firkins.— iohn Holbert, Chemung, Diploma ; W. Trap, jr., Ithaca, Diploma. Cheese Press.— T. Burch & Co., Little Falls, (Kendall's patent,) certificate. Best Coilei.tion of Agricultural Implemerits.—LuiheT Tucker, $10 and Diploma. PLOWING MATCH. 1. Flavel Shattuck, Galway, $15 , 2. John Smylie, West Galway, $12 ; 3. James McDougall, Argyle, Washington CO., $10 ; 4. Howard Delano, Mottville, Col. Tour ; 5. John Newland, Wilton, Saratoga co., Trans. ; G. W.J. Bronson, Amsterdam, (special) Col. Tour. Boy 18 years old.— George Wesley Steves, Milton, Sar. CO., $10. DAIRIES. Bw^er.— O. C. Crocker, Union, Broome co., for the best lot in 30 days, 242 lbs., from 5 cows, from 13th June, $25 ; E. R. Evans, Marcy, Oneida co., for 2d best lot in 30 days, 216 lbs., from 11th August, $15 ; John Holbert, Chemung, for best 25 lbs., made in June, $10 : O. C. Crocker, Union, 2d best. Col. Tour. ; Hamilton Morrison, Montgomery, Or- ange co.. 3d best. Vol. Trans. ; B. A. Hall, New Lebanon, for best 50 lbs., made at any time, $15 ; O. C. Crocker, for 2d best, $10 ; Stephen C. Hays, Galway, Saratoga co., 3d best. Col. Tour ; John Holbert, Chemung, 4th best, Silver Medal. CHEESE.— Wm. Keese, Ausable, Clinton co., for best 100 lbs., 1 year old and over. $15 ; T. Burch, Uttle Falls, Herkimer CO., 2d best, $10 ; T. Burch, for best 100 lbs., less than 1 year old, $15 ; Wm. Keese, 2d best, $10 ; Hen- ry Lincoln, Greenfield, Saratoga co.. Silver Medal ; New- berry Bronson, Wyoming, 4th best. Wash. Letters ; Wm. Angels, Cobleskill, 5th best, Vol. Trans. SUGAR.— H. Davenport, Copenhagen, for best 25 lbs., maple sugar, $10. SILK.-- -Mrs. Lewis Wescott, Greenfield, Saratoga co., for best cocoons and silk sewings, $10 ; Mrs. S. J. Pierce, Burlington, Vt., for two white handkerchiefs and black long shawl. Diploma and Downing. DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. George W. Henry, Marlinsburg, Lewis co., for best wool- en blanket, very superior, $5 ; Albert L. White, Rutland, Jefferson co., 2d best, $4 ; Mrs. B. R. Voorhees, Amster- dam, 3d best, $3 ; Wm. Wilson, West Milton, 4th best, Trans. Seth Whalen, 5th best. Trans. George W. Henry, Martinsburg, Lewis co., for best 10 yards flannel, $5 ; Mrs. L. D. Scoville, Monroe co., 2d best, $4 ; Wm. Dunning, Greenfield, Saratoga co., 3d best, $3 ; Ntlson P. Jordan, Malta, for best 10 yards woolen cloth, $5 ; Mrs. B. R. Voor- hees, Amsterdam, for best woolen carpet, $5 ; Stephen C. Hays, Galway, Saratoga co., 2d best, $4 ; Mrs. L. D. Sco- ville, Monroe co., 3d best, $3 ; Mrs. Benj. Ru.ssel, Sarato- ga co., for best hearth rug, $5 ; Joseph Wood, Greenfield, Saratoga co., 2d best. $4 , Mrs.L. D. Scoville, Monroe co., 3d best, $3 ; P. R. Waterbury, Saratoga Springs, 4th best, $2 ; B. A. Hall, 5th best, Trans. Mrs. Joseph Daniels, Greenfield, for best 10 yards linen cloth, $5 ; Mrs. Jane Harrell, Rensselear co., 2d best, $4 ; Mrs. L. D. Scoville, Monroe co., linen diaper $5 ; Ezra Westcot, Milton, Sara- toga CO., kersey, $3. Rag Carpet. — 1. Jacob Ambler, Sarataga Springs, $3 ; 2. J. Moulton, West Troy, $2 ; 3. Mrs. William Newcomb, Pittstown, Trans. Carpet Coverlit (double.)— I. C. R. Nichols, Darien, Genesee co.. $4 ; 2. Joshua Bliven, Saratoga Springs, $3; 3. Miss. Delia A. Jones, Westmoreland, Oneida co., $2 ; 4. Joseph Wood, Greenfield, Trans. Linen Stockings.— I. Mrs. B. R. Voorhees, Amsterdam, $2 ; 2. Mrs. Felix Thomas, Trans. Woolen Knit Stockings.— I. Mrs. B. R. Voorhees, $2 ; 2. Haskins, Stillwater, Trans. 3. Wm. Dunning, Greenfield, Trans. 4. Mrs. Esther Root, Saratoga Springs, (87 years of age, | $2 and Diploma. Diplomas were awarded to Utica Mills for 5 pieces super- fine broadcloth, (W. C. Churchell.) Seneca woolen mills ; 4 pieces of cassimere, (Wra. Lang- worthy, agent.) Palmer & Co., N. Y. handsome specimens tapestry. Timothy Baily, Cohoes, very fine specimens of drawers and wrappers. 264 GENESEE FARMER. Nov. Scofield, Capron & Co., Walden, Orange co.. two pie ces superfine broadcloth from American wool. Wool-grower's manufacturing Company of Little Falls, M. W. Priest, agent, two pieces broadcloth, made from na- tive wool. NEEDLE, SHELL AND WAX WORK, Embroidery.— Miss Caroline Pierrepont, Troy, $3 and Silver Medal ; 2. Miss Olivia Slocum, Troy, $3 ; James R. Westcotc, Saratoga Springs, fire screen, $2 ; Charles Damarest,Rochester,bed qnilt, $2; Miss R.W.Alleyn,Roch ester, piano cover, $2 ; Mrs. Polly B. Westcott, of Green- field, for two quilts, silk bead purse, and other articles, .$3; Mrs. Wm. Dunning, of Greenfield, for linen table cloth and other articles, $2 ; Miss Helen Hodgeboom, Schodack, ot- toman covers, $1 ; Mrs. B. R. Voorhees, Amsterdam, for a ingeniously wrought vest, from the listing of premium cloth presented Henry Clay, $1 ; To the same, for a large va- riety of articles of her own ingenuity and industry, $10 and Silver Medal ; Mrs. James M. Andrews, Sar. Springs, for a boy's coat, $1 ; Mrs. D. Shepherd, Sar. Springs, for an infant's blanket, $1 ; Miss Amanda Ensign, Sar. Springs, watch case, $1 ; Miss Sarah M. Davison, Sar. Springs, worsted work, $L Quilts.— I. Mrs. John Cramer, 2d., Waterford, worked quilt, $2 ; 2. Miss Nancy A. Gregg, Waterford, worked quilt, $L Rundell and Leonard, Troy, specimen of needle work, and best made shirts, $5 ; Miss Jesena Bronson, Amster- dam, port-folio, and table cover, $2 ; Mrs. Sarah Churchill, New Lebanon, veil, $1 ; Mrs. Wasson, (77 years of age) counterpane, $2 ; Harvey Davis, child's knit coat, made by his daughter, $1 ; A. A. Lansingh, Albany, shirts, &c., $2 ; Miss Gould, Moreau, embroidery, $1 ; Miss Eliza Benedict, Ballston, fancy bed quilt, $2 ; Miss Legget. Sar. swansdown muff and tippett, $1 ; Miss Francis Ann Green, Mayfield, Fulton co., shell work box, $3 ; Miss Harriet Berry, Sar. Springs, cotton knit table spread, $2 ; Mrs. Eliza Whitford, Sar., embroidered lace veil, $2 ; Mrs. Washington Putnam, Sar. Springs, specimen needle work, $2 ; Miss C. A. Waterbury, Sar. Springs, embroidered hearth rug, $2 ; Mrs. Wm. Hill, album quilt, $L E LOWERS. Professional List.— Greatest variety, James Wilson, of Albany, $.5 ; Greatest variety dahlias, James Wilson, $5 ; Best 24 dahlias, James Wilson, $3 ; Greatest variety of roses, James Wilson, $5 ; Best 24 blooms, Thos. Ingram, $3 ; Greatest variety of verbenas, James Wilson, $3 ; Best 12 varieties of verbenas, Thos. Ingram, $2 ; Greatest variety German asters, Wm. Newcomb, $3 ; Greatest va- riety pansies, James Wilson, $3 ; Best 24 blooms, Thom- as Ingram, $2. Amateur List.— Greatest variety, Mrs. Washington Put- nam. Silver Medal ; Greatest variety dahlias, Wm. New- comb, Silver Medal ; Best 12 blooms, Miss E. Clarke, Sar. Springs, Horticulturist ; Greatest variety roses, Mrs. E. C. Delavan, Ballston, Silver Medal ; Best 6 phloxes. Dr. Her- man Wendel, Albany, Horticulurist ; Best Seedling phloxes. Dr. Herman Wendell, Wash. Letters. Best 12 ver- benas. Dr. Herman Wendail, Horticulturist; Best 12 Seed- lings, Dr. Herman Wendell, Horticulturist ; Greatest va- riety German asters, Mrs. Newcomb, Horticulturist ; Great- est varety pansies, Mrs. Truman Mabbitt, Halfmoon, Hor- ticulturist. General List.— Best collection greenhouse plants, Mrs. J. Ford, Sar. Springs, Silver Medal ; Best floral design, J. Dingwall, Albany, Silver Medal ; Best ornament, Mrs. T. Mabbett, Silver Medal ; 2d best, James Wilson, Albany, Col. Tour ; 3d best, Mathias Tillman, (gardiner to Dr. Wendell,) Horticulturist ; Best flat hand bouquet, James Wilson, Albany, Horticulturist ; 2d best, T. Ingram, Sar. Springs, Wash. Letters ; 3d best. Miss Sarah M. Davison, Sar. Springs, Downing ; Best round bouquet, James Wil- son. Albany, Horticulurist ; 2d best, T. Ingram, Saratoga Springs, Downing ; 3d best, Mrs. Dr. J. Clarke, Saratoga Springs, Downing. FRUIT. Apples.— li:. C. Frost, Catherines, Chemung co., for Dowse apple for cooking and winter use, worthy of further attention ; Holland pippin variety of fall apples , Riley apple, of the fall pippin variety, worthy of note ; requested for future exhibition, Diploma : Wilson, Thorburn & Tel- ler, 18 varieties, (9 approved) ; 'I'ruman Mabbett, 4 varie- ties early apples—" Early Harvest," •' Yellow Bough,' "Strawberry"'^ •-- ^' '^' ' ,. „ . 4 varieties ; " Downing ; H. N, Langworthy, Rochester, Henry Vail, Troy, 27 varieties, 23 ap- proved ; 2d premium, $5 and Downing ; J. W. P. Allen, Oswego, 5 varieties, all approved. Downing ; J. L. Ran- dall, Lysander, 31 varieties, 19 approved, Downing. Pears.— I. C. Reagles & Son. Schenectady, largest and best variety. Downing, colored plates ; 2. Dr. H. Wendail, $5 and Downing ; 3. Wilson, Thorburn & Teller, Trans. Best collection Autumn pears, J. W. P. Allen, Oswego, $5 and Downing ; J. W. P. Allen, exhibited a remarkable fine specimen of a limb of Oswego Beurre, loaded with fruit, styled by the committee " Seedling No. 1," commend- ed to special notice, and to which they award a Diploma ; Prof. Ives, New Haven, Conn., presented a small seedling early autumn pear of high flavor, Downing ; L. Prevost, Astoiia Nursery, for a splendid specimen of Duchess d'An- gouleme, grown on quince stock. Diploma ; Isaac Rapalje, Astoria, presented fine specimens of the Rapalje S-jedling, a new pear, which on the sea coast may prove a substitute for the White Doyenne, Downing ; H. N. Langworthy, by J. Alleyn, of Rochester, fine specimens of Onondaga pears. Diploma. Peaches.— Best 12, A. Snyder, Kinderhook, $2 and Downing ; 2d 12, Enoch H. Rosekrans, Glens Falls, Downing ; Best Seedling variety, Oliver Phelps, Canandaigua, large yellow cling, $3 and Downing ; James Mills, Poughkeepsie, beautiful specimen pine apple cling, extraordinary size and flavor. Diploma ; Prof. A. H. SteveusjN, Y., presented several large and beautiful specimens of the N. v., white cling stone, grown in his garden at Astoria, Down- ing ; Jerry Wariner, Springfield, Mass., fine specimen Seedling peaches, from a tree 3 years old, by J. Stafford, Diploma ; E. P. Prentice, Mt. Hope, 12 fine specimens of Bergen's yellow. Diploma; H. N. Langworthy, by J. Alleyn, Rochester, fine specimens of Royal Kensington, and yeUow melacoton. Diploma. ThVMs—Best collection.— 1. S. C. Groot, Schenectady, 25 varie- ties. $5 and Downing ; 2. H. Wendell, Albany, 20 varieties, $5 and Downing. Best six varieties.— I. S. C. Groot, $3 and Thomas' Fruit Cult. 2. Dr. WendeU, $1 and Thomas' Fruit Cult.; Abel Whipple, Lan- singburgh, for best Seedling, known as Locofoco, $5 and Down- ing ; S. C. Groot, for best 12 plums, $1 and Thomas' Fruit Cult. Nectarines and Apricots — Best and greatest variety. — 1. H. Snyder, Kinderhook, $3 and Downing ; 2. Dr. Wendell, $2 and Thomas' Fruit Cult. Col. Voung, of Ballston, presented some specimens of nectarines produced from the peach stone. Qumces.— 1. Best 12 of any variety. Dr. R. T. Underbill, Croton Point. $3 and Downing ; 2. Robert McDonnell, Greenfield, Sara- toga CO., $2 and Downing. Orapes.—l. Best and most extensive collection of native, Daniel Ayres, Amsterdam, $5 and Downing ; 2. J. C. Hubbell, Chazy, Clinton co., $2 and Downing ; 1. Best dish native, R. T. Under- hill, Croton Point. Thomas' Fruit Cult ,and Diploma ; 2. Wm. C. Sage, foreign and native. Downing ; Col. Thomas H. Perkins, of Boston, sent a box containing bunches of eight varieties of foreign grapes, extraordinary fine specimens, grown under glass in his garden at Brighton— sorts, Nice, two varieties, St. Peters, Black Hamburgh, White Frontignac, WestSt. Peters. Grizly Frontignac, White Muscat, Muscat of Alexandria ; also some beautiful Nec- tarines of remarkable flavor and growth, produced under glass, Boston, Red Roman, and Norrington. Diploma and a letter of thanks. Special commendation to Mrs. Voorhees, of Amsterdam, for a bottle of choice gooseberry wine, of her own manufacture. To John H. Waring, for best peck cranberries, (superior speci- men.) $5. VEGETABLES.-To N. H. Waterbury. Sar. Springs, for 12 best ears seed corn, $1 ; 1. Best K peck table potatoes, C. R. Nichols, Darien, Genesee co., $1 ; 2, H. Morrison, Montgomery, Orange co., $1 ; Greatest and best variety of Seedling potatoes. Rev. N S. Smith, Buffalo, (30 varieties,) $10 ; Thomas Cody, Saratoga Springs, for 3 best heads of cabbage, $1 ; N. H. Water- bury, for best 12 carrots, $1 ; N. H. Waterbury, for best 3 squash- es, $1 ; Truman Mabbitt, for best 12 tomatoes, $1 ; Thomas Co* dy. for best 3 egg plants, $1 ; C. Schuyler, Ballston, Spa., 2d best 12 ears seed corn, Trans. C. Schuyler, for best 12 onions, $1 ; A. J. Parker, Sar. Springs, for Lima beans, $1. PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS.— Wm. E, McMaster, New- York, •' May Queen," $5 amd Diploma ; No. 335. Landscape, wa- ter colors, $5 ; Ambrose Stevens, animal portraits, horse and cow, $10 and Diploma ; Miss A. M. Hill, Canton Village, Onondaga CO., drawing in pencil' $5 ; Miss Martha Wheeler, Sar. Springs, drawing, $5 ; The committco noticed with approbation several portraits by N. Cook, of Sar. Springs, among which were excel- lent likenesses of Judge Willard, Judge Marvin,and O. M. Cole- man. STOVES— For wood fire.—l. Theophilus Smith, Galway, "American Reverse draft," Diploma; 2. Elisha Walter, Syracuse, "Rough and Ready," Silver Medal. For Coal Fire—1. Wilson, MechanioBville, Diploma ; 2. Anthony Davy & Co., Troy, '• Washington airtight," Silver Med- al. Parlor Stoves.— A. T. Dunham. AVeet Troy, " Trojan parlor stoves," Diploma ; 2. Vail & Warren, '' Sar., air tight," Silver Medal ; Anthony Davy & Co., Troy, for Summer baker, Diploma; L. Morse, Athol, Mass., stove for burning sawdust, &c., Trans. Buck's patent hot air cooking stove was exhibited, and entttled to commendation heretofore given. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 265 DISCRETIONARY PREMIUMS. [The committee on Discretionaty Premiums reported only in part, and intend to submit an additional report to the Executive Committee of the State Society.] C. N. Bement. Albany, osier willow. $5. Mathias P. Coons. Lansingburgh,for six specimens of hurdle fence. Silver Medal. J. L. Gatchel, Elkton, Maryland, for hydraulic ram. Gold Med- al. W. Wheeler, Rockford, Illinois, for •' Chandler's morticing and tenoning machine;" $5. Beautiful models of Bee Hives exhibited by Oliver Reynolds, Monroe co. Joseph C. Rich, Penfield, Monroe oo., Washing Machine, Trans. Gustavus White, Middle Centre, Otsego co.. Potato Washer, Trans. S. Morrison. Granville, Spinning Wheel and Reel, Trans. J. Ball & Co., indestructible water pipe. Diploma. Henry Brackett. Wilton, Saratoga co., well curb. Trans. L. G. Hoffman, Albany, Egg Hatching Machine in operation oc the ground. Diploma. R. Pomeroy, Pittsfield, Mass., for improved mail axels, Silver Medal. Augustus Thayer, for combination pump. Silver Medal. James H. Kelley, Rochester, cigars and tobacco. Silver Medal and Diploma. John Lock. 31 Ann st., N. Y., shower bath. Silver Medal. Lewis E. Close, of Sar., Springs, a lad of 12 years of age, for a handsome and ingenious small bedstead, manufactured by him- self, Silver Medal. The committee give this premium with much pleasure, to encourage industry and ingenuity in youth. Thomas Peck, improved door spring. Silver Medal. Wm. Bushnell, Rochester, case surgical instruments, fine finish, SUver Medal. J. Orville Olds, deaf and dumb Institute N. Y., elements of chi- rography, Wash. Letters. A. Meneely, West Troy, three church bells, Certificate. Alfred Cross, Saratoga Spring^ dress coat, pantaloons «nd vest. Wash. Letters. Thomas Davies, Utica, miniature steamboat, in operation at Fair— a very ingenious and beautiful article, Wash. Letters. Diplomas were awarded to L. J. Lloyd, Albany, for one set of double and single harness, and one Russet leather travelling trunk ; R, T. Norgrove, Albany, for elegant wrought carpet bags and satchels, saddle and trunk ; James Henry, jr., an educational chart ; F. P. Burns, Albany,, piano ; James GooldSc Co., Albany, rfeigh and wagon ; W. W. Bryan & Co., Rochester, cooper's tools ; William Trapp, jr., Ithaca, stave and barrel machine ; Ro- gers & Oakley, Albany, water proof cloth ; Leonard & Bunker, Troy, a Prince Albert buggy, very neat workmanship ; Albany Argillo Works, glass ware and argillo door knobs, very superior ; Francis C. Voung. Painted Post, Steuben co., Munsell's patent boring machine for wagon hubs ; Cornelius Oakley, N. Y., for pure Turkey tobacco of the kind used in Turkey for smoking ; W. Haworth. N. Y., collar stuffing and shaping machine ; F. W. Wood, 67 Frankfort st., N. Y., and 173 River st., Troy, for supe- rior leather belting.s ; W. S. Segare, Utica, window springs ; Da- vid MuBdell. 116 Fulton st., Brooklyn, pair gentleman's boots ; Mrs. G. Anderson, Broadway, Albany, a splendid assortment of confectionary and cake ; Edward Owens, Albany, surgical and dentist's instruments, and other articles, very superior ; Philan- der Salmon, Reading Conn., Wood's patent shingle machine ; Parker & Cook^ Albany, exhibited a suit of clothes of most ex- cellent workmanship and finish ; Benjamin Bruff, Rochester, model sash fastener, a very useful invention ; Troy Rolling MUl Co.. raUroad iron ; L. E. Field, Moscow, Livingston co., metalic spoke suspension carriage wheel ; B, W. Franklin, Little Falls, gold pens ; Frothingham & Co., Albany, hats, caps, &c. ; Flagler, Baker &. Co., for portable forge and bellows. Vols. ofTransactions of the Society, were awarded to John Hem- stead. Sandy Hill, blacksmith's vice ; James Wilkinson, Saratoga CO., harness stirrups &c. ; Barton & Fenn. Troy, fancy soaps ; Connoly & McCormick; Sar.. Springs, pair boots ; Whipple & Co. Sar.. Springs, grave stone; J. Hodgman, Sar., Springs, screw plate; Nathan Bixley, New York, gumelastic maps, &c. ; H. P. HaU, Sar., Springs. Daguerrotype ; Cromwell & Co., MechanicsvUle, crockery ; Isaac Spalding, Sar., Springs, bass viol ; J. H. Wel- come, New York, Diamond cement ; Thompson 8c Howland, Cay- uga CO.. barrel of Cayuga plaster ; John Harrison, StiUwater, door knobs, &c., T. Lawrence, Sar., Springs, garden and fire en- gine ; Wm. Piatt, Waterford, univeral chuck ; Dr. E. Piatt, New York, patent metalic iudia rubber valve, breast pump, &c. ; S. Benson, apple paring machine ; Anable & Smith, Albany, supe- rior leather ; Thomas Ling, Saratoga, fire engine. CommrndeAl.—A lot of Military Trimmings, very beautifully got up, and are worthy of commendation for their execution, L. T. BolandSc Co., Albany. Some beautiful sawed lumber, exhibited by Mr. Freeman. A splendid carriage and harness were exhibited by Le Grand Smith, of -Vlbany, much admired. John Williams, of Rochester, exhibited two barrels flour of the well known and highly prized Whitney brand, remarkably good. ■Whitney Putnam, Rochester, 1 barrel flour from the city mills, very good. Wheat, oats, rye, Indian corn, potatoes, hay and tobac- co, are raised in every State and Territory in the Union. Salting Meat. — The sooner meat is salted after being killed the better, as it then possesses considerable absorbent power, which it gradually loses by age, and when it once becomes putrid it can never be salted at all. One of the best modes of curing is, to rub the meat well with a mixture of common rock-salt 2 lbs.; saltpetre 2 oz.; and moLst sugar 1 oz., till every crevice is thoroughly penetrated, after which it should be set aside till the next day, when it should be covered with fresh salt in such parts as have been most exposed. It may then be advantageously placed in a proper vessel and subjected to pres- sure, adding a little more salt as may be neces- sary, and turning it daily till sufficiently cured. When the brine, as it forms, is allowed to drain from the meat, the process is called dry- salting ; but when, on the contrary, it is allowed to remain on it, the mode is called wet-salted. On a small scale, the latter is most conveniently performed by rubbing the meat with salt, &c., as above directed ; and after it has lain a few hours, putting it into a pickle formed by dissolv- ing 4 lbs. of rock-salt, h lb. of sugar, and 2 oz. of saltpetre in 2 gallons of water. This pickling liquor becomes weaker by use, and should there- fore be occasionally boiled down a little and skimmed, adding, at the same time, more of the dried ingredients. — Agriculturist. Measure of Hay. — The Massachusetts Plowman gives the following relative to estima- ting the weight of hay by the space it occupies. " Six hundred cubic feet have been sold here for a ton — that is, a mow ten feet by ten broad, and six feet high — equal to 600 cubic or solid feet. Perhaps this bulk would be necessary to make a ton of red top or herd grass in case no pressure of any kind is applied over it. Clover would lie tighter. But in broad and deep bays. — say 20 feet by 30, and twenty feet in depth, the pressure is im- mense, and 500 cubic feeet would make a full con. Some estimate that 400 feet will do it, but they think the pressure in such a mow is equal to that of the common screws used for pressing. Twenty times thirty equal six hundred, and one foot in depth would at this rate make a ton — 600 cubic feet. But if 400 feet are sufficient, then eight inches in depth in such a mow would amount to a ton. By repeated measurements and weighings we could judge pretty nearly by measure alone." Preserving Cabbages. — There are several good ways of keeping cabbages during winter by burying them out of doors. The difficulty is, it is hard to get at them during winter, without damage to those left. The following plan ap- pears to avoid this difficulty : Cut the head from the stump, and pack closely in a cask, taking care to fill up all the vacancies with chafFor branj and keep in a dry cellar. 266 GENESEE FARMER. Nov. of it. I shall only refer to a few cases, under my own care. In one very bad case, where I judged that the mucous membrane of the lungs was affected, 1 bled very freely, and the blood drawn was in a highly inflammatory condition, as indicated by the buff coat. Gave saline ca- thartics, with antimony. The latter was contin- Epidemic among Horses. [The following article, written by one of our corres- pondents, we copy from the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. — Ed.] In this section (the western part of Ontario and eastern part of Livingston counties, N. Y.,) there is at present prevailing an epidemic among ued for a number of days in small doses. This horses; an account of which I have thought treatment was successful. In another, where might be of interest to some of the readers of j there was a congestion of the liver, calomel your valuable journal. with antimony was exhibited, and the latter con- During the past winter and spring an epidem- tinned until the highly injected state of the mu- ic erysipelas has been prevailing, and still pre- cous tissue of the nares had subsided. In very vails, among the human species ; and some time 'mild cases, a warm stable, short diet, and nitre in March it was first observed, by the writer of and antimony in the water drank, were sufficient this article, that many of the horses he met on ' In cases of swollen glands a liniment of sweet the road were frequently snorting and oftentimes oil, six ounces; oil vitriol, two ounces; spirits coughing; and this, too, when the condition of turpentine, eight ounces ; was used for discuss- the animal would not lead one to infer it wasjing the tumors. The heroic remedy, as in all cases of inflammation of the horse, was bleeding. Not one horse has died where this was used promptly and decidedly. It is a point of interest to the philosophical pathologist, how far the epidemics of the "lords of creation" extend to the inferior orders of ani- mals. In the epidemic just described, no one who has seen the epidemic prevailing among the human species, will at all doubt that there is with the glanders, colt distemper, or even a common cold. The latter part of April my own favorite horse commenced snorting — a short, rough, spiteful, irritated snort — as if some insect, or offensive particle of dust, was highly irritating the nares, and he was endeavoring, partly in anger, to dislodge it from the mucous membrane. It increased, and in a few days I was led to make a careful examination of his morbid mucous membranes, and compare his an " identity of unity" in the two. I have in case with some eighty or a hundred others Diagnosis. — The mucous membrane of the nares bright red, like scarlet, with numerous minute, dark-red points. The blood vessels remembrance an epidemic bilious pneumonia, which prevailed in my ride in the winter and spring of 1813, which extended to horses, and destroyed twelve in my own neighborhood. My highly injected. In slight cases, thin ichorous! beautiful horse died of gangrene. In the epi matter covered the whole membrane, and in snorting was blown out, in a shower of fine mist, perhaps full in the face of the examiner. In bad cases, patches of aphthae, or ulcerations, could be seen, with pus trickling down from the high- er portion of the nares. At the angles of the jaws, the cervical glands swollen and enlarged, and sometimes indurated. The tongue pale, cold, and smooth. Appetite poor, or very vari- able. Pulse 60 to 95, hard, wiry, and demand- ing venesection. Ears cold, also heels and ankles. Eyes heavy and sunken. In bad cases, the pulse would be full and hard, the hair rough and staring, and the mane and tail easily starting from the root. The glands of the neck very much enlarged. A short, frequent, and uneasy cough, with scanty expectoration, or discharge from the nose. In almost all of these cases, death was the finale ; oftentimes very speedy, from exposure to damp atmosphere or a change of temperature. I presume, within the circle of a few towns, I have heard of more than thirty deaths. Ten were out of one lot of western horses. There were no symptoms of its being contagious — at least I know of none. Treatment. — " Horse doctoring," as usually practised, is so much like quackery, if not es- sential quackery, that one is hardly free to speak demic fevers of 1838, of the western country, hogs and dogs, as well as horned cattle and horses, were affected, not only with the fevers, but the sequelse of them, in diseased livers, en- larged spleens, dropsies, marasmus, and broken- down constitutions. Equus. E. Bloomfield, N. Y., July, 1847. A Life Preserver for Thrashers. — Tear a piece off the finest sponge, enough to cover the mouth and nostrails, hollow it out so as to fit closely ; tack a tape string around the outside, long enough to tie over the top of the head ; soak the sponge in soft water and squeeze the water out with the hand, and when ready to com- mence work, tie it on tightly and evenly, so as to cover the mouth and nostrails completely. You can breathe and talk through the sponge al- most as freely as without it — and you can thrash where the dust from the machine rises like a dense fog around the head, and the lungs will be as free from harm as if you were hoeing corn. I have thrashed with a machine for the past four years, and always suffered much from the dust inhaled into the lungs, until last year, when I tried the sponge ; and I can truly say it has been a life pn^server to me. — Correspondent of Ohio Cultivator. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 267 ^^-^m^. HOKTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. CONDUCTED BY P. BARRY. Horticultural Hints for November. The most important matters in the Garden and Orchard, that demand attention this month, are the preparations for winter. Transplanting hardy trees, shrubs, and plants may be continued during the first week or two, or as long as the weather is mild. But in cold, exposed situations we would advise laying in the trees by the roots, in a slanting, nearly horizon- tal position, in dry soil and a sheltered situation — and planting them out as early in spring as practicable. This will avoid the risk of winter killing. Fall planted trees should, in all cases, be se- cured against being blown around by the winds, either by throwing up the earth in a mound around the base, as we have illustrated in previous numbers of the Farmer, or by tying up to stakes, A covering of six inches deep of litter or ma- nure is serviceable around the roots of trees du- ring winter. If spread on now it can be forked or spaded in among the roots in spring, and will improve next summer's growth. Clean all long grass and rubbish from around your orchard fences ; this will, in a great meas- ure, save your trees from being girdled by mice. Throwing up the earth around trees, a foot high or so, prevents mice from attacking them, and is no way injurious to the tree. It is easily lev- elled down in spring. Hardy Bullous Roots, such as Hyacinths, Tulips, Crocus, Lillies, Crown Imperials, &c., &c., may yet be planted, and will bloom finely next spring. The beds should be covered with six inches or so of leaves or straw. Hyacinths soon degenerate in our gardens. Where a fine show of these sweet and beautiful spring flowers is desired, fresh imported bulbs from Holland should be procured. A lady lately observed to us that she did not care for Crocus, "because they bloomed so early !" That is tneir greatest merit. They are always the welcome harbin- gers of spring. Raspberries were so severely winter killed last season that the crop was an entire failure throughout a great portion of the country last summer. Those who took the precaution to protect their plants, had as good a crop as usual. We hope this winter will find Raspberry beds well dressed and protected. All the suckers should now be taken up, leaving in a hill about three of the strongest canes ; these should be tied loosely to a stike and covered with a sheathing of straw — or they may be laid down, and covered with leaves or branches of evergreens. Strawberry beds should be dressed, (cutting off" runners and old decayed leaves,) and pro- tected with a few inches deep of leaves from the woods, or straw when easier obtained. Manure is not good on the tops of the plants, as it is apt to rot them. Asparagus beds should now be covered with three inches deep of well rotted, rich manure — to be spaded or forked down in the spring dress- ing. Grape vines. — Foreign varieties, such as Black Hamburgh, Sweet Water, Chasselas, Muscats, &;c., grown in the open ground, should now be taken down from the wall or trellis, and covered with straw or earth. Old vines that may be dif- ficult to bend down may be protected with thick matts or branches of evergreens tied against them. All half hardy or tender shrubs, Roses, &c., should receive timely protection. Climbing shrubs and Roses, should be taken down from the arbor or trellis — the tops tied together and cov- ered with leaves or straw. Upright plants can be easily thatched with straw by putting down a stake by them to keep them stiff. Tender Herbaceous Plants or Bulbs may be easily protected by cutting away the old flower stems, and placing an inverted sod over them. Carnations can be protected, where there are only a few plants, by putting a small glass box, or anything of that sort over them, and uncover- ing them occasionally on fine days during win- ter. Where the collection amounts to two or three dozen plants, a small hot bed frame or a similar frame should be taken, placed on a dry spot, and the Carnations transplanted into it. — Manure can be thrown around the frame outside, and the top covered with boards or sashes and matts, or straw. Uncover occasionally in mild weather, during the middle of the day, and they will winter finely. Monthly Roses will winter better in such a frame than in a green house or parlor. All the fine Tea, Bourbon, Noisette, Bengal, &c., can be wintered in this manner. Do not forget to gather and secure, in season, your Winter Cabbages, Celery, Squashes, Beets, Parsnips, and other culinaries; clean up manure; trench and ridge up the vegetable garden, to prepare it for early spring crops. Work of this sort should all be done now. New vegetable and flower gardens should be 268 GENESEE FARMER. Nov. laid out, and garden and carriage walks graded and improved. Spring brings with it so m^ny labors tliat many are forgotten or cannot be at- tended to. If you wish to transplant some large speci- mens of forest trees to your grounds or avenues, select them now now, and dig a deep trench around the ends of the roots before the earth freezes, so that you can take them up in winter with all the earth about the roots in a frozen state. Large evergreens may be transplanted in this way, that will not succeed otherwise. Horticultural Exhibition of Genesee Valley Society. We intended to give at this time somewhat of a detailed account of this exhibition, but as we were absent on the occasion and depended on the reports of the committees, and finding little in these beyond the announcement of the premiums, we think they would be of little use or interest to many of our readers. We extract from them the following items : L. Wetherell, Esq., carried off the first pre- mium for Native Flowers, having presented 150 species. The premium is " Lindley^s Vegetable Kingdom," worth $8 — a treasure of a book for the botanist. Mrs. S. G. Crane was awarded the first pre- mium of $15, for the best display of Annual Flowers duringthe season, having presented 139 species correctly named. Mrs. E. K. Blyth the second premium, $10 — 53 varieties. Miss Hooker presented 45 varieties. Mrs. L. C. Fitch 31 species, exclusive of varieties. Miss L. J. Whitney, 142 varieties, not named. Mrs. J. W. Bissell, 136 varieties ; and Mrs. Geo. Ellwanger 173 varieties. The two latter ladies come under the class of Nurserymen, (so says the report,) and consequently could not come in for premiums. That was too bad. Dahlias. — The display was fine. We are glad to see more attention paid to this magnifi- cent flower. The past season has been more propitious for them, here, than any previous one we remember. The thoroughfares of our city have been really gay with them all the autumn up to the 15th of October. The report says : Mrs. John Williams presented thirty varieties of dahlias, all of the choicest varieties, which were so arranged as to call forth the admiration of all who examined them. We doubt whether there was ever a finer display of this beau- tiful flower in Western New York, and the collection did much toward giving character to the Fair. Mrs. Lewis exhibited thirty varieties of dahlias, all very fine, but her collection lacked a few of recent introduction, which were included in Mrs. Williams' collection, but they •were tastefully arranged and did honor to the donor. Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry presented seventy-two most splendid varieties of dahlias, including all the leading va- rieties, many of which surpassed in richness of color any ever before exhibited at our previous meetings. They also presented a large assortment of roses, all of the choicest va- rieties. We were not furnished with the number, or their names, which was perhaps owing to the short time allowed to the committee for their examination. Wm. King presented thirty-three varieties of dahlias, which was one of the choicest collections at the Fair. His collection of dahlias, and his floral ornaments, were much admired. There are few of our florists who cultivate with more taste than Mr. King. Mrs. King presented some fine boquets and cut flowers, many of which were very beau- tiful. Miss S. Shaw presented five boquets of cut flowers, tastefully arranged. A discretionary premium of $15 was awarded to Miss L. J. Whitney for the best display of flowers without list. Very liberal, indeed — a proof that our society is determined to encourage floricultural taste. The committee on Vegetables report only the names of the successful competitors — not the names of the varieties to which they gave the preference ; we wish they had given this in par- ticular. The Fruit committee report the following pre- miums : Apples. — Greatest variety and best grown, H. Hooker; 2d, S. Briggs ; 3d, W. Shepard. Best Fall Apple, the St. Lawrence, H. N. Langworthy ; 2d best Fall Apple, the Hawley, M. B. Seward. Peara. — 1st premium, L. A. Ward ; 2d, S. Briggs. Best Fall Pear, the Onondaga, H. N. Langworthy. Peaches. — 1st premium, H. N. Langworthy ; 2d, W. Shepard. Grapes. — Greatest number of varieties, R. C. Brown ; Best dozen bunches, T. B. Hamilton ; Best single bunch Mrs. Mathies ; 2d best single bunch, G. W Currier. ' Quinces. — Best dozen, P. Kearney. Watermelons. — Best, Imperial, J. Donallan ; 2d best, Spanish, H. N. Langworthy. Muskmelons. — Best, J. Donallan. Nurserymen. — Best display of Apples, Pears and Peaches, Ellwanger &, Barry, a Diploma. The Dyer Apple, presented by 3Iessrs. Ellwanger & Barry, merited more attention than most of the Autumn Apples, being a variety lately introduced here, certainlr equal to any Autumn Apple in fine flavor and richness, and superior to most of the Apples presented. S. MOULSON, '\ S. Miller, > Committee. J. W. Bissell, > Richard's Beurre Pear. — Not long ago a new pear by this name was noticed in the Hor- ticulturist and Hovey^s Magazine, and the de- scriptions were so glowing that pear growers all over the country were writing to Western New York for trees or scions of it. Now that same •' Richard's Beurre'^ proves to be the old " Sum- mer Bonchretien" and nothing else — one of the most common and well known varieties in Amer- ica! There is scarely a garden in this county where it is not to be found. We saw many trees the past season, through Mendon and Bloom- field, with 20 or thirty bushels of fair fine fruit on each. Early Budding. — In a former communica- tion I stated that, in consequence of budding early, I had succeeded better than formerly. I now perceive that, although the buds appeared to " take well," yet tlie growth of the trees since appears to have absorbed some of them, while others seem to have "grown out," so as to sit upon the surface of the bark, so that it is very doubtful whether they will ever start. They appear not to have been sufliciently matured. Fairport, Sept. 1847. H. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 269 Starting Buds too Soon. A CORRESPONDENT in the Genesee Farmer thinks he has made a discovery, by the accidental breaking offof the sfock just above the inserted bud, which caused the bud to grow- immediately. He will probably discover next spring that the winter has totally killed the shoot, if it is a peach, apri- cot or nectarine ; and by the end of another summer, that he has gained nothing in growth, if hardy like the apple, a few inches growth this year, rather stunting than acceler- ating the growth.— Horticuihirist. The above refers to an "Experiment in Bud- ding," by our Fairport correspondent " H.," to which we should have appended a note, had we seen it before it was published. As a general thing it is not well to have buds of fruit trees start the same season they are in- serted, as the shoots made are necessarily weak and immature when winter comes on them — though we have seen Pears this season that were budded early cut back as soon as the union was perfect, and in August they had grown a foot ; and being a rare variety it was intended to make saleable trees of them by Autumn. This was at Oswego. Roses may be cut back as soon as the buds have taken ; if budded in Jnne they will make fine plants the same season — and if monthly or perpetual varieties, will produce a good bloom in autumn. B»ds of climbing Roses frequently grow five or six feet the same season they are inserted. Early Joe Apple. John J. Thomas speaks of the Early Joe Apple, in the October number of the Cultivator^ as follows : From four years acquaintance with this new and emi- nently productive summer variety, we have deliberately come to the conclusion, that when in perfect eating order, it is decidedly the most perfect and agreeable table apple we ever had the pleasure of touching. But to be thus ex- cellent, the fruit must be of fresh well ripened specimens, and not those plucked immature, and ripened in the house, or on a railway voyage. A gentleman of veracity, who has long had a bearing tree, assures us that he has seen a man sit down by a basket of this delicious fruit, and taking up one after another, actuaJly eat half a peck before he was aware of what he bad done. Indeed, to hazard a mere con- jecture, this must have been the identical apple which our friend Downing saw in the hand of Pomona, in his famous dream, that being the only sort which she claimed as supe- rior to the Newtown pippin, which we are sure is excelled by the Early Joe ! This apple is only medium in size, and sometimes inclin- ing to small, flat ; sometimes sliglitly approaching flattish- conical, smooth and regular ; light yellow on the shaded side, covered with numerous short broken stripes, which pass into a nearly uniform shade of deep red next the sun, and interspersed with conspicuous white specks. Stalk three quarters of an inch long, in a rather shallow and wide cavity, calyx in a small, even basin. Flesh very fine in texture, exceedingly tender, slightly breaking, very juicy, with a mild, sub-acid, rich, and foultless tlavor. Ripens during the last half of the 8th month, (Aug.) The growth of the tree is slow, the young shoots dark color, and while it is a profuse bearer, the fruit is always fair. T. It is stated in one of the Ohio papers, that peaches were exhibited at a late Fair of the Co- lumbus Horticultural Society, measuring more than a foot in circumference, and weighing 14 ounces. The Golden Beurre of Bilboa Pear. This is one of the very finest of all Septem- ber Pears. We have the past season seen it in bearing and ate of the fruit raised in various sec- tions of the country, and in every case we have found it complete in all the requisites of a fine Pear. The tree is a vigorous, handsome grower, an^ bears excellent crops. Fruit large, very regi lar, obovate, with a stout brown stalk inserted i a slight cavity, calyx closed ; basin shallow Skin of a golden color, when ripe sprinkled witi russett. Flesh fine grained and buttery, with ; rich vinous flavor. It grows and bears well oi the quince. It has received the commendatior of every pear grower in the country who has be- come acquainted with it. It is said to have been imported to this country from Spain, 18 years ago. Acknowledgments. — We are indebted to Jno. Morse, Esq., of the Cayuga Nursery, for box of specimen fruits. — S. WoRDEN, Esq., of Oswego, for a box of the Bake apple. — Kob't Patterson, Perry, for specimens of Apples. — Geo. Hoauley, Esq., of Cleveland, O., (President of the Horticultural Society,) for a paper containing there- ports of the annual exhibition. — W. R. Prince & Co., of Flushing, for a copy of •' Prince's Descriptive catalogue of Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Shrubbery. Vines, and Plants, cultivated and for sale at the great original establishment, Prince's Linnaen Botan- ic Garden and Nurseries." The catalogues of this estab- lishi.ient are as the preface says, " a.\\\a.ys progressive, and the present one comprises all the new acquisitions made to the various classes of fruits and other departments. "' The honor of an honorable man, so far as dollars ai cents are concerned, dies when he dies ; therefore, honor ble conditions should be in writing. 270 GENESEE FARMER. Nov Apple-Tree Blight (?) Mr. Editor : — I have of late observed wliat appears to be a blight of the Apple tree. The phenomena, as I have noticed them, are the fol- lowing, viz : The extremity of a young branch (of this year's growth,) begins to wither, and very soon the branch dies down to the extent of several inches. The leaves on some branches at first exhibit a dark, dull green, color, some- times almost black ; on others the color is not essentially changed. Sometimes some of thim appear as if they had been scalded, and partly dried ; when they feel soft and leathery. Im- mediately alter the branch dies. Sometimes single leaves turn black, or nearly so, and die. Spots, or patches of an iron-rust color, are often found on the branch — and sometimes small ob- long blisters, (especially on those that have just perished,) filled with a kind of pussy, semi-fluid matter. Sometimes the branches exhibit an ap- pearance of having been stung by insects ; but upon cutting and examining them with a ?nagtii- fcr, not'iing peculiar can be discovered. Some unusual appearances, it is true, may be detected ; but tliey are, I conclude, rather the effect than the cause of the disease. In regard to the cause I can say nothing. As the phenomena first made their appearance on a tree that was grafted last year, and from which all the "natural branches" were removed and some additional grafts inserted last spring, I at first supposed the disease might be occasioned by an excess of sap in some of the young branches. But various facts and considerations preclude the possibility of such a supposition. — it cannot be considered the effect of frost, for it has attacked only branches of the present sum- mer's growth. It has appeared on one tree in my orchard, on several small ones in my nur- sery, and on one or two in my neighbor's or- chard ; and seems to act very much like the pear and the quince blight, of the latter of which we have several specimens.* Another thing I have noticed in regard to the growth of some young trees, both apple and plum, but more especially of the latter. Having grown about a foot, more or less, they frequent- ly shoot up in long, slender spikes with small, contracted, impertect, leaves, of less than half the size of a perfect leaf, and no lateral branches. I have not been able to discover any satisfactory cause for this singular appearance. Perhaps you, sir, or some of your readers, may be able to assign the cause, and, if it be a disease, the remedy. H. Fairport, Aug., 21, 1847. * It is frequently tlip caso, that the top of a young apple tree, of one or two years' growth, dies from the effi^ct of the aphis. Several instanre? of this kind I have ohserved the present season. These, however, are very difiorent from those mentioned above. Salt' on Plum Trees. I LATKLY applied a quantity of salt to six of my plum trees, putting perhaps a pint around each, which I spread over about two square feet of surface. Like Judge Cheevkr, (see Gen. Far. p. 204, Vol. 8,) I thought. I had seen it recommended to be used at the rate of a pint to a square foot; (which 1 afterwards found to be a pint to a square rod;) in other words, to be spread about a quarter of an inch thick. The result of the experiment and my reflections upon it have made me ashamed of it, and of my short- sightedness ; and had it not been for the article in the " Farmer," referred to above, the world would perhaps never be the wiser for it. But to the results. No. L A Bolmar, first year from the bud, on a common stock, about an inch in diameter. — Effect : The leaves and ends of the tender branches wilted as if scalded, and soon the lower leaves fell oft', and the ends of the branches died. In about two weeks it began to put forth new leaves, and now it has several young thrifty branches. No. 2. A Iluling's Superb, third year from the bud ; stock, a plum ; variety unknown ; about an inch and a half in diameter. Effect : Leaves died as in autumn, and fell off; buds and branches appear fresii and sound, but the tree is as naked (Sept. 10th) as in mid-winter. A few buds have since opened, and now (Oct. 1st) there are several small tufts of leaves, and two or three small clusters of blossoms ; evident- ly those intended by nature for next year. No. 3. A German Prune, age, size, 4'. 200 bbls. Indiana, a good lot, at 6 62>^. A lot of round hoop Ohio at $6,50. Receipts not large. The demand from the east fair. Meal steady at $3,123^ a $3,25. Rye flour is $4,75 a $5 fer good. Gkain.— Demand for wheat. Holders are asking more than buyers are willing to pay. No sales. For Genesee $1,50 was ask- ed and $1,46 offered. Corn had an improving appearance and there is some speculative movement. Sales of 20.000 bu. including heated at 72c, mixed 74 a 75c, part in store; 76 a 77c for yellow. flat, and round. Rye is higher. Sales 6000 bu. at 92c in the slip and 93 a 94 delivered. Barley very little offering. 3000 bu. old at 80c for pearling. Oats steady at 47 a 49c. Provisions.— Market for all descriptions dull. Pork and Beef heavy. New Beef offered at $7 and $10. 150 bbls. Beef hams at $12,37>i a $12,75. Lard.— 200 bbls. inferior at something off 10c. Sales 1000 bu. flax seed at $1,35. Clover steady at 7% a 1%. Hops.— Market dull at 9 a 10c. Sales 25 bales, eastern, at S^c at auction. Broo.m Corn is scarce and held at $200 per ton. Contents of this Number. To Correspondents; How sliould Manure be applied to Land, - 249 Twentieth Annual Fair of the American Institute, 250 Fattening Swine — A Steaming Apparatus, 251 Letter from Europe, - 252 The Farmer— His Position, Duties, &c., No. 10, 253 Hydraulics for Farmers, No. 4, 254 To Prevent Smut in Wheat, 256 Letter from Wyoming — Farmer's Clubs ; Cob Meal ; Slobbers in Hor.=es; Large Tomatoes; Onions, 257 Agriculture of New York, - _ 25G Potato Rot; Wheat Crops increased by Amoniacal Ma- nures; War on the Cotton Worm; Extracts from the Farmer's Creed, 259 Our next Volume; Steven's Spiral Straw Cutter; Gen- esee County Fair, .- 260 McCormick's Virginia Reaper; Race's Self-Regulating Parlor Stove; County of New York Cattle Show" Wire Worm; Receipts at the State Fair, 261 Premiums Awarded at the New York State Fair, 1847, 262 Salting Meat; Measure of Hay; Preserving Cabbages, 265 Epidemic among Horses; A Life Preserver for Thrash- ers, 266 HORTICULTUK.M. DEPARTMENT. Hints for November, 267 Horticultural Exhibition of the Genesee Valley Socie- ty; Richard's Beurre Pear; Early Budding, 268 Starting Buds too soon; Early Joe Apple; The Golden Beurre of Bilboa Pear ; Acknowledgments, 269 Apple Tree Blight ; Salt on Plum Trees, 270 ladies' department. m Paring Peaches; Superior Mode of Curing Hams; Pumpkin Butter; Mince Meat for Pies; Hints about Food; Facts useful to be known; Female Education, 271 Vol. 8. ROCHESTER, N. Y. — DECEMBER, 1847, No. 12. THE GENESEE FARMER : Issjied the first of each month-, in Rochester, N. Y,, by D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. DANIEL LEE. EDITOR. p. BARRY, Conductor of the Horticultural Department. With this number closes the eighth volume of the Genesee Farmer, We have not space for extended remarks, and must therefore omit noticing some matters pertinent to the occasion. Were we to adopt a custom much in vogue at the present day, we should perhaps state that we have accomplished much less than we intended — and then promise ample amends for the future. But we are not inclined to discourse in that wise, for we have endeavored faithfully to discharge our duty to the readers of this journal, and the agricultural community. Whether that duty has been performed as it ought, and in the manner best calculated to benefit those for whom we have labored, each subscriber will judge for himself. We do not expect that all our readers have been particularly interested or benefitted by the perusal of the Farmer, yet we trust its pages have imparted appropriate and useful information to a large majority. Our subscription list is now the largest, with a single exception, of any agricultural journal published in the United States— and we think our contributors and correspondents, in numbers and ability, are at least equal to those of any other similar journal. We are under gr^at obligations to the numerous persons who have aided in pro- moting the usefulness of the Farmer, by extend- ing its circulation and contributing to its pages. If continued, the assistance of such generous friends — without whose approval and influence we could do little or nothing to advance the cause of improvement — will enable us to make our next volume still more interesting and valuable. In consequence of the very Ioav price of the Farmer a larger subscription list is necessary to sus^in it properly. But we leave this matter with the Farmers and Horticulturists of the Country. A Farmer's Library. Long winter evenings are close at hand. The season for reading good books, for studying the Science of Agriculture, has already arrived. — How greatly can we elevate our standing in so- ciety, our usefulness in the world, and increase our ability to command an independent liveli- hood, by the due improvement of all our leisure hours! Few young men justly appreciate the advantages which cheap books, and periodical journals like the Farmer, place within their reach. Rapid, careless, slips-hod reading is the crowning folly of the young men and women, whom it is our fortune to meet. They lack patience, perse- verance, and untiring industry in the prosecution of useful studies. How few young farmers can show an agricultural library of twenty volumes. What would they think of the professional attain- ments of a lawyer, physician, or clergyman, whose reading in his calling was thus limited ? Permit a friend to suggest the purchase and careful study of Johnston's Lectures on Agricul- tural Chemistry and Geology ; Boussingault's Rural Economy ; Allen's American Agriculture; Lindley's Theory of Horticulture ; and Liebig's Chemistry — not to name more expensive works. We know of no contemporary agricultural journal unworthy of support ; but to commend any one would seem invidious and unkind to- ward the others. ^We ask attention to the fact that, of the four millions of male adults employed in agriculture in the United States, not far from three millions nine hundred thousand, or thirty- nine in forty, take no paper of the kind. To them the experience and carefully conducted experi- ments of other practical farmers, becomo utterly valueless, so soon as they are printed on paper! The number who take agricultural papers in the State of New York is much larger than one in forty. But take the whole Union together, and our estimate is rather above than below the ti-uth. — Friends of the Farmer and of the Writer, will you not aid the cause by doubling tha subscription list of this journal for 1848 ? The volume shall be worthy of a place in any man's library. 274 GENESEE FARMER. Dec. Southern Agriculture. The writer has long desired to study the art of Husbandry as practiced by the best farmers in every State of the Union. He now rejoices in an opportunity of learning what he may from the experience and practice of Southern planters, As at the North, very few make pretensions to a knowledge of Agricultural Chemistry, Geology, and the kindred sciences, which shed a flood of light on all rural operations. I find, however, a large number of observing, intelligent men, from whom I learn many interesting facts relating to tillage, and the organization of the most useful plants. In the north-western part of South Car- olina good farmers grow winter wheat after this fashion : The crop follows one of corn, which is plant- ed in rows five feet apart. The ears are picked and hauled in a big wagon to some convenient place to be husked or " shucked." A plow, with no other working part than a coulter, is run two or three times through each row of corn, to tear it up by the roots. The large, long plants, including roots, stems, and leaves, are evenly spread with the butts all one way, like a winrow of brushwood made of small trees. The center between the rows of corn is first laid and covered with the plow, and so on till a bed is formed a little over four feet wide. On this bed wheat is sown and harrowed in without crossing the beds, and rolled in the same direction as plowed. The water course between the beds is cleared with the hoe, if needed. As heavy rains fall here in winter, it is highly important to provide for its easy escape. Wheat is often badly injured by the heaving of the earth from frost. As an improvement on the above system of culture, (which gives from 12 to 20 bushels per acre,) I have recommended the application of 5 bushels of ashes, 5 of lime, and one of salt, per acre, to be scattered over the stalks before they are covered. I find a good many farmers waiting now (7th November) for rain before they sow wheat. It is exceedingly dry in all this region (Augusta, Ga.) The thermometer in a cool brick store, on the first floor, ranges between 64 and 70 degrees. I own myself the wiser for learnig that the best crops of barley and oats are made in this latitude and climate by seeding in the fall. I have seen several fields of barley now up, and soon to yield a good bite for winter feed, and to be harvested the last of May. Peas are not put into the ground till spring; and often after wheat, oats and barley are harvested, and on the same land. I have seen a few acres of clover, but so far south as Augusta, it needs a good deal of nursing to make it live. I shall take another opportuni- ty to speak of Southern grasses. If the "cow pea" will do as well at the north as it does here when planted with corn (after the corn is up and plowed out,) its culture will be profitable. I do not think that its growth with corn injures materially the yield of the latter, while the quantity of peas harvested is large — say from ten to twenty bushels on good, strong land. This plant, as has been well remarked, is the clover of the South. It can be made to ren- der invaluable service in the way of fertilizing poor lands. The recent disastrous and extensive failures of commercial houses in London and Liverpool, have knocked down the price of cotton some three cents a pound. Its influence on dealers and planters in this region, can easily be imag- ined. Agriculturists begin to see as well as feel the importance of growing wool, of making far more beef, pork, butter, cheese, and grain than they now do. So far as I can learn, there is but one farmer in all Georgia who makes a pound of cheese. He is from New Jersey, and is literal- ly coining money by selling all he makes at 15 to 18 cents a pound. In this small city, around which cows can be kept about as cheaply as in Western New York, milk is selling at ten cents a quart. Good cabbage at from 15 to 30 cents a head ; they are brought from North Carolina and New England. Northern potatoes are selling at $'3.00 a barrel ; apples the same. Northern butter is worth from 25 to 30 cts. per lb. by the firkin. All the northern portion of Georgia is admirably adapted to the dairy busi- ness, stock, and wool growing. I shall have more to say of its capabilities after I have explor- ed the region which lies several hundred miles at the base or southern declivity of the Alleghany mountains. It sends fine beef to this market, as well as pork and mutton. The distance from this city to Charleston is 136 miles by a good railroad ; to Savannah by the river and steamboats, it is about 200. Ordi- nary freights to New York are about 50 cents per 100 pounds. Augusta is at the head of nav- igation on the Savannah, there being rapids just above ; although small boats of 20 tons bring down cotton many miles. This is a great mar- ket for this staple. Some of the ware-houses here cover an acre and a half of ground. The crop is far from being all gathered at this time. The average yield per acre is probably not more than 300 lbs. clean cotton. No crop varies more in its producf. D. L. Fattening Poultry. — It is asserted in the "Transactions of the Society of Arts," that there is a great advantage in fattening geese, turkeys, and in short, fowls of every discription, on pota- toes mixed with meal. On this diet they are said to fatten in less than one-half the time ordi- narily required to bring them to the same condi- tion of " excellence," on any kind of corn, or even on meal itself. The potatoes must be boil- ed and mashed fine while they are hot, and the meal added, just before the food is to be presented. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 275 Northern Rfce. Gen. Verplanck, the Commissioner to nego- tiate a treaty with the Chippewas, in speaking of the wild rice which grows abundantly in Min- nesota, says that it is better than the Southern rice. The berries are larger and its flavor is better ; for when boiled and and stewed and left to cool it forms a consistent mass like good wheat bread, and more nutritious. Any quantity of it grows on all the lakes in this northern country. The outlets and bays are filled with it. It ripens in the month of August, and is the main reliance of the Indians during the winter months for their sustenance. If this is truly a valuable plant, there are thou- sands of acres in all the northern States where it can be grown at a very small expense. Rice is confessedly the most remunerating crop cultiva- ted at the South. One planter on the Savannah below where the editor now is, has received $40,000 for his crop this fall season. It grows almost spontaneously ; as the wild rice in Min- nesota does altogether, without seeding or cul- ture. We know Gen. Verplanck. He is not a man to mis-state a fact of this character. — Gentemen residing at Galena or the Falls of St. Anthony can easily procure the seed. We should be glad to see a fair trial made with it on ground which can be suitably inundated with water. A Remarkable Experiment. A RECENT work of science gives the following novel ex- periment, which settles questions of some importance in philosophy : "Two hundred pounds weight of earth were dried in an oven, and afterwards put into an earthen vessel. The earth was then moistened with rain water, and a willow tree, weighing 5 pounds, was planted therein. During the space of 5 years the earth was carefully watered with rain water, or pure water; the willow grew and flourished ; and, to prevent the earth being mixed with fresh earth, or dust blown on it by the winds, it was covered with a metal plate perforated with a great number of small holes, suitable for the free admission of air only. After growing in the air for five years, the tree was removed, and found to weigh 169 pounds and about 3 ounces ; the leaves which fell from the tree every autumn were not included in this weight. The earth was then removed from the vessel, again dried in the oven, and afterwards weighed ; it was discovered to have lost only about 2 ounces of its original \vcight ; thus 160 pounds of woody fibre, bark, and roots were certainly pro- duced ; but from what source? The air has been discov- ered to be the source of the solid element at least. This statement may at first appear incredible, but on slight re- flection its truth is proved, because the atmosphere contains carbonic acid, and is a compound of 714 parts, by weight of oxygen, and 338 parts,, by weight of carbon." The above has been traveling the rounds of the American press for two months. We clip it from the National Intelligencer to remark that the statement can i;ot be true, and is calculated to mislead the honest inquirers after truth. To say nothing of the half pound or more of earthy- matter in the ash of the willow, the minerals in the leaves which were organized in five years would weigh more thali two ounces. If we substitute pounds for ounces the statement may be correct. Lime in Planting Trees. Many object to planting trees, either for orchards or use, in consequence of the numerous failures they experience. This, however, it should be recollected is not a necessary result. With proper care there is no more difficulty in transplanting than in planting or propagating from the seed or germ. In setting trees, we have ever found that they best when taken up in the fall, about the time the leaves drop. Fruit and forest trees, shrubs and perennial plants of all descriptions, may, at this season, be removed with perfect succes. In setting we usually put a small quantity of lime in the hole — about half a peck to a tree, mixing it thoroughly with the mold, in order that it may be easily accessible to the roots, which ramify in every direction in quest of food. An English publication says that an exten- sive plantation of trees has been formed within a few years. ithout the loss of a single tree, and this has been effected simply by putting a small quantity of lime in the hole be- fore depssiting the tree. Four bushels are said to be amply sufficient for an acre. The effect of the lime is "to push on the growth of the plant in the first precarious state." There seems to have existed, at first, an apprehension that liming the plant would force it on prematurely, but this apprehen- sion experience has demonstrated to have been perfectly groundless. — Maine Farmer, Of the benefit of lime about fruit trees we h^ve long been convinced by its use. Old plaster, burnt shells and bones, exercise important and beneficial action, and especially in spots where a tree has failed and been removed, as without fresh earth and lime it is almost impossible to make a new tree thrive in the same place. Al^ fresh manures are injurious to recently planted trees. Old and well rotted manures, rotted sods, or rich alluvial or virgin soil, is best. Make the holes large, and when half filled, puddle down with a pail of water ; then fill up and not pack too hard, nor set the roots too deep. Fall plant- ing of the apple, pear, and other hardy trees, is probably the best ; but peaches, cherries, apri- cots, &c., do best set very early in spring, before the sap moves. The success of young fruit trees imperiously depends upon the cultivation of the land in some hoed crop, and proper manuring. When they have got a sufficient size for general bearing, they may be put in grass. Clover, by its long tap roots, seems to exercise injurious effects. — Timothy and other grasses are preferable ; in those even it should not lay too long without plowing. ^^ #** A Valuable Table. — The following table compiled from the calculations of J. M. Garnet, Esq., of Virginia, will be found exceedingly valuable to many of our readers : A box 24 inches by 16 inches square and 22 inches deep, will contain a barrel, or 10,852 cubic inches. A box 24 inches by 16 inches square and 11 inches deep, will contain half a barrel, or 5,476 cubicinches. A box 16 inches by 16.8 inches square and 8 inches deep, will contain one bushel, or 2,150.4 cubic inches. A box 12 inches by 11.2 inches square and 8 inches deep, will contain half a bushel, or 1,075 cubic inches. I A box 8 inches by 8.4 inches square and 6 inches deep, will contain one peck, or 537.1 cubic inches. A box 8 inches by 8 inches square and 4.2 inches deep, will contain one half peck, or 268.8 cubic inches. A box 7 inches by 4 inches square and 4.8 inches deep, will contain a half a gallon, or 131.4 cubic inches. A box 4 inches by 4 inches square and 4.2 inches deep, will contain one quart, or 67.2 cubic inches. 276 GENESEE FARMER. Dec. Hints for December. Potatoes have turned out worse than any body anticipated. Look out for your winter stock ; overhaul, examine, and select, or the whole bin will be a mass of putrefaction. The first fair day open those that are buried, and see if all is right. It is a good plan to leave a small hole in the top of the heap where potatoes are buried, and fill with a wisp of straw the size of your arm, as a ventilator. Bagas and turneps will not keep well without this precaution. Stable your cattle if possible. The saving in manure will pay for the extra labor, and the saving in quantity of food consumed is clear gain. The animal system is like a cold room with a stove — the colder the weather the more wood is required. The greater degree of cold and ex posure the animal undergoes, the greater quan tity of food is required. The decomposition of food and its recomposition into the various nutri- ments required by the system, is the sole cause of animal heat. Don't let you stock get poor by being left too long to subsist on the dead and frost burnt pas- tures ; a stern chase is a long chase, and it is an unprofitable operation to have to lift cattle by the tail all winter, that come into the yard poor. — The cheapest way to mend this defect, is to give each creature about two ears of corn per day, till they recover their flesh. Sugar beets or carrots are still better, particularly for milch cows. Store hogs will winter on ruta bagas, but much better on the sugar beet. A greater amouut of nutriment can be produced from an acre in beets and carrots, and with less labor, than from any other crop. One acre of good soil in roots may be made to produce as much actual food, as the general average of fifteen acres in hay. Push on your fatting hogs, and to assist them to assimilate and convert their food quickly and profitably, cook all their food, or their stomachs will have to do it at your expence. Remember that Indian corn makes fat only, while other food makes more muscle or red flesh than oleaginous matter. Blanket your horses with good sized articles, well lined, with a breast strap and crupper, con- fined by a surcingle. And don't stint them in bedding. It is a comfort to the animal, absorbs the urine, which is worth twelve times as much as the solid droppings, and will add immensely to the manure heap. Digestion is carried on very slowly when the animal system is heavily taxed with labor ; water often, but feed lightly during the working hom-s ; let the principal feed be given at evening when they have ease and quietness to digest. Secure cellars and all situations exposed to frost. Glaze all your windows and give the old petticoats, hats, and sun-bannets to the poor, if you have no better use for them. See that all the youngsters are at school, and attend strictly to its duties. School houses are a better fortification to defend the liberties of our country, than all the walls and cannon of Quebec or Vera Cruz. See also that the young people make a free use of that valuable provision the Common School Library ; and even my adult reader make a proper use of them and other good books during these long evenings yourself. Be mindful of the poor and suffering, for those that give to the poor leiid to the Lord ; and among other good acts, don't fail to renew your sub- scription to the Genesee Farmer. ^ Potato Rot. JIh. J. PiNNEO. of Hanover, N. H., writes to the editor of the Boston Cultivator that it had been remarked in that vi- cinity that the potato rot did not affect the hills which were planted in the immediate neighborhood of shade trees, though all other parts of the game field were seriously affect- ed with the rot. The inquiry is, how this can be explained? The editor of the Cultivator seems to ihink that there is no doubt that shade trees protect potatoes from the rot. He says, " They save the potatoes from the extreme heat of the sun, and they prevent dews from falling on them, thus avoiding the extremes of heat and cold, which are doubtless a principal cause of this malady, especially when the chang es are sudden, and the plants are very tender from a luxu- riant growth." If there is any virtue in shade to. protect the potato from the rot, it might be well to try the experiment of planting between corn hills, or even every alternate row; although, from our experience, we are not prepared to believe the statement in full — for this year we planted two orchards entirely with potatoes on fall plowed green sward. The apple trees are medium size, set 33 feet apart in one case, and in the other the same with a peach tree between each. They were planted on the 10th to 12th May ; they made very little progress in setting tubers, owing to the great drouth, till after the rains, first and second week in August. They were harvested and laid on a barn floor for three or four weeks to dry. In assorting for table use and feeding, about four-fifths of the Mercers had the rot, and a few of the round pink eyes — but the flesh color and merinoes were almost entirely free of the disease. If there is any virtue in shade, this crop had enough of it. The tops were entirely dead nearly a month before any frost. Many close observers think there is no com- munication of virus from the leaf and stem to the tuber, but that the vine dies before the matu- rity of the potato, and they rot as any other im- mature vegetable production does. The Early June, Kidney, and Ash Leaf, that ripen in July, are not liable to this disease ; but they yield only a small crop, and if left till the usual time of digging they are apt to commence a second growth — and if dug when ripe they do not eat well, being kept exposed to the air during the hot weather. L. Manly. Monroe County^ Nov., 1847. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 277 Meteorology and Meteorological Observations. BY L. WETHERELL. EvERy farmer is interested in Meteorology; and no class of practical men enjoy so good facilities for making observations in this depart- ment of science as the farmers. The result of their labor depends mainly upon the favorable or unfavorable workings of the laws of meteorology: if these laws work favorably, the result is, with good husbandry, a plentiful harvest and full barns — if otherwise, the result is a stinted harvest and barns to let. The farmer, knowing this, is led to observe closely the passing seasons, and also to compare the present with the past, in order to calculate results bearing upon the future, which will not only affect his own interest, but the inter- ests of all classes of society. Now I recommend to every farmer who reads the "Genesee Farmer," to procure for himself a Thermometer, a Barometer, and a Rain Gauge; and that he commence keeping a register of his daily observations made by these instruments, with the exception of the rain gauge — and that he record in this book or register all the impor- tant phenomena which occur, such as high winds, aurora borealis, remarkably cold or warm, wet or dry seasons, and their effect upon crops : also the appeai-ance of spring birds, the progress of vegetation, &c., &c. Every farmer would in a a few years attach great value to a book of this kind; and so would his children, for they not un- frequendy take great interest in this department of useful and interesting knowledge. There is no mystery or difficulty about this, that need deter any one: a little work and much pleasure will be the result of the experiment. Try it, and then recommend it to your neighbor. I speak from experience relative to this matter. I have kept a similar register for more than seven years, and derive no little pleasure and satisfaction from re- viewing it occasionally; and it is not the least part of the pleasure afforded me, that I am ena- bled occasionally, through the medium of the "Farmer," to furnish my brother farmers an opportunity to read by their fire-sides some of the results of these observations. The mean temperature of the summer months of 1846, was 68.06 degrees— of 1847, 67°. The amount of rain which fell in 1846, during the summer months, was 11.20 inches — 1847, 9.97 inches: difference, 1.23 inches. The rain for the autumn of 1846, 13.16 in.— 1847, 12.71: difference in favor of 1846, .45 of an inch. — The number of days on which rain and snow fell in 1846, was 47—1847, 51. The general opinion prevails that we have had an unusual amount of rain this autumn, but the read'er will see that the quantity is less than last autumn; and as it regards the number of days on which rain and snow fell, the difference is slight. The canal is open; the temperature of the water to-day, 43°. Last year, on the 26th of November, it was frozen, and there were about 6 inches of snow. There have been several splendid displays of the aurora borealis during the year ; the one on the 19th of March was remarkably splendid, and widely observed over our country. The one last evening was very fine. It is very probable that we shall have many such during the winter. It is thought by many that this wonderful phe- nomenon has an effect upon the weather: how or in what way, or whether at all or not, meteorolo- gists are not agreed. Rochester, Nov. 26, 1847. To Correspondents. Communications have been received, during the past month, from W. A. W., *, L. Manly, C. N. Bement, Wm. Van Dusen, R., N. R. Y., J. Dunham, H., L. Wetherell, A. W. Wheelock, S. Harri?, and A. S. Hermon. During the past season we have received sev- eral well written articles on chess, transmutation, &c., but our pages have been too crowded to give them insertion, without omitting more sea- sonable matter. The same explanation is due to the authors of articles on the potato disease, and various other subjects. We hope to make room, during the winter, for a part if not all of the communications we have on file for publication. Meantime we shall be happy to receive contri- butions from former correspondents, and all who may be disposed to communicate the results of their observation and experience for the benefit of the agricultural community. The series of excellent articles on " Hydraul- ics for Farmers," by C. N. Bement, Esq., are concluded in this number. We shall be pleased to hear from Mr. B. on other subjects. Notices of several books, pamphlets, &c., re- cently received, will be given next month. Cole's American Veterinarian. — As none of our Rochester booksellers have this excellent work, we have obtained a few dozen copies from the publishers, — and can now supply the numer- ous persons who have recently inquired for it. Densmore's Straw Cutter. — The reader is referred to an advertisement of this valuable machine, in the advertising department of this number. We shall probably give a figure and description of it in our next. Sheep. — It is stated that there are one hundred thousand sheep in Addison county, Vermont, which must be driven to other sections of the country to be wintered, or slaughtered. The deficiency of the crop of hay and the ravages of grasshoppers have caused a scarcity of food. 278 GENESEE FARMER. Dec. True Farming. — Great Farming on a Small Farm. A. Macumber, of Spring Port, Cayuga coun- ty, has a farm of only 60 acres including two public roads. It was originally covered with oak and hickory trees ; the soil a clay loam, with limestone pebbles. He keeps three horses, four cows, and 35 sheep. His crop this year is 652 bushels plump wheat ; 150 bushels oats ; 5 acres of corn, very stout ; 4 acres clover seed ; between .30 and 40 tons of hay, and more pas- ture than can be found on any other farm of the size in the county of Cayuga. He always sows his corn ground with wheat ; first haul off the corn, harrow, then plow, then seed, then harrow again three times, and sow plenty of clover seed in the spring. He makes all the stravv into manure and puts most of it on his corn ground. The great secret of this man's success, is in keeping his ground covered either with grain crops, or a heavy mat of clover and timothy grass. He considers the exposure of a naked fallow to the sun of July and August, a sort of necessary evil ; that the soil, to be kept strong, should be covered. In addition to barn-yard manure, Mr. Mac- umber applies plaster, salt, and ashes broad-cast to his crops. He says he was induced by David Thomas to take the Genesee Farmer, many years ago. Although no friend to too many ex- periments or theories, he is a very decided advo- cate for the union of science with agriculture, as it is explained by Dr. Lee in the Farmer. Now I am aware that many farmers who read the foregoing, will say that Macumber must either hire a great deal of help, or work very hard himself. Very true ; but has he not the product to pay for the labor. He himself avers, that the labor of harvesting and securing his crops is the most formidable part of his farm la- bor. How much better thus to expend money to harvest and secure crops, than waste money and labor in a tardy, slovenly, ill directed course of farming, which gives no crops to the harvest, or very poor ones. Such men as A. Macumber are before hand, and in season with all their work ; their corn leaves never bleach in a wet season, nor curl in a dry one. They keep no old sward to hybern- ate worms, the affliction of all lazy farmers, as well as of those who have too many arable acres. They are the favorites of fortune, because for- tune delights to favor those only who court her favors. It is in the tact, intelligence, and good will with which they apply their labors, rather than in the labor itself, which enables them to succeed so well ! Such men are strangers to that hopeless egotism, which is the curse of all progress — the nurse of self willed ignorance and hoary error. S. W. Seneca Covnty, Oct., 1847. Hydraulics for Farmers. BY C. N. BEMENT. NUMBER V. Syphon Ram. — The following is a description of a Syphon Ram, constructed by H. H. Straw- bridge, of New Orleans. Though the principle is quite against our laws of natural philosophy, still facts would seem to contradict theory. It is contended by scientific writers, that the same power might be obtained by making the driving pipe of the same length of the syphon when straightened, and placing the ram further from the head. The question naturally arises, wheth- er there is not less friction in perpendicular than in an inclining tube, by which momentum and power is gained. In the experiment of Mr. Straw- bridge, power was gained sufficient to burst his machine, by increasing the height of the syphon. " A few years ago," says Mr. Strawbridge, in the Farm- er's Cabinet, "before these machines had come into use, in the United States, I caused one to be constructed near Cov- ington, La. The fall of water requisite to work it being very small, I continued to increaee it by the improvement which I am about to describe. " A B D is a leaden pipe, bent into the form of a syphon and carried over the bough of a tree, the short leg A, B, resting in the pond or spring that feeds the machine, apd the longer leg B, I), conducting to and terminating in the ma- chinery itself, which is placed a few inches lower. C, is the funnel connecting with the interior of the syphon through an air-tight three-way water cock B, of the same 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 279 calibre as the syphon itself. At A, under water, and at D, a few inches lower down than the end oi the pipe at A, are stop cocks, also the same diameter as tJie interior of the pipe. " The cocks^ and D being closed, the cock at B is opened so that water poured into the funnel C, will till both legs of the syphon. This being completely filled, the cock B is turned so as to cut oft' all communication with the funnel, leaving the syphon still open. The cocks at A and D are then opened simultaneously, when the water begins to enter the short leg of the syphon and descends the leg D in a continued stream, with a force amply sufficient to set the machine in operation. " In this manner by employing a syphon instead of a straight pipe, conducting from the spring or pond to the ram, a fall six to twelve inches, which would not afford suth- cient power to work the ram, may be increased in power so as to equal that of a natural fall of many feet. A fall of one foot or more may be obtained in any situation by partly burying the ram, so as to place it lower than the feeding reservoir ; and the escape of the waste water will not im- pede the working of the valve, for I have made it work at a depth of two feet under water by simply lightening the escape valve at H of a part of its weight. A fall of five or six feet is amply sufhcient for all ordinary purposes. This will give a power of fourteen pounds to the square inch, if merely the dead pressure be taken into consideration, but a much greater power if the momentum of the descending column of water be calculated." " My first machine," continues Mr. S., " was made en- tirely of wood, including the air vessel, and worked well. But when the syphon was applied and the descending cur- rent set the valves in motion, so great was the power obtain- ed that the machine burst with an explosion like that of a swivel. The perpendicular height of the syphon when this experiment was tried, might have been about ten or twelve feet. Another put together more strongly, with cross bolts and rivets of iron withstood the pressure, although the wa- ter was forced through the pores of the wood and stood like dew on the outside." Experimental Ram. — In order to illustrate the capacity or the power of the Hydraulic Ram to raise water at different heights, we give the follow- ing diagram, from the 'American Agriculturist.' Experimental Ram. (Figure 11.) The experimental machine we examined," says the editor, " was made by one of our subscribers, as the piece A, of cast iron pipe, 2 inches in the bore, and about 2 feet long, having two tlanch nozzles cast on it, B. and C. One end of the pipe was closed, and the other open, with a flanch to connect it about 35 feet of two inch cast or wrought iron pipe E, The other end of the pipe E led to an open water cask, F, placed seven feet above the ram, and this cask was supplied by a hose, at the rate of eight gallons per minute. Of course the fall from the level of the water in the cask, is equal to a fall of seven feet, with a stream giv- ing eight gallons per minute." The operation of this machine is the same as those before described. " In the machine we saw, the strokes were seventy each minute, and plainly heard at the distance of one hundred and fifty feet. In the course of two or three minutes the pipe J became full and ran over the top. On measuring the quantity of water which was thus thrown up in twelve minutes, seventy-three feet above the level of the cask, it was found to be four gallons ; and as during the twelve minutes ninety-six gallons of water had passed from the water cask into the ram, it appears that it required twenty- three gallons of water to raise one gallon to ten and a half times its own height. " This experiment was continued and the same quantity of water, four gallons, was thrown up sixty-six feet high in eleven minutes ; fifty-three feet high in seven minutes ; and forty-two feet high in four minutes. Thus, in the first trial, the machine required twenty-eight gallons of water to throw up four gallons to six times the height of the fall. It would have been easy to have made the head of water ten, twenty, or thirty feet high, and a series of interesting experiments might be made to ascertain experimentally the relative differences in the momentum of the water descend- ing from a greater or less distance ; the fall of seven feet, however, was preferred, in order to give the machines the ability to throw up water to more than ten times the height of the fall, a difference which would not often occur. — Whether a fall of seventy feet instead of seven would have thrown up the same relative quantity of water four hundred and twenty feet is a question we confess we are not able to solve. "The (driving) pipe E, it is found, must be thirty or forty feet long, or the valve G will not work ; almost all the water ran out of it, when the water cask was put di- rectly over the ram. The valve made fifty strokes per minute. It is not necessary to have the pipe E a perfectly straight one, but it may be bent to suit the inequalities of the ground and may even be bent at right angles, as shown in the sketch K. It is far better, though, to have the pipe straighter." The hydraulic ram when properly construct- ed, it is said, is not liable to get out of order, or to require repairs ; lapse of time or muddy wa- ter passing through them may give occasion for trifling repairs, and when these become necessa- ry, the machine can be easily detached from the pipes and carried in one hand for convenient re- pairing. It is also said that the height to which one of these machines can raise water is limited only by the power of valves and pipes to resist the pressure. A moderate sized one has been made to send water to a perpendicular height of three hundred feet. On this principle, works have been erected at Marley, France, which raised water in a continuous stream to the height of one hundred and eighty-seven feet. Indeed a ram has been made in England, to raise one hundred hogsheads of water to a perpendicular height of one hundred and thirty-four feet in twenty-four hours, with a head of only four and a half feet. There are two rules for ascertaining how much a given stream of water will raise. First, find how many times higher the water is to be 280 GENESEE FARMER. Dec. raised than the fall of the driving power ; then the adding an 0 to the number and dividing by 7, you can ascertain the number of gallons that will be required to force up a single gallon of water. Second, "measure the amount of water dis- charged by the stream in a given time. Ascer- tain the greatest amount of head or fall that can be obtained, and the elevation to which the wa- ter is to be raised. Then divide the elevation by the head or fall, and the amount of water by the quotient. Deduct 30 per cent, from this re- sult and it will give the amount delivered in the given time. For example, suppose an elevation of sixty feet, with a fall of five feet. The supply four gallons per minute, or five thousand seven hundred and sixty gallons per day. Then 5)60= 12; then 12—5760=480; de- duct 30 per cent., which leaves 336 gallons per day. If the machine is properly made and put up, it is said this rule may be depended on." _ In a letter from Mr. Birkinbine, we are ad- vised that one of his rams is now in operation, rising with a two-inch supply pipe B, over five thousand gallons of water per day, thirty feet high. The simplicity of the machine and its opera- tion, proves its effectiveness as well as its dura- bility, and shows the very small amount of atten- tion and repairs it will require to keep it in order. The ram and pipes should of course be laid under ground, beyond the reach of frost. The very small expense of a ram, and pipes necessary to work it, being in most cases less than that of a wheel and pump, are strong induce- ments to adopt it in preference. Removing Sheep Manure. Mr. Editor : — Having been a highly inter- ested reader as well as a subscriber to the "Farm- er," for several years, I am bold to say that its contents of truth and undeniable good sense have satisfied me beyond a doubt that I have not "paid too much for my whistle." Frequently the knowledge of some simple fact alone, from the pen of a practical farmer, has proved of such par- amount importance to my success, that I am sure my fifty cents have been replaced tenfold. Permit me through your paper to make known to my brethren a convenient mode of getting out sheep manure. We all know that that kind of manure is so dry, hard, and crusty, generally, that it is more difficult forking and pulling apart than any other. When ready to commence load- ing take an old axe that is not too dull and chop parallel lines across tlie pile about one foot asun- der ; then turn and cut at right angles, making squares about one foot in size, which may then be peeled oft' at any desired thickness and weight, according to the strength of the laborer. J. Dunham. Etna, Tomp. Co., N. Y., 1847. Saving and Application of Manure. Mr. Editor : — In the last nuijiber of the Farmer I observed an article under the head of " How should manure be applied to land," which is pronounced a new theory. Perhaps Mr. Un- derhill's theory may be new with many, at least scientifically ; but it is by no means an un- tried theory in this Western New York among practical farmers. The old theory that manures lose their properties by leaching and running deep into the earth, especially in our good wheat soils, has always looked to me to be incorrect, and one which my experience has fully proved to be so. In all of our good wheat lands the sub- soil contains so large a portion of clay that water is very slow to penetrate it, while the gasses and salts imparted t»y fermentation of manures are always rising to the surface. There is perhaps no branch of farming which is more injudicious- ly managed than the saving and application of manures, and certainly there is no one thing so vastly important to the farmer's prosperity as that of manuring and keeping the soil rich. Every farmer has, or at least should have, a theory or system which he follows in all his op- erations in business; and being myself desirous always of hearing and learning the views and practices of others who follow the same calling as myself, I take the liberty of giving to you my theory and experience in the use of farm ma- nure. In the first place my theory is, that yard manure should be covered deep in the soil that the gases which arise from it while fermenting and decomposing may be incorporated in the soil, and taken up by the roots of plants. In the next place, that coarse manures lose half their value by lying in the heap till thoroughly de- composed ; and next, that the soil is capable of producing a crop annually, without diminution, provided we restore to it the like properties which the crop requires in its production. We are all aware that the straw of wheat in this wheat sec- tion forms the principal heap in the farm yard. I have annually in my yard the straw of about fifteen hundred bushels of wheat, which I put in a snug stack at the time of threshing. In winter I allow my cattle, hogs, &c., to run to the stack at pleasure. In December I commence demol- ishing the stack by cutting off a slice and scatter- ing it around the yard — following it up about twice a week, in proportions to get it all under foot about the middle of March. In this way my stock have always a dry yard, and need no other protection than open sheds to shelter them from storms. My corn stalks are cut fine in a machine by horse power and fed in troughs, sparingly, through the winter — which, together with the straw stack, keeps my stock in good condition through the winter till warm weather begins, when a little hay carries them through in fine condition. My 1847 GENESEE FARMER. 281 manure heap, you will perceive, is then well wet down by rains and snows which fall at inter- vals, while the straw is being spread over the yard, and, interspersed with the excrements of the cattle, is ready about the last week in April or first of May to cart to the field designed for it, which I do at the rate of about thirty or forty cart loads (according to the condition of the land,) to the acre. I then commence spreading and plowing, turning the manure under about ten inches deep, taking care not to have it spread faster than just to accommodate the plow, to avoid drying up by the sun and wind. It is sometimes necessary to have a man follow the plow with a a rake to draw the manure into the furrow to prevent clogging the plow. When this is done, and rightly done, I roll down the furrows, har- row well and plant to corn — planting an early kind that it may be ready to harvest by the mid- dle of September ; which latter is done by cut- ting up at the ground and drawing off. The ground is then plowed and sown to wheat about the 20th of the month. This I count as good as a naked fallow, and frequently turns out better, while the corn crop is much benefitted and no value of the manure for the wheat crop lost. Yours, R. Sweden, K Y., Nov., 1847. Ashes on Corn.— -An Experiment. Mr. Editor : — Last spring, after I planted, I took what ashes I had saved during the last year, and put on my corn, at the rate of about 3h bush- els to the acre. In a part of the field which was as near like the rest as possible, I left two rows which I did not, ash. The soil was light — a sandy loam on a hard-pan bottom — in many places not more than 6 inches deep. The effect of the ashes was so plain that it could be observ- ed 60 rods oflf- On harvesting 1 cut up the two rows which were not ashed (or twenty rods of them,) and set them apart from the others in stouts ; and then I cut up two rows of the same length, on each side, which had been ashed, and set them by them- selves. On husking, the following was the result : No. 1. The two rows, ashed, on the west side, gave of corn in the ear, 207^ lbs. No. 2. The 2 rows not ashed, gave 166 i lbs. No. 3. Two TOWS on the east side, ashed, gave 205 lbs. 1 then sorted each lot and the difference was still greater. No. 1 had of pig, or soft corn, 29^ lbs. No. 2 had 45i lbs. No. 3 had 27 J lbs.— Thus leaving of merchantable corn in the ear — No. 1— P78 lbs.; No. 2—121 lbs.; No. 3— 177i lbs. I then measured off" an acre, and made a cal- culation upon it, after having weighed one bush- el of ears of merchantable corn, (which weighed 42 lbs.,) and the result would be as follows, per acre : No. I — 72 bushels and 2 Ibs.j No. 2 — 48 bushels and 41 lbs.; No. 3—72 bushels and 1^ lbs. Thus you will perceive that where I had ash- ed I have 23 bushels more of ears of merchanta- ble corn per acre, than where I did not ; and hence, on the 5 acres, the grain was 115 bush- els. Beside I think I had one-fourth more of corn fodder where the crop was ashed — and all for 17^ bushels of ashes. Yours, &c., Wm. Van Dusen. East Barry, N. Y., Nov., 1847. Remarks. — We thank Mr. V. D. for the above. It is another conclusive evidence of the great benefit of ashes as a manure ; and we trust the result of the experiment, so accurately and briefly given, will prove valuable to many of our readers. SJirinking of Pork. Mr. Editor : — Can you, or any of your cor- respondents, give the correct reason, or the rem- edy, or both, for the " skrinking of pork," when boiled in summer 1 I have heard several rea- sons assigned, but none of them are satisfactory. Some have ascribed it to the influence of the moon, but of this I have no evidence. Othei-s say, that if the animal be killed when his appe- tite is good, when he feeds well, and is conse- quently in a thrifty, growing state, his flesh will not shrink when boiled. But this is contrary to my experience- I always kill at such times, and yet my pork shrinks. Others say, that if the an- imal be long fatted, so as to give his flesh time to become firm, &;c., the pork will not shrink. This too is contrary both to observation and ex- perience. My father always commenced feeding his hogs as early as the latter part of August, and continued the operation till near the first of Jan- uary, (about four months,) supplying them plen- tifully with peas, boiled potatoes, and, for the last five or six weeks, corn ; and yet he always complained of the shrinking of his pork. In re- gard to myself, I have always been troubled in the same way, except the first one or two years, when my casks were new ; and then my pork was all that I could wish. I have ever since managed in the same way, but not with the same results. I have sometimes thought that the casks, (which are made of oak,) become unfit for use, after the first or second year. Any information that you, or any of your sub- scribers, can give, through the Farmer, will be gratefully received. H. Fairport, Nov, 1, 1847. Iron-water for Fowls. — A writer in the English Agricultural Gazette, recommends that a piece of steel be kept constantly in the water to which fowls have access. Iron-rust, he says, is an excellent tonic. A roll of brimstone is also recommended to be kept in the water- 282 GENESEE FARMER. Dec. Genesee County Fair. Mk. Editor : — The Show and Fair of the Genesee county Agricultural Society came off on Thursday and Friday last ; and although it rained almost constantly, and the roads very bad, there was a turn out equal to any Fair ever held in this county. The horned cattle exhibited would number about 175 head. As a lot, they were said to be first rate, Tiiere were many full blood Devons — not one full blood Durham. There were about 400 sheep on the ground, nearly all fine wooled, showing a most decided improvement from the first exhibitions of this Society. The show of stallions, working horses, mares and colts, was good — in some respects better than former exhibitions. Swine were scarce, the male part only having two represent- atives on the ground. The farm implements exhibited were few, but so far as Cultivators and Plows were concerned we think would be hard to beat. The domestic manufactures spread out in Stage's long room, on the 7th, afford convinc- ing proof that the women of this county are de- termined to do their part towards sustaining our Society. The receipts of the Society, during the first day, amounted to about $126. Nearly half of this amount was paid by the village of Batavia. This shows that the farmers of this county are wofully remiss in contributing their money to the support of the Society — a fact which I am ashamed to state, yet it is a truth. A farmer un- willing to contribute fifty cents a year for the support of an Institution which tends directly to enhance the value of every thing which he pos- sesses ! Who can believe it ? Yet who can disbelieve it when we see it all ? There are many men in this county who have had more to say, either in finding fault with, or directing the movements of this Society, than any officer in it ; still they have not been members these two years — not having paid their fifty cents, which is necessary to entitle them to membership. — What, men who imagine themselves first in so- ciety where they live, who have been honored with seats in our legislative halls, not ready to pay fifty cents per annum for the support of an Agricultural Society ! These men are even a thousand times more ready to pour out the addled contents of their heads, than the shining contents of their purses. " Know thyself." I would that these men did know themselves ; for I am satis- fied that a little better self-acquaintance would cause them to act very differently on such occa- sions. I do not wish to be uncharitable, but these re- flections, and many more, force themselves upon me when I review the scenes of the 7th and 8th. But I hope we shall see a different state of things before long ; if not, it will soon be up hill busi- ness for the few who now contribute their means for the support of the Society. But it must be supported. This, and all institutions of a like tendency, must continue their onward march, till the Agriculturist shall occupy the position that God designed he should occupy — the high- est in the scale of intellectual, moral, and physi- cal worth. But I am digressing from my subject. There was an interesting trial of skill with the plow. There were thirteen teams entered, and the lau- nable spirit of emulation manifested is certainly worthy of all commendation. The work was done in fine order and every thing passed off agreeably. We had an excellent and instructive Address from Ambrose Stevens, Esq. — and elected James B. Todd, of Byron, President; Samuel Heston, Secretary, and Henry Mor- RELL, Treasurer. Yours, Batavia, Oct. 10, 1847. Spectator. Remarks. — Although the above article may be considered somewhat severe yet all who know the difficulty of properly sustaining agricultural societies will admit its truth and justice. Many of the remarks of <' Spectator" will apply with equal force to other counties and sections, as well as Genesee. It is a humiliating fact, that so many farmers are unwilling to contribute to the support of societies which benefit themselves and neighbors, unless they are quite sure of an im- mediate profit — premium — in return for the tri- fling amount of their membership. Butter Making. — Inquiries. Mr. Editor : — By request of a subscriber and butter dairyman, the following questions are pro- posed for the benefit of butter Aiakers, viz : Can more butter be made from churning the milk en- tire than from setting the same and churning the sam ? — and if so, at what temperature, (Fah- erinheit,) and how long after milking should it stand before churning ? If from the cream, at what temperature should the room be kept in which the milk is set ? Likewise whether but- ter can be kept better under water by sinking the firkins than above the water ? Also in set- ting milk what depth of milk in the pans is best calculated to yield the most butter ? In all of the above, the best quality of butter is to be con- sidered. By giving information on the above questions through your valuable paper, you will confer a great favor to many a young, and perhaps to some old farmers. Yours with respect, S. E. S. H. Nott, M. D. Hamburgh, Erie Co., N. Y. • Remarks. — Many of the above questions have already been discussed in this journal. We shall, however, be happy to give place to a communi- cation, answering them definitely — and hope to receive such from an experienced butter maker. Who will furnigi the information desired ? 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 283 Bloody Milk, &c. Mr. Editor : — Two years ago this fall, I had four very fine milch cows. To keep them in good heart late in the fall, I fed them for several days with the loose ca:bbage from the garden. — They soon after commenced giving bloody milk, so bad that the whole was given to the pigs. I used various medicines and anointed theiV bags with the garget ointment, but with no benefit ; and thus they went on, to my great alarm, until all of my cabbage was fed out, when they imme- diately recovered their usual state. And what, Mr. Editor, do you think was the cause of this appearance of their milk. Why, sir, it was as simple " as the road to parish church," when once found out. Among my cabbage was a considerable quantity of the red variety which had headed badly, as they usualy do, and this was the sole and only cause of my bloody milk — to my great discomfiture and joy of the pigs. It is a well ascertained fact that cattle that eat the madder root have their entire horns dyed a bright red, and so perfectly, that they retain the color after being worked into toys, &c. In a town in which I once resided, the village butcher killed a very fat young steer, which not being an every day occurrence, the whole popu- lation was agog for a steak, or a roast ; and in a very short time the whole town sent up the odor of beef steak and onions — houses were scented from the kitchen to the garret, where the beef was cooking. It was an effluvia compounded of garlic, or leeks and assafcetida, at once nauseous and disagreeable, and before noon every pound was returned on the butcher's hands. He pros- ecuted the farmer from whom he purchased the creature, for selling unwholesome meat, and it ended in a tedious law suit ; but before it was through with, the facts came out, that the animal, on the night before the day on which it was killed, broke into a yard where a quantity of onions had been topped and ate a large amount of the green tops. The butcher of course recov- ered damages. These statements are true and may add a mite to our general stock of knowledge, and prove interesting to your readers. N. R. Y. Monroe County, Nov., 1847. How TO Toast Cheese. — Toasted cheese is much relished by some persons, but it is seldom well prepared. The following directions are said to come from a gentleman who prides him- self on his "goostful" appetite. Cut the cheese into slices of moderate thickness and put them into a tinned saucepan, with a little butter and cream. Simmer very gently until quite dis- solved. Remove it from the fire, allow it to cool a little, and add some yolk of egg, well beaten ; and then make it into convenient shape, brown it before the fire, and eat while^it is warm. — Ex, Curing Haras and Pork. After dressing, the carcass should be allowed to hang till perfectly drained and cool, when it may be cut up and salted. The usual way is to pack the pork in clean salt, adding brine to the barrel when filled. But it may be dry salted, by rubbing it in thoroughly on every side of each piece, with a strong leather rubber, firmly se- cured in the palm of the right hand. The pieces are then thrown into heaps and sprinkled with salt, and occasionally turned till cured ; or it may at once be packed in dry casks, which are occasionally rolled to bring the salt into contact with every part. Hams and shoulders may be cured in the same manner, either dry or in pick- le, but with differently arranged materials. The following is a good pickle for 200 lbs. Take 14 lbs. of Turk Island salt ; h lb. of salt petre ; 2 qts. of molasses, or 4 lbs. of brown sugar, with water enough to dissolve them. Bring the liquor to the scalding point, and skim off all the impu- rities which rise to the top. When cold, pour it upon the ham, which should be perfectly cool but not frozen, and closely packed ; and if not sufficient to cover it, add enough pure water for this purpose. Some extensive packers in Cin- cinnati and elsewhere, who send choice hams to market, add pepper, allspice, cinnamon, nutmegs or mace and cloves. The hams may remain six to eight weeks in the pickle, then hung up in the smoke-house, with the small end down, and smoked from 10 to 20 days, according to the quantity of smoke. The fire should not be near enough to heat the hams. In Holland and West- phalia, the fire is made in the cellar, and the smoke carried by a flue into a cool dry chamber. This is undoubtedly the best method of smoking. The hams should at all times be dry and cool, or their flavor will suffer. Green sugar-maple chips are best for smoke ; next to them are hickory, sweet birch, corn cobs, white ash, or beech. — The smoke house is the best place to keep hams till wanted. If removed, they should be kept cool, dry, and free from flies. A canvass cover for each, saturated with lime, which may be put on with a white-wash brush, is a perfect protec- tion against flies. When not to be kept long, they may be packed in dry salt, or even in sweet brine without injury. A common method is to pack in dry oats, baked saw-dust, &c. — Allen^s Agriculture. Vinegar. — A correspondent in the Ohio Cul- tivator asks how to transform old cider into vin- egar ? Make it run through a barrel of clean wood shavings by a small stream trickling over a large surface. Cider, or whiskey diluted, can be made into good vinegar in 48 hours. The Chinese call going to law, "losing a cow to win a cat." With us it is often losing of the cow without a winning of the cat. 284 GENESEE FARMER. Dec. Matters in Central N. ¥.■ Cheese Making. Messrs. Editors : — I came from Buffalo to Utica last week on the railroad, over as rough a raod as any man would wish to travel on. The timbers are decaying, and the iron is a flat rail, and so light as to be frequently starting off" from the bed pieces ; and it requires a man of some nerve, who knows the danger, to ride with per- fect composure. They are beginning to lay the road anew with heavy T rail, which carries the cars very smoothly, and on which they run with more speed and safety. Tlie Legislature have passed an act requiring the whole line of road from Buffalo to Albany to be laid with the T rail, previous to the first of January, 1849. They call the wheat crop in Western New York, a fair crop ; but it looks very light on the line of the railroad from Buffalo to Rochestei-, and the oat crop is hardly worth cutting ; east of Rochester to Utica the oat crop looks better, and the corn bids fliir for a heavy yield. I nev- er saw the trees so loaded with apples as they are this year every where, but they are small sized. I called on one of your subscribers, who lives near Utica, Mr. B. F. Jewett. His farm is cul- tivated for hay mostly ; and every nook and cor- ner, dry land and wet, is made productive. His wet land he makes tillable, by digging ditches from 2 to 3 feet deep, and laying two scantlings in the bottom, 5 or 6 inches apart, and covering them with a slab. He then throws the surface dirt in the bottom, and levels up with the sub- soil on the top. Herkimer county is the greatest cheese coun- ty in the State, and probably in the United States. Almost every man who has land enough keeps cows and makes cheese. They have some important improvements, that every mat? should know who makes cheese to any extent any where. One of the most useful articles I will undertake to describe. Tt is a tin vat. The first one I saw belongs to John Everett, Esq., of Litchfield. It is made of tin, 2i feet wide, 6 feet long, and 19 inches deep. This vat sets inside of a wood- en vat, 4 inches larger than the tin vat, which leaves a space of 2 inches between the vats — so that the tin can be surrounded with water. Mr. Everett has 30 cows. At night he fills the out- side vat with cold water ; this surrounds and chills the tin vat ; the milk is then strained into the tin vat, and is chilled and kept from souring before morning. In the morning the milk is strained in with the night's, and then with a small boiler steam is introduced into the water between the vats, until the milk is heated to about 84°, which is ascertained by a thermometer. — They then put in the rennet, and as soon as the *.urd has set they break it up, and then introduce '\e steam as before to scald the curd, which they ';^dit to 104° ; they then elevate one end of the vat a little and take a plug out of the lower end, and set in a tin strainer; the whey then runs otr, while they stir and break up the curd. The whey is conducted from the vat to the cow barn, in a small trough, and is then fed to the cows. Most cows eat it greedily, and they think it is a greater benefit to feed it to cows than to hogs. The cheese from tliis dairy weigh from 60 to 90 pounds, and is marketed to be delivered on the canal monthly, at 6^ cents. I also visited the dairy of Rodney Wilcox, in the same neighborhood, who has 70 cows. He pursues nearly the same method in making his cheese, and says the labor of making a cheese from his 70 cows, with his tin vat and steaming apparatus, is not much more than it formerly was to make a cheese from the milk of a dozen cows. He advocates hard pressing, and says you can- not press too hard, or get the whey out too quick ; that he gets about all the whey out in 20 minutes, but it stands in the press 24 hours. His cheese weigh from 150 to 220 lbs. He has marketed them to be delivered in the fall at 7 cents in boxes. — Prairie Farmer. John Gage. Litchfield, N. Y., Sept., 1847. Browse for Sheep. — Browse of various kinds is good for sheep in winter. They are very fond of it, as it affords a change, being a green food. The browse of oak, and other powerful astrin- gents should be avoided. The browse of ever- greens is used, not only as a wholesome food, but for its medicinal qualities, particularly pine and hemlock. And in some cases it is used to considerable extent as a substitute for other fod- der. Pine and hemlock are best, but spruce and fir are also good. Some farmers have nearly supported their sheep on browse for months, when hay was scarce. J. Whitman, of Turner, Maine, has used pine and hemlock for his sheep for more than forty years, and he has known no injury from them, but a benefit, and a saving of hay. — He says that hemlock does not injure sheep with lambs. He prefers pine and hemlock boughs to spruce and fir. — CoWs Veterinarian. Income from Poultry. — It is stated in the report of the committee on fowls, made at the last Worcester (Mass.) Cattle Show, that Eben Lincoln, of Grafton, from 27 fowls, in seven months, obtained 199 doz. eggs, which sold for $28 ; and 92 chickens sold lor $23 ; total, $51 — besides 29 dox. eggs used in his family. The food of the fowls was, " some meat, some fish, all kinds of grain, some lime, or pounded shells, enough sand and water, a warm dwelling, and good roosts." Reckoning the 29 doz. eggs which were used in the family at 14 cents, per dozen, (the price which those sold brought,) the whole income from these 27 fowls in seven months, would be a fraction over #55. — Cult. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 285 Mode of Cleaning Wheat for Seed. As the wheat crop this season is unusually foul, abounding in chess and cockle, I will, with your permission, make known to the readers of your paper a plan I have adopted for cleaning my wheat for several years past with much success. After passing the wheat once through the wind mill in the ordinary way, take a common news- paper of good quality and place it double over two-thirds of the surface of the fine riddle, leaving one-third or about four inches of the front side uncovered. One good tough paper will last long enough to clean 100 bushels if the grain is not damp. The operation is as follows : — The grain on falling through the coarse riddle on to the paper, accumulates a certain quantity before it will be- gin to fall over the margin of the paper ; by this means the cockle is carried forward so as to fall on front of the screen, and thus have a chance to run the length of it, and is more likely to fall through, and the chess and white gaps, being lighter than the wheat, as they fall over the mar- gin of the paper are mostly blown out in front of the mill, and the chess that is not blown out runs the whole length of the screen and seldom es- capes falling through. Care must be taken to give the riddle its proper inclination, and the mill must stand level, so that the grain will fall evenly over the margin of the paper. To farmers whose grain is foul, I would say, clean your wheat for seed twice or thrice accord- ing to the above plan and if there is still an oc- casional grain of cockle in it, pass through your fields next summer when the plant is in blossom and a little labor will eradicate it. — Ohio Cult. Animal Food for Swine. — There cannot be a doubt but these are highly fattening in their nature and also that swine, being somewhat al- lied to the carnivora, will greedily devour them ; but the question is, do they not tend to make the flesh strong and rank, to inflame the blood, to create in the animals a longing for more of such food, and thus lead them to destroy fowls, rab- bits, ducks, and even the litters of their compan- ions 1 Many will give blood, entrails, scraps of refuse meat, horse flesh, and such like to swine, but we should decidedly discourage such practi- ces ; the nearest approach to animal food we would admit, should be pot-liquor and dairy re- fuse. Animal food is bad for every kind of swine, and tends to make them savage and fever- ish, and otlten lays the foundation of serious in- flammation in the intestines. — Youatt on the Pig. Kindness. — No man hath measured the pow- er of kindness, for it is boundless : no man hath seen its death, for it is eternal. In all ages of the world, in every clime, among every kind, it hath shone out a bright and beautiful star — a beaming glory. Wool. — The history of the growth of wool is very curious. Fifty years ago not a pound of fine wool was raised in the United States, in Great Britain, or any other country except Spain. In the latter, the flocks wefe owned exclusively by the nobility or the crown. In 1764, a small flock was sent to the elector of Saxony, as a pres- ent from the King of Spain, whence the entire product of Saxon wool, now of such immense value. Before the breaking out of the last war between this country and Great Britain, Colonel Humphreys succeeded in getting a few merino sheep brought out of Spain ; then their exporta- tion was prohibited under penalty of being sent to the galleys for life. In 1809, during the second invasion of Spain by the French, some of the valuable crown flocks « were sold to raise money. Our Consul at Lis- bon, Mr. Jarvis, purchased fourteen hundred head, and sent them to this country. Previously, however, Mr. Livingston obtained a few sheep of the Spanish breed, as a present, in 1792. A portion of the pure unmixed merino blood of these flocks is to be found in Vermont at this time. Such was the origin of the immense flocks of fine-wooled sheep in the United States and Great Britain. — Selected. Harvests without Previous Sowing. — In the Schnellpost we find an account of a method of compelling the wheat plant to become peren- nial, like grass, and to perfect its grains annual- ly without the yearly sowing of seed, which has been successfully practised at Constance, in Ger- many. It was discovered by a steward of an es- tate named Kern. His method, after plowing and manuring the land and sowing it with sum- mer or winter wheat, is, to mow it in the spring before the ear makes its appearance. This pro- cess is repeated several times in the season, and the product is used as hay. The plant is then allowed to grow and be cut in the ordinary man- ner. The next year it ripens earlier and bears more abundantly than wheat treated in the ordi- nary manner ; from one field four successive har- vests have been gathered. — Agriculturist. Importance op Deep Tillage. — However skillfully and philosophically we may carry on our saving and application of manures ; howev- er well we may select our seed, and choose our seed-time, without deep tillage we can by no means receive the maximum result. Drained land, deeply stirred, and thoroughly pulverized, becomes a kind of regulator of the weather for itself ; it is not soon soaked in wet, and it forms a store house of moisture in dry weather. It is a bad conductor of heat, and is therefore not ea- sily over-heated ; but on the other hand it is not soon cooled, and so keeps up an equal tempera- ture by night and by day, in cloud and in sun- shine, in the highest degree favorable to the heal- thy development of plants. — Farmers Herald. 286 GENESEE FARMER. Dec. HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. CONDUCTED BY P. BARRY. Insects. Among the multifarious obstacles against which the cultivator of the soil has to contend, none are more vexatious or more annoying than destruc- tive insects. Excesses of rain and of drouth, of heat and of cold, hurricanes and hail storms, pass, along leaving ruin in their track. Their effects are soon outgrown and forgotten, but Insects are perpetually knawing and blighting from the opening of the fruit bud until the return of win- ter— preying alike on the germ of vegetable ex- istence beneath the surface of the soil and the full grown tree that has outlived several genera- tions of men. Nothing can illustrate more forcibly the mys- teriousness of the designs of Providence, than the fact that a tiny insect, too small for the dis- cernment of the human eye, can completely baf- fle the power and intelligence of men. But fee- ble and fruitless as our most earnest and best directed efforts may, in many cases, be, we must not fall back or despair ; on the contrary we must go on, persevere — that is the word — avail- ing ourselves of all the aid that the sun light of science, and the practical details of experience, may shed on our path. What we wish to direct attention to now is that a vast deal may be done towards the destruction of insects while in their winter abodes. They burrow either in the soil, among fallen leaves or rubbish, or have woven themselves nests on the bodies and branches of trees, in forks of limbs or crevices of the bark ; fallen fruit, too, are usual- ly tenanted by them. Now what is there in our power to do ? Why, we can dig and throw up the soil of our gardens in such a way as to expose it as much as possible to the influence of frost. Around our fruit trees we can do the same. We can gather and burn or place in a fermenting heap, where all insect life will be destroyed, all fallen leaves, stems of annual plants, &c. We can examine every tree on our premises carefully, and remove all nests that have been woven in them during the past season ; every crack and crevice in the bark from the base to the top should be visited with all possible minuteness, and their sly ten- ants dislodged. Scraping and washing should also be done in season. All this we can do, and we know from experience and numerous exam- ples we have met with, that such labor does not fail to receive its reward, while its neglect will be sure to incur many a weary hour of unavail- ing labor next summer, and many a sad disap- pointment. Remember that the man who allows insects to revel and multiply at pleasure in his garden and orchard is no less a nuisance than he who grows a field of thistles to sow his entire neighborhood with. There should be a law imposing a severe and equal penalty on both ; but we trust that the general growth of taste and improved culture will render such laws unnecessary. New American Seedling Clierries. The past year has brought to notice several new and valuable seedling Cherries. No less than seven varieties, originated by Prof. Kirt- LAND, of Cleveland, O., have already been noti- ced in the Horticulturist and other journals. — Several of these we know to be excellent, as we saw and tasted them last summer — though too late to see them all. We shall give a description of some of them soon. Dr. Herman Wendell, of Albany, a distin- guished amateur horticulturist, has fruited a seed- ling of his own raising, said to be very beautiful and of excellent quality. It is named WENDELL'S MOTTLED BIGARREAU. We find a handsome, colored, steel engraving of it in the " American Journal of Agriculture and Science." It has also been been described in Hovey's Magazine, and the Horticulturist. — The following description we take from the latter jour- nal:— "It is of large size, regular obtuse heart-shaped; dark purplish red, becom- ing nearly black at full ma- turity, and mottled with small dark streaks or points; suture marked with a dark line half way round. Stalk of moderate length, set in a round and regular depres- sion. Flesh firm, crisp, well flavored, and the pits small. Ripens about the season of Downer's Red." This cannot but prove a desirable addition to the list of cherries. Originating in Albany, it must be hardy — and coming to matu- rity when most of the better varieties are gone, will render its possession a desideratum. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 287 Coe's Transparent. — This is a new seed- ling raised in the interior of Connecticut, to which the highest character has been given. — The Horticulturist says that "it is undoubtedly, with the exception of Downer's Late, the finest American cherry we have yet tasted. Its merits appear to be, first, earlineas — the season of its maturity being just before that of the Black Tar- tarian ; second, unusual beauty of appearance and delicacy of flavor ; third, great hardiness and productiveness." Coming nearer home we have a fine seedling raised by our friend Zera Burr, of Perrinton, which has been exhibited for two years past at our Horticultural shows. Our absence last year in the cherry season prevented us from seeing it in bearing, and forming a decided opinion as to its merits over other varieties of the same season. We shall do so next season, however, if circum- stances permit. From what we have seen and heard of it, we shall be mistaken if it does not prove equal to most of the new varieties lately introduced. The fact that, in one season, we have over a- dozen new seedling cherries named and introdu- ced, leads us to anticipate a rapid extension of our list. We trust, however, that every precau- tion will be taken, in the proper quarters, to ex- clude every one that does not bring with it dis- tinctness of character and undoubted superiority. Otherwise we shall get flooded with an endless variety of very ordinary cherries — people are so partial to, and inclined to over estimate, their own productions. The Washington Pear. This is an American seedling of undoubted excellence ; indeed, from what we have seen of it we think it very rarely surpassed. We have eaten specimens grown the past season in West- ern New York, that, to our taste, were quite as delicious as a first rate Seckel or White Doyenne. It possesses, too, much distinctness of character, from its peculiarly oval form and prominent red spots on the sunny side. Its history is correctly given, as follows, by Landreth : " The Washington Pear is a seedling discovered in a hedge row on the estate of Col. Robinson of Naaman's Creek, Delaware, some forty-eight or fifty years ago. We are informed by our friend, Dr. Thompson of Wilmington, that the tree still stands, vigorous and healthy, producing from 14 to 16 bushels of fruit annually. Dr. T. says : ' So far as my recollection of it goes, it has never suffered from disease or been attacked by blight, and I have never known the fruit of the original tree or one of its descendants by budding or grafting to crack as does the fruit of the old Beurre or Butter.' Dr. T. adds — 'Delaware has some State pride in this pear, as Pennsylvania has in her fine Seckel, than both of which I have yet to see their superi- ors among autnmn pears.' In the opinion of some compe- tent judges he might have gone a little farther and said their equals, and yet from some unaccountable cause, the Wash- ington is comparatively unknown — Coxe does not even name it in his ' View of the Cultivation of Fruits,' publish- ed in 1817 ; and Kenrick, from the notice of it in his " Or- chardist " had evidently never seen it. Downing has seve- ral typographical errors in his description ; that portion des- tined to be history should be amended in his next edition.' (Fig. 66.) Washhigton Pear. It may be described as follows : Size, medium ; form, oval or rather long obovaie — quite regu- lar and uniform. Stalk pretty long, over an inch, usually somewhat curved and in a very slight depression — frequently a little fleshy ring around the base. Calyx small, open in a shal- low basin. Skin bright lemon, yellow at matu- rity, sprinkled with small brown dots, and fre- quently with a ruddy cheek, and mottled with distinct red spots on the sunny side. FlesJi, like the White Doyenne, white fine grained, buttery and melting. Flavor delicious. Ripe during the last half of September— but frequent- ly continuing, here, through the first two weeks of October. In Pennsylvania and Delaware it ripens in August and lasts till September. We noticed during the past season that there is near- ly a month of diflference in the ripening of fruits between Philadelphia and Western New York. Last autumn there was a pear sold in the Ro- chester market, for several weeks by the fruit sellers, as the Washington, from Perrinton we believe. It was oblong and yellow like the Washington, with smaU red dots on the sunny side, but was uniformerly larger, and more swol- len around the stem which was shorter. The flesh is coarser and deficient in juice. Although of tolerable quality and very showy aud saleable on the street, it still is so inferior to the Wash- ington as to be unworthy of even a comparison. A SENSIBLE man finds no real pleasure in con- solation— he seeks forgetfulness. 288 GENESEE FARMER. Dec. Buffalo Horticultural Society. The following extracts from the annual report of the committee on Flowers and Flowering Plants, which we find in the Horticulturist, speak well for the zeal and taste of our Buffalo friends, and afford a gratifying evidence of the efficien- cy of their young Society. Speaking of Roses, the committee says : "This delightful class of plants have astonishingly mul- tiplied with us. Ere this society became existant, three years since, the common garden or June Roses, with very rare exceptions, were the only Roses known here. The present season, however, has demonstrated that we are not behind our suburban friends in this beautiful class of plants: all, or nearly all the leading Perpetual, Tea, Noisette, and Bourbon Roses that have attained celebrity either in this country or. Europe, have bloomed with us." The same progress has also marked the cul- ture of the Pelargonium (Geranium,) Fuschia, (Ear Drop,) Dahlia, &;c. The report says: "In taking a summary of the five monthly Exhibitions of the season, we find enumerated as shown, some forty varie- ties of Tulips, fifty varieties of carnations, one hundred and fifty varieties of Roses, thirty varieties of Pansies, over thirty varieties of Fuschias, and over sixty varieties of Dah- lias, with some several hundred green-house or pot plants, embracing all the choice specimens of Cactus, Achimenes, Calceolarias, Azaleas, Pelargoniums, Nereum Splendens, Penstemons, Rhododendrons, Roses, Yuccas. Magnolias, &,c. And of Annuals a most gorgeous display, embracing a great many that have never before bloomed in this part of the country. These results of the progress of our infant Society are truly gratifying to your committee, as eviden- cing a rapid, discriminating taste and skill in Floriculture, alike creditable to ourselves and to the city generally, and may be taken as an earnest of our future efforts for the prop agation of this truly delightful and social, refining, rationale of intelligent society." The Red Canada Apple. The apple which bears this name was intro- duced into Western New York some years ago, from Canada, without a name, and this name was given it. We believed all along that it was some old English sort, and hence have abstained from noticing it as a necn fruit, as we have been re- peatedly urged to do. Several eastern pomologists have said that it was the old Nonsuch; but as the color was much brighter, flesh more firm and crisp, and the size usually larger than we had seen the Nonsuch, we doubted their being identical. Recently, however, we have received specimens of Non- such from S. W. Cole, Esq., of Boston, and from a critical comparison, we are forced to be- lieve them the same. Those grown here are much superior in quality, and more bright and beautiful in appearance. Mr. Cole believes them to be identical. This fact, however, though clearly established, does not impair the estimable qualities of the fruit. Whatever it may be elsewhere, here it is one of the very best winter apples known or cultivated. The evil of grief is in the struggle against suf- fering. Consent to suffer, and you will not suf- fer at all. Answers to Correspondents. Mr. Barry : — I have noticed an insect which works fn the main stem of the peach tree, near the top, and in the branches. It is a new discovery to me ; I cut off and bum the part affected. I should like to know whether thia insect s one which would be likely to do much damage, if not at- tended to, I here send you a specimen of the work of the insect, which you will find very small, being near the pith. Yours truly, Geo. Bishop, Jr. La Fayette, N. Y., Oct., 1847. The grubs found in the pith of the branch sent, are the young of some of the tree borers that occasionally, though very seldom, attack the soft wood of the peach. No serious danger is to be apprehended from them, though it is very im- portant that their increase be prevented as far as possible, in the way you do, cut off the parts and burn them. T. W. P., Weymouth, Ohio. The following is a select list of pears that succeed well on the quince : Summer — Madeleine, Jargonelle, Belle of Brussels, Summer Francreal, Doyenne d' Ete. Autumn — White Doyenne, Gray Doyenne, Bart- lett, Duchess d' Angouleme, Louise, Beurre de Jersey, Fondante d' Automne, Beurre Diel, Countess of Lunay, Golden Beurre of Bilboa. — Winter — Glout Morceau, Passe Colmar, Chau- montelle, Easter Beurre, Beurre d' Arremberg, and Vicar of Winkfield. The inquiries of A. W. W. will receive at- tention next month. The Currant. We are glad to observe a considerable degree of attention given to the improvement of this most valuable of all the small fruits. For years its importance seems to have been greatly over- looked or underrated — while special shows and high premiums have every where been bestowed on the Strawberry and Gooseberry, neither of which, in our opinion, can be compared for gen- eral usefulness to the Currant. The latter has been permitted to remain as though it had attain- ed the ultimatum of perfection. This is very far from being true. The Red and White Dutch, the best varieties now in general culture, are no doubt very good; but we have every reason to believe that in a few years they will stand in the same relation to our best varieties that the com- mon Mazzard cherry does to the Black Tartarian or Bigarreau, or as our common wood strawberry to Hovey's seedling. We see several new varieties noticed in Eng- land and France, said to combine large fruit with fine flavor. We have taken pains to procure all the varieties of noted merit, and in a year or two shall have them fully tested here. The following notice of one of the best, we copy from Hovey's Magazine : MAY'S VICTORIA CURRANT. In our article upon the cultivation of the Currant, in a previous volume, (vii. p. 325,) we offered some remarks upon the importance of raising currants from seed with a 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 289 view to the production of new and improved varieties. — Among the smaller fruits, none possess a greater value than the currant, and yet none have received less attention at the hands of cultivators. Mr. Knight, impressed with the idea that very superior kinds would be the result of proper atten- tion to the growth of seedlings, wrote an article upon the subject which was published in the Transactions of the So- ciety. He also raised a great number of seedlings, and three of them were thought to possess such merits as to be deserving of names. The gooseberry has been impro- ved from a small and austere berry to a very large and deli- cious fruit : the strawberry has also been produced of such size and flavor as to be scarcely recognized as the offspring of the wild berry of the woods and pastures. And why may not the same success attend experiments to improve the currant? There is no reason to doubt they will, and we may yet hope to see currants nearly as large as cherries, and possessing a flavor much sweeter and richer than any we now possess. l\\e White and Red Dutch currants have been cultivated for a great length of time, and have not, until now, been displaced by any new varieties. 3Ir. Knight's seedlings, though good, did not supersede these old sorts. We have, however, in the variety under notice, one which bids fair to take a place at the head of all. This is " May's Victoria." — Though recently raised from seed, and as yet confined to a limited number of collections, its merits are so great that it will soon find its way into every garden. The berries are of very large size, of a rich deep color, often measuring fiv eighths of an inch in di- ameter, and the bunches are from five to six inch- es long. The flavor is also excellent, and,— what is of great impor- tance, — the fruit will hang in perfection for a much longer time than the White or Red Dutch. This variety was rais- ed by Mr. Wm. May, nurseryman, of York- shire, Eng., and the fruit ■was exhibited at one of the shows of the London Horticultural Society, and was awarded the prize both for its size and excellence. It has been but little disseminated, owing to the high price of the plants ; but, as they are easily multiplied, we may soon hope to see it introduced into every garden where the pro- duction of fine fruit is an object. Our plants produced a few specimens last year, and, from the ordinary size of the clusters and berries, we thought it had been overrated ; but, ^*S- 67. Victoria Currant. the present season, when the bushes had acquired suflicient strength to bear a crop, we were happily disappointed in finding the fruit and bunches of such large size and beauti- ful appearance ; and our drawing (Fig. 67) is an aeucrate representation, by mea.surement, of the size of both berry and bunch. The plants are of exceedingly vigorous habit, with foliage diflfering from the White and Red Dutch in being thicker, deeper green, and not so finely cut at the edges : in good rich soil, the annual shoots are very stout aod strong. The currant, as we have stated in the article before allud- ed to, requires to be severely pruned when the object is large and haudsome bunches and berries. It would be use- less to expect fine fruit unless this is attended to. At the spring pruning, every new shoot should be headed back to four or five eyes, and the old wood wholly cut out, or as much of it as possible, as it is only on the young and vigor- ous wood that the best fruit is produced. By attending to these suggestions, the cultivator may have the finest fruit. We may therefore highly recommend the Victoria cur- rant ; and, as its production is one step towards a superior fruit, we hope our amateur cultivators may be induced to follow up the experiment until something still better shall be the result. We find the history of this currant given in a recent number of the Gardner's Chronicle, from its discoverer Mr. Charlton, a well known nur- seryman in Northumberland. It appears that some 40 years ago, Mr. C, then an apprentice to a jobbing gardener who took care of Capt. Smith's gardens at Houghton Castle, was sent to gather red currants. In the course of his labors he came to a bush, the last in the row, which bore large, superior fruit. He then went to his master to inquire what sort it was. He replied he did not know ; but went and looked at it, and then remembered that when he planted the row he lacked one plant, and looking around the gar- den found a seedling under a gooseberry bush, which he took and planted — and this proves to be the bush in question. It was then propaga- ted extensively, and when Mr. Charlton com- menced a nursery on his own account, he adver- tised and sold it as the Houghton Castle Currant. It has since been called "Victoria" and " Raby Castle Red" Currant, by other cultivators, and has been received in this country under the name of May's Victoria Currant. A Curious Flower. — A singular phenome- non, says a French paper, has shown itself in a greenhouse at Lyons. At the time when all the growers of camellias, roses, dahlias, &c., are puzzling themselves to get the blue color, the on- ly shade which nature has refused to these kind of plants, chance has thrown a shade of azure blue upon the petals of flowers produced by one single branch of a camellia root of the species ambricala rubra. This plant belongs to M. Da- gene. The interior petal of the flowers are of a delicate red, the superior are white, and both are united with blue. The flower thus unites three additional colors. Married, at Oberlin, O., on the 4th ult., by Prof. H. Cowles, Mr. M. B. Bateham, editor of the Ohio Cultivator, to Miss Louisa Jane Lovell, late of Unionville. Mr. Batemam's numerous friends in Western N. York and elsewhere, will, we are sure, unite with us in congratulating him upon his escape from bachelorism. We are assured that the fair partner he has chosen is eminently qualified to make him happy at home, and aid him in the management of his Cultivator and '-little farm" — just the one he has long been seeking. 290 GENESEE FARMER. Dec. Banking Fruit Trees. Mr. Editor : — I transplanted last November (15th,) ina light sandy soil, with a northern and western aspect, about 130 fruit trees, (apples, pears, plums, and cherries.) Dug the holes about four feet diameter and from fifteen to eight- een inches deep ; deposited very old stable manure and leached ashes, without giving the roots any water. In the spring (last) the trees were late in exhibiting their leaves, which I attributed to the banking remaining (until the 1st May) a longer period than ought to have been allowed. I lost one apple tree only, but the branches of eveiy apple tree, without exception, were killed from one foot to three or four feet in length. The trees sprouted again below where they were killed, and are doing well. The cherries, plums, and pears were not affected with the frost. I would inquire whether it is to be attributed to the fact that after I had transplanted, only one shower of rain fell before the earth was hard frozen — and that that rain could not have penetrated more than an inch and a half in the embankment, so that the roots were not moist enough ; or was it owing to the effect, that the roots, (in consequence of the banking,) being kept warm, caused too much life in the branches when the severe frosts came ? About two weeks ago I observed five apple trees with knobs around the stem at the surface of the earth, similar to the black knot on the plum tree. If it is a disease, what is the remedy ? One of the pear trees did not put forth any leaves in the spring, but the bark continued green the whole season to the present moment. In July and August I fastened a cloth around it from top to root, and kept it moistened without giving the roots any extra watering except the dripping from the cloth. A few buds just appeared, but did not shoot into leaves ; had I attended to it more carefully I have no doubt it would have put forth leaves. I mention this for the information of others, as well as to obtain further information. I am, dear sir, yours, &c., Avon, Oct. 30, 1847. W. A. W. Remarks. — We do not consider that either the absence of rain after planting, or the heat maintained around the roots by the embankment, would produce death in the tops of the branches. If trees be transplanted early in the fall while the ground is in a very dry state, and the young wood of trees soft and immature, a lack of mois- ture might cause the ends of the branches to shrivel and die ; but this could hardly be the case in the middle of November, in this latitude, as we are then usually well supplied with rain. — The embankment would have a tendency to pre- vent, instead of cause, winter killing. The " knobs around the stem at the surface of the earth," are not, we presume, the result or symptoms of any disease, but merely granula- tions of the sap, which often appear on root graft- ed apple trees at the union of the stock and graft. They are seldom seen, however, on thrifty, well grown trees, with healthy roots. Your pear that had not vigor enough to devel- ope its buds should have been cut back till with- in a few buds of the base, and the roots should have received a watering occasionally, and the roots, if unsound, should have been cut back to the sound wood, to enable them to emit new fibres. Apples to China. — One hundred barrels of magnificent pippin apples, from the Pelham farm, Ulster county, N. Y., were recently shipped from Boston to China. This is the first shipment ever made of this fruit to that part of the globe. The trade may yet be equal to that with England. Acknowledgments. We are under obligations to E. A. McKay, Esq., of Na- ples, for splendid specimens of sweet and sour apples, two varieties new to us. They were somewhat past their prime ; but judging from what flavor was left, and more particularly from their large size and beautiful appearance, they are well worthy of attention. — Some tmknown friend for a basket of specimen ap- ples, as follows : No. 1, Baldwin ; No. 2 appears to be Jonathan ; No. 3, White Spanish Reinette of Downing, usuallj- grown here as Holland Pippin ; No. G, Autumn Pearmain ; No. 7 appears to be the Alexander ; we are not certain of this as it was partially decayed. No. 8. Don't know ; No. 13, don't know — had become quite mealy. — S. W. Cole, Esq., of the Boston Cultivator, for a box of specimens, which we shall speak of next month. — C. Goodrich, Esq., Burlington, Vt., for a copy of the . report of the Annual Cattle Show and Fair of the Chitten- den Co. Ag. Society ; with the address of J. W. May, Esq., delivered on the occasion. We have been in the habit of looking to that region as unfavorable for fruit culture ; but whatever difficulties may be presented by climate or soil seems about to be surmounted by zeal and perseverance. The report says — " Of Fruits the show was magnificent. Many were present who had lately seen the splendid col- lection of fruits at Saratoga, and we heard but one opinion expressed of the comparative merits of the two exhibitions, which was that the show of Apples, Pears, Plums, and even Grapes and Peaches at Burlington excelled that at Saratoga, — showing conclusively that at least in all the more valuable fruits the Valley of Lake Champlain can compete successfully with any part of the world. " Of Garden Vegetables the show was extensive, and as to quality it is only necessary to say, that at a sale held at the close of the Fair, squashes sold at $1.00, and water-mel- ons at $3.00 each." Mr. Goodrich carries off a large share of the premiums for fruit. He receives a premium for the greatest variety of fruitgrown by one individual, viz ; 55 sorts of apples, 11 of pears, 11 of plums, 6 of grapes, and 3 of peaches. He also receives a premium for the 5 best fall apples — Porter, Gravenstein, Scarlet Nonpareil, Fameuse, and new Baking Sweet. Also for the 5 best winter apples — Hubbardson Nonsuch, Baldwin, Danvers Winter Sweet, Roxbury Rus- set, and R. 1. Greening. Jmo. N. Pomeroy was awarded the premium for the best 5 fall pears — Bartlett, St. Michael's White Doyenne, Gan- sell Bergamot, Seckel, and VanNess. Fondante d'Autome, or Belle Lucrative, was awarded the premium as the best new fall pear ; and Gravenstein as the best ?iew fall apple. — F. S. Rew, Esq., for a Legislative document containing the Report of the State Library Committee, Message of the Governor, communication of the trustees of the State Li- brary Com., and other documents relative to the system of international exchanges, projected and conducted by the eminent Vattemare. This is one of the most noble of all modern projects, calculated, in an eminent degree, to pro- mote the advancement of the arts and sciences, the cultiva- tion of literature, and indeed the mental and moral improve- ment of natioiis — forming them, as it were, into an immense intellectual brotherhood. The zeal and energy with which Mr. Vattemare has for years, unaided and at his own ex- expense, carried forward this philanthropic scheme has justly attracted universal admiration, and we view his labors as eminently calculated to promote union, peace, and good will among men-. In this document we find " instructions" on the best mode of collecting, preserving and forwarding objects of natural history, which we shall refer to at another time. — S. Harris, of Canandaigua, for an excellent commu- nication,— which will be attended to next month. Our next Volume. — We have just room enough, before adding finis to volume 8, to remark that we shall endeavor to improve the Horticultural Department next year. The Publisher promises us "ample room and verge enough," with superior illustrations, &c., which will enable us to make this department more interesting and acceptable. — Meantime we trust our horticultural friends will lend a por- tion of their influence to increase our subscription list ui their respective localities, — a matter quite essential to the publisher, whose expenses are necessarily heavy. 1847. GENESEE FARMER. 291 LADIES' DEPARTMENT. Domestic Items. Washing Flannel. — If white, it should be done in as hot water as possible, with hard soap. 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 more after this operation, and should then be made up into garments. Fragments of Bread may be all saved by making them into toast and puddings ; and they also make good pancakes, by soaking over night in milk and then adding an egg or two, and a little salt and flour. Preserves — if fermenting, boil them and add a little powdered salseratus, say size of a pea for a quart or two, but more if much fermented. Feather Beds should be aired once a week ; but do not hang them out of the front windows, unless you wish to add a striking feature in the picturesque expression of your dwelling. Moths. — Camphor (not tobacco) will repel moths. Flannels well wrapped in linen, are safe from moths. But they should be well brush- ed about the first day of summer, as the raoths then begin to increase. Suet and Mince-Pie Meat, if boiled and chop- ped, may be kept a year, in a stone jar, under molasses. Vials, with medicines, should be kept constant- ly and very distinctly labelled — it would prevent some fatal accidents. Molasses, used for cooking, is immensely im- proved by previous boiling and skimming. Straw Beds are generally improved by being boxed at the sides, or stitched through like mat- -The best proportions are 3 lbs. salt, 10 oz. sage, 10 oz. pepper, to every 100 lbs. chopped meat. Eggs, wholly embodied in salt, the small end downwards, will keep one to three years perfect- ly fresh. Heated Rooms. Rooms heated with anthracite coal, and rooms heated with close stoves in which wood is burnt, have veay dry atmospheres. The use of water in such rooms is very congenial to health, but the water should not be placed in an iron or tin vessel upon the stove, for the reason that it will undergo that degree of heat which will make its vapors offensive and injurious to breathe. It is as injurious to the human system to breathe pu- trid water vapors of this kind, as it is to breathe the vapors from stagnant ponds in hot weather. If water is used upon a stove, an iron pan should be made use of, and this filled with dry sand ; in the sand set an earthen bowl filled with clean water, which should be changed twice a day, and the bowl washed and kept as clean as if used for a drinking vessel. Where hard coal is burnt in a grate, a glass globe should be suspended in the room filled with clean pure water, and as the heated air rises to the top of the room, it will steadily evaporate the water and moisten the dry and heated air. Per- sons who prefer the atmosphere of salt water va- por, can add salt to the water, or if they prefer an aromatic atmosphere, they can add Cologne water, or any other perfume which they prefer. It is as important to have clean air for breathing as to have clean water for drinking. Basement rooms, where hard coal is burnt, should be fre- quently ventilated. Small children accustomed to stay in basement rooms find a bad air near the floor. This air should be removed by allowing the doors to be opened frequently to let in fresh air. A little care in these matters will tend wonderfully to comfort and enjoyment. — Ex. To MAKE Good Butter in Winter. — We often hear the complaint that winter butter is poor. Ours (says a correspondent of the Boston Cultivator) was so for several seasons. It was very slow in coming, and frothy, white, and sometimes bitter ; while butter made from the same kind of milk in the warm season was good. I devised many plans for improvement, such as throwing in salt, warm milk, scalding cream, &c.; but to no purpose. At length I scalded my milk when brought from the cow, afterwards, setting it either in a cold or warm place as most convenient. I mean I communicated sufficient heat to my milk to destroy the effect which frosty feed in autumn or dry feed in winter had upon it. Since which time we have made (with fif- teen minutes churning) purer, sweeter, and more yellow butter than we ever made in summer — and sometimes from frozen cream gradually warmed. And were it not that the increase of manufactures, the pursuit of fashion, and other causes combined, render helping hands in the dairy room now-a-days very scarce, I should be at the trouble of scalding my milk before setting it, during the summer, as well as in winter, for surely, butter made in this way possesses a deli- cious richness and dryness which can not be found in any other. How TO Cook Green Corn. — If the follow- ing is worth publishing in your paper, it is at your service, as its truth cannot be controverted : Green corn, to be healthy, should be boiled till it is perfectly done ; that is, if it is full grown or nearly ready to glaze, it should be boiled at least three hours, when it maybe eaten to a rea- sonable amount, by almost any person. T. P. The above may prove valuable to those who preserve the Farmer, or have good memories — though not in season ^ just now. 292 GENESEE FARMER. • Dec. Extracts of Letters from the People. [[[J' The subjoined extracts from letters received since the commencement of the present volume, show the esti- timation in vihich the Gknesee Farmer is generally held. We have received many similar evidences of approval and Micouragement from almost every section of the Union : A Post-Master in Seneca County writes — "I am making an eilbrt, in order to procure a respectable list of subscribers for your paper in this town. Y'ou ought to be patronized by every former in the land — yes, by every person who only plants a Garden, in my estimation, Only the price of one bushel of corn will pay for the ' Farjner' a year ; this year it would have paid for it tivo years. It is astonishing to me that every farmer does not possess himself of it. — Only baud 50 cents to his Post-Master, who will cheerfully forward it to the publisher in most cases, I presume, and the work would be sent to him. I wish I had fifty dollars to enclose to you, for subscribers in this town. I will do all I can, by obtaining subscriptions and sending the money to you." An influential farmer of Jefferson county, iu a letter re-; mitting payment for 16 copies of the Farmer, says ;— " As an individual I have been much pleased with the general matter of the Farmer for the last year, and am gratified to notice a large increase in the number of subscribers. I con- sider the articles treated of by its able Editor an excellent selection, and admirably discussed — and well adapted to in- form the minds of the farming community on those subjects in which their interests are most intimately connected." An esteemed friend and able correspondent of several ag- ricultural journals, thus writes us : — "The Farmer has also gained more within the last year in reputation, as a scientific and literary paper, than most of its cotemporaries. If farmers generally do not yet appreciate it, it is only be- cause they can not. I trust it will not be so always, as progress is busy with her wand, throughout our favored land." A staunch friend at Romulus, N. Y., in a letter contain- mg a remittance for 21 subscribers, thus speaks of the Far- mer : — "I answer for myself that the last volume was worth more than any previous one in my opinion. If I am not mistaken I have been a subscriber to the Farmer for the last IG years, and I am satisfied that it has had an influence upon me, and from it I have derived many new ideas in the science of agriculture. I believe if it had been read by every farmer in Western New York, (though he might not have more than two acres of land to cultivate,) the quanti- ty »f produce would have been increased 20 per cent — and the quality, as a general rule, would have been much im- proved." In renewing his subscription, an able farmer, residing in Geneseo, says : — " I wish to continue the Genesee Farmer another year, considering it as I do the best Agricultural Pa- per now extant. I am very much gratified to see the im- provements which are being made in agriculture, (a busi- ness which was considered of quite minor importance but a few years ago,) and sincerely hope that it may attain the highest rank in the land." An intelligent farmer of Truxton, Cortland county, in a letter containing a remittance for 19 copies of the P'armer, siys : — " 1 have obtained these within the last two weeks without making any unusual effort, only asking my neigh- bors when I saw them to take the Farmer— the paper re- commending itself. I shall probably obtain more subscri- bers, in the course of the winter, as I know of several who have taken the last volume, who, if asked, will doubtless take the present." Our Cortland friend takes the right course. If each of our subscribers will show the Fanner to his neighbors, and ask them to subscribe, the usefulness of the paper may soon be greatly increased. In these days of low prices of printing, and hi^h prices of produce, every farmer can afford to take an agricultural paper. Monroe County Agricultural Society. The Annual Meeting of this Society, for the election of Officers, &c., will be held at the Office of the Genesee Far- mer, in Rochester, on the second 7\iesday (the 14th day) of December next, at 10 o'clock, A. M. A punctual attend- Miee is requested. Nov. 1, 1847. JAMES H. WATTS, Rec. Sec't,. MARKET INTELLIGENCE. Rochester Produce Market— Wholesale. 1 18 50 5fi 40 5 25 5 ."^7 62 25 59 4 50 5 00 1 25 2 00 0 00 12 00 2 75 3 50 10 10.} Pork, bbl. mess 12 50 16 50 Pork, cwt., ... 5 00 Beef, cwt., ... 3 50 4 00 Lard, lb., 9 10 Butter, lb.,... 15 16 Cheese, lb., .. 6 Eggs, doz, 16 Poultry, 6 Tallow, 10 Maple Sugar, . — Sheep Skins, . 75 Green Hides, lb 3f Dry " .... T 8 Calfskins, ... 3 Wheat, $1 1 Corn, .- Barley, Oats, Flour, Beans, Apples, bush. Potatoes, Clover Seed,. Timothy, Hay, ton, Wood, cord,. Salt, bbl,.... Hams, lb, Rochester, Nov. 29, 1847. New York MarUet. [By Magnetic Telegraph.^ New York, Nov. 27.-7 P. M. Ashes.— Sales of Pots made at $5,75 a $5,87K, and 50 bbls. Pearia sold at $7.75 a 7.81>^. Beeswax was lower, and sales were made at 22 cts. for yellow. Flour.— The sales embraced about 1200 bbls. Oswego at $6, with some lots Michigan at $6,12^. 1500 bbls. Genesee, deliverable next month, sold at $6,25. 200 do. on the spot at $6,25. Sales of good Ohio were made at $6,44. Wheat.— Sales 100 bush. Genesee at $1,36. 1000 Ohio white at $1.31. 2700 Ohio at $1,29. and 3000 Delaware at $1,32 a $1,33. Corn.— Sales 1000 to 150.0 bush, including mixed at 73 cts. and round yellow at 75 cts. jMe.il.— 300 bbls. New Jersey sold at $3,50, 300 do. Pennsylvania at $3.44, and 500 do. Western at $3,25. Rye.— Sales 500 bu. at 87 cts. Provisions.— Sales 1000 bbls. mess Pork at $14,87>^. and SO do. thin mess at $13,62. Butter and Cheese dull. Buffalo, Nov. 27. This day has been the coldest of the season, and it has been snowing most of the day. Kvery thing in the market is dull and the sales wore small. Flour.— The receipts are light, and there is no change in quota- tions. Grain.— Wheat is firm but inactive. We quote Chicago at 87c. ; Racine 98c. Corn is steady but not active, and prices have slight- ly declined. Provisions.— Pork may be quoted at $13 a 14 for mess. Receipts for the last 24 hours were— Flour, 2500 barrels ; wheat 32.000 bushels. Contents of this Number. A Farmer's Library, 273 Southern Agriculture ; Fattening Poultry, 274* Northern Rice ; A Remarkable Experiment ; Lime in Planting Trees ; A valuable Table, 275 Hints for December ; Potato Rot, .- 276 Meteorology and JMeteorological Observations ; To Correspondents; Densmore's Straw Cutter, 277 True Farming— Great Farming on a Small Scale, 278 Hydraulics for Farmers, (concluded,) 27« Saving and application of Manure ; Removing Sheep Manure, - - 280 Ashes on Corn— An Experiment ; Shrinking of Pork,. 281 Genesee County Fair ; Butter Making — Inquiries, 2*2 Bloody Milk ; Curing Hams and Pork ; How to toast Cheese; Vinegar, 283 Matters in Central N. Y. — Cheese Making ; Browse for Sheep ; Income from Poultry, 284 Mode of Cleaning Wheat for Seed ; Animal Food for Swine ; Wool ; Harvests without previous Sowing ; Importance of Deep Tillage,. 285 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. Insects; New American Seedling Cherries, 206 The Washington Pear, 287 Buffalo Hon. Society ; Red Canada Apple ; Answers to Correspondents, 288 The Currant— May's Victoria, 2oS A Curious Flower, 289 Banking Fruit Trees; Acknowledgments, 290 ladies' department. Domestic Items ; Heated Rooms, 291 To make good Butter in Winter ; How to Cook Green Corn, 291 THE GENESEE FARMER A MONTLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO AGEICULTURE & HORTICULTUEE, ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS OP FIRM BKlLBiilS, IMPLEMENTS, DOMESflP MMU, FRUITS, FLOWERS, &c. EDITED BV DANIEL LEE AND D. D. T. MOORE. p. BARRY, CONDUCTOR OF THE HORTICULTURAL DEPARTIffEWT. VOLUMB IX— 1848. ROCHESTER, N. Y. D. D. T. MOORE, PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR, TALMAN BLOCK, BUFFALO-STREET. 1848. INDEX TO VOLUME IX. A Agricultural Chemistry, progress of 9:3 — Education,... '. 9, 220 — Fair of Cliautauque Co., 243 in Canada, 2(}o of N. Y. State, remarks on, . 237, 246, 258, 264 regulations of 229 ofAladisonCo., 241 of Royal Ag. Soe., 217 at Stone Mountain, .-. 216 — Geology, 68, 103 — improvement, 146, 202 — Journals, notice of, _ 25 — papers, important facts, 203, 268 — periodicals, 296 — products of U. S., 223 — ramble, 194 — reading, 261 — Society, N. Y. State, proceed- ings, . 77 premiums of, 52, 97, 100, 130 premiums awarded, . . . 250 officers, 53 committees,.. 180 TransactioAs of for '47, 205 ofSenecaCo., 45 ofYatesCo., 27 Agriculture, American, remarks on 65 — in Ireland and Scotland, 20 — respectability of, 13 — Scientific, notice of, 297 American Farmer, the, 297 American hare, 243 American Institute, fair of, _ 228 Apple trees, renovation of, 221 — seeds, planting, 234 Apples, American, in London, 44 — on Paradise stocks, 298 — Autumn Strawberry,- 278, 301 — Domine and Peck's Pleasant,.. 86 — great crop of Greenings, 133 — Hawley, 138 — keeping 269 — from IN. England, 58 — Norton's Melon, 29 — Northern Spy, remarks, 187 — Orange Sweet, 283 — quality of. 300 — Summer Rose, 233 April, hints for, 96 Arithmetical questions for boys,.. 284 — answers, questions, &c., 304 Arkansas lands, 2.53 Ashes for manure, 69, 122, 146 — on meadows, 276 Autumn planting, advantages of,. 34 B Bacon, curing, 35 Barn, best plan of, 204 Barley, the Cheltenham black skinned, 290 Beef, to cure, 82 — lawinMass., 132 Bee-hive, new, 149 Bees, mode of hunting wild, 245 — to procure artificial swarms,... 222 Benefit of the rise, 276 Billions cholic, remedy and caution 27 Birds, looking-glasses for, 122 Book-farming, 12 Books, good and useful, 291 Botanic specimens, to preserve,. .. 106 Brick yard, extensive, 25 Brine, poisonous property of, 122 Buckwheat flour, 62 — cakes, 302 Budding, spring, 86 Buds, origin and office of, 60 — starting too soon, 232 Bulbous roots, management, 257 Butter, successful experiments,.-. 14 — quantity of in milk, - 122 — making for sea voyages, .. 198, 214 fact in, 212 — mods of preserving, 245 C Cabbage, pickled,... 260 Candles, economy in, 124 Carriage, improvement in,.. 181 Carrot, orange, success with, 45 Caterpillars, to destroy, 105 Cattle; Ayrault's fat steers 218 — rooking for, 52, 188 — cutting food for, 19 — Hereford, 50 — improvement in,.. 71 — remedy for hoven, 12 — salting, questioned,.- 247 — Short Horn, notice of, 168 Cauliflower, Early Walcheren,... 192 Cellar for roots, cheap, 296 Celery, salt for, 87 Cement for earthen and glass, 297 Cheese-making, knowing how,... 82 by A. L. Fish,.. 163, 178 — potato, 283 — press, improved, 175 — Stilton, 235 Cherries ; May Bigarreau, Early Purple, Guigne, Knight's Early Black, and Early While Heart,. 183 — Burr's Seedling, Elkhorn, and Downer's late, . 206 — Belle Magnifique and Carnation,' 231 — on dwarf stocks, 139 Chimneys, to prevent smoking,.. 215 Chloriform to ahorse, 276 — to a pig, 107 Clay houses, 83 (Clearing land, cost of, 171 Climate, rationale of, 197 Clover and timothy together, 97 Cockroaches, to destroy, 212 Colts, when to work,-.- 83 Commissioner of Patents, report of for 1847 205 Composts, remarks on, 99 — to make, 157 Corn, ashes on, 44, 243 — and cob mill, Pitt's, - . . 270 — cobs as food, 82, 126 as fuel, 44 — crop of U. S., 53, 133 large, 55 Corn, cutting unripe, 22i< — culture, experiments in, 167 — eluding worms, 204 — field, vast, 276 — for fodder, 144 — lime and ashes on, -_. 243 — meal cakes, --- 35, 115 to preserve, 229 — shellers, - - 289 Clinton, 289 Smith's. 289 Cottage, figure of, - 78 — residences, 301 Cottages, cheap plans needed;.- 222 Country houses, a new work on,. 801 Cow, Oaks, account of, -- 269 Cows, best kinds, 242 — ho w to dry , 268 — food for,... - ---- 82 — remarkable, - 227 Crops in E. Bloomfield, 244 — of 1847, tabular estimate, 201 — on two acres, - 121 Cucumbers, to grow, 163 — to keep long, 188 Curculio, new remedy, 114 — to repel, - 157 Currants kept 20 years, 122 — to keep, 188 Cutworms, to manage, 204, 269 D Dahlia,.. - 87, 137 Dairy Ijusiness in the mountains,. 286 — farm, extensive,.- 276 I>ecember, notes for,... 290 Deep tillage, importance of, 230 Domestic animals, shelter,.. 294 Domestic economy, various items, 187 Draining lands, 287 — beneficial effects of, 170, 171 — extensive, 39 — of marshes, 227 — remarks on, 199, 276 — and snbsoiling, 153 Drill, Palmers 97 — Emery's, 121 Dysentery, a remedy for, 220 Economy in washing, 235 Egg pone,.. 211 Eggs, pickled, - 90 — to preserve, 245 Elders and willows, to destroy,.. 72 Election cake, 284 F Farm house, Ellis' plan and view of, 22, 79 Howard's plan and view,... 272 — accounts, keeping, 247 — implements, American and Eng- lish, . 70 Farmer, picture of lucky and un- lucky, 248, 249 Farmers, importance of educating, 149 — and millers,.- 125 — progress among, - - 75 Farmers' clubs, 21 — wives, duties of, 39 IV INDEX TO VOLUME IX. Farming becoming respectable, - . - 20 — good management,-.- 82, 123, 132 — productive, essentials of, 179 — on Long Island, 19fi — in New England, - 275 — in Rhode Island, 123 — in Seneca county, x\. Y., 1C9, 201, — in Ihe South, 16.3, 1S9, 21:5 — in Tennessee, 225 — true principles of, 295 Fence, improved mode »f making, 45 — iron wire, to make, 55, 76, 108, 132, 244 Filtering apparatus, Gilbert's, 2ti5 Flour at Detroit, 133 Flowering shrub, neiv, 113 Flow ers of Mexico, 59 — construction of, 197 Fodder racks, how to make, 19 — nutrition of green and dry, 38 Fruit culture, remarks on, 33 — garden, instructions, 109 — Growers, National Convention of, 234, 278 — list of N. Y. State Ag. Soc.,... 57 — protection from insects, 158 — trees, summer management of, . 158 Fruit and Fruit trees, cel'd edition, 61 G Garden, management of, - 134 Gardens in Rochester 161 Genesee Farmer for Ag. Soc's.,.. 24 Geology — Glaciers of Switzerlaad, 292 Glass milk pans, 107 Glue, improved preparation, 275 Gooseberry grafted on yellow cur- rant,.._ 234 (jlrain, rule for measuring, 82 Grape, cultivation of, 282 — in Texas, 259 Grass lands, plowing, .-. 132 Grasses, remarks on, 40 — in the South 214 Guano on corn, 132 H Hams, curing, 151 Hard times, 265 Hedges and hedge plants, 112, 124, 157 — hemlock for, 184 Hemp-break, 82 Hens, bones for, 169 — nest eggs, 132 — to make lay perpetually, 221 — profits of, 127 — salt not good for, 125 Hessian fly,.... 143, 196, 288 Hints on various subjects, 119 Horse carts, improvement in, 275 — collar, india rubber, 54 — curing co'ic and scratches, 173 — cure for founder, 55 — English cart, 13 — Mo.-gan, 83, 108 — Norman, Hovvland's, 128 — power, its meaning, 19 — rake, spring-tooth, 105 — terms explained,.. 13 Horses, number in England, 181 — swapping 107 Horticultural hints for iVIarch, 84 for August, 206 for November, 278 — humbugs, 282 — improvement urged, 28 — news, exhibitions, &c., 162, 209, 210 — Society, Buffalo, 84 Genesee Valley. 89, 137, 162, 210 Horticulture in Alabama, 161 — remarks on, 182 Household drudges, 212 Housewifery, good, 139 Hussey's reaping machine 176 Indelible ink, Indian rye bread, Insects, facts, — to manage, Irrigation, — 55, January, hints for, J uly , hints for, — sowing wheat in, ^ K Keeping farm accounts, Kentucky, improvement in, Knickerbocker Magazine, notice of L Lead pipes, poisonous, . . Lightning rods, Lilies, new Japan, . propagation and treatment Locust, appearance of, 129, Locust seed, to manage, Lucerne, Lunar influence, 179, M Manure fermenting in the soil, 10, — muck, 80, — - preservation of, — quantity produced by different crops, — sinking and rising of,.. 20, 76, Manures, special, 124, Maple sugar, 55, — trees, March, hints for, May, hints for, _ Meat, curing for hot climates, Meteorological observations in England and United States,.. Micliigan, mint oil produced in,... — plaster, Grand River, — wheat crop of, — wool trade of, Mildew on plants, Milking, rules for, .\lilk maids and musicians,.. 115, reply to, fllineral paint, new,.. Mock cream, Moles, to elude,.- Moon, atmosphere of, Mountain ash, to raise, Mutton bacon, JV Nails for shingling, Natural history, facts in, — O Orchard, profit of, Organic nature, balance of, Osage orange for hedges, P Parsneps for hogs, Pay your debts, , Peach trees, management of, . mildew on, to prevent, Peaches, early, — Early Tillotson, 34 — to preserve, Pear blight, remarks on, — Louisa Bonne of Jersey, — Onondaga, or Swan's Orange,. — Osband's Summer, — Oswego Beurre, — Paquency, . — Petre, — on quince stocks, — Stevens', — seedlings, how to raise, Peat charcoal, value of, . .» Pennsylvania Cultivator, notice cf Piggery, plan of, Pine apples grown by steam, Pine, Chili, - Pines and evergreens, to raise,. . . Plants, food of, - 95 — useful, origin of, - . 223 — constituents of,.. --- 239 Plaster, time of sowing, 145 Pleuro-pneumonia, --- 193 Plowing, directions for, 226 — fall and winter, 54 Plums, two new varieties,. 232 Poisons, antidotes for, 45 Pomological Convention at Buffalo 254 at New York, 278 Pomology, rules of, 32, 56, 114 Population, theory of, 66 Pork, shrinking of,.-. 11, 41, 74, 106 — trade of the west, 253 Potash from mountain rocks, 271 Potato cheese, 283 — rot, aflects new seedlings, 15 early planting for,. 54, 148, 215 Klotsch's theory, - 120 remedy, .-.- 83, 253 secret remedy, . -- 12 Potatoes, ashes for, -_- - 39 Poultry, rearing, . " 156, 174 — diseases, - 175 R Rain in the Southern States, 213 Rat trap, 147 Rats and mice, lo destroy, ...148, 297 Red root, essay on,.. -- 46 Road making, a manual of, 228 Root crops, management of, _ 143 measuring, - . - 123 Rose, Fleur blanche, - 233 — Parson's book on, 186 Roses, hybridizing, - 85 S Salt for plum trees, experiments,.. 232 Scientific notices, 38 Season in Jefferson county, 173 — at Rochester, 42 Seasons, comparison of. 172 — remarks on, — -- 291 Shade trees, important fact, 277 Sheep feeding, experiments with,. 70 — Iceland, 73 — management of Merino, 18 — marking, 122 -pox,...- 12 — Saxon, history of, -.. 17,. 48 — winter management of, 49 Shoes, composition for, 54 Silver fir, - 159 Soils, color of,.. .- 122 — improvement of, remarks, 141 Soldering, how done, 276 Souse, - - - 90 Southern agriculture and customs, 37 Sowing thick and thin, 39 Steel and sheet iron, to weld, 276 Stock raising at the west, - 275 in the mountains,... - 286 Store pay, - . - 265 Stove, protean, 205 Strawberries, amount raised, 183 — 25 sorts described, 207 — management of, 160, 185 Strawberry, Burr's New Pine, 184, 232 Straw bonnets and smart girls, 83 Straw cutter, Densmore's, 241 Subsoil plowing,.. 191 Sugar beet, large, 44 Sweet potatoes, 268 Swine, breeds of, 51 — experiments in fattening, 274 — kidney worms in, 245 — salt for, 127 — swill cookery, 276 Switzerland, the glaciers of, 292 T Tea, analysis of, 36 Thermometer churn, 69, 107 Thrasher and horse-power, Wheel- er's, 277 INDEX TO VOLUME IX. Tomato, 260 Tree, miscellaneous, -- 135 Trees, cullivation of, 235 — in public parks, 185 — transplaiiiing in aatumn, 254 Turkey, the, 295 Turning over a new leaf, 2(5, 62 Turnep, large, 25 U llnbraniiing machine, 229 Useful hints, - 236 U«eful table, _ 54 V Vegetal)le cutter, 296 Vegetation, retarding,. ]15 Ventilation, 288 Vermont State Agriculturist, notice of, _ 277 Veterinarian, American, notice of, 156 W Wagon grease, how made, 11 Wall trellis, 114 Wash for buildings, 200 Water, to preserve in casks, 132 Wealth of the Union, 181 Weeds need killing, 233 Weighing pork and wheat, fraud in 25 Weights and measures 115 Western farmers, wants of, 150 Wet lands, to improve, 55 Wheat, amount from Russia, 228 — converted to a perennial plant,. 253 — drill, Cragg& Reynolds', _ 152 I'almer's, 97 Pennock's, 129 Seymour's, 169 Smith's, 200 — flowers of, magnified, 177 — good crop of, 276 — great crop of, 12, 72 — improvement in grinding, 107 — liming and brining the seed,... 16 — in Milwaukee, — preparing light soils for, SO Wheat, quarter of,.. 19 — recoveri ng winter killed , 55 -^ smut in, 45 — sowing in July, 157 — thick and thin sowing, 43, 170 — twelve-rowed blood red, 290 Wheel cultivator, Ide's, 145 Whitewash, incombustible, 115 Willows, to destroy, 72, 108 Winter, prepare for, 240 Wire-worm, how to kill, 42, 149, 171 inquiry, 294 Wood, green and dry, 16 Wool depots, importance of, 154 — growing at the South, 216 in the mountains, 286 remarks on, _ 266 — market, prospect of, 144 — maltrasses, 197 — trade of Michigan, 181 Z Zinc milk pans, injurious,. 236 INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. AGftlCULTURAL. Domestic Animals — Portrait of Ayrault's fat steers,. 219 — Chinese hog, 51 — English carthorse, 13 — Hereford cow, 50 — Hovvland's iXorman horse, . . . 128 — Iceland sheep, 73 — Saxon ram, 17 — Turkey, 295 Implements — Clinton Corn-Sheller, 289 Cragg & Reynolds' Drill, 152 Crowell's Thermometer Churn, 69 Densmore's Straw Cutter, 241 Emery's Drill, 121 Hussey's Reaping Machine, 176 Ide's Wheel Cultivator,.. 145 Palmer's Grain Drill, 97 Smith's Grain Drill, 200 Smith's Corn-Sheller, 289 Spring-tooth Horse Rake, 105 Vegetable Cutter 296 Miscellaneous — Filtering Cistern, Gilbert's, 265 Glaciers of Switzerland, illustra- tions of, (16 figures.).-. 292 Magnified flowers of wheat, (3 figures,) 177 Upper Falls of Rochester, 104 RcRAL Economy — View of English Cottage, 78 — of Farm House, Ellis's, 23 Plans of do. do. 24 View of Farm House, Howard's 272 Plans of do. do. 273 Piggery, plan and view of, 224 Premises of 1 ucky farmer, 249 — of unlucky farmer,.. 248 HORTICULTURAL. Fruits — Apple, Autumn Strawberry, 278 — Domine, 86 — Hawley, 1.38 — Norton's Melon, 29 App'e, Peck's Pleasant, 86 — Summer Rose, 233 Dwarf apple tree, .... 299 Pear, Louise Bonne of Jersey,- 256 — Oswego Beurre, 57 — Petre, f.- 61 Dwarf pear tree, 257 Cherry, Bauman's May, 183 — Burr's Seedling, 206 — Belle Magnifique, 231 — Carnation, 231 — Downer's Late, 207 — Elkhorn, 207 — Knight's Early Black, 183 Strawberry, Burr's New Pine,.. 184 — blossoms, 185 Plants and Flowers — Chili Pine, 136 Lilium speciosum, 31 Mildew plants, illustrations of, (5 figures,) 59 Perfect Dahlia, 87 Silver Fir,... 159 Spiraea prunifolia, 113 AGENTS FOR THE FARMER NEW YORK. Albion, R. Clark and B. Farr. Attica. A. S. Stevens. Alexander. W. Thompson. Avon. L. Chandler. Allen's HiU. P. M. Bentley. Apulia. Justus ChoUar. Alloway, W. McKown. Alton. A. M. Knapp. Auburn. Alden & Markham. Aurora, J. L. Cuyler. Amboy. Thos. Redway. Augusta, L. Cummings. Appling. S. Howard. Adams. T. P. Saunders. Addison, A. S. Hatch. Angelica, E. Starr. Almond. J. Angell. Alfred, P. Place. Andover. Eben. Hunt. Arkport. .larvis P. Case. " Allen. J. W. Stewart. Alfred Center. Kcnyon Si, Sayles. Alabama. R. B. Warren. Ashford. C. Woodruff. Amsterdam. J. French, Andes. P. Hilton. Athens, James G. Foster. Akron, L, Corey. Alden, C. W. King. Abbott's Corners, Dr. Nott. Albany, H. L Emery. Brookfield. L. P. Clark. Butternuts. C. Jarvis. Binghampton. George Park. Burtonville, Wm. Bussing. Braman's Corners. J, H. Merry. Burlington Flats. A, E. Arnold. Boonville, George Norton. Black Creek. C. Allen. Brockport, H. P. Norton. Butler, Ezra Raynor. Brook's Grove, H. S. Jarvis. Belfast. T. P. Alexander Bristol HiU. L. E. Barnard Bristol, N. C. Andrews Borodino, Wm. Legg Baldwinsville. R. Sears Brewerton. D. W. Markham Black River, G. W. Hazleton Brownville. D. S. Webb Burville, D. C. Sherman Belleville, A. Dickinson Bainbridge Cen., D. Van Home Burdett. Wm. A. Hurd Branchport, S. Booth Benton Center, A. Eaton Benton, A. Smith Big Str'm Point, L O Townsend Bradford, James Barkley Barrington, Wm. Lord Burns. O. L. Tilden Batavia. Samuel Heston Byron, Post Master Bergen. F. D. Kingman Brookville. F. D. Farnham Barre Center. Post .Master Bennington. C. L. Hayden Buffalo, T. S. Hawks Brant, Levi Brown Black Rock, Post Master Beekmantown, S. H. Marshall Battenville, A. M. McLean Ballston Spa, A. W. Cook Berkshire, H. A. P.ayne Clarendon, B, & G.M. Copeland Champion. Post Master Covert. J. R. Pratt Cayutaville. Jno Beebe, jr. Constablcville, D. W. Eames Clinton, John Norton Cooperatown. D. D. Pier Cranberry Creek. H. Gilbert China, James Perkins Corfu, R. .Miller Covington. J. F. Smith Cowlesville. J. B. Boss Cheshire. J. M. PershaU Canoga, Samuel Mcintosh Camillus, H. C. Kimberly Canadice. G. C. Spencer Centcrfield, C. S. Knowles Clyde, J. Stone Cicero. S. T. Northrop Cayuga, John ikforse Canal, L. Mason Clay. James Little Constantia, A. Scott Cleveland, A. H. Allen Colosse, James Emery Cazenovia, S. H. Henry Clockville.R. D. Palmer Canastota, Gerge B. Roe Clayton, Ed. Burchell Cato Four Corners, T. I. Ferris Canisteo, Wm. S. Thomas Conklin, H. Squires Clarkson, B. W. Clark Churchville, M. Pettingill Clarkson Center, H. Kimball Canandaigua. Henry Chapin Castile. John G True Caledonia, A. Hotohkin Conesus, L. C. Kingsbury Conquest, Post Master Chaumont. L. Gaige Cortland Village, D. D. Cole Cohocton. W. M. Eldred Centerville, L. C. Veazey Canadea, S. A Race Cuba, Rev. N. Leighton Catharine, E. C, Frost Clarence, O. B. Hopkins Colden, P.J. Barber Collins, D. S. Shotwell Collins Center. A. M. Brace Clymer, I. F. Gleason Cherry Creek. C. A. Spencer Center Sherman, J. S. Bell Carroll. B T. Morgan Clifton Park. S. W. Higgina Champlain, D. D. T. Moore Cambria, C. MoLyneux Carlton, W. H. Rapalje Cranesville, J. Groat Camden, W. R. Paddock Carlisle, A. Kniskern Chester, Philo Gregory Cornwall. Benj. Wright Crown Point, C. Fenton Chesnut Ridge, Thos. Taber Center White Creek, G. K IVIontgomery Coxsackie, H. G. Bedell Cambridge. Dr. O. Cook Dansville, 1 . R. Trembly Delphi, C. C. Slocum De Ruyter, S. G. Sears Danby, S. D. Beers Dryden, A. Tanner Dundee, S. S. Benham Depuystor, Levi Fay Dexter, N. Bassett Darien, Thomas Riddle Darien Center, Stephen King Delhi, N.athan Merwin Depo.sit, M. R. Huloe Dewittville, John Russell East Groveland, M. S. Doty East Bloomfield, H, Munson East Hamilton, A. D. Carrier East Pharsalia, H. Baker East Geneoa, George Morgan East Linklean. J. Woodley East Java, A, A. Waldo East Pembroke, R. Willett East Gaines, S. C. Perry East Pike, W Wheeler East Springfield, D. Dutcher East Stockholm, H. Hubbard East Hill, W. Robinson Evan.sville, Allen Nims Elbridge, Caleb Brown Etna, W. Marsh Eaton. J. T. Whitney Essex, Henry Palmer Esopus, G. G. Elmore East Humburg, M. R, Dunham Elmira, Francis Hall Elba. A.U. Wyllis Erieville, Allen Curtiss Earlville, D. Ransom Edwards, J. B. Picket Erwin Center, A. C. Smith Eagle Harbor, W. Walters Eden, M. Scanlan Ellington, J. S. Farman East Leon, O. D. Waldrou Fowlersville, Jas. McPherson Farmington. J. E. Macomber Flint Creek, E. B.Woodworth Fayette, G. W Bachman Farmer, J. D. Wintersteen Five Corners, A. Palmer Fayetteville. I. N. Mead Fulton, E. Holmes Florence. S. S. De Lano Friendship. O. W. Hewett Fairport, W. T. Hastings Freetown Corners, W.Swetland Freedom, E. Hewlett Farmingham, Chas. Lee Franklinville, James Seaward Fairview, E, Taylor Farmersville, H. W. Montross Frankfort, Geo. B. Judd Fort Plain. S. Tingue Fairfield, Wm. Mather Fredonia, John Lawson Fluvanna, S. Whittemore Fort Corvington.Geo. G. Payne Forestburgh, Robert Atkins Fishkill. J. H. Ro?a Florida, T.J. HoweU Flushing, W. R. Prince Goshen, B. W. Thompson Groveland, Charles Gohun Geneseo. D. H. Bisaell Greigsville, J. D. Frazer Gibsonville, J. Willson Gorham. D Halsted Geneva, H. G. Verplanck '• ' W. H. Allen Genoa, D. Hobart Ganegantslet. A. Gray Groton, R. C. Reynolds Greenwood, Levi Davis Gilbert's MiUs, M. A Fish Grove Center, J. Williams Grove, S, C. Jones GainesviUe, N, Park, jr. Gaines, J. Hutchinson Gerry, A. Langworthy Griffins Mills, S. S. Clark Groom's Corners, John Palmer Henrietta, E Kirby Honeoye Falls. H. Wheeler Hopewell, John Lewis Honeoye, Wm. Chamberlair . Hall's Corners. T. W. Hall Howlet Hill, John Case Hannibal. Arvin Rice Hull's Corners, B. Hull Hastings, L. F. Devendorf Homer, Judson C. Phillips Harford, O. M. Moore Hector, J. Kirtland .,, Hunt's HoUow, T. T. Lake Hume, Wm. N. Emerson Hornellsville, T. J. Reynolds Hammond's MiUs, S. Hammond Hindsburgh, S. Harwood Hollcy, H. Frisbie Hermitage. Sidney Stone Hartland, G. L. Angevine Herkimer, J. A. Rasb.aok Hag.aman's Mills, D. Hagaman Henderson, Rev. P. Morse Helena, Benj. Nevin Half Moon. W. Rulison Ithaca, Post Master Italy Hollow, L B. Graham Independence, J. P. Livermore Irving, C. R. Loland lunius. Wm. VI. Dorrance Jacksonville, C. H. Howe Jerusalem, U. Larselere Jamesvillo. J. W. Brewster Jeddo, W. Hoag Jamestown, J. S. Cook Jonesville. S. H. S wetland Kelloggaville, Post Master Icing's Ferry, L. Seymour Kendall, B. Densmore Kirkland. Chas E. Hart Le Roy, J. H. Stanley Lima, Chas. Miner Livonia, H. J. Ray LakeviUe, R. Clark Lyons, E, Hopkins Lock Berlin, H. Hanchet Lodi. James Mapes Locke, Wm. Titus Ledyard. A. Underhill Lafayette P.Trowbridge Liverpool. S. Jaquith Lafargeville, L. Bushnell Lairdsville. E. C. Saunders Leonardsville, Post Master Lowville, Hiram MiUs Limerick, L. Smith Linklean, J. K. Bowen Little York, J. E. Cushing Lake Ridge, L. A. Morrell Lansingville, S. C. Lyon Ludlowville, P. French Ly Sander. D. Kennedy Linden, J. M. Quale LaGracge. C. E. l^organ Lockport.H. W. Scovell Lewiston, A. V. E. Hotchkies Lyndonville, E. Chamberlain Little Falls, E. G. Chapin Litchfield. Dr. O. W. RandiOl Luzerne, M. Burdick Lancaster, Pardon Green Leon, W. Cooper Lansinburgh, S. D. Smith Mechanicsville. E. Howland MoHticello, G. W. Reynolds Mamaroneck, J. D. Hill Milton, Stephen Taber Malone, G. S. Adams MayviUe, Post Master Mina, James Otaway Magnolia, R. Whitney Mexico. B Higgins Moravia, Rowland Day Mohawk, H.C.White McGrawville. Samuel Andrews Mt. Washington. A. Wheeler Martin's Hill, A. Buckley Maine, R. S. Osborne Mendon, D. Tallmage Mt. Morris, H. Swan Moscow, Wm. Lyman Manchester, P. Mitchell Manlius Center, Jno. Mabie Marion. L. Clark Macedon, S. D. Wilson Macedon Center, S. L. Shotwell Marengo, D. Johnson Motfs Corners, Wm. Mott, 2d Middlesex, L. Van Anden Moreland, G. Bennett Mixville L. Couch Mud Creek, D. K. coon Morristown, M. Eager Mecklinburgh, Jas. B. Bodle Mannsville. J.I. Steele Montezuma, Wm. Fitch Marathon. .lobn M. Roo Morgan ville, C, English Machias, R. L. Whitcher Medina, J. W. Swan Middleport. E. Hurd Murray. A A. Baker Marcy, W. M. Mayhew Milo Center, A. G. Carr MarceUus. Wm. Colton Marshall. J . W. Moore Modena, D. Everitt Moore's, Titus Newell No. Gage, A. F. RockweU No. Norwich, H. H. Beecher No. Reading, J. Masters AGENTS FOR THE FARMER. Nunda, J. Swain Newark, T. Dickinson New Haven. S G Merriman New Hartford. Hiram Shays New York Mills, S. Maltbie New Woodstock, S. L. Hubbard Newfield, J. B. Palmer Nichols, C. V. S. Bliven New Berlin Center, A. Greene Nicholsville, E. D. Peck Niagara tails. R. H. Woodruff Newfanc, George Mann Newville, Jacob Walter Nineveh, Aaron Wilcox NashviUe, A. S. Moss Newburgh, Daniel Smith New York. Leavitt, Trow & Co. New Paltz. A. A. Deyo, Jr. No. Bay. Noah Wadliams No. Bergen, D. A. Barker No, Ridgeway. E. W. Hawkins No. Bloomfield, E. A. Stillman No. Brookfield. J. F. Falkner No. Wethersfield, C. Lyon Oakland, E. H. Fitch Ontario, A. W. Turner Ovid, C. A. Gibbs Ovid Center, Geo. Dunlap Owaseo, D. Bevior Otisco, E. C. Smith Onondaga. H. P. Shove Oran, L. Williams Oswego. Philo M . Carpenter Oriskany Falls. A.M Hitchcock Oneida Ca.stle, H. G. Wetmore Oriskany, D. C. Bates Omar, T. R. Stackhouse Oxford, C. A Bacon Ogdensburgh. L. D. Pomeroy Owego, G. T. FumpeUy Oakfield, W. W. Mclntyre Penn Yann. D. A. Ogden Phelps, Samuel E. Norton Port Gib.son, Reeve Corwin Palmyra, Wm. H. Cuyler PultneyviUe, C. G. Richards Port Byron. D. Robinson Pompey, Wm. J. «;urtis Phoenix, J. R. Brown Pratt's Hollow, O. Chamberlain Peterboro'. Neil Eastman Frattsburgh, W. B. Boyd Pultney, S. G. Smith Pike, Augustus Winsor Preston, Smith Johnson Pavillion. Wm. M. Sprague Pavillion Center, G. Harnett Perry. R. Senter & D. C. Smith Perry Center, J. Lathrop Peoria, J. Gordon Portageville. Allen Payne Pekin, S. S. Sage Portland, E. S. Bartholomew Persia, J. B. Wilbur Poughkeepsie, D. B. Ltnt Platt«hurgh, I C. Piatt Porter's Corners, 1. I. Yates Piorrepont Manor, J. G. Pease Plainville Jno. Buck PhilipsviUe, C. J. Home Prattsville, Hon. Z. Pratt Penfleld, H. Fellows Parma Center. C. A. Knox Perrinton. J. Chadwick Pittsford, Caleb Nye Rutland, Moses Eames Rock Stream, 0 W Barnes Richburgh, P L Evans Rushford. I N McCaU Reading Center, A Simmons Rushville. P Vorce Ransomville, D Lewis Reynold's Basin, Davis Hurd Ridgeway. Stephen Barrett Royalton, J H Bixby Richfied, F C Shepard Richfield Springs, James Hyde Ridge. E. Stilson Rose, E. N. Thomas Red Creek. J. W. Carey Reed's Corners. S. McPherson Romulus, Jo. Wykoff Redfield, H. Griswold Roosevelt, J P Chaffee Rome, J Hathaway Remsen, W L Williams Ripley, S B Northam Randolph, M H Johnson Roeendale, Wm H Snyder, jr Peneca Falls, Silsby &. Keeler Syracuse. Stoddard & Babcock Strykersville. H B Rounds Sheldon. E P Beck Stone Church, Alvah Stevens Somerset. J Miithews Shelby, J GiLson Sandusky, E Holmes Southport. C Evans Salisbury. I, Carryl Spafford Hollow, W O FarreU Stamford, C Griffin So Cameron, Isaac Jones South Valley, D W Rice Spencerport, Jesse Harroun SeottsviUe, Ira Carpenter Sweden, A Comstock Scottsburgh, C Brewer Sparta, Wm D McNair Spotswood, Samuel Lewis Seneca Castle, J W Runyan Sodus, A M Winchester Salmon Creek, G Filkins Sheldrake, J Harris Summer Hill, H H Barber Scipioville.G L Watkins Sennett, H Fisher Sterling, W H Langley Spafford, Jno Collins ■ Skaneateles. W Piatt Scriba, Thomas Askew Siloam, U P Strong SmithvUle, Geo Babbitt Smyrna, Benj Knowles Sherburne, E Shaw SmithviUe Flats. Thos Lee Scott, Thomas Harrop Slatersville, Peter Mulks Searsburgh, J Mekeel Starkey. C G TuthiU Short Tract. M Thorpe Sacketts Harbor, D C McGuire Stockbridge, D H Frost Stone Mills, James Greene Springville. Wm K Blasdell Sardinia, H Bailey Stockton, Milton Smith Sheridan, I I Eacker Sherman. Post Master Silver Creek. H H Hawkins Southampton, B H Foster Salisbury Mills, John Caldwell Salem, Editor "County Post" So Argyle, John Bishop So Avon. N J Kellogg So Dansville, A W Beach So Butler, L S Dudley So Onondaga, J Salmons So Richland, S Tinker So Bainbridge, M Jackson So Danby, A Bennett So Venice, W S Tupper So Warsaw, J Fuller So Plymouth, Delos Jones Stafford, S Marsh South Hartford,' Jas L Ingalsbe Schultzsville, D H Schultzs Schuylersville, Post Master Saratoga Springs. W Carpenter Stillwater, J F Wetsel Trumansburgh, L Strobridge Truxton, Stephen Patrick Tyre, H McCarty Tontine. A W Beach Texas, Hiram Parker Turin, A Fowler Tyrone, C WeUer Tonawanda. Jacob Kibler Townsend, S C Swim Tobehanna, A Kendall Towlesville. C Tanner Triangle, W Jackson The Purchase. Samuel Willett Troy, Geo Vail Ticonderoga, M T Clough Union Springs, Wm Cozzens Union Settlement, S Penoyer Unadilla Forks, H H Babcock Union EUery. W Bacon Volusia, G N Van Vleet Versailles, A H Baker Victor, P Parks Volney, S Pardee Vernon Center, E .M Foote Virgil, J S Squires Van Buren Center, D J Skinner Viin Buren, H R Dow Wheatland, Gen R Harmon Webster, Dr O Reynolds Westfield, E C Bliss Waterloo, C H Carter Wyoming, I H Gould Wolcott. G H A me Walworth, B Billings WilUiamson, C S Decon Weedsport, D E Havens Whitestown. John Berry Westmoreland, A H HaUeck Waterville. A M Owen Watertown. Wm Richey Woodville, J W Tinn Waterburgh, L H Owens Wirt, J B Kenyon Whitney's Point, J D Smith Warsaw, C J Judd Wethersfield, R B Crippen Wilson, R F Wilson Wright's Corners, S C Brown Worcester, A Ten Eyck Windsor, Silas S Gage Winfield, J T Round Waterford, J I Scott Whitehall, A Hall Willink, S Holmes Williamsville, J Hutchinson Wales Center. Alonzo Havens West Stockholm, E D Taylor West Butler. George Stewart West Bloomfield. D M Smith West Dresden, Wm Holden West Fayette, P Kohler West Camden, A W Barnes West Bergen, Wm Luther West Somerset, M S Hess West Carlton, George Kuck West Gaines, J V Saunders West Oneonta, Joseph Bull We.st Troupsburgh, N M Perry York, D McDonald. C P Stone Yorkshire, L Marsh Y oungstown, J Ladd Yates. J B LoweU MAINE. Augusta, R Eaton Belfast, W T Colbura Foxcraft. H Douty Fort Fairfield, J B Trafton North Wayne. R B Dunn Orrington. A D Atwood Portland. Levi Weymouth Readfield, H A Johnson Waldo, Henry Davidson VERMONT. Arlington. Samuel Benedict Barnet, F J Eastman Cornwall. C H Stowell Castleton, J D Goodwin Chelsea, Jonathan Brown Danby, Joseph Lapham East Bethel, O H Brooks Factory Point, C A Roberts Grafton, Capt John Day Hydeville, Pitt W Hyde Jacksonville, Horace Tanner Johnson, Robert Holmes Middlebury, S W Jewett North Montpelier,C Libby North Springfield, Joel Griswold Rochester, Post Master SimonsviUe, A Hazletine Shrewsbury, Dr L W Guernsey St .AJbans, B B Newton Sax's MiUs, H A Hinkley Rockingham, B Spaulding Pittsford, J C Wheaton Reedsboro' City, Joel Ranney Rupert, H Sheldon Townshend, O F Butterfield MASSACHUSETTS. Ashburnham, Geo Atkinson Amherst. Daniel Cowles Boston, J P Jewett & Co Brain tree. B B French Cabottville, M Pinney Deerfield, J A Allen East Long Meadow, H J Crooks East Harwich, Samuel Bassett Harwich, O Brooks, jr Hardwick, J B Wetherell Nantucket, S B Swain Sunderland, C WiUiams South Reading, Hiram Eaton Worcester, Ruggles Jlourse & Co Ware. Ebenezer Gould Whateley, Stolham AUis Warren. Lyman Day CONNECTICUT. Avon, F Ripley Brookfield, S M Burr Bridgeport. Henry Sheltoa Cheshire, Titus Morse Cold Spring, VAi J Morris Danbury. J R Wildman Derby, Robert Gates Fairfield. Edmund Hobart Fair Haven. Stephen Smith, 2d Greenwich. Samuel Close Hamden, W Churchill Hebron, Charles Post Hartford, Lorenzo Bull Jewett City. E M Brewster Lyme Rock. Wm A Crewell Middle Haddam. H Selden Meriden, Elah Camp Marlborough. George T Lord North Branford. R Clark North Somers. Elias Sheldon Redding Ridge. C C Winton So Farms, W L Smedley So Canaan, John B Reed So Britain, F HGray Somers, Samuel D Chapin Waterbury, E Leavenworth Weston, S S Rowland Warren, J L Hendrick Waterford, J C Calkins Windham, John G Clark PENNSYLVANIA. Abington Center, R Sisson Alleghany. Wm Karns Adamsburg, Samuel Miller Albion, J Hunt Butler, D A Agnew Bakerstown, Wm Duncan Beelville, Morgan Wise Coultersville, P Repsher Cookstown, R Kitts Clintonville, James Baird Centerville, S Post Carmichael's, J A Patterson Crossingville, W Gill Clarksville, D Dickson Carversville, Samuel Bradshaw Dunning-sville, Robert Moore, jr Dowington, J K Eshlemen Dundaff, D W Halsted Erie, Robert Evans Elk Creek, N Lounsbury Edinboro' E W Gerrish East Smithfield, Allen Hale Freeport, A Anderson Fallston. James Carothers Franklin. James M Martin Florence, J P M Buchanan Fredericksburg, M J Grove Finleyville, Samuel (^oopet Gir.ard, Mortimer Hopkins Gray's Valley, M Strange Harbor Creek, Calvin Leet Harmonsburgh. John B Riee Houston, N W Priestly Halifax, E Hoffman Irish Ripple, John Davidson Jefferson, S B Wise Kittanning, I Scott Kimberton, Rev C F Welden Kennett Square, Moses Pennock Kenzua. M N Powell Kishkiminitas, W H Richardson Lockport, Levi Slater Library, James Means Logan's Ferry, G VV Martin Ligonier. John Hargnet Lewisberry, Dr W W Bower Lebanon, Samuel Miller Meadville, A Huidekoper Mt Jackson, J L Hays Mt Morris, D J Boydston Milford. C W Dewitt North East, Wm Griffith New Alexandria Lewis Scanor New Milford; Wm C Ward Philadelphia, J S Skinner Pittsburgh, Jacob Boyer Perrysville, M V B McAleer Pulaski, D C Mathews Paradise, Jacob Eshleman Reading. John K Wright Rostraver. M W Eckley Reidsburgh, G R Magee Sugar Grove, G W Buel Strongstown, Edmund Burke Tarentum, W Ross, jr Tinker Run, Jacob Spencer AGENTS FOR THE FARMER. Ulysses, G 11 Olmsted Van Burcn, Adam Weir Waterforford. John Curtis Wesleyville. f Hull, Woodcock. David Swift Wilkins, A F Gore Washington. W Slocum Worthington. J M Jordan Woodbury, George Diltz York, John Evans VIRGINIA. Alexandria. S N Wright Boothvile, B Linn Circleville, George Gregg Dranesville, J B Karr Duffields. Dr Mix Green Valley Depot. A A Parker Grave Creek, B Cockagm Holiiday's (^ove. James Ross Hillsville, R C Johnson Hague. R H Chowning Kerr's Creek, J C Laird Lexington, G A Baker Lovettsville. J C White Millwood. George H Burwell Morgantown, E ( • Wilson Mt Jackson. Dr A R Meems Nineveh. Samuel Cook New Market, S P Rupert Natural Bridge, Capt J W Jloore Paris. I Settle Panther's Gap, D Kunkle Purcell's Store, F M Love Richmond, R A Joseph Spartapolis, D Martz Thompsonville. F L Cooper UppervUle, R H Dulany Waterford, H T Gove OHIO. .A.kron. George E Beebe Amboy, ApoUusKent Avon, Wm S Hopkins Andover. Kph Selby Austinburgh, R IM Walker Birmingham. John Hunter Brighton. Albert Niles Brecksville, C L Young Bath. Dr Cushmin Bucyrus. R T Johnston Barnesville, T M Scholfield Brunswick, John Graham Brier Hill. C Howard Bellevue. Lemuel Morse Cleveland. J Stair Sc Son Columbus, M B Bateham Chester X Roads. L D Stannard Clinton, H G Washburn Claridon, Elihu Pinney Chagrin Falls, J A Brown Cobb's Corners, Samuel Cobb Charlestown, L L Brown Deardorff's Mills, H J Shotley Defiance. Wm C Holgato Elyria, Elijah De Witt Euclid. A H Coit Enon, Isaac S Wilson Edinburgh, Rev A Y Tuttle East Cleveland, R Harlow Essex, George Taft Franklin Mills. R Bradley Freedom. O L Drake Foster's Mills, H J Flack Florence, H S Adams Fowler, Isaac A Smith Geneva, Geo W Shepard Granger, Ira M Lawrence Huntsburg, J Edwards Hill Grove, R A Cooper Henrietta. Wm L Van Dusen Huntington, W Clark Homer, Jay Wheeler Hillsboro', J A CaldweU Jeromeville, J W Boyd Jefferson, S D Dann Lyme. J 3hn Seymour Laporte. D Tenuy Litchfield. J H Carpenter Malta, G S Hann Medina, Joseph Fitch Morgan, A Osborne Monroeville, J Hoover Malaga, D P Truax Maumee City. W .-V Woodward Manhattan, R M Morrison McConnelsville, H Teter Mt Vernon, J H Minor Milton, J J Tod Newark, H S Sprague Newbury, Cutler Tyler North Rochester. B C Perkins North Fairfield, Benj Hildreth New Lisbon. B F Thompsrn Newtown Falls, R A Burbank Oberlin, E F ftlunson Olivesburgh. W B Porter Perrysburgh. J Hood Ravanna. J S Herrick Russell, N Robinson Ruggles. I Fitch Ripleyville, L W Ingersoll Stony Point. James A Smith Streetsboro'. Ora Osgood Savannah, J McCutchen Salem. Dr George Baum Sandusky City, Francis Falley Toledo, Wm Wallis Tallmade, H S Carter Twinsburgh, E T Richardson Tiffin, Louis Staib Utica, J N Shepherd Urbana, James Taylor Vernon, N Case Weymouth, J A Potter Warrenton A Morgrove Warren, Dea O Braiuard Whiteford. J G Klinck Willoughby. Sylvester Smith WilUamsfleld, Moody Chase Western Star, H G Dodge Warsaw, Wm Moore MICHIGAN. Atlas. E Goodrich Adrian. Rov A Tucker Assyria. < ' P White Athens Isham Simons. Albion. OPice Algonac, Norman Klein Allegan. Daniel Foster Abscoti. G B Murfay Birmingham. John Davis Blissfield, D Carpenter Berrien Springs. George Essick Bellevue. John F Hinman Battle Creek, A Noble Bertrand, Charles M Riley Big Beaver, Ira Smith Brownstown, B T Woodruff Bainbridge, J T Taber Cold Water, James B Crippin Constantine. J K Briggs Colon. S S Riley Con vis, H G Hodskin Clinton. D Keyes Climax Prairie. N Eldred Cooper, B Earle (Portland, Philo Beers Concord. L Keeler Detroit. Rev G W Harris Dearbornville, H Van Orden Davisonville. O Palmer Dundee, S S Benham Dewitt. D Ferguson East Raisinville. L Sackett Eckford, Wm N Wil'der Edwai-dsburg, .\nson Lisk Eaton Rapids, H &. D Wilcox Eaton, Wm Southworth Fentonville, R LcRoy Franklin, B D Worthing Fredonia, Seth ( base Farmington. P Dean Warner Flint, Post Master Flowerfleld, J N Wheeler Florida. W Thompson Grand Rapids, O U Foote " J D Lyon Grand Blanc.'j K Abbott Genesee. A E Wilcox Galesburgh. H P Sherman Greenville. H M Moore Grand Haven. S S Secord Gun Plains, D B McMartiu Hillsdale, U Johnson, jr Highland. Mrs R E Perry Homer. J M B Wetherwax Hudson. W L Lamed lladley. Edward Fortune Holland, R A Roys Howell. Geo W Lee Ionia, Benj Harter Iron Creek. G S Smith Joneiiville. C Gregory J.acksou. Otis C Freeman J0.SC0. Wm H Redfield Johnstown. D L Shotwell Jackson's Mills. John Ivison Kalamazoo, A Ransom, W L Booth Lansing. Hon Geo B Cooper Litchfield. L Sm'th Lapeer, J M Wattles M.arshall, O C Comstock, jr Macon. Israel Pennington Milford. John Taylor Mt Clemens. J 1 Traver Mason, Huram Bristol Moscow. E Belding Monroe, T B Van Brunt Manchester. A. W Case Morenci. D M Haight Marion. H Wing Medina. A Allen Mackinac. GT Wendell Manilas. R <"urtis Muskegon Forks, J F Stearns Matherton, Wm Mather Niles. James Aldrich Northville. D H Rowland Norvell, S W Palmer New Haven. R O Milton Nottaway. J H Clowes Novi. James Elmore 0.^kville. ST Hardy Otisco. R R Cook • Oneida, S Preston Pinckney. L D Smith Pontiac. S W Denton Plymouth. J W Averill Paris. S S Bailey Paw Paw. J Smolke Port Huron. A Fish Pitt^field. John Hoy Plainwell. Wm Wadhams Pittsford, C Mullen Rochester. E W Lawrence, Raisin. E Jones Royal Oak. A C Brewste-r Rollin, E S Marvin Ridgeway, Oliver MiUer Richland. F Lyttle St Joseph. C C Sutton Spring Arbor, James De Puy Saujiatuck, S A Morrison Stockbridge, S Bebee Schoolcraft. E G Robinson Summit. E Whittaker South Nankin, J J Wright Springville. J Hart Summerville. ■V Hammond St < lair, Wm B Barrow Sackett's. James Miller Seneca. A Stevenson, jr Three Rivers. H H Cole Tecumseh. J H Miles Thetford, D N Montague Tekonsha, H Proctor Utica, Wm H Lester Union City. J C Leonard IJnadilla. Robert Holmes Vermontviile. Henry Robinson White Pigeon. W O Austin Wayne, Justus Gage White Lake, H Voorhies Waterford Cc^nter. Wm Capron Ypsilanti, Eli Dickinson INDIANA. Annapolis, W Hadley Armiesburg. R K Harris Aurora, P B VaU Brookville, B II Burton Bristol, D D Cathcart Bath. Wm Mixer Cannalton, J B Maynard Canton. M McCoy Fort Wayne. J D G Nelson Fairfipld. J N McManus Goshen. J R McCord Good Hope, R Stone Ilngerstown, Wm. V Davis Hudson. H Kellogg Indianapolis. Powell Howland Leo, Henry Miller Lafayett(!, James Hollingsworth Logansport. R F Graves MLshawaka, S P Hart Martinsburgh, Jesse <'rim New London, John Newliu, jr New Salem. Pos* Master New Harmony. Wm Cox Northport, D Law Onondaga. Major Tuttle : Princeton, John Arbuthnot Patoka, David Milbnrn Plymouth. James Bannon Patriot, Wm Gibson Richmond. \\m \\ iggins Rainsville, Ezra High Rochester, J W Holman Salem, Deal & Birdsong Scipio, R McGuire Spiceland. D Boone Suaelser's Mills. J Smelset Troy, John P Dunn Utica, W P Robinson Unionville, James W Carter Union Mills. L Stevnson Versailles, D P Shook Valparaiso, Oliver Somers Wabash, A P Ferry VVilliamsburgh. S Johnson Williamsport. Dr U Boyer KENTUCKY. Alexandria. F Brown Athens, Richard Spurr Bridgeport, Post Master Bowling Green Adams&HobsoB Big Spring, Dr McMurtry Bellevieu. J &. R E Bennett Brushy Fork, Dr ( ' Stuart Carrollton, G D H inkle Centciville. J B Wasson Cynthiana, Samuel Tucker Dry Ridge. Geo W Tucker DaUas, M G McQueary Elkton, W B Taylor l':dmonton. Post Master Florince, Wm P Tucker Fairfield, Thomas Bryant Glasgow, James Ewbank Hopkinsville, Thomas S Bryan Jeffersontown, J \\' Garr Kiddvillc. John Goff Louisville. Post Master Lebanon. Samuel Spaulding Long Run. B S Shelbern Mortonsville. D D Walker Middle Creek Mills. J M Collyer Mt Ida, A G Gateskill No Middletown, N G DarnaU Paris. A G Tompkins Port Royal, Dr S K Page Stanford, II C Helm Simpsonville. H B Oliver Trenton. L B Leavell Union, V Dickerson Winchester, J Taliaferro Williamstown, S Doud West Point. R A Bartlett WISCONSIN. Aztalan H H Sedgwick Alcove, J Y V\estervelt Benton, George L Boss Beloit, Granger Gates Bee Town. Silas Burt Big Bend. Isaac Bailey Baraboo, James M Clark Ceresco, ( harles R Angle Clinton. J L Winegar Delavan, Tho.iias M Martin Elk Grove, H Dishelherst Fond du Lac, Wm c Dodge Fox Lake, V. M Kingsbury Grafton, B McConviU Hartford, L K Peck Ive's Grove, S (' Howard Johnstown, S Belden Jamestown. James Gilmore Koshkonong. E H Bingham Linden, John Wasley Madison, Dr H A Tiffany Milwaukee. J Curtis Mukwanago. G L Whitney Muskego, L Parker Mansfield, H VVarriner Neenah, Wm H Scott Oshkosh, James Gillespie Palmyra, P H Turner Port Washington, Thos Mooney Port Winnebago. C Randall Potosi, D R Burt Rochester, Wm Watts Racine, .Alfred Smith Raymond. Elder D Dye Rock Hill. O W How Spring Prairie, E D Smith South port. Rev Thomas Tenay Sheboygan Falls. J Brown Sheboygan, jlost Master Vernon, J M'Stilwell Waukesha, J A Carpenter V\'awautosa, N Wesson Waterloo, Charles D Topping Watertown, J A Hadley Whitewater, E S Kellogg Waushara. B Ferguson Wheatland, h Chesley lilill fill ^a Vol. 9. ROCHESTER, N. Y.— JANUARY, 1848. No. 1. THE GEIVBSEE FARRIER: Issued on the first of each month, at Rochester, A'. Y., by D. D. T. MOORE, PBOPRIBTOR. DANIEL LEE & D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. p. BARRY, Conductor of Horticultural Department. FIFTY CENTS A YEAR: Five copies for $2, and any lai-ger number at the same rate, if directed to individuals. Eight copies for $3, if only directed to one person — and any .larger number, addressed in like man- ner, at the same rate. All subscriptions payable in advance, and to commence -svith the volume. (t!j= Back numbers sup- plied to new subscribers. Letters containing romittanceg, or making inquiries for the benefit of the writer, must be post-paid or free in order to receive proper attention. Address the Publi.shcr. Agricultural Education. A PEW weeks since we spent several days at Milledgeville, where tlie Legislature of Georgia is in ses.sion, and was highly gratified to see all parties favor a bill which appropriates $2,500 a year to found and sustain an Agricultural Pro- fessorship in the State University. There is good reason to believe that this bill will become a law. We have just returned from a visit to Colum- bia, the capital of South Carolina, where we attended the commencement of the flourishing College under the presidency of the Hon. W. C. Preston, one of the most gifted and eloquent men now living. A young gentleman is now fitting himself at Geissen University with Lie- big, to teach agricultural chemistry in South Carolina College. This institution receives an- nually .$24,000 from the State to pay the sala- ries of professors, and has 240 students. It is cheering to one who has long urged the importance of studying agriculture as a learned and most useful profession, to find so many States willing to foster this branch of knowledge. The agricultural Colleges in Tennessee and Ohio, are said to be in a flourishing condition. Nor can we doubt of the success of Messrs. Horsford and Norton, the former of Harvard, and the latter of Yale College. Some time after the other twenty-nine States have introduced the study of agricultural science into their institu- tions of learning, we expect to see the Legisla- ture of our native State, New York, appropriate the first dollar for a similar purpose. What other State has public works which yield an in- come of three and a half millions 1 How easily New York might establish a most useful agricul- tural department in connection with all her Acad- emies and literary Colleges! Where are her statesmen, her men of generous impulses, of en- larged and liberal minds ? Alas ! th'ey are driv- en into obscurity by a race of selfish, mousing politicians. To the Young Farmers of the Em- pire State we look to elevate their noble calling, in learning, in science, and in public favor, to a par with the most cherished in the Union. Wherever we address popular assemblies in other States, the young men come forward and cordially take us by the hand, with an earnest expression of hope to see Agriculture placed at the head of the learned professions in this Nation of Farmers. This result must be achieved. It is a noble work, in which all noble minds will cheerfully toil by night and by day, till fully ac- complished. No sneers and ridicule, no secret opposition nor open indifference, can prevent the ultimate triumphs of knowledge over both preju- dice and ignorance. A good scientific agricul- tural education will one day be placed within the reach of every poor man's son. This is our faith. Instead of there being four millions of adult males employed in rural occupations in America, thirty-nine in every forty of whom never see an agricultural paper or book, ninely-nine out of every one hundred farmers will be more thor- oughly educated than lawyers, doctors, and cler- gymen now are, in their respective professions. Our ideas of education are too narrow, too small for the greatness of those intellectual pow- ei-s and moral perceptions, which our Maker has bestowed on us for purposes as great as the gift. The physical man can have only his victuals and his clothes. John Jacob Astor can not obtain a particle more with all his wealth. Man was not designed to pass through life a mere animal ma- chine— a living thing to toil with its muscles, eat, propagate, and rot. He needs other aliment be- side the bread and meat produced by the agricul- turist. It is the legitimate purpose of a good education to cultivate the Man as well as the Earth, out of v/hich he was formed. What we particulariy desire is, to see every- where in this Republic the union of the culture of the earth and the tillers of the same. It is only by their just and harmonious union that man-culture and field-culture — Ao?wo-culture and floriculture — can be brought to a high state of improvement. It is no vanity to say that we have long studied the science of Homoculture in connection with tillage. The subject is one of inestimable moment. The extreme selfishness of man as a physical being, is the most powerful obstacle in the way of his intellectual and moral elevation. Strong as is this animal selfishness, 10 GENESEE FARMER. Jan. it is not insuperable. In the end, it must yield obedience to a higher power. This higher pow- er must be brought to full and perfect maturity in the person of every laboring man and woman in the United States. Rural and mechanical laborers of either sex should be more thoroughly educated than those that live without work. — Idle, lazy persons, have no share in our regards or sympathy. We want every laboring man to know how to set himself at work to the best ad- vantage ; and then, how to keep all that his mus- cles and highly cultivated intellect shall call into e.xistence. The science of keeping property as well as the art of creating a comfortable subsist- ence, should be taught to every child. Why not 1 Yes, to/iy not? We pause for a reply. Manure fermenting in the Soil. Our correspondent "R.," of Sweden, has a valuable article in our last number in regard to the Saving and Application of Manure. He "believes that manures lose half their value by lying in the heap till thoroughly decomposed." In this he is undoubtedly right, for reasons which we will briefly explain : Vegetables, when undergoing decomposition, (rotting,) give off a gas called carbonic acid, wa- ter, and nitrogen gas or ammonia. Each of these constituents of cultivated plants is not mere- ly valuable as food to the growing crop, be it what it may, but they all contribute to the im- provement of the soil in a variety of ways. To avoid the too rapid solution of lime. Providence has rendered it insoluble when in its natural state, in water in which there is no carbonic acid.- The atmosphere contains only 1 part of this gas in 2,500. Rain water imbibes a portion of car- bonic acid in its fall from the clouds to the earth, and is thus capable of dissolving a limited quan- tity of common limestone in the soil. When water, thus charged with this indispensable min- ei'al, enters the roots of plants, it carries into their circulation the much needed lime, in small and appropriate doses. Where lime is lacking, it should be applied. During dry weather, when of course no rain falls, this source of carbonic acid and moisture is measurably cut off. If fer- menting manure be buried in the soil, its decom- position yields water and carbonic acid as well as ammonia and the min'erals in the vegetables out of which the manure was formed. Water rising up from the subsoil by the evaporation from green leaves, and the drying of the surface of the ground, through capillary attraction, is satu- rated with carbonic acid from the manure, and hence prepared to dissolve lime. This acid greatly aids in decomposing the insoluble sili- cates of potash, soda, magnesia, and lime — form- ing soluble carbonates of those alkaline bases. — These minerals, as is well known, are indispen- sable in the organization of all cultivated plants. If Providence had rendered the elements in the surface of the earth which form vegetables, very soluble, like common salt, it is plain that they would dissolve like snow in May, and run into rivers and the ocean. This would lead to speedy and irredeemable sterility. The more carefully we study the growth of the plants which feed the higher order of animals, the more deep- ly are we impressed with the infinite wisdom and goodness of the Creator of the world which we inhabit. Cultivated reason has power to investi- gate and comprehend the natural laws which dis- organize the products of vegetable vitality, and re-organize the earth, air, and water, evolved by the decay of organic matter. At the time such decay is in progress, if the gasses given off find a well tilled, permeable soil, they will increase the solubility of all the minerals which form the ash of forest trees, and of all minor vegetables. Mold undergoing decomposition, produces in a less degree the same results as manure. Hence, deep plowing and mixing mold (organic matter) with the minerals below, favors their solution, secures the access of solar heat and the atmos- phere, to prepare nourishment for the crops of the skilful husbandman. On soils which are naturally poor the farmer's stock of fermenting manure can be profitably in- creased by gathering a large quantity of forest leaves to be used as litter in yards and stables. — The most successful agriculturists at the South keep boys at work with horse rakes in the open pine or oak forests, raking up into winrows the large mass of leaves spread over the ground. — Other boys or men throw these winrows into carts drawn by mules, and the leaves are hauled to stables and cattle yards to be made into com- post. The writer finds that the long leaf pine gives 4i lbs. ash to 100 lbs. dry leaves. The leaves of black-jack oak yield on the barrens of Georgia less than 3 per cent, of ash. We have traced the roots of these trees seven feet into the earth, and have admired the wonderful resources of Nature as she draws thousands of tons of pot- ash, soda, lime, iron, and magnesia, comibned with sulphuric, phosphoric, hydrochloric, silicie. and carbonic acids — the minerals in the leaves of forest trees — from seven feet below the sur- face, to spread them on the top of the ground and thus renovate poor soils. These salts are combined in pine leaves with 95i per cent, of organized carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitro- gen, drawn either directly or indirectly from the atmosphere. Here, then, we witness the hand of Providence scattering the seeds of pines over the sterile debris of granitic rocks, almost drift- ing sand, which extract their mineral food from five to ten feet below the surface, and their car- bon, water, and nitrogen from the air. The nitrogen exists in the atmosphere in the shape of ammonia and nitrous or nitric acid dissolved in vapor, and falling in rains to the earth. Keep- 1848. GENESEE FARMER. 11 ing an eye on the sources whence the ingredi- ents are derived which form forest leaves, we see a thinking, reasoning, talking animal, trans- forming these leaves into bread, meat, milk, fruit, wool, cotton, and silk. This animal has much to learn in the way of thinking, reasoning, and talking, before he will bring the production of human food and clothing to the highest attainable perfection. In this good work of human progress and hu- man elevation, we respectfully ask every reader to lend a helping hand. Communicate to your brother farmers through the pages of this journal a knowledge of any great, or of any small im- provement you may make or learn from others. Be willing to try experiments, at least in a small way, to evolve new truths in the art and science of rural economy. No man is so humble that he can not contribute to the sum total of human knowledge. Our maxim, "Teach one another," should be held in remembrance by every sub- scriber. The usefulness of the Farmer depends in a great degree on the contributions of so many excellent practical husbandmen. These have the gratitude, not only of the writer of this, but of every reader. The Genesee Farmer has ac- quired a national reputation through the ability of its correspondents. Shrinking of Pork. Our esteemed correspondent "H.," of Fair- port, asks for information in the December num- ber in regard to the causes which make pork shrink when cooked. This is a curious and interesting subject of inquiry. If there is any material difference in the shrinkage in the weight of the flesh of swine, equally fat, when boiled a given time, the cause must he sought in the greater quantity, of soluble gelatin (glue) in the tissues of one animal than in another. It is very possible that, if one was to evaporate the water in which corresponding pieces of pork from dif- ferent hogs equal in weight had been boiled, the liquid in which shrunken meat had been cooked, would give the larger quantity of jelly. It is not water that the meat looses in boiling ; but soluble organized matter. Hence, salt meat, whether pork, beef, or mutton, should have its excess of salt, if any, soaked out in pure cold wa- ter, that all the dissolved jelly or flesh may be eaten as well as a chicken, veal, or beef soup. The science of dietetics is very little under- stood, as we took occasion to point out a few months since. It is a curious fact, that we nei- ther know how to raise and improve pigs, nor how to fatten, cure, and cook their flesh, nor how to eat it in the way to impart to our systems the largest amount of nourishment. After a great deal of study, the wisest just make out to learn that they know next to nothing. Experi ence teaches us that a pig fed on mast, or still slops, will make more oily pork — meat more melting in boiling water — than one fattened on sound corn. This is generally understood. — But the causes wliich change the quality and sol- ubility of lean meat, as well as fat, are not so apparent. We must search into the legumin in peas, and the muscle and tissue forming elements in the vegetables, pot-liquor, butter milk, and other food of swine, for a solution of the problem. In a hen's q^^ we see all the constituents of a perfect bird in a semi-liquid state ; while hot water solidifies the whole contents of the shell. Albumen in meat and flour, as well as in the white of eggs, coagulates in hot water. But even this will come out of meat, as it separates from its solution in old brine on scalding it. Some say that such brine should not be scalded ; for the reason that, after its capacity for dissolving albumen and jelly is exhausted, it is better to ap- ply to fresh meat, (after it is also saturated with salt,) than new brine. It is possible that the character of the brine may have a decided influ- ence on the shrinkage of pork and beef in boiling them. If all the nutritive matter which is dis- solved out of meat in brine, and boiled out in dinner pots and wasted, were saved, it would be worth several millions a year to the people of the United States. It is only honest to own the truth and admit that, old as civilized society is, we, the men and women of forty and upward, have yet to learn our A B C in domestic econ- omy. In the first place, we waste about half of our labor by its misapplication in unwise tillage, and then waste n-^^.arly half of what we pretend to save, by some "slip between the cup and lip." From the best investigation of the causes which make meat shrink in boiling, we long since came to the conclusion, (whether wise, or other- ?me,) that it is better to bake and roast than to boil it, unless for soups, stews, and the like. Much might be said on the degree of cooking which flesh ought to receive, in order to render it most easy of digestion. "The upper ten thousand" run into the extreme of rawness ; while the mil- lion often cook meat so much that no human system can form living flesh out of it. The daily loss from the latter cause is immense — in- calculable. Anti- Friction Compound for Wagon Wheels. — Two parts in bulk of hogs lard, one each of wheat flour and black lead. Heat till the lard begins to melt, and stir the whole into a pasty mass. In very cold weather it may be softened by the addition of any cheap oil. This composition will well repay the trouble of mak- ing, and will kill all friction and squealing long after it is dry. Mankind make a parade of their sorrows, as they do Of a new coat. 12 GENESEE FARMER. Jan, European Extracts. Under this heading, we design giving, each month, condensed extracts from our European exchange publications. We have only room, in this number, for the following : Potato Rot. — M. Van der Trappe, of Wes- sel, Prussia, planted a large field of potatoes, one half in the usual method, and the other on a plan of his own discovery. Those cultivated by the usual method were diseased, and the foliage failed and dried up early ; while those cultivated by his peculiar plan remained green till late in autumn. The tubers were sound, and a great yield. So palpable was this experiment, that delegates were appointed by the town to exam- ine the result ; and they have officially promul- gated the facts, and requested the discoverer to publish his secret. Great Crop of Wheat. — Mr. Whitjng, of Monmouth, England, has the past year grown a crop of wheat, on a field of GJ acres, which pro- duced 61 imperial bushels, (equal to 71 bushels and 10 lbs. of our measure,) per acre. It was drilled in, early in January — five pecks to the acre. Sheep Pox. — This very destructive and in- fectuous disease, which arose in Germany, has been introduced into Great Britain by importa- tions from Hamburgh, and proves very fatal to sheep. From the frequent intercourse and im- portations of stock from England, there is great danger that this disease will find its way across the Atlantic. Its ravages are great and rapid. It seems to be extremely contagious and epidem- ical, making its appearance in wide spread local- ities. Inoculation is the great remedy for pre- vention, and safety during the disease — saving nine-tenths of the cases, and rendering the symptoms lighter of those incipiently diseased. A pamphlet is about to be published, giving its history, symptoms, prevention and cure, for free distribution. It is also to be tried on the human system, as a preventive against tlie small pox and varioloid. Great Yield of Wheat. — Mr. Culland, of Reculver, Kent Co., selected one acre of wheat from a field ; it was reaped and gathered with great care, for the purpose of deciding a wager, and was found to produce ten quarters and three bushels, or 83 English bushels — equal to 96 bushels and 50 lbs. of our measure. The largest amount on record, as gi'own in the Genesee country, was raised at Mt. Morris, by Gen. Mills, it being 66 bushels and some pounds. SUde Rule and Cattle Gavge. — This is an instrument lately introduced among the buyers of fat cattle, by which they can at once ascer- tain their weight with a very great degree of certaintv. I Remedy for Hoven or Bloat, occasioned by ' the eating of wet or luxuriant clovers, and j young grasses, turnip tops, &c. — Two to three table spoonsful of liquid ammonia, (hartshorn,) diluted in a half pint of water instantly stops fermentation, and causes the gasses (carbonic) to discharge. Book Farming. I We do not know whether the following was intended for publication or not, but it is so perti- nent to the subject that we venture its publicity ; Sir : — Enclosed you will receive $8 for 20 subscribers to your coming volume. I do not enter for the premiums, but am willing to do all the good I can to the agricultural community, for I am free to say that 1 am actually benefited, in dollars and cents, more than 50 dollars this year from the information that has accrued fi-om read- ing your useful paper. One of my neighbors tells me that he saved himself $20 by a single- suggestion. It seems to me that the cry of I " book farming" is a mere cover for ignorance and idleness — a wilful determination against im- provements, and fi setting up of perfectibility. Supposing that I were a person of common observation and industry, and that I had spent twenty years of my life in the cultivation of to- bacco, or hemp, or quinces, or melons, or straw-, berries, and tried all varieties and manures and methods, until I had arrived at almost the per- fectibility of the art — and that I could give, intelligibly, the whole of my experience in one page of your paper — would it not be ridiculous of any one who wished.,.to commence raising the same crop to say, " Oh, it's book farming, I won't read it," when five minutes attention would save him 20 years practice to arrive at the same conclusions I had. How does the physician, the lawyer, the scholar, procure his knowledge, ex- cept by that all powerful engine — Books ? It is not to be supposed that all, or even a moiety of what is printed is true, or judicious ; a great many articles are suggestive, specula- tive, and suppositious. Let all read, and use their best judgments to select the wheat from the chaff. If a writer says that wheat will or won't turn to chess, or that he has found out the cause of the potato disease, or that the barberry blasts wheat, or that the tree corn grows so big you can't harvest it, or that the morus multicaulis will make your fortune — or any other improbabh^ or self evident assertion — why eschew it — say stit.[f\ fudge, or any other expletive ; but experimental facts, which are borne out by reason, and en- dorsed by a respectable name, ought not to be rejected merely because it has the misfortune, according to some individuals' views, to hare been printed. Your friend, December, 1847. — . . 1848. GENESEE FARMER. 13 a Muzzle. '■i Race. 3 Forehead. 4 Poll. 5 Crest. 6 Jowl. 7 Gullet. S Windpipe. 9 Point of SholdV, iO Breast or Bosom, U Arm. 12 Elbow. 13 Firth. 14 Fknk. 15 Sheath. 16 Stifles. 17 Withers. 18 Back. 19 Loins. 20 Hip. 21 Croup. 22 Dock. 23 Quarter. 24 Thigh or Gaskin. 25 Hamstring. 26 Joint of Hock. 27 Ham or Hock. 28 Common. 29 Fetlock. 30 Large Pastern. 31 Small Pastern. 32 Coronet. 33 Hoof. 34 Knee. 35 Common. 36 Fetlock. 37 Heel. 38 Large Pastern. 39 Small Pastern. 40 Hoof. ■ (Fig. 1.) ENGLISH CART-HORSE. TERMS DENOTING THE EXTERNAL PARTS OF THE HORSE, The above engraving represents an English Cart-horse, to which the highest prize of the Royal Agricultural Society was awarded. These horses are of a large size, distinguished for strength and endurance, and well adapted to slow, heavy draught. The author of "Domestic Animals," (a new work noticed elsewhere in this number,) says : "The English Cart-horse has for a long time made up some of the best, heavy horses in this country, and late importations have refreshed the breed with additional choice specimens. The Cleveland hay has been introduced of late, and promises good carriage-horses from our well-spread, sizeable mares. The Norfolk trot- ter Belfoimder was imported many years since, and with our high-bred mares, has produced many choice roadsters and trotters." The terms denoting the external parts of the horse will be useful to many of our readers, and particularly interesting to young persons who are not familiar with the subject. The Eespectability of Agriculture. An elegant writer on the rural industry of Holland, in the last Edinburgh Review, says in relation to agriculture, "That the errors of prac- tice are corrected, and causes of failure of crops made clear by the discoveries of modern chemis- try. That by it alone the rocks and shoals that lie in the way of agricultural improvement are mapped out; deeper and more direct channels brought to light, and new methods suggested, by which not only are known ends to be attained, more completely and more economically than before, but objects also realized, which have hitherto been considered unattainable. " The doctrine, economy, composition, prepa- ration, and skilful use of manures — how wonder- fully have all these points been illustrated and developed in late years ! What the plant con- sists of— how and with what substances it is fed — what the soil naturally contains— how it is to be improved, so that what is present in it may be made readily available to the plant, and what it lacks be in the best way supplied — where the kinds of food necessary to the plants are to be obtained most abundantly, and how applied most profitably to the soil — what effects climate, situ- ation, and tillage exercise upon the fertility of the land, and upon the fertilizing virtues of what- ever is laid upon or mixed with it. These, and hundreds of similar questions, all involving or suggesting peculiar modes of practice, are arising daily, where culture is prosecuted as an advan- cing art— and they are solved especially by chem- ical research. They are all included, therefore, under what we term the chemical division of agriculture. " Let a farmer avail himself of this knowledge, and he is unconsciously raised into the intelli- gent cultivator of a most interesting branch of natural science." A knowledge of chemistry sufficient to enable a farmer to work understandingly in Nature's laboratory, his own farm, requires only that he should study the nature of about thirteen sub- stances. W. The celebrated chestnut on Mt. ^tna is 163 feet in circumference, but evidently has 5 trunks 14 GENESEE FARMER. Jaw. Hints for January. This month is an important epoch in Time ; but whether this old beldame, Earth, first begun to buzz round on this first day, sacred to the heathen god Janarius ; or vvhetlier Adam on this day was first created and given power over all the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air, or whether it is entirely an assumption of our progenitors, we plead ignoramus. But our belief is that it is entirely arbitrary, and confess to a dread and dislike of the coldblasts of win- ter ; that death and nonentity of all things beau- tiful and fair — that period of monotony — of snows, of frosts, of wind, and mud ; the absence of leaf and life, of song, and the blessed invigo- rating rays of the glorious luminary of day. Had we, in the fulness of our human ignorance, the power of commencing time, of beginning our solar year, it would have been at a period when all things are as verdant as our precious selves — when nature in the redundant luxury of fruition makes this glorious world a paradise, a paragon of beauty and life. " But it is as.it is, and can't be no 'tiser." So we must be content, and grub along with the best grace we may, on spare-rib and Jonny cake, leafless trees and cold toes. So let us turn over a new leaf; that is, all of us who are not so perfect as to be beyond amendment — for many of our old leaves are blot- ted and dirty, by bad acts, dogs-ears, and sins of omission and commission — and start de novo upon the improved knowledge and principles of a forever past year's experience. Look over your books, and see how you stand with the world, in the Debit and Credit scale. Pay thy creditor while thou art in his way, lest he send the sherifl', and he send thee to prison ; verily thou shall not depart until thou hast paid the utmost farthing. But, thanks to our liberal legislators, who go about the world like roaring lions, doing good, we are out of that scrape — we can't be imprisoned for civil debt ; but neverthe- less, dear reader, if you can pay all of your indebt- edness when you lay your head upon pour pillow, an independent man, Santa Glaus will fill your stocking and your store — nightmare and indi- gestion will vanish — your wife will be kind, your children obedient, and all mankind be brethren and friends. Don't smoke, drink cider, and dream away long evenings. Life is short enough, and lime flies fast enough, without the adventitious aid of provocatives. Settle accounts— make calcu- Is^tions and estimates for future use — read and digest good and profitable books— overhaul the children's progress in school, and see that they make good use of that invaluable institution, the School Library — encourage social singing in the family, of sacred music and moral and patriotic sonnets, which is a much better recreation for young and old than the chequer-board, cards, &c. Remember in laying down pork, that a little too much salt is just enough — that lean meat is a loss, and every ounce of bone decidedly in- jures the flavor of the meat. Rattle up the wood, and see that the wood house is supplied, for it is enough to make a horse break his bridle to see a woman out in the snow hacking wood, she does it so awkwardly. Litter your stables and sheds freely, and if you have straw in plenty, cover the whole yard. Feed chaff" in tubs or half barrels, or troughs; it saves half. If the milch cows fall off" in milk with good feed, it is a sign they want salt — a gill every other day is none too much ; but above all things, see that they get plenty of water, handily and when they want it. Look well and often to sheep ; see that they keep up ; a few oats or small quantity of corn are wonderful assistants. The first good sleighing, get your plaster home. Take good care of all the house ashes, for one bushel on most land, is worth two of plaster — except perhaps for clover. House and paint the wagons, sleighs, plows, harrows, &c. One gallon of boiled oil, and six pounds of Vene- tian red, will save twenty-five dollars a year. Make farm gates, and make fence with the bars. Get out your rails and stakes. Look to your potatoes — do your duty to God and man. So doing, kind reader, we wish you a Happy New Year. * Butter. — Experiments, &c. Butter is one of the staple productions of our State, and every hint that serves to improve its quality or increase its quantity must be useful. According to the returns of the late census in 1845, the amount of butter made the same year was 79,501,733 lbs., which, at 12h cts. per lb., and which is a fair average price, yields $9,937,- 716— only $2,114,877 less than the produce of the wheat crop of that year. This amount might be greatly increased, if more attention was paid to the manufacture, and a better article sent to market. As it now comes, not more than one half of the quantity is fit for the table, and some of it entirely unfit for any culinary purpose what- ever. This should not be. There are various methods of making butter, and there is certainly a vast difference in its quality. One cause of this difference may be ascribed to the herbage or food upon which the cows are fed, the breed of cows, or the season ; but more generally in the management. Every one imagines their method best, and are too wise to learn. Being veiy fond of good bujter ourselves, many experiments were tried while residing on the farm, and tlie following rules were finally settled on : First : Cleanliness must be strictly observed in every thing appertaining thereto, from the 1848. GENESEE FARMER. 15 milking of the cow to the packing of the butter. All the utensils must be sweet and free from any taint or smell. Second: The milk must be immediately strain- ed, on coming from the cow, into pans, and set for the cream to rise, as with some cows a sepa- ration commences even during the process of milking. Third : The cream should be freed from milk and frequently stirred, particularly when addi- tions are made, and a little salt added to keep it from curdling. In summer the cream must be churned as often as every other day. In winter it may stand for several days, if kept in a low temperature, say from 45 to .50° Fahrenheit. To make the cream rise more perfectly, the temperature should be at 60°. A temperature below 35° will prevent the cream from separa- ting or rising in any considerable quantity. The elevation of the temperature to 55° will cause the cream to rise in 30 hours ; at 60°, in 24 hours ; at 80°, in 12 or 15 hours. Much depends upon the temperature of the cream when the churning is commenced. We found, from repeated experiments, that the cream, when churning is commenced, should not be under 55°. It will rise in churning from 5 to 10 degrees. In winter this temperature can easily be attained. In summer it cannot be at- tained without the aid of ice, or very cold well water. In Pennsylvania spring-houses are much used, where a constant stream of cool spring wa- ter passes through for .the purpose of regulating the temperature. For milk-pans we prefered tin, of the ordinary size, holding about six quarts, which were about three-fourths filled, which gave a depth of about 4 inches of milk. We tried broad shallow pans with the milk only about an inch deep, supposing the greater the surface exposed the greater the quantity of cream would rise, but such was not the fact. The greatest quantity of cream from the least quantity of milk we ever obtained was by means of a water-bath, or double pans, as follows : — The pan into which the milk was strained, was four inches deep and flaring. Another made six inches deep and nearly straight in the sides and just large enough at the top to receive and em- brace the upper pan, within half an inch of the top, and it should fit tight, so that little if any of the steam will escape. A small tube was solder- ed near the top of the under pan for the admis- sion of hot water, and a small hole was made on the opposite side for the escape of air while pour- ing in the hot water. The first I had made was soldered together at the top, but we found it diffi- cult to wash and dry ; being separate, they can be washed and dried without difficulty. The milk was strained into the upper pan and left at rest for 12 hours ; then the same quantity of boiling water was introduced into the under pan and suffered to stand 12 hours longer, when the cream was found perfectly separated and ot such consistence that the whole might be lifted off by the finger and thumb. The cream was churned immediately after skimming at a temperature of 58°. In this man- ner first quality of rich yellow butter was obtain- ed in 15 minutes, in the month of March. Un- der the ordinary treatment, much less butter would have been obtained, and of a white color, insipid, without flavor and unfit for the table. — Besides it is a long and tedious operation to con- vert the cream into butter, while in the former process it occupies but a few moments. Churning the milk is a much more laborious method, from the difficulty of keeping in motion such large quantities of fluid ; but in this way it is said that a larger quantity of butter is obtained, and of a more delicate flavor. The rising of the cream and churning is but a portion of the process for making good butter. There is some skill or art required in working it which cannot be described ; buf suffice to say, it is best done with a bowl and ladle, in a peculiar manner, to press out the milk — for unless the milk is thoroughl)^ separated it is needless to ex- pect good Initter that will keep sweet any length of time. If not properly worked, and the milk thoroughly extracted, it is apt to be soft, spongy, or oily. In some dairies the hand is used instead of the ladle, but we protest against that, as the heat of the hand is injurious. In others the but- ter is washed with pure cold water as long as the water is rendered milky. We preferred not to wash it, believing that much of the aroma or high flavor was carried off by the water. Albany, Dec, 1847. C. N. Bement. Seedling Potatoes. In the fall of 1846 I saved a small quantity of seed from the balls of the Mercer potato, which I sowed last spring, with the expectation of rais- ing some new varieties of the potato. Owing to the early drouth, and some other untoward circumstances, the plants did not do well ; and when I gathered them, (about the middle of Oc- tober,) I found a small quantity of very small potatoes, most of them very much resembling the Mercers ; and, what was quite unexpected, sev- eral of them were rotten, and several others de- cayed soon afterwards. If this experiment proves anything, it proves ,the imperfection of the seed as well as of the tii- her ; or, at least, that fruit produced from the seed, i. e. seedling potatoes, are liable to rot as well as old varieties. I am therefore inclined to abandon all theories on the subject of the po- tato malady, except that which ascribes it to a kind of epidemic ; or, as some have called it, the " Potato Cholera." H. Fairport, Nov., 1847. 16 GENESEE FARMER. Jan. Liming and Brining Seed Wlieat. Messrs. Editors : — I regret to see that your correspondent, N. Simons, doubts the benefit of salt and lime to prevent smut. I am so well grounded in my belief of its efficacy, that it is almost as daring an innovation on a well settled principle, as to attack my belief in holy things. As far as my experiencee goes, together with a multitude of others, it is a sjjecific for thai disease, and the only one that never fails, and when properly and faithfully applied, prevents, in all cases, its propagation. I have been in the con- stant use of the practice for ten years past, with- out even an appearance of smut, and one of my neiglibors who constantly li7nes and brines his seed, proclaims, that he will give one dollar each for every smut head that can be found on his farm. A very careful experiment was made in Eng- land, at great expense, under the patronage of the National Agricultural Society, in which was thoi-oughly tested all the popular notions in use Use of Green and Dry Wood — Loads — Loss. Some years ago I was led to ascertain the weight lost by wood in drying or seasoning. For this purpose I weighed green rock maple and beech, taken from the sap wood and from the heartvvood, and from both together, and dried the specimens carefully in a warm oven, so as to be more free from water than common wood as ordinarily seasoned. The loss was from one fourth to one third of the weight. This loss was water. If the wood is burned while green, this water must be evaporated and thrown into the atmosphere, and a considerable part of the caloric or heat produced by the combustion of the wood must be in this way carried off, and be of no use in heating or warming. To ascertain the caloj'ic lost, we must find the weight of water in a cord of wood. In his careful experiments on the combustion of wood, Count RuMFORD proved that a cord of dry beech weighs about 2800 pounds, which must be three preventive, with the foulest seed, and with \ fourths of the weight of the green beech ; that clean seed thoroughly impregnated with the fun- gus known as smut, in which it was conclusively proved, that it was not only propagated by the foul seed, but that clean seed wet and rubbed with the fungus, also produced it abundantly. — The prevention that succeeded best was soaking in stale urine, and drying with quick lime ; the next best was strong brine and lime. So that I cannot but suspect that there was something want- ing in your correspondent's manner of preparing his seed, or it is one of those vicisitudes of nature, that sometime defeats an almost unerring rule. A strong case in point happened, a few years since, under my own view and knowledge. A father and son-in-law had each a summer fallow, side by side, of equal quality, exposure, and soil. Their own seed being rather objectionable on account of foul seeds, they procured a load of 40 bushels from a distance of some 15 miles. On arriving at their homes they divided the bags according to their several wants. The father, on looking at his discovered that it was consider- ably smutted and immediately salted and brined it ; the son-in-law was a disbeliever and omitted it. They both sowed the same day, and under pre- cisely the same circumstances. On harvesting, Mie was clean and the other was foul. The father got 94 cents per bushel, while the son-in- law could only get offered 69 cents, it was so ex- cessively smutted. Now, Messrs. Editors, under these circum- stances I cannot help having a strong and relia- ble belief in the efficacy as a preventive of smut, in the use of brine and lime. December, 1847. L. B. Loveland. Remember the truism — that what is worth doing at at all, is worth doing well. is, a cord of green beech must weigh 3700 lbs., or taking the mean between 3- and k, must be more thad 4900 pounds. In burning a cord of green beech, at least 1000 lbs. of water must be evaporated, and 1000 lbs. of water would fill three barrels of 32 ale gallons, or nearly two hogsheads of 63 gallons wine measure. The quantity of caloric lost in this way may be esti- mated in a rough way by tiie quantity of wood consumed in evaporating three barrels or nearly two hogsheads of water. The farmer will at a glance see that a cord of green wood must form a load of nearly two tons in weight, and he will probably conclude that his team has a much greater load than is commonly supposed. Timber three feet in diameter will have a cord of solid wood in every eighteen feet, and if 36 feet long, will weigh above ^t'c tons. It is also obvious that in drawing green wood, the farmer must load and transport three barrels of water in every cord, or 60 barrels in twenty cords, allowing that wood as commonly seasoned in a summer, has lost only two-thirds of its water. In drawing 100 cords of such dry wood there will be a saving, in loading and transporting, of 200 barrels of water. A barrel of water con- tains about five cubic feet, and weighs more than 300 pounds. In the combustion of 20 cords of green wood, 60 barrels of water must be evaporated. Now, it takes six times as inuch heat to evaporate a pound of water, as to heat a pound from 50° of temperature to the boiling point. The economy in using dry wood is well un- derstood by many. These views give adequate reasons for it. Yet, it is to be feared, that many a farmer does not use proper care in drying and housing his wood. C. D. 1848. GENESEE FARMER. 17 PORTRAIT OF A SAT^ON RAM. (Fig. 2.) Saxon Sheep. [From Morrell's American Shepherd.] The following history of the introduction of the Merinos into Saxony was written by the late Mr. HENRy D. Grove, of Hoosic, N. Y., whose decease will long be lamented b}^ those who knew his many private virtues, and by American ag- riculturists, who will not cease to pay the homage of gratitude to his memory, for the enthusiastic enterprize and zeal he continued to manifest to his latest moments to improve the fleece of his adopted country. "In the ye;ir 1764, the Elector of Saxony obtained, by- special neg:oiiation through his ambassador, a grant from the King of 8pain, for the purchase of one hundred ewes and one hundred rams, and a few siirphis ones to keep that num- ber good in case any should die during the passage. Ac- cordingly one hundred and nineteen ewes and one hundred and ten rams were selected, principally from the Eseurial flocks, then the king's private property, under the care and management of the monks belonging to the monastery of that name, and which were considered the finest sheep of the kingdom. They were shipped at Cadiz, in the month of May, 1765, accompanied by two Spaniards to take care of them. Five rams and three ewes died on the passage ; the remainder arrived safely at the Elector's private domain at Stolpen. The Spanish shepherds remained with, and took care of the flock till the middle of the following year, when they took their departure for Spain. During the time, how- ever, they remained in Saxony, they instructed Saxon shep- herds in the care and management of sheep. "In order the better to make this valuable acquisition benefit the country as much as possible, the Elector appoint- «d a commission, to superintend and direct the general con- cerns of the sheep establishment, whose particular duty it was made, to spread all the information they could obtain on the care and management of sheep before the public, and who were especially instructed to dispose of the young rams at low prices, in order to induce the sheep-owners to improve their flocks. The tenants of the government domains were particularly favored, by giving them the preference in the purchase (which is kept up till this day,) while every possible care was taken to induce farmers gen- erally to improve their breed of sheep throughout the Elec- torate. It was further required of the said commission to tnake a detailed report to the government, annually, on the condition of the Bheep cstablishmeat, and at the same time to submit a list of the persons who had received sheep from the national flock. "During the first years these valuable animals found many opponents, and the improvement of the Spanish crop was very slow, mainly on account of the common predju- dice of the farmers, which was heightened when the scab broke out among them, but afterwards they became con- vinced of their value, and the improvement was more rapid. But as most of tjie flocks in Spain are more or less nflected by the scab, those transported to Saxony had to undergo the same ordeal. This, of course, heigthened the prejudice of many against them, who pronounced them as entirely unfit for the country, their meat not eatable, or at best, of a miserable description ; a notion, however, which soon ex- ploded. The scab, however, caused great ravages among them before they were entirely cured of this disease. " When the commissioners had exercised their functions ten years, the call for young ram-s was so great, — and in order the more rapidly to improve the breed of the country —that they resolved to petition the government to make another importation of ewes and rams from Spain, for which purpose the Elector obtained another grant from the King of Spain for three hundred rams and ewes. At the end of the year 1777, a gentleman by the name of Vaigt, manager of Count Eiorsidel's farms, who was considered one of the best judges of sheep at that day in Saxony, was provided with the necessary credentials and sent on that mission. — But. for some cause unknown, he selected only one hun- dred and ten two years old rams and ewes, and returned home with them. These were, however, of a very superi- or quality, selected from the best flocks of Leon. Eseurial, Cavagnon, Negretti, Montarco, and Sorian, and exceeded greatly in beauty of form and quality of wool, the first im- portation. The cost of them was about forty rix dollars per head. " With this acquisition, the commissioners then planted the Merino Tree on the fruitful soil of Lohmen and Ren- nersdorf, from whence, in conjunction with Stolpen, many pure blood flocks derive their origin. And I owe it to truth to remark, that I have examined private flocks equal, if not superior, to the national flocks. " It would lead me too far here, to detail the introduction of the Spanish and Saxony Merino into other parts of Ger- many, Prussia. Austria, etc. Suffice it to say, that many districts rival Saxony : Prussia, especially, fosters her flocks, not only by premiums, bestowed through her agricultural societies, but by that enlightened protection to domestic in- dustry, which so truly characterizes that government." The invaluable properties of pure Saxon wool, and the demand consequent for its manufacture into fabrics, the fineness of which the world has 18 GENESEE FARMER. Jak. never before produced, the value of the Saxon sheep, and their spread over so large a portion of Europe, and remote parts of the world. No other breeds are so highly prized on the Continent, and none which com- mand such enormous prices. Mr. Grove has stated, that while grade Saxons sell for three to fifteen dollars per head, individual rams of un- contaminated blood often bring from one hundred to two hundred and fifty rix dollars ; a flock was purchased, destined for Russia, a few years since, for which the average price paid exceeded five hundred dollars ; and Mr. Spooner states that, latterly, rams have been sold at the almost in- credible prices of one hundred to near three hundred guineas per head. The cause of these extravagant prices has been stated ; and so long as there exist grades in society, and the highest of these covet a wardrobe of the finest texture, the breed will continue to be appreciated, and sedulously cultivated. [To be continued.'] Management af Merino Sheep. [From Trans, of N. Y. State Ag. Society.] Dear Sir : — Your favor, requesting me to send you an article giving an account of my management of Merino sheep, was duly received, and I the more cheerfully comply, because I consider the wool growing business already a primary object of agriculture with very many of the farmers of many States, and have no doubt that it may become one of the chief objects of agriculture throughout the Northern and West- ern States. My management in the season for grass is, to have the lambs drop from about the 2.5th of April, to the 20th of May ; to keep the sheep where they may be protected from storms when necessary, and where they may be often under the eye of the shepherd, so that any young lambs that may not be able to draw nourishment from their dams, may be assisted and saved. If the weather is warm, and the ewes in good con- dition, sometimes nearly an hundred per cent, of lambs may be raised ; while at other times, in case of frequent storms of rain and snow, it re- quires the most vigorous effort on the part of the shepherd, in housing and protecting them. And notwithstanding all his efforts to save, he some- times meets with some loss of young lambs. I think my average to be about 90 per cent, of lambs raised. I usually shear early in June. I think that if breeding ewes are suffered to retain their long thick fleeces on their backs, much later than that time, the warm days will so affect them as to piake them uncomfortable, and cause them to afford less milk for their young. Great care should be taken to give them shelter, in case of long or cold rains soon after shearing. Dry lands for pastures, with frequent changes, of the high are very necessary, where only one flock kept, and a certain amount of pasture is allotted them. It is much better so to arrange their pas- tures, if possible, as to be able to change them frequently, from one field to another, so that each in its turn may become fresh and green. Sheep do not require long feed, but need a suf- ficient quantity, with plenty of salt. When troubled with ticks, I dip the lambs in a decoc- tion of tobacco, about eight or ten days after shearing. Lambs should be weaned as early as the middle of August ; they should be put into a fresh pasture of tender grass, so far from the dams as not to hear each other, with one or more tame sheep, to aid in making them also tame. They should have plenty of salt, and be kept on the very best pastures until the season for feeding hay. They should, as well as all other sheep, have access to, or be driven under shelter, during the cold storms of autumn. — Ewes, after the lambs are taken from them, should have short pasture for a few days, say 10 or 12, in order to dry up their milk, and thus prepare them for good pastures, with which they should be supplied, together with plenty of salt, until the season for feeding hay. All other sheep should be kept on good dry pastures, with , frequent changes and salt. With this treatment they will be likely to be sufficiently strong and fleshy to commence the winter. The seasons for grass are also the time for pruning the flock, and of disposing of such indi- viduals as are most objectionable as to fleece or form, after receiving a mark at the time of shear- ing, denoting the objection. This plan for rais- ing the strength and condition of the sheep, during the seasons of grass, I think, will always be found to be much cheaper and better than that of letting them remain poor until winter, and then attempting to raise them by extra feed of hay and grain. At the commencement of win- ter, every sheep should have a place, and be in its place. I feed altogether in racks placed in barns that are closed on all sides, but so ventila- ted that when necessary the air may be made nearly equal with that of the field. I feed plen- ty of salt, and give them free access to water. I usually feed from six to eight quarts per day, to one hundred sheep, of corn, or its equal in peas, ' shorts, or some other grain, generally ground. I commence feeding grain at the same time that I do hay. I make no allowance for waste of hay, none at all. I cut my grass, if clover, (which I prefer,) when in bloom; other varieties tolera- bly green. I feed hay morning and evening, what they will eat, and no more ; and usually grain at noon, also straw of whatever kind I have; the greater the variety the better ; and what they leave in the racks affords sufficient litter to keep their apartments always dry and clean. My pure blooded merino sheep, the pedigree of which may be traced to the hands of the im- 1848. GENESEE FARMER. 19 porters without any cross whatever with any oth- er breed, and which are known and certified to be such by gentlemen of the highest respectabili- ty and unquestionable veracity, I keep and breed by themselves. I do this, in the first place, to keep this invaluable breed pure beyond a doubt, and secondly, because I consider the purity of blood the first requisite towards perfection of fleece. In selecting sheep for breeding, I have reference to fineness, evenness, length, thick- ness, and style of fleece, worn by a well formed animal. Any sheep whose pedigree cannot stand the ordeal, or about wliose pedigree there is the least uncertainty, is placed among the grade sheep, which I also keep and breed by memselves, in flocks according to age, size, and condition. The smaller the number in the flock the better ; but not to exceed one hundred. I use pure merino bucks. I also keep the sexes by themselves, and rarely meet with any loss of sheep, except by. dogs or other accidents. Hon. S. Lawrence, of Lowell, is right in his opinion, (Ameriean Shepherd,) that a breed may be rear- ed which will give four pounds of exquisitely fine wool to the fleece. My full blood merino ewes have never given so small an amount on the average ; bucks, from five to eight pounds, and sometimes more with higher feed. Sheep should always be well tagged previ(^us to turning to grass in the spring. i\Iuch pains should be taken in washing and shearing them ; also in folding the fleeces, that they may be clean and whole. Respectfully, yours, Lysander^ N. Y., 1847. J. L. Randall. Save Your Fodder. Messrs. Editors — As there is no stock upon the farm probably that is so prone to run over and waste their fodder as sheep, I would suggest to my brother farmers a plan of making moveable racks to feed them in, which I find from expe- rience, is a very great saving. Take 4 posts 3 feet long, of 3 by 4 scantling; place them 2 J feet apart one way, 12 feet the other ; take some rails, 2 by 4 ; frame them in, top and bottom, and pin them together ; take a board 8 inches wide, nail round the bottom for a base. The lower rail should be framed in 7 inches from the bottom of the post, so that the base board will lap on to it one inch — or, in other words, prepare it in the same way you would to make a common picket fence. Then take your slats, 6 inches wide, nail them on, up and down, 6 inches apart, (let them run up as high as the top rail) — that will leave a space 6 inches wide for tlie sheep to gel their heads in, which is sufficient. One such rack, 12 feet long, will accommo- date about 25 sheep. Any farmer will save hay enough, in one winter, to pay the expense of building them. After feeding is over in the spring, they can be laid away under your shed, and will last a number of years. I would also recommend to every farmer moveable racks for foddering cattle, a drawing of which may be found in the February Genesee Farmer, for 184.5, page 29. A. W. Turner. Ontario, N. Y., Dec. 1847. Cutting Food for Stock. — It has frequently been asked how cutting hay for stock adds to its nutritive qualities. It is precisely upon the same principle as cutting up meat fine and ma- king a mince of it. There is more or less nu- triment in the tougher pieces, and even gristle; if these are cut fine with the chopping knife, and nicely cooked and agreeably seasoned, the dish is eaten with peculiar relish, easily digests, and goes twice as far as in the ordinary method of taking meat in slices ; for under such circum- stances we reject all that is not tender, juicy, and particularly palatable. In cutting hay all the coarser parts and even straw are made agree- able to the taste of animals, especially if it be cut up and spiced with a little meal, shorts, or bran. Nor have they the power to reject any part when cut up, and as all is more or less nu- tritious the hay must go further ; nor can it be pulled out and wasted as when fed loose. An- other important consideration is, an animal can fill its stomach much more easily and readily on cut than uncut food, and can then lie down and ruminate, and rest, allowing the food full time to digest and distribute its strengthening qualities throughout the system, and renovate it for re- newed exertions. — Ainer. Agriculturist. Horse Power. — We are frequently asked the question, what is understood by a Jiorse power? and why that way of reckoning came to be adopt- ed, and brought into general use 1 Before the power of steam was generally known and applied to mechanical purposes horses were used to raise coal and other heavy bodies, and Mr. Moots, in his experiments, carefully com- pared the relative power of the different breeds of horses, and found its average equal to raising 33,000 pounds one foot per minute, or what is equivalent, to raise 330 pounds 100 feet, or 100 pounds 330 feet during that space of time, when attached to a lever or sweep of a given length. Thus, this afterwards became the standard of measuring power or force applied to mechanical purposes, and which is still retained in common use. — Farmer ^' Mechanic. The English Quarter, at which wheat is; quoted in the English reports, is 560 pounds, or one-fourth of a ton gross weight of 2240 lbs. The English legal bushel is 70 lbs., and conse- quently 8 of those bushels is a quarter — equal to 9 J of our statute bushels of 60 lbs. Facts that should be known to all Avho wish to compare English prices with ours. 20 GENESEE FARMER. Jan. What are our N. Y. Farmers Doing? Getting rich. If any man doubts it, let him go into a shop and see a farmer open his well stuffed pocket-book. If you are still incredulous, go to the bank with a check ; there you will be told by the teller, that the whole circulation of the bank is in the farmers' pockets ; that the wheat and barley checks have exhausted the till to the last rag; and that you must await the ar- rival of another package by the R. R. Express. Go into a village store to buy a buffalo skin, and you will be told now, on this side of winter, that only one or two skins are left from several }>ales ; all, all sold to farmers and their sons. I was amused the other day in a neighbors' shop at the sale of a muff to a farmer's daughter. True to her self-denying education, she coveted only a low priced muff; but her father said she should have the finest and best, or none. The girl protested that a sixteen dollar mutF was much too fine for her ; but the lord of the soil was per- emptory, and the poor girl, more frightened than pleased at the dangerous stride she was taking from the simple to the genteel, went off only lialf pleased with her purchase. If it is asked, are farmers any more inclined to learn the theory of their art — to study it as a science, that furnishes facts, the knowledge of which both saves labor and makes it more avail- able ? — I reply, that there is daily evidence that the crust of egotism is broken, and that the self- sufficient part of our farmers begin to doubt their own infalability. Many of them are thus early subscribing for agricultural papers with avidity, who but a lew years since looked upon what they called " book farming" as an errant humbug. At our Union School in this village there are already more than fifty sons and daughters of farmers, generally boarding scholars. As we daily see the same laughing girls pass along the side walks, we are struck with the progressive physical changes made by schooling and exam- ple ; the rosy cheek of the country girl is soon blended with the caVnation of the town : their rambling gait and noisy tread is now subdued by cliastened discipline and improved taste, into a more graceful carriage. The farmers' boys now enjoy advantages of school learning which their father's knew not of. But the fathers who send their sons and daughters to school have the sens- ibility to see their own early privations, and the generosity to fit their own children to enjoy high- ej" privilages and a more advanced civilization. All these signs of the times proclaim the ad- vent of a more honorable and respectable posi- tion in society for the farmer. If I mistake not, the day is coming when he will not leave his i-eligion to iiis priest, his political interests to the lawyer legislator, or refer to his grandfather as his umpire in all his disputes on rural economy. Waterloo, N. Y., Dec, 1847. S. W. Dr. Underliill's Ttieory.- ■Drainage, Stc. The theory of Dr. Underbill, in the Novem- ber number of the Farmer, that the/oocZ of j)lants in the earth rises by the attraction of the soil in dry weather in the water thus raised from ielow towards the dryer surface, is undoubtedly correct. Though the theory has not before been published, yet it has been taught in more than one place in the country, as founded on facts, though not known before to be adopted by others. We can not account for the growth of vegetables, cultiva- ted and uncultivated, in dry weather, and when the moisture is so far exhausted from the surface, without adopting that theory. This is doubtless one of the economical principles in the adapta- tion of the earth and soil and seasons to the veg- etable kingdom. It is probably for this reason in part that deep plowing proves advantageous, in putting the deeper and harder earth in a situ- ation to send up in this way its nutritious ele- ments to the roots nearer the surface. It cannot but be true, however, that a portion of manures, and of any soluble diet of plants, should be carried off by the water that percolates the earth and then is discharged by some outlet. It is abundantly proved by the undei'-draijia^e of moist soils, now so extensively practiced in many parts of Europe. Portions of the drainage wa- ter have been analyzed, and found to contain the chief mineral elements that enter into the com- position of vegetables, and are necessary to their proper constitution. The color of the water that runs off from the surface shows full well that the soluble parts of manure are in part carried off with it. The drainage from a barn-yard often proclaims the same fact in the more abundant crop of vegetables fertilized by it. On this theory, too, the deeper covering of manure, effected by deep plowing, is rendered obvious. Profitable results must follow to the farmer. C. D. Model Farming in Ireland and Scotland. The annexed account of Agricultul Education in Ireland and Scotland I do not recollect to have seen in your valuable journal. At this time, when so much is said on the subject of education for farmers, it seems to me that it may prove in- teresting and useful to the readers of the Farmer. The examples here given show that lads from 12 to 15 years of age may receive instruction from practical and scientific men, which will prepare them for usefulness, and eventually result in permanent advantage to the agricultural interest. Improvements of this character would doubtless be in accordance witli the teelings of the farm- ers, and would not "shock them by rash inno- vations," which would result from the employ- ment of mere theorists, who in their studies may talk learnedly and wisely, it may be — but M'ho, 1848. GENESEE FARMER. 21 never having themselves tested their theories, may produce much more cost than benefit to the agricuhural interest in the present condition of our countr3^ Elementary instruction is all im- portant to the agricultural interest : J. An important step has been made to promote agricultural education in Scotland. During the late agricultural meet- ing at Glasgow, a number of gentlemen, favorable to the establishment of elementary schools for the purpose, met in the Mechanic's Hall, when, besides gentlemen connected with the Agricultural Chemistry Association of Scotland, several strangers attended, including Lords VVallscourt, Clements, Ranelagh, Sir Robert Bateman, Sir R. Houston, and others. The Lord Justice Clerk took the chair, and Professor Johnstone explained the object of the meeting. Mr. Skilling, superintendent of a model farm at Glassnevin, near Dublin, under the Irish Board of Education, made a statement of the measures carried out by the board since 1838. There are now three thousand teachers under the board ; there are seven training establiskments to supply teachers, but there will shortly be twenty-live, and it is in- tended to plant one in every county of Ireland. Mr. Skil- ling described the plan pursued at the Glas.sneviri training school established in 1838. The labor is limited to spade husbandry, only the spade and wheel-barrow being used. " The scholars, amounting to sixty or seventy, were lodged near the farm, and fed from it. After being engaged on the farm in the mornings of live days in the week, Ihey went. into the town for their literary education; but the whole of Saturday was appropriated to examinations.— They had a garden, and, in connection with it, a competent gardener, who lectured for a half hour in the morning ; and he (Mr. Skilling) also lectured to the young men on Agri- cultural subjects. At stated periods tlie teachers attended the farm, and witnessed every practical operation which was going on upon it. They observed every system of cropping, and got explanations on every subject with wliieh they were acquainted ; and the result was, that when they went away, at the end of the course, they were found to be vastly improved in the scientific knowledge of agriculture and its practical details. During the course, they were en- abled to obtain a considerable knowledge of agriculture, chemistry, and geology ; they also received practical infor- mation as to the principles of rotation in cropping, the culti- vation of green crops, and the like. The practical errors which existed, as to the management of land, were also pointed out to them, such as the loss caused by bad fences, seeding beds by weeds, &c.; and, on the olher hand, they were shown the advantages of draining, and opening, and turning the land, and the beneficial results of these on the general management." This model farm had not only paid its rent, but returned a profit of £150 or £170 a year. Afterwards five boys, edu- cated in a training school at Larne, in the north of Ireland were introduced and examined. " They seemed to belong to the better class of peasantry, being clad in homely garbs, and they appeared to be from twelve to fourteen or fifteen years of age. They were ex- amined in the first instance by Mr. Gibson, inspector of schools, on grammar, geography, and arithmetic, and scarce- ly a single question did they fail to answer correctly. They were then examined by professor Johnstone on the scentific branches, and by Mr. Finnic, of Swanton, and Mr. Alexan- der, of Southbar, on the practical departments of agriculture. Their acquaintance with these was delightful and astonish- ing. They detailed the chemical constitution of the soil, and the eiVect of manures, the land best fitted for green crops, the different kinds of grain crops, the dairy, and the system of rotation. Many of these subjects required con- siderable exercise of reflection ; and, as a previous concert between themselves and the gentlemen by whom they were examined was out of the question, their acquirements seem- ed to take the meeting quite by surprise, at the same time that they afforded the utmost satisfaction, as evincing how much could be done by a proper system of training. The youths and their teachers retired amidst much applause.' Lord Clements bore testimony relative to the eagerness for instruction evinced by the peasantry n?ar his property. in the wildest part of Connauglit — men twenty years of age coming from a distance of many miles to attend the school. Mr. Atlee, the teacher of an agricultural school on Lady Noel Byron's property, at Ealing, reported the succeai of that establishment. There were at that moment five hundred applicanis for admission to the farm as boarders. Principal McFarlan advocated education in agriculture: but exhorted the meeting to carry on their improvements in accordance with tiie feelings of the people, not shocking their habits by rash innovations. He moved a resolution, that elementary instruction should be afforded to the rural population of Scotland. This was seconded by Mr. Alex- ander, and carried unaniraou.^ly. Col. Lindsay, of Bolcarras, declared that the people of Scotland must make haste, least they should be behind in I he progress of improvement. " He must congratulate these young men from Ireland on the admirable display they had made. To be a Scotsman was often found a recommendation in procuring employ- ment elsewhere ; but these young men from Irelahd would soon show to Scotsmen that they were behind the Irish ; and that, if they would maintain their high character for in- dustry and intelligence, they must be instructed as they were. These lads from Ireland had evinced so much agri- cultural information, that, when ready for employment, they had only to ask, to obtain it. He was almost ashamed to admit his belief, that there was not a similar class of youths in Scotland who would answer the questions as these Irish lads had done." Farmers' Clubs. I WAS pleased to see a notice, in a late Farrner, of the doings of a Farmers' Club in a town in VVyon ing county. The writer says a student from Dr. Lee's Wheatland School was lecturing on Agricultural Chemistry before the Club. — This is as it should be. Let a few young farm- ers who have commenced learning the rudiments of Agricultural Chemistry begin to explain the truths, and the "hopes that is in them," and a general interest is at once felt among those farm- ers' sons who, up to the time being, have known no higher or more intellectual amusement than attending a singing school or playing pawns. In Fayette, in out own Seneca County, a Farmers' Club has been got up, which bids fair to give our Dutch friends a glimpse of what in the alder deutche land is now doing to enable farmers to produce great crops from a long used soil. Nothing carries authority with it, to a Ger- man, that is not homogeneous. Speak to him of the English improvements in wheat growing, by which si.xty bushels are grown on an acre, ami he looks incredulous. But only name the ad- vances made in his own vaj^ land, in agricultu- ral science, and his hithe" dull eye glistens. Speak to him the names of Mulder or Liebig, and the German sound thereof is a seal to the truth of your assertions. Much credit is due to Mr. Delafield, the President of the Seneca county Agricultural So- ciety— to Messrs. Foster, Jno. Johnson, Dr. Oakley, and others — all of the same town, for the efficient character of the Fayette Club. Dr. Oakley, long a practical farmer, delivered a lecture before the Club on Saturday evening last, which has been described to be most interesting and instructive to every farmer living on our rich alluvial formations. It is said tliat several young men are preparing lectures, which are to be the subject of conversation and debate at the peri- odical meetings of the Club. Verily the school master is abroad among the farmers. S. W. 22 GENESEE FARMER. Jan. PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF FARM HOUSE, (Fig. 3.) Design for a Farm House. To DESIGN a farm house, in which beauty and utility shall combine, is not a difficult task ; but to design one that shall meet the wants, suit the taste, and come within the means of the mass of farmers, is quite another affair. There are many families who would consider a house complete if it alForded sufficient room for work- ing and lodging, wid the addition of a parlor. Others would think it very deficient if it did not contain, beside these, a library, dining room, nurser}', and bathing room. In the first place, the size of the family, and the kind and quantity of labor to be performed, should be taken into consideration. If there are a number of small children, it is very im- portant that there should be a nursery upon the first floor, connected with a bathing room, and as near the dining room and kitchen as possible, that the mother may bo spared all unnecessary steps in attending to her duties in these several departments. A small library is another diside- ratum ; and a bathing room should be considered indispensable. If but a small dairy is kept, time and labor may be saved by having suitable rooms for milk and cheese, as it is very unpleasant passing to and from a dairy house in bad weather. (The soil and situation must determine the place for a milk room ; ^eyf cellars are sufficiently dry and airy for that purpose.) In this design I think I have secured all these conveniences without covering too much ground; and the rooms are so arranged that they may be used to suit the tastes or meet the wants of the occupant, without abridging their convenience. If a spacious parlor is wanted, it can be had by throwing the two large rooms into one. The library and hall could be thrown together in the same way, whenever the former is not needed for more private purposes. I would also have folding doors for the nursery, for convenience in case of sickness, or to be thrown open in warm weather. The library, (if one is not de- sired) would make a very commodious bed room for children, as it communicates with the nur- sery. As my main object has been to save labor, by securing convenience, the underground kitchen is intended only for washing and doing other heavy and dirty work for the farm. It could, however, be used as a common kitchen, if the room in the wing should be desired exclusively for * dining room. The house is designed for the use of a hot 1848. GENESEE FARMER. 23 air furnace, consequently there is but one real chimney ; two would be sufficient for those who do not like this method of warming their houses, by placing stoves in the library and nursery. The dimensions of the house are 30 feet by 40 for the main building, and 25 by 35 for the wing, which T think will afford all the room ne- cessary for comfort and convenience in a farm house ; and if some attention is paid to scenery and location, may be made sufficiently elegant WOOD HOUSE CHAMBER I 5 X 2 S 1 BED ROOM J 8X12 STORE RCOMr 6X8 KITCHEN CHAMBER 12 X 2S GROUND PLAN. (Fig. 4.) SECOND STORY. (Fig. 5.) to satisfy any one who is obliged to consult his interest as well as fancy. Some might object to it as being too large. For those the dimensions could be reduced to 24 by 34 for the main part, and 20 by 25 for the wing, without altering its construction. But it must be remembered, that the farmer does not buy his land by the foot, and that he needs a great deal of store room, which he will find much cheaper, as well as more convenient to have under one roof; and unless it is provided in the first place, unsightly additions will be made, or little store houses erected to mar and deface the beauty of the grounds. I have allowed 10 feet parts for the lower rooms, and 8 for those above, which will make ght airy chambers. I know modern taste is generally in favor of the low cottage, and their 24 GENESEE FARMER. Jan. outward appearance is certainly very agreeable and picturesque ; but unless they are sufficiently spacious to contain all lodging rooms on the ground floor, I should protest against them ; and I think all advocates in their favor would have abandoned their predilection, had they taken lodgings in one of their little pretty snug cham- bers, during the months of last July and August. The cistern it will be seen, is directly beneath the bathing room, and the arch so near that, a little trouble will at all times secure both cold and warm water for bathing. An aperture of 6 by 18 inches, should be made through the floor of the milk room, into the pantry in the cellar, which will keep the milk room cool, and ventilate both rooms ; it should have a trap door to be closed when necessary. A drain is constructed in a corner of the cel- lar kitchen, into which all dirty water and suds should be thrown to cleanse the back drain, and be saved in the manure yard. To ensure clean- liness in the drains, the back grounds should in- cline from the house. I have not made an es- timate as to the expense ; that would depend very much upon the materials used and the mode of finishing. The scenery and location should determine on which side of the house the hall should be, also the piazza in the wing. Mrs. James M. Ellis. Onondaga Hill, Nov. 1847. We copy the preceding design and descrip- tion from the last volume of the Transactions of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society. In preference to any remarks of our own, relative tg the design, we annex the Report of the Com- mittee on Farm Houses : The committee on designs for farm houses, report, that only one design for a premium has been made, and this was by a lady. The plan is very excellent, and we award the first pre- mium, $15, to Mrs. Jas, M. Ellis, its designer; with great confidence, that in so doing, we are recommending to the farmer, who is about to decide upon a plan for his dwelling, one that is not only very commodious and tasty, but in view of its perfection in every respect, is economical. Durability is an important consideration, and heavy bills for repairs, commg often, are to be guarded against. Modern fashion appears to favor projecting gables, vallies in the roof, and bay windows, and in many cases cornices are embellished with hanging ornaments that soon decay and fall off. These things are not suited to the farmer. A good house, well adapted to the wants of a large household, in which is to be performed all the various operations of cooking, washing, making butter and cheese, &c., &c., and which, at the same time provides for the elegancies of life, will cost a large sum, without resorting to expensive ornamenting. The farmer's house should be large, and should convey to the observer, the idea of strength and durability; the justice of its proportions, rather than its ornaments, constituting its beauty. We think Mrs. Ellis has shown good taste, within the limits of proper expenditure, and in every par- ticular has come up to our views of a first rate farm house ; and who but a lady, with a culti- vated mind, and who is herself the mistress of a house, and the mother of a family, should know what is demanded for the comfort of such an establishment ? The communication accom- panying the drawing, contains the views of th,e designer, and we think them so just, that we ask that it may be published. Respectfully submitted, George Geddes, ') J. McD McIntyre, > Committee. E. Mack, ) The Farmer for Agricultural Societies. Messrs. Editors : — As the time is approach- ing for Agricultural Societies to make out their premium lists, allow me to suggest, through its pages, the Genesee Farmer as a very suitabte publication to be included among such premiums. I think that all our societies should make it a point to offer a large proportion of agricultural books and papers as premiums ; and among the latter I know of no one, taking size, content^ and price into the account, better adapted to the purpose than the Farmer. This suggestion, I think, is especially worthy the attention of the officers and members of our various societies in Western and Central New York. Another idea. In some of the Eastern States the Agricultural Societies furnish each member with a copy of an agricultural paper, on pay- ment of annual dues. By ordering a large num- ber of the publisher, the papers are obtained at the lowest price ; and hence members receive a paper for one year, aside from the benefit of membership, by paying only a trifle over its sub- scription price. This plan is found to work well, and aids the societies as well as benefits their members. Why may not this same course be adopted advantageously by our New York Agri- cultural Societies and Farmer's Clubs? I think it a good one, and at least worthy of considera- tion. Is it not also a good plan to adopt in or- ganizing and sustaining Farmer's Clubs? Ontario Co., Dec, 1847. Agricola. Remarks. — Many of our Western N. York Agriculrural Societies include volumes of the Genesee Farmer and other journals among their premiums. We have always been of the opin- ion, before and since our connection with the _ 'icultural press, that the plan of furnishing each member of societies and clubs with a volume of some good agricultural journal, would prove mutually beneficial to all parties. 1848. GENESEE FARMER. 25 EDITOR'S TABLE. To ("oRRESPONDENTS. — Communications have been re- a?ived, during the past month, from C. N. Bement, S. VV., C. D., *, L. B. Loveland, J., An English Farmer's Wife, A W. Turner, Agricola, W., Yates Co. Ag. Society, Joseph Carpenter, VVm. SheLon, Milo Ingalsbe, A. Huidekoper, Montgomery Arnold, H. Hippie, F. Parks, Adams, J. S., W. H. II., M. J. Grove, A, Eaton, L. P. C, Mortimer Hop- kins, H. C. W., and T. W. Several communications and inquiries were received too late for attention this month ; — and others, the pubhcation of which would be unseasonable at this time, are on file for insertion in future numbers. ARTicr.Fs for publication, or inquiries, when sent with remittances for the Farmer, should be written on a part of the sheet separate from the business matter. Our friends will oblige us by bearing this in mind, and so arranging their letters that each portion may be fded separately. " Domestic Animals." — This is the title of a new work, by R. L. Allen, Esq., author of "American Agriculture," y. MARKET INTELLIGENCE. Rochester Produce Market— Wholesale. WTieat, $1 2.5 Corn, Barley,. Oats,-. Flour, Beans, Apples, bush. Potatoes, Clover Seed,. Timothy, .... May, ton, Wood, cord.. Salt, bbl,..:. Hams, lb, Rochester, Dec. 30, 1347 New York Market. \_By Magnetic Telegraph.'] New York. Dec. 30.— 7 P. M. Ashes.— Pots firm ; 125 bbls. sold at $-5.50 ; Pearls are $7 and dull. Flour and Meal.— There has been a moderate demand to-day for flour, market firm. S.ales -3000 or 4000 bbls. including 1200 bis. western for shipment at $6. There is a demand for filling vessels at this rate. Tlie range of the market for the trade has been $6.- 12>^ a $6.25 for good brands western, and $6.25 a $6..37):^ for Gen- esee. There were also settlements of contracts to the extent of 4000 or 5600 bbls. at $6 a 6.12. For Meal there is some inquiry at $.3.25 a $3.37>.> for Jersey, and 1000 bbls. for March at $3.37.— Sales 100 bbls. Rye Flour at $4.25. Grain.— Sales 1000 bush. Genesee "Wheat at $1.36, and 1400 d». inferior Southern at $1.10. Corn is in moderate inqiiiry, and steady. Sales 12,000 to 15,- 000 bush, at 67 a 70 cts. for new, including white Southern and Northern yellow ; 73 o 74 cts. for mixed old ; 75c. for flat yeUow. RvE offered freely at 87 cts. in the shp. Oats 50 cts. for canal, and in moderate demand. Provisions. — Pork market dull ; sales about 500 bbls. at $7.78 for old prime; $11 for mess, and $11.87 a $12 for new, the latter Baltimore. Considerable arrivals of Pork to-day. In Beef thers is nothing of importance doing ; market quiet at $5.50 a $6 for prime ; $8 a $9 for mess. Ohio Sutter 10 a 12J4e ; State 14 a 22c. Sales 930 casks Cheese, State, Q}i cts. Contents of this Number. Agricultural Education, 9 Manures fermenting in the Soil, 10 Shrinking of Fork ; Anti-friction compound for Wagon Wheels, 11 European Extracts ; Book Farming, 1'2 English Cart-horse, with terms denoting external parts of the Horse ; Respectability of Agriculture, 13 Hints for January ; Butter — fixperiments, (Sec, 14 Seedling Potatoes, 15 Liming and Brining Seed Wheat ; Use of green and dry "Wood, tfi Saxon Sheep, 17 Management of Merino Sheep, IS Save your Fodder ; Cutting food for Stock ; Korse Power, 19 What are our New York Fanners doing? Dr. Under- bill's Theory — Drainage, &c.; Model Farming in Ireland and Scotland, 20 Farmer's Clubs, 21 Design fur a Farm House, with plans, &c., 22 The Genesee Farmer for Agricultural Societies, 24 Editor's Table— Monthly ^otices, 25 Turning over a New Leaf,... ^ Yates Co. Ag. Society ; Bilious Colic, 27 HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. The New Year, 28 Norton's Melon Apple, 2i> The New Japan Lilies, 3D The Rules of American Pomology, 32 Fruit Culture, 33 Answers to Correspondents, Tillotson Peach — Thorns — Advantages of Fall Planting — Mountain Ash, Pino, Spruce, &ji., 34 ladies' department. Curing Bacon ; To have good Cofl'ee ; Corn Meal Cakes ; — and several items, 33 Vol. 9. ROCHESTER, N. Y.— FEBRUARY, 1848. KFo. 2. THE GENESEE PAKIHER: Issued 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: Five copies for $2, and any larger number at the same rate, if directed to individuals. Eight copies for $3, if only directed *o one person — and any larger number, addres.sed in like man- ner, at the same rate. All subscriptions payable in adyance, and to commence with the volume, (fej- Back numbers sup- plied to new subscribers. All the back volumes of the Farmer (except the 2d) may be obtained of the Publisher. Price 50 cents each, substantially bound. The only volumes published in octavo form, uniform with the present, are the Gth, 7th, and 8th,— for 184.5. 1846, and 1847. — These volumes can be furnished bounder in numbers. Letters containing remittances, or making inquiries for the benefit of the writer, must be post-paid or free in order to receive proper attention. Addre.'?s the Publisher. [Editorial Correspondence of the Genesee Farmer.] Southern Agriculture and Customs. Our readers will hardly credit the story that potatoes are now brought to market whicli have grown in Georgia within the last three months, in open air. Yet such is said to be the fact, and a matter of no uncommon occurrence. Farmers plow, plant, sow, and harvest, more or Igss every month in the year. Barley, oats, peas, and young clover are now growing in the middle of January. How they contrive to escape death by hard freezing, I do not understand. Every day brings out some strange novelty. At first it seemed very odd to see men driving oxen with bridle bits, head-stalls and lines, precisely as horses are driven at the north. In some cases ropes are tied to the horns of either ox to pull him to the right or left. At Columbia, the capi- tal of South Carolina, I was amused to witness several very small oxen harnessed each singl in a cart, and driven with bits in mouth 20 miles to market, with two or three hundred pounds of corn stalks and a few eggs. One need not go out of the Union to find a people quite as primi- tive in the management of cattle as old Jacob, who contrived to breed so many that were "ring- streaked and speckled." These animals fare so hard at the south that they are mere dwarfs, and generally very poor at that. Sheep have long legs and tails, long necks and precious little wool. To prevent its total loss in the thorny bush wood, sheep are sheared or shorn twice a vear and never washed. Their fleeces are mat- ted with burrs, and worth next to nothing. In- deed they are kept for mutton, not for their wool. There are, I believe, more goats than sheep in Georgia, and more dogs than goats and shee[» put together. Every negro is ambitious of being the master of a dog, as he can not be of himself. I have visited a good many plantations, seen wo- men plow, chop, grub trees, and how field labor- ers eat, drink, and sleep in their huts. This is a branch of domestic economy, however, which can no more be discussed than my "Laconics," or the rights of labor in the free States. The regular labor and wholesome food of slaves, and the absence of all care about providing for them- selves and oflspring, cause this class to multiply with greater rapidity than any other in the world. They will soon number ten millions in the Uni- ted States. Nor can you prevent their rapid increase, except by the most inhuman mutilation. It is the whites, the physically inferior race, not the blacks, who are the sufferers by the importa- tion of so many wild people from Africa, by the commercial traders of Old and New England. previous to the year 1808, when the slave trade was abolished. Compare the condition of the natives now in Africa with the negroes of the South, and every one must see that Ihe latter have gained immeas- urably by being transplanted from a land where civilization has not advanced one inch in four thousand years, to the heart of a Christian nation. The great truth is not to be denied that no other people have advanced so much in an equally short period as have the children of the men and women who were stolen from Africa, many of whom are still living to teach their masters and the children of the latter, an African dialect. In a rural population where there are seven negroes to one white person, and the blacks nurse the whites as well as their own offspring, what language, think you, the child will learn from its nurse and playmates ? It is the European, not the African race that have, and must long continue to suffer by the presence of 3,000,000 of negroes, who, being at the bottom in the scale of humanity, must una- voidably pull down to their level the smaller number with whom they associate, unless- the latter draw them up to a common platform. The great and crowning evil in all so called Christian nations is "the love of money." In that regard there is not a particle of difference between slaveholders and non-slaveholders which I can discover. All are alike willing to chew and smoke slave-grown tobacco, eat slave grown 38 GENESEE FARMER. Feb. rice and sugar, and wear slave-grown cotton, if these things are only sold a little cheaper, so that the consumer divides with the planter the profits of unrewarded labor ! The constant cheapening of productive toil in the free States, in Europe, and the slave States, I regard as a wrong which a just God will not fail to punish. But those that think they profit by getting from their fel- low beings more than they give in exchange, will not tolerate a discussion of the rights of labor in any country, so I dismiss the subject. It is much to be regretted that agriculturists do not travel more and see how their brother farmers manage things in distant quarters of this nation of thirty States. Travel will cure a thou- sand prejudices and errors which every man unconsciously falls into. It will enable the best informed to impart most valuable information to tho?e who are farming precisely as their great grandfathers did a century ago. Some of the implements used by this class of cultivators are truly curiosities. Railroads and steamboats ought to mingle the citizens of every State with those of all the others. This is a good country for poor northern men, if they are only steady and industrious. Labor is not looked upon as disreputable. On the con- trary, white laboring men are more esteemed here than at the North. Mechanics are scarce, and command high wages. I have heard more said in favor of home manufactures at the south than I ever did in Rochester and Buffalo. The spirit of improvement has taken a strong hold of the public mind, and great and salutary changes will soon be witnessed. Any people can achieve almost any amount of good, if they will. All should aim to improve their system of farming a little every year. The planters of the south beat the farmers of the north in ditching side hills. These ditches go around the hill at a small inclination, (six inches in a rod,) by which all surface water after rains is carried off gently so as not to wash plowed land. On pretty steep hills the ditches are more than 40 or 50 feet apart. They are not crossed in plowing. Considering their long life, and their powers of endurance, mules are far more economical for farm work than horses. Here, too, northern farmers might take a useful lesson in this region. Augusta, Ga., Jan., 1848. Scientific Notices., &c. Urine of Herbiferous Animals. — The urine of the hog contains 1 part in 100 of phosphate of potash, which neither the cow or horse pro- duces— while the cow contains 16^ parts and the horse 45 parts of the hippurate of potash, the urine of the hog contains none. The horse con- tains 101 parts of lime ; in all the other valuable qualities the cow excels. The only reason why the manure of the hog is found the most valuable is that it is produced from richer food and in a more concentrated state. Artesian Wells. — The deepest bored well in the world is at Mondrof ; it is 2200 feet deep and still progressing ; its waters are 95" Fah- renheit— within 3 degrees of blood heat. The well of Crenelle, at Paris, is 1794 feet deep, mostly through a chalk bed. Its temperature is 72° F. It d it charges 20 barrels of water per minute, and rises 50 feet above the surface. It is difficult to account for the rise of the water in these bored wells ; inclined strata of rocks hav- ing a source higher than the issue, is generally supposed to be the cause ; but water is as readily procured on high as low lands. Condensation of steam, and the great pressure from central heat, has also been suggested. Potato Disease. — This disease has been kown for several years at Bogota, in South America, (where they are indigenous,) especially in rainy seasons. Electricity applied to Plants. — It seems by a carefully conducted set of experiments, that arti- ficial or increased electricity, or the electro-mag- netic fluid, has not the remotest effect on the vegetable tissue, neither increasing or retarding growth, and that the reports on the subject are one of the humbugs of the day. Carlon from the Lungs. — An adult person expires every hour from his lungs 174 grains ; from the pores of the skin near 6 grains ; amount- ing in 24 liours to 9 ounces of solid charcoal or carbon. This article is elaborated by the ani- mal economy from the food, and disolved by the oxygen we inhale in the atmospheric air, and is thrown off in the shape of carbonic acid or fixed air. * Atmosphere of the Moon. — Astronomers for a long period have not admitted that the moon possessed an atmosphere, but from late improve- ments in astronomical instruments, it seems to be settled that, that luminary has a slight and very rare atmosphere, of about one quarter of a mile in height, capable of supporting (according to the calculations of Prof. Loomis, of the Cin- cinnati observatory,) about the 45th part of an inch of mercury — while our atmosphere supports 30 inches. It is so rare that it exceeds the most perfect vacuum that can be produced by the air pump. An European astronomer maintains, that its reflected light contains an appreciable quantity of heat ; for he was able, by concentra- ting the rays through a 3 foot concave lens, to effect a most delicate and sensible thermometer. Nutritive quantity of Dry and Green Fodder. — It is generally supposed that there is more nu- triment derived from grass in a green state, than there is after it has been cured. A young heifer was carefully weighed, and fed 10 days on green food, while an equal weight was nicely cured, when she was again weighed and fed with dry 1848. GENESEE FARMER. 39 food. The experiment was tried three times, with the same result, which was a trifle each time in favor of the dry food— not enough perhaps to pay the labor of curing, but sufficient to show there was no loss in nutriment, and only in the water of vegetation. Grain in Russia. — A traveler in northern 'Russia, finds that summer rye and barley are cultivated with success ; where the average tem- perature is only 26, (ours is over 50,) and where the earth at 7 feet depth is continualy frozen and never thaws. The season is only from 2i to 3 months from plowing to harvest. In this neigh- borhood, but on a plateau of much higher land, the shaft of a mine was sunk through 175 feet of frozen earth. The springs that this high land produced ran the whole year at a temperature of ^6, only 4 degrees above freezing. Gleanings from Foreign Journals. A RECENT experiment made with the follow- ing substances, makes their constituent values for nutriment as fellows : 107 parts of Wheat, 111 of Rye, 117 of Oats, 130 of Barley, 895 of Potatoes, and 1,335 of Turnips, are equal as to nutritive power. Trotting. — -The knowing ones in England have been nicely taken in, by a trotting horse taken over from this country by an eastern com- pany. He was backed to perform 18 miles within an hour upon a mile course, at the Belle Vue Gardens — which he performed, and a half mile over, wanting 60 yards. The rider not hearing the pistol at the expiration of the hour, put him round the course once and a half more, and until tiiey had to interfere to stop him. There is nothing on the English trotting records to equal it, and it is certainly a most extraordinary performance, as the horse was not at all distressed and came out quite fresh. The horse, owner and rider are all American, and with this single race bagged a fortune. Potatoes. — In digging the crop of potatoes in the land attached to the Darlington Work- house, the production was found to he at the rate of 450 imperial bushels per acre. The po- tatoes were of ihe kind denominated " Green Tops." They were set with salt and ashes, and when taken up were sound, and the earth quite moist. Note. — We have an instance in a field near this city, which had a large hand- ful of ashes strewn upon the seed before cover- ing, that almost entirely escaped the rot. Draining. — It is worthy of notice, to attest the estimation in which thorough draining is held, that one individual in England has had cut on his estate upwards oi' fifty miles, or 16,000 rod* of drain within the last twelve months. It is con- fidently asserted that the top and under-drain system now pursued in the flat and retentive soils of that country, and the introduction of the turnip culture, has doubled its agricultural pro- anuring, mowing, curing, housing, and foddering out grass, as a great tax on north- ern husbandry. This wag a serious mistake, the extent of which our friends at the North would soon learn, did the earth for one season only, refuse to bear any of the cultivated grasses. A very intelligent correspondent of the Southern Cultivator truly remarks .that, " the great secret of the astonishing resources of the frozen regions of the North, lies in its grasses, of which clover is the chief." Much can yet be done to increase the products of pastures and meadows of the farmers who read this journal. There are thousands of acres which need draining to root out wild plants, sweeten the soil, and enable timothy, red top, and clover to flourish in their places. An excess of water, particularly standing water, is most deleterious to all grazing lands. No standing water should rise to within three feet of the sur- face of the earth, if you would have it yield sweet nutritious hay, or pasturage. There are many old meadows and pastures which will be greatly improved by sov/ing more grass seed, and scari- fying them with a light, sharp harrow. We have seen good meadows of tame grass formed in Illinois by burning the prairie, sowing seed on the black turf, and harrowing the ground, with- out any previous breaking of the sod. Make it a point to raise more grass seed and to sow more every year. All the southern cities are supplied with northern hay ; and mo-t of the producers of hay on the Hudson river and along the Atlantic coast make great use of leached ashes, lime, and salt, to fertilize their annually cropped meadows. Kind reader, would you not rejoice to add .50 per cent, to tlie grass that now annually grows on your pastures and meadows ? If so, the thing is quite attainable at a trifling cost. Perhaps it may be advisable to break them up first. If so, plow deep, and cultivate the earth most thorougli- iy to obtain one or two first rate preliminary crops. Use a plenty of gi-ass seed and manure, so far as you have it. If it is possible to irrigaic, by all means give your grass lands the benefit of running surface water several times during a season — shifting the little streams every week or so. Irrigation might be far more practiced both north and south than is no'vv done. Pro-bably a mixture of equal parts of slaked lime and leached ashes will do more to augment the growth ot grass than any other application of equal cost. Care should be taken not to turn cattle, sheep,- or horses, on fi.elds too early in the spring. We have seen great injury done in this way. Bet- ter keep cattle on dry, clean cotton, as m-any do- in this city j i. e., let their cows steal it to keep them from starving. Cotton is about as nutri- tious as clean pine wood saw dust, being nearly pure woody fibre. Yet, strange to say, we have seen many a bale where the sack was open with a hole eaten into it by cows. They pick up every scattered lock they can find. Undoubtedly, many of the native grasses of this region might be mown and cured for hay. But who has a scythe, and who can use it 1 An intelligent planter told me yesterday that he- made some hay in his corn fields, but he cut it all with the hoe. When the mowing machine, invented by Mr. Ketchum, of Buffalo, shall be generally intro- duced, the cost of cutting and curing hay will be much diminished. We saw this machine in New York and regarded it as a valuable affair. So long ago as 1840, the hay crop of the Empire State was estimated by those that gave in the census, at thirty 'millions of dollars. This pro- duct may be doubled, without materially lessen- ing any other. Very few acres in pasture or meadow in any State have reached the maximun* return. Augusta, Ga., Jan., 1848. Manuring and Stimulating Seeds. A GOOD deal was said, a few years since, oiii the subject of causing the seed to absorb and be- come impregnated with some soluble salt, where- by its productiveness was greatly increased. It orio-inated in Germany, and so sanguine was its discoverer, that he often said the time would come when a man would carry the manure for an acre of land in his breeches pocket. We observe in the London Mark Lane Ex- press the advertisement of Biche & Co., wha have obtained a patent, and offered to prepare seeds of every description, warranting it to save (\\Q pounds sterling per annum in the cost of manuring an acre. Their notice is accompanied by many certificates of celebrated farmers, bear- ing testimony of its efficacy ; also with a tariff" of prices per bushel for preparing the seeds, which varies from one to two dollars. For clover seed fifteen cents per pound, or nine dol- lars per bushel, for preparing only. One of the certificates states that the turnips produced a much larger leaf, almost lost their indentations, and become round, with a great in- mm. GENESEE FARMER. 41 ■crease in product. Another statement, speaking •of wheat, says it causes a great increase of till- ering, a longer and heavier h©ad, and more straw than the ordinar}/ process. It is almost inconceivable to us, what virtue could be communicated to a seed so small as the turnip, even if the most concentrated essence of any thing, that would cause an increase of any amount of its products. The advantage gained by this process of steeping, as it is called, must accrue to the plant in its younger stages, before the fertilizing power of the seed is lost, to give strength and early vigor to the young plant, — causing its roots to throw out abundantly and strong — whereby its ability to pi'ocure nutriment, is greatly increased, as all seeds are entirely de- composed long before the maturity of the plant. We presume the phosphates and sulphates of ana- monia are among the secrets of these prepara- tions, as they are well known as great stimulants and excitants of vegetation, and perhaps com- bined with some material that rendei-s these salts of difficult solubility, until decomposed by the peculiar processes of the vegetable economy. ^ Natural ScieBce. One of the most interesting series of lectures recently delivered, is that by Professor Agassiz, in New York city, upon Natural Science. — These lectures have been published in the jour- sials as they were delivered, and exhibit the most profound researches into the depths of nature. Animal life is traced in all its various forms and changes, to the present geological period, when '^Lhe types and forms reached their present perfec- tion. The conclusions are directly at variance with the ingenious author of the Vestiges of Cre- ation, whose theory ef development or evolution of more perfect types out of the next inferior, whieh theory tended to infinite progression, has occasioned so much discussion. P. ofessor Agas- siz thinks that the whole view of animal life upon our globe proves that the great and beautiful and harmonious plan of the Creator has been carried out and finished ^ that it is a complete whole, and that no further or higher types or develop- ments of animal life should be looked for on this globe. Among the interesting facts brought to view was the limitation of different species of animals to particular locations on the earth. — Man's dwelling place is on every portion of the earth's surface, and he traverses every sea ; but there is no other specimen of animal life which extends generally over the earth or through the waters of the oceans. They are all confined to limited fields, whose bounds they never pass. Each continent and the different portions of con- tinents have each their peculiar species of ani- mals, which are unknown in other portions of the earth. They all seem to remain upon the ^.eld where they were created ; and the fossil remains in the different strata of the earth's sur- face show that this law has always prevailed. In New Holland there are species of animals entirely different from any others found in the world, and the fossil remains of the same species are found in the different strata in New Holland, and nowhere else on the earth. What seems more remarkable is, that fishes, which appear to have no barrier to locomotion round the globe, obey the same law, and remain alv/ays in the same oceans and the same fields. There is a family of fishes around the islands between New Holland and Southern Asia, differing from any others found in the world. They never leave these waters except for a short distance i^to the Indian Ocean. The fishes on the Atlantic shores of Europe are entirely distinct from those on the Atlantic shores of North America till we get far north, where the mean temperature is thirty-two degrees, and the two continents approach each other. They never migrate, even along the coast, beyond certain limits, A very interesting summary of these lectures has appeared in the National Intelligencer. Tlie professor, who has but recentlv arrived here, is but forty years of ■age, and the cultivators of natural sciei.ce have yet much to hope from his labors. Shrinking of Pork— Lsnar Influence. Messrs. Editors : — I observe an inquiry in the December number of the Farmer, asking the reason or a remedy for the shrinking of poi'k when boiled. What little experience I have had proves to me that the following is a renrredy — and of course when you see the remedy you will know the reason. Now I care not whether your h-^gs are very heavy, or whether very fat or not, the whole mystery is here — kill your hogs iii the new of the moon, as near the full as you can, and when the moon is rising — any time when it is betv.'een east and south — but better the nearer the moon is to the south. The moon governs the tide ; when the moon is rising the tide is rising, and the nearer the full the higher the tide — and as soon as the moon is south the tide begins to ebb. Therefore your pork will shrink or swell with the ebbing or flowing of the tide, and wane or wax of the moon. Try it, and then you will know for yourself. Wm. L. Van Dusen. Henrietta, Ohio, Jan. 1848. Remarks. — We give the above for what it is worth. We shall not, at present, attempt to dis- prove the statements and conclusions of our cor- respondent, although we do not adopt his faith in lunar influence. We alluded to the main ques- tion at some length, in our January number. Keep your heart alwaj-s ready for some mis* fortune. 42 GENESEE FARMER. Fek. Meteorological Observations for Rochester, N. Y. BY LEANIJKK WKTHERELL. l^urmnary of the Mdeorolngccal Observations made from Jan. 1, 1847 to Jan. 1, 1848. Also, for comparison— from Jan. I, 1846, to Jan. 1, 1847, RocHESTEH is situated on both sides of the Gen- esee river — 7 miles from its entrance into Lake Ontario : Latitude, 48° 8' 17" ; Longitude, 77° 51' ; elevated 506 feet above tide water. Monthly mean temp, of .(an. 1847, 24.63 ; do. 1846, 27.56 " Feb. " 2.''>.3l ; do. " 22.79 " Mar. " 28.44 ; do. " 34.80 • •' April " 41.42; do. " 47.36 " May " 58.27 ; do. " 60.24 (< June " 61.94; do. " 64.45 " July " 71.76; do. " 69.87 " Aug. " 67.31 ; do. " 6-9.86 " Sept. •' 58.48 : do. " 65.71 " Oct. 47.36 ; do-. " 47.39 " Nov. " 41.05 ; do. " -42.67 " Dee. » 32.23 , do " 29.41 Annual mean temp, of the year '• 46.64 ; do. " 47.44 Highest degree, " 95.00 do. " 96.00 Lowest " 0.00 do. " 1,00 Greatest rnngr. 95.00 , do. " 95.00 Warraest day. July 19 do-. "July 13 Coldest " '• Feb. 23 ; do. " Feb. 26 Winds. North, in the yea?. 14 days do. "23 days " Norllveast, 32i " do. "m '" East, 8 " do. " 14 " Soulheasly < 38i " do. "38i " South, < 33 J " do. "13i " " Southwest, ' 68 " do. " 471 " West, ' 68 •' do. " 75 ■ "■ " Northwest, > 102:'" do. "109.1" Prevailing wind of the year N. W. do. " N. W. Number of fair days in um do. 163 " cloudy dayf in 198i do. 202 " days on which rain fell' 119 do. 99 " " " snow " ' 56 do. 65 " " "raintfe" '' ' 33 do. 13 Rain Guage for 1817, 38.91) in.; do. 1846, 37.13 in. First, frost in autumn of '• Sep .16; do. Oct. 3 First enow " " Oct. 11 ; do. 11 Oct. 17 Robin first heard " Mar 22; da. << Mar. 18 Maple (acer rubrum) in bloom, in 1847 April 9 " " " 1846 Ma?. 24 Pluin, peach, cherry, and apple in blo&m, in 1847 May 15 " " " " " 1846 May 1 I have thus placed in juxtaposition a summary of the meteorological and otlier observations of the last two years. The caieful reader will ob- serve in comparing any two corresponding facts given in the abstract above, the difference be- tween the two years ; for example : the annual mean for 1847 is 46.64 — that of the preceding year is 47.44 — difference of only eight-tenths of a degree. So again of the rain guage : differ- ence between the two years, one inch and eighty- six-hundrcdths ; so of the corresponding facts generally — the difference between them is slight. The prevailing wind here is northwest. The season of the past year was not as forward as that of the preceding year. Native plants and the garden fruit trees were about one half a month later in blos.soming. The summer though quite productive was dry, especially the months of June and July, and but little rain in May, — During the autumnal months we had a great abundance of rain — river very high most of the time during this part of the year; so through the month of December. We had only ten days of sleighing during this month — and this within' the la.st half of it. The weather was very mild' the last three days — on the last day of the month and of the year, the thermorneter was 45 in the morning, 53 at noon, and 52 in the evening. The buds of the maple very much enlarged. The aurora borealis was unusually frequent the past year. The one of March the 19th was- remarkably splendid. Its brilliancy and extent far exceeded any thing of the kind that I have seen since 1836 and '37. From the arch which was formed, shooting upward toward the zenith, were numerous spires or beams of light chasing and succeeding each other in rapid succession. These were beautiful and grand: — beyond the power of description. The undulations, called ^'' 7nerrp dancers," were uncommonly fine and dazzling. The light proceeding from these pyr- amidal spires seemed to float in successive flashes in mid-heaven, resembling the flashes produced by igniting alcohol or gunpowder, more nearly than any thing else that occurs to me for com- parison ;■ or, to use a sublime comparison, re- sembling what we might fancy to be the appear- ance of the conflagration of the world. At 11 o'clock this phenomenon had passed the zenith toward the south. The wind was easterly — the sky cloudless — the thermometer 29, It has been- remarked that the northern light is the " sign" of a gale or storm. The following morning the thermometer 29 at sunrise — dark clouds in the- horizon — a little rain about 8 o'clock A. M.~ succeeded by a pleasant day. Destruction of the Wire-Worm. Messr.s. Editors : — I noticed in the Novem- ber number of the Genesee Farmer, an inquiry from a correspondent in Clarkson, N. Y., rela- tive to the extirmination of the wire-worm, with a request that some correspondent would answer the inquiry, through the Farmer. I have long considered the wire-worm to be the greatest pest of the farmer, in those soils where they abound.. I have found that in a mucky, or a black sandy soil, and in fact any soil where there is found much muck or mold, they seem to be the most trouble- some. Yet I have found them so abundant in parts of a lot, that was almost exclusively gravel; (but surrounded by mucky land,) that they de- stroyed almost entirely wheat or corn when sow- ed or planted on it. But I do not think fliat they will do much injury to crops on such land, un- less in the immediate vicinity where muck or black sand predominates in the soil. It is no easy matter to eradicate the wire-worm from soils that seem to be natural for them, when once they have become numerous. I have tried various means : One season after the wire- worms had destroyed full half of my corn, as soon or before it came up, I was told that if I put a little salt, ashes, or lime in each hill, when I 184a ■GENESEE FARMER. 43 planted it over, that they would not trouble It. — Accordingly I did so, on a part, and made a com- position of all three of the above named articles, and put a little into the hills of the rest; but all to no purpose, they destroyed as bad as before. The most effectual means I have found, from my own experience, and the experience of oth- 'Crs, is to plov/ as late in the fall as possible, and •then sow to buck-wheat two seasons in succession, which will almost entirely destroy them. But when a farm is nearly covered with them — as I do not consider a buck-wheat crop, when raised to any extent, very profitable — my practice has been to plov/ late in the fall, as above ; and then summer-fallow thoroughly the ensuing season, not allowing even a weed or spear of grass to grow; which is literally termed plowing, or, starving them out. It Vv'ould not, it is true, eradi- cate them so effectually as by sowing buck-wheat, as recommended above ; yet I have found it more pofitable, from the fact that starving them out, by thorough tillage, would destroy so many of them, that the v/heat crop would suffer but little from v/hat was left — and by not seeding down to clover or grass, but croping alternately, by plowing and fallowing as above described, 1 would so far succeed in getting clear of them, that I would not suffer loss to any great extent. But if the land be seeded to clover or grass, and lav over^ as it should, in order to keep up the land, so that the soil remains in good heart, they will soon become as great a pest as ever. Even when fallowed the ensuing season by plow- ing in June, or as late as possible, in order to get ,as much benefit from the clover as possible, in point of feed for stock, and a good coat to turn under — which, by the way, I am much in favor of, others to the contrary notwithstanding — 1 have found them so bad on my best wheat-land, after a hw years, as almost entirely to destroy the wheat crop. I have spun this communication much beyond what 1 at first intended, but if you should deem it worthy of an insertion in the Farmer, it is at your disposal. W. H. H. Wheatland^ N. F., Bee, 1847. Quantity of Seed to an Acre — Experiment. Messrs. Editors : — At the winter meeting •of the Yates County Agricultural Society, the following account of an experiment tried by me was read, for which the Society gave a premium, and voted unanimously to have it published in the Genesee Farmer : On the 23d of September, 1846, I sowed four .annot be orgarjized into this bread producing vegetable. All the organized matter that made the whole gain in the crop — 23 bushels of ears, and a like gain in stalks and blades -existed within reach of the corn plants as well be- fore as after the ashes were applied. Providence supplied in earth, air and water, full 95 parts in 100 of the elements which combined to make the addition to the crop— the ashes yielding less than 5 per cent. Science taught the practical husbandman the important facts : first that with- out phosphate of lime, and salts of potash, soda, iron and magii"siii, soluble and available in the soil, no corn can possibly grow. Secondly, that the supply of these sub- stances in ordinary corn lands, is less than is required to make 50 bushels on an acre. In conclusbn, we put the question to the common sense of practical raea, vuhether tn truth there is any thing more mysterious ia making a hill of fat earn— an average of tw o good ears on each stalk — by feeding the living plants just what they need', than there is in making two fit pigs in one pen, by giving them a pleaty of good food during their whole life time ? Upon a pinch, a hungry pig can trot round over loO acres to find his breakfast. But alas, no famishing corn plant can travel a single rod to get the ma- terials winch make the solid bones of all animals that live on corn, and have the power of locomotion. Corn will send its roots into the suhsuil in seareh of bone earth, gyp- 8um, potash, so