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TRANSACTIONS 


OF    THE 


NEW-YORK 

STATE  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY, 


TOGETHER    WITH   AN 


ABSTRACT  OF  THE  PROCEEDINGS 


OF    THE 

COUNTY  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETIES 


AND    OF  THE 


AMERICA!  IISTITUTE. 


VOL.  V  — 1846. 


ALBANY: 

PRINTED    BY    E.    MACK,    PRINTER    TO    THE    SENATE. 

1846. 


■"L   I 

<  I 

'^1  I 


i  1\   i>h/s 


S 


I^VC 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  undersigned,  whose  duty  it  has  been  to  prepare  the  present 
volume  of  Transactions  for  the  press,  deeply  regrets  the  oversights 
and  mistakes  that  have  been  made.  He  hopes  that  they  are  mainly 
owing  to  his  want  of  that  experience  which  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
the  safe  and  skilful  conduct  of  a  work  of  this  nature  through  the 
mazes  of  the  press. 

At  first  sight,  it  seemed  impossible  to  settle  upon  an  arrangement 
which  would  involve  any  principle  that  might  be  a  guide  for  the 
future,  A  little  reflection,  however,  pointed  out  the  propriety  first,  of 
making  the  premium  list  the  basis  of  arrangement,  and  second,  of  plac- 
ing in  juxtaposition  all  matter  relating  to  the  same  particular  sub- 
ject from  whatever  source  it  might  come,  whether  the  report  of  a  com- 
mittee, an  essay  or  a  communication,  either  from  a  county  society  or 
an  individual.  This  principle  has  been  departed  from  in  two  instan- 
ces apparently ;  but  the  departure  was  owing  to  causes  over  which 
the  undersigned  had  no  control. 

The  undersigned  feels  well  assured  that  many  will  not  approve  of 
the  space  awarded  to  the  reports  of  the  county  societies,  nor  of  the 
copious  selections  made  from  their  statements  in  relation  to  crops. 
He,  however,  ventures  to  express  the  belief,  that  if  the  reports  of  the 
county  societies  are  so  completely  emasculated  as  to  present  noth- 
ing but  a  mere  catalogue  of  the  officers,  and  a  summary  of  receipts 


IV  ADVERTISEMENT. 

and  expenditures,  the  result  will  be  ultimately,  that  the  reports  from 
the  counties  will  become  valueless. 

It  is  desirable  that  there  should  be  a  close  and  cordial  intercourse 
between  the  state  and  county  societies.  And  that  these  numerous 
and  (if  they  so  will  it,)  effective  agents  should  feel  that  upon  them, 
in  a  great  measure,  depends  the  amount  as  well  as  value  of  the  an- 
nual accumulation  of  agricultural  knowledge.  The  present  volume 
of  Transactions  shews  conclusively  that  w^hatever  the  county  socie- 
ties may  have  heretofore  been,  they  are  no  longer  dull  and  inert  as- 
sociations. They  have  commenced  a  career  of  useful  activity  which 
it  is  desirable  to  stimulate.  The  State  Society  is  a  noble  institu- 
tion, and  it  will  only  add  to  its  fame  and  its  usefulness  by  imparting 
(if  it  is  in  its  power,)  energy  and  activity  to  the  county  societies. 
Every  man  who  is  laboring  for  a  county  society  should  feel  that  he  is 
also  laboring  for  the  State  Society,  and  that  every  valuable  agricultu- 
ral fact  communicated  to  the  one,  w^ill  find  its  appropriate  place  in 
the  transactions  of  the  other ;  whose  eye  is  upon  every  agricultural 
laborer  in  this  vast  field,  and  whose  voice  is  ever  ready  to  cheer 
them  in  their  work. 

The  writer  having  shown  himself  the  friend  of  the  county  so- 
cieties, will  be  pardoned  for  venturing  one  word  of  counsel  to  their 
oflBcers.  In  a  vast  number  of  cases,  the  statements  received  by  them 
from  the  individuals  to  whom  their  premiums  are  awarded,  are  defi- 
cient in  that  exectitude  and  accuracy  which  can  alone  impart  confi- 
dence and  give  them  real  value.  It  is  our  business  to  develop 
truth,  and  in  discharging  this  duty,  no  rules  can  be  too  rigorous,  nor 
can  the  application  of  them  be  too  stringent. 

Some  of  the  societies  give  printed  forms  to  the  applicants  for  pre- 
miums to  fill  up,  a  practice,  the  wisdom  of  which,  the  writer  ventures 
to  question.  Whenever  the  object  is  to  arrive  at  truth,  is  it  not  better 
to  allow  the  witness  to  tell  his  own  story  in  his  own  w^ay,  than  to 
give  him  questions  to  answer  1    In  the  one  case  the  story  is  tame 


ADVERTISEMENT.  V 

and  methodical,  in  the  other  fresh  and  interesting,  and  the  facts  inci- 
dentally brought  out,  of  scarcely  less  value  than  the  principal  state- 
ment. An  examination  of  a  paper  in  the  present  volume  on  wheat 
from  Oneida  county,  every  act  almost  of  whose  society  is  worthy  of 
imitation,  will  illustrate  the  writer's  position. 

In  the  extract  from  the  Oneida  county  report,  pp.  244,  245,  Mr. 
Skinner  has  contributed  a  paper  of  great  value  to  those  growlers  of 
wheat  who  live  in  the  district  infested  by  the  wheat-fly,  and  to  all 
who  are  liable  to  have  their  crops  struck  with  rust.  Had  he  confined 
himself  to  the  usual  printed  form  of  that  society,  both  these  interest- 
ing facts  communicated  by  him  would  have  been  lost  to  the  farming 
public.  From  no  society  is  there  received  more  indubitable  evi- 
dence that  these  premiums  are  awarded  to  those  only  who  actually 
raise  the  crops  that  they  profess  to  raise,  yet  their  printed  state- 
ments usually  contain  little  beyond  the  bald  and  naked  facts  of  the 
amount  of  the  crop  and  its  cost. 

J.  B.  NOTT. 

Agricultural  Rooms, 
May,  4,  1846. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL  V. 


STATE  AND  COUNTY  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETIES. 

Page. 

Annual  report,  for  the  year  1845, 3 

State  cattle  show  at  Utica, 4 

Show  ground  at  Utica, • 5 

Interior  of  show  ground, 6 

Floral  Hall, 7 

Temple  in  front  of  Floral  Hall, 8 

Temple  of  Ceres, 9 

Gothic  Temple, 10 

Corinthian  Temple, 11 

Farmers'  Hall, 12 

Number  of  visitors  at  the  fair, 12 

Receipts  of  the  fair, 12 

Animals,  &c.,  at  the  fair, 13 

Horticultural  exhibitions, 14 

Address  of  Josiah  Quincy  Jr.  Esq., 14 

Resolutions  adopted  at  the  close  of  the  fair, 25-6 

Annual  Meeting,  1846, 27 

Proceedings  of  same  at  the  Capitol, 28 

Officers  elected, 29-30 

Professor  Hall's  Geological  Map, 30 

Proceedings  of  annual  meeting  at  the  Lecture  Room  of  the  Young  Men's  Asso- 
ciation,    30 

Address  of  B.  P.  Johnson,  Esq., , 31 

Resolutions  passed  at  the  close  of  the  President's  Address, 43 

Premiums  awarded  at  the  annual  meeting, 43,44,45 

Corresponding  Secretary's  report, 46 

Resolutions  passed  at  Oxford,  Chemung  county, 61 

Cortland  county, 61,62 

Report  of  the  Agricultural  committee  of  the  Assembly,  by  Mr.  Kinne, 64 

Cattle — Report  of  the  committees  on, 74 

«                      «                  Class  I.  Durhams,  7^ 

«                       «                       "    II.  Herefords, 77 

"                       "                       "    III.  Devons, 77 

"                      "                      «    IV.  Ayrshires, 77 

«                      "                      "    V.  Grade  cattle, 78 

"                      "                     "    VI.  Natives, 79 

Extract  from  Oswego  county  report, 79 

Report  of  the  committee  on  working  oxen, 80 

"               "               steers, 81 

"               "              fat  cattle  and  fat  sheep, 82 


VIU  CONTENTS. 

Page. 

HoESES — Report  of  the  committee  on  stallions, 83 

"  "  matched  horses  and  geldings, 84 

"  "  mares  and  colts, , 85 

«  "  Sheep, 86 

"  "  class  I.  long  wooled, 87 

«  "  "    II.  middle  wooled, 87 

«  "  "    in.  merinos, 87 

"  "  "    IV.  saxons, 87 

"  "  "    sheep  from  other  states, 89 

"  "  Swine, 90 

"  "  Poultry, 94 

Extract  from  Wyoming  county  report  on, 98 

Plows — Report  of  the  committee  on, 99 

Subsoil  Plowing — Communication  from  S.  M'Lean,  Royalton,  Niagara  county,  100 

Report  of  the  committee  on  farm  wagons,  harrows,  &c., 106 

"  "  corn  and  cob  crusher, 106 

"  "  clover  machine, 106 

"  "  plowing  match, 108 

Butter — Report  of  the  committee  on, 108 

Statements  accompanying  report  of  the  committee,  E.  B.  Evans, 110 

"  "  "  Thomas  and  Nancy  Hawks,  110 

"  "  "         Geo.  Vail, 110 

"  "  "         RufusS.  Ransom, Ill 

"  "  "         O.  C.  Corcker 112 

"  "  "  Miles  Adams, 113 

"  "  "         Sanford  M.  roster, 114 

"  "  "  OranCole, 114 

"  "  "  Daniel  Eells,  Jr., 114 

"  "  "         Mrs.  William  Ottley, 114 

"  "  "      John  Green  and  Mary  Gossin,  115 

Extracts  from  Clinton  County  Report, 116 

"  statements  of  Thomas  Crook, 116 

"  E.  O.  Rusher, 116 

"  Oneida  Co.  Report, 117 

"  statements  of  Evan  R.  Evans, 117 

Cheese. — Report  of  the  committee  on,  118 

Statements  accompanying  report  of  committee, 119 

"  "  Henry  Burrell  and  others, 119 

"  "  Zenas  Elared  and  others, 120 

"  "  Robert  Eells, 121 

"  '"■  Frederick  Ingersol, 121 

"  "  Mrs.  William  Ottley, 122 

"  "  D.  Nolton  and  others, 122 

"  "  Daniel  Eells,  jr., 123 

"  "  Ephraim  Storrs, 123 

"  "  David  G.  Young, 124 

«•'  "  Christopher  Green, 124 

"  "  Duane  Richardson, 125 

"  "  Erastus  Colvin, 125 

"  "  John  Raymond, 126 


CONTENTS.  iX 

Page. 

Cheese— Extract  from  Clinton  Co.  report, 127 

Statements  of  Wm.  Keese, 127 

"         Otsego  Co.  Report, 128 

Statement  of  Wm.  C.  Young, 128 

"  Levi  Matthews,  Jr 129 

"         Oswego  Co.  Report, 129 

Statement  of  J.  W.  Tiffany, ]29 

Maple  and  Corn-stalk  Sugar.— Report  of  the  Committee, 130 

Statement  of  J.  Wood  worth, 130 

"  Moses  Eames, 131 

«  Wm.  E.White, 131 

"  Erastus  Bigelow, 132 

"  Sidney  Spring, 132 

Maple  Sugar.— Extract  from  Clinton  Co.  Report, 132 

Statement  of  J.  L.  Hackstafl, 132 

Silk. — Report  of  the  committee, 133 

Essay  by  H.  P.  Byrom,  Brandenburgh,  Meade  Co.,  Ky.  (Prize  Essay) 133 

Domestic  Manufactures.— Report  of  committee, 152 

Fruit.— Report  of  committee, 154 

Flowers.        "  " 155 

Vegetables,  "  257 

Miscellaneous  AND  Discretionary  Premiums, 157 

Farms. — Report  of  committee  on, i63 

Statement  of  Geo.  Geddes, 179 

Wm.  Buell, ]87 

"  William  Garbutt, : 193 

Extract  from  Monroe  Co.  Report, 204 

Morton  Smith  of  Wheatland, 204 

Prize  Essays.— Report  of  the  committee, 205 

Science  and  Agriculture,  by  J.  J.  Thomas, 207 

Irrigation,  by  J.  .1.  Thomas 223 

Culture  and  manufacture  of  Silk,  by  H.  P.  ByrOm, 133 

Rot  in  potatoes,  by  Andrew  Bush,  M.  D., 342 

Farm  Houses. — Construction  of,  A.  J.  Downing, 224 

Field  Crops.  — Report  of  the  committee, 239 

Winter  AVheat — E.  Rivenberg,  statement  by 239 

S.B.Dudley,  "  240 

A.  Fairchild,  '«  210 

N.S.  WrighS  " 241 

R.Z.Pell,  '•  24! 

County  Reports  and  Statements— 'Cayuga  Co., 212 

Statement  of  Sarah  Warn, 242 

Report  of  Cortland  Co,  O.  M.  Shedd, - 213 

Lewis  Co.,  R .  Stephens, 2  !4 

Oneida  Co.,  D.  Skinner 244 

Washington  Co.,  J.  Stevenson 245 

"  J.Green, 24G 

Wayne  Co.  A .  Fairchild, 246 

Yates   Co.,  A.  Bigelow,, 248 

Spring  Wheat. — Report  of  Gen.  Harmon, 250 

Statement  of  R.  Eells, 250 


X  CONTENTS. 

Page . 

Wheat.— Statement  of  M.  Daytorij 250 

"            C.  Lee 251 

Wheat  Cur  ture.— Experiments  in 252 

Lewis  Co.  Report, 254 

Wheat  Flt.— A.  Fitch,  Esq., 255 

CoHN. — Report  of  committee, 295 

Statement  of  G.  Vail, 295 

Experiments  in  culture  of  com,  G.  Geddes, 297 

County  reports,  and  statements, 298 

Lewis  Co.  statement,  H.  Mills, 298 

Oneida  Co.        "        C.  W.  Eells, 298 

Oswego             "        G.L.Sherwood, 299 

Tompkins          "        E.  I.  Ayers,. 300 

Washington,     "        C.  Skinner, 3(J0 

"               J.  M.  Naughton, 300 

Barley. — Report  of  committee, , 303 

Statements  of  H.  Mill, 303 

"                N.  S.  Wright, 304 

County  reports, 305 

Allegany  Co.  statement,  J.  Smith, , 305 

LewisCo.            "           H.Mills, 306 

Barley — Oneida  county  report,  Henry  B.  Bartlett, - 306 

"               "               Erastus  Dayton, 307 

"               "              G.L.Sherwood, 308 

Rye— County  reports  ;  Oneida  county,  J.  G.  Curtis, 309 

"                         "                    Truman  Curtis, 309 

Oats — Report  of  committee, 310 

Statement,  E.  J.  Ayres, 310 

County  reports  : 

Cayuga  county,  Thomas  Ogden, 312 

Oswego  county,  Nicholas  J.  Bort, 313 

Seneca  county,  William  Sutton, 314 

Washington  county,  A.  Thompson, 314 

Root  Crops — Report  of  committee,  , 316 

Potatoes— Statement  of  Street  Button, 319 

Lewis  county  report,  D.  Pitcher, 320 

Oneida  county,  W.  C.  Burritt, 321 

"               Henry  B.  Bartlett, 321 

Carrots — Statement  of  William  Risley, 322 

Lucius  Warner, 323 

Cortland  County  Report,  J.  Chamberlain,    323 

Lewis  county,  Selden  Ives, 324 

"              A.  H.  Buck, 325 

Oneida  county,  Philo  Griswold, 325 

"              Lucius  Warner, 326 

"              William  Wright, 326 

Mangel  Wurtzel — Statement  of  C.  B.  Meeks, 327 

Lucius  Warner, 328 

Sugar  Biets — Statement  of  S.  B.  Burchard, 329 

J.  F.  Osborn, 330 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Root  crops — continued.  Page. 

RUTA  Bagas— Statement  of  J.  G.  Smedberg, 332 

C,  B.  Meeks, 333 

Oneida  county  report,  Pliment  Mattoon,  334 

Peas — Report  of  the  committee, 334 

Statement  of  Thomas  Lane, 334 

"               William  French, 335 

Extracts  from  Oneida  county  reports,  Amos  Miller, 336 

"             Oswego  county,  Nicholas  Gray, 336 

"                       "                Nicholas  Bort, 337 

Flax — Report  of  the  committee, 338 

Statement  of  E.G.  Bliss, 238 

"               RufusS.  Ransom, 339 

Broom  Corn— Report  of  the  committee, 340 

Statement  of  "W.  M'Gowan, 340 

Rot  in  Potatoes — Prize  Essay, 342 

Communication  from  J.  P.  Norton, 349 

Agricultural  statistics,  by  S.  S.  Randall, 380 

Report  of  the  Treasurer  of  State  Agricultural  Society, 400 

Agricultural  meetings, 409 

Extracts  from  Prof.  Jackson's  report  on  New-Hampshire,  relative  to  swamp 

muck, 426 

TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  COUNTY  SOCIETIES. 

Allegany, 434 

Broome, 434 

Cayuga, 4:^6 

Chautauque, 436 

Chemung, 437 

Clinton, 438 

Columbia, 438 

Cortland, 439 

Delaware, 439 

Dutchess, 440 

Erie, 440 

Greene, 441 

Herkimer, 441 

Jefferson, 442 

Lewis, 442 

Livingston, 443 

Madison, 444 

Monroe, 446 

Montgomery, 447 

Niagara, 448 

Onondaga, .^ 448 

Oiieida 449 

Ontario, 452 

Orange, 452 

Orleans, 452 

Oswego, 453 

Otsego, 454 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Queens, , 454 

Rensselaer, , . .  455 

Rockland, 456 

Saratoga, 456 

Schoharie, , 457 

Seneca, , 457 

Tompkins, 458 

Ulster, 459 

Washington, 459 

Wayne, , 461 

Westchester, 461 

Wjoming, 462 

Yates, . „ 463 

AMERICAN  INSTITUTE. 

Annual  Report, 465 

Report  of  Managers  of  18th  Fair, 473 

Report  of  Committee  on  flow'ers,  fruit,  &c., 484 

Scripture's  Horse  power, 491 

Billings  and  Harrison's  flax -dressing  machine, 493 

Maize,  J.  Coggeshall, 494 

S.  W.  Jewett, 495 

Wheat,  J.  G.  Bergen, 496 

Culture  of  hops , 497 

Statement  of  G.  W.  Billings,  relative  to  flax, 498 

Apples,  Obadiah  Smith, » 500 

Cultui'e  of  the  pear,  Robert  Manning, 500 

"  "  J.M.Ives...... , 501 

Culture  of  cranberries,  Sullivan  Bates, 501 

"  Isabella  grapes,  James  Ewbank, 502 

"  "  W.A.Swain, 503 

"  Thomas  Noyes.......... • 503 

Horses,  George  M.  Patehen, 504 

Cattle,  Jacob  Latting, 505 

Stock,  Jacob  N.  Blakeslee, » 506 

Extracts  from  communications, • 507 

Analysis  of  muck, •  • .  508 

Estimate  of  cattle  consumed  in  New-York  city, 510 

Marl, 512 

Culture  of  the  peach, • 513 

Curing  meat, 513 

Roots  for  stock, 515 

Fences , '  •  516 

Arum,  a  new  esculent, 517 

Sowing  wheat,  R.  T.  Underbill, 518 

How  lands  should  be  plowed,  by  D.  Stebbins, 520 

Diseased  potatoes,  H.  Meigs, 521 

Extracts  from  the  proceedings  of  farmers  and  silk  culturists  in  New-York, 523 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  SOCIETY. 


President. 
J.  M.  SHERWOOD,  Auburn. 

Vice-Presidents, 

ROBT,  H.  LUDLOW,  New-York, 
ABRAM  BOCKEE,  Federal  Store, 
EZRA  P.  PRENTICE,  Albany, 
THOS.  J.  MARVIN,  Saratoga  Springs, 
POMEROY  JONES,  Lairdsville. 
J.  R.  SPEED,  Caroline, 
H.  S.  RANDALL,  Cortland  Village, 
LEWIS  F.  ALLEN,  Bufialo. 

Recording  Secretary, 
LUTHER  TUCKER,  Albany, 

Corresponding  Secretary, 
JOEL  B.  NOTT,  Albany. 

Treasurer, 
J.  M'D.  M'INTYRE,  Albany. 

additional  members  of  the  executive  committee. 

ALFRED  CONCKLIN,  Auburn, 
AMI  DOUBLEDAY,  Binghamton, 
GEORGE  VAIL,  Troy, 
AMBROSE  STEVENS,  New-York, 
JOHN  MILLER,  Truxton. 


ERRATA. 

On  page  238,  line  20,  for  "  flagrant,"  read  "fragrant." 
"    "     251,  line  14,  for  "surrogate,"  read  "  surveyor." 


STATE  OF  NEW-YORK. 


No.  105 


IN  SENATE, 

March  16,  1846. 

COMMUNICATION 

From  the  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  New-York 
State  Agricultural  Society. 

State  Agricultural  Hall,  ) 
Albany,  March  16,  1846.      \ 

the  Hon.  Addison  Gardiner, 

President  of  the  Senate  : 

Sir — By  order  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  New- York 
State  Agricultural  Society,  we  have  the  honor  to  transmit  to  the  honor- 
able the  Senate  the  annual  report  of  the  society's  transactions  for  the 
year  1845,  with  extracts  from  the  returns  of  the  several  county  so- 
cieties, and  other  papers  explanatory  of  the  condition  and  progress 
of  Agriculture  in  this  State. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 


A.  CONKLIN, 
J.  P.  BEEKMAN, 
J.  B.  NOTT, 


Pub.  Com. 
[Senate,  No.  105.]  1  [un  &  9  times.] 


TRANSACTIONS 


or  THE 


lEW-YOKK  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY- 


ANNUAL  REPORT— FOR  THE  YEAR  1845. 

In  compliance  vrith  the  law  of  1841  in  relation  to  the  promotion  of 
agriculture,  the  subscriber  in  behalf  of  the  Executive  Committee 
takes  great  pleasure  in  submitting  the  proceedings  of  the  Society, 
and  in  communicating  such  facts  in  relation  to  its  operations  as  seem 
to  him  important.  It  has  been  the  object  of  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee, as  far  as  in  their  power,  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  act  of 
the  Legislature,  by  which  they  are  required  to  report  their  proceed- 
ings. There  has  been,  it  is  believed,  a  very  apparent  advance  of 
the  society  during  the  past  year,  in  all  its  operations.  The  attention 
of  farmers  is  aroused,  and  the  deep  interest  which  is  taken  by  many 
of  them  in  the  objects  of  the  society  is  highly  gratifying. 

The  influence  of  the  society  is  constantly  extending,  and  new  and 
valued  friends  are  every  year  added  to  its  members.  An  increased 
desire  is  manifested  among  farmers  for  a  higher  standard  of  agricul- 
ture, and  it  has  been  the  object  of  the  Executive  Committee  to  meet 
the  wishes  of  the  farmers  in  this  respect.  During  the  past  year,  the 
Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  society  has  visited  under  their  direc- 
tion a  number  of  counties,  and  has  in  all  been  kindly  received,  and 
his  labors  have  been  productive  of  much  good.  It  is  of  the  highest 
importance  that  more  labor  should  be  performed,  in  visiting  the  far- 
mers, delivering  lectures,  examining  and  analyzing  soils,  and  it  is 


4  [Senate 

hoped  that  the  society  will  soon  be  enabled  to  secure  the  services  of 
a  gentleman  who  will  be  able  to  satisfy  every  reasonable  expectation^ 
and  who  will  devote  his  whole  time  to  the  subject. 

During  the  sessions  of  the  Legislature,  weekly  meetings  were  held 
for  the  discussion  of  subjects  interesting  to  the  agricultural  commu- 
nity ;  and  the  increased  attention  which  they  received,  evince  the 
interest  which  is  taken  in  agricultural  improvement.  These  meet- 
ings have  been  productive  of  much  good,  and  it  is  believed  that  their 
continuation  will  be  beneficial. 

Several  valuable  essays  have  been  furnished  the  society,  for  which 
premiums  have  been  awarded.  They  accompany  this  report,  and 
are  among  the  most  valuable  papers  which  have  been  furnished  the 
society.  In  preparing  materials  for  the  transactions,  efforts  have 
been  made  to  secure  communications  of  a  practical  character,  and 
which  it  is  believed  w^ll  prove  highly  useful  to  the  agriculturists 
Premiums  were  offered  on  farms,  and  nine  competitors  presented 
statements,  under  the  circular  issued  by  the  society.  Much  valuable 
information  is  contained  in  these  statements.  Those  from  the  suc- 
cessful competitors  will  be  found  among  the  papers  submitted,  and  it 
is  believed  that  they  will  be  esteemed  as  of  great  value.. 

The  Executive  Committee  have  learned  with  great  pleasure,  that 
the  transactions  of  the  society,  published  annually  by  the  Legislature 
are  sought  for  with  great  avidity,  not  only  by  the  farmers,  but  by  gen- 
tlemen of  other  pursuits.  Solicitations  from  Europe  and  most  of  the 
States  in  our  Union  are  received  for  the  volumes,  and  it  is  believed 
that  no  document  which  is  published,  is  exerting  a  more  salutary  and 
beneficial  influence.  It  has  been  the  object  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee to  make  the  transactions  which  they  naw  submit  to  the  Legis- 
lature of  such  a  character  as  fully  to  sustain  the  reputation  of  those 
which  have  been  heretofore  presented.  . 

The  detail  of  the  operations  of  the  society  and  the  results  of  the  fair 
and  the  exhibition  atUtica  are  given,  showing  the  continued  interest 
which  is  taken  in  the  improvement  of  agriculture,  as  well  as  the  suc- 
cess which  has  attended  our  exertions  the  past  year.  It  is  due  to  the 
citizens  of  Utica,  to  say,  that  in  the  arrangements  which  were  made 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  society,  every  thing  was  done  that 
could  have  been  expected,  and  the  general  expression  of  satisfaction 
which  has  been  made  is  highly  gratifying. 


No.  105.]  5 

The  ground  selected  for  the  fair  was  about  one  mile  north  of  the 
city  of  Utica.  Ten  acres  were  enclosed  by  a  tight  board  fence,  about 
twelve  feet  high,  forming  an  elliptical  boundary  to  the  whole  enclo- 
sure. To  this  enclosure,  three  carriage  entrances,  and  three  foot 
entrances,  were  provided.  Around  the  grounds,  and  next  within 
the  boundary  fence,  a  broad  carriage-way  extended ;  and  next 
within  this,  was  a  row  of  posts  for  cattle,  with  the  exception  of 
the  front  side,  which  was  left  open  to  the  interior.  Within  this 
row  of  posts,  were  ranges  of  pens,  also  extending  round  the  three 
sides  of  the  grounds,  for  the  enclosure  of  sheep,  swine,  calves, 
and  other  of  the  smaller  domestic  animals.  About  three  acres  of 
the  exterior  portion  of  the  enclosed  space,  were  thus  occupied  with 
carriage-way,  lines  of  posts,  and  ranges  of  pens.  The  central  por- 
tion, consisting  of  about  seven  acres,  was  devoted  to  the  exhibition 
of  farm  implements  and  machines  of  the  larger  kind,  in  the  open 
air ;  and  the  smaller  implements,  machines,  and  the  multitude  of 
articles  of  domestic  manufacture,  and  of  garden  and  farm  production, 
in  large  and  convenient  buildings  erected  expressly  for  the  purpose. 

SHOW  GROUND. 


GROUND  PLAN. 


[Senate^ 


No.  105.] 


These  buildings  consisted  chiefly  of  four  which  were  each  one 
hundred  feet  long  by  thirty  feet  wide,  for  exhibition  halls.  Smaller 
buildings  were  erected  for  business  and  committee  rooms,  an  office 
for  the  sale  of  tickets,  for  the  exhibition  of  the  magnetic  telegraph, 
and  other  purposes. 


FLORAL  HALL. 

Upon  entering  the  enclosure,  the  first  object  which  attracted  the 
attention,  was  the  hall  designated  "  Floral  Hall,"  and  chosen  for 
the  reception  of  the  horticultural  productions,  wdth  admirable  taste 
in  those  of  the  officers  of  the  society  upon  whom  devolved  the  duty 
of  selecting  the  location  and  directing  the  arrangement  of  the  grounds. 
This  building  was  placed  upon  a  slight  eminence,  sufficiently  elevated 
to  overlook  the  entire  preparations  contained  within  the  surrounding 
enclosure,  and  commanding  a  most  extensive  and  enchanting  prospect 
of  the  surrounding  scenery  :  in  the  distance  the  blue  hills  of  Oriskany 
and  Trenton  lifting  their  broad  shoulders  to  the  clouds,  w^hile  their 
extended  ridges  and  wide-spread  slopes,  sprinkled  with  patches  of 
forests  and  cultivated  fields  rose  like  an  amphitheatre  around  the  city 
of  Utica,  with  its  spires  and  tow^ers  and  spacious  avenues  and  shady 
streets  lying  at  their  feet.  Directly  in  front  of  "  Floral  Hall,"  and 
removed  but  a  short  distance,  stood  a  beautiful  decahedral  temple, 
its  columns  and  pointed  arches  wreathed  and  encircled  with  ever- 
greens, and  its  frieze  and  dome  richly  wrought  and  interwoven  with 


8  [Sekate 

the  same  material.  This  temple  was  dedicated  to  the  triple  pos- 
session of  the  deities  who  preside  over  the  delicious  fruits,  the 
spangled  flowers,  and  the  golden  harvests.  Passing  to  the  rear  of 
the  temple,  the  front  of  "  Floral  Hall,"  with  its  richly  emblazoned 


TEMPLE  TO  CERES,  POMONA  AND  FLORA,  IN  FRONT  OF  FLORAL  HALL. 

shield,  the  farmer's  coat  of  arms,  filling  the  entire  space  between  its 
two  entrances,  and  extending  almost  to  the  roof,  attracted  universal 
attention.     Of  those  distinguished  friends  of  agriculture,  ^'  Clinton, 
Livingston,  Buel  and  Gaylord,"  each  filled  an  appropriate  pannel. 
These  were  surmounted  by  a  tablet  with  the  inscription  of  "  Wash- 
ington the  farmer,"  while  the  promise  drawn  from  Holy  Writ,  that 
"  while  the  earth  remaineth,  seed  time  and  harvest  shall  not  fail," 
woven  in  a  ground  of  living  green  with  the  white  immortal  flower, 
filled  a  scroll  at  the  base.     On  entering  the  hall,  and  passing  down 
the  spacious  aisles,  a  scene  of  unexampled   splendor  and  beauty 
presented  itself ;  the  columns,  the  framework,  and  the  sides  of  the 
building  were  profusely  interlaced  and  entwined  with  evergreens, 
while   massive   wreaths  hung  suspended  in  graceful  festoons  from 
every  part  of  the  roof.     An  enclosed  space  about  twelve  feet  in 


No.  105.]  9 

width,  in  the  centre  of  the  hall,  extended  its  entire  length,  hor^ 
dered  on  either  side  by  broad  passages  of  about  the  same  dimen-' 
sions.  Within  this  enclosure,  three  sylvan  temples,  one  in  the 
centre  and  one  at  either  extremity,  and  dedicated  to  the  presiding 
divinities  of  the  place,  reared  their  classic  and  graceful  proportions* 
In  the  intervals  betvi^een  the  temples,  double  rows  of  terraced  shelves 
rose  near  the  roof,  densely  and  profusely  loaded  with  magnificent 
specimens  of  the  richest  and  rarest  productions  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom.  Immediately  within  and  between  the  two  entrances, 
modeled  after  the  remains  of  a  temple  of  so  ancient  a  date  that  its 
name  and  uses  are  now  unknown,  but  supposed  to  have  been  com- 
memorative of  the  most  ancient  of  employments,  the  tilling  of  the 
ground,  stood  the  temple  dedicated  to  Ceres,  the  goddess  of  agri- 
culture, the  fields  and  the  harvests. 


ANCIENT  TEMPLE  TO  CERES. 

Inscriptions  bearing  the  name  of  the  goddess  curiously  worked  iri 
flowers  of  the  purest  white,  were  intermingled  among  the  rich  and 
vivid  foliage  with  which  the  temple,  its  columns,  cornice,  mouldings 
and  dome,  extending  almost  to  the  roof  of  the  hall,  was  profusely 
covered. 

In  the  centre  of  the  hall  stood  a  gothic  temple,  strikingly  beautiful 
in  the  symmetry  and  grace  of  its  architectural  proportions.  All  the 
minutia  and  peculiarities  of  that  style,  mouldings,  pointed  arches, 
minarets    and   towers,    were  carried   out   and  wrought  with   dense 


10 


[Senate, 


^^^:;=5:^^Sir 


GOTHIC  TEMPLE. 

wreaths  of  evergreens,  chaplets  of  flowers  of  every  tint  and  hue 5 
and  representing  every  clime,  hung  suspended  from  its  mimic  towers. 
Garlands  crowned  its  columns  and  pillars,  and  formed  capitals  of 
living  flowers  surpassing  the  most  perfect  conceptions  of  genius,  or 
the  most  elaborate  chiselings  of  the  artist.  The  name  of  Flora,  in- 
scribed with  delicate  flowers  on  a  ground-work  of  the  richest  green, 
showed  this  to  be  the  temple  which  had  been  selected  for  the  fair  god- 
dess of  flowers,  filled  and  surrounded  with  a  gorgeous  accompaniment 
of  magnificent  oflferings  from  the  glorious  kingdom  over  which  she 
presided. 

At  the  further  extremity  rose  a  Corinthian  temple,  constructed  of 
similar  materials,  exhibiting  in  outline  the  classic  design  of  one  of 
the  choicest  specimens  of  ancient  art.  Its  pillars,  capitals,  entabla- 
ture and  dome,  radiant  with  brilliant  wreaths  of  flowers,  entwined 
and  interwoven  with  appropriate  mottoes  and  inscriptions,  and  dedi- 
cated to  Pomona,  the  goddess  of  fruits.  Here  were  accumulated  the 
richest  treasures  of  the  orchard,  the  vineyard  and  the  garden  ;  here 
one  saw  in  their  highest  perfection  the  melting  pear,  the  delicious 


No.  105.] 


11 


-"■^  s.; 


CORINTHIAN  TEMPLE.  i 

peach,  the  luscious  grape,  and  all  those  multifarious  varieties  of 
fruits  which  science  and  art  have  ameliorated,  matured,  and  rendered 
subservient  to  the  necessities  and  luxuries  of  man.  The  entire  ar- 
rangements and  decorations  of  the  floral  department  were  on  a  more 
extended  scale,  and  much  superior  to  those  exhibited  at  any  previous 
fair  ;  and  had  a  more  favorable  season  furnished  materials  for  the 
display  commensurate  with  the  preparations  for  their  reception,  the 
exhibition  would  have  been  truly  magnificent.  To  the  ladies  of 
Utica,  who  for  several  days  generously  devoted  their  time  and  labor 
to  the  embellishments  of  Floral  Hall,  the  society  are  under  very 
many  obligations.  So  long  as  the  arrangements  for  future  exhibitions 
are  conducted  with  the  same  liberal  spirit  which  characterized  those 
at  Utica,  the  State  of  New- York  will  be  distinguished  for  the  attrac- 
tions of  her  annual  agricultural  fair. 

The  State  Society  confided  the  arrangements  for  this  department  to 
the  superintendence  and  judgment  of  Alexander  Thompson,  M.  D., 
and  his  high  reputation  for  correct  taste  and  scientific  acquirement 
were  fully  sustained  by  the  results  of  his  efforts. 

The  second  of  the  larger  buildings,  inscribed  "  Ladies  Hall,^'  was 
occupied  chiefly  with  domestic  manufactures.  A  large  range  of 
tables  extended  through  the  centre  of  the  hall  for  the  support  of  the 
articles  exhibited  ;  one-half  of  this  range  of  tables  was  covered  with 


12  [Senate 

glass  cases,  for  the  protection  and  security  of  the  more  delicate  spe- 
cimens. 

The  third  building,  designated  as  "  Mechanics^  Hall,^^  was  devoted 
to  the  exhibition  of  cooking  stoves,  v^rashing  machines,  churns, 
cheesepresses,  and  various'  other  machines,  and  articles  of  domestic 
convenience. 

The  fourth,  known  as  "  Farmers'  Hall"  contained  an  extensive 
collection  of  many  farm  productions,  as  chesse,  sugar,  butter,  flour 
and  various  farm  implements  and  machines. 

The  16th  day  of  September,  the  day  next  previous  to  the  opening 
of  the  graunds  for  general  exhibition,  was  closely  occupied  in  arrang- 
ing the  multitude  of  articles  intended  for  exhibition,  in  their  appro^ 
priate  places  ;  and  it  was  on  this  day  that  the  trial  of  plows  took  place 
on  grounds  selected  for  the  occasion,  about  two  miles  south  of  the 
city.  The  strength  of  draught  was  tested  by  the  dynamometer,  by 
means  of  a  windlass  as  a  moving  power,  and  by  the  direct  application 
of  a  team  of  horses.  Although  by  the  slower  motion  of  the  windlass 
the  work  could  be  more  easily  and  leisurely  inspected,  yet  too  much 
time  was  required  for  the  operation  ;  besides  which  the  variations  in 
depth  and  in  tenacity  of  soil,  which  must  always  exist,  did  not  so 
well  enable  the  observer  to  judge  of  the  average  pressure  exerted,  as 
when  these  variations  were  presented  in  more  rapid  succession,  by 
the  use  of  the  team,  and  the  vibrations  of  the  index,  were  thus  ex- 
hibited nearly  at  the  same  moment  to  the  eye.  A  very  fine  collection 
of  plows  were  offered  for  premiums,  and  a  gradual  improvement  in 
this  most  important  farm  implement,  has  been  visible  at  each  succes- 
sive fair  of  the  society. 

On  the  17th,  the  first  day  of  the  fair,  for  the  public  at  large,  it  was 
at  once  evident  that  the  extraordinary  interest  which,  for  years 
past,  had  attended  our  annual  exhibitions,  had  not  in  the  least  sub- 
sided, a  larger  number  of  persons  being  in  attendance  at  Utica,  than 
at  any  previous  fair.  The  number  was  estimated  at  not  less  than 
forty  thousand,  and  included  visitors  from  more  than  half  the  States 
in  the  Union.  The  receipts  of  the  fair  were  $4,370.18,  being  $700 
more  than  was  received  at  any  previous  exhibition. 

The  number  of  animals,  and  of  the  different  articles  of  farm  and 
garden  production,  and  of  domestic  manufacture,  brought  in  from  the 
different  parts  of  the  State,  were  on  the  whole,  greater  than  in  any 
preceding  year.     The  whole   number  of  animals  vras  683,  of  which 


No.  105.]  13 

114  were  horses,  mares  and  colts;  274  horned  cattle  ;  257  sheep  ; 
and  34  swine. 

These  were,  of  the  horses,  28  stallions,  7  geldings,  36  matched 
horses,  and  32  mares  and  colts.  Of  the  different  breeds  of  cattle, 
here  were  48  Durhams,  11  Herefords,  9  Devons,  4  Ayrshires,  21  of 
native  or  mixed  breed,  besides  which  there  were  124  oxen,  12  steers 
and  8  fat  cattle.  Of  the  sheep  there  were  64  long-wooled,  112 
middle-wooled,  58  Merinos,  and  23  Saxons. 

Besides  the  preceding,  there  were  several  excellent  collection  s 
of  poultry,  embracing  fine  specimens  of  several  of  the  most  celebra- 
ted and  distinctly  marked  breeds. 

For  a  more  particular  enumeration  of  the  different  animals,  and  the 
finest  specimens,  with  the  names  of  the  contributors,  reference  is 
made  to  the  reports  of  the  several  committees. 

The  exhibition  of  farm  implements  and  machines,  was  excellent, 
including,  besides  the  plows  already  alluded  to,  harrows,  scarifiers, 
cultivators,  gang-plows,  drill-barrows,  revolving  horse-rakes,  fanning 
mills,  thrashing  machines,  horse  powers,  straw  cutters,  corn  and  cob 
crushers,  horse  carts,  and  farm  wagons,  ox  yokes,  besides  a  display 
the  of  smaller  implements,  including  hay  forks,  scythes,  grain  cra- 
dles, manure  forks,  hoes  and  corn  cutters,  nearly  all  of  which  dis- 
played fine  workmanship  in  the  manufacture.  Hussey's  reaping  ma- 
chine excited  much  interest,  as  well  as  a  simple  and  cheap  machine 
for  drawing  stumps  from  the  ground,  which  appeared  to  be  efficient  in 
its  operation,  but  failed  in  a  trial  upon  the  grounds,  in  consequence 
of  the  weakness  of  a  part  of  the  wood  work,  temporarily  constructed 
for  the  occasion. 

The  very  extensive  collection  of  articles  comprised  under  the  head 
"  domestic  manufactures,"  was  truly  meritorious,  and  for  a  more  par- 
ticular enumeration,  see  the  report  of  the  committees. 

The  collection  of  domestic  and  farm  products,  was  also  one  of 
much  interest,  especially  the  display  of  cheese,  amounting  in  the 
aggregate  to  many  tons ;  and  of  maple  sugar,  several  specimens  of 
which,  fairly  rivalled,  in  whiteness  and  purity,  the  best  refined 
loaf  sugar. 

But  no  part  of  the  whole  fair  was  more  interesting  and  attractive, 
than  the  horticultural  department,  to  the  display  of  which  "  Floral 
Hall"  was  devoted.     The  unfavorable  season,  which  nearly  cut  off 


14  [Senat 

the  firuit  crop,  in  the  eastern  and  southern  parts  of  the  State,  and 
greatly  reduced  in  quality,  as  well  as  in  quantity,  the  crop  in  other 
places,  rendered  the  exhibition  in  this  respect,  more  meagre  than 
usual.  There  were,  however,  several  extensive  contributions  of 
apples,  from  the  western  part  of  the  State,  and  fine  specimens  of 
peaches,  plums,  pears,  grapes,  and  other  fruits,  from  the  central  and 
eastern  portions.  A  very  fine  collection  of  garden  vegetables,  and 
a  brilliant  display  of  flowers,  many  of  them  of  great  rarity  and  beauty, 
were  also  presented  for  exhibition,  by  various  contributors.  The 
whole  of  these  densely  filled  the  double  series  of  terraced  shelves, 
which  were  about  ten  feet  high,  and  extended  nearly  a  hundred  feet 
in  length,  through  the  hall. 

The  morning  of  the  18th,  the  second  day  of  the  fair,  was  occupied 
with  the  plowing  match.  In  the  afternoon,  the  assembled  thousands 
on  the  grounds,  gathered  round  the  temporary  platform  erected  for 
the  occasion,  to  hear  the  annual  address  from  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.  Esq., 
of  Massachusetts. 

ADDRESS  BY  HON.  JOSIAH  QUINCY,  Jr. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  J^ew-York  State  Agricultural 
Society  : 

If  there  were  any  spot  that  would  of  itself  inspire  a  man  with 
eloquence  on  the  subject  of  agriculture,  it  is  the  one  we  now  occupy. 
We  stand  in  the  centre  of  the  agricultural  district  of  the  great  State 
of  the  Union.  In  full  view  the  lovely  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  famous 
in  history  and  celebrated  in  song,  stretches  away  to  the  distance. 
Before  us,  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  stand  the  men  who 
have  felled  its  forests  and  caused  it  to  blossom  like  the  rose.  Around  us 
are  the  proofs  of  the  skill  and  intelligence  that  have  characterized 
their  labors.  Beneath  us,  is  the  soil  from  whose  maternal  bosom  we 
draw  our  subsistence.  Above  us,  is  the  canopy  of  Heaven  that  stretches 
equally  over  all. 

We  stand  in  the  great  temple  dedicated  to  agriculture — a  temple,  at 
the  raising  of  whose  columns  the  "  morning  stars  sang  together  and 
all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy" — a  temple  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  as  the  Heavens. 

But,  alas!  Mr.  President,  the  age  of  inspiration  is  passed,  and  I 
never  felt  a   stronger  desire   to   ask   the   kind  consideration   of  an 


No.  105.]  15 

audience,  than  when,  under  rather  unusual  circumstances,  I  now  rise 
to  address  you.  The  exhibitions  of  agricultural  skill  and  agricultural 
success,  which  we  have  witnessed  on  this  occasion,  have  impressed  the 
truth  most  deeply  upon  my  mind  that  it  was  hardly  worth  while  for 
the  New- York  State  Agricultural  Society  to  send  all  the  way  to  Boston, 
to  get  me  to  instruct  the  New-York  farmers  in  the  management  of 
their  farms.  If  I  indulged  any  hopes  that  the  agricultural  knowledge 
conveyed  in  this  address  would  cause  two  blades  of  grass  to  grow 
where  but  one  grew  before,  those  hopes  are  dissipated.  And  to 
prevent  any  disappointment,  I  would  assure  the  audience,  that  as  to 
fiocks  and  dairies,  the  raising  of  cattle  and  the  cultivation  of  corn, 
they  must  go  on  in  the  old  fashioned  way  for  anything  I  have  to  say  to 
the  contrary.  But  there  are  other  subjects  of  interest  connected  with 
agriculture,  and  no  one  can  look  around  upon  this  assembly  without 
feeling  that  the  farmer  is  of  more  importance  than  his  farm  ;  and  the 
results  of  the  occupation  on  his  character,  than  any  of  its  more  material 
products. 

The  relative  position  of  the  American  farmer  possesses  a  deep  interest 
to  individuals  and  the  community.  To  individuals,  as  it  may  decide 
the  wavering  as  to  the  course  they  should  pursue,  or  render  them 
contented  with  the  one  they  have  adopted  ;  to  the  public,  for  every- 
thing that  tends  to  elevate  the  agricultural  class,  is  of  the  first 
importance  to  the  State. 

What  then  is  the  position  of  the  American  farmer  when  compared 
with  that  of  the  merchant,  the  politician,  the  lawyer?  Should  he  be 
content  with  his  lot  for  himself  and  his  children?  Or  should  he  leave 
his  occupation  and  adopt  some  other?  Like  every  other  position,  that 
of  the  farmer  has  its  dark  side  as  well  as  its  bright  one.  And  to  decide 
on  its  comparative  advantages,  we  must  inquire  what  is  the  object  of 
man's  existence,  and  how  shall  he  attain  the  end  of  his  being? 

To  these  questions,  history  and  revelation,  the  world  around  and  the 
spirit  within  us,  answer,  that  the  object  of  man's  existence  is  happiness. 
Happiness  here,  and  happiness  forever.  And  the  condition  of  that 
happiness  is  the  diligent  and  proper  exercise  of  his  affections  and  his 
faculties.  If  this  be  the  case,  does  the  situation  of  the  American  farmer 
offer  a  fair  opportunity  of  insuring  this  happiness? 

To  be  happy  is  the  object  of  life,  and  all  that  the  world  can  give 
towards  it,  is  health  and  competence.  "  Health  of  body  is  above  all 
riches,  and  a  strong  body  above  infinite  wealth."     And  where  is  health 


16  [Senate, 

to  be  found'?  There  is  no  need  of  an  audible  answer.  Look  around. 
Bright  eyes  and  blooming  cheeks,  as  well  as  strong  arms  and  untiring 
strength,  tell  us  that  earth's  jfirst  blessing  is  bestowed  upon  those  who 
labor  upon  her  bosom. 

But  health  is  often  undervalued  by  its  possessor,  or  only  appreciated 
when  lost.  Wealth,  the  more  obvious  and  immediate  reward  of  labor, 
is  the  chief  pursuit  of  the  active.  And  here  the  farmer  thinks  he  has 
a  right  to  complain.  The  merchant  will  sometimes  make  more  in  a 
year  than  he  can  in  a  lifetime  ;  and  it  is  not  wonderful  that  he  some- 
times asks,  would  it  not  be  better  to  leave  small  rewards,  though  regular 
and  certain,  for  the  chance  of  obtaining  greater^  To  decide  this 
question,  we  must  ask.  What  is  the  price  he  pays?  What  is  the  reward 
he  obtains'? 

What  is  the  price  he  pays?  To  say  nothing  of  his  moral  exposures, 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  health  of  body  and  serenity  of  mind. 
Follow  such  a  one  into  the  crowded  streets,  or  the  close  workshop. 
His  strength  for  a  time  sustains  him,  but  confinement  and  bad  air  soon 
deprive  him  of  his  healthful  energy,  and  disease  and  premature  decay 
become  too  often  his  portion.  But  supposing  health  can  be  preserved, 
where  is  his  serenity  of  mind.  '' 

The  risks  attendant  on  rapid  accumulation  are  always  in  proportion 
to  the  chances  of  success.  The  farmer  sows  his  seed,  and  has  no 
doubt  but  that  the  harvest  will  repay  him.  But  he  who  embarks  in 
speculations  that  promise  sudden  and  great  wealth,  knows  that  he  may 
be  "  sowing  the  wind,  to  reap  the  whirlwind."  And  the  constant  fear 
of  such  a  result  embitters  his  days  and  renders  his  nights  restless. 
And  if  attained,  success  gives  but  little  satisfaction.  The  higher  the 
rise,  the  wider  the  horizon ;  the  greater  the  accumulation,  the  more 
exorbitant  the  desire.  And  this  is  not  the  extent  of  the  evil.  A  total 
want  of  independence  is  too  often  the  result.  Few  men  in  our 
community  have  those  resources  that  will  enable  them  to  carry  on 
extensive  operations  on  their  own  means.  Almost  all  depend  upon 
borrowing,  and  "the  borrower  is  a  servant  unto  the  lender."  But 
even  if  success  should  be  the  portion  of  the  aspirant  for  riches,  when 
is  he  to  attain  to  it?  Does  it  come  forward  to  meet  him?  Years  of 
anxiety  may  be  repaid  by  wealth  ;  but  how  seldom  is  this  the  case. 
More  than  ninety  in  every  hundred,  even  in  regular  mercantile 
pursuits,  fail.  There  are  but  few  capital  prizes  in  this  lottery.  The 
name  of  the  fortunate  holder  may  be  seen  at  every  corner,  but  where 


No.  305,]  17 

are  the  ninety  and  nine  who  draw  blanks'?  And  if  attained,  how 
uncertain  is  its  possession !  Wealth  "  gotten  by  vanity, "  (by  which, 
I  suppose,  Solomon  meant  speculation,)  "  shall  be  diminished,  but  he 
that  gathereth  by  labor  shall  increase,"  is  a  doctrine  as  true  now  as 
when  first  delivered  ;  and  is  one  which  the  experience  of  every  age 
€nds  to  corroborate. 

And  after  all,  what  is  the  advantage  of  great  wealth,   or,  what  is 
great  wealth  itself  ?     It  exists   only  in  comparison.     "  A  man  is  as 
well  off,"  said  the  great  capitalist  of  the  United  States,  "  who  is  worth 
half  a  million  of  dollars,  as  he  would  be  if  he  were  rich."     And  one 
of  the  satirical  papers  of  the  day  tells  us,  that  when  Baron  Roths- 
child, the  Jewish  banker,  read  that  the  income  of  Louis   Phillippe, 
was  only  fifty  dollars  a  minute,  his  eyes  filled  with  tears ;  for  he  was 
not  aware  of  the  existence  of  such  destitution.     After  the  comforts  of 
life  are  supplied,  wealth  becomes  merely  an  imaginary  advantage,  and 
its  possession  does  not  confer  any  material  for  happiness,  which  an 
industrious  and  fore-handed  farmer  does  not  possess.     "  We  will  con- 
quer all  Italy,"  said  Pyrrhus  to  his  prime  minister,  "  and  then  we  will 
pass  into  Asia  ;  we  will  overrun  her  kingdoms,  and  then  we  will  wage 
war  upon  Africa  ;  and  when  we  have  conquered  all,  we  will  sit  down 
quietly  and  enjoy  ourselves."     "  And  why,"   replied   his   minister, 
"  should  we  not  sit  down  and  enjoy  ourselves  without  taking  all  this 
trouble  ?"     And  why  may  not  you,  it  may  be  said  to  many  an  aspirant 
after  wealth,  enjoy  in  reality  all  you  seek,  in  your  present  condition. 

"  Give  me  neither  poverty  nor  riches,"  was  the  prayer  of  one  of 
the  sages  of  antiquity.  And  Lord  Bacon,  the  wisest  man  of  modern 
times,  says,  "  seek  not  proud  riches,  but  rather  such  as  thou  mayest 
get  justly,  use  soberly,  distribute  cheerfully  and  leave  contentedly." 
And  can  there  be  a  truer  description  of  a  farmer's  fortune  1  There  is 
no  greater  independence  than  that  possessed  by  a  contented,  fore- 
handed farmer.  "  Tell  your  master,"  said  a  Roman  general,  to  the 
ambassador  of  the  king  of  Persia,  who  came  to  bribe  him  with  great 
wealth,  and  found  him  washing;  the  vescetables  that  were  to  constitute 
his  dinner  with  his  own  hands,  "  tell  your  master,  that  all  the  gold  in 
Persia  can  never  bribe  the  man  who  can  contentedly  live  upon 
turneps." 

And  the  answer  was  as  true  in  philosophy,  as  it  was  elevated  in 
patriotism.     To  be  happy,  man  must  limit  his  desires.     And  when  he 
has  sufficient  for  his  needs,  should  remember  that  the  temptations  and 
[Senate,  No.  105.]  2 


18  [Senate^ 

perplexities  incident  to  overgrown  wealth,  more  than  counterbalance 
its  seeming  advantages.  Health  of  body  and  competence  of  estate  are 
all  the  requisites  for  organic  happiness  that  the  world  can  bestow .> 
And  to  say  that  agricultural  pursuits  are  eminently  calculated  to  insure 
these,  is  only  to  reiterate  the  language  of  past  ages,  and  to  repeat  the 
testimony  of  our  own.  If  you  leave  such  pursuits,  the  hazard 
increases  as  the  profit  augments.  The  amount  of  the  premium  is 
always  proportioned  to  the  greatness  of  the  risk. 

But  health  and  the  conveniences  of  life  are  not  all  that  a  man 
requires  to  make  him  happy.  He  desires  to  be  useful,  he  wishes  to  be 
esteemed.  And  what  profession  can  boast  of  a  higher  claim  to  utility 
than  that  of  the  farmer  1  The  greater  part  of  mankind  must  be  agri- 
culturists, and  on  their  character  the  well-being  of  every  state  must 
depend.  Our  free  institutions  are  valued,  but  how  shall  they  be  pre- 
served ?  By  the  virtue  of  the  people.  History  gives  no  other  answer. 
No  truth  is  more  clearly  emblazoned  on  her  pages  than  that  if  a  nation 
would  be  free,  they  must  be  intelligently  virtuous.  And  here  the 
agricultural  class  become  of  the  first  importance  to  the  State.  The 
influence  of  a  virtuous  yeomanry  on  her  character,  like  that  of  the  air 
on  the  individual,  are  seen  in  the  strength  of  those  who  are  unconscious 
of  its  presence. 

But  they  have  still  a  further  power.  If,  "  when  the  righteous  are 
in  authority  the  people  rejoice,"  they,  who  h\  their  numbers  hold  the 
gift  of  office,  have  an  influence  second  to  none  in  the  republic^ 

The  political  influence  of  the  agricultural  class,  is  an  important  but 
a  dangerous  topic,  before  an  audience  like  the  present,  as  particular 
applications  may  be  made  of  general  observations.  To  prevent  such 
a  consequence,  I  would  illustrate  my  meaning  by  reference  to  the  old- 
est political  disquisition  in  existence,  which  is  remarkable  as  showing 
the  similarity  of  political  aspirants  in  all  ages  ;  and  which,  as  it  was 
written  two  thousand  years  before  the  discovery  of  this  continent,  can 
hardly  be  supposed  to  refer  either  to  the  advocates  of  Texas  or  the 
tariff. 

It  is  more  than  three  thousand  years  since  Jotham  called  to  the  men 
of  Shechem,  to  listen  to  a  parable:  "  The  trees  of  the  forest  went  out 
to  choose  a  king  over  them  ;  and  they  said  unto  the  olive  tree,  reign 
thou  over  us."  The  answer  shows  who  was  meant  by  the  olive. 
"  Should  I  leave  my  fatness  wherewith  by  me  they  honor  God  and 
man,  and  go  to  be  promoted  over  the  trees  ?"     It  was  the  answer  of  a 


No  105.]  19 

religious  and  conscientious  man,  who  feared  that  public  station  would 
not  be  favorable  to  the  virtues  which  were  the  objects  of  his  life. 

"  And  the  trees  said  to  the  fig  tree,  come  thou  and  reign  over  us; 
and  the  fig  tree  answered,  should  I  forsake  my  sweetness  and  my  good 
fruit,  and  go  to  be  promoted  over  the  trees  f  Could  a  better  personi- 
fication have  been  found  of  a  close,  calculating  man,  who  looked 
out  for  the  main  chance,  and  took  special  care  of  number  one  1  It 
was  his  own  sweetness  and  good  fruit  that  influenced  his  decision. 
The  emoluments  of  office  such  a  one  knew  were  small  and  precarious ; 
and  as  for  honors,  he  would  not  give  a  fig  for  the  whole  of  them. 

"  Then  said  the  trees  to  the  vine,  come  thou  and  reign  over  us." 
"The  vine  was  one  of  your  popular  fellows,  who  can  take  hold  of  any 
thing  to  help  himself  up  ;  who  is  always  on  the  fence,  when  nothing 
higher  offers,  and  who,  too  pliant  to  stand  alone,  will  run  well  if 
properly  supported.  But  his  vocation  was  to  "  cheer  the  hearts  of  gods 
and  men,"  and  as  office  holding  and  popularity  did  not  agree  very  well 
together,  he  declined  the  honor. 

"  Then  said  all  the  trees  to  the  bramble,  come  thou  and  reign  over 
us."  There  were  two  reasons  why  this  call  alone  was  unanimous.  He 
had  nothing  particularly  to  do,  and  he  kept  himself  perpetually  before 
the  public.  He  had  nothing  particularly  to  do,  he  had  neither  wine  nor  oil, 
beauty  nor  sweets  to  recommend  him.  He  was  a  fit  representative  of  a 
class  who  then  existed.  Nobody  could  tell  what  they  were  made  for, 
and  nobody  could  divine  what  they  followed  for  a  living.  But  yet  the 
bramble  was  not  one  to  be  forgotten.  He  was  always  before  the  pub- 
lic. He  planted  himself  by  the  wayside,  and  caught  hold  of  every- 
body that  passed  ;  there  was  no  getting  along  for  the  bramble  ;  and  it 
may  be  that  they  made  him  king,  on  the  same  principle  that  young 
ladies  sometimes  marry  an  importunate  lover — to  get  rid  of  him.  And 
how  did  the  Bramble  receive  his  nomination  1  Did  he  distrust  his 
powers  or  decline  the  office!  Oh  no!  He  was  up  for  everything, 
and  up  to  everything.  He  could  not  boast  much  of  himself,  so  he 
strove  to  magnify  his  office.  "And  the  Bramble  said,  if,  in  truth,  ye 
anoint  me  king  over  you,  then  come  and  put  your  trust  in  my  shadow ; 
if  not,  then  let  a  fire  come  out  of  the  bramble  and  devour  the  cedars 
Lebanon." 

Such  was  the  opinion  of  Jotham,  three  thousand  years  ago,  on  the 
probable  feelings  and  conduct  of  rulers,  who  were  placed  in  authori- 
ty without  the  requisites  for  office.  He  believed  that  a  fire  would 
go  out  of  the  bramble  to  destroy  the  noblest  and  most  elevated  in 


20  [Senate 

the  land.  By  the  bramble  he  meant  Abimelech,  who  was  elected 
king  of  Shechem,  because  his  mother  was  a  native  of  the  city.  His 
course  w^as  as  Jotham  had  foretold  ;  a  fire  did  go  out  of  the  bramble. 
He  slew  three  score  and  ten  men  of  his  brethren  on  one  stone.  And 
as  for  Shechem,  he  took  occasion  of  their  revolt,  and  put  every  man, 
woman  and  child  to  the  sword,  burned  the  city  with  fire,  sowed  it 
with  salt,  and  left  a  warning  to  future  ages,  of  the  danger  of  putting, 
through  folly  or  affection,  improper  men  into  office. 

If  now,  as  formerly,  the  prosperity  of  the  State  is  so  intimately 
connected  with  the  character  of  the  rulers,  how  great  is  the  power, 
and  how  evident  the  duty  of  a  class  of  men,  who,  removed  from  the 
immediate  struggle,  hold,  by  their  numbers,  the  gift  of  office.  If  they 
are  faithful,  our  republic  will  have  a  stability  that  no  one  before  it  has 
possessed.  If,  doubting  their  importance,  they  neglect  the  trust 
committed  to  them,  they  may  learn,  too  late,  that  they  have  sold 
their  country's  birthright ;  and  w^hen  they  would  recall  the  blessing 
of  their  fathers,  they  may  find  there  is  no  place  for  repentance, 
though  they  seek  it  diligently  and  with  tears. 

But  perhaps  it  will  be  said  that  the  agricultural  class,  though  col- 
lectively powerful,  are  individually  of  small  comparative  importance. 
Together  they  may  be  likened  to  the  ocean,  that  supports  a  nation's 
navy  and  tosses  it  from  its  bosom,  with  as  much  ease  as  it  wafts  a 
feather.  Still  the  individual  is  but  a  drop,  resembling  others  so  nearly 
as  to  attract  neither  notice  nor  admiration.  But  this  is  not  peculiar 
to  this  class.  It  applies  equally  to  all.  Few,  from  the  very  defini- 
tion, can  be  distinguished. 

But  of  all  the  professions,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  farmers  are 
the  last  who  ought  to  complain  that,  as  a  class,  they  do  not  receive 
a  full  proportion  of  the  honors  of  the  republic.  Our  chief  magis- 
trates have  differed  in  many  points,  but  they  have  generally  agreed 
in  this  ;  that  before,  and  in  many  cases  after  the  election,  they  have 
been  farmers.  There  was  the  farmer  of  Mount-Vernon,  and  the 
farmer  of  Monticello  ;  the  farmer  of  the  North-Bend,  and  the  farmer 
of  the  Hermitage;  the  farmer  of  Tennessee  and  the  farmer  of  Ashland  ; 
the  farmer  of  Lindenwold  and  the  farmer  of  Marshfield.  So  that  it 
well  may  be  urged,  that  though  all  the  farmers  can't  be  presidents, 
all  the  presidents  must  be  farmers. 

But  besides  this  there  are  in  agricultural  life,  great  opportunities  of 
individnal  usefulness.     The  effects  of  exa  uple  and  precept  extend 


No.  105.]  21 

farther  than  we  can  imagine.  When  you  throw  wheat  into  the 
ground,  you  know  what  will  be  the  product ;  but  when  you  exemplify 
or  inculcate  a  moral  truth,  eternity  alone  can  develop  the  extent  of 
the  blessing. 

About  a  hundred  years  ago  there  lived  in  Boston  a  tallow-chandler. 
He  was  too  ignorant  to  give,  and  too  poor  to  pay  for  his  children's 
instruction,  but  he  was  a  «^ise  and  an  honest  man,  and  there  was  one 
book,  upon  whose  precepts  he  relied,  as  being   able  to  instruct  his 
children  how  to  live  prosperously  in  this  world,  as  well  as  to  prepare 
them  for  another.     We  are  told  that  he  daily  repeated  to  them  this 
proverb  :    "  Seest  thou  a  man  diligent  in  his  business  ?     He  shall 
stand  before  kings."     In   process  of  time  this  tallow-chandler  died 
and  was  forgotten.     But  the  good  seed  had  fallen  upon  good  ground. 
One  of  his  little  boys  obeyed  his  father's  instruction  ;  he  was  dili- 
gent in  his  business,  and  he  did  stand  before  kings,  the  first  repre- 
sentative of  his  native  land  !     He  lived  as  a  philosopher,  to  snatch 
the  lightning  from  heaven  ;  as  a  statesman,  to  wrest  the  sceptre  from 
tyrant?.     And  when  he  died,  he  confessed  that   it   was  the  moral 
teachings  of  his  father,  added  to  the  little  learning  he  picked  up  in  a 
town  school  at  Boston,  to  which  he  owed  his  success,  his  happiness 
and  his  reputation.     He  did  what  he  could  to  testify  how  sensible  he 
was  of  these  obligations.     He  bequeathed  liberally  to  his  native  city, 
the  means  of  inducing  the  young  to  improve  their  advantages,  and 
to  enable  the  industrious  to  succeed  in  their  callings.    And  he  erected 
a  monument  over  his  father  to  tell  his  virtues  to  another  age.     But 
the  glory  of  the  father  was  in  the,  child.     His  son's  character  was  his 
noblest  monument.     The  examples  that  son  set,  of  industry,  perse- 
verence  and  economy,  have  excited  and  are  exciting  many  to  imitate 
them.     And  thousands,  yet  unborn,  may  owe  their  success  and  hap- 
piness to  the  manner  in  which  a  text  was  enforced,  by  a  poor  tallow- 
chandler,  upon  Benjamin  Franklin. 

But,  being  useful  and  profitable  to  others,  is  not  tlie  only  advan- 
tage of  a  farmer's  life.  He  wdio  is  wise  maybe  profitable  to  himself. 
In  the  most  busy  agricultural  life,  there  are  hours  that  can  be  devot- 
ed to  intellectual  improvement.  And  I  confess,  in  my  ideal  of  the 
American  farmer,  much  more  is  included  than  the  regular  systematic 
performance  of  the  routine  of  ploughing  and  sowing,  reaping  and 
gathering  into  barns. 

I  cannot  sativ'fy  my  imagination  with  the  hard  working  man,  who, 
after  toiling  through  the  day,  has  no  thought  at  its  close,  but  to  satis- 


22  [Senate 

fy  his  animal  nature  and  to  sleep.  No,  the  man  who  cannot  find 
some  time  for  the  cultivation  of  his  intellect,  is  in  a  wrong  position  j 
and  does  not  improve  as  he  might  the  situation  in  which  he  is  placed. 
This  it  is,  that  spiritualizes  his  labor  and  raises  him  above  the  brute 
'  that  labors  for  him.  I  do  not  expect  him  to  be  learned  on  subjects 
for  which  he  has  no  occasion  ;  but  if  he  enjoys  the  priceless  boon  of 
health,  let  him  know  something  of  that  n^st  wonderful  instrumenty 
his  own  body, — that  if  that  "  harp  of  thousand  strings  "  should  fail, 
he  may  with  some  intelligence  repair  the  evil.  Let  him  know  some- 
thing of  the  physiology  of  the  vegetable  wor'.d  :  and  every  blade  of 
grass  and  ear  of  corn  will  speak  to  him  of  the  benevolence  and  skill 
of  the  Great  Contriver.  Let  him  not  enjoy  the  sunshine  without  some 
knowledge  of  the  laws  of  light,  or  see  his  field  drinking  in  the  dew, 
without  understanding  its  adaptation  to  the  purposes  of  nutrition.  It 
is  in  the  power  of  every  man  to  reserve  some  portion  of  his  time  for 
these  pursuits  ;  and  he  will  find  that  every  addition  to  his  stock  of 
knowledge  will  make  his  walks  the  pleasanter,  the  flowers  the  sweeter^ 
and  every  thing  more  full  of  interest  and  meaning. 

But  there  is  something  superior  to  intellectual  pleasure  ;  and  can 
a  sphere  be  better  adapted  to  a  progress  in  the  moral  qualities  than 
the  one  he  occupies  1  Every  situation  must  be  a  scene  of  trial.  Yet 
different  states  have  different  temptations.  The  difficulty  of  enter- 
ing the  narrow  path,  is  not,  in  every  case,  likened  to  the  passing  of 
a  camel  through  a  needle's  eye.  Agricultural  life  has  few  tempta- 
tions— no  risks  are  run  in  its  pursuit — ^no  deception  is  used  in  its  pro- 
gress— no  concealment  is  required  for  its  success — it  is  open,  manlyy 
straight-forward.  It  depends  on  no  one's  favor  ;  it  rests  on  no  one's 
promise,  excepting  His,  who  has  said,  that  "  while  the  world  endu- 
reth,  seed  time  and  harvest,  summer  and  winter,  shall  not  cease."' 
And  while  free  from  temptation,  such  a  life  gives  ample  scope  for  the 
exercise  of  all  those  duties  that  elevate  man,  while  benefitting  his 
race.  It  is  not  required  of  many  men  in  a  generation  to  do  some 
great  thing  for  themselves  or  for  their  country.  It  is  the  little  every 
day  duties  and  habits  that  mark  the  character.  It  was  not  in  the 
shouts  of  multitudes,  that  the  old  patriarchal  farmer  delighted.  But 
it  was  "  when  the  eye  saw  him,  then  it  blessed  him ;  and  when  the 
ear  heard  him,  then  it  bore  witness  of  him."  The  opportunities  of 
exercising  the  elevated  virtues  are  ever  present  to  the  independent 
farmer.     Like  the  patriarchs  of  old  he  stands  at  the  head  of  his 


No.  105.]  23 

family.     Like  them,  he  should  rule  his  household  after  him — instruct- 
ing, consoling,  supporting. 

And  there  are  others  dependant  upon  him,  who  owe  their  comfort 
and  well-being  to  his  care  ;  and  whose  dependence  may  be  the  means 
of  awakening  sentiments,  that  even   religion  has  not   overlooked. 
When  the  great  lawgiver  of  the  Jews  led  them  from  the  house  of 
bondage,  and  by  divine  command  established  them  as  an  agricultural 
people,  his  laws  recognized  the  advantages  of  such  a  life  for  the 
formation  of  character.     To  remember  and  love  the  Giver,  and  rejoice 
before  Him,  in  the  spring-time  and  in  the  harvest,  on  the  anniversary 
of  their  deliverance  and  on  festal  days,  was  the  first  and  great  com- 
mandment, and  the  second  was  like  unto  it.     Love  and  kindness  to 
the  neighbor,  to  the  stranger,  to  the  widow,  to  the  fatherless,  were 
enjoined  as  congenial  duties.     But  the  directions  stopped   not  here. 
The  brute  creation  of  every  kind  shared  in  his  remembrance.     The 
Sabbath  was  to  be  observed,  "  that  thy  ox  and  thy  ass  may  rest." 
And  when  the  harvest  was  gathered  in,  the  mute  and  patient  laborer 
was  not  to  be  forgotten  :  he  should  share  the  grain  for  which  he  had 
toiled,  and  the  command,  "  thou  shalt  not  muzzle  thy  ox  when  he 
treadeth  out  the  corn,"  secured  to  him  at  least  a  portion. 

But  freedom  from  temptations,  and  opportunities  of  exercising  the 
virtues,  are  not  the  only  facilities  that  an  agricultural  life  offers  for 
the  formation  of  an  elevated  character.  The  scenes  that  surround  it, 
the  unceasing  regularity  of  cold  and  heat,  summer  and  winter,  seed- 
time and  harvest,  cannot  but  lead  the  observing  mind  up  to  their 
Author.  In  no  crowded  workshop  his  time  is  spent.  The  broad 
fields  and  the  high  mountains,  and  the  running  streams,  diffuse  health 
and  cheerfulness  around.  No  smoky  lamp  sheds  a  doubtful  glimmer 
over  his  task  ;  the  glorious  sun  sends  his  rays  for  millions  of  miles  to 
warm  and  enlighten,  and  gladden  his  path.  The  religious  sentiment 
is  nowhere  so  naturally  developed  as  among  rural  scenery.  How 
great  is  the  charm  that  agricultural  allusions  throw  over  sacred  poe- 
try !  It  was  a  youth  spent  in  rural  scenes,  that  enabled  the  sweet 
singer  of  Israel  to  touch  a  chord,  responsive  to  every  human  heart. 

The  voice  of  the  son  of  Jesse  is  always  sweet,  but  how  different 
its  tones  from  the  various  situations  of  his  eventful  life.  The  shep- 
herd boy,  keeping  his  father's  sheep,  is  filled  with  adoration  as  he 
gazes  on  the  majestic  scene  above,  and  exclaims,  "  what  is  man  that 
thou  art  mindful  of  him,  or  the  son  of  man  that  thou  visitest  him  1" 


24  [Senate 

Or,  rapt  with  love  at  the  care  of  the  Creator,  reminding  him  of  that 
which  he  himself  exercised  towards  the  objects  of  his  charge,  he 
bursts  out,  "  the  Lord  is  my  shepherd,  I  shall  not  want."  His 
voice,  too,  comes  to  us  from  the  palace  and  the  camp ;  from  the 
statesman  and  the  warrior  ;  but  in  a  tone  how  altered.  The  inno- 
cence and  faith  of  the  shepherd  boy,  have  not  preserved  him  in  more 
trying  scenes.  The  wailing  of  the  adulterer  and  the  murderer ;  the 
prayer  for  deliverance  from  blood  and  guiltiness ;  the  remorse,  the 
despair  of  conscience,  are  there.  And  well  may  he  exclaim,  as  he 
looks  back  upon  his  early  days  and  his  later  career,  "  Oh  !  had  I 
wings  like  a  dove,  then  would  I  fly  away  and  be  at  rest." 

But  some  one,  smarting  under  ills  that  are  common  to  every  lot, 
may  say,  in  description  a  farmer's  life  may  be  poetic  and  delightful  ; 
but  we  want  to  be  rich  ;  we  want  to  be  powerful ;  we  want  to  look 
down  upon  others.  That  is  happiness  ;  that  is  the  usefulness  to 
which  we  aspire.  I  am  ambitious,  and  avaricious  and  envious.  I 
have  no  scope  here  :  I  can  never  be  happy  as  a  farmer.  And  in 
what  position  can  you  be  happy  1  Where  do  these  feelings  produce 
aught  but  misery  1  An  ambitious,  avaricious,  envious  farmer  cannot 
be  happy  on  his  farm,  for  it  is  a  law  of  man's  nature  that  no  outward 
situation  shall  satisfy  a  disordered  mind.  And  of  agricultural  pur- 
suits no  more  can  be  said  than  is  alleged  of  godliness  by  the  apostle, 
"  with  contentment,  is  great  gain." 

What,  then,  is  the  conclusion  of  this  whole  matter?  The  agricul- 
tural life  is  one  eminently  calculated  for  human  happiness  and  human 
virtue.  But  let  no  other  calling  or  pursuit  of  honest  industry,  be 
despised  or  envied.  One  cannot  say  unto  another,  "  I  have  no  need 
of  thee;"  and  to  every  one  there  are  compensations  made  that  ren- 
der all,  in  a  great  degree,  satisfied  with  their  lot.  Envy  not  the 
wealth  of  the  merchant ;  it  has  been  won  by  anxieties  that  you  never 
knew,  and  is  held  by  so  frail  a  tenure  as  to  deprive  its  possessor  of 
perfect  security  and  perfect  peace.  While  your  slumbers  have  been 
sound,  his  have  been  disturbed  by  calculating  chances,  by  fearful 
anticipations,  by  uncertainty  of  results.  The  reward  of  your  labor  is 
sure.  He  feels  that  an  hour  may  strip  him  of  his  possessions,  and 
turn  him  and  his  family  on  the  world  in  debt  and  penury. 

Envy  not  the  learning  of  the  student.  The  hue  on  his  cheek  tes- 
tifies of  the  vigils  by  which  it  has  been  attained.  He  has  grown  pale 
over  the  midnight  lamp.     He  has  been  shut  up  from  the  prospect  of 


No.  105.]  25 

nature,  while  sound  sleep  and  refreshing  breezes  have   been  your 
portion  and  your  health. 

Envy  not  the  successful  statesman.  His  name  may  be  in  every 
one's  mouth.  His  reputation  may  be  the  property  of  his  country  ; 
but  envy  and  detraction  have  marked  him.  His  plans  are  thwarted, 
his  principles  attacked,  his  ends  misrepresented.  And  if  he  attain 
to  the  highest  station,  it  is  to  feel  that  his  power  only  enables  him  to 
make  one  ungrateful,  and  hundreds  his  enemies,  for  every  favor  he 
can  bestow. 

Envy  no  one.     The  situation  of  an  independent  farmer  stands 
among  the   first,  for  happiness  and  virtue.     It  is  the  one  to  which 
statesmen  and  warriors  have  retired,  to  find,  in  the  contemplation  of 
the  works  of  nature,  that  serenity  which  more  conspicuous  situations 
could  not  impart.     It  is  the  situation  in  which  God  placed  his  pecu- 
liar people  in  the  land  of  Judea,  and  to  which  all  the  laws  and  insti- 
tutions of  his  great  lawgiver  had  immediate  reference.     And,  when 
in  fullness  of  time,  the  privileges  of  the  chosen  seed,  were   to  be 
extended  to  all  his   children,  it  was  to   shepherds,  abiding  in  the 
fields,  that  the  glad  tidings  of  great  joy  were  first  announced.     Health 
of  body,  serenity  of  mind  and  competence  of  estate,  wait  upon  this 
honorable  calling ;  and  in  giving  these,  it  gives  all  that  the  present 
life  can  bestow^,  while  it  opens,  through  its  influence,  the  path  to 
Heaven. 

After  the  address,  the  reports  of  the  twenty-eight  committees, 
appointed  for  that  purpose,  were  read  from  the  stand. 

[The  list  of  premiums  awarded,  will  be  found  with  the  reports  of 
the  several  committees.] 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  at  the  close  of  the  able 
address  delivered  by  Mr.  Quincy.  Hon.  John  A.  King  offered  the 
following  resolution,  which  was  unanimously  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  New- York  State  Agricultural  Society  are  under 
great  obligations  to  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  for  the  able  and  eloquent 
address  this  day  delivered  to  the  farmers  of  New-York ;  and  that  he 
be  requested  to  furnish  the  society  with  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publi- 
cation in  the  Transactions  of  the  society. 

On  motion  of  H.  S.  Randall,  of  Cortland  county. 

Resolved,  That  the  society  are  indebted  to  the  mayor  and  citizens  of 
Utica  for  their  spirit  and  liberality  in  carrying  out  all  the  preparatory 
arrangements  for  the  State  Fair,  and  their  hospitality  in  receiving  and 


26  [Senate 


entertaining  tlie  immense  multitude;  who  could  not  be  accommodated 
in  the  hotels. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  our  thanks  to  the  ladies  and  gentlemen 
of  Utica,  who  gave  us  their  aid  and  exertions  in  preparing  and  arranging 
the  halls  of  exhibition  on  the  show  ground. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  the  thanks  of  the  society  to  Dr.  Alexander 
Thompson,  of  Aurora,  for  his  unrequited  services  preparatory  to  and 
during  the  Fair,  in  the  direction  and  arrangements  of  Floral  Hall — the 
designs  and  decorations  of  which  elicited  the  universal  admiration  of 
the  thousands  in  attendance  at  the  Fair. 

Resolved,  That  the  society  take  great  pleasure  in  testifying  to  the 
Unremitted  eiforts  of  T.  S.  Faxton,  J.  Butterfield,  and  the  citizens 
of  Utica  generally,  in  carrying  out  most  successfully  the  pledge  given 
by  the  gentlemen  named,  on  behalf  of  the  citizens. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  the  thanks  of  the  society  to  P.  V.  Kellogg, 
sheriff,  and  to  his  deputy,  Mr.  Johnson,  and  the  others  in  his  employ, 
for  the  admirable  arrangements  by  which  complete  order  was  preserved 
on  the  ground. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  society  are  justly  due  and  most 
cordially  tendered  to  the  officers  and  superintendents  of  the  several 
railroad  companies  from  Albany  and  Troy  to  Buffalo,  for  their  liberality 
In  transporting  animals  for  the  Fair  free  of  charge,  and  visiters  at 
reduced  prices. 

B.  P.  JOHNSON,  President, 

L.  Tucker,  Secretary, 

The  number  of  persons  in  attendance  being  much  larger  than  at  any 
former  exhibition,  it  was  feared  by  many  that  the  order  which  had 
been  so  manifest  at  our  other  fairs,  would  not  be  observed.  The 
iadmirable  regulations  which  had  been  made — ^the  prompt  and  efficient 
action  of  the  officers  in  charge,  and  of  the  committee  of  arrangements, 
secured  the  most  complete  order  throughout  the  entire  exhibition  ;  and 
the  results  of  this  fair  were  most  gratifying. 

The  number  of  farmers  in  attendance  was  larger  than  at  any  of  our 
exhibitions,  and  evinces  the  strong  impression  which  the  proceedings 
of  the  society  are  making  upon  this  class  of  our  population,  for  whose 
benefit  more  especially,  the  society  was  instituted.  We  are  encouraged 
by  the  farmers  to  redouble  our  efforts,  and  to  endeavor  in  every  proper 
method  to  aid  them  in  the  improvement  of  agriculture,  and  in  the 


No.  105.]  27 

elevation  of  their  profession.  While  this  shall  be  the  leading  object 
of  the  society,  it  is  believed  its  progress  will  be  upward  and  onward, 
until  the  most  desired  results  in  every  respect  shall  be  fully  attained* 
While  many  have  feared  that  the  strong  hold  which  the  society  has  had 
upon  the  popular  feeling,  would  be  lost,  it  is  a  matter  of  encouragement, 
in  reviewing  the  proceedings  of  the  past  year,  to  find,  that  at  no  period 
of  the  society's  operations,  has  it  had  such  an  influence  upon  the  public 
mind  as  at  present.  It  should  be  our  aim  to  endeavor  to  retain  this — ■ 
and  it  is  believed,  as  the  operations  of  the  society  become  extensively 
known,  its  labors  will  be  more  highly  appreciated. 

ANNUAL  MEETING,  1846. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  society  was  held  on  the  21st  and  22d  of 
January.  The  number  in  attendance  was  greater  than  at  any  previous 
meeting,  and  the  proceedings  were  unusually  interesting. 

The  House  of  Assembly  adjourned,  and  invited  the  society  to  hold 
their  meeting  in  the  Assembly  Chamber.  The  society  are  under  great 
obligations  to  them  for  this  evidence  of  their  interest  in  the  objects  of 
the  society  ;  and  it  is  the  more  worthy  of  particular  notice,  as  this  wa8 
done  without  any  solicitation  on  the  part  of  the  society. 

Subjects  of  interest  and  importance  were  discussed,  and  no  annual 
meeting  has  been  held,  so  full  of  promise  to  the  farming  interest  of 
the  State. 

The  report  of  the  Corresponding  Secretary  was  presented,  giving  an 
account  of  bis  labors,  and  will  be  found  in  connexion  with  this 
report. 

The  report  of  the  Treasurer  was  read,  showing  as  follows: 

Balance  in  treasury  at  last  meeting, $3,932  09 

Interest  on  stock, 210  00 

Donation  from  Francis  Granger, 25  00 

"         from  R.  L.  Pell, 5  00 

Received  from  State  treasury, 700  00 

Receipts  from  individual  members, 80  00 

«         at  State  Fair, 4,370  18 

$9,322  27 


28  [Senate, 

Payments. 

On  account  of  premiums, |2,411  50 

Salary  of  Recording  Secretary, 300  00 

Public  Lecturer, 180  00 

Printing  and  binding, 187  39 

Expenses  at  Fair  at  Utica, 556  94 

To  H.  O'Reilly, 48  00 

Sundry  incidental  expenses, 92  23 

$3,776  06 

Invested  in  Albany  city  stock, 3,000  00 

"  bond  and  mortgage, 2,000  00 

$8,776  06 

Leaving  in  the  Treasury  a  balance  of $546  21 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Comstock,  a  committee  consisting  of  three  from 
each  Senatorial  District,  was  appointed  to  nominate  officers  for  the 
ensuing  year,  and  to  recommend  to  the  Executive  Committee  a  suitable 
location  for  holding  the  next  Cattle  Show  and  Fair. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  L.  F.  Allen,  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
prepare  business  for  the  action  of  the  meeting.  The  chair  appointed 
Messrs.  Allen  of  Erie,  Comstock  of  Albany,  Pratt  of  Greene, 
Walbridge  of  Tompkins,  Lee  of  Monroe. 

Mr.  Allen,  from  the  business  committee,  reported  the  following 
resolutions,  which  were  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  a  dairy  committee  of  three  persons  be  appointed  by 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  society,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 
ascertain  the  actual  product  of  the  best  cheese  dairy  of  the  State,  that 
the  locality  of  such  dairy  be  ascertained  in  latitude ;  the  composition  of 
the  soil,  as  near  as  may  be,  where  the  dairy  farm  be  situated ;  the 
kind  of  grass  used  for  pasture  and  for  hay ;  the  quantity,  in  pounds,  of 
milk  per  cow  on  the  average  and  in  the  aggregate  ;  the  quantity  of 
cheese  to  the  hundred  pounds  of  milk  produced  ;  the  gross  quantity 
for  the  season,  of  milk  and  cheese  produced — the  quality  of  the  cheese 
— ^the  method  of  making  it — the  breed  of  cows  composing  the  dairy,  and 
all  such  other  details  procured  as  shall  determine  the  most  profitable 
mode  of  conducting  the  cheese  dairy  business ;  and  that  one  hundred 


No.  105.]  29 

dollars  of  the  funds  of  the  society  be  appropriated  in  giving  three 
premiums  to  the  most  successful  competitors  reporting  any  such  practice 
and  its  detail  to  said  committee  ;  said  committee  to  report  to  the  society 
at  its  next  annual  meeting. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of be  appointed  by  the  Executive 

Committee,  who  shall  report  to  the  next  annual  meeting  a  list  of  not 
exceeding  thirty  kinds  of  apples,  which  shall  be  in  their  opinion  best 
adapted  to  the  economical  demands  of  the  people  of  this  State,  and  to 
be  best  suited  to  the  different  localities  of  the  same,  comprising  their 
most  extensive  use  in  all  seasons,  for  home  consumption,  and  for 
exportation — the  individual  names  of  said  fruits — a  drawing  of  each 
each  separate  kind,  with  a  particular  description  thereof;  and  that  in 
this  connection  they  also  take  into  consideration  the  several  classes  of 

fine  fruits  as   adapted  to   the  above   purposes,    and dollars  be 

appropriated  as  in  the  judgment  of  the  Executive  Committee  shall  be 
necessary  to  accomplish  this  object. 

Wednesday  Evening,  Jan.  21. 

The  society  convened  pursuant  to  adjournment  at  the  Assembly 
Chamber. 

Mr.  Denniston  from  the  committee  to  nominate  officers,  reported 
the  following  list,  which  was  unanimously  adopted : 

J.  M.  SHERWOOD,  Auburn,  President. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

RoBT.  H.  Ludlow,  New- York, 

Abram  Bockee,  Federal  Store, 

Ezra  P.  Prentice,  Albany, 

Thos.  J.  Marvin,  Saratoga  Springs, 

PoMEROY  Jones,  Lairdsville, 

J.  R.  Speed,  Caroline, 

H.  S.  Randall,  Cortland  Village, 

Lewis  F.  Allen,  Buffalo, 

Luther  Tucker,  Albany,  Recording  Secretary, 

Joel  B.  Nott,         do.     Corresponding  do. 

J.  M'D.  M'Intyre,  do.    Treasurer. 


30  [Senate, 

additional  members  of  the  executive  committee. 

Alfred  Conklin,  Auburn, 
Ami  Doubleday,  Binghamton, 
George  Vail,  Troy, 
Ambrose  Stevens,  New -York, 
John  Miller,  Truxton. 

The  same  committee  also  recommended  Auburn  as  the  place  for  the 
next  Cattle  Show  and  Fair. 

Prof.  Hall  exhibited  a  Geological  Map  of  the  State  with  the  average 
product  of  wheat  in  each  county,  and  made  some  very  interesting 
remarks  in  explanation  of  the  connection  of  geology  and  agriculture, 
for  which  the  society  tendered  him  their  thanks. 

Gen.  Harmon  read  the  report  of  the  committee  on  wheat,  barley,  &c. 

Mr.  E,  KiRBY  gave  notice  that  a  proposition  will  be  presented  at 
the  next  annual  meeting  so  to  alter  the  constitution  of  the  society  that 
all  ex-presidents  shall  be  standing  members  of  the  Executive  Committee 
in  addition  to  the  board  as  now  provided  for. 

Thursday  Morning.,  Jan.  22. 

The  society  met  in  the  lecture  room  of  the  Young  Men's  Asso- 
ciation. 

Col.  Sherwood  read  the  report  of  the  committee  on  peas,  &c. 

Prof.  Emmons,  from  the  committee  on  Essays,  made  an  interesting 
report,  concluding  with  the  list  of  prizes  awarded. 

Dr.  Beekman,  chairman  of  the  committee  on  Farms,  made  a  very 
interesting  and  valuable  report,  giving  in  a  condensed  form,  a  great 
variety  of  valuable  information,  derived  from  the  papers  submitted  to 
the  committee. 

Dr.  B.  also  read  a  very  interesting  communication  from  S.  S.  Ran- 
dall, Esq.,  on  the  Agricultural  Statistics  of  the  State. 

Mr.  Pratt,  of  Greene,  from  the  business  committee,  offered  the 
following  resolution,  which  was  adopted  : 

Resolved^  That  the  Executive  Committee  be  requested  to  take  into 
consideration  the  expediency  of  offering  the  like  premiums,  or  of  less 
amount,  on  the  subject  of  the  butter  dairies  of  this  State,  to  be 
conducted  in  the  same  manner,  and  under  the  same  rules  of  particularity 
in  ascertaining  its  results  as  have  been  adopted  by  the  society  at  its 
present  session  in  relation  to  cheese. 

In  the  evening  of  the  22d,  the  society,  with  members  of  the  Legisla- 


No.  105.]  31 

ture  and  othe'  gentlemen,  met  in  the  Assembly  Chamber,  when  the 
annual  address  was  delivered  by  the  President  of  the  society,  B.  P. 
Johnson. 

ADDRESS. 
Gentlemen  of  the  Society  : 

We  are  assembled  at  the  close  of  another  year  of  our  society's 
operations,  under  circumstances  interesting  to  us  all.  The  past  year 
has  been  one  of  prosperity  and  success,  to  the  agricultural  interest. 
By  the  blessings  of  a  kind  Providence,  the  soil  has  returned  an  abun- 
dant yield  to  the  farmer.  There  has  been  a  demand  for  his  products 
such  as  to  enable  him  to  receive  remunerating  prices,  and  for  many 
years  this  class  of  our  citizens  have  not  been  found  in  circumstances 
of  more  comfort,  and  independence,  than  at  present.  We  ought  to 
be  grateful  for  these  blessings,  and  endeavor  by  every  means  in  our 
power,  to  improve  ourselves,  to  add  to  our  knowledge  the  best 
means  of  improving  our  agriculture,  to  elevate  our  profession,  and 
sustain  it  in  that  position  which  its  importance  deserves. 

My  predecessor  in  his  able  address,  delivered  at  the  close  of  his 
official  term,  gave  you  a  full  and  interesting  history  of  the  progress 
of  this  society,  from  its  organization,  up  to  that  period.  It  only  re- 
mains for  me  to  call  your  attention  to  the  proceedings  of  the  society 
during  the  past  year,  and  to  offer  for  your  consideration,  some  sug- 
gestions as  to  the  future,  which  seem  to  me  adapted  to  advance  the 
interests  of  a  cause  dear  to  us  all. 

When  the  officers  entered  upon  these  duties,  at  the  close  of  the 
last  annual  meeting,  they  felt  that  responsibilities  rested  upon  them 
such  as  would  require  the  most  active  and  vigorous  efforts  on  their 
part,  to  sustain  the  reputation  of  the  society,  and  extend  its  influence. 
They  relied  upon  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  agriculturists  of 
New-York,  and  in  this  they  were  not  mistaken.  Most  nobly  did 
they  come  up,  and  most  triumphantly  have  they  sustained  the  society 
in  its  operations.  During  the  past  year  we  have  advanced  in  our 
improvement,  and  though  all  has  not  been  accomplished  that  might 
have  been  desired,  yet  our  expectations  have  been  more  than  rea- 
lized, and  we  believe  that  the  society  has  a  stronger  hold  upon  the 
people,  than  at  any  former  period  of  its  existence. 

The  success  of  the  fair  at  Poughkeepsie  was  such  as  to  induce  a 
very  general  impression  that  the  succeeding  one,  would  fall  short  of 


32  [Senate 

it.  But  when  it  was  ascertained  that  the  farmers  were  preparing 
with  renewed  energy,  to  enter  the  field,  these  impressions  were  re- 
moved, and  the  vast  assemblage  at  Utica,  satisfied  the  most  incredu- 
lous, that  those  who  had  given  assurance  that  there  was  to  be  no 
retrograde  movement,  were  well  sustained  by  the  agriculturists  of 
the  Empire  State. 

The  number  in  attendance  at  our  last  fair  was  much  larger  than  at 
any  of  our  former  exhibitions,  and  gave  assurance  which  was  most 
gratifying,  that  the  farmers  of  the  State  had  entered  into  the  work 
in  earnest.  The  novelty  of  these  meetings  had  passed  away,  but  a 
deep  and  abiding  impression  of  their  utility  and  importance  w^as 
prevalent,  and  brought  out  the  farmers  with  their  cattle,  their  imple- 
ments, and  their  manufactures  for  exhibition,  as  well  as  an  immense 
assemblage,  to  witness  the  improvements  which  were  in  progress  in 
the  State. 

The  display  of  animals  of  improved  and  native  breeds,  was  as  large 
as  at  any  exhibition  of  this  society,  while  in  some  departments  it 
may  not  have  excelled,  yet  in  others  it  was  decidedly  an  advance 
upon  any  previous  exhibition. 

The  exhibition  in  the  other  departments  was  worthy  of  the  occa- 
sion, and  of  the  society.  The  great  variety  and  beauty  of  articles 
exhibited,  gave  evidence  of  the  skill  and  ingenuity  of  the  people, 
and  while  thousands  admired  the  exhibition,  the  conviction  was  forced 
upon  every  mind,  that  the  farmers  of  New-York  had  only  to  give 
their  hearts  to  the  work,  and  the  results  would  ever  be  honorable  to 
themselves,  and  most  beneficial  to  the  agricultural  interests  of  the 
State. 

In  the  dairy  departments,  the  display  far  exceeded  the  expecta- 
tions of  the  most  sanguine.  The  fair  being  held  in  the  centre  of  the 
great  dairy  region  of  central  New-York,  a  competion  was  indeed 
most  honorable  to  the  competitors,  and  which  brought  a  display  at 
that  exhibition,  unequalled  it  is  believed,  at  any  fair  in  the  Union. 
Some  of  the  choice  samples  of  premium  cheese  have  probably  ere 
this  found  a  place  upon  the  tables  of  the  noble  and  the  great  across 
the  Atlantic,  and  we  hazard  little  in  asserting  that  in  whatever  else 
they  may  excel,  these  will  be  found  equal  to  their  best. 

The  attendance  of  distinguished  gentlemen,  interested  in  the  ad- 
vancement of  agriculture  from  most  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  and 
from  the  British  Provinces,  was  very  numerous,  and  is  a  matter  of 


No.  105.]  33 

congratulation  to  learn  that  they  were  highly  interested  in  the  exhi- 
bition presented  before  them,  by  the  agriculturists  of  New-York, 
many  of  these  gentlemen  gave  evidence,  by  the  purchase  of  choice 
animals  which  were  exhibited,  of  the  value  which  they  placed  upon 
the  stock  exhibited  on  that  occasion. 

While  we  rejoice  at  the  onward  progress  of  this  society,  in  its  ef- 
forts to  advance  the  interest  of  the  farmer,  with  which  is  intimately 
connected  the  prosperity  of  every  other  branch  of  domestic  industry, 
it  is  of  the  first  importance  to  secure  a  continued  and  healthy  advance 
until  perfection  shall  be  attained.  As  yet  we  have  scarcely  tested 
the  capacity  of  our  own  soil.  A  much  larger  yield  of  the  various 
productions  congenial  to  our  soil  and  climate,  can  and  must  be  se- 
cured. 

We  are  brought  into  competition  with  the  fertile  regions  of  the  vast 
West;  and  if  we  would  render  our  farms  profitable,  a  more  systematic 
and  enlightened  course  must  be  pursued,  to  obtain  a  much  larger 
return  than  we  have  as  yet  realized.  That  this  can  be  done,  I  have 
no  doubt — and  that  it  will  be  done,  I  trust  this  society  will  make 
every  proper  effort  to  render  equally  certain. 

The  officers  of  the  society  having  felt  the  importance  of  diffusing,  as 
extensively  as  they  could,  a  knowledge  of  the  improvements  which 
science  has  brought  to  light,  for  a  portion  of  the  past  season,  employed 
their  corresponding  secretary  in  visiting  the  farmers,  and  delivering 
lectures  in  several  of  the  central  and  western  counties  of  the  State. 
He  was  not  only  favorably  received,  but  an  uniform  expression  was 
given  of  the  usefulness  of  his  labors,  and  a  desire  expressed  that  they 
might  be  continued. 

From  the  interest  manifested  in  the  subject,  I  cannot  but  believe 
that  we  are  called  upon  to  secure  the  services  of  a  competent  person 
to  visit  the  different  counties,  see  the  farmers  at  their  farms,  analyze 
their  soils,  suggest  manures  best  adapted  to  each,  encourage  draining, 
deliver  lectures,  and  in  such  other  ways  as  may  be  necessary,  aid  in 
the  great  work  of  agricultural  improvements  ;  a  person  competent  to 
do  this,  it  is  presumed,  may  be  secured,  and  we  ought  not  to  hesitate  to 
do  it,  whenever  the  requisite  funds  are  furnished.  The  public  expect 
of  us  vigorous  efforts  to  improve  and  elevate  our  agriculture — and  we 
should  be  untrue  to  ourselves  did  we  not  endeavor  to  satisfy  every  rea- 
sonable expectation.  We  look  to  the  Legislature  for  a  suitable  provi 
[Senate,  No.  105.]  3 


34  [Senate, 

sion  to  enable  us  to  carry  out  our  desires,  in  such  a  manner  as  will  be 
worthy  of  the  society  and  the  State. 

There  is,  if  I  do  not  entirely  mistake  the  feeling  which  is  abroad 
among  the  farmers,  an  increasing  importance  attached  to  the  advance- 
ment of  agriculture  in  this  State.  The  application  of  science  to  the 
pursuits  of  the  farmer  is  not  only  practicable,  but  it  is  being  applied  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  satisfy  the  most  incredulous  of  its  important  bear- 
ing upon  this  great  interest.  Farmers  are  beginning  to  feel  that  their 
sons  should  be  furnished  with  all  that  information  which  is  so  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  enable  them  to  avail  themselves  of  all  the  improve- 
ments of  the  age.  It  cannot  be  denied,  that  very  many  of  the  im- 
provements in  agriculture  have  been  made  by  men  of  science.  There 
are  fields  before  us,  however,  yet  to  be  explored,  and  much  to  be 
learned,  and  we  must  mainly  rely  upon  the  researches  of  science  to 
unfold  to  us  advantages  which  have  been  hidden  from  us. 

Education  is  to  form  a  prominent  part  in  preparing  the  way  for 
future  improvements ;  and  it  must  be  an  education  eminently  practical 
to  secure  the  desired  results.  The  necessity  of  educating  rightly  our 
young  men,  who  are  to  become  not  merely  tillers  of  the  soil,  but  many 
of  them  representatives  in  your  congressional  and  legislative  halls, 
must  be  obvious  to  every  reflecting  mind.  In  securing  such  an  educa- 
tion, different  opinions  will  be  entertained  as  to  the  best  means  to  be 
adopted.  This  furnishes  no  sufficient  reason  why  we  should  not  make 
an  early  effort  on  the  subject,  to  accomplish  an  object  of  such  unspeak- 
able importance  to  our  best  interests,  and  to  the  welfare  and  prosperity 
of  our  country. 

The  general  diff"usion  of  education  throughout  our  State  has  greatly 
improved  our  moral  and  social  condition,  and  the  farmers  with  others 
have  enjoyed  and  been  benefitted  by  these  opportunities.  The  farmer, 
however,  is  occupying  a  position  in  society  the  most  important  to  the 
well  being  of  our  country.  His  influence  therefore  for  good  or  evil 
is  to  have  a  most  lasting  as  well  as  important  bearing  on  its  condition 
for  all  time  to  come.  The  farmer  should  have  placed  within  his  reach 
such  advantages  for  the  cultivation  of  his  mind  and  of  obtaining  know- 
ledge useful  to  him  in  his  profession,  so  as  to  furnish  him  with  that 
practical  information  which  will  enable  him  rightly  to  dischar  re  his 
high  and  responsible  duties.  It  has  been  well  said  that  the  Almighty 
has  graciously  provided  every  thing  in  the  world  that  can  conduce  to 


No.  105.]  35 

the  benefit  of  his  creatures  ;  but  having  endowed  man  with  the  faculty 
of  reason,  he  has  in  his  wisdom  left  many  of  these  benefits  undeve- 
loped for  the  purpose  of  exercising  their  reason,  and  calling  forth  that 
skill  which  would  otherwise  be  dormant  and  useless/'  "  Education  is 
also  essentially  necessary  to  draw  forth  the  physical  powers  of  man, 
and  to  enable  him  to  execute  with  skill  works  in  which  the  mind  has 
but  little  share." 

It  must  be  admitted,  that  in  the  system  of  education  which  has  been 
pursued  in  this  State,  the  agricultural  has  at  least  in  a  measure  been 
overlooked.  The  candidate  for  the  pulpit,  the  bar,  and  the  medical 
profession,  has  been  trained  with  special  reference  to  his  profession  in 
life — but  the  farmer  has  been  instructed  in  the  ordinary  branches  of 
education,  and  no  proper  effort  has  been  made  to  secure  to  him  such 
an  education  as  would  suitably  prepare  him  for  the  profession  to  which 
his  life  is  to  be  devoted.  It  seems  to  hav^  been  taken  for  granted, 
that  the  farmer  was  in  need  of  no  peculiar  attention  as  regarded  the 
cultivation  of  his  mind  and  the  improvement  of  his  powers. 

I  am  aware  that  a  prejudice  has  long  been  entertained  as  to  learned 
farmers,  as  if  science  and  the  cultivation  of  the  noble  powers  with 
which  God  has  endowed  us,  if  rightly  directed,  would  unfit  a  man 
for  one  of  the  first  employments  under  heaven,  the  cultivation  of 
^he  soil.  There  is  no  occupation,  it  is  believed,  in  which  scientific 
knowledge  can  more  extensively  be  rendered  useful  than  in  agricul- 
ture. There  are  those  who  have  strong  objections  to  what  they  call 
hook  farming,  and  will  not  adopt  any  favorable  methods  which  have 
proved  successful  until  years,  it  may  be,  after  their  utility  has  been 
established.  This  class,  however,  it  is  believed,  is  diminishing. 
The  agricultural  associations  which  are  extending  to  almost  every 
county  in  the  State,  are  exerting  a  salutary  influence  upon  those  who 
are  intelligent  and  observing.  Our  young  men  are  availing  themselves 
of  the  experience  of  others,  and  the  comparisons  instituted  by  them 
between  different  systems  of  farming  which  prevail  throughout  the 
State,  lead  them  in  many  cases  to  adopt  such  as  appears  best  adapted 
to  their  location. 

To  encourage  and  sustain  these  men  to  increase  their  numbers  and 
add  to  their  influence,  we  desire  to  see  our  agricultural  population 
properly  instructed.  A  writer  has  said,  "  Science,  by  which  is  to 
be  understood  that  knowledge  which  is  founded  upon  the  principles 
of  nature,  illustrated  by  demonstration,  is  the  pilot  that  must  steer 


36  [Senate, 

us  into  those  hitherto  imperfectly  explored  regions,  where  a  mine  of 
wealth  is  still  in  store  for  the  'American  Agriculturist.'  " 

A  distinguished  writer  on  the  science  of  agriculture  remarks, 
"  That  the  foundation  of  agriculture  is  thorough  draining  of  the  land ; 
that  accomplished,  the  next  point  was  to  find  out  what  was  the  best 
fertilizer  of  the  soil  at  the  easiest  expense.  The  knowledge  of  this 
depended  upon  chemistry,  which  was  a  science  most  comprehensive 
in  its  nature,  and  he  was  sure  that  if  any  thing  could  bring  up  the 
agriculture  of  the  country  to  that  high  standard  to  which  it  was  de- 
sirable it  should  be  brought,  it  was  by  the  study  of  this  science.  In 
the  first  place,  they  required  a  knowledge  of  the  different  soils ;  in 
the  next  place  they  required  to  know  the  action  of  the  atmosphere 
upon  those  soils  ;  they  then  required  to  ascertain  the  plants  suited 
to  the  various  soils  w^th  which  they  had  to  do  ;  and  last  of  all,  they 
required  a  knowledge,  if  he  might  use  the  term,  of  the  nurses  of  the 
various  plants." 

The  distinguished  German  chemist,  Liebig,  remarks,  "  The  bene- 
fits which  science  is  capable  of  conferring  on  agriculture  cannot,  I 
believe,  be  too  highly  estimated.  It  is  true,  that  in  an  art  which 
engages  so  many  acute  minds,  great  discoveries  will  often  result  from 
accidental  observation  and  experiment,  without  the  suggestion  of 
theory:  applications  so  important,  for  example,  as  that  of  bones  for 
manure,  or  even  lime  itself.  But  how  much  more  likely  is  experience 
to  be  successful,  when  directed  on  right  principles.  Practical  expe- 
rience possesses  unquestionable  value,  but  it  is  like  a  vessel  to  which 
in  the  form  of  science,  the  compass  or  the  pilot  is  wanting;  it  is  a 
treasure  which  cannot  be  inherited.  Science  enables  us  to  bequeath 
this  treasure  to  our  children,  and  it  enables  our  children  to  increase 
the  store.  Science  gives  us  the  consciousness  of  our  strength,  and 
thus  inspires  us  with  courage  and  energy.  It  teaches  us  to  recognize 
the  food  of  plants  and  the  sources  from  which  it  is  derived.  This 
knowledge  alone  makes  us  the  true  masters  of  the  soilj  the  lords  of 
our  capital." 

Why,  then,  permit  me  to  inquire,  may  we  not  introduce  into  our 
primary  schools  a  class  of  studies  which  are  designed  to  teach  the 
scholars  the  properties  of  the  earth  on  which  we  dwell,  the  variety 
and  composition  of  plants  and  grains  which  are  grown,  the  laws  by 
which  they  are  regulated  and  governed.  As  the  scholar  advances, 
the  science  of  chemistry  should  be  brought  to  his  attention  ;  and  here 


No.  105.]  37 

a  field  is  open  before  him  which  will  demand  all  his  care,  and  the 
exercise  of  all  his  faculties.  Agricultural  chemistry  is  opening  a 
new  world  to  the  cultivator  of  the  soil,  and  we  are  as  yet  but  in  our 
infancy  in  relation  to  it.  Researches  will,  I  doubt  not,  unfold  to  us 
the  richest  treasures,  and  those  who  come  after  us  will  look  back 
with  astonishment  at  the  little  progress  we  had  made.  The  best 
systems  which  have  been  devised,  illustrating  the  knowledge  of  the 
earth,  its  cultivation,  its  seeds,  its  productions,  and  the  best  methods 
of  culture,  should  be  introduced,  and  also  a  practical  adaptation  of 
principles  to  the  various  crops  and  their  cultivation. 

To  show  that  the  study  of  agricultural  chemistry  and  geology  can 
be  successfully  introduced  into  our  seminaries,  I  would  refer  to  the 
effort  of  the  principal  of  the  academy  in  Cortland  county,  Mr.  Wool- 
worth,  who  has  met  with  most  signal  success.  He  has  a  class  of 
young  men,  from  twenty-five  to  thirty,  sons  of  farmers,  who  are 
deeply  interested  in  these  studies.  He  also  gives  a  weekly  lecture 
to  the  farmers,  who  have  attended  in  numbers  from  fifty  to  seventy- 
five,  who  are  very  much  benefi-tted.  Thus  speaks  one  of  their  num- 
ber, who  has  availed  himself  of  these  opportunities. 

A  proper  system  of  agricultural  education,  combined  with  practice 
upon  the  farm,  will  do  much  to  accomplish  what  we  deem  important. 
It  is  more  than  twenty  years  since  this  subject  was  brought 
before  the  public  mind  in  this  State,  but  very  little  has  since  been 
done.  A  school  connected  with  labor  upon  the  farm  has  been  esta- 
blished at  Aurora,  by  C.  C.  Young  and  David  Thomas,  which  is  suc- 
cessful, and  is  giving  evidence  of  the  utility  of  such  an  establishment. 
One  of  our  leading  farmers  of  Monroe  county.  Gen.  Harmon,  in 
connexion  with  Dr.  Lee,  late  Corresponding  Secretary  of  this  society, 
is  about  establishing  another  institution  at  Wheatland,  Monroe  co. 
I  rejoice  to  see  this.  But  these  institutions  will  not  alone  accom- 
plish what  we  need.  An  institution  adequate  to  the  wants  of  the 
State  will  require  larger  expenditures  than  any  individual  will  be 
found  willing  to  invest ;  and  besides  it  should  be  an  institution  so 
managed  and  conducted  as  to  sustain  the  character  of  a  public  one 
entirely.  The  funds  of  the  State  have  been  scattered  with  a  liberal 
hand  for  other  objects,  and  of  this  we  are  not  disposed  to  complain. 
But  we  do  ask  for  those  by  whose  sweat  and  toil  others  live  and 
prosper,  and  upon  whom  the  greatest  burthen  of  taxation  falls,  that 
their  wants  should  be  attended  to,  and  such  provisions  be  made  for 


38  [Senate 

the  education  of  their  sons  as  will  enable  them  properly  to  discharge 
the  high  and  responsible  duties  of  American  freemen,  the  owners 
and  cultivators  of  the  soil. 

In  advancing  agriculture,  we  at  the  same  time,  secure  prosperity 
to  every  other  interest  in  the  community.  The  experience  of  the 
past  season,  shows  how  intimately  connected  our  commercial  pros- 
perity is  with  the  advance  of  our  agricultural  interest.  Our  great 
inland  communication  has  poured  into  the  bosom  of  the  noble  Hudson, 
the  products  of  the  west,  with  such  a  liberal  hand  as  to  satisfy  the 
most  avaricious.  What  a  numerous  fleet  has  been  put  in  requisition 
to  transport  it  from  this  city ;  and  yet,  with  all  that  could  be  obtained, 
their  store-houses,  have  been  filled  to  overflowing.  And  how  many 
vessels  have  crossed  the  wide  ocean,  freighted  with  the  products  of 
our  soil,  to  relieve  the  starving  population  of  the  old  world.  Increase 
this  product  as  you  may  by  judicious  cultivation,  from  one-third  to 
one-half,  and  what  an  impetus  would  be  given  to  our  commerce — our 
manufacturers  will  feel  it,  and  every  department  of  industry  be  ad- 
vanced, 

"We  live  in  a  day  peculiarly  favorable  to  the  improvement  of  agri- 
culture. The  lights  of  science  are  brought  to  bear  more  practically 
upon  the  subject,  than  at  any  former  period  ;  and  if  we  do  not  avail 
ourselves  of  the  benefits  resulting  from  them,  the  fault  must  res^ 
with  us. 

But  a  small  portion  of  our  farmers  may  be  said  to  be  familiar  with 
the  agricultural  improvements  of  the  day,  although  many  of  them 
have  been  known  and  practised  by  a  few  for  a  considerable  time  past. 
A  prejudice  still  exists  against  what  is  termed  innovations  upon  sys- 
tems adopted  by  our  forefathers.  To  succeed,  we  must  reach  the 
farmer  at  his  fireside.  The  men  now  entering  upon  the  stage  of 
active  life,  are  to  aid  us  in  this  work.  The  great  body  of  farmers 
now  connected  with  our  agricultural  associations,  are  young  men  and 
men  in  middle  life.  They  have  had  a  taste  at  the  fountain  them- 
selves, and  if  you  but  open  to  them  the  waters,  you  will  find  them 
sending  forth  their  sons  and  their  daughters  to  refresh  themselves 
from  the  sparkling  streams. 

The  attention  of  the  civilized  world  is  aroused  to  the  subject  of  the 
improvement  of  agriculture  in  a  greater  degree  than  it  ever  has  been 
before.     There  is  a  growing  conviction  every  where,  that  the  appli- 


No.  106.]  39 

cation  of  science  to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  should  not  be  delayed, 
and  it  is  too  late  in  the  day  to  deny  its  value  to  agriculture. 

Our  own  State  is  one  of  the  best  agricultural  districts  in  the  Union. 
Her  resources  have  not  been  developed,  as  they  can  be  by  systematic 
and  enlightened  agriculture.  The  statistical  returns  of  the  late  cen- 
sus show  that  the  average  yield  of  the  various  crops  grown  is  very 
far  below  what  it  should  be. 

The  average  yield  of  wheat  per  acre,  is  only  fourteen  bushels.  In 
the  best  wheat  growing  county  in  the  State,  the  average  is  only  nine- 
teen and  a  half  bushels.  Of  corn  the  average  is  only  twenty-five 
bushels  per  acre  ;  oats  twenty-six,  rye  nine  and  a  half,  potatoes 
ninety  bushels. 

In  view  of  facts  like  these,  are  we  not  called  upon  to  make  renew- 
ed efforts  to  bring  up  our  farmers  to  such  a  system  of  cultivation  as 
•will  increase  the  products  of  their  farms  in  every  particular  1  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  mere  statement  of  these  facts  must  force  con- 
viction upon  every  mind,  that  much  remains  to  be  done,  and  that  we 
need  the  aid  of  science  to  enable  us  rightly  to  prepare  our  soils,  in 
order  that  we  may  secure  the  greatest  yield  which  our  land  is  capa- 
ble of  producing. 

Let  it  then  be  impressed  upon  every  cultivator  of  the  soil,  that  it 
is  his  duty  to  give  up  preconceived  notions,  and  be  ready  and  willing 
to  submit  his  views  and  practices  to  the  test  of  experiment.  Let  him, 
by  careful  and  judicious  examination,  ascertain  wherein  his  system 
is  defective,  and  how  improvement  may  be  secured.  The  returns  to 
which  I  have  referred,  are  most  conclusive  as  to  the  great  deficiency 
of  our  present  system  of  agriculture. 

I  would  urge,  therefore,  upon  the  members  of  this  society  to  exert 
themselves  to  impress  upon  the  farmer,  the  importance  of  giving  im- 
mediate attention  to  this  matter.  Urge  them  not  to  reject  new 
methods,  merely  because  they  conflict  with  previously  formed  habits 
or  opinions.  There  is  abundant  room  for  improvement,  and  it  is  the 
part  of  wisdom  to  be  ever  ready  to  make  advances,  and  to  follow  out 
that  practice,  which  has  proved  advantageous  and  useful. 

Many  of  our  farmers  seem  contented  with  things  as  they  are.  In 
every  other  department  known,  there  is  not  only  an  onward  progress, 
but  untiring  efforts  are  made  to  derive  advantage  from  every  new 
discovery  that  promises  usefulness.  We  should  ever  keep  in  view 
that  we  live  in  a  day  when  the  watchword  on  every  hand  is  onward; 


40  [Senate 

and  that  farmer  who  is  not  prepared  to  avail  himself  of  the  benefits 
which  science  and  the  experience  of  others  is  constantly  placing  be- 
fore him,  will  soon  find  himself  behind  the  intelligence  of  the  age, 
and  have  cause  for  regret,  when  for  him  it  may  be  forever  too  late. 

The  returns  of  the  late  census  show,  that  in  some  of  the  best  agri- 
cultural counties  of  the  State  our  population  has  decreased  within  the 
last  five  years.  This  decrease  will  continue,  unless  we  can  so  im- 
prove our  lands  as  to  make  it  an  object  for  our  young  men  to  remain 
in  our  midst.  And  can  this  be  done,  unless  we  direct  our  attention 
more  than  we  have  yet  done  to  the  education  of  the  sons  of  farmers, 
disseminate  universally  the  benefits  and  improvements  which  science 
has  brought  to  light  in  reference  to  agriculture,  and  is  it  not  of  im- 
portance to  attend  to  this  now  1  Delay  may  forever  prevent  our  ac- 
complishing what  is  so  desirable  and  important.  How  frequently 
has  it  happened  in  the  histories  of  places  and  of  people,  who  in  pos- 
session of  great  natural  advantages,  carelessly  reposed  themselves 
upon  these  fearing  no  rival,  and  were  only  awakened  when  it  was 
too  late  successfully  to  contend  with  others,  who  by  enterprize  and 
right  directed  effort,  had  secured  the  enjoyment  of  privileges  which 
they  once  possessed,  and  might  ever  have  retained,  had  they  been 
but  alive  to  their  own  best  interests'? 

Let  not  the  farmers  of  the  Empire  State  vainly  imagine  that  they 
can  progress  only  as  they  have  heretofore  done,  and  still  maintain 
the  proud  eminence  to  which  they  have  attained.  The  progress  of  em- 
pire is  westward,  and  unless  we  awake  to  this  subject  and  that  with- 
out delay,  it  will  not  be  long  before  the  Empire  State  will  be  num- 
bered among  those  beyond  the  mountains. 

I  would  respectfully  urge  upon  the  representatives  of  the  people 
here  assembled,  to  give  their  attention  to  this  subject.  Of  how  much 
more  importance  is  it  to  educate  the  farmer,  prepare  him  successfully 
to  discharge  his  high  duties  as  a  citizeri,  instruct  him  how  he  may 
improve  his  farm,  increase  its  products,  add  to  the  wealth  of  the 
State,  and  to  its  prosperity,  than  to  increase  our  already  multiplied 
incorporations  which  are  drinking  up  our  life  blood,  carrying  our 
wealth  into  the  coffers  of  the  rich  of  the  old  world,  and  are  sustain- 
ing in  our  cities  the  stock  jobbers,  who  feed  upon  the  passions  of  men 
excited  by  their  ruinous  operations? 

To  you  we  look  for  assistance,  and  shall  we  look  in  vain  1     Will 


No.  105.]  .    '      41 

you  not  lend  your  aid,  and  secure  to  your  constituents  blessings,  that 
will  redound  to  the  honor  of  our  State  and  to  the  glory  of  the  age  in 
which  we  live  ? 

The  Father  of  his  Country,  the  immortal  Washington  has  said: — - 
"  I  know  of  no  pursuit  in  which  more  real  or  important  service  can 
be  rendered  to  any  country  than  by  improving  its  agriculture.  It 
will  not  be  doubted,  that  with  reference  either  to  individual  or  na- 
tional welfare,  agriculture  is  of  primary  importance.  In  proportion 
as  nations  advance  in  population  and  other  circumstances  of  maturity, 
this  truth  becomes  more  apparent,  and  renders  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil  more  and  more  an  object  of  public  patronage.  Institutions  for 
promoting  it  grow  up  supported  hy  the  public  purse;  and  to  what  ob- 
ject can  it  he  dedicated  with  greater  "propriety  V* 

And  is  not  this  the  language  of  wisdom  and  worthy  of  the  Father 
of  his  Country?  And  surely  any  thing  I  might  say  could  not  add 
to  the  weight  of  the  advice  of  him  whose  memory  will  be  cherished 
by  every  lover  of  free  institutions  to  the  latest  period  of  time. 

We  are,  and  if  we  would  preserve  our  free  institutions,  we  must 
continue  to  be  an  agricultural  nation.  Upon  this  rests  not  only  our 
happiness  and  prosperity,  but  the  perpetuity  of  our  free  institutions. 
And  if  we  would  exert  upon  the  old  world  that  influence  which  is 
desirable,  we  must  educate  and  elevate  our  population,  and  convince 
them  of  the  superiority  of  our  free  institutions  by  the  intelligence  of  our 
people,  and  show  them  that  where  the  cultivator  of  the  soil  is  the 
most  intelligent,  there  free  institutions  are  the  most  successful.  It 
is  an  ancient  but  sage  authority,  Xenophoiij  who  has  said,  "  agricul- 
ture is  the  nursing  mother  of  the  arts  ;  that  where  the  former  succeeds 
prosperously,  there  the  arts  will  thrive,  but  where  the  earth  is  uncul- 
tivated there  the  arts  are  destroyed." 

The  attention  of  the  civilized  world  is  directed  to  this  continent, 
and  every  advance  that  is  made  in  the  elevation  of  the  character  of 
our  citizens,  is  having  an  influence  that  tells  with  effect  upon  the 
languishing  and  almost  worn  out  systems  of  the  old  world. 

We  are  apt  to  imagine  that  we  are  a  very  great  people,  and  in 
many  respects  we  truly  are  so.  Yet  many  an  American  has  felt 
mortified  while  travelling  in  Europe,  to  find  his  country  often  men= 
tioned  in  terms  anything  but  flattering  to  his  pride.  But  in  one  res= 
pect  we  are  attracting  the  notice  of  the  leading  minds  in  Europe, 


42  [Senate 

The  improvements  we  are  making  in  agriculture  are  doing  much  to 
impress  upon  intelligent  men  there,  the  importance  of  our  country  and 
the  benefits  of  our  free  institutions.  Such  I  doubt  not  is  the  fact,  and  I 
am  confirmed  in  this  by  an  assurance  given  in  a  letter  from  a  distin- 
guished gentleman  in  England,  that  the  proceedings  of  our  own  Soci- 
ety, which  have  found  a  place  in  many  of  the  libraries  of  gentlemen 
there,  have  done  much  to  impress  upon  their  people  the  great  re- 
sources of  our  country,  and  the  favorable  results  of  our  free  and  un- 
tramelled  institutions. 

We  ought  to  feel  that  we  are  laboring  not  for  ourselves  only.  A 
world  is  before  us,  upon  whose  character  and  destiny,  we  are  to  exert 
an  influence  for  all  time  to  come.  If  we  but  elevate  the  character  of  our 
population,  advance  as  we  may,  by  the  aid  of  education  and  science, 
that  influence  will  be  such  as  will  lead  to  the  establishment  of  free 
insti  utions  every  where — and  for  which  many  of  the  oppressed  of  the 
of  the  old  world  are  eagerly  looking,  and  from  whom  it  is  fondly 
hoped  they  may  not  be  so  long  withheld  that  they  shall  die  without 
the  sight." 

When  the  President  concluded  his  address,  he  introduced  the 
President  elect,  who  briefly  returned  thanks  for  the  hono"  conferred 
upon  him  by  the  society  in  electing  him  their  President — an  honor  of 
which  the  highest  individual  in  the  country  might  well  be  proud. 

On  motion  of  Dr.  Lee,  of  Erie,  it  was  unanimously 

Resolved)  That  this  society  highly  appreciate  the  services  of  its  late 
President,  B.  P.  Johnson,  as  the  presiding  officer  of  said  society,  and 
that  he  has  its  thanks  for  the  highly  instructive  and  interesting  address, 
just  delivered  before  this  body,  and  that  he  be  requested  to  furnish  a 
copy  for  publication. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Stevens,  of  New-York, 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  society  be  given  to  the  officers  of 
the  society  whose  terms  expire  this  day,  for  the  able  and  faithful 
manner  in  which  they  have  performed  the  duties  of  their  offices  during 
the  past  year. 

On  motion  of  Judge  Cheever,  of  Saratoga, 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  ask  the  Legis- 
lature, on  behalf  of  this  society,  to  cause  to  be  prepared  by  the  State 
geologists,  or  others,  an  abridgment  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  the 


No.  105.]  .  43 

State,  which  shall  embrace  the  geological  map  and  sufficient  of  geology 
to  make  the  map  intelligible  to  the  common  reader,  and  shall  also  fully 
exhibit  the  connection  between  the  geology  and  agriculture  of  the 
State,  and  which  can  be  afforded  at  a  small  price. 

Messrs.  Lee,  Johnson  and  Beekman  were  appointed  the  committee 
under  the  above  resolution. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Allen,  of  Erie, 

Resolved,  That  the  society  view  the  proposed  effort  of  Messrs. 
Harmon  &  Lee,  to  establish  a  scientific  and  practical  school  of  agricul- 
ture in  the  county  of  Monroe,  with  approbation.  We  consider  its 
object  as  highly  beneficial  to  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  State, 
and  recommend  it  to  the  public  approbation  and  patronage. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Oneida, 

Resolved,  That  the  Institution  at  Aurora,  Cayuga  county,  under  the 
charge  of  C.  C.  Young  and  David  Thomas,  is  one  worthy  of  the 
attention  of  farmers,  combining  as  it  does,  scientific  with  practical 
agriculture. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Fuller,  of  Onondaga, 

Resolved,  That  we  recommend  to  the  attention  and  patronage  of 
the  public  the  Agricultural  School  of  Mr.  Wool  worth,  of  Cortland 
county. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Bloss,  of  Monroe  : 

Whereas  it  is  very  desirable  to  have  weekly  meetings  of  the  friends 
of  agriculture,  for  the  purpose  of  free  discussion,  therefore 

Resolved,  That  such  meetings  be  held  during  the  present  session  of 
the  Legislature,  and  that  the  Secretary  be  directed  to  apply  to  the  Hon. 
the  Assembly  for  leave  to  hold  meetings  in  this  chamber  every 
Thursday  evening. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Oneida, 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  society  be  most  cordially  tendered 
to  the  Hon.  the  Assembly  for  the  use  of  their  hall  lor  the  meetings  of 
the  society,  and  that  the  Secretary  communicate  this  resolution  to  the 
Speaker  of  the  House. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the 

PREMIUMS  AWARDED. 

On  Essays. 

On  the  importance  of  scientific  knowledge  in  prosecuting  agriculture  j 
to  John  J.  Thomas,  Macedon,  $100. 


44       ,  *   .  [Senate 

On  the  culture  and  manufacture  of  silk ;  to  H.  P.  Byram,  Brandenburg, 

Kentucky,  |10. 
On  the  potato  rot;  to  Andrew  Bush,  East  Coventry,  Pa.,  $20. 
On  irrigation ;  to  John  J.  Thomas,  f  20. 

On  Farms. 

1.  To  Geo.  Geddes,  Fairmount,  $50. 

2.  To  Wm.  Buel,  Rochester,  |30. 

■3.  To  Wm.  Garbutt,  Wheatland,  |20. 

Sets  of  Vols>  Transactions  to 

W.  P.  Capron,  Macedon,  Wayne  county  ; 
Jonathan  Tallcott,  2d5  Rome,  Oneida  county  ; 
Rufus  S.  Ransom,  Perry ville,  Madison  county  ; 
Daniel  Gates,  Sullivan,  Madison  county  ; 
N.  S.  Wright,  Vernon,  Oneida  county  ; 
Tyler  Fountain,  Peekskill. 

On  Winter  Wheat. 

1.  To  Edward  Rivenburg,  Vernon,  $15, 

3.  To  Stephen  B.  Dudley,  East  Bloomfield,  $10. 
3.  To  Abraham  Fairchild,  Arcadia,  2  vols  Trans. 

To  Samuel  Davison,  Greece,  a  discretionary   premium,    of  eight 
dollars  for  report  on  experiments  on  the  culture  of  wheat. 

Spring  Wheat, 

1.  To  Robert  Eells,  Westmoreland,  $15. 

2.  To  Erastus  Dayton,  Vernon,  $10. 

Barley. 

1.  To  Hiram  Mills,  Martinsburg,  $10, 

2.  To  N.  S.  Wright,  Vernon,  $5. 

3.  To  S.  B.  Dudley,  East  Bloomfield,  Vol.  Trans. 

Oats. 
1.  To  Elias  J.  Ayres,  Trumansburg,  $10. 

Indian  Corn. 
1.  To  Geo.  Vail,  Troy,  $15, 


No.  105.]  45 

Peas. 

1.  To  Thos.  Lane,  Marcy,  $10. 

3.  To  Wm.  French,  Canajoharie,  $5. 

Flax. 

1.  To.  E.  C.  Bliss,  Westfield,  $5. 

2.  To  Rufus  S.  Ransom,  Perryville,  Vol.  Trans. 

Carrots. 

1.  To  Wm.  Risley,  Fredonia,  $10. 

2.  To  Lucius  Warner,  Vernon,  $5. 

Mangel-Wurzel. 

1.  To  Charles  B.  Meek,  Canandaigua,  $10. 

2.  To  Lucius  Warner,  Vernon,  $5. 

3.  To  J.  F.  Osborn,  Port  Byron,  Vol.  Trans. 

Sugar  Beets. 

1.  To  S.  B.  Burchard,  Hamilton,  $10. 

3.  To  J.  F.  Osborn,  Port  Byron,  Vol.  Trans. 

Ruta-Bagas. 

1.  To  John  C.  Smedburg,  Prattsville,  $10. 
3.  To  C.  B.  Meek,  Canandaigua,  Vol.  Trans. 

Broom-Corn. 

There  was  but  one  application,  that  of  E.  C.  Bliss,  of  Westfield,  to 
whom  the  committee  awarded  a  copy  of  Colman's  Tour. 

The  proceedings  of  the  American  Institute  are  presented  with  this 
report.  It  will  be  seen  from  a  perusal  of  their  proceedings,  that  the 
course  of  this  valuable  association  is  such  as  fully  to  sustain  the  high 
character  it  has  heretofore  had.  No  former  exhibition  has  equalled  its 
last,  and  several  valuable  papers  are  furnished  for  the  Transactions. 
Respectfully  submitted, 

B.  P.  JOHNSON, 
Late  President  of  the  JV.  Y.  State  Agricultural  Society. 
Rome,  Feb.  4th,  1846. 


46  [Senate 

CORRESPONDING  SECRETARY'S  REPORT. 

The  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  New-York  State  Agricultural 
Society,  who  has  recently  fulfilled  his  engagement  with  its  Execu- 
tive Committee  to  give  public  lectures  on  the  science  and  the  prac- 
tice of  agriculture  for  two  months,  in  various  parts  of  the  State, 
respectfully  submits  the  following  Report : 

The  undersigned  has  faithfully  devoted  between  thirteen  and  four- 
teen weeks  to  the  discharge  of  the  duties  assigned  him  by  the  Execu- 
tive Board.  Agreeably  to  previous  notice,  public  lectures  have  been 
delivered  in  the  counties  of  Oneida,  Jefferson,  Chenango,  Cortland, 
Onondaga,  Tompkins,  Yates,  Tioga,  Washington,  Monroe,  Living- 
ston, Genesee,  Wyoming  and  Erie.  Several  other  counties  have 
been  visited,  and  no  reasonable  pains  have  been  spared  to  collect  and 
scatter  broad-cast  all  useful  information  pertaining  to  rural  pursuits  ^ 
It  is  proper  however  to  remark,  that  his  field  was  too  large  for  his 
limited  time,  to  allow  the  lecturer  to  do  full  justice  to  himself,  or  to 
the  great  farming  interests  of  the  State.  His  services,  although 
quite  limited  in  each  county,  were,  nevertheless,  everywhere  re- 
ceived wdth  expressions  of  warm  approbation  by  practical  farmers. 
It  is  an  auspicious  omen  to  see  this  class  of  men  taking  a  deeper 
interest  in  every  measure  calculated  to  improve  the  farming  lands 
of  New-York,  and  elevate  Rural  Labor  to  that  high  reward  and 
honor,  which  its  importance  ought  to  command.  The  wonder  of  the 
age  will  soon  be,  how  civilized,  thinking,  speaking  and  writing 
farmers  should  have  so  long  persisted  in  refusing  to  study  the  uni- 
form and  unerring  laws  of  Nature,  which  change  crude  earth,  air  and 
water,  into  bread,  milk,  meat,  wool  and  flax,  for  the  supply  of  our 
daily  food  and  clothing. 

If  plowing,  planting  and  hoeing  potatoes  would  produce  200  bush- 
els on  a  half  acre  that  had  just  enough  of  the  ingredients  that  form 
this  plant  to  make  50  bushels,  and  no  more,  it  might  be  a  waste  o 
time  to  learn  what  are  the  precise  things  which  the  germs  of  potatoes 
must  have,  to  form  the  additional  150  bushels.  A  moment's  reflec- 
tion will  satisfy  every  mind  that  not  a  single  tuber  can  be  formed  by 
any  amount  of  hard  work,  out  of  nothing.  Hence,  when  the  farmer 
has  used  up  the  small  quantity  of  the  mineral  elements  of  this  crop 
in  his  soil,  and  knows  not  what  these  elements  are,  how  can  he  apply 


No.  105.]  47 

the  proper  ingredients  for  building  up  these  living  beings  ;  and  how 
combine  each  ingredient  in  due  proportions'?  It  is  plain  that  no 
man  can  create  one  particle  of  matter  which  Nature  may  require  to 
form  one  potato.  So  far,  then,  as  the  supply  of  raw  material  shall 
be  deficient,  or  unavailable,  the  crop,  whatever  it  may  be,  will  be 
deficient  also.  The  lack  of  any  one  necessary  ingredient,  is  not  only 
fatal  to  all  increase  of  the  product,  but  an  excess  of  any  one  of  the 
many  substances  needed,  will  be  likely  to  prove  equally  destructive 
of  vegetable  life.  The  truth  of  this  remark  will  be  sufficiently  obvi- 
ous when  it  is  stated  that  nearly  all  cultivated  plants  contain,  as 
essential  constituents,  a  little  soda  and  chlorine,  or  common  salt. 
But  an  excess  of  common  salt  is  alike  fatal  to  all  plants  and  animals. 
Nearly  all  plants  contain  both  sulphur  and  iron.  But  an  excess  of 
copperas  (sulphate  of  iron)  is  fatal  to  all  living  things. 

To  obtain  large  crops  at  a  small  expense,  one  must  have,  not  only 
all  the  things  that  enter  into  the  organic  structure  of  the  plant,  but 
these  things  in  due  proportion.  Nor  is  this  all  that  is  required.  You 
may  have,  in  contact  with  the  roots  of  a  potato,  corn,  or  wheat 
plant,  just  the  mineral  substance — silica,  or  flint  sand  for  instance — 
which  it  most  needs,  and  if  it  be  quite  insoluble  in  water,  it  will  be 
utterly  useless ;  for  no  solid,  earthy  substance  can  enter  the  minute 
pores  of  root.s.  The  hard,  flinty  covering  on  reeds,  corn-stalks  and 
wheat  straw,  is  composed  essentially  of  the  same  minerals  that  form  a 
flint  tumbler.  But  the  latter,  if  broken  fine,  would  be  a  poor  fertilizer, 
because  pounded  glass  is  quite  insoluble.  Many  a  farmer  loses  half 
his  labor,  and  half  of  his  crops,  because  he  feeds  them  on  indigesti- 
ble and  unavailable  food. 

Nothing  interested  me  more  than  to  witness  the  zeal  and  earnest- 
ness with  which  many  good  tillers  of  the  earth  are  studying  the  best 
method  of  collecting,  preserving  and  using  the  food  of  plants.  Ma- 
nure has  long  been  regarded  as  the  farmer's  mine  of  wealth.  Still,  we 
all  have  much  to  learn  on  this  important  subject.  In  my  lectures,  I 
have  endeavored  to  discuss  it  in  the  most  common  language,  and 
intelligible  manner  possible.  The  aim  has  been  to  present  the  use- 
ful and  the  practical^  rather  than  the  theoretical  and  the  beautiful  in 
the  science  of  rural  economy.  The  following  may  be  taken  as  a 
sample  of  the  manner  in  which  the  subject  of  fertilizers  has  been 
treated. 


48  [Senate, 

A  poor  man,  or  a  rich  one,  feeds  to  his  cow  a  ton  of  timothy  hay 
during  the  winter,  and  is  careful  to  save  all  the  dung  and  liquid  excre- 
tions of  the  animal  made  from  her  food.  During  the  coming  summer 
he  wishes  to  transform  the  matter  that  existed  in  his  ton  of  hay  the 
year  before,  into  a  large  crop  of  potatoes,  at  the  least  possible  ex- 
pense. How  shall  he  use  his  manure?  What  aid  can  science  render 
him  in  changing  the  elements  contained  in  digested  timothy  hay,  into 
potatoes  1  It  can  render  him  such  assistance  as  will  give  him  three 
bushels,  on  the  same  land  and  with  an  equal  amount  of  labor  that 
would  yield  him  two,  without  a  knowledge  of  the  things  which  the 
potato  plant  rnust  have  for  its  full  and  healthy  development ;  and 
of  the  things  which  manure  formed  by  the  consumption  of  timothy 
hay  will  furnish.  Knowledge  of  this  kind  is  the  corner  stone  of  all 
agricultural  science,  and  of  successful  farming.  The  laws  of  matter 
and  of  vegetable  and  animal  life,  as  established  by  the  Creator,  are 
fixed,  uniform  and  unerring  in  their  operations.  It  is  the  duty,  and 
therefore  for  the  interest  of  thinking,  reasoning  man  to  find  out  these 
laws,  and  obey  them.  That  is,  to  make  his  hands  work  in  unison 
therewith,  and  never  in  opposition  thereto.  Practically,  it  can  be 
demonstrated  that,  by  adding  a  small  amount  of  minerals  to  those 
contained  in  a  ton  of  hay  in  the  form  of  manure,  several  additional 
tons  of  good  potatoes  can  be  grown  on  an  acre  of  land.  The  reason  of 
this  large  gain,  and  the  prolific  source  from  whence  the  matter — the 
ingredients  that  form  potatoes — is  derived,  should  be  well  understood 
by  every  one  that  cultivates  a  rood  of  ground. 

The  matter  which  makes  up  the  whole  weight  and  substance  of 
all  plants,  whether  growling  in  the  field,  forming  vegetable  mould  in 
the  soil,  or  lying  in  the  barn-yard  in  the  shape  of  manure,  is  divided 
into  two  classes.  One  class  is  incombustible,  like  wood  ashes,  and 
the  ashes,  or  minerals  found  in  all  plants.  This  portion  of  the  con- 
stituents of  vegetables  forms  what  are  called  their  inorganic  elements. 
The  quantity  of  these  inorganic  minerals  in  different  plants  is  very 
variable.  Some  contain  from  12  to  16  per  cent  of  their  weight  of 
these  incombustible,  earthy  substances.  Others  have  less  than  the 
half  of  one  per  cent  of  inorganic  constituents.  As  different  portions 
of  the  bodies  of  animals  have  unequal  quantities  of  bones,  or  earthy 
matter,  so  different  parts  of  the  same  plant  have  unequal  quantities 
of  the  minerals  that  form  ashes  when  the  plant  is  tried  by  fire. 


No.  105.]  49 

That  portion  of  vegetables  which  escapes  into  the  air  when  they 
are  burnt,  in  the  form  of  vapor  and  gas,  is  denominated  their  organic 
elements.  The  word  "organic"  is  used,  because  the  things  to 
which  it  is  applied,  form  the  tissues  of  the  roots,  stems,  leaves  and 
seeds  of  plants  as  well  as  their  starch,  sugar,  oil  and  gum.  These 
substances  abound  in  nature  in  a  disorganized  and  mineral  form,  in 
water,  air  and  in  combination  with  crystalized  and  uncrystalized 
rocky  masses  in  the  earth.  When  simple  and  separate,  they  are 
found  to  be  only  four  elementary  bodies,  called  carbon,  oxygen, 
hydrogen  and  nitrogen,  or  azote.  In  100  pounds  of  potatoes,  there  are 
99  pounds  of  these  elements,  of  water  and  air.  Of  the  99  pounds  of 
organic  matter  in  100  of  potatoes,  75  are  water,  which  can  be  expelled 
by  simply  drying  the  tubers,  eleven  and  three-quarter  pounds  are 
oxygen  and  hydrogen,  or  water  in  a  solid  form,  ten  and  three-quar- 
ter pounds  are  carbon,  and  one  and  a  half  pounds  nitrogen  or  azote. 

The  account  will  stand  thus  : 

In  100  lbs.  of  potatoes  there  are  of 

Water, 75  lbs. 

Carbon, 10  lbs.  and  12  oz. 

Oxygen  and  hydrogen, 11      do      12  do 

Nitrogen, 1      do        8  do 

Ash-rainerals, 1      do        0  do 

*Total, 100  0 

As  three-fourths  of  the  matter  in  a  potato  is  simple  water  ;  and  Hi 
pounds  of  the  other  25,  are  water  in  a  solid  form,  combined  with  car- 
bon to  make  starch  and  woody  fibre,  aad  with  both  carbon  and  nitro- 
gen to  form  the  other  organic  compounds  ;  and  as  water,  carbon  and 
nitrogen  exist  in  the  atmosphere,  and  fall  in  rain,  snow,  and  dew,  in 
vast  quanti  ties,  wemight  almost  infer  that  potatoes  may  be  raised  at 
a  very  small  expense,  if  we  only  knew  a  little  more  about  the  things 
that  unite  to  make  this  article  of  food,  and  the  laws  that  govern  their 
union.  Let  us  first  acquire  the  lacking  knowledge,  and  then  apply  it 
to  the  production  of  this  most  valuable  crop. 

Suppose  a  farmer  had  100  pounds  of  the  minerals  contained  in  the 
urine  and  dung  of  a  cow  while  feeding  on  timothy  hay ;  would  the 

*  Boussingault's  Rural  Economy,  p.  348. 
[Senate,  No.  105.]  4 


50  [Senate 

application  of  these  minerals  in  manure  to  the  hills  of  potatoes,  supply 
100  pounds  of  the  precise  minerals  which  potatoes  need,  to  form  10,000 
pounds  of  their  tubers  ?  No.  And  here  is  the  difficulty  that  meets  the 
practical  farmer,  who  despises  a  knowledge  of  the  things  that  make 
potatoes.  10,000  pounds  of  tubers  use,  in  growing,  only  100  pounds  of 
earthy  minerals  ;  hut  they  are  not  the  same  in  kind  and  proportion  that 
exist  in  timothy  hay.  In  100  pounds  of  the  ash  obtained  from  timothy 
there  is  but  15  pounds  of  potash  ;  while  in  an  equal  weight  of  potato 
ash  there  is5li  pounds  of  this  alkali.  Hence,  to  give  growing  potatoes 
51^  pounds  of  potash,  by  the  application  of  cow  dung  made  from  timo- 
thy hay  or  grass,  enough  must  be  used,  which  if  burnt  would  yield 
340  pounds  of  ashes — being  a  loss  of  240  pounds,  or  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  mineral  elements  in  the  dung,  to  say  nothing  of  the  needless 
waste  of  carbon  and  nitrogen,  or  of  the  organic  elements  of  timothy  and 
potatoes. 

Without  going  into  all  the  details  of  the  component  elements  in 
timothy,  clover  and  red-top  hay,  and  in  oat  straw,  and  corn  fodder, 
which  materially  affect  the  composition  of  stable  and  barn  yard 
manure,  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that,  by  placing  in  each  hill  of 
potatoes  a  little  unleached  ashes.,  ordinary  manure  will  produce  three 
•  times  more  potatoes  by  the  addition  of  this  little  available  potash,  than 
it  would  without  the  alkali.  On  most  soils,  the  addition  of  lime, 
plaster  and  common  salt,  as  well  as  ashes,  will  give  a  double  power  to 
any  manure  formed  of  hay  or  straw,  when  used  for  growing  potatoes. 
As  the  amount  of  these  earthy  fertilizers  in  potatoes,  whether  in  their 
stems,  leaves  or  roots,  is  not  large,  a  small  dose  applied  in  each  hill 
will  answer  the  purpose.  The  vital  importance  of  potash  and  soda, 
in  forming  vegetable  tissues,  woody  fibre,  albumen,  starch,  sugar,  oil 
and  gum,  is  quite  too  much  overlooked,  by  those  that  toil  hard  and 
long  to  transform  earth,  air  and  water,  into  these  organized  sub- 
stances. It  is  for  a  wise  and  indispensable  purpose  that  Nature  uses 
these  alkalies  in  plants.  Their  extreme  solubility  renders  them  very 
.prone  to  loss,  and  to  become  deficient  in  cultivated  fields. 

I  met  with  a  farmer  in  Genesee  county  who  had  raised  forty  bushels 
of  oats  on  an  acre,  which  he  had  just  sold  at  a  distant  village  to  pay  for 
a  plow  and  cultivator.  The  straw  he  had  retained  to  feed  to  his  young 
stock  during  the  coming  winter.  He  had  a  field  that  was  badly 
worn,  which  he  thought  would  grow,  without  manure, 20  bushels  of 
oats  per  acre.     He  desired  to  know  whether  all  the  oat  straw  that  pro- 


No.  105.]  m 

duced  the  40  bushels  of  oats,  in  the  form  of  manure,  would  make  20 
bushels  of  oats,  and  straw  enough  to  bear  them,  if  applied  to  his  poor 
field  1     The  question  is  eminently  a  practical  one : 

"  Will  the  matter  in  straw  that  yields  40  bushels  of  oats,  form  both 
the  st7'aw  and  the  seed  equal  to  20  bushels  per  acre  ?" 

As  plows  and  cultivators,  as  well  as  many  other  things,  must  be 
bought  and  paid  for  in  oats,  or  some  other  product  of  the  soil,  every 
fanner  should  know  what  substances  are  taken  from  each  field  in  the 
crop  harvested. 

To  answer  the  question  of  ray  Genesee  friend,  I  remarked  that  half 
of  the  minerals  in  his  straw,  (provided  he  lost  none  in  the  dung  and 
urine  of  his  domestic  animals,)  would  be  used  up  in  supplying  the  ma- 
terials for  straw  equal  to  the  production  of  20  bushels  of  oats.  This 
would  leave  about  two  pounds  of  straw  to  make  one  of  seed,  which 
must  fill  the  straw,  in  order  to  give  a  gain  of  20  bushels  per  acre  on 
his  poor  field.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  all  the  available  elements 
In  the  soil  which  enter  into  the  composition  of  this  plant,  are  consumed 
in  the  crop  of  20  bushels  per  acre;  so  that  the  gain  of  20  bushels  to 
make  40  per  acre,  must  all  be  acquired  by  artificial  means.  One  hun- 
dred pounds  of  oats  must  have  2fjf  pounds  of  azote  or  nitrogen.  It 
will  take  440  pounds  of  oat  straw  to  furnishthis  elementof  the  seed — the 
straw  having  only  the  half  of  one  per  cent,  of  nitrogen.  In  100  pounds 
of  the  ash  of  oats  there  is  34  ,^jj  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid.  In  a  like 
quantity  of  the  ash  of  oat  straw  there  is  but  3  pounds.  Without  the  addi- 
tion of  phosphoric  acid  in  some  form,  it  would  take  Jive  pounds  of  the 
minerals  in  oat  straw  to  form  one  of  the  minerals  contained  in  oats. 
Every  observing  farmer  knows  that  it  is  far  easier  to  produce  a  large 
growth  of  straw  than  a  great  yield  of  grain.  This  comes  from  a  lack 
of  knowledge  of  the  things  which  form  the  seeds  of  cereal  plants. 

Phosphorus  and  ammonia,  or  available  nitrogen  and  phosphoric  acid 
— the  things  wanting  in  oat  straw  to  make  the  seeds  of  this  plant — are 
not  very  cheap,  nor  abundant.  Guano  contains  more  of  them  than 
any  other  fertilizer  now  in  the  market.  Bones  also  abound  in  these 
elements.  Limestone  that  contains  the  remains  of  shells  and  animals, 
also  possesses  more  or  less  phosphoric  acid.  But  where  a  field  is  so 
badly  worn  that  it  will  not  bear  over  20  bushels  of  oats,  it  had  better 
be  seeded  with  clover,  and  limed,  salted,  plastered  and  ashed,  as  well 
as  manured,  to  a  moderate  extent.  This,  with  subsoil  plowing,  will 
-soon  bring  it  up,  while  the  crop  of  clover  will  pay  all  the  expenses. 


52  [Senate. 

Deep  plowing,  and  clover,  with  its  long  tap-roots,  and  numerous  leaves 
are  admirably  adapted  to  renovate  a  poor  soil. 

The  great  advantage  of  one  system  of  rotation  in  crops,  on  soils  of 
a  particular  character,  and  of  another  system  on  soils  that  contain  ele- 
ments better  adapted  to  the  growth  of  a  different  variety  of  cultivated 
plants,  have  been  pointed  out  in  these  lectures,  and  dwelt  upon  at 
considerable  length. 

In  most  of  the  wheat-growing  districts,  the  rotation  is  limited  to 
wheat  and  clover,  as  a  general  rule — ^two  seasons  in  clover  and  one  in 
wheat.  Sheep  and  horses  eat  most  of  the  clover.  In  soils  where  lime 
and  gypsum  do  not  abound,  they  are  applied,  in  greater  or  less  quanti- 
ties, to  suit  the  particular  case,  or  views  of  the  owner  of  the  land.  Mr. 
Elisha  Harmon,  of  Wheatland,  (a  large  and  excellent  farmer,)  has 
one  field  that  has  borne  a  good  crop  of  wheat  every  other  year,  for  15 
years,  without  any  diminution  of  the  biennial  yield.  The  alternating 
crop  is  clover.  Wheatland,  according  to  the  late  census,  yields  con- 
siderably more  wheat  per  acre,  than  any  other  town  in  the  State.  It 
is  nearly  covered  with  plaster  beds,  and  its  lime  rock  and  soil  abound 
in  organic  remains.  These  skeletons  contain  more  or  less  of  the  ele- 
ments necessary  to  form  new  plants  and  animals.  There  can  belit- 
tle doubt  that,  if  we  should  give  to  a  field  all  the  constituents  of  the 
crop  we  wished  to  grow,  in  a  soluble  form,  and  in  due  proportion, 
we  might  obtain  a  large  yield  every  year  of  any  plant.  Where  the 
elements  of  wheat  are  abundant,  it  is  believed  that  they  might  be 
organized  every  year  on  one  field,  as  well  as  every  second,  or  third 
year.  Whatever  ingredients  the  soil  and  atmosphere  will  not  sup- 
ply, must  of  course  be  furnished  by  artificial  means.  The  expense 
of  this  in  many  places  will  be  very  small,  while  the  crop  is  a  most 
valuable  one,  if  it  can  be  grown  on  a  large  scale.  The  wheat  annu- 
ally raised  in  this  State  is  worth  not  far  from  $1,200,000.  The  an- 
nual loss  from  rust  alone  is  at  least  one-tenth  of  that  sum.  The 
investigation  of  the  cause  and  nature  of  this  malady  has  long  engaged 
the  attention  of  the  writer. 

My  observations  satisfy  me  that  it  is  not  strictly  confined  to  any  va- 
riety of  soil,  or  particular  condition  of  the  atmosphere,  or  other  me- 
teoric influence.  Nevertheless,  the  condition  of  the  soil,  in  regard 
to  dampness^  an  excess  of  vegetable  mold,  and  lack  of  potash  and 
lime,  greatly  aggravates  the  evil.  During  the  period  for  rust  to 
attack  wheat  the  past  season,  I  examined  many  fields  in  Cortland^, 


No.  105.]  53 

Onondaga  and  Cayuga  counties.  I  was  particularly  struck  with  the 
severity  of  the  rust  in  the  valley  north  of  Homer,  through  the  town 
of  Preble,  and  a  part  of  Tully,  where  the  surface  is  geologically 
above  th-e  limestone  stratum  of  Onondaga — and  the  absence  of  rust, 
— and  the  bright  straw,  as  I  reached  the  strong  limestone  soils  in  the 
valley  of  the  Onondaga  creek.  The  change  was  so  sudden,  and 
marked,  that  one  could  hardly  avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  mineral 
composition  of  the  soil  had  much  to  do  with  the  development  of 
this  blighting  malady.  I  have  no  doubt,  that,  if  the  wheat  growers 
south  of  the  Onondaga  salt  group,  and  in  most  localities  on  this  group, 
(which  extends  from  Madison  county  to  the  Niagara  river,)  would 
-apply  lime,  salt  and  ashes  to  their  wheat  fields,  these  alkalies  would 
not  only  act  as  preventives  against  rust,  but  largely  increase  the 
-crop.  Mr.  S.  M,  Brown,  of  Elbridge,  President  of  the  Onondaga 
Agricultural  Society,  harvested  this  season  over  400  bushels  of 
wheat  that  weighed  65  lbs.  per  bushel,  on  eight  acres  of  land.  This 
crop  was  grown  on  a  clover  ley.  The  clover  had  been  limed  and 
plastered,  and  three  bushels  of  salt  per  acre  were  sown  at  the  time 
of  seeding.  Several  farmers  have  applied  to  their  wheat  fields  the 
compost  of  lime,  salt  and  muck  or  mold  recommended  by  the  under- 
signed in  his  last  report  on  agriculture  in  the  Legislature.  The  re- 
sult has  been  very  satisfactory.  The  following  is  the  explanation  of 
the  manner  in  which  this  compost  is  believed  to  prevent  rust,  and 
favor  the  growth  of  wheat. 

This  plant  contains  lime,  soda  and  chlorine.  Soda  and  chlorine 
■form  common  salt,  which,  like  the  salts  of  lime  and  potash,  are  quite 
soluble,  and  liable  to  be  washed  out  of  cultivated  soils.  The  frequent 
application,  in  small  doses,  of  these  constituents  of  wheat  to  wheat 
fields,  must  be  advantageous,  irrespective  of  rust.  It  is  believed 
that  the  production  of  a  bright,  hard  and  glassy  stem,  is  a  pretty  sure 
preventive  of  this  evil,  whether  it  be  a  disease  of  the  plant,  or  a 
parasite,  or  both.  We  infer  that  soluble  silica,  or  such  sand  as  forms 
glass,  has  much  to  do  in  making  a  bright  glassy  straw,  for  the  reason 
that  the  ashes  of  wheat  straw  yield  on  analysis  from  67  to  81  per 
cent  of  silica.  As  the  sand  in  the  soil  that  furnishes  this  silica  is 
quite  insoluble  unless  combined  chemically  with  potash,  or  soda,  or 
both,  we  see  the  great  value  of  salt  to  yield  soda,  and  of  wood  ashes 
to  yield  potash,  not  only  for  wheat,  but  for  all  grasses.  By  mixing 
salt  with  recently  slaked  lime,  in  the  proportion  of  two  parts  of  the 
Matter  to  one  of  the  former,  (which  should  be  moistened,  and  again. 


54  [Senate^ 

mixed  with  muck,  or  mold  equal  in  bulk  to  the  lime,)  the  chlorine 
in  the  salt  will  leave  the  sodium  or  soda  free,  and  unite  with  the  lime 
forming  a  soluble  salt  called  chloride  of  calcium.  Being  soluble, 
this  salt  will  supply  wheat  and  other  plants  with  whatever  lime  and 
chlorine  they  may  need.  In  one  hundred  pounds  of  common  salt 
there  are  forty  pounds  of  soda,  which  being  set  free  by  lime  in  a 
moist  soil,  or  compost,  will  combine  with  silica,  (silicic  acid,)  and 
and  form  a  soluble  salt  called  silicate  of  soda.  The  soluble  silicates 
of  soda  and  potash  are  partly  decomposed  in  the  stems  of  grasses,, 
leaving  insoluble  silicates.  Leached  ashes  obtained  from  plants  are 
made  up  in  a  good  degree  of  insoluble  silicates  of  potash,  soda,  lime 
and  iron,  with  a  little  carbonic,  sulphuric  and  phosphoric  acids. 
The  way  that  these  insoluble  leached  ashes  get  into  forest  trees,  and 
all  cultivated  plants,  should  be  studied  by  every  one  that  expects  tc 
live  and  prosper  by  raising  the  organized  fruits  of  the  earth.  It  is 
folly  to  throw  away  years  of  hard  muscular  toil,  by  working  against 
the  unbending  laws  of  nature. 

My  observations  in  Oneida,  Cayuga  and  Monroe  counties,  afford 
abundant  evidence  of  the  great  advantage  of  under  draining  in  pre- 
venting rust  in  wheat.  The  best  field  of  this  grain  that  I  saw  in  Oneida 
county  was  on  the  -farm  of  Mr.  Nathaniel  H,  Wright,  of  Vernon,, 
ft  was  nearly  free  from  rust,  although  Mr.  W.  assured  me  that  the 
ground  on  which  much  of  this  heavy  crop  of  wheat,  then  about  ripe, 
was  standing,  was  so  wet  and  miry  a  few  years  before  that  a  yoke 
of  oxen  could  not  be  driven  over  it..  By  under  drains  the  excess  of 
water  and  the  excess  of  mineral  and  vegetable  acids,  as  well  as  the 
excess  of  the  salts  of  iron,  alumine,  and  the  like,  were  removed  from 
the  soil.  In  Cayuga  county,  on  a  farm  adjoining  that  of  Mr.  Thomas,. 
in  Aurora,  I  saw  a  belt  of  wheat  some  two  or  three  rods  wide, 
through  a  field  nearly  free  from  rust,  while  on  either  side  the  grain 
was  nearly  black  with  this  disease.  On  inquiring  of  the  owner,  who 
was  cradling  his  grain,  I  was  told  that  an  under  drain  was  made 
through  the  field  where  there  was  so  little  rust. 

In  Scipio  and  several  other  towns  in  Cayuga  county,  the  wheat 
crop  suffered  very  severely  from  this  blight.  Thorough  draining  and 
liming,  wherever  resorted  to,  have  had  the  effect  to  abate,  if  not 
prevent  the  evil.  Land  thus  treated,  becomes  exceedingly  produc- 
tive of  corn,  oats,  hay,  and  all-  other  crops,  as  well  as  wheat.  In 
no  instance  have  J  found  a  farmer  that  was  dissatisfied  with  the  result 
of  the  time  and  money  expended  in  draining  his  land.     The  best 


No.  105.J  55 

crop  of  corn  I  found  in  Tioga  county  grew  on  reclaimed,  low  ground. 
As  there  are  millions  of  acres  of  cultivated  land  in  this  great  State, 
which  ought  to  be  drained,  I  have  endeavored  to  show,  in  my  public 
addresses,  why  it  is  that  standing  water  in  contact  with  the  roots  of 
all  cultivated  plants,  must  greatly  injure,  if  not  destroy  them.  It  is 
the  motion  of  the  atmosphere,  the  motion  of  rain  water  falling  from 
the  heavens,  and  passing  down  through  the  soil  about  their  roots, 
and  then  rising  up  again  through  the  soil  by  capillary  attraction, 
brought  into  play  by  the  heat  of  a  summer's  sun,  which  bring  all 
their  nourishment  in  contact  with  stationary  plants.  If  the  air  and 
water — the  only  moving  matter  around  a  plant — were  dead,  or  mo- 
tionless, how  could  this  living  being  grow  in  the  absence  of  all  new 
food,  and  buried  in  its  own  exuvial  It  is  well  to  know  that  no 
being,  whether  animal  or  vegetable,  can  long  survive,  and  breathe 
the  same  air,  and  drink  the  same  water  over  and  over  again.  The 
Creator  has  imparted  a  degree  of  mobility  to  the  atmosphere,  and 
made  it  subject  to  influences  that  secure  a  supply  of  fresh  air  almost 
momentarily  to  all  living  things.  The  circulation  of  water  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth  is  more  restricted. 

An  impervious  subsoil,  a  level  plain,  or  a  basin,  may  wholly  or 
partially  impede  the  circulation  of  this  important  liquid,  to  the  in- 
calculable injury  of  the  husbandman.  It  is  not  necessary  for  water 
to  pass  quickly  through  the  soil.  On  the  contrary,  a  retentive  soil 
is  alwajs  more  productive,  in  a  long  run,  than  a  very  open,  porous 
one.     Both  extremes,  however,  are  alike  to  be  avoided. 

The  same  reasons,  slightly  modified,  that  render  standing  water 
so  hurtful  to  cultivated  plants,  make  irrigation  with  running  water 
extremely  useful.  But  very  few  avail  themselves  of  the  constituents 
of  their  crops,  which  running  water  always  contains.  In  France, 
and  many  other  countries,  canals  have  been  dug,  r.nd  great  expense 
incurred  to  irrigate  large  tracts  of  cultivated  land.  On  every  portion 
of  dry  land  that  bears  vegetables,  water  that  falls  from  the  clouds, 
which  holds  carbonic  acid  in  solution,  can  not  run  far  on  the  surface 
of  the  ground,  or  into  the  soil  and  earth,  without  dissolving,  and 
taking  with  it  all  of  the  minerals  that  pass  with  water  into  the  roots 
and  circulation  of  plants,  to  form  their  ashes  or  earthy  matter.  Hence 
spring,  brook  and  river  water  are  never  quite  free  of  earthy  sub- 
stances, held  in  solution.  The  judicious  application  of  running 
water  is  one  of  the  cheapest  means  of  enriching  land.     It  should  be 


56  [Senate 

borne  in  mind  that  quite  independently  of  the  mineral  constituents 
of  plants,  furnished  by  running  water,  all  starch,  sugar,  gum  and 
oil — the  cream  of  agricultural  products — are  nothing  but  pure  water 
and  carbon.  Remember  that  all  plants  are  stationary  beings,  and 
however  thirsty,  or  hungry  they  may  be,  they  are  unable  to  move  one 
step  toward  theirfo  od. 

How  richly  do  they  repay  the  skilful  cultivator,  who  studies  all  their 
wants,  and  timely  supplies  them?  There  is  no  economy  in  starving 
one's  plants,  or  domestic  animals.  No  man  should  attempt  to  cultivate 
more  surface  than  he  can  do  full  justice  to ;  nor  to  keep  more  stock 
than  his  supply  of  food  will  maintain  in  good  condition.  To  increase 
the  food  of  plants  and  animals,  it  is  the  practice  of  good  farmers  in 
the  several  counties  which  I  visited,  to  plow  deep,  and  pulverize 
the  soil  most  thoroughly.     This  practice  has  many  advantages  : 

First.  It  enables  the  roots  to  extend  themselves  freely  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  thus  present  a  double  and  treble  surface  to  the  surrounding 
earth,  water  and  air,  to  imbibe  nourishment.  This  is  garden  culture, 
and  depend  upon  it,  the  gain  to  the  growing  crop  is  very  great. 

Secondly,  It  seems  to  drain  the  surface  of  the  earth  of  all  excess  of 
moisture,  the  evaporation  of  which  renders  it  cold,  compact,  and 
unproductive. 

Thirdly.  Deep  plowing  brings  up  to  the  mellowing  and  decom- 
posing influence  of  light,  heat  and  frost ;  and  to  the  action  of  at- 
mospheric agencies,  like  oxygen  and  carbonic  acid,  the  most  valuable 
mineral  elements  of  all  crops.  It  is  by  this  means  that  plowing  at 
all  is  of  any  service.  What  changes mi]\e.  composition  and  proper- 
ties of  the  earth,  so  far  as  the  plow  extends,  do  we  seek  to  attain  1 
Is  there  any  reason  why  a  soil  should  be  mellow  six  inches,  and  per- 
mit the  air  to  circulate  freely  at  that  depth,  that  will  not  apply  to  the 
depth  of  twelve  or  fifteen  inches  1 

The  leaching  of  the  surface  soil,  by  long  culture  conveys  much  of 
its  fertilizing  elements  to  the  retentive  subsoil  below.  The  latter 
should  be  broken  up  and  mellowed,  if  not  brought  to  the  surface. 
A  subsoil  plow  without  a  mold  board  does  this.  Great  improvements 
have  been  made  within  a  few  years  in  the  art  of  cultivation.  To 
this  is  now  to  be  added  all  the  advantages  of  modern  science.  No 
one  can  now  pretend  to  say  what  benefits  a  diligent  search  into  the 
laws  and  secrets  of  nature,  may  not  confer  on  the  human  family. 
A  beet  seed  weighs  half  a  grain.     A  good  sized  beet  weighs  fifteen 


No.  105.]  57 

pounds.     This  prodigious  gain  of  one  hundred  thousand  times  the 
weight  of  the  seed  in  a  few  months,  is  a  process  too  simple  not  to 
be  well  understood  by  every  intelligent  person.     Only  a  few  simple 
substances  combine  to  form  all  the  products  of  rural  industry.     The 
fecundity  of  living  germs  is  truly  wonderful.     It  is  possible  for  a 
single  kernel  of  wheat  to  produce  a  thousand  kernels.     Who  dare 
say  that  what  is  possible  now,  with  our  little  knowledge  of  the  ope- 
rations of  nature,  may  not  soon  be  practicable  on  a  larger  scale  by 
the  aid  of  ever  increasing  science  ?     Look  at  the  recent  improvements 
in  the  mechanical  arts  1     Fulton  believed  it  possible  to  make  steam 
drive  a  vessel.     Now,  it  is  quite  practicable  to  compel  this  mighty 
power  to  force  the  largest  ships  against  both  wind  and  tide  across  the 
wide  ocean.     How  speedily  was  the  possible  with  a  locomotive  de- 
monstrated by  science  to  he  practicable?     We  are  slow  to  admit  the 
possible  in  farming  operations,  and  still  more  reluctant  to  concede 
the  practicable.     But  the  triumph  of  truth  and  reason  is  certain  at 
last.     The  State  of  New-York,  with  all  its  intelligence,  enterprize 
and  wealth,  should  be  cultivated  like  a  garden.     The  present  average 
yield  of  wheat  does  not  exceed  fourteen  bushels  per  acre.     Who  will 
say  that  this  may  not  be  doubled  ?     The  average  yield  of  corn  is 
twenty-six  bushels.     These  figures  are  taken  from  the  official  returns 
of  the  recent  census  in  several  good  counties.     If  it  is  any  object  to 
grow  twenty-six  bushels  of  corn  per  acre,  would  it  not  be  vastly 
KQore  profitable  to  raise  an  average  of  52  bushels  per  acre  ? 

The  conviction  that  great  improvement  is  attainable,  is  slowly  ex- 
tending through  the  whole  community.  This  confidence  in  their 
ability  to  improve  any  given  practice,  must  precede  all  earnest  efforts 
to  consummate  such  improvement.  Where  the  human  mind  assumes 
to  be  perfect  in  any  branch  of  knowledge,  it  must  be  by  accident  if 
it  makes  any  farther  progress  in  that  department  of  its  acquirements. 

The  annual  exhibitions  of  our  State  and  county  agricultural  fairs, 
are  admirably  calculated  to  give  ocular  demonstration  that  better 
animals  and  better  crops  than  we  are  generally  in  the  habit  of  rais- 
ing can  be  grown.  Nor  will  the  additional  expense  of  raising  28 
bushels  of  wheat  per  acre,  instead  of  14  ;  or  6  pounds  of  wool  per  fleece 
instead  of  3  pounds  bear  any  proportion  to  the  grain  inthe  product.  The 
most  successful  wool  growers,  and  those  of  the  largest  experience 
that  I  have  met  with  in  the  State,  express  full  confidence  in  their 


58  [Senate 

ability  so  to  improve  their  flocks,  as  to  clip  twice  the  value  in  wool 
from  them,  according  to  the  quantity  of  food  consumed,  that  is  now 
obtained  from  a  fair  average  of  the  flocks  in  the  country.  Indeed, 
I  saw  sheep  and  their  fleeces  in  Oneida,  Cortland,  Onondaga, 
Cayuga  and  Monroe  counties  ,  which  give  a  larger  money  return  for 
their  keep  than  I  had  supposed  was  realized  by  any  farmers  in  New- 
York.  As  these  flocks  are  well  known  in  their  respective  counties, 
and  some  of  them  throughout  the  State  ;  and  as  a  particular  account 
of  their  excellence  will  reach  the  State  Society,  through  the  reports 
of  the  county  societies,  I  need  not  particularize  concerning  them, 
I  am  confident,  however,  that  the  farmer  who  understands  turn- 
ing his  labor  into  grass,  oats,  peas,  beans,  potatoes  and  turnips,  to 
good  advantage,  and  the  art  of  transforming  these  vegetables  into 
wool,  and  mutton  in  the  most  economical  manner,  can  be  well  paid 
for  his  skill  and  industry  in  almost  any  town  in  the  State. 

We  read  in  the  Bible  that  "Abel  was  a  keeper  of  sheep."  Of  all  liv- 
ing apparatus  which  produces  food  and  clothing  for  man,  that  apparatus 
which  changes  grass  and  briers  into  wool,  tallow  and  flesh,  is  doubt- 
less the  most  valuable.  A  knowledge  of  this  machinery,  and  of  the 
laws  that  govern  its  every  motion,  is  of  the  highest  importance.  It 
will  enable  the  v/ool  grower  to  double  his  profits.  Several  lectures 
have  been  given  on  this  branch  of  rural  industry,  by  particular 
request. 

The  Dairy  Business  has  been  greatly  extended,  systematized  and 
improved  in  New-York  within  the  last  few  years,  something  of  this 
increase  may  be  inferred,  particularly  in  western  New-York,  when 
I  state  that,  according  to  the  late  census,  in  a  single  town  in  Erie 
count}'^,  (Collins)  there  are  milked  this  season,  no  fewer  than  3,799 
cows  ;  from  whose  milk  there  was  made  227,082  pounds  of  butter,  and 
453,960pounds  of  cheese.  Itis  believed  that  no  other  town  in  the  State 
can  show  so  large  a  number  of  cows,  or  an  equal  product  in  butter  and 
cheese.* 

Four  hundred  and  fifty-four  thousand  pounds  of  cheese  to  be  manu- 
factured in  a  single  town,  and  especially  in  one  that  makes  over  two 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  thousand  pounds  of  butter,  is  no  "com- 
mon doings." 

*Since  the  above  was  written  I  have  seen  the  returns  of  Herkimer  county,  and  find 
that  the  town  of  Fairfield,  turns  out  the  astonishing  quantity  of  1,355,967  lbs.  of 
cheese. 


No.  105.]  59 

In  the  town  of  Hamburgh,  which  is  also  in  Erie  county,  there  are 
milked  2,698  cows,  from  which  are  made  181,068  pounds  of  butter ', 
and  157,845  pounds  of  cheese.  There  are  several  other  towns  in  Erie, 
and  a  number  in  Chautauque  and  Cattaraugus  counties,  where  the 
dairy  business  is  carried  on  to  a  large  extent,  and  with  good  profits. 
The  counties  of  Herkimer,  Oneida,  Chenango,  Broome,  Lewis  and 
Jefferson,  in  the  central  part  of  the  State,  not  to  name  Orange, 
Otsego,  Delaware  and  St.  Lawrence,  which  I  have  not  visited,  have 
Ions  been  noted  for  their  excellent  dairies. 

Care  in  breeding  and  keeping  cows,  with  crosses  from  the  finest 
imported  animals,  has  given  to  the  dairymen  of  this  State,  thousands 
of  milkers,  which  with  the  same  quantity  and  quality  of  food,  cannot 
be  beaten  the  world  over.  There  may  be,  and  doubtless  are  many 
larger  cows,  and  those  that  give  more  milk,  and  make  more  butter 
and  cheese  per  head  ;  but  it  will  be  found  that  the  increase  of  food 
equals,  if  it  does  not  exceed  the  increase  of  milk  and  butter. 

The  quality  and  flavor  of  milk  have  been  much  improved  by  drain- 
ing wet  pastures^  and  sowing  thereon  lime,  ashes  and  bone  dust. 
The  effect  of  these  fertilizers  has  been  to  sweeten  the  soil,  and 
greatly  improve  the  grasses  that  grow  on  the  same.  Rich  and  finely 
flavored  butter  and  cheese,  must  not  be  expected,  unless  the  food  of 
the  cow  is  highly  charged  with  the  aromuj  or  essential  oil,  peculiar 
to  superb  butter. 

Close  observation  and  the  deductions  of  science,  alike  indicate  the 
importance  of  having  the  soil  free  of  an  excess  of  moisture,  and  to 
contain  a  full  supply  of  alkalies  and  phosphates  to  grow  plants  that 
abound  in  oil,  sugar,  starch,  gum  and  caseum  or  cheese.  Corn  scat- 
tered broadcast  at  the  rate  of  four  bushels  per  acre,  and  cured  like 
oats,  is  beginning  to  be  used  as  fall  and  winter  food  for  milch  cows, 
with  signal  success.  In  the  best  dairies,  cows  are  housed  much  of 
the  time,  in  clean,  warm,  and  well  ventilated  stables  in  cold  weather. 
Near  cities  where  the  milk  is  more  valuable,  and  land  higher  in  price, 
soiling  is  beginning  to  be  practised,  and  is  found  to  answer  a  good 
purpose.  By  carefully  saving  the  manure  of  the  cows,  and  diluting 
it,  (both  dung  and  urine)  with  four  times  its  bulk  of  water,  and 
watering  the  field  from  whence  the  food  was  taken,  with  this  liquid, 
a  prodigious  increase  of  vegetation  has  been  obtained.  This  system 
literally  replaces  in  a  soluble  form,  to  the  roots  of  grass,  the  very 


60  [Senate 

things  which  the  scythe  and  the  mower  had  taken  away.  In  the 
neighborhood  of  Rochester,  it  is  found  to  be  good  economy  to  keep 
a  cow  on  an  acre  of  ground  the  year  round.  I  expect  to  witness  far 
greater  improvements  in  the  production  of  suitable  vegetables,  and 
in  changing  them  into  milk  that  abounds  in  butter  and  cheese,  than 
in  the  extraction  of  whatever  butter  and  cheese  good  or  poor  milk 
may  contain.  Without  good  milk,  and  a  plenty  of  it,  the  hopes  of 
the  dairyman  must  be  small,  whatever  his  skill  in  separating  whey 
from  curd,  and  butter  milk  from  butter. 

In  connection  with  the  dairy  business,  there  are  some  farmers  who 
contrive  to  make  a  good  deal  of  pork,  and  at  a  cheap  rate.  One  of 
the  best  establishments  of  the  kind  which  I  have  seen,  is  that  of  Mr. 
Moses  Ames,  of  Rutland,  Jefferson  county.  His  is  a  cheese  dairy. 
The  whey  and  other  slop  is  conveyed  in  pump-logs  under  ground 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  rods  into  a  large  vat,  adjoining  an  apparatus 
for  cooking  potatoes,  peas,  barley  and  other  food  for  swine.  These 
articles  are  thoroughly  mixed  with  the  whey  before  they  are  fed.  By 
means  of  the  pump-logs  and  a  declivity,  the  pi^^^w  with  its  offensive 
odor  is  far  removed  from  the  milk-house  and  dwelling,  without  the 
great  labor  of  carrying  slops.  By  judiciously  mixing  potatoes  with 
more  concentrated  and  hearty  food,  as  well  as  by  cooking  them,  Mr. 
A.  is  able  to  use  all  the  elements  of  pork  given  to  his  pigs  to  the 
very  best  advantage.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  Mr.  A.  has  a  well 
filled  agricultural  library  ;  and  makes  money  by  scientific  book  farm- 
ing. Indeed,  Jefferson  county  contains  many  excellent  and  thorough 
tillers  of  the  soil,  who  have  maintained  their  County  Agricultural 
Society  since  its  first  organization  in  1818 ;  and  have  a  large  and 
commodious  hall  erected  at  a  considerable  expense  for  agricultural 
meetings,  and  the  display  of  domestic  manufactures  at  their  annual 
fairs.  I  was  agreeably  disappointed  to  witness  the  great  wheat 
growing  capabilities  of  the  Black  River  valley.  Its  lime  stone  strata 
abound  in  organic  remains,  which  in  one  locality — near  Copenhagen, 
in  Lewis  county — are  500  feet  in  thickness,  as  they  are  exposed  from 
the  bottom  of  a  deep  gulf,  to  the  level  of  the  upper  stratum.  I  have 
seen  no  where  else  so  handsome  wheat  as  was  exhibited  at  the  fair 
in  Watertovvn,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  abundance  of  the  re- 
mains of  marine  animals  in  the  rocks  that  form  the  soil,  have  a  direct 
bearing  on  its  production  of  this  flesh-forming  plant. 

The  study  of  agricultural  geology  will  enable  practical  farmers  to 


No.  105.]  61 

understand  the  composition  of  their  soils,  and  the  best  means  of  in- 
creasing their  productiveness.  Since  the  volumes  on  the  Geology 
and  Natural  History  of  New-York  have  been  distributed,  together 
with  some  2,500  Geological  Maps  of  the  State,  this  most  useful  study 
can  be  pursued  with  greater  success  than  ever  before.  The  present 
time  is  regarded  by  the  undersigned  as  most  auspicious  for  extending 
a  knowledge  of  the  science  of  agriculture  very  generally  among  our 
rural  population.  Public  sentiment  is  rife  for  the  good  work.  The 
following  resolutions  adopted  unanimously  by  a  meeting  of  the  farm- 
ers of  Chenango  county,  held  in  the  village  of  Oxford,  on  the  16th 
of  July,  at  which  the  Hon.  John  Tracy  presided,  may  be  taken  as 
a  fair  specimen  of  the  views  of  the  public  generally,  in  regard  to 
Legislative  aid  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture,  and  the  efforts  of  the 
New-York  State  Agricultural  Society  to  advance  the  same  noble  ob- 
ject : — 

"  Resolved,  That  we  heartily  approve  of  the  recent  movements  of 
our  Legislature  in  favor  of  agriculture — deeming  it  the  true  policy  of 
enlightened  rulers  to  cherish  and  diffuse  among  the  people,  all  dis- 
coveries and  improvements  tending  to  the  advancement  of  tillage  and 
farming.  Especially  do  we  sanction  and  approve  the  efforts  now 
making  by  the  State  Agricultural  Society  to  benefit  the  tillers  of  the 
soil,  and  improve  the  condition  of  our  agricultural  interests. 

Resolved,  That  the  science  of  agriculture,  in  its  modern  and  im- 
proved state,  merits  the  farther  patronage  of  the  Legislature ;  that  a 
school  or  institution,  for  imparting  to  the  people  the  knowledge  of 
this  science,  and  rendering  it  particularly  useful,  should  be  establish- 
ed under  the  auspices  of  the  State  authorities :  and  also  that  by  text 
books,  or  in  some  appropriate  mode,  it  should  constitute  a  part  of 
the  learning  taught  in  our  Colleges,  Academies  and  Schools. 

Resolved,  That  this  meeting  appreciate  highly  the  learned  and  elo- 
quent lecture  just  listened  to,  and  that  the  thanks  of  the  meeting  be 
given  to  Dr.  Daniel  Lee,  who  delivered  the  same." 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  by  a  meeting  of  the  farm- 
ers of  Cortland  county : 

"  On  motion  of  H.  S.  Randall,  it  was  unanimously 

Resolved,  That  we  highly  approve  of  the  course  of  the  New- York 
State  Agricultural  Society  in  employing  a  lecturer  to  arouse  the 
attention  of  the  farmers  of  this  State  to  the  subject  of  agricultural  im- 
provement ;  and  to  communicate  to  them  the  recent  important  dis- 


62  [Senate 

coveries  which  have  been  made  in  their  art,  by  means  of  agricultural 
chemistry. 

On  motion  of  Dr.  John  Miller,  of  Truxton, 

Resolved,  That  the  interests  of  the  agricultural  population  of  the 
State  demand  the  establishment  of  a  State  Agricultural  School  with 
a  pattern  farm  ;  and  that  our  next  members  of  the  Legislature  be  re- 
quested to  urge  the  passage  of  such  a  law. 

On  motion  of  P.  Barber,  Esq. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  farmers  of  Cortland  county  be 
tendered  to  Dr.  Lee,  for  his  able,  interesting,  and  highly  instructive 
address." 

It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  multiply  in  this  report  resolutions  of 
the  same  import  with  those  copied  above.  They  are  only  fair  speci- 
mens of  the  kindness,  and  flattering  manner  with  which  the  humble 
but  earnest  efforts  of  the  undersigned  were  every  where  received. 
He  is  under  great  obligations  to  many  gentlemen  for  their  assistance 
in  aiding  him  to  carry  out  the  important  objects  of  his  mission,  for 
which  they  have  his  thanks. 

My  experience  teaches  me  that  any  well  matured  scheme  for  ad- 
vancing the  agriculture  of  New-York,  will  be  most  cordially  sustain- 
ed, not  only  by  farmers,  but  by  intelligent  men  of  all  pursuits.  I 
have  found  the  prinicpals  and  trustees  of  academies,  and  "  teacher's 
institutes,"  particularly  desirous  of  introducing  the  study  of  agricul- 
tural chemistry,  and  its  kindred  sciences,  into  their  respective  semi- 
naries of  learning.  In  addition  to  this,  all  concede  the  importance 
of  having  a  State  agricultural  school  and  pattern  farm,  where  the 
most  thorough  researches  of  science  can  be  prosecuted,  in  connection 
with  equally  thorough  practice  in  all  ordinary  branches  of  farming. 
Science  alone  will  not  answer  the  purpose.  The  education  of  the 
hands  must  accompany  the  instruction  of  the  ruling  mind.  There  are 
many  good,  and  satisfactory  reasons,  why  we  should  endeavor  to 
unite  the  highest  attainable  knowledge  of  the  unerring  laws  of  nature 
with  the  agricultural  labor  of  this  truly  Empire  State.  The  number 
of  laborers  constantly  employed  in  cultivating  its  varied  soil,  is  about 
five  hundred  thousand.  Not  over  one-tenth  of  these,  or  fifty  thou- 
sand ever  see  an  agricultural  book,  or  journal  of  any  kind  ;  leaving 
four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  where  they  should  not  be  left. 

A  few  men  of  good  common  address,  as  well  as  good  practical  and 
scientific  farmers,  acting  as  missionaries  from  the  State  and  county 


No.  105.]  63 

societies,  might  render  the  public  an  essentia]  service  by  visiting  all 
the  sequestered  rural  districts  in  the  State,  and  giving  lectures  free  to 
all.  By  this  means  they  could  collect  and  impart  a  great  deal  of 
truly  useful  information. 

Every  person  in  the  State  is  interested  in  having  the  soil  improved, 
and  made  more  valuable  and  productive.  All  are  injured  when  the 
soil  is  exhausted  by  bad  culture,  and  a  large  number  of  our  rural 
population  emigrate  to  other  States  and  territories. 

If  our  agricultural  papers  and  volumes  of  transactions  are  worth 
any  thing,  surely  more  than  one  farmer  in  fen  should  take  and  read 
them.  On  the  contrary,  if  the  experience  of  the  most  successful  hus- 
bandmen in  the  country  is  valueless,  simply  because  it  is  printed  in 
a  legible  form  on  paper,  then  no  practical  tiller  of  the  earth  should 
read  the  experience  of  others  engaged  in  the  same  pursuit  with  him- 
self. 

The  human  family  have  been  brought  to  their  present  condition  in 
knowledge,  civilization  and  the  arts,  by  practising  a  system  of  mutual 
instruction.  The  observation  and  experience  of  no  one  man  alone, 
in  the  w^orld,  can  make  him  wise  in  any  branch  of  human  knowledge. 
Hence  it  is,  that  the  wisest  men  are  those  who  take  the  most  pains 
not  only  to  learn  from  their  own  personal  investigations,  but  from  the 
researches,  experience,  and  thoughts  of  all  pursuing  similar  occupa- 
tions. If  any  object  to  the  plans  now  in  use,  for  diffusing  agricultu- 
ral information,  let  them  lose  no  time  in  bringing  forward  better  ones 
for  the  adoption  of  all. 

The  field  is  large  enough  for  every  one  to  exercise  his  utmost  skill 
at  "  making  two  blades  of  grass  to  grow  where  only  one  grew  before." 
The  little  which  has  already  been  accomplished  by  the  friends  of 
improvement,  in  that  regard,  is  most  valuable,  because  it  demon- 
strates the  practicability  of  doubling  the  agricultural  products  of  New- 
York.  This  is  but  a  money  view  of  the  subject.  The  general  im- 
provement of  the  soil,  domestic  animals,  and  fruits  of  the  State,  im- 
plies, W'hat  is  of  infinitely  more  importance,  the  intellectual  and 
moral  improvement  of  more  than  half  of  the  whole  population  of 
the  commonweath.  The  study  of  the  science  of  rural  economy  by 
the  rising  generation,  is  eminently  calculated  to  make  them  better,  as 
well  as  wiser  citizens  of  this  republic. 

All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

DANIEL  LEE. 


64  [Senate, 

MR.  KINNE'S  REPORT  ON  AGRICULTURE. 

The  following  report  from  the  committee  on  agriculture,  to  whom 
was  referred  so  much  of  the  Governor's  Message  as  relates  to  that 
subject,  was  submitted  to  the  Assembly  by  Mr.  Kinne,  on  the  16th 
March,  1846  : 

The  committee  concur  in  the  suggestions  of  his  Excellency,  that  there 
is  no  necessity  for  further  legislation  on  the  subject  of  the  State 
Agricultural  Society  at  the  present  session.  Your  committee  are  also 
happy  to  agree  with  the  Governor  in  his  approval  of  the  beneficial 
effects  which  flow  from  the  operations  of  this  society. 

More  than  half  of  the  county  societies  have  reported  to  the  State 
society,  and  they  are  nearly  unanimous  in  their  declarations  of  the 
growing  interest  that  is  felt  for  the  welfare  of  the  agriculture  of  the 
State.  They  all  concur  in  recommending  the  State  society  to  the 
favorable  notice  of  the  Legislature — believing  as  they  do  that  a  great 
improvement  has  taken  place  in  the  practice  of  husbandry  generally, 
in  the  breeding  of  cattle  and  in  the  production  of  butter  and  cheese. 

Your  committee  would  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to  the  fact 
that  the  Fairs  of  the  State  society  have  always  been  well  attended — 
an  indubitable  evidence  that  the  community  at  large  feel  deeply  upon 
this  subject.  At  the  commencement  of  these  fairs,  much  of  the 
excitement,  no  doubt,  grew  out  of  the  novelty  of  the  undertaking — for  it 
was  indeed  a  novel  as  well  as  a  bold  and  hazardous  undertaking — one 
however,  that  speaks  well  for  the  moral  courage  and  wise  liberality, 
both  of  the  Legislature  and  the  individuals  whose  enterprize  projected 
and  carried  the  project  into  successful  operation. 

At  this  period  of  time,  after  five  annual  fairs  have  been  held,  some- 
thing else  than  mere  curiosity  marks  the  character  of  the  public  conduct 
in  this  matter.  The  number  of  premiums  awarded  are  annually 
increased,  and  yet  the  number  of  competitors  are  annually  increasing, 
a  result  which  evinces  the  ambition  that  is  widely  diffused,  to  obtain 
these  much  coveted  awards  of  the  society. 

Your  committee  are  much  pleased  to  learn  that  in  a  vast  majority 
of  cases  the  successful  competitors  are  desirous  of  exchanging  their 
cash  premiums  for  the  diploma  of  the  society,  or  which  is  still  better, 
for  the  copies  of  the  transactions  of  the  society,  a  striking  fact  which 
shows  that  the  competition  has  resulted  not  from  mere  sordid  motives, 
but  from  higher  and  more  laudable  desires. 


No.  105.  J  65 

Your  committee  are  pleased  to  observe  that  the  number  of  the 
counties  forming  agricultural  associations  are  regularly  on  the 
increase.  It  was  confidently  predicted  by  those  cautious  persons  who 
looked  with  a  jealous  eye  upon  the  appropriation  by  the  Legislature 
of  so  large  an  annual  amount  to  the  different  county  societies,  that  the 
interest  felt  upon  their  organization  would  rapidly  decline.  Upon 
looking  over  the  annual  reports,  your  committee  are  pleased  to  find 
that  while  those  first  embarked  in  the  cause  are  unanimous  in  their 
declaration  of  a  constantly  growing  interest  in  their  several  counties, 
those  who  have  but  recently  commenced,  express  their  regret  that  they 
had  not  earlier  ventured  to  follow  the  example  which  had  been  set  by 
the  State  society,  and  they  are  now  convinced  from  experience  that  no 
measure  has  been  more  wise  or  more  useful  than  that  which  led  to  the 
organization  of  the  county  societies. 

Both  the  State  and  county  societies  are  of  the  opinion  that  the 
experiment  was  well  worthy  of  trial,  if  it  were  only  from  the  good  that 
has  resulted  from  the  rapid  diffusion  of  the  improved  implements  of 
husbandry.  At  each  annual  fair,  whether  of  the  State  or  county,  the 
number  of  improved  implements  of  husbandry  sold  to  the  farmers  is 
regularly  and  vastly  increased. 

A  similar  result  has  flowed  from  the  sale  of  improved  stock.  And 
it  is  confidently  predicted  by  some  of  the  officers  of  the  State  society, 
that  a  few,  very  few,  years  will  elapse,  before  correct  notions  are 
formed  upon  this  subject,  and  an  improvement  will  have  taken  place 
that  has  never  been  anticipated. 

It  is  a  matter  of  importance,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  that 
the  agricultural  societies  should  diffuse  sound  practical  information 
amongst  a  class  of  men  who  are  as  solicitous  of  obtaining  correct 
views  on  subjects  which  deeply  interest  them,  as  are  intelligent 
and  confiding  farmers.  Your  committee  are  happy  to  say,  that  the 
character  of  the  transactions  is,  upon  the  whole,  eminently  practical, 
and  well  calculated  to  diffuse  sound  information. 

The  State  society,  and  many  of  the  county  societies,  have  either 
formed  farmer's  clubs,  or  organized  agricultural  meetings  in  connection 
with  themselves.  Your  committee  have  had  an  opportunity  of  witness- 
ing the  proceedings  of  those  meetings,  which  have  been  held  in  the 
Assembly  chamber  by  the  State  society;  and  they  feel  constrained 
to  say  that  the  nature  of  the  subjects  discussed,  and  the  mode  of 
discussion  cannot  fail  to  develope  a  vast  amount  of  valuable  informa- 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  5 


66  [Senate 


tion,  and  in  a  manner  well  calculated  to  rivet  the  attention  and  impress 
it  on  the  memory  of  all  who  may  have  attended  such  discussions. 

The  progress  of  agriculture  must  of  necessity  depend  very  much 
upon  the  number  and  results  and  success  of  the  experiments  made  by 
its  votaries.  An  experimental  farm  has  not  unfrequently  been  suggested 
by  the  friends  of  agriculture  as  a  desirable  appendage  to  the  State 
society. 

Your  committee  will  not  deny  the  advantages  that  would  result  from 
a  well  conducted  experimental  farm  ;  but  they  deem  it  proper  to  say, 
that  in  their  opinion  it  is  not  judicious  to  move  in  such  matters  very 
much  in  advance  of  public  opinion  ;  besides,  there  is  great  force  in 
the  remark  that  a  variety  of  experiments,  all  tending  to  the  elucidation 
of  the  same  point,  and  made  by  different  practical  farmers,  situated 
on  different  soils  and  under  diverse  circumstances,  must  have  a  more 
beneficial  tendency  than  any  experiment  made  upon  a  farm  merely 
experimental,  and  by  persons  who  are  not  likely  to  have  in  the  outset 
at  least,  the  fullest  confidence  of  the  farming  public.  The  proverbial 
caution  of  the  farmer  will  prevent  him  from  giving  ear  to  startling 
truths,  truths  though  they  be,  that  do  not  emanate  from  sources  in 
which  he  has  confidence. 

Under  this  view  of  the  subject,  your  committee  feel  disposed  to 
approve  of  a  course  which  has  this  year  been  barely  shadowed  forth, 
by  the  few  premiums  which  have  been  proposed  by  the  State  society 
for  experiments  in  raising  certain  crops  under  prescribed  conditionSj 
and  which  will  be  paid  when  the  experiment  is  terminated,  some  year 
or  two  hence.  This  proposition  your  committee  believe  to  be  a  wise 
one,  and  they  think  it  cannot  fail  to  secure  the  cordial  co-operation 
of  the  enlightened  farmers  of  New-York.  Such  a  course  steadily 
pursued  from  year  to  year,  will  give  to  the  transactions  of  the  society 
an  interest  that  cannot  be  surpassed.  These  transactions  ought  to  have 
weight  and  character  with  the  farming  community,  and  their  influence 
should  be  salutary  upon  their  intelligence — not  only  gratifying  a  laudable 
curiosity,  but  stimulating  also  a  spirit  of  inquiry,  a  result  which  the 
course  proposed  seems  likely  to  effect. 

Your  committee  are  well  pleased  to  say  that  the  transactions  of  the 
New-York  State  Society  have  contributed  much  to  raise  the  character 
of  the  country  abroad.  Many  of  the  European  societies,  and  not 
a  few  of  their  scientific  men,  have  expressed  to  the  oflficers  a  strong 


No.  105.]  67 

desire   to  be  furnished  with  copies  of  their  transactions,  and  have 
spoken  of  them  in  the  most  complimentary  manner. 

The  officers  of  the  society,  while  they  have  expressed  to  your  com- 
mittee their  gratitude  for  the  liberality  of  the  Legislature  in  bestowing 
upon  the  society  the  number  of  copies  which  they  have  annually 
received,  deeply  regret  that  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  the  society  to  print 
for  themselves  an  edition  of  their  annual  doings  for  the  purpose  of 
widely  diffusing  them  among  the  farmers.  In  order  to  accomplish 
this  desirable  result,  your  committee  would  recommend  that  they  be 
empowered  to  furnish  one  bound  copy  for  each  school  district  library 
in  the  State  to  the  superintendent  of  common  schools,  receiving  there- 
for a  sum  not  exceeding  one  dollar  for  each  copy  from  the  money 
annually  distributed  to  the  school  district  libraries.  To  carry  out  these 
views,  your  committee  have  prepared  a  bill  which  they  beg  leave  to 
introduce. 

The  committee  hope  to  be  pardoned  for  saying  a  few  words  in 
defence  of  the  project  they  have  ventured  to  recommend.  Since  the 
invention  of  the  printing  press  the  arts  have  progressed  with  astonish- 
ing rapidity.  The  rail-car  has  been  introduced  before  the  steam-boa* 
Is  perfected.  The  railroad  competes  with  the  canal  before  the  latter 
is  completed.  And  it  is  thus,  not  only  with  these  arts,  but  with  all 
the  mechanic  arts.  But  it  is  not  so  with  farming!  Some  stir  has  been 
made  in  this  matter  in  our  times,  and  the  implements  of  husbandry 
have  been  vastly  improved,  but  in  many  other  respects  that  art  is  not 
one  whit  improved  since  the  middle  ages.  The  cause  of  this  wide 
difference  in  the  condition  of  these  two  industrial  occupations  is  not 
to  recondite  for  explanation.  The  mechanic  arts  have  improved  most 
rapidly  since  the  invention  of  printing,  because  every  improvement 
has  been  recorded  and  published.  Since  that  memorable  era,  many 
a  long  lost  art  has  been  recovered,  but  no  one  art  has  been  lost. 
Formerly  the  acquirements  of  one  generation  were  forgotten  by  their 
successors.  Isolated  individuals,  ignorant  of  each  other's  doings, 
were  laboring  without  concert  of  action,  re-inventing  what  was 
already  known,  and  wasting  a  laborious  life  to  little  or  no  purpose. 
It  is  not  wonderful  that  the  progress  of  the  arts  wasthen  slow  and 
irregular. 

This  lamentable  uncertainty  and  irregularity  clings  to  the  farmer  to 
this  hour.  The  accumulated  experience  of  a  long  and  useful  life  is 
utterly  thrown  away.     It  is  transmitted  to  no  succcessor,  and  preserved 


68  [Senate 

in  no  record,  and  has  not,  nor  can  it  have,  a  marked  and  material 
influence  upon  the  coming  generations. 

The  progress  of  hnman  improvement  is  by  slow  and  certain  stages  j 
a  regular  advance  from  what  is  known  to  what  is  unknown  ;  and  when 
things  are  so  ordered  that  men  can  take  in  at  a  single  glance  the 
accumulated  experience  of  years,  then  is  their  onward  course  rapid  and 
certain.  If  the  actual  and  annual  experience  of  farmers  had  been 
embodied  in  published  transactions,  or  had  farmers'  clubs  been  long 
in  action  and  their  accumulated  doings  now  in  existence,  then  would 
the  farmer  have  the  materials  for  carrying  forward  his  art  to  perfection 
with  rapidity  and  success. 

It  is  therefore  desirable  to  place  the  farmer  in  such  a  position  that 
be  will  feel  the  influence  of  these  annual  contributions.  In  no  way 
can  this  be  done  so  effectually  as  by  placing  this  volume  within  his 
reach.  The  very  object  of  instituting  the  school  district  library,  is  to 
induce  a  habit  of  reading,  a  most  wise  and  salutary  measure.  To 
induce  the  farmer  to  read  a  work  composed  annually  from  the  contri- 
butions of  practical  men,  must  surely  be  carrying  out  more  certainly 
the  very  design  of  the  school  district  library.  But  in  the  opinion  of 
your  committee,  a  still  greater  good  will  ultimately  flow  from  this 
arrangement.  It  is  well  known  that  farmrrs  write  with  very  great 
reluctance.  They  seldom  contribute  any  thing  to  the  constantly 
accumulating  mass  of  useful  knowledge.  This  results  not  from  their 
ignorance,  but  from  diffidence  or  reserve  incident  to  their  mode  of  life» 
But  if  they  see  annually  a  book  composed  by  men  of  their  own  calling, 
having  no  greater  opportunities  than  themselves,  such  is  the  law  of 
human  nature,  that  they  will  be  desirous  ultimately  of  imitating  a 
practice  which  is  yearly  contributing  to  their  own  thrift  and  prosperity. 
Every  successful  farmer  has  something  peculiar  about  his  practiccj 
which  is  the  secret  cause  of  his  success,  and  the  public  have  a  deep 
interest  in  becoming  acquainted  with  that  peculiarity.  And  when  one 
find  another,  year  by  year,  shall  have  made  public  and  placed  on 
record  the  secret  of  their  prosperity,  there  will  accumulate  a  mass  cf 
material  from  which  some  agricultural  philosopher  will  digest  a 
system  of  husbandry  that  will  place  us  far  in  advance  of  the  present 
system. 

The  Chinese  have  made  it  a  matter  of  state  policy  to  perfect,  it 
possible,  the  art  of  husbandry.  The  faciltiy  with  which  they  support 
the  immense  mass  of  their  population,  in  the  absence  of  all  other 


No  105.]  69 

testimony,  would  convince  us  that  this  State  policy  of  a  semi-civilized 
nation  is  worthy  the  imitation  of  the  enlightened  government  of  this 
State. 

Owing  to  the  abundance  of  land  in  this  country,  and  the  sparseness 
of  our  population,  it  will  not  for  a  long  period  of  years  become  neces- 
sary for  the  State  to  pass  laws  regulating  the  practice  of  husbandry, 
and  a  wise  foresight  may  render  it  always  unnecessary.  Yet  the 
Chinese  have  found  such  laws  necessary,  and  all  the  visiters  to  that 
peculiar  people  concur  in  expressing  their  astonishment  at  the  amazing 
productiveness  of  the  "central  flowery  land, "  and  the  consummate  skill 
of  their  agricultural  population. 

An  abundance  of  statistical  facts  might  be  adduced,  showing  con- 
clusively that  while  the  farmer  of  New-York  has  been  growing  rich, 
the  fertility  of  her  soil  has  been  gradually  but  certainly  diminishing. 
The  fertility  of  a  soil  is  usually  measured  by  its  capacity  for  growing 
wheat.  Taking  this  as  a  test,  it  is  but  too  evident  that  we  have  not 
overrated  the  fact  that  the  fertility  of  New-York  is  diminishing. 
Wheat  is  rarely  raised  in  the  older  counties  of  State,  and  in  the 
fertile  west,  the  annual  average  per  acre  is  diminishing.  Many  of  the 
counties  of  the  State,  formerly  wheat-growing  counties,  have  of  late 
years  found  that  barley  was  a  more  certain  and  profitable  crop,  and 
they  are  consequently  gradually  abandoning  the  culture  of  wheat. 

It  is  becoming  known  to  the  more  enlightened  agriculturists  that 
the  former  ruinous  practices  of  husbandry  have  contributed  to  the 
constant  and  annual  removal  from  the  soil  of  those  peculiar  elements 
which  are  necessary  to  secure  the  growth  of  wheat.  To  the  great 
mass  of  our  farmers,  the  doctrines  of  a  well  founded  agricultural  che- 
mistry are  neither  known  nor  appreciated.  The  enlightened  states- 
man, therefore,  who  is  anxiously  looking  after  those  causes  which 
affect  the  prosperity  of  the  commonwealth,  must  see  in  this  view  of 
the  subject  the  absolute  necessity  of  adopting  a  policy  which  is  pre- 
judicial to  no  one,  and  which  may  be  beneficial  to  all. 

There  are  many  practices  in  use  by  our  farmers  that  should  be 
improved  if  the  case  is  within  the  reach  of  possibility.  To  select  one 
out  of  many,  we  will  mention  that  of  "  summer  fallowing"  for  wheat. 
Can  this  practice  be  abandoned  1  If  it  can,  the  importance  of  cor- 
recting this  habit  will  be  evident  to  every  one,  for  by  abandoning  this 
questionable  practice,  one  entire  crop  of  grain  will  be  saved  to  the 
farmer  and  the  community,  and  while  the  farmer's  profits  are  thus 
increased,  the  price  of  bread  will  be  cheapened  to  the  poor  laborer. 


70  [Senate 

The  community  will  never  come  to  a  right  or  a  sound  conclusion 
upon  this  subject  until  the  feasibility  of  this  plan  is  tested  by  so  many 
contributors  to  the  transactions  of  your  agricultural  societies,  that 
there  will  be  no  reason  to  doubt  the  accuracy  and  the  truth  of  their 
conclusions,  nor  until  the  full  knowledge  of  all  the  details  of  the  va- 
rious experiments  shall  have  been  had  in  every  hamlet  and  neighbor- 
hood of  your  entire  State. 

We  might  multiply  instances  that  tend  to  prove  that  both  the  art  of 
farming  and  the  farmer  will  be  alike  improved  by  the  course  pointed 
out,  but  we  forbear. 

The  p)osperity  of  the  farming  community  of  the  State  of  New- 
York  will  ever  be  an  object  of  the  deepest  interest  to  her  legislators. 
There  are  causes  now  at  work  which  will  surely  affect  that  prospe- 
rity for  weal  or  woe.  Should  any  cause  materially  depress  the  price 
of  wool,  and  thus  compel  the  farmers  over  a  large  portion  of  the  State 
to  seek  in  some  other  kind  of  husbandry  a  remuneration  for  their 
labor  and  capital  employed,  then  will  our  agricultural  interests  be 
'depressed  below  a  point  which  they  have  not  reached  in  the  worst 
of  times.  That  the  wool  grower  will  have  to  contend  ere  long  with 
adverse  circumstances,  is  more  than  probable.  The  ease  and  facility 
with  which  wool  can  be  raised  on  the  pampas  of  Brazil,  and  upon  the 
prairies  of  the  Western  States,  will  sooner  or  later  seriously  affect 
that  interest.  Should  this  prediction  be  verified,  adversity  will  com- 
pel the  wool  grower  of  New- York  to  pay  close  attention  to  the  breed- 
ing of  animals  which  will  clip  the  largest  fleeces  of  the  finest  wool, 
and  those  that  can  be  raised  and  sustained  in  the  cheapest  possible 
manner. 

The  Agricultural  Society  have  not  been  blind  to  this  state  of  things, 
and  the  course  they  have  pursued  has  contributed  most  materially  to 
the  introduction  of  valuable  breeds  of  sheep  into  this  State.  The 
committee  hope  the  society  will  continue  to  encourage,  by  their  wise 
policy,  the  exhibition  of  sheep  from  other  States  at  their  annual  fairs. 
For  it  is  only  by  comparing  carefully  these  animals,  when  placed  side 
by  side,  that  perfectly  correct  conclusions  can  be  arrived  at.  The 
State  of  New-York  has  a  deep  interest  in  the  thorough  investigation 
of  this  subject. 

A  large  portion  of  our  State  is  yet  in  its  native  forest,  nor  can 
we  reasonably  hope  that  these  waste  lands  will  soon  come  under  cul- 


No.  105.]  71 

tivation  unless  they  are  required  for  grazing.     The  butter  and  cheese 
dairies  of  the  State  are  at  present  receiving  fair  encouragement.     It 
is  not  probable  that  their  prosperity  will  be  soon  or  serioush^  affec- 
ted.    Should  they  receive  from  any  cause,  either  foreign  or  domestic, 
a  further  stimulus,  its  tendency  will  be  to  bring  more  of  the  wilder- 
ness of  New-York  into  successful  cultivation — a  result  most  heartily 
to  be  desired.     We  can  see  no  possible  means  by  which  to  hasten 
such  an  event,  except  by  using  the  requisite  means  for  diffusing  a  true 
knowledge  of  those  principles,  whether  chemical  or  agricultural,  upon 
which  the  dairyman's  success  depends.     No  doubt  whatever  exists 
that  the  consumption  of  the  articles  of  butter  and  cheese  will  be  ma- 
terially increased,  if  the  quality  can  be  improved.     Your  committee 
are  prepared  to  believe  that  the  butter  and  cheese  dairies  are  in  a  state 
of  rapid  improvemet.     They  infer  this  from  the  fact  that  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  agricultural  societies,  eminent  dairymen  were  wil- 
ling to  compete  for  premiums,  but  were  not  willing  to  comply  with 
the  terms  of  the  society,  by  furnishing  a  full  and  detailed  statement 
of  the  mode  of  operation,  for  fear  of  divulging  the  secret  of  their  suc- 
cess.    This  illiberal  prejudice  is  fast  wearing  away,  and  the  benefi- 
cial effects  resulting  from  the  publications  of  the  society  are  being 
materially  felt. 

During  the  last  year  the  census  has  been  taken,  in  which  are  embo- 
died valuable  details  of  the  crops  of  this  State.  Your  committee  for- 
bear quoting  from  these  statistics,  as  the  whole  is  in  course  of  publica- 
tion. But  your  committee  are  grieved  to  find  that  some  of  the  crops 
returned,  fall  much  short  of  that  yield  per  acre  which  might  have 
been  reasonably  expected.  One  of  these — Wheat — has  long  been  a 
staple  of  the  State,  and  the  falling  off  of  this  crop,  in  a  large  number 
of  the  older  and  more  populous  counties  of  the  State,  is  a  serious 
public  calamity  ;  not  only  because  it  diminishes  the  profits  of  the 
farmer,  but  because  it  drains  these  counties  of  a  large  amount  of  spe- 
cie to  furnish  those  bread  stuffs,  which  are  indispensable  for  their  sub- 
sistence and  comfort. 

This  calamity  is  owing  in  a  great  measure  to  the  ravages  of  the 
wheat  fly  ;  an  evil  which  does  not  seem  to  abate,  and  for  which  there 
seems  to  be  no  certain  cure.  The  evil  cannot  be  eradicated.  The 
committee  believe  that  in  the  papers  of  the  society  will  be  found  a 
detail  of  a  method  of  culture  which  will  measurably  alleviate,  if  not 
entirely  avoid  the  ravages  of  the  weavil. 


72  [Senate 

In  common  with  several '  European  countries,  this  State  has  been 
visited  with  a  disease,  which  has  seriously  affected  both  the  yield  and 
quality  of  the  poor  man's  esculent — the  Potato.  The  average  yield 
of  this  valuable  root  ought  to  be  nearly  if  not  quite  two  hundred 
bushels  per  acre,  throughout  the  entire  State,  and  yet  from  the  census 
returns  it  does  not  amount  to  more  than  ninety.  This  calamity  early 
arrested  the  attention  of  the  State  Society,  and  they  are  ready  to  be- 
lieve that  the  communications  which  they  are  about  to  publish  will 
have  a  decided  and  beneficial  effect  upon  the  culture  of  this  inestima- 
ble root.  Unless  this  is  the  fact,  and  the  disease  nevertheless  goes  on 
increasing  in  intensity  and  malignity,  the  most  serious  consequences 
will  ultimately  be  realized.  Already  a  less  quantity  of  land  is  plant- 
ed with  potatoes  by  the  farmer.  Thus  the  amount  of  the  crop  is  di- 
minished, and  if  it  is  still  further  diminished  by  disease,  the  poor  will 
severely  suffer. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  restrictive  policy  which  has  closed  the 
ports  of  England  against  the  world,  was  commenced  in  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth — during  whose  reign  the  potato  was  first  introduced  into 
Europe — and  that  owing  to  the  lamentable  failure  of  this  national  root 
crop,  this  restrictive  policy  is  about  to  be  abandoned.  Strange  that 
so  humble  an  agricultural  production  should  have  such  momentous 
influence  upon  the  destinies  of  great  nations.- 

In  connection  with  this  subject,  your  committee  would  remark,  that 
the  American  farmer  must  have  his  attention  drawn  to  the  use  of  salt 
as  manure  in  an  especial  manner.  Salt  has  not  been  used  for  this 
purpose  to  any  very  great  extent,  as  your  committee  learn.  Yet  it 
has  been  satisfactorily  proven  by  numerous  experiments  in  the  county 
of  Onondaga  and  elsewhere,  that  the  free  use  of  salt  has  very  much 
added  to  the  yield  of  the  land. 

This  is  an  important  fact ;  yet  there  is  something  connected  with 
the  use  of  salt  as  manure  of  almost  equal  importance  ;  that  is  the  un- 
paralleled agency  of  salt  in  destroying  insects  of  almost  every  kind. 
No  farmer  should  neglect  to  use  salt  as  a  manure  upon  all  those  fields 
liable  to  pestiferous  ravages  of  the  grub,  wire  worm  and  caterpillar. 
In  gardens  it.is  invaluable,  especially  in  those  which  have  long  been 
worked  and  are  very  rich.  The  disease  of  the  potato,  before  men- 
tioned, whatever  may  be  its  cause,  is  found  to  yield  its  virulence  to 
the  agency  of  salt,  and  no  potato  crop  should  be  planted  without  salt 
being  used,  in  whole  or  in  part, -as  a  manure. 


No.  105.J  73 

There  is  also  good  reason  for  believing  that  where  salt  is  used  for 
manure,  the  disease  of  the  wheat  crop,  known  by  the  name  of  rust, 
which  more  or  less  every  year  affects  it  injuriously,  will  be  measura- 
bly abated  if  not  wholly  averted.  At  all  events,  it  is  well  establish- 
ed, that  in  one  particular  di^rict  of  England,  where  old  brine  has 
been  long  used  as  a  manure,  rust  rarely  if  ever  makes  its  appearance. 
It  is  true  that  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  the  cold,  damp  cli- 
mate of  England,  and  the  hot  and  dry  climate  of  New-York.  Still 
the  subject  deserves  the  especial  attention  of  the  New-York  farmer. 

Your  committee  have  already  extended  their  report  beyond  the 
limits  they  had  assigned,  but  they  must  nevertheless  remark,  that  the 
liberality  of  the  Legislature,  in  allowing  a  drawback  on  plaster  car- 
ried by  canal  to  certain  points,  is  likely  very  soon  to  meet  with  its 
desired  reward.  To  some  considerable  extent  has  western  plaster 
supplanted  Nova  Scotia  plaster  in  the  river  counties,  and  the  hearty 
preference  which  is  given  to  western  plaster  by  those  farmers  who 
have  tried  both  kinds,  leaves  no  room  to  doubt  that  in  a  few  years 
the  foreign  plaster  will  be  entirely  driven  out  of  the  State.  It  there- 
fore appears  to  your  committee  very  unwise,  hastily  to  change  a  po- 
licy, the  beneficial  effects  of  which  is  just  beginning  to  be  appreciated. 

Your  committee  have  on  a  former  occasion  been  compelled,  by  an 
imperious  sense  of  public  duty,  to  report  against  a  petition  from  the 
American  Institute,  for  an  appropriation  from  the  State  treasury,  for 
the  purpose  of  founding  an  agricultural  college  and  purchasing  an  ex- 
perimental farm  in  or  near  the  city  of  New- York. 

Your  committee  feel  every  disposition  to  award  to  that  institution 
its  full  share  of  praise,  as  one  which  has  done  and  is  doing  a  vast  deal 
for  the  agricultural  and  mechanical  community.  No  compliment  that 
we  can  pay  that  institution  will  be  undeserved.  Any  suggestion  that 
is  made  by  so  useful  and  valuable  an  institution,  should  be  listened  to 
with  respectful  deference.  But  the  finances  of  the  State  are  not  at 
present  in  a  condition  to  warrant  any  appropriation  for  the  purpose 
alluded  to.  The  time  may,  and  no  doubt  will  soon  come,  when  such 
an  appropriation  will  be  both  wise  and  proper. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

J.  C.  KINNE, 
S.  L.  SHAFER, 
ELIAS  DURFEE, 
CHAtlNCEY  C.  COOK, 
March  18th,  1846.  HORACE  HAWKS. 


REPORTS  OF  COMMITTEES. 


CATTLE. 

Class  I — Durhams. 
The  committee  of  judges  to  award  premiums  for  cattle  class  No.  1, 
Durhams,  report  :  That  they  have  attended  to  the  duty  assigned 
them  with  all  the  attention  and  industry  they  were  capable  of 
of  bestowing,  and  with  a  singleness  of  purpose,  promotive  of  the 
views  of  the  society,  in  awarding  premiums  in  the  spirit  of  an 
impartial  and  disinterested  judgment.  But,  however  zealous  and 
unbiassed,  the  committee  cannot  but  acknowledge  the  diffidence  they 
felt  in  their  competency  to  discriminate  where  the  excellence  and 
merit  of  animals  of  the  splendid  class  of  cattle  committed  to  them  was 
so  strikingly  imposing,  especially  the  three  year  old  bulls, — and 
which,  when  compared,  were  so  nicely  balanced.  Exercising,  how- 
ever, their  best  judgment,  they  make  the  following  awards  ;  trust- 
ing that  their  decisions  may  be  acceptable  to  the  society,  and  in  a 
reasonable  measure,  satisfactory  to  the  contributors  in  general. 

Of  Bulls.,  three  years  old  and  over. 

They  award  to  E.  P.  Prentice,  Mount-Hope,  a  premium  of 
$15,  for  the  best, — for  his  bull  O'Connel. 

To  J.  M.  Sherwood,  Auburn,  for  the  second  best,  a  premium  of 
$10, — for  his  bull  Arrow. 

To  Geo.  Vail,  of  Troy,  for  the  third  best,  a  diploma, — for  his  bull 
Symmetry. 

Of  two  years  old. 

They  award  to  Messrs,  Bell  &  Morris,  Westchester,  for  the  best, 
a  first  premium  of  $15, — for  their  bull  Marius. 

In  this  class  there  were  no  other  animals  deemed  worthy  of  the 
second  and  third  premiums. 

Of  Yearlings. 

To  W.  W.  Ballard,  of  Southport,  Chemung  county,  for  the  best,  a 
first  premium  of  $10,— for  his  bull  Victor. 

To  George  BrinkerhofF,  of  Albany,  for  the  second  best,  a  premium 
of  Colman's  Tour, — for  his  bull  Peter  Parley. 

To  H.  N.  Carey,  of  Marcy,  Oneida  co.,  for  the  third  best,  a  diplo- 
mn. — for  his  bull  Orea;on. 


No.  105.]  75 

Of  Bull  Calves. 

ToZ.  B.  Wakeman,  of  Herkimer,  for  the  best,  a  premium  of  CoI~ 
man's  Tour, —  for  his  bull  calf  Meteor. 

To  Messrs.  Bell  &  Morris,  Westchester,  for  the  second  best,  a 
diploma,  for  their  bull  calf  Prince. 

Of  Cows,  three  years  old  and  over. 

To  J.  M.  Sherwood,  Auburn,  for  the  best,  a  first  premium  of  $15, — 
for  his  cow  Philapena. 

To  Messrs.  Bell  &  Morris,  Westchester,  for  the  second  best,  a 
premium  of  $10, — for  their  cow  Victoria. 

To  Robert  C.  Nicholas,  of  Geneva,  for  the  third  best,  a  diploma 
for  his  cow  Flora. 

Of  two  year  old  Heifers. 

To  J.  M.  Sherwood,  Auburn,  for  the  best,  a  first  premium  of  $10, — 
for  his  heifer  Sybil. 

Premium  for  second  best,  withheld. 

To  H.  N.  Carey,  of  Marcy,  Oneida  co.,  for  third  best,  a  diploma, — 
for  his  heifer  Lily. 

Of  Yearling  Heifers. 

To  H.  N.  Carey,  of  Marcy,  Oneida  co.,  a  first  premium  of  $10, — 
for  his  heifer  Rose. 

Second  and  third  premiums,  withheld. 

Of  Heifer  Calves. 

To  Z.  B.  Wakeman,  of  ^Herkimer,  a  first  premium  of  Colman's 
Tour, — for  his  heifer  calf  Sylvia. 

To  J.  M.  Sherwood,  Auburn,  a  diploma, — for  his  calf  Dahlia. 

The  contribution  in  bulls  was  liberal  and  excellent,  especially  of 
three  years  old  and  over.  The  exhibition  in  this  featur  ewas  striking- 
ly imposing,  but  it  is  to  be  regretted  there  was  so  meagre  a  display  of 
cows  and  heifers.  So  deficient  was  the  offering  in  this  particular, 
that  there  was  no  two  year  old  heifer  on  the  ground  deemed  worthy 
of  a  second  premium.  In  yearlings,  none  to  take  a  second  and 
third  premium.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  future  the  society  will  be 
spared  a  similar  disappointment. 

Among  the  array  of  grown  bulls  worthy  of  particular  notice,  was 
Mr.  Crosby's  Osceola,  Mr.  Findings'  Young  Echo,  Mr,  Talcott's 
Cortez,  Mr,  Doolittle's  Mohawk  Chief,  and  several  others  which  re- 
flected much  credit  on  their  spirited  breeders  and  owners,  and  added 
greatly  to  the  character  of  the  exhibition. 

In  viewing  young  stock,  embracing  calves  and  yearlings,  there  is 
always  a  difficulty  embarrassing  to  the  judges,  when  they  come  to 
designate  the  best  among  this  class,  as  at  this  age,  the  points  that 
indicate  excellence  in  the  matured  animal,  is  so  imperfectly  develop- 
ed in  the  calf,  and  the  imperfections  so  frequently  concealed  by  over 
high  condition,  that  those  designated  as  best,  by  the  best  judges, 
may  at  a  mature  age  prove  less  valuable  than  others  passed  over  as 


76  [Senate 

unworthy  of  distinction.  The  owners,  therefore,  of  young  stock 
adjudged  the  premiums,  must  not  be  too  confident  in  the  superiority 
of  their  young  animals,  because  that  at  this  exhibition  they  were 
distinguished  ;  for  it  is  possible,  that  at  the  next,  and  succeeding 
shows,  their  positions  may  be  reversed.  While,  therefore,  the  suc- 
cessful competitors  have  but  a  doubtful  triumph,  the  disappointed 
need  have  no  certain  cause  to  infer,  that  because  their  calves  were 
not  awarded  premiums,  they  will  not,  when  they  come  of  age,  repay 
the  care  and  attention  requisite  to  their  rearing.  While  the  commit- 
tee would  encourage  the  practice  of  a  kind  and  fostering  care  to  all 
young  stock,  they  cannot  but  condemn  the  over  feeding  and  fattening 
young  cattle,  intended  for  breeding  and  milking.  Nothing  can  be 
more  fatal  to  the  vigor,  health,  and  constitution  of  the  matured  ani- 
mal, w'hether  cow  or  bull,  than  a  gross  and  over  fed  condition  while 
young  and  growing. 

Before  closing  this  report,  the  committee  would  with  all  deference, 
venture  a  remark  upon  the  practice  of  holding  out  to  the  owners  of 
cattle,  the  same  amount  of  premium  for  the  production  of  the  best, 
of  the  most  worthless  class,  that  is  offered  to  him  who  imports  or 
breeds,  the  most  valuable  and  profitable  stock.  It  seems  to  the  com- 
mittee, that  to  carry  out  the  general  principle  of  promoting  every 
branch  of  the  agriculture  of  the  country,  that  the  society  should  en- 
courage the  best  and  most  profitable  breeds,  by  a  judicious  and 
salutary  discrimination,  in  adjusting  the  premiums  to  their  excellence 
and  intrinsic  merits.  And  on  the  other  hand,  to  discourage  or 
diminish  the  unprofitable  herds  that  still  so  generally  prevail,  by  a 
scale  of  premiums  proportioned  to  their  value.  But  while  the  socie- 
ty make  no  distinction  in  their  premiums,  by  placing  all  cattle  on  a 
par,  it  cannot  surprise,  that  the  unenlightened  and  apathetic  cling  to 
their  prejudices,  and  look  upon  every  effort  and  enterprise  in  the  im- 
provement of  stock,  as  money  and  time  thrown  away  upon  a  foolish 
and  absurd  innovation  of  an  over-improving  age.  In  accordance 
with  these  views,  the  committee  take  leave  to  oflfer  the  following 
resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  to  encourage  the  production  of  the  most  superior 
and  profitable  breeds  of  cattle,  the  premiums  in  future  should  be 
adjusted  on  a  scale  proportioned  to  the  excellence  and  merits  of  each 
respective  breed. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

JAMES  GOWEN, 


Uiica,  18th  September,  1845. 


THOS.  HOLLIS,' 
CHARLES  BATHGATE  Jr. 


Classes  II.  III.  IV. 

The  committee  appointed  by  the  New-York  State  Agricultural  So- 
ciety to  examine  and  award  premiums  in  Classes  second,  third  and 
fourth,  of  cattle,  have,  after  careful  and  repeated  examinations,  made 
the  following  awards,  to  wit : 


No.  105.]  77 


Class  II. — Herefords. 

First  premium  of  $15  to  Erastus  Corning,  of  Albany,  for  his  He- 
reford bull  "  Sir  George,"  five  years  old.  There  being  no  other 
competitor  in  this  class,  of  course  no  premium  could  be  awarded. 

First  premium  of  $10  to  Thomas  H.  Hyatt,  of  Rochester,  for  his 
two  year  old  bull  ^'  Don  Quixotte." 

First  premium  of  $15  to  E.  Corning  for  his  seven  year  old  cow, 
"Aston  Beauty." 

Second  premium  of  $10  to  Mr.  Sotham,  for  his  three  year  old 
heifer  "  Mary." 

First  premium  of  $10  to  Mr.  Thomas  H.  Hyatt,  for  his  two  year 
aid  heifer  "Emma." 

Class  III. — Devons. 

First  premium  of  $15  to  Mr.  H,  N.  Washburn,  of  Otsego  county, 
for  his  fine  bull  "Young  Baltimore,"  three  years  old. 

Second  premium  of  $10  to  Mr.  E.  P.  Beck,  of  Wyoming  county, 
for  his  bull  "  William  Wallace,"  four  years  old. 

First  premium  of  $10  to  B.  P.  Johnson,  of  Oneida  county,  for  his 
bull  "  Ivanhoe,"  two  years  old. 

Second  premium,  a  diploma  to  Mr.  E.  P.  Beck,  for  his  bull  "  Cri- 
terion," 1  year  old. 

First  premium  of  $15  to  E.  P.  Beck,  for  his  cow  "  Victoria,"  9 
years  old. 

Second  premium  of  $10  to  Mr.  H.  N.  Washburn,  for  his  cow  Rose 
of  Baltimore. 

First  premium  of  $10  to  H.  N.  Washburn,  for  his  heifer  "  Utica," 
1  year  old. 

Second  premium,  a  diploma  to  E.  P.  Beck,  for  his  heifer  "  Flora," 
1  year  old. 

Class  IV. — Ayshires. 

First  premium  of  $15  to  Mr.  C.  N.  Bement,  for  his  bull  "  Shelty," 
3  years  old. 

First  premium  of  $10  to  Mr.  C.  N.  Bement,  for  his  yearling  bull 
"  Kenwood." 

First  premium  of  $15  to  Mr.  C.  N.  Bement,  for  his  cow  "Alice," 
8  years  old. 

First  premium  of  $10  to  Mr.  C.  N.  Bement,  for  his  2  year  old 
heifer  "  Fairy." 

There  being  no  competitors  in  Class  4,  the  above  premiums  have 
only  been  awarded,  although  it  would  have  been  mote  gratifying  to 
this  committee  had  other  animals  of  the  same  class  been  exhibited. 
The  same  remark  will  apply  to  Class  2d.  In  Class  3d,  there  were 
more  animals  exhibited,  and  some  of  great  excellence.  Before  closing 
this  report,  this  committee  take  pleasure  in  calling  the  attention  of 


78  [Senate 

the  committee  on  discretionary  premiums  to  the  fine  exhibition  of 
springy  calves,  of  Mr.  H.  N.  Washburn,  and  if  agreeable  to  them 
would  recommend  a  premium  to  be  awarded  under  Class  3d. 

D.  D.  CAMPBELL, 
FREDK.  INGERSOLL, 
FRANCIS  H.  HIBBARD, 
Committee. 
Utica,  Sept.  17,  1845. 


Classes  V.  and  VI. 

The  committee  to  whom  were  assigned  the  duty  of  passing  upon 
Classes  fifth  and  sixth,  composed  of  grade  and  native  cattle,  ask  leave 
most  respectfully  to  report: 

That  they  have  examined  with  great  care  and  close  observation 
the  different  animals  presented  in  these  classes,  and  although  from 
the  great  number  of  grade  cattle  offered  for  the  society's  premiums, 
it  was  diflBcult  in  many  cases  to  give  the  preference,  yet  your  com- 
mittee take  pleasure  in  saying  that  their  task  was  a  pleasant  one, 
having  had  occasion  in  no  instance  to  disagree  in  their  judgments,  all 
striving  to  accomplish  the  well  known  wishes  of  the  society,  an 
impartial,  equitable  distribution  of  its  awards,  being  aware  that  upon 
this  duty,  judiciously  discharged,  depends  the  future  prosperity  of 
this  society.  Your  committee  had  the  pleasure  of  witnessing  the 
very  great  improvement  made  by  crosses  upon  the  native  stock  of 
the  country.  Several  specimens  were  shown  of  the  first  cross,  rival- 
ing in  beauty  animals  of  pure  blood.  There  were  also  quite  a  num- 
ber of  animals  exhibited,  the  produce  of  a  cross  between  the  Short 
Horn  and  Devon,  showing  conclusively  that  these  favorite  breeds,  so 
long  arrayed  against  each  other  by  their  breeders,  may  be  safely 
united,  and  that  the  fruit  of  the  marriage  will  be  no  discredit  to 
either  parent. 

Your  committee  have  distributed  the  awards  as  follows  : 

Class  V. — Crosses  of  Native  and  Improved  Breeds. 

Cows  over  three  years  old. 

First  premium,  Dolphus  Skinner,   Utica,    $15  00 

Second,  H.  N.  Cary,  Marcy, $10  00 

Third,  F.  Ingersoll,  Vernon, Vol-  Trans. 


') 


igersoii,  vernon. 


Heifers  over  two  years  old. 

First  premium,  H.  W.  Doolittle,  Herkimer, $15  00 

Second,  Hugh  Crocker,  Utica, $10  00 

Third,  Joel  B.  Nott,  Guilderland, Vol.  Trans., 

Heifers  over  one  year  old. 

H.  W.  Doolittle,  Herkimer, $5  00 

Second,  Andrew  G.  Bell,  Westmoreland, Col's  Tour. 

Third,  H.  W.  Doolittle,  Herkimer, Vol.  Trans. 


No.  105.]  79 

Heifer  Calves. 
First   premium,  Andrew  McBride,  Marshal, Col's  Tour. 

Class  VI. — Natives. 

Cows  over  three  years  old. 

First  premium,  H.  H.  Eastman,  Marshall, $15  00 

Second,  Ff D.  Grosvenor,  Utica, flO  00 

Third,  Henry  Waters,  Earlville, Vol.  Trans. 

Heifers  two  years  old. 

First  premium,  H.  H.  Eastman,  Marshall, |15  00 

Second,  W.  L.  Mould,  Paris, |10  00 

E.  F.  Head,  Kirkland, $5  00 

Heifers  one  year  old. 
First  premium,  Andrew  J.  Bell,  Westmoreland, $5  00 

Heifer  Calves. 
First  premium,  G.  W.  Drew,  Kirkland, Col's  Tour. 

Miscellaneous. 

Bulls. 

First  premium,  Horace  Putnam,  Rome, Col's  Tour. 

Second,  Philander  Budlong, Col's  Tour. 

Third,  Luther  Smith,  Otsego, Vol.  Trans. 

Fourth,  S.  M.  Foster,  New-Hartford, Vol.  Trans. 

Bull  Calves. 

First  premium,   George   Gortner,    Canajoharie, Diploma. 

J.  R.  SPEED, 
WM.  FULLER, 
AARON  PETRIE, 

Committee. 


EXTRACT  FROM  OSWEGO  COUNTY  REPORT. 

The  committee  on  milch  cows  and  heifers,  have  in  the  discharge 
of  their  duty,  endeavored  to  examine  all  the  animals  presented  for 
competition,  and  are  gratified  in  saying  that  in  our  opinion,  the  ex- 
hibition of  this  most  useful  and  valuable  animal  has  never  been  bet- 
ter, if  as  good,  in  this  county. 

We  are  certain  that  much  care  and  attention  is  necessary  in  the 
selection  of  breeds,  and  in  the  rearing  of  heifers-that  are  calculated 
to  produce  the  greatest  amount  of  profit  in  the  dairy.  We  believe' 
Durham,  Holderness  and  Teasewater  breeds,  stand  in  advance  of 
any  other  as  milkers,  still  many  excellent  cows  are  found  among  the 
native  breed.     Most  of  the  cows  and  heifers  exhibited  at  this  fair  are 


80  [Senate 

crosses  between  the  above  named  breeds  or  the  native,  which  tells 
favorably  as  to  the  advance  that  the  breeding  of  cattle  has  made  in 
this  county.* 


WORKING  OXEN. 

The  committee  on  working  cattle,  submit  the  following  report: 

The  value  of  the  working  ox,  in  his  best  character  and  capacity, 
is  not  perhaps  in  general  fully  appreciated  in  this  State.  That  oxen 
might,  with  great  advantage  in  many  instances,  be  substituted  for 
horses  in  the  performance  of  farm  work,  is  we  believe  true.  If  pro- 
perly bred,  matched  and  trained,  oxen  are  scarcely  if  at  all,  inferior  to 
horses  in  quickness  of  work,  while  the  advantage  of  simplicity  and 
cheapness  of  gearing,  exemption  from  disease,  and  ultimate  value,  is 
acknowledged  to  be  altogether  in  favor  of  oxen.  Hence  your  com- 
mittee believe  that  the  funds  appropriated  for  the  improvement  of 
working  oxen  are,  to  say  the  least,  as  productive  of  useful  results,  as  are 
accomplished  in  any  other  department  of  the  society's  operations. 

For  the  premium  of  $20  for  the  best  20  yoke  from  any  one  county, 
only  one  entry  was  made. 

Two  entries  were  made  for  the  premiums  for  the  best  10  yoke  from 
any  one  town,  viz  :  Jas.  S.  &  W.  W.  Wadsworth,  of  Geneseo,  Rus- 
sel  Blackstone,  and  others,  of  New-Hartford.  Considering  the  re- 
markable equality  of  match,  both  in  respect  to  shape,  color  and  size, 
we  award  the  first  premium  to  Messrs.  Wadsworth.  The  other  team 
was,  however,  a  good  one  in  appearance,  and  is  in  our  opinion, 
well  worthy  the  second  premium. 

For  the  premiums  for  the  best  yoke  of  working  cattle,  there  were 
eight  entries  and  seven  competitors.  The  cattle  were  submitted  to 
a  trial  on  a  loaded  cart,  and  many  of  them  acquitted  themselves  in  a 
manner  highly  satisfactory  to  the  committee  and  creditable  to  their 
drivers  and  owners.  It  is  true  they  were  not  all  quite  as  perfectly 
matched  and  broken  as  would  be  desirable,  though  it  is  but  fair  to 
state  that  some  of  them  exhibited  a  thoroughness  and  perfection  of 
discipline  which  would  have  done  no  discredit  to  the  far-famed  and 
boasted  oxen  of  the  county  of  Worcester  in  old  Massachusetts.  But 
as  the  discipline  of  working  oxen  is  a  matter  of  so  much  importance, 
and  as  their  intrinsic  value  depends  in  so  great  a  degree  on  this  point 
we  cannot  but  wish  that  more  attention  had  been  paid  to  it.  It  is 
evident  that  the  more  perfect  the  docility  and  the  education  of  the 
cattle,  the  more  work  they  are  capable  of  performing  in  a  given  time, 
and  with  the  less  expense  and  trouble  on  the  part  of  the  driver ;  so 
that  the  actual  profitableness  of  oxen  is  seen  to  depend  largely  on  the 
maimer  in  which  they  perform  their  labor. 

The  backing  of  oxen  is  an  important  matter,  and  the  committee  re- 
gret that  some  of  those  exhibited  had  not  been  better  trained  in  this 
respect.     A  pair  of  oxen  which  will  back  well,  will  often  place   a 

*The  third  premium  in  class  XII.  native  cattle,  was  given  to  the  cow  of  George  A. 
Munsen,  of  Gordon,  Onondaga  county,  at  Rochester,  1843. 

He  also  took  the  premium  as  the  best  dairy  cow  of  any  breed  at  the  same  fair.  It 
was  proved  at  the  Onondaga  county  fair,  that  the  same  cow  was  a  cross  of  native  and 
short  horned  Durham. 


No.  105.]  81 

load  where  it  is  wanted  in  a  tenth  part  of  the  time  that  it  could  be 
disposed  of  in  any  other  way.  They  would  not,  however,  be  under- 
stood as  finding  fault  with  the  discipline  of  all  the  oxen  which  came 
under  their  examination,  on  the  contrary,  they  would,  as  before  stated, 
express  their  approbation  of  several  yokes. 

Taking  into  consideration,  therefore,  all  the  qualities  which  in  the 
opinion  of  the  committee  constitute  the  best  working  cattle,  hardiness, 
discipline,  strength,  equality  of  match,  &c.,  we  unanimously  award 

To  Abraham  Hurd,  of  Herkimer,  for  his  brindle  cattle  5  years  old, 
the  first  premium  of  il5. 

To  Jas.  S.  &  W.  W.  Wadsworth,  Geneseo,  the  second  premium  of 
^10  for  their  4  year  old  cattle. 

In  consideration  of  the  circumstances  of  the  premiums  for  the  best 
20  yoke,  amounting  to  $40,  not  being  taken,  the  committee  venture 
to  recommend  that  several  other  premiums  be  allowed  as  herewith 
appended,  viz  : 

To  Luther  Comstock  of  Kirkland,  for  his  4  years  old  cattle,  the 
third  premium  of  $8. 

To  H.  N.  Leary,  of  Marcy,  the  fourth  premium  of  $6,  cattle  six 
years  old. 

To  E.  Sheldon  of  Cayuga  county,  the  fifth  premium  of  $5, 

cattle  six  years  old. 

To  Austin  D.  Neal,  New-Hartford,  the  sixth  premium  of  $4,  cattle 
five  years  old. 

To  S.  B.  Rhoades,  Paris,  the  seventh  premium,  a  volume  of  the 
society's  transactions. 

By  order  of  tJie  committee. 

SANFORD  HOWARD. 


STEERS. 

Three  years  old  Steers. 

The  committee  on  steers  report  that  all  the  steers  exhibited  were 
of  superior  quality,  doing  credit  to  their  owners — they  have  awarded 
the  first  premium,  $15,  to  Hiram  Gridley,  of  Kirkland, 

The  second  premium,  $10,  to  James  S.  Wadsworth,  of  Geneseo. 

The  third  premium,  diploma,  to  Russell  Blackstone,  of  New-Hartford 

Two  years  old  Steers. 

They  have  awarded  the  first  premium,  $10,  to  Morgan  L.  Butler  of 
New-Hartford. 

The  second  premium,  Col.  Tour,  to  Seabury  Scovel,  of  Marshall. 
The  third  premium,  vol.  Transactions,  to  Billings  I.  Case,  of  Bristol. 


[Senate,  No.  105.]  6 


82  [Senate 

Yearling  Steers. 

They  report  there  were  but  one  pair  offered ;  they  were  very  fine^ 
and  well  entitled  to  the  first  premium,  which  we  accordingly  awarded-. 
They  were  owned  by  Simeon  W.  Gunn,  of  Kirkland. 

DAN.   HIBBARD, 
WM.  GARBUTT, 
CLIFT  EAMES, 

Committee.- 


ON  FAT  CATTLE  AND  FAT  SHEEP. 

The  undersigned,  appointed  a  committee  to  examine  and  report  on 
fat  cattle  and  sheep,  beg  leave  to  report :  That  the  duties  assigned  to 
us  have  received  all  the  attention  that  could  be  given  in  the  time  allowed 
from  the  great  number  of  cattle  and  sheep  on  the  ground. 

Fat  Cattle. 

Chas.  Godfrey,  of  Geneva,  is  awarded  premium  No.  1,  $15,  for  one 
pair  of  fat  cattle  -,  a  better  specimen,  we  think,  has  not  been  produced 
in  the  State. 

John  Collignan,  of  New-Scotland,  Albany  county,  is  awarded 
premium  No.  2,  $10. 

C.  Boorom  &  Co.,  of  Buffalo,  is  awarded  premium  No.  3,  Col.  Tour,. 

Single  Oxen  and  Steers. 

Hugh  Crocker,  of  Utica,  is  awarded  premium  No.  1,  $10,  deserves 
much  credit  for  presenting  one  of  the  best  specimens  ever  produced  in. 
the  State. 

E.  P.  Prentice,  of  Albany,  is  awarded  premium  No.  2,  $5,  a  very 
fine  steer  indeed. 

Fat  Cows. 

C.  Boorom  &  Co.,  of  Buffalo,  is  awarded  premium  No.  1,  $10,  the 
committee  take  much  pleasure  in  saying  that  the  owners  deserve  much 
credit  in  presenting  so  fine  an  animal — probably  not  equalled  in  the 
State. 

Erastus  Corning,  of  Albany,  is  awarded  premiums  No.  2,  $5,  and  3, 
vol.  Transactions — the  2d  on  cow  Gay — the  3d  on  Matchless. 

Fat  Sheep. 

John  Reeves,  of  Lysander,  Onondaga  county,  is  awarded  premium 
No.  1,  $10,  on  one  of  the  best  fat  wethers,  two  years  old,  ever  seen  by 
the  committee,  in  the  State. 

J.  M'D.  M'Intyre,  of  Albany,  is  awarded  premium  No.  2,  Col.  Tour. 

No.  3.  George  Brinckerhoff,  of  Albany,  is  awarded  premium  No.  3^ 
vol.  Transactions. 


No.  105.  J  83 

The    committee   regret    to    see   so    few   fine   specimens   of   sheep 
presented  at  a  State  Fair. 

EL  A  MERRIAM, 
LESTER  BARKER, 
PHILO  N.  RUST, 

Committee. 


STALLIONS. 

The  committee  on  stallions  report  that  thirty-four  horses  were 
exhibited  for  premiums,  and  that  they  have  unanimously  awarded  the 
following  premiums  : 

Thorough  Bred. 

To  the  best  stallion  of  four  years  old  and  upwards :  The  first  premium, 
of  $20,  was  awarded  to  the  imported  horse  "  Consternation, "  belong- 
ing to  C.  T.  Albott,  of  Oneida  county. 

The  second  premium,  of  $10,  to  "Sir  Henry,"  belonging  to  N.  S. 
Hungerford,  of  Oneida  county. 

The  third  premium,  vol.  of  Transactions,  to  "  Florizelle, "  belonging 
to  C.  F.  Crosby,  of  Albany  county. 

The  fourth  premium,  diploma,  to  Sir  Charles,  belonging  to  Thos. 
L  Thompson,  of  Otsego  county. 

Stallions  for  all  work 

To  the  best  stallion  of  all-work,  four  years  old  and  upwards  :  The  first 
premium,  of  $20,  was  awarded  to  "Young  Eclipse,"  belonging  to 
Stephen  Fanchers,  of  Onondaga  county. 

The  second  premium,  of  $10,  to  "  Bay  Kentucky  Hunter,"  belong- 
ing to  Wm.  Ferguson,  Oneida  county. 

The  third  premium,  to  "Bay  Black,"  belonging  to  J.  D.  Moody, 
St.  Lawrence  county. 

The  fourth  premium,  diploma,  to  "Black  Blucher,"  E.  Merriam, 
Lewis  county. 

Draught  Stallions. 

To  the  best  stallion  for  draught,  of  four  years  old  and  upwards  :  The 
first  premium  was  awarded,  in  the  form  of  a  certificate,  to  "  Sampson, " 
belonging  to  E.  Corning,  of  Albany — he  having  received  the  first 
premium  at  a  previous  fair  of  the  society. 

The  second  premium,  of  $20,  is  here  awarded,  agreeably  to  usage, 
to  the  second  best  horse.  Patriot,  belonging  to  John  Van  Hoeson, 
of  Ondeida  county. 

The  third  premiums  of  $10,  to  "  Dragon,"  owned  by  G.  Warren, 
of  Onondaga  county. 

The  fourth  premium,  diploma,  to  "  Honest  Tom,"  belonging  to 
Benjamin  Pettel,  of  Oneida  county. 

Three  years  old  Stallions. 
To  the  best  three  years,  old  stallions  :  The  first  premium  was  awarded, 


84  [Senate 

of  $15,  to  "Black  Messenger,"  belonging  to  Luke  Cone,  of  Oneida 
county. 

The  second  premium,  of  $10,  to  "  Young  Godolphin,"  belonging 
to  John  M,  Tiffany,  of  Chenango  county. 

Two  years  old  Stallions. 

The  following  discretionary  premiums  to  two  years  old  stallions,  the 
committee  was  authorized  to  award  :  First  premium,  copy  of  Colman's 
Tour,  was  awarded  to  "Beppo, "  belonging  to  Isaac  Fairchild,  of 
Onondaga  county. 

The  second  premium,  vol.  of  Transactions,  to  "  Sir  Roderick,  '^ 
belonging  to  Matthew  Clarke,  of  Oneida  county. 

The  third  premium,  diploma,  to  "  Young  Sir  Charles, "  belonging  to 
George  B.  Rowe,  of  Madison  county. 

Having  performed  the  duty  assigned  to  us,  we  deem  it  not  incon- 
sistent with  the  position  we  have  occupied,  founded,  if  we  may  be 
permitted  to  express  the  opinion,  upon  some  little  experience  and 
observation  of  the  various  breeds  of  horses  in  the  United  States — to 
observe  that  the  prominent  defects  on  the  form  and  figure  of  the 
horses  that  have  passed  under  our  review,  consist  in  a  want  of  purer 
blood.  Believing  as  we  do,  that  the  public  must  look  to  the  thorough 
bred  horse  alone,  under  judicious  crossing  and  breeding,  for  the  requisite 
qualities  of  the  horse  of  "  all  work,"  (if  such  a  horse  can  be  found,) 
as  well  as  to  the  different  varieties  adapted  to  all  the  uses  to  which 
this  noble  animal  can  be  made  subservient.  As  an  evidence  of  this 
opinion,  we  would  observe,  that  although  many  fine  specimens  of  the 
different  kinds  of  horses  were  shown,  all  were  more  or  less  remarkable 
for  too  straight  a  shoulder,  too  thick  and  gammy  legs,  and  a  want  of 
muscular  development ;  which  combined,  impair  the  strength,  the 
symmetry  and  action  of  this  useful  friend  of  man. 

J.  M.  SHERWOOD, 
JOHN  A.  KING, 
EDWARD  LONG, 

Committee. 


MATCHED  HORSES  AND  GELDINGS. 

The  committee  on  matched  horses  and  geldings,  award  on  match- 
ed horses  : 
To   Ardon  Merrill,   of  Rome,  Oneida  co.  on  his  grey  * 

matched  horses,  the  first  premium f  10  00 

To  John  Butterfield,  of  Utica,  Oneida  co.,  on  his  black 

matched   horses,  the  second  premium    of two  Vols.  Trans. 

To  Lewis  Joy, .of  Trenton,  Oneida  co.,  on  his  black 

matched  horses  the  third  premium Diploma. 

To  A.  Mann,  (Welsh  &  Mann,)  of  New-York,  a  discetionary 
premium  of  a  diploma,  and  the  Transactions  of  the  society  for  1845, 
on  their  five  pairs  of  matched  cream  horses.  The  committee  did  not 
put  these  five  pairs  of  horses  and  the  single  pairs  in  competition. 
Not  doing  so,  the  committee  have  determined  as  a  testimonial  of  their 
appreciation  of  the  gay  and  splendid  show  made  by  Col.  Mann's  no- 


No.  105.]  85 

ble  team,  to  award  the  above  premium.  Of  their  kind,  the  commit- 
tee have  never  seen  any  thing  so  fine  and  showy,  nor  so  many  pairs 
so  well  trained.  They  were  most  admirably  driven,  all  attached  to 
one  wagon,  and  moved  as  by  one  will,  and  for  one  purpose.     They 

are   alike  a  credit  to  Col.  Mann,  and  to  Mr. ,  who  drove  them 

amid  the  vast  crowd  on  the  show  ground  with  great  skill. 

ON  GELDINGS. 

The  committee  award  to  John  Butterfield,  of  Utica,  Onei- 
da CO.,  on  his  bay  gelding,  the  first  premium  of $10  00 

To  Abraham  Soules,  of  Schenectady,  of  Schenectady  co., 

on  his  brown  horse,  the  second  premium  of one  vol.  Trans. 

To  G.  W.  Gardner,  of  Utica,  Oneida  co.,  on  his  ches- 

nut  horse,  a  premium  of  a Diploma. 

To  J.  Lennerbacker,  of  Utica,  Oneida  co.,  on  his  bay 

horse,  a  discretionary  premium  of  a Diploma. 

The  committee  at  their  final  view,  did  not  see  Mr.  Lennerbacker's 
horse,  and  by  their  own  fault.  On  this  account,  as  well  as  on  ac- 
count of  the  excellence  of  his  horse,  they  have  awarded  him  a  Di- 
ploma. 

By  order  of  the  committee. 

A.  STEVENS,  New-York, 
J.  T.  COOPER,  Albany,  ' 
D.  ROBINSON,  Fishkill. 


MARES  AND  COLTS. 

The  committee  appointed  to  examine  and  report  upon  mares  and 
colts,  beg  leave  to  report : 

That  they  have  awarded  the  first  premium  $20  to  George  Fardun,  of 
Geneva,  Ontario  co.,  for  his  mare  and  colt. 

Second  premium  |10,  to  Joel  B.  Nott,  for  his  mare  Iodine,  and  colt 
Effingham. 

Third  premium  diploma,  to  A.  Close,  of  Paris,  Oneida  co.,  for  his 
mare  and  colt. 

They  beg  leave  to  say  that  the  mare  Iodine,  is  a  full  blooded  ani- 
mal, and  of  as  good  blood  as  any  in  the  country.  Among  full-blooded 
stock  she  would  rank  in  the  first  class — but  as  the  draught  horse  in 
the  opinion  of  some  of  the  committee,  is  of  more  importance  than  the 
blood  horse,  and  as  Mr.  Fardun's  stock  are  admirably  adapted  for 
draught,  the  first  premium  was  awarded  accordingly. 

They  also  award  the  first  premium  for  3  year  old  mares,  to  Isaac 
Fairchild,  of  Fabius,  Onondaga  co.  for  his  black  mare  Fanny  Grey. 

To  William  C.  Burritt,  of  Paris,  Oneida  co.,  for  his  2  year  old 
mare,  a  Diploma. 

To  Roswell  Morgan,  his  pair  of  year  old  colts,  a  vol.  Transac- 
tions. 

To  Joel  B.  Nott,  a  vol.  of  Transactions,  for  his  1  year  old  colt 
Chlorine. 

To  Isaac  Fairchild,. a  diploma-  for  his  yearling  colt. 


86  [Senate 

To  Isaac  Fairchild,  for  2  year  old  colt, — vol.  Transactions. 
One  pair  of  mules,  2  vols.  Transactions. 

It  is  possible  that  owing  to  the  number  of  mares  and  colts  entered, 
some  miay  have  been  overlooked,  but  the  committee  must  say  in  jus- 
tice to  themselves,  that  they  devoted  all  their  time  to  a  faithful  dis- 
charge of  their  very  onerous  duties. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  the  exhibition  was  creditable  to 
the  State,  as  well  as  to  the  county  in  which  it  was  held. 

ANTHONY  VAN  BERGEN,  Ch'n. 
.    WILLIAM  IVES, 

F.  P.  BELLINGER,  Committee^ 


SHEEP. 

Class  I. — Long  Wooled  Sheep. 
Bucks. 

The  committee  on  long  wooled  sheep,  beg  leave  to  report  th^^ 
they  have  awarded  to  John  Mc  D.  Mc  Intyre,  of  Albany,  the  first 
premium  $10  for  his  Cotswold  Buck. 

Second  premium  Col.  Tour,  to  William  Hutford,  for  the  second 
best  buck  of  the  Bakewell  breed. 

Third  premium  diploma,  to  William  Rathbone,  Jr.  of  Otsego  co., 
for  his  yearling  Dishley  buck,  a  Diploma. 

The  committee  beg  leave  to  remark,  that  they  observe  a  manifest 
improvement  in  the  long  wooled  sheep,  and  that  the  competition  has 
been  very  close  and  animated ;  it  having  been  no  easy  matter  to 
settle  the  relative  merits  of  the  different  animals  presented  to  the 
committee  for  their  inspection. 

Ewes. 

They  also  report  that  they  have  awarded  the  first  premium,  $10,  to 
John  Breshart,  of  Montgomery  co.,  for  his  pen  of  five  ewes. 

Second  premium  to  William  Rathbone  of  Otsego. 

In  justice  to  Mr.  Rathbone,  the  committee  must  say,  that  his  ewes 
would  have  entitled  him  to  the  first  premium,  had  he  complied  with 
the  rules  of  the  society  as  to  numbers.  By  not  complying  with  that 
regulation,  he  is  prevented  by  the  rules  of  the  society  from  entering 
his  pen  of  three  ewes  for  premium.  The  committee,  however, 
have  taken  the  responsibility  upon  themselves  of  awarding  him  the 
second  premium — Colman's  Tour. 

Lambs. 
They  also  report  that  they  have  awarded  :  first  premium  for  the 
best  pen  of  five  ewe  lambs,  equally  to  George  BrinckerhofF  of  Al- 
bany, and  Thomas  Hollis,  of  Otsego  co.  The  above  pens  of  lambs 
were  excellent  specimens  of  the  breed — doing  great  credit  to  the  gen- 
tlemen who  bred  them — and  so  closely  approached  each  other  in  ex- 
cellence, that  the  committee  decided,  the  only  way  they  could  be 
just  to  the  different  competitors,  was  to  do  as  they  report,  divide  the 
premium. 

W.  AUG.  J.  NORTH,  Ch'n. 
ROBERT  S.  MUSSEN. 


r\ 


No.  105.]  87 

Class  II — Middle  Wooled. 
Bucks. 

One  buck,  John  McDonald  Mclntyre,  Albany,  first  pre- 
mium,    |10  00 

Frederick  Easton,  Mount  Morris,  Livingston  co.,  sec- 
ond premium Col.'s  Tour. 

Z.  B.  Wakeman,  Herkimer  co.,  third  premium Diploma. 

Ewes. 

John  McDonald  Mclntyre,  Albany,  five  ewes,  first  pre- 
mium,   |10  00 

J.  M.  Sherwood,  Auburn,  five  ewes,  second  premium,  Col's  Tour. 

Z.  B.  Wakeman,  Herkimer,  five  ewes,  third  premium,  Diploma. 

Lambs. 

John  McDonald  Mclntyre,  five  lambs,  first  premium.  ....  5  00 

WM.  H.  SOTHAM, 
LYMAN  J.  SHERWOOD, 


SAMUEL  WAIT,  Jr. 


Class  HI — Merinos. 

The  committee  appointed  to  examine  that  class  of  sheep  generally 
denominated  Merinos,  report  that  they  have  carefully  examined  the 
several  flocks  presented  to  their  notice,  and,  after  due  deliberation, 
they  have  come  to  the  following  conclusion,  viz  : 

Bucks. 

They  award  to  H.  &  J.  Carpenter,  for  the  best  ram, $10  00 

J.  M.  Sherwood,  second  best, Colman's  Tour. 

Reed  Burrett,  third  best, . .  .^ ,  Diploma. 

Ewes. 

For  the  best  five  ewes,  J.  M.  Sherwood, 10  tX) 

For  the  second  best,  Israel  Smith, Colman's  Tour. 

Lambs. 

For  the  best  five  lambs,  J.  M.  Sherwood, 5  00 

CHESTER  BUCK,  Chairman, 
Dr.  REED,  of  Pa., 
D.  R.  GILL, 

Committee. 


Class  IV — Saxons. 

The  undersigned,  who  were  appointed  a  committee  to  examine  and 
report  upon  the  fourth  class  of  sheep,  to  (wit,)  Saxons,  beg  leave  to 
say  that  they  entered  into  the  performance  of  the  duty  assigned  them 
and  carefully  examined  and  compared  the  different  lots  of  sheep  to 
which  their  labors  were  to  be  confined,  and  award, 

Bucks. 
For  the  best  Saxon  Buck,  the  first  premiumj$10,  to  S.  B.  Crocker,  of 
Vernon,  Oneida  county. 


88  [Senate 

The  second  premium,  Col.  Tour,  for  the  second  best  to  S.  H. 
Church,  of  Vernon,  Oneida  county. 

The  third  premium,  Diploma,  to  J.  R.  Jones,  of  Vernon,  for  his 
cross  of  Saxon  and  Merinos. 

Ewes. 

For  the  best  pen  of  five  ewes,  the  first  premium,  $10,  is  awarded 
toS.  H.  Church,  of  Vernon,  Oneida  county. 

The  second  best.  Col.  Tour,  to  S.  B.  Crocker,  of  Vernon,  Oneida 
county. 

And  the  third  best,  a  Diploma,  to  D.  C.  Barnes,  of  Deerfield,, 
Oneida  county. 

Lambs. 

For  the  best  pen  of  five  lambs,  the  premium  of  |5  is  award- 
ed to  L.  J.  Marshall,  ol  Vernon, Oneida  county. 

The  committee    in  the    discharge   of  their   duty  might  properly 
stop  here  without  entering  into  a  discussion  of  the  merits  of  the 
Saxons,  as  compared  with  other  sheep  bearing  fine  wool,  but  they 
felt  that   they  would  not  have    fully  met    public  expectation,    did 
they  not  say  a  word  in  vindication  of  this  variety  without  derogating^ 
from  that  of  their  competitors,  the  Merinos.     The  first  importations 
of  fine  sheep  from  abroad  were  the  useful  Merinos.     The  crossing  of 
these  upon  our  native  flocks  has  very  much  benefitted  that  branch 
of   agriculture    and    given   immense    wealth    to    our   country.     In 
process    of  time,    however,    it    was    discovered    that    in    Saxonyy 
there  were    sheep,  probably  in    the  first    instance  bred   from  Me- 
rinos, who  had  not  quite  the  size  of   the  carcase  of  the  Merino, 
but  a  softer  kind  of   wool,  and  of  finer  texture.     Many  of  these 
sheep  were  imported  into  this  country,  and  several  of  these  flocks 
have  remained  unmixed  with  any  other  variety,  and  the  wool  from 
them  has  uniformly  brought  a  much  higher  price   than  either  the 
pure  Merino  or  the  grade  wool  of  the  Saxon  with  Merino  or  any 
other.     The  wool  itself  is  of  a  softer  texture  and  finer  quality,  and 
although  the  Saxon  has  been  crossed  in  every  possible  way,  yet  I 
believe  it  cannot  justly  be  contended  that  there  is  any  other  variety 
of  sheep  in  this  country,  that  can  compete  with  the  Saxons  in  these 
two  qualities  which  are  so  essential  to  the  manufacture  of  the  finer 
broadcloths  and  cassimeres.     Indeed,  an  experienced  judge,  upon 
running  his  hand  over  a  piece  of  broadcloth,  will  tell  you  at  once 
nearly  how  much  Saxon  w^ool  enters  into  its  composition,  and  I  have 
never  heard  but  that  for  its  quality,  it  was  quite  as  strong  as  that  manu- 
factured from  any  other  variety  of  wool,  and  we  all  know  it  always 
bears  a  much  higher  price.     It  has  been  objected  to  the  Saxons  that 
they  have  slender  constitutions,  and  are  light  of  carcase.     Perhaps 
there  may  be  something  in  the  first  objection,  but  the  experience  of 
fifteen   or  twenty  years  has  taught  the  friends  of  this  animal,  that 
with  ordinary  care  they  are   sufficiently  hardy  for  our  climate,  and 
thrive  well  in  our  pastures ;  and  no  man  having  experience  in  the 
growing  of  fine  wool  will  for  a  moment  say  that  the  sheep  that  grow 
it  can,  for  any  length  of  time,  produce  it,  and  be  exposed  to  our  in- 
clement weather.     If  we  will  have  fine  wool,  our  sheep  must  be 
sheltered  from  storms,  and  if,  therefore,  their  constitutions  are  not  as 


No.  105.]  89 

hardy  as  some  others,  it  is  made  so  by  our  treatment.  As  to  the 
other  objections,  we  find  that  lightness  of  fleece  can  be  obviated  by 
more  careful  breeding,  without  impairing  materially  the  fineness  of 
the  wool ;  and  we  find  this  objection  is  wearing  away,  and  more  intel- 
ligent treatment  tends  to  produce  this  result ;  lightness  of  carcase  we 
do  not  consider  an  objection,  because  it  is  more  than  made  up  in  the 
larger  number  of  animals  that  we  can  feed  upon  the  same  pastures, 
compared  with  the  number  of  those  that  have  a  larger  size.  No  man 
will  contend  that  upon  a  given  number  of  acres  you  can  keep  as  many 
large  Leicesters  or  Bakewells  as  you  can  small  Saxons,  and  the  same 
rule  must  apply  to  the  intermediate  sizes.  The  committee  would 
not  derogate  from  the  good  and  valuable  qualities  of  any  variety  of 
sheep  ;  and  whilst  they  consider  that  each  several  class  has  peculiar 
and  great  merits,  they  will  claim  for  the  Saxons  fineness  of  fleece  and 
softness  of  feel,  two  qualities  they  have  not  discovered  in  an  equal 
degree  as  yet  in  any  other  variety.  It  is,  however,  for  the  manufac- 
turer to  say  how  far  this  peculiar  breed  of  sheep  shall  be  encouraged, 
by  the  better  prices  they  pay  for  the  wool.  If  they  do  not  feel  dis- 
posed to  pay  pro  rata  for  it,  it  will  be  the  signal  for  the  farmer  to 
fall  back  upon  some  coarser  kind  that  pays  better.  All  of  which  is 
respectfully  submitted.  J.  P.  BEEKMAN, 

W.  G.  TILDEN, 
J.  M.  ELLIS, 

Committee. 


SHEEP  FROM  OTHER  STATES. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  flocks  of  sheep  from  sis- 
ter States,  beg  leave  to  report  that  they  have  examsned  the  same, 
and  were  much  pleased  to  see  so  large  a  lot  of  fine  sheep  attracted 
to  the  State  of  New- York,  by  means  of  her  Agricultural  Fair. 

These  sheep  are  descendants  of  the  sheep  imported  by  Gen.  Hum- 
phrey, of  Conn.,  and  others.  But  though  descendants,  as  to  size  of 
carcase  and  excellence  of  points,  they  are  vastly  improved.  Proba- 
bly the  same  remark  would  not  apply,  with  equal  force,  to  the  fine- 
ness and  quality  of  their  wool. 

They  possess  great  uniformity  of  fleece — are  exceedingly  well 
covered  with  wool — and  the  wool  is  of  excellent  quality.  In  a  word 
the  sheep  are  worthy  the  honorable  notice  of  the  society. 

The  committee  beg  leave  to  express  their  decided  approval  of  the 
policy  of  encouraging  our  brother  farmers  of  sister  States  in  compe- 
ting with  us  for  the  palm  of  merit. 

The  agricultural  community  are  deeply  concerned  in  knowing  accu- 
rately what  improvements  are  made  in  the  breeds  of  sheep  or  cattle. 

The  names  of  the  proprietors  are,  J.  H.  Nettleton,  J.  N.  Blakes- 
ley,  Nathaniel  B.  Smith,  and  Stephen  Atwood,  all  of  Litchfield  Co., 
Conn.,  and  to  each  of  whom  the  committee  recommend  that  a  diplo- 
be  awarded. 

After  the  committee  had  completed  their  labors,  they  were  casu- 
ally informed  that  a  flock  of  sheep  had  arrived  from  Vermont.     If 


90  [Senate 

such  is  the  fact,  they  regret  that  they  had  not  an  opportunity  of 
viewing  them. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 
J.  B.  NOTT,  Albany, 
JNO.  SAVAGE,  Washington  Co., 
THOS.  L.  DAVIES,  Dutchess  Co. 
JOHN  MILLER,  Cortland, 
WM.  RANDALL,  Cortland, 

Committee. 


SWINE. 


Mr.  President — Why  as  humble  an  individual  as  myself,  was 
selected  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  hogs  (yes,  sir,  hogs  is  the 
word)  is  past  my  comprehension  ;  custom  has  sanctioned  the  practice 
of  bringing  into  this  report  all  the  wit  and  joyous  philosophy  of 
Heraclites,  and  the  jests  and  merriment  of  the  laughter  moving 
Momus — Shakspeares  and  Colmans  the  younger,  and  Hoods,  have 
gone  before  hogology — the  whole  ground  is  occupied' — the  subject  is 
exhausted,  and  after  the  renowned  reports  of  the  wits  and  geniuses 
of  the  Bay  State,  I  can  expect  to  come  but  haltingly  off,  and  perhaps 
finish  a  great  bore.  Ad  malum  Jorum  suarium  meos  porculos  contuli. 
Would  that  the  mantle  of  the  lamented  Lincoln  had  fallen  on  my 
shoulders. 

Although  I  confess  to  the  vulgarity  of  being  a  lover  of  pork,  yet 
as  to  my  delight  in  the  "  living  beauties,^''  sir,  "  there  is  no  specula- 
tion in  the  eyes  they  glare  at  me." 

According  to  the  theory  of  the  celebrated  work  of  Sir  Richard 
Vyvian,  the  hog  is  one  of  the  types  of  humanity,  and  man  but  the 
development  of  that  type;  which  may  account  why  some  of  our 
species  are  so  hoggishly  inclined,  and  are  not  inaptly  sometimes 
called  by  disappointed  office  seekers,  the  "  swinish  multitude.'^ 

If  his  inwards  are,  as  it  is  said,  a  counterpart  of  man's,  his  outward 
acts  exhibit  some  striking  analogies  in — propensities — temper  and 
conduct. 

He  is  even  a  politician  on  an  enlarged  scale,  but  whether  whig  or 
loco  this  deponent  saith  not,  for  he  is  equally  partial  to  Clay  for  his 
amusement,  as  to  Poke  root  for  his  subsistence. 

He  goes  for  annexation — distribution,  not  only  of  the  land,  but  of 
its  productions — for  sub-treasuries  and  for  enlargement — but  is  opposed 
to  banks  and  all  monopolies — he  is  a  great  stickler  for  the  largest 
liberty. 

He  has  never  been  known  to  pull  down  printing  presses,  but  he 
upsets  every  thing  else  that  interferes  with  his  interest  or  his  ambi- 
tion. 

He  does  not  make  stump  speeches,  nor  lay  pipe,  nor  tell  Roorbacks 
at  election,  but  he  will  go  in  at  a  hole  that  he  can't  find  his  way  out 
of  again,  which  is  a  most  striking  feature  of  modern  politicians. 


No.  105.]  91 

He  don't  volunteer  to  go  to  Texas,  nor  to  quarrel  about  boundaries. 
The  Neuces  and  the  Rio  Grande  are  beyond  the  hounds  of  his  ambi- 
tion. 

Although  JVative  American  "  to  the  manor  born,"  yet  he  is  not  in 
profession,  for  instead  of  having  but  one  'principle,  he  assimilates 
nearer  to  his  type  who  goes  for  seven  principles,  viz.,  the  Jive  loaves 
and  two  small  fishes. 

Abolitionists — see  how  their  feelings  bristle  when  their  indignation 
is  excited,  "  with  strong  arms  and  fiery  eyes,"  how  their  backs  are 
up  at  the  cries  of  one  of  their  brethren  in  durance  vile. 

Amalgamationists — black  and  white  is  not  a  color  with  them,  only 
its  negation,  the  whole  race  is  one — Berkshire  or  Leicester,  black  or 
white,  they  love  all  through  the  chapter. 

Anti-Renters — like  Falstaff,  they  give  no  reasons,  nor  pay  any 
rents  on  compulsion  ;  no,  not  if  as  plenty  as  blackberries,  but  unlike 
them  they  submit  to  quarter  sales. 

He  is  not  a  believer  in  Father  Miller's  calorific  prophecies,  although 
he  often  puts  on  his  ascension  robes,  but  they  smell  rather  too  much 
of  the  "  earth,  earthy,"  and  by  his  indifference  he  strongly  insinuates 
that  the  doctrine  is  "  the  deuce  to  pay  and  no  pitch  hot,"  or,  as  a 
very  fussy  old  gentleman  once  said  when  he  undertook  to  shear  him, 
"  great  cry  and  little  wool." 

He  is  a  life  member  of  all  the  temperance  societies  extant — a  full 
blooded  Washingtonian  Son  of  Temperance  and  Rechabite,  water  is 
his  Gin-eva.  and  buttermilk  his  champaigne ;  yet  he  has  been  foully 
slandered  by  the  saying  "  as  drunk  as  Davy's  sow." 

He  never  laughs  or  ivhistles — his  mouth  isn't  fixed  right ;  he 
could'nt  "  prepare  to  pucker,"  and  it  is  an  old  saying,  that  you 
can't  make  a  "  whistle  out  of  a  pig's  tail,"  nor  a  "  silk  purse  out  of 
a  sow's  ear,"  but  her  ears  when  properly  soused  will  bring  the 
'*  golden  mint  drops"  to  fill  the  silken  purse. 

Like  man,  his  back  is  up  with  any  interference  of  his  rights,  and 
he  is  not  to  be  driven,  unless  you  put  his  head  one  way  and  pull  his 
tail  the  other,  like  some  of  the  higher  mammal  species  (no  reference 
to  the  Mrs.  Caudles)  who  act  by  the  rule  of  contraries;  and  he  is 
very  apt  to  put  his  nose  in  places  where  he  has  no  business,  and 
sometimes  gets  it  tweaked  for  his  pains. 

None  of  his  higher  type  can  more  brutally  imitate  the  ferocities  of 
the  pugilistic  ring,  or  more  enthusiastically  enjoy  the  sports  of  the 
turf. 

A  mathematician — he  understands  latitude  and  longitude,  and  if  he 
cannot  "  raise  the  whirlwind  and  direct  the  storm,"  his  barometrical 
properties  invariably  indicate  its  approach. 

He  has  also  some  pretensions  to  classical  celebrity.  In  the  early 
stages  of  our  national  literature,  learned  pigs  divided  the  laurel  with 
some  of  our  learned  men ;  and  in  those  days  when  we  did'nt  print 
by  cart  loads  and  avalanches,  nothing  made  a  greater  sensation  in 
the  reading  world  than  Hoss^s  Tales. 

He  is  the  only  creature  that  improves  by  hanging  ;  a  man  or  a  dog 
is'nt  worth  half  as  much  after  this  ticklish  operation,  but  he  becomes 


92  [Senate 

a  Lord  Bacon  in  philosophical,  and  a  Hampden  in  political,  gastro- 
nomy. 

And  yet,  sir,  with  all  his  faults,  "we  could  better  spare  a  better 
man, "  for  you  must  have  observed  he  has  many  redeeming  qualities ; 
and  with  me,  sir,  he  improves  on  acquaintance  ;  for  the  shining  tints  of 
our  cloaks,  our  coats  and  hats,  the  glossy  ringlets  of  the  "  smooth  skinned 
woman  on  the  ottoman" — her  ivory  teeth  and  the  brilliancy  of  her 
jewelry,  is  due  to  one  of  the  productions  of  this  much  abused  animal ; 
his  outer  integuments  furnish  the  seat  for  the  mailed  warrior  and  the 
equestrian  sportsmen  and  sportswomen ;  his  olein  is  the  light  and  his 
jihrine  the  food  of  all  Christendom,  and  many  a  West-India  merchant 
has  made  a  fortune  out  of  hogs  heads. 

And  indeed,  sir,  they  are  very  pertly  apeing  gentility.  It  has  been 
said  that  they  are  the  true  aristocracy  of  the  country;  true,  they  can't 
exactly  play  on  the  piano,  but  a  litter  of  little  porcine  "  responsibili- 
ties, "  put  in  a  box,  with  strings  to  their  tails  and  attached  to  keys, 
would  "  discourse  most  eloquent  music."  W\\h  jewels  in  their  no^es 
and  their  caudal  appendages  nicely  curled,  they  spin  street  yarn  as 
much  at  their  ease  as  a  Broadway  dandy  or  dandyzette ;  they  are  the 
true  lazaroni  of  the  country.  Every  animal — every  man,  woman  and 
child  works,  but  him  ;  he  won't  work,  nor  you  can't  make  him  work  ; 
he  is  the  only  gentleman. 

In  short,  sir,  if  all  my  deductions  are  fair,  the  quadruped  is  treading 
close  on  the  heels  of  the  biped.,  and  in  this  age  of  namby  pamby  twaddle 
about  the  extension  of  the  rights  of  suffrage,  I  think,  Mr,  "President, 
they  ought  to  vote. 

The  committee,  in  accordance  with  their  duties,  proceeded  to  examine 
the  merits  of  the  different  animals  offered  to  their  view.  The  exhibi- 
tion, in  point  of  numbers,  was  not  as  respectably  represented  as  were 
the  other  classes  of  domestic  animals  ;  and  the  committee  cannot  but 
regret  the  apparent  want  of  attention  to  this  very  remarkable  character- 
istic and  interesting  animal.  Being  confined  by  the  instruction  of  the 
Executive  Committee,  they  have  varied,  perhaps,  from  their  individual 
judgments,  not  however,  questioning  the  soundness  of  the  conditions 
laid  down  as  the  true  criterion. 

The  committee  also  found  some  difficulty  in  arriving  at  the  pedigree 
and  blood  of  some  of  the  animals,  from  the  want  of  the  attendance  of 
the  owners. 

Mr.  Stickney,  of  Boston,  exhibited  two  pigs  of  the  Suffolk  breed, 
and  one  of  a'  cross  of  Suffolk  and  Middlesex,  which  show  some 
remarkable  points  in  smallness  of  bone  and  aptitude  to  take  on  fat ; 
which,  if  the  committee  are  not  mistaken,  will  make  a  valuable  addition 
to  our  stock,  if  they  are  not  deficient  in  size. 

Mr.  E.  H.  Ireland,  of  Watervhet,  Albany  county,  also  exhibited 
a  new  variety,  called  the  "  Spanish,"  which,  as  far  as  they  can  judge, 
combine  some  valuable  qualifications ;  but  for  want  of  sufficient 
knowledge  of  their  general  qualities,  were  unable  to  award  a  premium. 

Mr.  Starrs,  of  Trenton,  Oneida,  and  Mr.  Wakeman,  of  Herkimer, 
exhibited  some  fine  Leicester  and  Berkshire  boars,  to  whom  great  credit 


No.  105.]  93 

is  due,  and  the  committee  regret  that  their  powers  were  so  limited,  or 
they  would  have  awarded  something  more  tangible  than  empty  praise. 
They  have  awarded  their  premiums  as  follows  : 

Boars. 

To  C.  R.  Nichols,  of  Darien,  Genesee  county,  the  first  premium 
for  the  best  boar  of  the  Leicester  breed,  15  months  old,  $10. 

To  J.  M.  Sherwood,  of  Auburn,  the  second  premium  for  the  second 
best  boar  of  the  Berkshire  breed,  14  months  old,  Colman's  European 
Tour. 

To  L.  F.  Marshall,  of  Verona,  Oneida  county,  for  the  third  best 
boar  of  the  Berkshire  breed,  the  third  premium,  a  diploma. 

Breeding  sows. 

To  J.  J.  Bushart,  of  Mohawk,  Montgomery  county,  for  the  best 
breeding  sow,  of  the  grade  Berkshire  and  Leicester,  the  first  pre- 
mium, $10. 

To  Robert  Eells,  of  Westmoreland,  Oneida  county,  the  second  pre- 
mium for  the  second  best  breeding  sow,  grade  Berkshire  and , 

Colman's  European  Tour. 

To  Peter  Smith,  of  Utica,  the  third  premium  for  the  third  best 
breeding  sow,  Berkshire,  a  diploma. 

Pigs. 

To  Robert  Eells,  of  Westmoreland,  for  the  four  best  pigs  six^nd  a 
half  months  old,  first  premium,  $3. 

To  James  Plaat,  of  Utica,  the  second  premium  for  the  second  best 
4  pigs,  a  diploma. 

L.  B.  LANGWORTHY, 
GEORGE  WEBB, 
THOMAS  HARROP, 

Committee. 


94  [Senate 

REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  POULTRY. 

The  committee  appointed  by  the  Executive  Committee  to  the  high 
and  exalted  station  of  sitting  in  judgment  on  the  merits  and  demerits 
of  poultry,  would  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following  report :  It  was  not 
not  without  great  reluctance  that  we  consented  to  act  in  the  highly 
responsible  station  in  which  your  partiality  placed  us.  Our  own  lack  of 
just  discrimination  in  the  important  questions  suggested  to  us  in  the  wide 
field  which  a  consideration  of  the  subjects  threw  open  to  us — ^being  an 
investigation  either  directly  or  indirectly  of  an  important  branch  of  the 
ainmal  kingdom,  known  as  bipeds^  made  us  shrink  from  the  task  as 
one  of  no  ordinary  magnitude ;  for,  if  ancient  philosophy  be  true,  the 
very  lords  of  creation  might  come  before  us  for  examination  and 
righteous  judgment. 

It  was  an  axiom  of  the  divine  Plato  that  human  beings  were  nothing 
more  than  featherless  fowls  ;  which  axiom,  we  have  classic  authority 
for  saying,  was  very  fully  illustrated,  if  not  fairly  demonstrated,  by 
one  of  his  pupils  plucking  a  tall  rooster  and  exhibiting  him  as  Platoh 
man.  It  is  within  the  recollection  of  the  chairman,  that  it  was  once 
gravely  mooted  in  a  court  of  ancient  Plymouth,  by  two  gentlemen 
learned  in  the  law,  before  an  august  judge  of  the  common  pleas, 
whether  "  Hins  were  essential  to  civilization,  or  civilization  essential 
to  hins,^^  and  as  is  usual  with  that  profession,  on  such  momentous 
questions,  involving  the  great  first  principles  of  association  as  well  as 
civil  polity — such  were  the  floods  of  darkness  poured  out  on  the 
occasion  that  the  question  has  remained  enveloped  in  a  learned  fog 
ever  since. 

Your  committee,  during  the  discharge  of  their  onerous  duties,  felt 
very  seriously  the  difficulties  to  which  the  non-settlement  of  these 
principles  subjected  them.  They  felt  that  they  were  left  wholly  to  the 
lights  of  nature  and  of  reason  to  guide  them  in  the  important  decisions 
they  were  required  to  make. 

They  also  feel  that  an  apology  is  due,  not  only  to  the  society,  but 
to  the  world  at  large,  for  venturing  to  make  a  report  with  no  other 
help  than  what  such  lights,  aided  by  what  little  common  sense  they 
chanced  to  bring  with  them  in  a  hurried  departure  from  home,  afforded. 

They  know  it  is  not  usual,  but  for  this  departure  from  common 
custom  they  trust  the  well  known  clemency  and  urbanity  of  the 
executive  will  pardon  them. 

Leaving,  therefore,  the  actual  settlement  of  the  above  question  to  the 
legal  and  logical  acumen  of  some  future  Jeremy  Bentham,  we  will. 
venture  to  state  a  few  things  in  the  premises  that  are  self-evident. 

"  Hins, "  if  not  the  essential  basis  of  civilized  society,  are  a  large 
ingredient  of  it.  If  not  the  prototypes  they  must  be  rather  more  than 
the  shadow — for  they  certainly  have  their  correspondences  in  the  grand 
family  of  man  with  which  they  are  so  immediately  and  intimately 
connected — from  the  poor,  despised,  down-trodden,  abject,  henpecked 
husband^  up  to  the  political  Chapmans  of  every  class  and  grade  of 
politicians  who  crow  long  and  loud  and  lustily  over  the  temporary 
triumphs  of  their  party.     Our  time  will  not  permit  us  to  speculate 


No.  105.]  95 

further  on  this  connection  of  the  two-legged  races,  and  we  will  hasten 
to  the  dry  detail  of  business. 

Your  premiums,  offered  for  Dorkings,  black-  Polands,  and  for  large 
fowls — constituted  the  first  class. 

The  Dorkings  have,  for  a  time,  played  a  very  important  part  among 
the  aristocracy  oi  'poultry dom^  seeming  to  pride  themselves  upon  certain 
traits  incident  to  the  family,  among  which  not  the  least  are,  the  powers 
of  carrying  a  high  and  a  lofty  crescent^  and  sporting  an  extra  but  use- 
less toe  upon  each  foot.  We  say  useless  toe,  for  as  far  as  all  practical 
purposes  are  concerned,  less  celebrated  and  more  democratic  fowl  can 
get  along  very  well  with  only  four,  and  indeed,  manage  to  toe  the  mark 
with  becoming  alacrity,  and  to  tread  up  to  the  dough  dish  with  more 
ease  and  freedom  in  proportion  to  the  lack  of  the  incumbrance  in 
question. 

Of  this  privileged  class,  there  were  only  two  entries,  viz :  Luther 
Tucker,  of  Albany,  and  by  George  Bement,  of  Albany.  There  were 
also  some  very  fine  specimens  of  this  breed  presented  for  exhibition 
only,  by  L.  F,  Allen,  of  Buffalo. 

We  regret  to  state  that  Mr.  Bement  had  the  misfortune  to  lose,  by 
death,  a  valuable  cock  of  this  breed,  after  it  came  upon  the  ground — 
proving  most  incontestibly  that  high  bloody  even  in  the  poultry  yard,  is 
not  exempt  from  the  casualties  incident  to  fowls  of  more  humble 
pretensions.* 

As  in  duty  bound,  we  condoled  in  all  apparent  sincerity  with  Mr. 
Bement  for  his  loss,  but  at  the  same  time,  could  not  help  indulging  a 
little  of  the  selfish  weakness  of  human  nature,  in  the  consideration  that 
his  loss  had  bden  our  gain,  by  reducing  the  question  of  competion  to 
one  stock,  and  we  very  easily  and  unanimously  agreed  to  give  the 
society's  premium  to  the  only  remaining  lot  that  could  legitimately 
claim  it,  viz  :  to  Luther  Tucker,  of  Albany. 

We  think  Mr.  Tucker's  stock  of  Dorkings  may  claim  to  be  a  grade 
higher  than  the  commonalty  of  this  feathered  nobility,  inasmuch  as 
the  spur  on  the  larbo  ard  heel  turns  outward  ;  and  the  hen  is  provided 
also  with  a  pair  of  formidable  spurs,  with  a  view,  we  suppose,  to  enable 
her  to  defend  any  ^'■reserved  rights''"'  that  may  be  assailed  by  any 
jealous  or  overbearing  zealots  of  the  coop. 

Another  family,  of  ancient  lineage  and  high  born  blood,  put  in  their 
claims  for  the  society's  favors  and  special  consideration  ;  which  family 
rejoices  in  the  name  of  the  "  black  Polands,"  or  "topknots."  These 
are  distinguished  by  their  livery  of  crow  black,  surmounted  by  an 
enormous  feathery  tiara  of  pure  white.  But  alas!  purity  of  blood 
cannot  always  be  maintained,  even  in  the  best  of  families  I  and  it  is 
not  surprising  too  oftentimes  see  the  peculiar  badge  of  ancient  Poland, 
surmounting  a  head  and  shoulders  of  more  plebeian  origin. 

As  matter  of  proof  of  this  position,  your  committee  were  introduced 
to  a  varied  assemblage  of  the  "topknot"  race,  all  claiming  preferment 
— "as  the  manner  of  some  is"  by  virtue  of  their  ancestry,  but  never- 
theless priding  themselves  upon  some  individual  excellence  of  character 
or  person. 

♦Pallida  mors  pulsat  eequa  pede 
Dorkingi  coopumet  roostrumPolandri. 

Virgil  Impkoved. 


96  [Senate 

Thus  we  found  upon  the  ground,  the  black  Poland,  par  excellence — 
the  white  Poland — the  golden  Poland,  and  the  mottled  spangled 
speckled  Poland — all  Very  beautiful  in  their  appearance,  and  all  court- 
ing our  smiles  and  approbation,  by  a  touching  exhibition  of  every 
henroost  grace  of  action  and  blandishment,  but  proving  incontestibly, 
by  the  varied  hues  and  manners  they  exhibited,  that,  if  no  conventional 
rules  had  been  violated,  in  their  origin,  they  were  born  in  a  community 
where 

"Love  was  liberty  and  Nature  law." 

If  your  committee  had  not  been  tied  down  by  an  inflexible  law  of 
the  society,  there  is  no  knowing  which  set  of  the  coquettish  beauties 
before  us  would  have  received  the  marks  of  favor  in  our  bestowal. 
We  were  compelled  by  this  law,  to  "  show  mercy  to  the  blacks,''^  and 
we  accordingly  gave  the  premium  to  those  belonging  to  George  Be- 
ment,  as  being  the  handsomest  darkies  on  the  ground. 

The  fowls  entered  for  premium  by  Mr.  Grosvenor  were  not  found 
by  your  committee  ;  they  were  therefore  a  nonentity  to  us. 

Mr.  Skinner's  fowls  were  very  fine,  but  not  so  large  as  some  on 
the  ground.  They  however  demonstrated  that  they  were  not  so  large 
that  they  could  not  lay^  as  one  very  politely  presented  us  with  an 
egg  as  we  came  round — as  much  as  to  say,  we  are  not  above  our  busi- 
ness^ although  among  the  great  ones. 

Mr.  Robinson's  fowls  were  not  examined  by  a  full  committee,  for 
this  reason — they  had  taken  to  themselves  wings  and  cleared  out. 
Some  heavy  bottomed  loafer  had  taken  the  liberty  of  using  their  coop 
as  a  means  oi  rising  above  his  neighbors^  and  the  foundation  not  being 
designed  for  such  base  purposes,  gave  way,  giving  leave  to  the  loafer 
to  come  back  to  his  former  low  estate,  and  the  fowls  the  "  liberty  of 
the  yard"  without  a  bail  bond.  The  good  woman,  however,  who 
had  them  in  charge,  caused  them  to  be  re-arrested  and  submitted  to 
a  part  of  the  committee,  after  the  premiums  were  awarded,  which 
part  take  the  liberty  of  recommending  a  gratuity — provided  neverthe- 
less, the  funds  of  the  Society  will  allow  it.  She  called  them  "  Samp- 
sons," whether  on  account  of  their  great  strength,  or  because  of  the 
crush  of  the  pillars  of  their  prison  house  we  are  not  advised. 

Mr.  Tucker  introduced  to  our  acquaintance  a  tall  and  loving  couple 
from  Java,  under  the  appellation  of  Black  Javas,  and  another  couple 
that  were  White  Javas.  They  may  safely  be  called  the  Giants  of  the 
roost,  and  were  propagated  by  the  children  of  Anak,  in  the  early 
days  of  the  world ;  for  the  Poland  and  Bantams  of  these  degenerate 
times,  can  no  more  be  compared  to  them  than  "  Hyperion  to  a  Satyr." 

Mr.  Bement  presented  for  our  consideration  in  this  departmeat,  a 
variety  called  the  "  Ostrich" — alias  Bloodgood — alias  Good  Blood, 
alias  Berks  County' — a  very  fine  variety,  and  when  cooked  and  served 
up  in  "  mine  host's"  best  style,  are  no  doubt  the  ne  plus  ultra  of 
"  chicken  fixens." 

Your  committee  regret  that  in  this  respect,  they  were  compelled 
to  reason  altogether  in  the  abstract,  not  having  the  actual  thing  in 
concrete  before  them,  although  they  ardently  longed  for  it.  And  in 
this  frame  of  mind  they  awarded  him  the  Society's  premium.     We 


No.  105.]  97 

hope  it  will  not  turn  out  to  him,  as  the  roast  chickens  did  to  uSj  a 
mere  abstraction. 

The  Society's  premiums  offered  for  the  greatest  variety  of  fowls — 
for  the  best  pair  of  turkeys — for  the  best  pair  of  ducks  and  the  best 
pair  of  geese  constituted  the  second  class. 

Before  proceeding  to  a  detail  of  the  premiums  awarded,  your  com- 
mittee would  beg  leave  to  recommend  that  a  diploma  be  given  to 
John  Parris  of  Albany,  for  his  fine  display  of  pigeons,  comprising  ten 
varieties  of  very  superior  specimens.  No  premium  was  offered  for 
this  class  of  poultry,  if  poultry  they  may  be  called. 

They  would  also  recommend  that  a  diploma  be  given  to  Master 
E.  K.  Johnson,  of  Rome,  for  the  great  variety  of  fowl  exhibited  by 
him.  Although  he  had  not  enough  to  sweep  the  premium,  his  spe- 
cimens were  very  fine  indeed,  and  the  taste  displayed  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  his  coops  deserves  encouragement. 

Your  premium,  $3,  on  turkeys  they  award  to  Luther  Tucker,  for  his 
splendid  pair  of  "Native  Americans"  recently  caught,  and  now 
undergoing  the  salutary  restraints  of  the  naturalization  law. 

Your  premium,  |3,  on  Ducks  the  committee  award  to  George  Bement 
for  his  noble  pair  of  Muscovies. 

The  awarding  of  your  premium  for  geese  placed  us  in  quite  a  di- 
lemma. 

The  offer  of  a  premium  on  this  class  of  animals  opened  an  exceed- 
ingly hroad  field,  and  your  committee  were  at  a  loss  to  determine 
whether,  in  letter  and  in  spirit,  it  did  not  give  to  us  a  greater  scope 
of  action  than  any  other  committee  had. 

The  term  "  goose,"  when  used  in  a  generic  sense  comprises  more 
varieties  and  species  than  any  other  in  the  English  language.  The 
world  is  full  of  geese,  and  the  webfooted  variety  are  not  the  only  kind 
that  may  be  known  by  their  gabbling,  or  for  the  peculiar  faculty  of 
devouring  all  before  them  and  poisoning  all  behind  them.  The  do- 
mestic goose,  or  goose  proper,  has  been  held  in  high  esteem  ever 
since  the  spinsters  of  Old  Rome  fed  them  on  the  capitol  hill,  and  the 
careless  freebooters,  who  meant  to  sack  the  city,  stumbled  over  their 
pen  and  set  them  to  squawking  by  way  of  alarm  at  the  intrusion. 

The  deification  which  they  obtained  on  account  of  this  timely 
clamor,  from  the  people  of  that  day,  who  in  the  plenitude  of  their 
gratitude  could  show  divine  honors  even  to  a  goose,  has  given  them 
■extra  privileges  which  have  been  usurped  and  monopolized  by  their 
brethren  of  a  taller  species.  Whether  the  award  of  a  premium  to 
the  likeliest  pair  of  this  last  class,  would  not  ultimately  lead  to  some 
improvement,  was  a  question  which  we  were  unable  to  solve.  Not 
wishing  however  to  incur  too  much  responsibility  we  concluded  to 
leave  this  to  the  various  benevolent  institutions  that  are  now  in  full 
blast  among  us,  and  ventured  a  bestowal  of  your  bounty  on  the  more 
humble  and  useful  varieties  before  us  in  the  coops. 

After  careful  and  serious  deliberation  we  came  to  the  conclusion 
to  award  the  premium  of  $3,  to  George  Bement,  for  his  pair  of  African 
geese — one  of  which  weighs  24  pounds  on  the  hoof. 

Mr.  President — The  poultry  committee — unlike  many  others  in  this 

[Senate,  No.  105  ]  7 


98  [Senate 

world  who  are  high  in  authority,  have  the  proud  consciousness  of 
being  elevated  to  their  present  exalted  position  without  any  election- 
eering— logrolling  or  solicitation  on  their  part. 

Being  unexpectedly  constituted  sole  judges  of  the  "  beauty  and 
booty-^  of  the  henroosts  of  the  Empire  State,  they  performed  their 
labors,  not  as  they  would,  but  as  they  best  could. 

Whether  their  production  be  sound,  or  whether  it  be  addled,  they 
respectfully  beg  leave  to  lay  it  on  your  honor's  table — to  cease  their 
cackling  and  "  rJear  the  coop.'^' 

E.  HOLMES, 
T.  H.  HYATT, 
S.  BARROW. 


EXTRACT    FROM    WYOMING   COUNTY   REPORT. 

The  undersigned  would  add,  that  there  was  presented  a  coop  of 
three  hens  and  one  cock,  of  the  "  Cornwall  Hen,"  a  fair  specimen 
of  the  race. 

It  may  be  asked,  what  is  the  "  Cornwall  Hen?''  I  answer  from 
the  best  authority.  The  State  geologists  speak  of  a  rock  found  at 
Gardow,  Livingston  county,  as  the  ''•  Gardow  shale."  Whyl  Be- 
cause ih.e.j find  it  at  Gardow.  It  may  be  true  that  foreign  geologists 
would  be  utterly  at  a  loss  to  know  from  the  name,  what  are  the  dis- 
tinguishing features  of  the  strata  called  Gardow  shale.  They  could 
only  ascertain  its  character  from  an  examination  of  the  rock.  I  found 
these  hens  at  Mr.  Cornwall's  ;  I  therefore  call  them  Cornwall  hens. 
They  weigh  from  four  to  six  pounds  each — lay  eggs  weighing  four 
ounces — and  hatch  two  chicks,  alive  and  in  health,  from  one  egg; 
and  their  quality  and  character  may  be  learned  by  the  society  in  the^ 
same  way  that  men  of  science  learn  the  peculiar  traits  of  the  Gardow 
shale — ^by  coming  to  see  them,  which  they  are  invited  to  do. 

In  great  haste, 

Respectfully  submitted. 

Warsaw,  2d  Oct.  1845.  F.  C.  D.  McKAY. 


No.  105.1  99 

PLOWS, 

The  committee  on  the  trial  of  plows,  report :  A  very  large  num- 
ber of  plows  was  entered  for  trial,  and  the  committee  hazard  the 
assertion  that  no  such  display  of  this  important  farm  implement  was 
ever  before  made  in  any  country. 

The  Dynamometer  furnished  by  the  society,  proved  defective,  but 
we  availed  ourselves  of  the  offer  of  Mr.  Burrall's  instrument,  which 
worked  to  our  satisfaction. 

We  tested  the  amount  of  power  required  to  turn  a  furrow  twelve 
inches  in  width,  and  six  in  depth  of  common  "green  sward,"  by 
drawing  the  several  plows  with  the  Dynamometer,  by  horse  power, 
and  then  verified  the  results  by  the  use  of  a  windlass,  and  are  con- 
fident that  we  have  arrived  so  nearly  at  the  power  required,  as  to  do 
justice  to  the  competitors. 

Required* 
The  plow  entered  by  Howard  Delano  of  Mottville,  Onon- 
daga Co.,  New-York,  as  the  Diamond  improved, 350  lbs. 

By  Thomas  D.  Burrall,of  Geneva,  shell-wheel  plow,  No.  3,  375 
By  Brainard  &  Comstock,  of  Rome  N.  Y.,  Diamond  No.  5,  375 

By  E.  Wilson,  of  Verona,  N.  Y.,  Diamond,  No.  5, 400 

By  Miner,  Horton  &  Co.,  of  Peekskill,  N.  Y.  No.  22, 400 

By  John  B.  Gaylord,  of  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  No.  6, 475 

By  Baily,  Whitler,  Wheeler  &  Co,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  No.  3,  . .  475 

By  Asa  Beebe,  of  Oswego,  plow  "Black  Hawk," 475 

By  Wm.  Frater,  of  Burlington.  Otsego  co.  N.  Y.  Scotch  plow  500 
We  award  the  first  premium  of  $15.00  to  Howard  Delano. 

The  second  would  have  been  awarded  to  Mr.  Burrall,  but  that  his 
plow  was  ineligible,  from  having  received  that  premium  last  year. 

The  plows  presented  by  Messrs.  Brainard  and  Comstock,  and  E. 
Wilson,  were  also  ineligible,  being  the  same  that  received  the  first 
premium  last  year. 

The  second  premium,  a  silver  medal,  is  awarded  to  Miner,  Horton 

&Co. 

The  third,  a  diploma,  to  John  B.  Gaylord. 

The  plows  presented  by  Messrs  Brainard  &  Comstock,  John  B. 
Gaylord  and  E.  Wilson,  were  of  such  splendid  finish,  that  the  com- 
mittee cannot  forbear  expressing  their  admiration  of  them. 

Alva  Jefferson,  of  Darien,  New-York,  presented  what  he  called 
the  "Michigan  subsoil  plow,"  or  more  properly  a  trench  plow.  The 
plan  of  this  implement  is  certainly  novel,  it  being  in  fact,  two  plows 
attached  to  the  same  beam,  the  forward  one  cutting  about  three  inches 
deep,  and  reversing  the  sod  ;  the  second  following  about  four  inches 
deeper,  and  bringing  up  the  subsoil,  and  placing  it  upon  the  furrow 
slice,  made  by  the  first.     We  award  to  him  the  premium  of  $10.00. 


IGO  [Senate 

To  Alva  Jefferson,  Darien,  New-York,  for  the  best  subsoil  plow, 
110.00. 

A  number  of  other  plows  were  submitted,  among  which  were  the 
Wisconsin,  the  Scotch  Wire  mould-board,  &c.  &c.,  which  have  their 
merits,  and  of  which  the  committee  would  no  doubt  have  been  able 
to  make  honorable  mention,  had  they  been  submitted  to  the  test  re- 
quired. 

All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted, 

G.  GEDDES. 
C.  C.  DENNIS. 
M.  L.  BRAINARD, 
September,  19th.  1845. 


ON  SUBSOIL  PLOUGHING, 


By  S»  McLean,  Royalton,  JYiagara  Co.,  JV*.  Y. 


Deep  ploughing  is  a  principle  fully  justified,  both  by  the  deductions 
of  sound  philosophy  and  the  results  of  experience.  Notwithstanding 
the  universality  of  the  axiom,  there  is  a  lamentable  remissness  in  a 
great  majority  of  our  agriculturists,  particularly  in  the  cultivation  of 
all  our  field  crops. 

In  the  garden  the  farmer  yields  to  the  dictum  of  common  sense 
and  experience.  He  ploughs,  or  spades,  to  a  good  depth,  presuming, 
and  with  good  reason,  that  his  extra  labor  will  be  rewarded  with  an 
extra  growth  of  vegetation..  But  behold  how  sudden  the  transition! 
He  leaves  his  garden  with  a  conscious  experience  of  the  utility 
of  deeply  stirring  the  earth,  and  at  the  same  time,  aided  by  established 
scientific  principles,  that  the  greater  the  depth  of  the  soil,  the  more 
ample  will  be  his  reward;  but  with  all  the  lights  of  science,  and 
corroborated  by  his  own  experience,  he  goes  from  his  garden  to  his 
fallow,  spell-bound  with  all  his  ancestral  associations  and  delusions. 
My  fathers  skimmed,  and  so  must  I !  Such  is  the  practice,  if  not  the 
language,  of  nine-tenths  of  the  agriculturists  of  our  country,  and 
particularly  of  the  farmers  of  western  New-York.  There  is  no  sub- 
ject of  such  vital  importance  to  the  farmer,  and  none  in  which  his 
interest  is  so  intimately  connected  as  a  due  preparation  of  the  soil, 
more  particularly  with  reference  to  the  growing  of  wheat.  So  long 
as  he  continues  the  skimming  process,  just  so  long  his  hopes  will  be 


No.  105.]  101 

blasted,  notwithstanding  the  frequent,  and  I  might  with  propriety 
say  constant^  admonitions  of  the  unalterable  laws  of  vegetation.  One 
fact  to  which  I  would  respectfully  call  the  attention  of  the  farmers, 
and  no  doubt  the  same  thing  has  been  observed  by  them,  but  I  fear 
without  profit,  and  that  is,  moist  seasons,  if  not  too  abundant,  with 
the  necessary  warmth,  is  sure  to  promote  a  vigorous  and  luxuriant 
growth  of  vegetation.  Why  is  it  so  %  It  is  not  because  so  much 
moisture  is  absolutely  necessary  for  such  an  exuberant  growth,  but 
Nature,  ever  mindful  and  ever  ready  to  confer  upon  the  "  tillers  of 
the  ground?''  its  choicest  blessings,  does  mechanically  with  water  what 
the  farmer  has  neglected  to  do  with  his  plough.  The  water  softens 
the  subsoil  where  the  plough  has  never  reached,  rendering  it  per- 
meable for  the  principal,  as  well  as  the  small  fibrous  roots  which 
readily  perforate  the  soil  in  search  of  those  nutritious  principles  which 
form  the  plant.  In  moist  seasons  above  alluded  to,  due  credit  should 
be  given  to  the  operation  of  chemical  principles,  but  the  farmer  may 
well  thank  his  aqueous  friend  for  its  mechanical  operation  in  giving 
to  his  soil  a  deep  tilth^  and  if  charged  with  the  necessary  elementary 
principles,  a  vigorous  and  luxuriant  growth  is  sure  to  be  the  conse- 
quence. 

Notwithstanding  the  silent  operations  of  Nature,,  and  the  sound 
and  practical  deductions  of  philosophy,  it  is  lamentable  to  witness 
the  effect  of  early  associations.  Whatever  our  forefathers  did  in 
cultivating  the  soil,  would  seem  to  be  stamped  with  the  impress  of 
infallibility.  The  greatest  of  all  the  errors,  and  one  in  which  the 
farmer's  pecuniary  interest  is  most  concerned,  is  shallow  plowing. 
The  average  depth  does  not  exceed  four  and  a  half  inches.  In  a 
majority  of  our  fallows  a  portion  of  the  furrows  are  left  edgewise, 
which  gives  what  is  called  "  wire  grass^^  a  chance  to  grow,  if  there 
is  the  necessary  quantity  of  moisture,  but  if  dry,  and  being  in  a 
favorable  position  to  be  affected  by  the  rays  of  the  sun,,  the  elemen- 
tary principles  of  vegetation  are  in  a  great  degree  dissipated. 

If  the  fallow  was  in  grass  the  previous  year,  and  should  be  plowed 
shallow  ;  the  tenacity  of  the  soil  is  such  that  the  subsequent  plowings 
and  harrowings  brings  it  to  the  surface,  and  consequently  a  very 
shallow  depth  of  loose  friable  soil  is  left  to  sustain  the  future  crop.  The 
tender  roots  of  wheat  cannot  penetrate  the  hard  and  compact  subsoil. 
They  will  deviate  from  the  course  nature  designed,  and  are  obliged 
to  wander  about  near  the  surface  in  search  of  the  necessary  aliment 


102  [Senate 

to  constitute  its  growth,  unless  copious  showers  should  seasonably 
come  to  their  aid. 

The  process  of  freezing  and  thawing  next  come  in  order,  and  as 
the  roots  have  obtained  but  a  slight  hold  upon  the  soil,  the  work  of 
expansion  and  contraction  lifts  it  high  and  dry  from  its  shallow  bed, 
to  give  room  for  a  more  hardy  race  of  vegetation.  What  may  have 
escaped  hanging-  (if  I  may  be  allowed  the  expression)  are  yet  in 
danger  of  being  drowned  or  burnt  up.  The  surplus  water,  finding  no 
means  of  escape,  other  than  the  inequality  of  the  surface,  or  by 
evaporation,  it  is  retained  so  long  as  to  prove  very  injurious  to  the 
crop,  or  entirely  destroyed  by  being  submerged.  What  remains  may 
have  yet  another  formidable  foe  to  contend  with — a  drought.  The 
slight  covering  of  the  roots  aiford  but  a  temporary  protection  against 
the  protracted  rays  of  the  sun.  Being  confined  to  the  surface  com- 
paratively, the  roots  are  unable  to  drink  up  the  moisture  immediately 
beneath,  as  an  impenetrable  barrier  intervenes  between  the  roots  al- 
ready famishing  for  the  wantof  its  most  important  constituent  principle . 
If  dews  should  fall  as  a  temporary  substitute  for  rain,  the  indurated 
soil  absorbs  but  a  small  portion  of  the  moisture,  and  readily  yields 
it  again  to  the  first  rays  of  the  morning  sun. 

Sucb  has  been  the  effect  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  for  several  years 
past  in  this  wheat  growing  section.  Our  first  crops  yielded  twenty- 
five  and  thirty  bushels,  but  for  the  last  ten  years  the  average  has 
been  considerably  under  twenty.  Our  soil  is  peculiarly  adapted  to 
wheat  when  cultivated  under  favorable  circumstances.  It  is  certainly, 
inexhaustible,  from  the  fact  that  good  wheat  has  been  obtained  from 
earth  thrown  out  from  the  bottom  of  the  canal,  and  also  from  the 
bottom  of  our  wells.  The  cause  or  causes  of  such  a  falling  off  may 
with  propriety  be  attributed  to  constant  cropping,  and  returning  com- 
paratively nothing  to  the  soil ;  but  in  a  greater  degree  I  would  attri- 
bute, in  addition  to  the  cause  above  alluded  to,  the  want  of  a  greate'' 
depth  of  loose  and  well  pulverized  soil.  The  thin  stratum  has  been 
nearly  exhausted  of  its  fertilizing  properties,  and  it  only  needs  a  stir- 
ring of  the  substratum  to  reanimate  and  stimulate  the  growth  of  our 
great  staple,  as  well  as  the  summer  crops. 

I  appeal  to  every  farmer  who  cultivates  stiff  clay  and  hardpan 
soils  for  the  truth  of  the  assertion,  that  they  are  the  first  to  suffer 


No.  105,]  103 

from  excessive  moisture  or  excessive  drouth.  By  stirring  the  subsoil 
all,  or  nearly  all,  the  evils  attending  shallow  plowing  would  be  ob- 
viated. It  is  evident,  then,  that  if  in  such  soils,  the  earth  could  be 
moved  or  broken  up  to  the  depth  of  sixteen  or  eighteen  inches,  with- 
out having  the  subsoil  brought  to  the  surface,  that  an  opportunity 
would  be  furnished  for  superfluous  moisture  to  drain  from  the  surface, 
and  also  for  the  roots  to  penetrate  the  earth  to  a  depth  that  would 
ensure  their  not  perishing  from  drouth,  and  at  the  same  time  derive 
their  necessary  nutriment  from  those  parts  of  the  under  soil  from 
which  no  nutriment  was  formerly  derived,  in  addition  to  which  air 
and  moisture  having  easy  access  to  the  roots  of  the  plants,  further 
nourishment  is  thereby  afforded.  The  distance  that  roots  may  pene- 
trate under  favorable  circumstances,  is  not  definitely  settled,  but  in- 
credible as  it  may  appear,  there  are  cases  on  record  where  they  have 
been  traced  from  four  to  eight  feet.  By  subsoil  plowing  the  rains 
will  sink  into  the  ground,  and  afford  moisture  to  the  deep  roots  of 
plants  during  the  heats  of  summer,  and  stagnant  surface  water  will 
in  most  cases  be  prevented.  Subsoil  plowing  would  be  highly  ad- 
vantageous on  the  hard-pan  soils  of  our  country,  particularly  when 
intended  for  wheat,  to  prevent  the  danger  of  its  freezing  out.  This 
evil  is  the  most  formidable  one  the  cultivator  of  our  clayey  soils  has 
to  encounter,  and  is  constantly  increasing  on  lands  of  which  clay 
forms  the  principal  ingredient.  By  allowing  the  surface  water  to 
settle,  the  sub-stratum  will  not  become  so  saturated,  thereby  pre- 
ventingin  some  measure,  the  lifting  process  of  the  frost. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  deal  farther  in  theoretical  speculations.  Expe- 
rience, the  great  test  of  truth,  fully  and  emphatically  establishes  the 
whole  matter.  Sub-soil  ploughing  has  recently  attracted  a  good 
share  of  attention  of  the  English  agriculturists,  and  from  numerous 
experiments,  and  some  on  a  large  scale,  detailed  in  their  journals,  we 
can  no  longer  doubt  its  utility,  and  the  writer  of  this,  can  bear  testi- 
mony of  the  great  advantages  resulting  from  its  operation.  Six  years 
since,  I  was  extensively  engaged  in  the  cultivation  of  the  sugar  beet 
for  seed,  and  for  making  sugar.  The  field  employed  for  the  purpose, 
had  an  extraordinary  hard  and  indurated  sub-soil,  so  much  so,  that  it 
was  almost  impossible  to  make  the  common  plough  penetrate  beyond 
a  certain  depth.     Although  great  pains  were  taken  to  prepare  the 


104  [Senate 

soil  by  manuring  and  pulverizing  it,  the  crop  was  very  much  stinted 

in  its  growth.     The  roots  were  short  and  sprangly,  notwithstanding 

the  favorable  season.     The  working  soil  was  very  good  and  no  other 
plausible  reason  could  be  assigned  for  the  small  crop,  than  the  want 

of  the  necessary  depth. 

The  following  year  I  invented  and  used  a  sub-soil  plough,  which 
fully  answered  my  most  sanguine  expectations.     It  was  used  in  the 
same  field  alluded  to,  and  was  drawn  by  one  yoke  of  heavy  oxen  in 
the  same  furrow  after  the  common  plough,  both  combined,  penetrated 
to  the  depth  of  two  feet.     The  consequence  was,  as  might  have  been 
anticipated,  an  extraordinary  and  luxuriant  growth  of  vegetation. 
The  beets  grew  to  an  unusual  length  and  size^  so  much  so,  that  I  was 
compelled  to  use  the  sub-soil  plough  between  the  rows^  to  loosen 
them  sufficiently  so  that  they  could  be  pulled.     The  beet  seed  raised 
at  the  same  time,  and  from  the  same  ground,  was  an  extra  yield  in 
quantity  and  quality,  and  in  short  all  kinds  of  vegetation  cultivated 
on  the  same  piece  of  ground,  exhibited  a  luxuriant  growth  never 
witnessed  before,  notwithstanding  the  season  was  not  as  favorable  as 
the  year  previous.     A  neighbor  used  the  sub-soil  plough  the  same 
year,  with  the  same  good  results,     I  would  here  remark,  that  the 
field  before  alluded  to,  has  not  needed  the  sub-soil  plough  since,  as 
the  common  plough  penetrates  beam  deep  with  the  greatest  facility. 
Not  cultivating  sufficient  land  to  raise  wheat,  my  experience  in  the 
use  of  the  sub-soil  plough  for  that  purpose  is  very  limited.     I  induc- 
ed a  neighbor  to  use  it  for  one  land  while  breaking  up  his  fallow,  but 
as  the  following  season  was  unusually  favorable  for  the  growth  of 
the  crop,  there   was  not  so  much  difference,  as  under   other   cir- 
cumstances, might  have  been  expected. 

I  am  fully  persuaded  that  sub-soil  ploughing  would  be  invaluable, 
if  practised  generally  by  our  farmers,  and  as  an  inducement  for  them 
to  try  its  operation,  I  herewith  give  a  rough  sketch  of  the  one  used 
by  me,  which  it  will  be  observed  is  simple  in  its  construction,  not 
liable  to  break  or  get  out  of  repair,  and  which  drew  a  premium  from 
the  State  Agricultural  Society  at  its  late  fair  in  Rochester. 


No.  105.] 


105 


The  coulters  A  A  should  be  made  of  Russia  bar,  and  welded  from 
B  to  the  top.  The  anterior  and  posterior  edges  made  short — C,  bot- 
tom piece  made  of  li  inch  square  iron,  2  feet  long  from  point  to 
point — split  the  ends  of  the  bars  to  receive  the  coulters,  weld,  and 
point  with  steel, — D,  share,  the  width  of  a  Russia  bar,  forked  at  the 
angle  E, — lip  formed  at  right  angles  and  bolted  at  F.  The  posterior 
should  be  about  three  inches  higher  than  the  anterior  end  the  of 
share.  G,  brace.  H,  rod  or  chain  attached  to  clevis  pin.  Height 
from  C  to  under  side  of  beam  18  inches 
used  in  very  hard  clayey  sub-soil. 


The  share  D,  need  not  be 


106  [Senate 

FARM  WAGONS,  HARROWS,  &c. 

Farm  Wagons. 

First  to  Peter  S  Eastman,  N.  Hartford,  $10  00. 
Second,  to  J.  S.  &  M.  Peckham,  Utica,  Vol.  Trans. 

Harrows. 

First,  Orin   Barton,   Tyler,    Onondaga,    (Geddes   Harrow,)    Col. 
Tour. 

Scarifier. 
Orin  Barton,  Tyler,  Onondaga  co.,  $5,00 

Cultivator. 
Orin  Barton,  Col.  Tour. 

Fanning  Mill. 

First,  J.  I.  Grant  &  Co.,  Junction,  Silver  medal. 
Second,  Clow  and  Trulan,  Mentz,  Vol.  Trans. 
Third,  Jas.  Patterson,  Canandaigua,  Diploma. 

Horse  Power. 

A.  D.  Childs,  Rochester,  $10.00. 

Thrashing  Machines. 

First,  A.  Douglass,    Skaneatelas,  $10.00. 
Second,  Hart,  Higham  &  Co.,  Utica,  Vol.  Trans. 
Third,  Elery  Hicks,  Diploma. 

Drill  Barrow. 

Abm.  Randall,  Oneida   co.    (to    plant  potatoes  and  corn,)    Col. 
Tour. 

Straw  Cutters. 

First,  J.  G.  Case,  Utica,    (Sanford's)   Silver  medal. 
Second,  J.  C.  Rich,  Penfield,  Vol.  Trans. 
Third,  Martin  Saunders,  Cortland,  Diploma. 


H.  S.  RANDALL, 


Cortland. 


CORN  AND  COB  CRUSHERS,  CLOVER  AND  HEMP 

MACHINE,  &c. 

The  committee  on  "  corn  and  cob  crushers,  clover  and  hemp  ma- 
chines, &c."  respectfully  report: 

That  they  have  performed  the  duties  assigned  them,  and  award 
the  following  premiums,  offered  by  the  society: 

Corn-cob  Crusher. 

Best  corn  and  cob  crusher  worked  by  horse  power,  to  I.  A.  Pitts, 
Rochester,  $10. 
Mr.  Obed  Hussey,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  had  a  very  meritorious 


No.  105.]  107 

machine,  of  a  different  construction,  but  as  your  committee  had  but 
one  premium  to  recommend,  we  have  only  to  give  Mr.  Hussey's  a 
very  favorable  notice. 

Carts. 

There  was  no  farm  horse  cart  entered,  but  Mr.  William  Carroll,  of 
Albany,  had  a  very  fine  specimen  for  city  and  village  cartmen,  we 
would  recommend  that  the  society  award  him  a  diploma. 

Horse  Rakes. 

Best  improved  revolving  horse  rake,  Lewis  Swift,  Clarkson,  Mon- 
roe county,  a  highly  improved  article,  first  premium,  Colman's  Tour. 
Albert  Brockway,  of  Bridgewater,  a  beautiful  and  highly  finished 
article,  2d  premium,  Vol.  Transactions. 

Ox   Yokes. 

First  premium  to  A.  Monroe,  of  Galway,  "  Colman's  Tour. 
Second  premium  to  William  Hill,  of  Marcy,  Vol.  of  Transactions. 

Grain  Cradles. 

First  premium  to  E.  L.  Hager,  Frankfort,  a  splendid  piece  of  work- 
manship, $3. 

Second  best  to  David  Flanders,  of  Stockholm,  diploma. 

Hay  Forks. 

To  Taylor,  Buttolph  &  Co.,  Stockholm,  an  excellent  article, 
diploma. 

Grass  Scythes. 

Hiram  C.  White,  of  Albion,  had  no  competitor,  but  as  he  offered 
a  highly  finished  article,  and  as  he  only  offered  cradle  scythes  which 
were  well  manufactured,  we  recommend  a  diploma  for  his  "  grass 
and  cradle  scythes." 

Hoes. 

The  premium,  to  R.  &  E.  Clark  &  Co.,  Unadilla  Forks,  $2. 

Miscellaneous. 

We  recommend  to  Joseph  D.  Briggs,  of  Saratoga  Spa,  a  "  diplo- 
ma" for  his  patent  corn-sheller. 

James  M.  Cleveland,  of  Adams,  Jefferson  county,  offered  a  very 
beautiful  and  ingenious  instrument  for  cutting  up  corn,  for  which  we 
recommend  a  premium  of  $2.  Mr.  Cleveland  very  generously  pre- 
sented the  article  to  the  society. 

To  0.  Hussey,  Baltimore,  for  his  harvesting  machine,  $15. 
Your  committee  regret  that  no  clover  machine,    flax   and  hemp 
dressing  machine,  ox  cart,  farm  harness,  saddles,  or  hand  rakes,  were 
presented  for  their  inspection  ;  an  occurrence  which  they  confidently 
believe  will  never  again  transpire  at  any  future  fair  of  the  society. 
All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

V.  JONES, 
T.  R.  HUSSEY, 
O.  R.  BABCOCK, 

Committee. 


108  [Senate 


PLOWING  MATCH. 

First  premium,  to  Frederick  Smith,  Westmoreland,  $15. 

Second,  Elon  Comstock,  Rome,  $12. 

Third,  Thomas  D.  Burrall,  Geneva,  $10. 

Fourth,  0.  R.  Babcock,  Bridgewater,  Colman's  Tour. 

Fifth,  H.  N.  Gary,  Marcy,  Vol.  Trans. 

For  Boys. 
Ezekiel  W.  Butler,  Rome,  16  years  old,  $10. 

LEWIS  F.  ALLEN,  Buff, 


BUTTER. 

Butter  made  in  thirty  successive  days. 

Committee  on  butter  report : 

That  for  the  best  lot  of  butter  made  from  five  cows,  in  thirty  suc- 
cessive days,  (quantity  and  quality  considered,)  E.  R.  Evans,  of 
Marcy,  Oneida  co.  is  entitled  to  the  prize  of  $25.00 

Second  best,  Thomas  Hawkes,  of  Columbia,  is  entitled  to  $15.00. 

Third  best  Geo.  Vail,  of  Troy,  is  entitled  to  $10.00. 

Best  twenty-Jive  pounds  made  in  June. 

That  for  the  best  lot  of  twenty-five  pounds,  made  in  June,  R.  S. 
Ransom  of  Fenner,  Madison  county,  is  entitled  to  $10.00. 

Second  best,  0.  C.  Crocker,  of  Union,  Broom  co.,  is  entitled  to  re- 
ceive Colman's  Tour. 

Third  best,  P.  Case,  of  New  Hartford,  Oneida  co.,  is  entitled  to 
Volume  of  Transactions. 

Bestjlfty  pounds  made  at  any  time. 

That  for  the  best  fifty  pounds  made  at  any  time,  Melas  Adams,  of 
Martinsburgh,  Lewis  co.,  is  entitled  to  $15  00. 

Second  best,  S.  M.  Foster,  of  New  Hartford,  Oneida  co.,  is  enti- 
tled to  a  silver  medal. 

Third  best,  O.  Cole  of  Litchfield,  Herkimer  co.,  is  entitled  to  a 
silver  medal. 

Fourth  best,  Daniel  Eells,  jun.,  of  New  Hartford,  is  entitled  to 
silver  medal. 

Fifth  best,  Mrs.  William  Ottley  of  Oaks  Corners,  Ontario  co.,  is 
entitled  to  a  silver  medal. 

Your  committee  feel  compelled  to  say  that  your  society  have  just 
reason  for  congratulation  in  consideration  of  the  evidence  of  increas- 
ing attention  to  this  important  branch  of  agricultural  industry. 


No.  105.] 


109 


The  specimens  submitted  for  examination,  were  not  only  numer- 
ous, but  without  exception,  of  excellent  quality,  entitling  the  com- 
petitors to  great  praise  for  so  near  an  approximation  to  perfection. 

Among  so  many  lots  in  which  so  little  of  fault  could  be  detected, 
it  was  attended  with  some  difficulty  to  discriminate  between  the  par- 
ties concerned. 

For  the  first  class  of  prizes,  only  five  competitors  entered  speci- 
mens and  only  three  of  them  were  accompanied  with  statements  in 
conformity  to  the  published  regulations  ;  hence  the  object  of  your 
society  in  offering  prizes  for  the  best  results,  from  a  given  number  in 
cows  in  a  limited  time,  has  not  been  as  fully  obtained  as  would  be 
desirable.     The  following  is  condensed  from  their  statements  : 


BREED  OF 
COWS. 


Native. 


Dur.  T>ev.  and 

Native. 

Full  blood 
Durhams. 


Mixed  blood, 
i  and  |  Dur- 
ham with  Na- 
tive. 


QUANTITY    OFQTTANTITY    OF 


MILK    IN    ONE 
DAY. 


BUTTER   IN 
THIRTY     DAY 


77|  quarts.    217  pounds. 
1571  pounds. 


48  quarts. 
96  pounds. 

1023  quarts. 
217  lbs.  13  oz. 


52  quarts. 
115  pounds. 


120  pounds. 


202  pounds. 


Quantity  not 
stated. 


METHOD    OF    CONDUCTING  THE   DAIRY. 


Sets  milk  in  tin  36  to  48  hours,  churns 
cream  with  one  pint  strippings  from  each 
cow  ;  uses  no  water  in  separating  the 
butter  from  the  buttermilk;  Liverpool 
salt  to  suit  the  taste. 

Sets  milk  in  tin  till  it  sours,  churns  cream 
only  no  water  used ;  common  salt  1  to  16. 

Sets  milk  in  tin  till  it  sours,  churns  cream 
only,  no  water  used,  ground  rock  salt  to 
suit  the  taste. 

Sets  milk  in  tin  till  it  sours,  churns  cream 
only,  water  is  freely  used  to  separate  the 
buttermilk;  common  salt  to  suit  the 
taste. 


For  the  second  and  third  classes  of  prizes,  there  were  twenty-one 
competitors,  only  sixteen  of  whom  favored  the  committee  with  the 
requisite  statements  ;  from  which  we  learn  that  the  general  course 
pursued  in  the  management  of  these  dairies  is  similar,  varying  only  in 
some  of  the  minor  details;  these  circumstantial  variations  are  found  to 
exist  so  irregularly,  that  it  seems  impracticable  to  classify  or  compare 
them  with  the  relative  grades  of  quality,  as  appeared  upon  examina- 
tion of  the  specimens,  so  as  to  arrive  at  a  just  conclusion  in  regard  to 
the  influence  of  these  circumstances  upon  the  quality  of  the  samples. 

One  point  is  well  established,  that  good  butter  is  made  without 
mixing  any  substance  or  ingredient,  except  salt.  But  one  of  these 
statements  admits  the  use  of  any  thing  else,  and  that  of  only  eight 
ounces  of  loaf  sugar  to  a  firkin  of  butter. 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  cream  should  have  from  thirty-four 
to  forty-eight  hours  to  rise,  set  in  a  room  of  medium  temperature  ; 
when  churned  the  buttermilk  carefully  separated  as  soon  as  the  state 
of  the  butter  will  admit,  and  then  secured  from  the  contact  of  the 
air. 


E.  W.  BATEMAN. 
E.  RHOADES. 
H.  PLATT. 

Committee. 


110  [Senate 

STATEMENTS. 


E.    R.    EVANS. 


The  25  pounds  of  butter  presented  to  the  fair,  is  a  fair  sample  of 
the  butter  made  from  five  cows  in  thirty  days,  commencing  on  the 
14th  of  August,  and  ending  on  13th  of  September,  and  in  compliance 
with  the  rules  of  the  society,  the  cows  fed  upon  grass  only  ;  the  milk 
drawn  from  the  cows  on  the  13th  inst.  measured  77  quarts  and  1 
pint,  and  weighed  157 ^  pounds,  and  the  quantity  of  butter  made  in 
30  days,  w^eighed  217  pounds,  the  cows  are  of  the  Native  breed, 
one  of  them  being  a  three  year  old  heifer.  The  method  of  making  the 
butter  as  follows :  about  one  pint  of  the  strippins  is  saved,  and  put 
into  the  cream,  the  milk  is  strained  into  pans,  and  stands  from  36 
to  48  hours,  as  the  weather  may  require,  and  then  is  is  skimmed  and 
churned  in  the  old  fashioned  dash  churn,  attached  to  dog  power;  the 
butter  is  worked  with  a  ladle,  and  the  milk  is  separated  without  the 
aid  of  water.  I  use  Liverpool  salt,  the  quantity  to  suit  the  taste. 
I  use  no  saltpetre  or  any  substance. 

Marcy,  Oneida  county,  1845. 


THOMAS  AND  NANCY  HAWKS. 

We  commenced  making  butter  from  five  cows  on  the  15th  of  Au- 
gust, without  any  extra  feed  of  any  kind;  pastures  very  dry,  after 
feed  no  better. 

Quantity  of  butter  made, 120  lbs. 

Quantity  of  milk,  Sept.  10th, 48  qts. 

Weight, 96  lbs. 

The  specimen  presented  was  made  the  first  week  in  Sept.  Milk 
kept  in  tin,  until  it  begins  to  thicken  under  the  cream,  the  cream 
then  removed,  and  kept  12  hours  before  churning,  being  stirred  oc- 
casionally, churned  in  a  hand  churn,  the  milk  pressed  out  with  a 
hand  ladle. 

The  quantity  of  salt  used  has  not  been  ascertained,  supposed  to 
be  nearly  one  ounce  to  a  pound  of  butter,  common  barrel  salt,  dried 
and  rolled  fine,  is  used,  and  no  other  substance  whatever. 

The  cows  were  owned  by  the  subscriber  previous  to  the  1st  of 
April  1845,  are  a  mixture  of  Durham  and  Devonshire,  and  common 
native  breed  ;  8  cows  are  kept. 

Columbia,  Herkimer  co.  JV.   Y. 


GEO.    VAIL. 


To  E.  W.  Bateman,  Z.  Barton  Stout  and  Elijah  Jones,  Esqrs. 
committee  appointed  to  judge  and  award  premiums  on  butter,  "  for 


No.  105.]  Ill 

the  best  lot  made  from  5  cows  in  30  successive  days — quality  as  well 
as  quantity  considered — 251bs.  of  the  butter  to  be  exhibited."  The 
rules  laid  down  by  the  executive  committee  in  their  published  re- 
quirements, I  have  endeavored  strictly  to  comply  with.  During  the 
summer  past,  I  put  on  trial  five  full  blood  Durham  cows,  owned  by 
myself  previous  to  the  1st  day  of  April  1845;  they  were  fed  during 
the  trial  on  pasture  only,  and  no  "  grain,  roots,  or  slops  of  any  des- 
cription, were  fed  to  them  during  the  trial,  nor  for  15  days  previous 
to  being  put  upon  trial.  The  five  cows  above  referred  to,  produced 
in  30  successive  days  2021bs.  butter,  being  an  average  of  91b.  3oz. 
per  week,  and  lib.  5oz.  per  day.  The  five  cows  produced  in  one 
day,  217lbs.  and  13  oz.  of  milk  measuring  102  1-2  quarts,  being  an 
average  of  20  quarts  and  1  pint. 

The  method  of  making  and  preserving  the  butter  was  as  follows  : 
the  milk  was  strained  and  put  into  tin  pans,  holding  from  8  to  10 
quarts,  and  allow^ed  to  stand  till  the  milk  became  sour.  The  cream 
was  then  allowed  to  stand  about  48  hours,  and  then  churned  in  an 
old  fashioned  dash  churn  by  hand  power.  The  butter  was  then  re- 
moved from  the  churn,  and  worked  with  a  ladle  in  a  common  butter 
tray,  and  salted  with  clean  ground  rock  salt,  the  tray  was  set  on  the 
cellar  floor,  surrounded  by  ice  to  preserve  the  butter  hard,  and  allow- 
ed to  stand  about  24  hours;  it  was  then  well  worked  with  a  ladle  the 
second  time,  till  the  buttermilk  was  well  worked  out,  and  then  pack- 
ed solid  in  stone  jars  holding  about  27  pounds.  The  pots  were  filled 
with  butter  to  within  about  one  inch  of  the  top,  and  then  spread  over 
with  a  clean  white  cloth,  and  the  space  between  the  cloth  and  the  tin 
cover  of  the  pot  was  filled  with  clean  white  salt,  so  as  to  exclude  the 
air.  No  article  was  used  to  preserve  the  butter,  except  salt  as  above 
described.  The  butter  thus  packed  in  pots  was  set  on  the  cellar  floor. 
A  pot  of  this  butter  is  presented  for  the  inspection  of  the  examining 
committee  in  conformity  to  the  rules  of  the  executive  committee  of 
the  society.  It  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  say  that  during  the  trial  of 
these  cows,  the  weather  was  quite  warm,  and  during  part  of  the  time 
the  pasture  had  suffered  by  the  drouth,  and  that  the  average  quantity 
of  butter  and  milk  produced  from  6  cows  in  30  days  last  year,  was 
considerable  more  than  that  of  the  five  cows  above  named. 

Troy,  September.,  12,  1845. 


RUFUS  S.  RANSOM. 


This  jar  of  butter  was  made  by  the  subscriber,  (in  the  town  of  Fen- 
ner,  Madison  co.  N.  Y.)  in  June  1845,  from  three  cows,  and  the 
method  of  manufacturing  is  as  follows  : — cows  milked  morn  and  eve, 
milk  set  in  tin  pans  of  six  quarts  each,  placed  in  a  cool  airy  room 
until  the  milk  has  changed  a  little,  the  cream  then  taken  off  into 
stone  crocks,  and  kept  in  a  cellar  until  enough  is  gathered  for  a 
churning,  which  is  performed  once  a  week  in  one  of  Brown's  patent 
churns,  by  turning  moderately  until  the  butter  is  brought  and  gath- 
ered,  (our  invariable  practice  winter  and  summer;)  buttermilk   is 


112  [Senate 

dravim  off,  water  turned  into  the  churn,  churned  a  little,  drawn  off 
and  repeated  until  it  is  completely  freed  from  the  buttermilk,  salted 
with  common  salt  to  suit  the  taste,  let  it  lie  from  seven  to  ten  days, 
then  worked  again  and  packed  down  all  the  jar  will  contain,  and  cover- 
ed with  a  cloth,  on  the  top  of  which  a  quantity  of  salt  and  saleratus 
equal  parts  of  each  rolled  or  mixed  together,  covering  the  cloth  three 
fourths  of  an  inch  thick,  kept  in  a  cool  cellar,  the  jar  standing  on  a 
stone  surrounded  by  water  which  composes  the  bottom  of  the  cellar. 


O.  C.  CROCKER. 

Statement  detailing  the  process  of  taking  care  of  the  milk,  making 
and  preserving  tlie  butter ^  in  O.  C.  Crocker's  butter  dairy ^  for  the 
year  1845. 

The  entire  dairy,  consisting  of  forty-three  cows,  fed  on  green  pasture 
only.  In  summer  season,  soon  after  the  milk  is  drawn  from  the  cows, 
it  is  deposited  in  the  cellar  and  strained  in  twelve  quart  pans,  or  pails ; 
when  the  milk  becomes  thick,  it  then  is  carried  into  the  churn  room  and 
deposited  into  four  large  churns,  holding  each  from  a  barrel  to  a  barrel 
and  a  half,  and  churned  by  horse  power  ;  the  milk  is  then  regulated, 
if  too  cold,  by  warm  water,  or  if  too  warm,  by  pouring  in  cold  water  ; 
when  the  butter  has  nearly  gathered,  it  is  necessary  to  put  about  a  twelve 
quart  pail  full  of  cold  water  into  each  churn,  in  order  to  thin  the  butter- 
milk and  separate  the  butter  from  the  milk.  One  of  the  churns  is  then 
emptied,  and  all  the  butter  from  the  four  churns  deposited  therein,  and 
thoroughly  washed  in  cold  water  by  dashing ;  the  butter  is  then  taken 
out  and  washed  a  second  time,  with  fresh  water ;  the  butter  is  then 
removed  into  a  butter  tray  sufficiently  large  to  work  the  whole  in, 
conveniently,  and  salted  with  the  finest  of  rock  salt,  ground  and 
prepared  for  that  purpose  ;  the  butter  is  then  wrought  through  the  day 
sufficiently  to  extract  the  buttermilk,  and  packed  the  same  night  or  the 
next  morning.  Great  care  should  be  taken,  lest  the  butter  be  worked 
too  much.  As  soon  as  the  brine  becomes  perfectly  clear  on  the  butter, 
I  consider  it  sufficiently  wrought ;  the  butter  is  then  packed  in  firkins, 
holding  each  about  eighty  pounds,  and  when  filled,  covered  with  a 
strong  brine  made  of  the  same  salt  the  butter  is  salted  with.  No  salt- 
petre, loaf  sugar,  or  any  other  ingredient  is  used  in  making  or  pre- 
serving the  butter.  A  cover  is  prepared  for  the  purpose,  for  each  firkin. 
The  brine  is  changed  two  or  three  times  during  the  summer  season  j 
when  ready  for  market,  the  brine  is  removed,  a  fine  white  cloth  is 
laid  over  the  butter,  and  a  little  fine  dairy  salt  is  sprinkled  on  the  top 
of  the  cloth,  moistened  with  a  little  brine,  and  headed. 

Said  Crocker  respectfully  presents  a  sample  of  two  firkins  of  butter 
of  the  above  mentioned  dairy — one  made  in  June  and  the  other  in 
September — for  the  inspection  of  the  butter  committee,  at  the  New- 
York  State  Agricultural  Fair,  for  the  year  1845. 

N.  B.  The  management  in  winter  is  the  same  ;  except  in  the  winter 
the  milk  is  kept  in  a  warm  room  upon  the  first  floor. 

Union  J  Broome  co. 


No.  105.]  113 


MELAS  ADAMs'    STATEMENT. 


To  the  N.  Y.  State  Ag.  Society. — Messrs. :  I  herewith  present  for 
premiums  two  samples  of  butter,  and  would  make  the  following  state- 
ment, in  compliance  with  the  requirements  of  the  society. 

The  butter  was  made  during  the  last  week  in  June. 

Number  of  cows  kept,  21. 

Mode  of  Keeping. 

On  fresh  upland  pasture,  and  no  other  feed  ;  the  cows  supplied  with 
water  from  a  well,  and  have  free  access  to  salt  at  all  times,  which  is 
kept  in  a  trough  under  cover. 

Treatment  of  the  Milk  and  Cream  before  Churning. 

The  milk  strained  into  tin  pans,  and  placed  on  rack  shelves,  in  a  cool, 
shady,  well  ventilated  room,  above  ground ;  the  milk  skimmed  in  forty- 
eight  hours  after  being  milked,  and  before  it  was  in  the  least  changed  ; 
the  cream  was  put  into  stone  jars  and  placed  on  the  bottom  of  the 
cellar,  which  is  flagged  with  stone,  and  there  remained  till  next  morn- 
ing, when  it  was  churned. 

Mode  of  churning. 

In  summer,  in  the  common  dash  churn ;  in  winter,  we  prefer  work- 
ing the  cream  into  short  cake. 

Method  of  freeing  the  Milk  from  the  Butter. 
The  butter,  on  being  taken  from  the  churn,  is  worked  with  a  ladle 
till  we  get  out  all  the  milk  we  conveniently  can,  before  salting  ;  it  is 
then  salted  and  mixed  as  uniformly  as  may  be,  and  placed  in  a  cool 
cellar  till  next  morning,  when  the  operation  of  working  is  perforrSaed, 
and  this  is  done  by  the  help  of  a  machine  similar  to  one  described  in 
the  Cultivator,  vol.  10th,  page  15  ] .  We  use  no  water  in  freeing  the 
milk  from  our  butter,  except  in  extreme  hot  weather ;  none  applied  to 
the  specimens  here  presented. 

Kind  and  quantity  of  Salt  used. 

Onondaga  ground  salt,  one  pound  to  twenty  pounds  butter,  in  ordi- 
nary cases,  but  if  the  butter  comes  rather  soft,  we  cannot  get  out  so  much 
of  the  milk  before  salting,  therefore  more  i$  required. 

No  substance  or  ingredient  used  in  the  manufacture  or  preservation 
of  our  butter,  except  salt. 

Martinshurgh,  Lewis  county^  Sept.  10,  1845. 


SANFORD  M.  FOSTER. 


The  number  of  cows  kept,  eight. 

Mode  of  keeping — -In  pasture  in  summer,  with  living  water  accessible 
at  all  times,  and  plenty  of  salt ;  in  winter,  keep  them  stabled  throughout 
the  inclement  season  ;  feed  tlaem  on  corn  stalks,  roots  and  hay. 

Treatment  of  milk  and  cream  before  churning. — -Strain  the  milk  in 
tin  pans,  placed  on  racks,  in  an  airy  room  above  ground,  for  the  cream 
to  rise ;  when  sufficiently  risen,  separate  the  cream  from  the  milk,  put 
it  into  stone  jars,  well  prepared  before  churning. 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  8 


114  [Senate 

Mode  of  churning  in  summer. — Rinse  the  churn  in  cold  water,  then 
turn  in  the  cream. 

The  churn  used  is  a  patent  one  moved  by  hand  with  a  crank  with 
paddles  attached. 

The  method  of  freeing  the  butter  from  the  milk,  is  to  wash  the  butter 
with  cold  water  and  pressing  with  a  ladle. 

Salting  the  butter. — Liverpool  sack  salt,  half  an  ounce  to  the  pound; 
the  quantity  varies  according  to  the  state  in  which  the  butter  is  taken 
from  the  churn — if  soft,  more — if  hard,  less ;  add  no  saltpetre  nor 
other  substance. 

The  best  time  for  churning  is  morning,  in  the  summer,  and  the  butter 
kept  cool  until  the  next  rnorning,  when  it  receives  a  second  working 
with  a  ladle  and  is  then  put  down. 

The  best  mode  of  keeping. — In  cellar,  in  stone  jars,  with  cloth  and 
a  thin  layer  of  salt  on  that,  the  same  to  remain  on  till  used. 

In  winter,  our  milk  is  strained  in  pans  and  removed  to  the  stove,  and 
scalded  over  a  slow  fire  to  near  a  boiling  heat ;  the  pans  removed  for 
the  cream  to  rise,  the  cream  only  churned. 

JYew- Hartford. 


GRAN  COLE. 

Number  of  cows  kept  on  the  farm,  5  ;  kept  in  the  summer  on  pas- 
ture ;  no  other  feed  previous  or  during  the  trial. 

Milk  set  in  tin  pans — the  cream  skimmed  and  churned  while  sweet, 
in  a  dash  churn,  which  is  used  winter  and  summer  ;  the  milk  separated 
from^he  butter  with  a  ladle. 

Evaporated  salt  made  use  of — ^quantity— a  little  less  than  an  ounce 
to  a  pound — or  at  the  rate  of  14  oz.  salt,  to  15  lbs.  of  butter ;  no 
ingredient  used  to  preserve  the  butter,  excepting  the  salt,  and  a  very 
small  quantity  of  loaf  sugar — at  the  rate  of  half  a  pound  to  eighty 
pounds  of  butter. 

Litchfield,  Herkimer  county. 

DANIEL  EELLS    JR. 

We  have  kept  26  cows  on  the  farm  in  the  ordinary  way.  The  butter 
was  made  of  sweet  cream,  the  milk  standing  but  24  hours  ;  the  cream 
was  then  skimmed  off  and  churned  immediately ;  the  butter  worked 
but  once,  salted,  and  then  packed  down. 

The  churning  was  done  by  hand  ;  we  use  the  ground  evaporated 
salt,  made  at  Syracuse,  at  the  rate  of  about  half  a  pound  to  ten  of 
butter;  no  saltpetre  or  any  other  substance  employed. 

Mw-Hartford,  Sept.  16,  1845. 


MRS.  WILLIAM    OTTLEY. 

This  butter  was  made  during  eight  days  of  the  present  month, 
(September,)  from  the  milk  of  ten  cows,  their  pasture  being  clover. 
The  milk  is  placed  in  well  scalded  vessels,  and  kept  in  a  cool  place, 
and  the  cream  always  removed  from  the  milk  before  it  becomes  sour. 
The  cream  is  kept  in  a  cool  place,  in  stone  vessels,  until  churned. 


o.  105.J  115 

In  the  winter  the  milk,  and  the  cream  after  it  is  removed  fro  .1  the 
milk,  are  kept  where  they  will  not  freeze.  The  cream  is  removed 
from  the  milk  as  soon  as  sixty  hours,  as  it  becomes  bitter  if  allowed 
to  remain  longer  (in  the  winter.)  In  the  summer,  it  is  my  practice 
to  churn  every  day  ;  in  the  fall  and  winter  once  in  two  days.  In  the 
winter  the  cream  vessel  is  placed  where  the  cream  will  become  suffi- 
ciently warm  before  churning.  When  the  cream  is  right,  the  churn- 
ing is  completed  as  soon  as  possible.  The  butter  is  well  worked  to 
free  it  from  the  milk ;  but  one  water  used  ;  it  is  then  salted  with  fine 
salt ;  about  one  pint  of  salt  to  ten  pounds  of  butter.  After  salting 
the  butter  is  allowed  to  stand  about  three  days  before  being  placed  in 
a  firkin,  and  during  this  time  is  well  worked  over  three  times.  No 
saltpetre  is  used. 

Oaks-Corners,  Phelps ^  Ontario  county,  JV.  Y. 


JOHN    GREEN   AND    MARY    GOSSIN. 

To  E.  W.  Bateman,  Z.  B.  Stout,  Elijah  Rhoades : 

Gentlemen — I  hereby  exhibit  for  competition  at  the  State  fair  two 
pots  of  butter.  Weight,  nett,  Hi  pounds  and  32|  pounds;  total, 
43"  pounds.     The  number  of  cows,  five. 

They  were  fed  wholly  on  grass.  All  pastures  this  summer 
have  been  very  short.  The  cows  have  been  owned  and  raised  from 
their  birth  by  me,  except  one  which  I  have  owned  for  several  years. 

The  cows  are  of  the  Durham  breed,  from  half  to  three-quarter 
blooded. 

The  milk  drawn  from  the  cows  weighed  on  Monday,  September 
15th,  at  two  milkings,  morning  and  evening,  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
pounds,  and  measured  fifty-two  quarts. 

The  butter  exhibited  has  been  made  between  the  16th  of  August, 
and  the  16th  September,  1845.  The  cream  is  skimmed  just  as  the 
milk  is  turning.  The  cream  stands  after  it  is  skimmed  until  suffi- 
ciently ripe,  which  is  generally  from  two  to  three  days.  The  butter 
is  churned  very  early  in  the  morning ;  when  churned,  it  is  taken  off 
and  thoroughly  washed  with  water  only,  then  salted  with  good  com- 
mon barrel  Salina  salt  only,  when  it  is  put  away  until  next  morning, 
washed  once  more  with  water  to  cleanse  it  from  any  impurities  there 
might  be  in  the  salt,  again  thoroughly  worked  until  all  particles  of 
fluid  are  removed,  when  the  process  is  completed,  and  it  is  ready  for 
tubbing.  Great  attention  is  used  in  having  all  utensils  thoroughly 
scalded  and  kept  in  the  open  air;  no  saltpetre  or  sugar  used.  When 
a  tub  is  full,  a  dry  linen  cloth  is  laid  over  the  top,  and  a  layer  of 
barrel  salt  is  laid  over  so  as  to  exclude  the  air,  kept  there  and  tightly 
covered  down.  The  milking  cows,  and  care  of  milk  utensils,  has 
been  wholly  done  by  the  young  woman  who  lives  with  us ;  the  salt- 
ing and  final  working  of  the  butter  by  my  wife.  Before  the  milk  is 
set  the  pans,  in  summer,  are  cooled  with  water  fresh  from  the  pump. 
In  the  latter  part  of  fall,  warm  water  is  used. 

JJtica,  September  15,  1845. 


116  [Senate 


EXTRACT  FROM  CLINTON  COUNTY  REPORT. 
THOMAS    CROOK. 

Awarded  first  premium^  Clinton  county. 

I  hereby  state  that  this  butter  was  made  between  the  20th  May  and 
20th  June,  1845. 

The  cows  are  a  cross  of  the  Ayrshire,  Devonshire  and  Durham 
breeds,  with  the  best  selected  common  breed. 

The  number  of  cows  milked  was  nine  ;  they  all  being  fed  in  winter 
on  the  best  of  hay  as  much  as  they  would  eat  5  in  the  spring  about 
the  time  of  calving  well  fed  in  addition  with  turneps  and  potatoes  for 
about  six  weeks,  and  in  summer  kept  in  first  rate  pasture  supplied 
with  water. 

The  cows  are  milked  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  at  six  in- 
the  evening,  and  the  milk  immediately  strained  into  clean  tin  pans, 
and  set  in  a  clean  cool  pantry,  until  the  cream  shall  rise,  when  it  is 
carefully  skimmed  off  and  put  in  stone  jars  until  the  time  of  churning^ 
which  is  every  second  morning.  The  only  thermometer  used  was  a 
neat,  tidy,  practical  dairy  woman,  of  good  judgment  and  of  expe- 
rience. 

The  cream  is  churned  in  a  patent  half-round  churn  with  paddles^,, 
and  a  half-round  cover  to  shut  on  the  top. 

The  buttermilk  is  separated  from  the  butter  by  being  drawn  from 
the  churn  through  a  faucet  in  the  end  of  the  churn,  and  then  care- 
fully worked  with  a  ladle  until  it  is  entirely  freed  from  every  particle 
of  the  buttermilk.  It  is  then  salted  with  the  best  fine  ground  Liver- 
pool salt  sufficiently  to  suit  the  taste,  and  set  by  for  twenty-four  hours, 
when  it  is  again  carefully  worked  a  second  time  with  the  ladle,  and  a 
little  more  salt  added,  and  well  worked  in.  It  is  then  laid  down 
within  about  two  inches  of  the  top  of  the  tub,  and  the  tub  then  im- 
mediately filled  with  a  strong,  clean,  cool  brine,  well  skimmed,  so  as 
entirely  to  exclude  the  butter  from  the  action  of  the  air. 

The  whole  quantity  of  butter  made  from  these  nine  cows  from  the 
first  of  May  to  the  first  of  September,  was  771  pounds,  and  the  cheese 
made  during  the  same  time  from  them  was  300  pounds,  being  about 
85  pounds  11  ounces  each  of  butter,  and  33i  pounds  each  of  cheese^. 


R.    O.    BARBER. 

Awarded  second  premium,  Clinton  co. 

Statement  according  to  the  rules  of  the  society,  concerning  the 
accompanying  butter. 

The  dairy  consists  of  eight  cows  of  the  common  breed. 

The  above  cows  are  kept  in  a  stable,  well  cleaned,  from  the  com- 
mencement of  feeding  them  until  they  are  turned  out  to  pasture,  andj 


117  [Senate 

fed  on  coarse  fodder,  corn  stalks  and  straw,  with  roots,  from  about 
the  first  of  February. 

Turned  out  to  pasture,  middle  of  May. 

They  are  milked  regularly  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  seven 
in  the  evening,  by  different  persons. 

The  milk  is  immediately  set  in  common  tin  pans  until  it  thickens, 
in  a  cellar,  the  temperature  of  which  is  kept  as  near  sixty  degrees  as 
possible. 

The  cream  is  then  taken  off  and  churned  immediately  in  one  of  J. 
Batty's  churns.  Temperature  of  cream  while  churning,  sixty  degrees. 
The  butter  is  thoroughly  washed  in  cold  water,  and  salted  with  ground 
salt,  using  as  much  salt  as  the  butter  will  dissolve.  After  this  it  is 
again  worked  with  a  ladle,  a  little  salt  added,  and  then  packed.  After 
the  tub  is  filled  the  butter  is  covered  with  saturated  brine.  The  above 
butter  is  put  into  the  tubs  one  day  after  being  churned. 

Number  of  pounds  of  butter  made  from  first  of  May  to  first  of 
September,  850,  being  a  less  quantity  than  is  usually  made. 

The  accompanying  butter  was  made  in  May. 


EXTRACT  OF  ONEIDA  COUNTY  REPORT. 
EVAN    K.    EVANS. 

Awarded  first  premium  Oneida  county. 

Statement  of  Evan  R.  Evans,  of  Marcy,  who  received  the  first 
premium  on  butter  at  the  fair  of  the  Oneida  county  Agricultural  So- 
ciety, September  9th,  1845. 

First,  My  cows  are  of  the  JYative  breed,  and  well  kept  both  sum- 
mer and  winter. 

Second,  They  are  milked  at  regular  hours,  say  at  six  o^clock  in  the 
morning,  and  at  six  in  the  ajternoon,  and  the  milk  is  strained  in  sweet 
pans  and  set  a  sufficient  time  for  the  cream  to  raise,  as  it  depends 
somewhat  on  the  weather,  say  from  36  to  48  hours,  and  then  the 
milk  is  skimmed ;  in  milking  I  save  about  one  pint  of  the  strippins 
from  each  cow,  the  same  is  put  into  the  cream  pots  with  the  cream, 
and  it  is  churned  immediately  after  it  becomes  sour,  and  a  little  thick, 
as  this  is  the  time  "which  it  will  afford  the  greatest  quantity,  and  the 
best  quantity  of  butter. 

Third,  For  churning  I  use  the  old  style  of  dash  churn  attached  to 
dog  power. 

Fourth,  The  milk  is  freed  from  the  butter  without  the  aid  of  water, 
wuth  the  butter  ladle  only,  in  curing  I  use  no  other  substance  than 
salt.  I  prefer  the  Liverpool  imported  salt,  as  I  think  it  is  the  purest 
and  sweetest. 

Marcy,  JVovember  3d,  1845. 

P.  S. — After  this  mode  of  making  butter  I  have  always  found  a 
ready  market,  and  commanding  the  highest  prices.  It  is  also  neces- 
sary in  order  to  have  sweet  butter,  to  have  good  sweet  feed.  The 
quantity  of  butter  which  I  have  made  from  the  first  of  May  last,  to 
the  first  of  November  from  twelve  cows,  is  1770  pounds,  and  has  been 
sold  in  New-York  markets,  at  prices  from  18|  to  22  cents  per 
pound. 


118  [Senate, 


CHEESE. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  examination  of  cheese 
and  the  awarding  of  premiums  thereon,  having  accomplished  the 
duty  assigned  them,  beg  leave  to  report : 

That  there  were  three  competitors  for  the  prize  of  twenty  dollars, 
for  the  "  best  sample  of  not  less  than  three  cheeses  from  each  of  ten 
dairies  in  any  one  county,"  two  from  the  county  of  Herkimer,  and 
one  from  the  county  of  Oneida. 

There  were  about  100  cheeses  exhibited  by  the  three  competitors, 
none  weighing  less  than  80  pounds,  and  many  exceeding  200  pounds,' 
Of  that  number,  there  was  not  one  poor  cheese,  or  that  could  even  be 
called  a  middling  one.  They  were  all  good.  The  excellent  quality 
made  it  the  more  difficult  for  the  committee  to  determine  to  w^hich 
should  be  awarded  the  premium. 

The  committee  have  labored  under  a  serious  embarrassment  in  not 
having  had  any  guide  sanctioned  by  the  society  as  to  the  constituents 
of  a  good  cheese.  In  all  the  reports  of  their  predecessors,  no  data  is 
given  w^hereby  the  manufacturers  or  the  committee  could  tell  what 
had  heretofore  been  the  requisites,  to  entitle  the  competitor  to  the 
society's  prize. 

It  is  a  difficult  thing  to  define  a  good  cheese.  It  is  easier  to  say 
what  it  is  not.  No  where  is  the  diversity  of  taste  more  strikingly 
exemplified  than  in  the  like  or  dislike  of  cheese.  One  likes  it 
strong,  another  mild  ;  one  likes  it  hard  and  crumbly,  another  soft 
and  buttery ;  but  all  prefer  it  rich,  and  not  rank  smelling  or  strong 
of  the  rennet. 

A  good  cheese  should  be  w^ell  made,  and  contain  all  the  cream 
that  was  in  the  milk.  It  should  be  mild  to  the  taste,  melting  in  the 
mouth,  leaving  a  pleasant  sensation,  and  a  gentle  relish  for  more. 
It  should  be  freed  from  all  the  whey,  have  a  thin  tough  rind,  and  keep, 
with  but  slight  deviation,  its  original  shape.  The  size  is  immaterial, 
only  so  far  as  it  may  suit  the  purposes  of  a  particular  market.  And 
it  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  more  of  our  small  dairies  were  not  brought 
in  to  the  show,  as  the  committee  believe  that  with  equal  care,  a 
small  cheese  may  be  made  quite  as  good  as  a  large  one. 

Best  sample  of  three  cheeses  from  each  often  dairies  in  any  one  county. 

The  committee  award  the  first  premium  of  twenty  dollars  to  ten 
best  dairies,  to  Herkimer  county,  and  to  the  dairies  represented  by 
Mr.  Burrall. 

The  second  premium  of  ten  dollars  to  ten   daries  from  Oneida 

COUNTY. 

Believing  that  they  could  award  but  one  premium  to  a  county, 
they  could  not  award  to  the  second  best  lot  from  Herkimer,  such  a  pre- 
mium as  the  committee  could  desire  or  as  they  deserve. 

Cheeae  one  year  old  or  over. 

There  were  but  two  competitors,Robert  Eells,  of  Westmoreland^ 
and  F.  Ingersoll,  of  Vernon.  Both  samples  were  worthy  of  premi- 
ums, and  they  have  awarded 


No.  105.]  119 

The  first  premium  of  fifteen  dollars  to  R.  Eells. 
The  second,  a  silver  medal,  to  F.  Ingersoll. 

Cheese  less  than  one  year  old. 

There  were  thirty-six  competitors,  showing  over  one  hundred  large 
cheeses,  and  the  committee  are  happy  to  say  that  of  all  the  cheeses 
exhibited,  nearly  two  hundred,  and  weighing  in  the  aggregate  not 
far  from  eighteen  thousand  pounds,  there  was  not  one  poor  cheese, 
nor  one  that  might  not  be  a  desirable  present  to  a  friend.  As  the 
rule,  presented  by  the  society,  requiring  a  full  statement  from  each 
dairy,  has  been  very  generally  complied  with,  a  mass  of  the  most 
valuable  information  upon  that  subject  has  been  placed  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  society,  and  through  them  should  be  laid  before  the  public. 

The  committee  award 

The  first  premium  of  fifteen  dollars  to  W.  S.  Ford,  of  Salisbury, 
erkimer  county. 

To  Mrs.  W.  Ottley,  Oaks  corner,  Ontario  county,  the  second  pre- 
mium. 

To  F.  Hallenbeck,  of  Herkimer  county,  the  third  premium. 

To  N.  Wilcox,  Winfield,  Herkimer  county,  the  fourth  premium. 

To  J.  Smalley,  Norway,  Herkimer  county,  the  fifth  premium. 

The  committee  have  found  great  diflficulty  in  determining  to  whom 
from  among  a  large  number  of  competitors  the  several  prizes  should 
be  awarded,  so  close  was  the  competition. 

Two  samples  of  round  or  navy  cheese  were  exhibited  by  Messrs. 
Spencer  and  Brown,  of  Newport,  Herkimer  county.  It  is  a  kind  of 
cheese  heretofore  manufactured  almost  exclusively  in  Holland.  It 
did  not  come  within  the  range  of  premiums  offered  by  the  society. 
But  the  committee  consider  the  enterprise  worthy  of  commendation. 
Diploma  awarded. 

All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

T.  C.  PETERS, 
THOS.  BURCH, 
HARRISON  BLODGET, 
Committee.. 
Ag.  Soc.  Committee  Room,  Sept.  18,  1845. 


STATEMENTS. 
HENRY    BURRALL    AND   OTHERS. 

Statement  of  number  of  cows  milked  by  the  following  dairymen, 
manner  of  manufacture,  &c.,  of  cheese  presented  by  Henry  Burrall, 
of  Herkimer  county ; 

JVame.  JVo.  coios.   JVo.  cheese. 

W.S.Ford, 64 3 

F.  Hallenbeck, 40   3 


120  •  [Senate 

0.  Matthews, 44  -.   3 

J.  Quance, 44  ......   3 

G.  Waterman, 44  3 

E.  McConnell, 44 3 

William  Peck, 95  4 

John  Smalley, 50  ......    3 

Ch.  Ives, 40  3 

C.  Heminway, 40  ......   3 


35 

All  made  during  the  month  of  June  last — from  two  milkings — no 
addition  of  cream — common  Onondaga  salt — a  half  pint  rennet  to  100 
pounds  of  cheese,  or  sufficient  to  turn  the  milk  in  half  an  hour. 


ZENAS  ELARED,  AND  OTHERS. 


To  the  Judges  on  cheese,  of  the  New-York  State  Agricultural 
Society  :  Gentlemen — I  respectfully  report,  for  the  combination  of 
dairymen  in  Litchfield,  and  adjoining  towns  in  Herkimer  county, 
that  the  samples  of  cheese,  here  presented,  are  the  result  of  an  effort 
to  suit  the  style  of  cheese  to  the  foreign  demand,  which  requires 
them  to  be  of  firm  texture,  mild  flavor,  and  pressedin  such  a  propor- 
tion that  they  are  half  as  thick  as  they  are  wide. 

Process  of  manufacture.  The  cheese  is  made  from  two  milkings. 
Evening's  and  morning's  milk.  Evening's  milk  is  cooled  to  keep  it 
sweet.  The  cream  that  rises  on  evening's  milk  is  taken  off  and  put 
with  morning's  milk,  or  some  other  warm  enough  to  mix  it  thorough- 
ly with  the  whole  mass.  Evening's  and  morning's  milk  is  put  to- 
gether and  warmed  to  90  degrees  heat  if  the  weather  is  cool,  if  warm 
to  86  or  88,  according  to  the  temperature  of  the  weather.  Enough 
liquor  from  sweet  calves'  rennet  soaked  in  warm  water,  or  brine,  to 
curdle  the  milk  in  three-quarters  of  an  hour  sufficiently  hard  to  work, 
is  added  with  a  slight  coloring  of  annatto.  When  the  curd  is  hard 
enough  to  work,  it  is  cut  in  large  checks  with  a  knife  or  ware,  then 
allowed  to  stand  ten  minutes,  then  made  fine  by  working  it  carefully 
with  the  hands.  Whey  and  curd  is  then  heated  to  100  degrees,*  and 
kept  to  that  point  till  the  curd  is  thoroughly  prepared.  The  whey 
then  drained  off,  and  pure  Onondaga  salt  added  in  proportion  of  one 
pound  to  forty  of  curd,  with  allowance  for  what  passes  off  with  whey. 
The  curd  is  then  spread  and  cooled  before  putting  it  to  press,  to 
check  the  rapid  fermentation  introduced  in  the  process  of  working  it. 
When  sufficiently  cooled,  the  curd  is  put  into  a  hoop  and  pressed  to 
the  fullest  extent  of  the  capacity  of  the  presses  in  use,  for  several 

*  Great  loss  formerly  occurred  from  heating  the  "whey  and  curd  too  much;  the 
cream  was  dissolved  by  the  whey,  and  drained  off  with  it,  thus  injuring  the  quality 
of  the  cheese  and  the  amount  of  the  product.  By  attention  to  this  point,  the  product 
of  some  cheese  dairies  have  been  increased  from  300  pounds  to  430  pounds  a  cow, 


No.  305.] 


121 


hours,  then  turned,  pressed  twelve  hours,  turned  severa]  times  in  the 
course  of  the  next  two  days  pressing.  The  cheese  is  then  taken 
from  the  hoop,  placed  upon  a  shelf  and  colored  lightly  with  annatto, 
prepared  in  strong  lye,  bandaged  snug  and  greased  with  oil  made 
from  whey,  cream,  or  butter,  turned  daily,  cheese-room  kept  well 
ventilated  and  shelves  or  tables  kept  clean  and  sweet. 

JVames  of  Members. 


Zenas  Elared,         Winfield. 
Newton  Wilcox,         " 
J.  M.  Prendergast, 
Samuel  Smith, 


A.  L.  Fish, 
Anson  Rider, 
Benj.  Campbell, 


Litchfield. 


li 


Rodney  Wilcox,     Litchfield. 

William  Holcomb, 

Samuel  Mathews, 

J.  W.  Beckwith, 

Israel  Young, 

David  Young, 

John  R.  Bliss, 


a 

Columbia. 
u 


Mohawks 
A.  L.  FISH,  .^gent. 


ROBERT   EELLS. 


Statement  of  the  method  of  making  the  cheese  entered  by  Robert 
Eells,  of  Westmoreland,  Oneida  county,  for  the  premium  offered  by 
the  New-York  State  Agricultural  Society. 

The  said  cheese  was  made  about  the  middle  of  June.  The  num- 
ber of  cows  kept  24.  The  cheese  was  made  from  two  milkings  and 
no  addition  of  cream.  The  kind  of  salt  used,  Liverpool.  To  18 
pounds  curd,  used  one  tea  cup  full  of  salt.  The  rennet  soaked  48 
hours  in  salt  and  water  and  used  sufficient  to  coagulate  the  milk  in 
30  minutes.  Pressed  48  hours  in  a  screw  press,  taken  from  the  press 
and  rubbed  with  annatto,  greased  and  bandaged  the  same  day,  turned 
and  rubbed  every  day.     Washed  with  weak  brine  occasionally. 

The  old  cheeses  entered  by  Robert  Eells,  were  made  after  the  same 
rule,  and  were  kept  through  the  winter  in  boxes,  in  a  dry  cellar, 
taken  out  of  the  boxes  in  the  spring,  and  put  on  tlie  shelves  in  the 
cheese  house  ;  turned  and  greased  occasionally. 


FREDERICK    INGERSOLL. 

Cheese  made  last  of  June,  1844  ;  number  of  cows  kept  16  ;  made 
from  two  milkings  ;  no  addition  of  cream  ;  Onondaga  common  salt 
used  and  salt  to  suit  the  taste  ;  rennet  soaked  in  brine  48  hours  with 
a  little  lemon  peal  added  ;  quantity  used,  half  of  a  common  sized 
tea  cup  full  ;  pressed  in  screw  press  48  hours  ;  after  treatment, 
placed  upon  shelves  oiled  with  w^hey  oil,  and  turned  every  day,  un- 
till  late  in  the  season,  when  they  were  turned  and  oiled  as  often  as 
they  required. 

Vernon^  Sept.  17,  1845. 


122  [Senate 

mrs.  william  ottley. 

This  cheese  was  made  in  June  1845,  from  the  milk  of  six  cows 
each  cheese  was  made  from  three  milkings,  the  milk  was  set  as  soon 
as  milked ;  the  quantity  of  rennet  used,  was  two  table  spoonfuls  to 
one  milking  ;  being  six  spoonfuls  to  one  cheese ;  let  the  milk  stand 
after  being  set  about  one  hour  and  a  half,  then  break  the  curd  up 
very  fine,  and  let  it  stand  (the  evening  milking)  until  morning,  the 
curd  will  be  settled  to  the  bottom  ;  whey  it  off  gently ;  scald  the  tub  ; 
go  through  with  the  same  with  the  morning's  milking  in  the  course 
of  the  day  ;  the  curds  being  thoroughly  drained,  chop  them  fine,  and 
then  scald  them,  the  water  being  as  warm  as  the  hand  will  bear,  let 
the  curd  remain  in  the  water  about  three  minutes,  stirring  it  gently 
all  the  time  with  the  hands  ;  then  add  a  pail  of  cold  water,  and  let  it 
remain  about  two  minutes,  stirring  it  as  before  ;  after  removing  the 
curd  from  the  water,  salt  it  immediately ;  the  quantity  of  salt,  one 
pint,  (fine  salt;)  the  curd  is  retained  during  the  scalding  and  salting 
in  strainer,  place  it  into  a  cheese  hoop,  and  let  it  drain  one  and  half 
hours;  pressed  36  hours  in  "an  improved  press,"  turning  it  four 
times  ;  the  weight  used  at  first,  is  quite  small,  and  increased  as  the 
cheese  becomes  more  solid.  The  rennet  was  prepared  thus :  put  a 
whole  rennet  into  two  quarts  of  cold  water,  with  salt  suflScient  to 
preserve  it,  in  two  days  it  is  fit  for  use.  The  cheese  was  turned  once 
a  day,  rubbed  and  greased.     This  is  continued  until  cold  weather. 

One  hundred  and  four  pounds  of  this  cheese  was  made  in  June  1845, 
and  271bs.  in  June  1844.  The  old  cheese  is  presented  to  show  the 
quality  of  chees,  made  as  above  stated,  when  it  has  been  kept  a  length 
of  time. 

Oaks  Corners,  Phelps^  Ontario  co.  JY.   Y. 


D.    NOLTON,    AND   OTHERS. 

To  the  committee  on  cheese  of  New-York  State  Agricultural  Soci- 
ety ;  Gentlemen,  the  following  is  the  process  in  which  my  own  cheese 
is  manufactured:  the  milk  of  evening  and  morning  is  poured  into  a 
vat  together,  the  milk  is  raised  to  a  temperature  of  from  90  to  95  de- 
grees, according  to  the  weather,  then  only  sufficient  rennet  is  poured 
in  to  change  it  from  milk  to  a  curd  state,  which  takes  from  20  to  30 
minutes,  then  the  process  of  breaking  the  curd  is  commenced,  this 
is  continued  for  about  20  minutes,  then  hot  ivater  is  poured  around  the 
tin  vat,  which  is  inclosed  by  a  wooden  vat  bottom  and  sides,  this 
heating  process  continued,  still  breaking  the  curd  fine,  until  all 
the  soft  and  pithy  curd  becomes  firm,  then  a  strainer  is  placed  on  a 
sink  into  which  the  curd  and  whey  is  dipped,  using  care  to  keep  the 
curd  fine  stirring  it  up  until  most  of  the  whey  is  separated  from  the 
curd,  getting  the  curd  about  to  the  temperature  of  the  weather,  when 
it  is  seasoned  almost  entirely  by  my  own  judgment,  which  is  a  little 


No  105.]  123 

higher  with  salt  than  most  people  like  their  food,  then  it  is  put  in 
press,  the  whey  which  runs  from  the  curd  is  very  salt,  which  leaves 
the  cheese  in  a  fine  palatable  state,  changing  the  cloths  twice,  letting 
it  remain  from  24  to  to  48  hours. 

My  dairy  of  cheese  is  made  from  forty  cows.  The  cheese  that 
I  have  entered  for  examination,  was  made  the  last  of  July  or 
the  first  of  August,  this  present  year.  The  manner  which  Ingham 
Townsend's  cheese,  of  Floyd,  and  R.  H.  Roberts'  of  Trenton,  is 
made  the  same  as  my  own,  and  made  in  the  same  months  ;  also  J. 
Hamblin,  J.  W.  Pierce,  and  J.  S.  Hamblin.  There  is  no  addition 
of  cream. 


DANIEL    EELLS,JR. 

This  cheese  was  made  in  June.  I  keep  twenty-six  cows.  The 
cheese  was  made  from  two  milkings,  no  addition  of  cream.  Our  rule 
for  salt  is  two  pounds  per  cwt.  We  use  the  ground  evaporated  salt, 
made  at  Syracuse.  We  put  in  sufficient  rennet  to  fetch  it  in  three 
quarters  of  an  hour,  or  before  the  cream  begins  to  rise.  Prepare  it 
by  putting  one  into  ajar  at  a  time  with  cold  water  and  salt,  add  wa- 
ter and  salt  daily,  as  much  as  is  taken  out,  until  the  strength  dimi- 
nishes, then  throw  it  away,  scald  the  jar,  and  commence  anew.  We 
use  the  double  Lever  press,  with  fifty-six  pounds  weight.  After  the 
cheese  is  pressed,  it  is  washed  over  with  a  preparation  of  annatto  and 
strong  lye,  when  it  is  dry,  rubbed  with  butter,  and  bandaged  in  about 
24  hours,  kept  in  a  cool  airy  room. 

Mw  Hartford,  Sept.  16,  1485. 


EPHRAIM  STORRS. 


To  the  committee  on  cheese ;  Gentlemen,  the  three  cheeses  I  here 
present  for  your  examination,  were  made  on  the  22d  and  29th  of  July, 
and  on  the  1st  of  August,  from  a  dairy  of  34  cows,  two  of  them  were 
farrow,  and  6  heifers.  There  were  two  milkings  (night  and  morning) 
in  each  cheese  ;  there  was  no  addition  of  cream,  but  made  as  the 
whole  of  my  dairy  is  made.  I  use  the  Salina  salt,  and  put  a  teacup- 
ful  to  151bs.  of  curd.  The  exact  quantity  of  curd  I  ascertain  by  mea- 
suring the  milk  when  all  is  in  the  tub.  I  used  4  teacupfuls  of  rennet 
for  each  of  these  cheeses,  previously  prepared,  by  making  a  strong 
brine,  scalding  and  skimming  it  well;  it  then  when  cold,  is  put  into 
a  keg  or  tub,  and  one  dozen  of  good  rennets  put  into  the  brine,  it 
then  stands  one  week,  and  is  fit  for  use.  The  cheeses  were  pressed 
in  the  old  fashioned  lever  press,  about  24  hours,  they  were  then  taken 
out,  weighed  and  marked,  and  put  on  the  table,  rubbed  over  with  a 
preparation  of  annatto,  and  left  to  stand  15  or  20  minutes,  then  rubbed 
over  with  grease,  afterwards  turned  and  rubbed  regularly  every  day. 


124  '  [Senate 

david  g.  young. 

David  G.  Young,  of  Columbia,  Herkimer  co.  respectfully  submits 
the  following  statements  in  relation  to  his  sample  of  cheese,  to  whom 
they  may  concern. 

Number  of  cows  20.  Time  of  taking  said  cheese  from  the  press  and 
their  weight,  June  1,  106  lbs.  June  4,  106  lbs.  June  6,  104  lbs.  Said 
cheese  made  from  three  milkings  or  nearly  so,  being  made  in  connec- 
tion with  others  pressed  in  a  smaller  hoop,  the  exact  account  cannot 
be  given,  commenced  making  single  curded  cheese  June  9th,  which 
for  several  days  following,  averaged  VOlbs.  per  day.  No  cream  ta- 
ken from  said  cheese,  nor  none  added  ;  degree  of  heat  of  milk  when 
rennet  was  added,  90°  Fahrenheit ;  degree  of  heat  used  in  scalding 
100°.  Age  of  rennets  used  one  year  old,  taken  from  calves  from  four 
to  eight  days  old,  kept  from  food  12  to  18  hours  ;  rennets  thoroughly 
salted  and  dried  ;  from  four  to  six  rennets  soaked  at  a  time  in  three 
gallons  of  water  ;  sufficient  salt  added  to  be  found  at  any  time  at  the 
bottom  ;  quantity  of  rennet  used  was  one  gill  to  50  pounds  of  cheese  ; 
common  salt  used  at  the  time  of  making  samples  at  the  rate  of  two 
and  a  half  pounds  to  the  hundred  of  cheese  in  curd. 


CHRISTOPHER  GREENE. 

My  method  of  manufacturing  cheese,  is  as  follows  :  In  the  first  place, 
take  particular  care  the  milk  be  cooled  so  that  it  will  keep  perfectly 
sweet.  I  put  the  rennet  to  the  milk  at  the  heat  of  from  82°  to  86° 
Fahrenheit,  and  vary  the  temperature  according  to  the  temperature  of 
the  atmosphere,  in  cool  wether  ;  in  the  spring  and  fall,  at  85°  or  86° — ■ 
in  warm  weather  from  82°  to  84°.  I  prepare  my  rennet  by  steeping  a 
sufficient  quantity  to  last  six  or  eight  weeks,  being  careful  to  salt  enough 
to  keep  it  sweet ;  strain  off,  put  into  jars  or  bottles  and  use  a  sufficient 
quantity  to  thoroughly  produce  the  curd  in  a  state  not  to  waste,  and  no 
more,  as  too  large  a  quantity  of  rennet  will  invariably  produce  bad 
cheese;  from  45  to  60  minutes  is  about  the  time  necessary  before 
breaking  the  curd.  I  break  the  curd  fine  before  I  heat  it,  or  scald,  as 
is  generally  termed  ;  then  I  gently  raise  the  heat  to  98°  in  very  warm 
weather,  and  to  100°,  in  cooler  weather,  and  let  the  whey  stand  on  the 
curd  at  that  heat  until  it  is  cooked  so  that  the  curd  will  press  dry, 
which  I  determine  by  taking  a  handful  of  curd  and  pressing  it — if  the 
whey  presses  out  dry  and  the  curd  close  together,  it  is  fit  to  salt;  I 
use  a  large  tea  cup  full  of  salt  to  15  lbs.  cheese  ;  in  scalding,  I  keep 
the  curd  fine  by  frequently  stirring  the  curd. 

The  cheese  I  present  for  competition,  was  made  from  20  cows,  two 
days'  curd,  pressed  in  a  self-press,  often  taken  from  the  hoop  bandage, 
oiled  with  whey,  oil  collected  with  annutto.     No  cream  w^as  added. 

Exeter,  Otsego  county. 


No.  105.]  125 


DUANE  Richardson's 


To  the  Recording  Secretary  of  the  N.  Y.  State  Ag.  Fair  for  1845  : 
This  may  certify  that  the  cheese  I  exhibit  at  the  State  Fair,  was  made 
the  first  of  June  last.  The  number  of  cows  I  milk  is  forty,  including 
six  two  year  old  heifers.  The  cheese  was  made  from  two  milkings, 
and  no  addition  of  cream  ;  the  quantity  of  salt  is  six  ounces  to  fifteen 
pounds  of  cheese — Salina  salt ;  three  tea  cups  full  of  rennet  for  one 
hundred  pounds  of  cheese  ;  steep  the  rennet  in  warm  water,  two  quarts 
for  one  rennet ;  as  it  is  used  out,  add  a  little  water,  if  the  strength  will 
admit. 

I  use  the  old  fashioned  lever  press,  bandage  the  cheese  the  day  it  is 
taken  out  of  the  press,  grease  and  turn  them  often  until  they  become 
considerably  cured,  and  then  moftly  rub  them  with  the  whey  that  first 
runs  from  the  cheese  when  it  is  first  put  into  the  press ;  that  whey  is 
salt  and  rich  enough  to  make  a  good  surface,  and  give  the  cheese  a 
good  appearance,  &c. 

Schuyler,.  Sept.  16,  1845. 


ERASTUS  COLVIN. 

Memorandum  of  cheese  manufactured  by  Erastus  Colvin,  in  the  town 
of  Hamburgh,  Erie  county.  N.  Y.,  September  15,  1845. 

Number  of  cows  kept,  38.  Produce  from  each  cow,  12  quarts  milk. 
Season  for  making  cheese,  from  1st  to  15th  June. 

Time  of  milking,  between  5  and  6,  morning  and  evening. 

Dairy  house  is  built  over  a  running  spring  of  water,  two  stories  high, 
lower  one  for  making  cheese.  The  upper  one  is  furnished  withshelves  for 
curing  it.  Utensils  for  making,  consists  of  a  tub  which  holds  135  galls., 
a  kettle  which  is  placed  in  an  arch,  also  a  brass  kettle  which  is  set  in  a 
hogshead  in  which  water  runs  continually,  and  consequently  around  the 
kettle,  which  holds  21  galls.,  into  which  the  milk  is  placed,  to  be  kept 
cool  and  sweet;  g  knife  with  eight  blades  being  set  into  one  handle, 
about  half  an  inch  apart,  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  the  curd  perpendi- 
cularly in  the  tub  ;  and  also  a  knife  which  is  fastened  to  the  end  of  a 
screw,  being  half  as  long  as  the  diameter  of  the  tub — a  crank  being 
fastened  to  the  opposite  end  of  the  screw,  above  a  nut  which  is  long 
enough  to  lay  on  the  top  of  the  tub  ;  by  putting  the  nut  on  the  tub, 
and  turning  the  crank,  the  knife  cuts  the  curd  from  the  bottom  to  the 
top. 

Process  of  making  cheese:  First  set  the  milk  in  the  tub,  and  make 

the  temperature  80  degrees ;  then  take  6  rennets  and  put  them  into  a 

stone  jar,  and  then  put  about  1  gallon  cold  spring  water,  and  let  them 

'  soak  until  the  strength  is  out  of  the  rennets ;  into  the  jar  put  about  two 

handsful  of  fine  salt;  from  this   (it  being  previously  prepared)   take 


126  [Senate 


L 


two  common  tea  cups  full  and  put  into  the  milk,  and  stir  it  well ; 
let  it  then  stand  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  then  take  the  knife  with 
eight  blades  and  pass  it  around  the  edge  of  the  tub,  and  then  cut  the 
curd  each  way  across  the  tub,  then  let  it  stand  about  fifteen  minutes  ; 
then  take  the  knife  attached  to  the  screw,  place  the  knife  on  the  curd 
and  turn  the  crank  to  cut  the  curd  down  through  to  the  bottom  of  the 
tub,  it  then  being  cut  into  small  pieces  ;  then  stir  up  the  curd,  and  as 
soon  as  the  curd  settles  enough  so  that  you  can  dip  out  some  of  the 
whey,  put  it  in  the  kettle  which  is  in  the  arch,  and  let  it  warm  mode- 
rately ;  and  when  it  becomes  a  little  warm,  dip  it  out  of  the  kettle  and 
put  it  into  the  tub,  and  continue  to  dip  it  back  and  forth,  so  to  keep 
it  all  warm,  and  increasing  in  heat  until  it  raises  to  104  degrees,  and 
then  let  it  remain  one  hour — occasionally  stir  it  up — ^then  dip  off"  the 
whey,  or  nearly  so  ;  take  two  pails  full  of  cold  spring  water,  and  put 
it  into  the  tub  with  the  curd  ;  then  stir  it  up,  then  dip  oft' the  water  and 
curd  into  a  drainer,  and  then  stir  up  the  curd ;  then  take  another  pail 
full  of  cold  water  and  pour  it  on  to  the  curd,  and  stir  it  up  so  that  it 
will  drain  off";  then  put  in  about  18  oz.  salt — istir  it  up  so  that  it  will 
become  equally  salted,  and  prevent  its  being  stuck  togetherj  then 
weigh  the  curd,  and  for  every  16  lbs.  curd,  add  6  oz.  pure  dairy  salt, 
and  stir  it  up  well ;  let  it  stand  in  the  drainer  half  an  hour  ;  then  put  it 
into  the  vat,  and  put  a  light  weight  upon  it,  for  one  hour,  and  then  put 
on  a  heavy  weight,  and  let  it  remain  4  hours  ;  then  turn  it  and  let  it 
remain  18  hours. 

'Take  it  from  press  and  put  it  on  a  board,  and  put  on  hog's  lard  until 
it  is  well  greased  over ;  then  put  on  a  bandage  to  prevent  its  spreading 
out,  and  turn  it  every  day. 

Hamburg,  Erie  county. 


JOHN  RAYMOND. 

The  two  cheeses  I  present  to  the  judges  of   cheese  of  the  State 
Agricultural  Society,  was  made  near  the  middle  of  June,  1845. 

Keep  16  cows;  cheese  made  from  two  milkings,  night  and  morning; 
no  addition  of  cream;  use  one  pound  of  Onondaga  salt  to  40  lbs.  curd  ; 
in  preparing  the  rennet,  I  take  a  healthy  calf  not  less  than  five  days  old, 
let  him  suck  one  of  my  healthy  cows,  (for  I  keep  no  other,)  in  the 
morning ;  let  him  stand  three  or  four  hours,  kill  it,  take  out  the  rennet 
as  near  whole  as  possible;  one  or  two  days  after,  put  them  in  a  jar 
and  cover  them  with  plenty  of  dry  salt ;  they  can  be  preserved  in  this 
way  for  years  ;  use  both  skin  and  curd ;  think  the  strength  as  often  in 
the  curd  as  in  the  skin.  In  using,  take  three  or  four  rennets,  put  them 
in  a  cotton  bag  made  for  the  purpose,  and  put  them  into  a  tub  or  jar, 
with  ten  quarts  of  water  and  plenty  of  undissolved  salt — use  suflScient . 
quantity  to  bring  curd  in  40  minutes — say  one  or  two  tea  cups  full ;  pre  ss 
with  iron  bar  six  feet  in  length,  three  inches  from  one  pivot  to  the  other, 
with  2001bs.  weight ;  dip  bandage  cloth  in  oil  or  whey  butter,  draw  it 
on  snug  and  tight ;  turn  them  daily ;  warm  with  stove  when  necessary. 


No.  105.]  127 

Cleanliness  should  be  observed  throughout  the  whole  process  in  the 
manufacture  of  cheese,  especially  in  drawing  the  milk  from  the  cows 
in  a  neat  and  workmanlike  manner.  I  see  great  room  for  improvement 
in  this  most  important  point,  and  have  taken  uncommon  pains  this 
season  to  carry  into  my  milking  stalls  dry  clover  chaff,  every  day 
during  the  summer,  from  my  store-house,  where  I  have  put  20  or  30 
loads  for  this  purpose;  it  absorbs  all  the  litter  and  moisture,  and  answers 
a  valuable  purpose  on  the  land. 

In  conclusion,  I  give  it  as  my  opinion,  should  the  dairymen  of  our 
State  make  ever  so  large  or  ever  so  much  cheese,  yet  if  they  were 
careless,  and  neglected  their  dairy  tools  and  cheese-making  imprements, 
slovenly  in  the  whole  operation,  it  would  be  a  poor  article  for  use,  and 
unmerchantable. 

I  have  made  these  cheeses  with  my  own  hands — a  fair  sample  of  my 
whole  dairy,  of  about  8000  lbs.,  and  present  them  a  good,  wholesome 
and  pure  article,  and  only  ask  the  reward  of  merit. 

Should  the  judges  give  me  a  passing  notice,  there  would  be  an  effort 
made  among  the  dairymen  to  improve,  and  excel  each  other  on  this 
most  important  point,  which  would  enhance  its  value  and  meet  with  a 
ready  market. 

Litchfield  J  Herkimer  county,  Sept.  1845. 


EXTRACT  OF  CLINTON  COUNTY  REPORT. 
WM.    KEESE. 

Awarded  first  premium,  Clinton  county. 

To  the  committee  on  butter  and  cheese:  Presented  for  your  inspection 
several  cheeses.  The  one  marked  with  the  letter  A,  comes  most  par- 
ticularly within  the  requisition  of  the  by-laws,  although  the  others  were 
made  within  the  fifth  and  sixth  month,  (May  and  June,)  with  the 
exception  of  the  one  marked  B,  which  was  made  in  the  eighth  month 
of  1844. 

My  usual  practice  in  manufacturing  cheese,  has  not  varied  materially 
for  several  years.  As  follows :  The  number  of  cows  supplying  milk  for 
A,  on  the  26th  day  of  sixth  month,  1845,  was  36 ;  upland  primitive 
soil,  stony  pasture.  The  cheese  was  made  from  the  night's  milk,  kept 
in  a  brass  kettle  and  some  tin  cans,  set  in  cold  water  to  cool  the  milk, 
so  as  not  to  sour ;  the  following  morning  a  sufficient  quantity  of  the 
night's  milk  is  heated  (in  the  brass  kettle,  by  setting  it  in  hot  water,) 
to  make  the  whole  mass  of  night  and  morning's  milk  about  the  same 
heat  as  when  taken  from  the  cow ;  rennet  is  then  added,  and  well  stirred, 
in  sufficient  quantity  to  form  the  curd,  which  can  only  be  regulated  by 
the  judgment  of  the  person  taking  care  of  it ;  after  the  curd  is  formed, 
it  is  cut  and  allowed  to  settle,  when  some  whey  is  taken  off  and  heated 
nearly  scalding  hot,  and  returned  in  small  quantities^  to  the  curd  and 
whey  in  the  tub — continuing  to  do  so,  until  the  curd  becomes  hard 
enough  for  the  press,  taking  care  to  keep  it  as  fine  as  possible ;  then 


'  128  [Senate 

adding  fine  salt,  in  the  proportion  of  8  oz.  to  20  lbs.  of  curd ;  press  the 
cheese  twenty-four  hours,  when  it  is  well  oiled  with  melted  butter, 
turning  every  dayin  hot  weather,  and  occasionally  oiling. 
Jlusable,  9th  month,  15,  1845. 


EXTRACT  FROM  OTSEGO  COUNTY  REPORT. 
WILLIAM   C.    YOUNG. 

Aivarded  first  'premium,  Otsego  county. 

I  hereby  report  to  the  Otsego  County  Agricultural  Society,  the  making 
of  two  cheeses  from  twenty-five  cows,  which  are  herewith  presented  in 
the  following  manner,  viz :  A  sufficient  quantity  of  calves'  rennet, 
prepared  by  taking  the  stomach  from  the  calf  twelve  hours  after  suck 
ing — emptying  it  of  curd,  if  there  should  be  any — carefully  rinse  the 
stomach  with  cold  water ;  roll  it  in  dry  salt  as  long  as  the  salt  will 
adhere  to  it  j  then  stretch  it  on  a  bow  and  hang  it  in  a  cool  place  to 
dry  for  one  year — is  added  to  the  evening's  milk  as  soon  as  drawn  from 
the  cow,  to  coagulate  in  three-quarters  of  an  hour.  Annatto  is  likewise 
to  be  added,  in  the  following  manner:  One  half  pound  of  annatto  to 
one  pound  of  bicarbonate  of  potash,  dissolved  in  two  quarts  of  water, 
to  be  added  in  the  proportion  of  two  table  spoonfulls  to  fifty  weight  of 
cheese ;  the  curd  is  then  cut  into  squares  of  about  one  inch,  with  a 
wooden  knife,  and  then  left  to  settle  in  the  whey  during  the  night. 
The  morning's  milk  being  managed  in  the  same  way ;  after  settling  one 
half  hour,  the  morning's  and  evening's  curd  is  then  added  together. 
A  brass  kettle  nearly  filled  with  water,  is-  then  suspended  in  the  vat, 
reaching  within  four  inches  of  the  bottom,  into  which  is  inserted  a  lead 
pipe  attached  to  a  patent  steamer  ;  the  mass  is  then  warmed  to  eighty- 
five  degrees,  being  stirred  gently  with  the  hand  during  the  time  of 
warming;  it  is  then  broken  carefully  with  the  hands  of  two  persons,, 
thirty  minutes  ;  the  heat  is  then  increased  fast  enough  to  bring  the 
whole  mass  up  to  100  degrees  Fahrenheit,  in  forty  minutes,  carefully 
stirring  with  the  hands — at  which  temperature  it  is  kept  for  thirty 
miuutes  ;  the  whey  is  then  drawn  off ;  the  curd  is  then  stirred  fine  and 
pressed  with  the  hands,  as  long  as  the  whey  will  run  ;  it  is  then  stirred 
up  again  and  salted  with  two  and  a  half  pounds  of  fine  Salina  salt  to 
100  lbs.  of  curd,  pressed  weight ;  it  is  then  put  in  press,  with  a  pressure 
of  twelve  hundred  pounds,  remaining  six  hours  ;  it  is  then  turned  into 
a  dry  cloth,  remaining  until  the  next  morning  ;  it  is  then  to  be  turned 
again  and  pressed  twenty-four  hours  longer  ;  it  is  then  taken  out  and 
set  on  the  shelf,  being  turned  every  day  and  rubbed  with  whey  butterj, 
as  occasion  may  require,  to  prevent  cracking. 

Richfield,  Sept..  30,  l845l 


No.  105.J  129 

EXTRACT  FROM  OTSEGO  COUNTY  REPORT. 
LEVI   MATTHEWS,  JR. 

To  the  committee  on  cheese — Gentlemen :  The  cheese  which  I  have 
offered  for  your  examination,  was  made  June  2d,  1845 — as  follows  : 
Milk  set  at  82  degrees ;  sufficient  quantity  of  rennet  to  bring  the  curd 
in  three-quarters  of  an  hour ;  curd  broken  fine  but  handled  very  care- 
fully, until  the  whey  leaves  clear  ;  heat  is  increased  to  85  degrees  by 
putting  in  warm  whey  at  two  or  three  different  times ;  then  letting  it 
stand  until  sufficiently  cured  for  the  press ;  in  setting,  we  use  a  tea  cup 
full  of  fine  salt  to  fifteen  pounds  of  cheese  ;  when  taken  from  the  press 
after  salting,  the  curd  stirred  until  quite  cold,  before  it  is  put  in  the 
press. 

My  opinion  is,  that  more  strong  cheese  is  made  by  putting  curd  in 
to  the  press  too  warm,  than  in  any  other  way. 

Mexico,  Sept.  22,  1845. 


EXTRACT  FROM  OSWEGO  COUNTY  REPORT. 
J.  W.  TIFFANY. 

To  the  committee  on  cheese  of  the  Oswego  County  Agricultural 
Society — Messrs. :  I  would  present  for  your  examination,  three  cheese, 
two  of  which  were  made  about  the  middle  of  June — the  other  about 
the  20th  August  last. 

We  set  our  cheese  at  80  degrees,  with  one  coffee  cup  of  rennet ; 
then  let  it  stand  from  half  to  three-quarters  of  an  hour  ;  then  break  it 
up  fine — let  it  settle,  then  dip  off  the  whey  and  break  it  up  again ; 
then  we  scald  at  85  degrees — then  let  it  stand  about  15  minutes,  then 
dip  off  and  break  it  up  again,  and  scald  again  at  90  degrees,  and  let  it 
stand  about  half  an  hour,  then  dip  it  out  and  put  one  pound  of  salt  to 
forty  of  curd,  and  let  it  stand  until  it  is  cool,  before  putting  in  the 
press. 

Mexico,  Sept.  20,  1845. 


[Senate,  No.  105.] 


150  [Senate 


MAPLE  AND  CORNSTALK  SUGAR. 

The  committee  on  maple  and  cornstalk  sugar,  report  : 
That  no  sugar  was  exhibited  made  from  the  juice  of  the  cornstalk. 
The  two  best  specimens  of  maple  sugar  were  very  superior,   and 
equal  to  the  best  refined  loaf;  and  the  quality  of  the  two  so  nearly 
equal,  it  was  extremely  difficult  to  determine  which  had  the  prefer- 
ence.   They,  however,  awarded, 

To  JoelWoodworth,  of  Watertown,  Jefferson  co.,  the  first  premium, 
$15.00. 

To  Moses  Eames  of  Rutland,  Jefferson  co.,  the  second  premium 
of  $10.00. 

To  William  E.  White  of  Walton,  Delaware  co.,  the  third  premium 
of  Colman's  Tour. 

To  Erastus  Bigelow  of  Sangerfield,  Oneida  co.,  a  premium,  diploma. 

To  Sidney  Spring  of  Eaton,  Madison  co.,  a  premium,  diploma. 

The  two  last  were  very  equal  in  quality,  and  the  committee  have 
awarded  a  premium  equal  to  the  fourth  to  each. 

O.  HUNGERFORD, 


JOEL   WOODWORTH. 

To  the  committee  on  Maple  Sugar  of  the  New-York  State  Agricul- 
tural Society  :  Gentlemen,  I  herewith  submit  to  your  inspection  27 
pounds  of  my  maple  sugar.  The  following  is  a  statement  of  the  man- 
ner of  making  and  clarifying  the  same  : 

In  the  first  place  I  make  my  buckets,  tubs  and  kettles  all  perfectly 
clean.  I  boil  the  sap  in  a  potash  kettle  set  in  an  arch  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  the  edge  of  the  kettle  is  defended  all  around  from  the  fire.  I 
boil  through  the  day,  taking  care  not  to  have  any  thing  in  the  kettle 
that  will  give  color  to  the  sap,  and  to  keep  it  well  skimmed.  At 
night  I  leave  fire  enough  under  the  kettle  to  boil  the  sap  nearly  or 
quite  to  syrup  by  the  next  morning,  I  then  take  it  out  of  the  kettle 
and  strain  it  through  a  flannel  cloth  into  a  tub  if  it  is  sweet  enough  ;  if 
not,  I  put  it  in  a  caldron  kettle,  which  I  have  hung  on  a  pole  in  such 
a  manner  that  I  can  swing  it  on  and  off  the  fire  at  pleasure,  and  boil  it 
till  it  is  sweet  enough  and  then  strain  it  into  the  tub  and  let  it  stand 
till  the  next  morning.  I  then  take  it  and  the  syrup  in  the  kettle  and 
put  it  all  together  into  the  caldron  and  sugar  it  off.  I  use  to  clarify,  say 
100  pounds  of  sugar,  the  whites  of  five  or  six  eggs  well  beaten,  about 
one  quart  of  new  milk  and  a  spoonful  of  saleratus  all  well  mixed  with 
the  syrup  before  it  is  scalding  hot.  I  then  make  a  moderate  fire  di- 
rectly under  the  caldron,  until  the  scum  is  all  raised,  then  skim  it  off 


No.  105.]  131 

clean,  taking  care  not  to  let  it  boil  so  as  to  rise  in  the  kettle  before  I 
have  done  skimming  it.  I  then  sugar  it  off,  I'^aving  it  so  damp  that  it 
will  drain  a  little.  I  let  it  remain  in  the  kettle  until  it  is  well  granu- 
lated ;  I  then  put  it  into  boxes  made  smallest  at  the  bottom,  that  will 
hold  from  50  to  80  pounds  having  a  thin  piece  of  board  fitted  in  2  or  3 
inches  above  the  bottom,  which  is  bored  full  of  small  holes  to  let  the 
molasses  drain  through,  which  I  keep  drawn  off  by  a  tap  through  the 
bottom.  I  put  on  the  top  of  the  sugar  in  the  box  a  damp  clean  cloth, 
and  over  that  a  board  well  fitted  in,  so  as  to  exclude  the  air  from  the 
sugar.  After  it  has  done  or  nearly  done  draining,  I  dissolve  it  and 
sugar  it  off  again,  going  through  with  the  same  process  in  clarifying 
and  draining  as  before. 

Watertown,  Sept.  12th,  1845. 


MOSES    EAMES, 

This  sample  of  sugar  was  made  in  the  month  of  March,  1845,  thus  : 
The  sap  was  boiled  to  the  consistence  of  good  syrup,  then  taken  out 
and  strained,  put  into  a  wooden  vessel  to  cool  and  settle,  and  then  it 
was  drawn  off  and  heated  in  a  kettle  to  ninety-eight  degrees ;  then  add- 
€d  one  ounce  of  saleratus.  The  whites  of  four  eggs,  and  two  quarts  of 
milk,  were  dissolved  and  beat  together ;  then  keep  up  the  heat  until  all 
the  scum  has  risen  ;  then  take  off  the  scum  before  it  boils,  and  boil 
until  it  will  form  a  wax  on  snow  or  in  cold  water ;  then  take  it  from 
the  fire  and  put  it  into  tin  pans  to  cool,  and  when  the  grain  is  well 
formed,  place  the  sugar  in  tunnel  shaped  boxes  to  drain,  with  a  wet 
flannel  cloth  on  the  top,  and  cover  it  with  a  board  to  keep  off  the  air  ; 
let  the  molasses  drain  all  out.  The  same  operation  is  done  again  by 
dissolving  the  sugar  when  cleansing,  &c. 

For  more  remarks  see  H.  L.  Ellsworth's  report  for  1844,  page  297. 

Rutland,  September  16th,  1845. 


WM.    E.    WHITE. 


Treatment  of  Sap. — The  tubs  are  kept  sweet  and  clean.  Smoke, 
ashes,  or  dirt  of  any  kind  will  injure  the  color  and  grain  of  the  sugar. 
Boil  the  sap  without  delay,  straining  before  boiling.  Use  sheet  iron 
boilers  placed  on  arches,  boil  three  barrels  of  sap  to  five  gallons  of  syrup. 
For  cleansing,  stir  the  white  of  three  eggs  and  one  pint  of  milk  into 
five  gallons  of  syrup,  place  it  in  a  sheet  iron  pan  on  a  stove  to  boil,  then 
strain  it  through  flannel,  then  boil  it  till  it  grains.  When  grained  pour 
it  in  a  drain  formed  of  boards,  tapering  to  the  bottom  with  holes  for 
the  molasses  to  escape. 

Forest  Hall,  Walton,  Del.  County. 


132  [Senate 

erastus  bigelow. 

To  the  committee  on  maple  sugar : 

Gentlemen — ^In  manufacturing  the  sugar  I  present  for  your  exami- 
nation, the  strictest  attention  was  paid  to  cleanliness,  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  end  of  the  process.  The  sap  was  boiled  to  a  syrup  in 
sheet  iron  pans,  so  set  in  an  arch  as  to  be  exposed  to  the  fire  only 
along  the  centre  of  their  bottoms.  The  syrup  was  strained  into  a 
wooden  vessel,  where  it  stood  twenty-four  hours  to  settle,  after  which 
the  vessel  was  tapped  about  three  inches  from  the  bottom,  and  the 
syrup  drawn  off,  leaving  the  sediment  in  the  tubs.  It  was  then,  after 
being  cleansed  with  the  white  of  eggs,  boiled  to  a  proper  consistency 
for  graining.  It  was  then  subjected  to  the  process  of  draining  in  a 
tub  provided  with  two  bottoms,  one  about  four  inches  above  the  other, 
and  minutely  perforated,  after  which  the  sugar  was  again  reduced  to 
syrup,  and  again  subjected  to  the  same  process  of  boiling,  cleansing 
and  draining,  as  before. 

The  number  of  eggs  used  was  at  the  rate  of  eight  to  the  hundred 
pounds  of  sugar. 

Sangerfieldy  Oneida  county,  September  15,  1845. 

SIDNEY   SPRING. 

This  maple  sugar  was  boiled  in  a  pan  set  upon  the  top  of  an  arch  so 
that  no  heat  come  in  contact  with  the  side  of  the  pan.  The  sap  was 
strined  and  boiled  immediately  after  it  run  from  the  trees,  then  the 
syrup  was  clarified  by  putting  in  one  ounce  of  pearlash,  and  one  pint  oi 
skimmed  milk  to  fifty  pounds  of  sugar. 

Sidney  Spring,  Pratt's  Hollow,  Madison  co. 


EXTRACT  FROM  CLINTON  COUNTY  REPORT. 
JOHN   L.    HACKSTAFF. 

To  the  President  of  the  Clinton  County  Agricultural  Society,  N.  Y. 

First  of  all  I  commence  my  preparations  for  making  Maple  Sugar^ 
by  gathering  my  tubs  the  season  previous,  as  early  as  practicable,  and 
see  that  they  are  well  housed  and  secured  from  the  weather.  As  soon 
as  tbe  season  commences,  I  scald  my  tubs,  and  commence  operations 
in  the  usual  manner.  I  use  caldron  kettles  for  boiling,  and  generally 
keep  up  boiling  the  sap  as  speedily  as  possible,  after  gathering,  and 
generally  make  my  sugar  in  quantities  of  about  forty  pounds  each.  I 
use  milk  and  the  white  of  an  egg  for  cleansing ;  the  white  of  one  egg 
ard  one  gill  of  milk  to  thirty  or  forty  pounds.  I  let  my  syrup  remain 
in  my  buckets  from  twelve  to  twenty-four  hours,  and  settle  before 
straining.  I  boil  my  sugar  carefully  over  a  slow  fire,  and  usually 
make  cake,  or  hard  tub  sugar.  I  have  manufactured  this  year,  about 
four  hundred  pounds,  and  the  expense  of  making  about  twelve  dollars.. 

Peru,  Sept.  15,  1845. 


No.  105.]  133 


SILK. 

The  committee  on  silk  report  as  follows  : 
For  the  best  specimen  manufactured  Silk,  to  Clark  Ave- 
ry, Perrville, $15  00 

"     2d  do.  to  D.  Irish,  Perryville, 10  00 

"     3d  do.  to  J.  Hutchinson,  River  Head, Colman's  Tour. 

For  the  best  specimen  reeled,  to  Mrs.  Irish,  Perryville, ...     10  00 

^'     2d  do.  to  Clark  Avery,  Perryville, Colman's  Tour. 

*'     3d  do.  to  Benjamin  Blackman,  Verona, Diploma. 

For  the  best  half  bushel  Cocoons,  1845,  to  Clark  Avery,.  $10  00 
^'     2d  to  John  Osborn,  Utica,  Col-  Tour. 

**     3d  to  Benjamin  Blackman,  Verona, Diploma. 

SAMUEL  THOMSON, 
GEORGE  C.  TALLMAN, 
JOHN  BRADLEY, 

Committee, 


CULTURE  AND  MANUFACTURE  OF  SILK. 


«/3n  Essay — By  H.  P.  Byram,  Brandenburg,  Meade  co,  Ky.,  to  lohich 
was  awarded  the  premium  of  $20. 


Experience  of  past  ages  has  fully  proved  that  the  climate  of  the 
United  States  is  as  well  adapted  to  the  nature  and  habits  of  the  silk 
worm,  and  the  production  of  silk,  as  that  of  any  other  country.  Se- 
veral varieties  of  the  mulberry  being  indigenous  in  our  soil,  those 
generally  used  in  the  native  country  of  the  silk  worm,  succeed  equal- 
ly well  in  our  own  soil  and  climate.  Hence,  from  the  nature  and 
habits  of  the  American  people,  we  must  soon  become  the  greatest 
silk  growing  nation  on  the  earth. 

The  first  step  toward  the  production  of  silk,  is  to  secure  a  supply 
of  suitable  food  for  the  silk  worm. 

Having  tried  all  the  varieties  introduced  into  our  country,  I  find 
the  Morus  Multicaulis  and  Canton  varieties,  all  things  considered, 
the  most  suitable  for  that  purpose. 

Propagation  of  the  Mulberry. — Although  this  subject  is  fami- 
liar to  many,  yet  those  now  most  likely  to  engage  in  the  legitimate 
business  of  silk  growing  may  be  unacquainted  with  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  tree,  I  shall  give  some  brief  directions  on  the  subject. 

Almost  any  soil  that  is  high  and  dry,  and  that  will  mature  Indian 


134  [Senate 

corn  is  suitable  for  the  mulberry.     That  however  which  is  inclined 
to  be  light  and  sandy  is  the  best. 

The  Morns  Multicaulis  may  be  propagated  by  cuttings  or  layers. 
(or  a  good  variety  may  be  raised  from  the  seed.)  Cuttings  may  be  of 
one  or  more  buds,  planted  perpendicularly  in  a  light,  mellow  bed  of 
soil.  They  should  be  planted  when  the  spring  has  fully  opened,  or 
about  the  usual  time  of  planting  corn.  They  may  be  planted  in  rows, 
about  twelve  inches  apart,  and  the  rows  at  a  sufficient  distance  to  ad- 
mit of  a  thorough  cultivation  with  a  plow  or  cultivator.  The  ground 
should  be  kept  mellow  until  past  midsummer. 

Select  a  suitable  piece  of  ground  for  a  permanent  orchard ;  it 
should  be  well  broken  up  in  the  fall  and  again  plowed  in  the  springy 
and  if  followed  with  the  subsoil  plow  it  would  be  advantageous ;  af- 
ter a  thoiough  harrowing,  it  should  be  laid  off  in  rows  eight  feet  by 
four  with  the  plow.  The  trees,  at  one  year  old  from  the  nurse- 
ry bed  should  be  taken  up,  the  tops  cut  off  near  the  root  and  one 
planted  in  each  of  the  squares  or  hills. 

Having  tried  various  methods  of  planting,  and  different  distances, 
I  prefer  those  here  given.  This  will  admit  the  free  use  of  the  plow 
or  cultivator  both  ways. 

In  latitudes  north  of  38  or  40  degrees,  where  land  is  more  valua- 
ble, they  may  be  planted  much  nearer. 

If  a  sufficient  quantity  of  cuttings  from  old  trees  cannot  at  once  be 
procured,  the  trees  from  the  nursery  should  be  taken  up  in  the  fall 
and  buried  in  a  cellar  or  upon  the  north  side  of  a  bank  or  hill  in  al- 
ternate layers  of  earth  and  trees,  and  the  whole  protected  by  a  shed 
from  the  rains  of  winter,  as  the  plants  seldom  sufficiently  mature  the 
first  season  from  the  cuttings  to  withstand  the  winters  of  a  northern 
climate,  particularly  that  portion  above  ground.  South  of  38  de- 
grees of  latitude  these  precautions  may  not  be  necessary. 

The  Canton  mulberry  is  a  more  hardy  kind,  resembling  in  some 
degree  the  varieties  known  as  the  common  Italian,  producing  a  large, 
full,  thick  leaf. 

This  variety  is  propagated  from  seed  and  from  layers,  but  does  not 
readily  strike  root  from  cuttings. 

In  1838  I  procured  a  quantity  of  this  seed  from  Canton  which  pro- 
duced a  variety  of  plants.  Those  producing  the  greatest  quantity  of 
fruit  yield  an  inferior  leaf. 


No.  105.]  135 

They  are  now  propagating  this  variety  very  extensively  at  the 
silk  growing  establishment  at  Economy,  Pa.,  which,  in  connexion 
with  the  morus  multicaulis  constitute  the  principal  food  used  at  that 
establishment. 

The  fruit  should  be  gathered  when  fully  ripe,  and  the  seed  washed 
out  and  dried.  If  south  of  the  39th  parallel  of  latitude  they  may  be 
planted  the  same  season.  North  of  this  they  should  be  planted  in  the 
following  spring,  in  a  bed  of  rich  earth,  prepared  as  for  beets  or  car- 
rots, and  planted  in  drills  of  about  eighteen  inches  apart.  The  young 
plants  should  be  thinned  out  to  the  distance  of  from  one  to  three 
inches  from  each  other.  They  should  be  well  cultivated  when  they 
will  attain  the  height  of  three  or  four  feet  the  first  season.  In  the 
fall  in  a  northern  climate,  the  young  trees  should  be  taken  up  and 
protected  during  the  winter,  as  directed  for  morus  multicaulis.  In 
the  following  spring,  the  branches  may  be  taken  off  near  the  main 
stem,  the  top  shortened,  and  the  whole  tree  planted,  completely  cov- 
ering the  roots,  and  the  stem  from  one  to  two  inches  deep.  In  this 
way  two  or  more  trees  may  be  produced  from  each  plant. 

If  a  full  supply  cannot  be  procured,  the  roots  of  the  young  plants 
may  at  once  be  removed  to  the  orchard.  They  may  be  allowed  to 
stand  nearer  than  the  morus  multicaulis,  leaving  only  a  sufficien; 
room  for  cultivation. 

When  seeds  are  required,  it  would  be  well  to  plant  out  a  portion 
from  the  seed  bed  at  once,  as  standards  for  this  purpose,  always  se- 
lecting those  hearing  full  heart-shaped  leaves. 

The  leaves  of  the  white  Italian  produce  a  good  heavy  cocoon  and 
should  always  be  used  in  the  last  age  of  the  worms,  when  other 
larger  leaved  varieties  cannot  be  obtained. 

Cultivation. — The  mulbery  orchard  should  be  annually  cultiva- 
ted ;  the  ground  kept  mellow  and  free  from  weeds  until  the  middle 
of  July.  The  fields  should  be  divided  into  three  equal  parts,  and  af- 
ter the  stco7id  season  from  planting,  and  one  third  each  year  should 
be  cut  down  near  the  ground.  This  will  cause  a  more  vigorous 
growth  and  an  abundant  crop  of  foliage. 

Feeding  Apartments. — ^Various  plans  have  been  proposed  and 
adopted  for  cocooneries  or  feeding  sheds,  for  the  silk  worm.  None 
of  which,  I  think,  are  without  objection,  except  a  perfect  laboratory, 
so  constructed  as  to  be  able  to  filly  control  the  atmosphere  and  tempe- 


136  [Senate 

rafure  yirithm.    These  however  would  be  too  expensive  and  require 
too  much  skill  and  judgment  for  general  adoption. 

Open  or  shed  feeing  has  been  employed  with  some  success  of  late 
years,  and  for  general  may  be  the  most  successful  for  family 
establishments.  This  however  confines  the  whole  business,  particu- 
larly in  the  Northern  States,  to  one  or  two  crops  in  the  season. 
South  of  Ohio,  more  can  be  successfully  fed. 

These  sheds  may  be  cheaply  made,  by  setting  some  durable  posts 
in  the  ground,  say  from  six  to  eight  feet  high  with  a  roof  of  shingles 
or  boards.  The  roof  should  project  two  feet  over  the  sides.  There 
should  be  some  temporary  protection  to  the  ends  and  sides  of  the 
shed.  Perhaps  the  best  and  cheapest  can  be  made  of  strong  cotton 
cloth,  (osnaburg.)  Three  or  four  widths  should  be  sewed  together, 
with  small  rods  across  the  bottom  which  will  answer  as  weights,  and 
also  as  rollers  ;  by  the  aid  of  a  pulley  the  sides  may  be  rolled  up  or 
let  down  at  pleasure.  • 

The  width  of  the  shed  must  be  governed  by  the  size  of  the  hurdles 
or  feeding  trays  used.  The  width  that  I  have  adopted  is  from  18  to 
20  feet.  The  length  according  to  the  extent  of  the  feeding  contem- 
plated. 

Where  it  is  designed  to  carry  on  an  extensive  business,  a  building 
should  be  constructed  expressly  for  the  purpose.  It  should  be  on  an 
elevated  situation,  convenient  to  the  mulberry  archard.  There  should 
be  a  cellar  under  the  building,  for  the  storage  of  leaves.  Any  mate- 
rial commonly  used  for  building  purposes  may  be  employed.  If 
of  wood,  weather  boarded  and  plastered.  It  would  be  well  to 
fill  up  the  space  between  the  two  with  tan  bark,  unburnt  brick, 
or  something  of  the  kind,  which  will  render  the  temperature 
more  uniform.  The  width  of  the  building  should  be  20  or  28 
feet.  The  former  admiting  of  two  and  the  latter  of  three  double 
ranges  of  hurdles  or  tra}s  of  suitable  size.  The  length  suited  to  the 
extent  of  the  businss  designed.  It  should  be  two  stories  high,  and 
so  constructed  as  to  be  thoroughly  ventilated.  There  should  he  two 
or  double  doors  in  each  end,  with  doors,  windows  and  ventilators  in 
the  sides.  The  windows  should  extend  to  near  the  top  of  the  rooms. 
There  should  be  sliding  ventilators  near  the  floor.  It  would  also  be 
important  to  have  under  each  tier  of  hurdles,  through  the  floor, 
two  boards  of  te7i  inches  wide  each,  hung  with  hinges,  that  they  may 


[No.  oi5.  137 

be  raised  at  pleasure  by  a  pulley.  Also  an  upright  ventilator  on  tbe 
roof  filled  with  blinds,  through  which  a  constant  draft  may  be  kept 
up.  The  windows  may  be  filled  with  oil  paper,  or  cloth,  which  will 
admit  the  light  and  exclude  the  sun. 

In  one  end  of  the  building,  in  each  of  the  doors,  there  should  be  a 
ventilating  wheel,  made  of  thin  boards,  much  after  the  form  of  the 
wheels  applied  to  the  stern  of  our  steam  propellers.  These  wheels 
should  be  about  two  feet  in  diameter.  They  should  be  put  in  mo- 
tion for  a  few  minutes  every  hour  or  oftener,  in  still  weather.  Both 
may  be  made  to  turn  by  one  crank,  connecting  each,  by  bands  and 
wheels,  to  the  main  shaft. 

An  air  furnace,  such  as  is  now  employed  in  heating  churches  and 
other  buildings,  should  be  constructed  in  the  cellar,  and  so  arranged 
as  to  draw  directly  from  the  feeding  rooms  all  the  air  necessary  to 
supply  the  furnace.  The  air,  when  heated  in  the  chamber,  should 
be  conveyed  through  the  whole  length  of  the  rooms  in  a  square 
wooden  box,  with  openings  at  short  distances  from  each  other, 
which  should  increase  in  size  as  they  recede  from  the  furnace.  These 
openings  may  be  so  connected  as  to  be  all  closed  at  once.  When 
the  temperature  is  sufficiently  high  in  the  room,  theyjmay  be  closed, 
suffering  the  hot  air  to  escape  outside  of  the  building.  In  the  last 
ages  of  the  worms,  the  furnace  will  be  found  of  great  benefit,  even 
when  the  heat  is  not  required  in  the  room,  for  the  purpose  of  draw- 
ing off  and  consuming  the  impure  air  of  the  cocoonery. 

At  Economy,  they  not  only  make  use  of  air  furnaces,  but  in  an 
adjoining  building,  they  have  a  large  air  pump  constantly  in  operation, 
connected  with  the  cocoonery  by  a  pipe,  with  small  openings 
through  the  length  of  the  building.  This  pump  is  kept  in  motion  be 
a  steam  engine. 

With  good  eggs,  where  proper  means  have  been  employed  for 
their  preservation,  and  the  feeding  apartments  thoroughly  ventilated, 
I  do  not  know  of  a  single  instance  where  the  worms  have  proved 
unhealthy. 

From  the  conviction  that  proper  regard  had  not  generally  been 
paid  to  the  ventilation  of  cocooneries,  in  the  summer  of  1842,  I  com- 
menced a  series  of  experiments,  by  which  I  ascertained  that  the  silk 
worm,  during  its  last  age,  consumed  near  its  own  weight  oj  food  daily 
and  that  the  amount  of  exhalations  or  imperceptible  perspiration  given 


138  [Senate 

off  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  food  consumed,  was  about  equal 
to  that  ascertained  to  escape  from  a  healthy  man. 

I  found  from  the  most  carefully  conducted  experiments  that  the 
weight  of  100,000  silk  worms,  about  five  days  before  winding  was 
four  hundred  and  fifty-eight  pounds,  and  that  they  would  consume 
daily  372  pounds  of  leaves ;  *  and  that  their  increased  weight  in 
twenty -four  hours,  from  the  food  consumed,  was  46  pounds  ;  and  that 
the  enormous  amount  of  206  pounds  was  given  off  in  the  same  time 
in  the  form  of  exhalations  or  imperceptible  perspiration  alone. 

This,  then,  I  think,  fully  explains  the  cause  of  the  disease  com- 
plained of  by  many,  and  establishes  the  importance  of  ventilation  in 
every  possible  form. 

In  the  corner  of  the  building  there  should  be  a  hatching  room, 
with  which  the  furnace  below  should  be  connected  so  as  to  receive 
a  greater  or  less  degree  of  heat  as  may  be  required,  without  refe- 
rence to  the  temperature  of  the  feeding  rooms. 

Fixtures. — In  fitting  up  the  hurdles,  or  feeding  shelves,  for  a 
building  of  twenty  feet  wide,  it  will  require  a  double  range  of  posts 
2 J  or  3  inches  square,  each  side  of  the  centre  of  the  rooms  run- 
ning lengthwise,  and  the  length  of  the  shelves  apart,  in  the  ranges, 
and  each  two  corresponding  posts,  crosswise  of  the  ranges,  about  the 
width  of  the  two  shelves  apart.  On  each  double  range  across  these 
posts,  are  nailed  strips  one  inch  or  more  in  width,  and  about  fifteen 
inches  apart,  on  which  the  trays  or  hurdles  rest,  which  may  be 
drawn  out  or  slid  in  from  their  respective  passages  as  may  be  found 
necessary  in  feeding.  The  aisles  or  passages  of  a  building  of  the 
above  width,  will  be  four  feet  each,  allowing  two  feet  for  the  widA 
of  each  MTi^^e  hurdle. 

The  hurdles  that  I  have  used  for  many  years  are  of  twine  net 
work.  A  frame  is  first  made  five  feet  long  and  two  feet  wide,  of 
boards  I  of  an  inch  thick  and  1|  inches  wide.  There  should  be  two 
braces  across  the  frame  at  equal  distances,  five-eighths  by  seven-eighths 
of  an  inch  square.  On  a  line  2ihoViihalfan  inch  from  the  inner  edge  of 
the  frame,  are  driven  tacks  nearly  down  to  their  heads  at  such  distances 
as  will  make  the  meshes  of  the  net  about  three-fourths  ofan  inch  square. 

*  Had  these  worms  been  fed  in  the  ordinary  manner,  they  would  have  consumed 
many  more  leaves  in  the  same  time ;  but  in  order  to  preserve  the  greatest  possible 
accuracy,  through  the  whole  experiment,  they  were  fed  rather  sparingly. 


No.  105.J  139 

Good  hemp  or  flax  twine  is  passed  around  these  tacks,  forming  a  net,  by 
passing  the  filling  double  over  and  under  the  threads  of  the  warp,  or 
that  part  of  the  twine  previously  put  lengthwise.  The  twine  used 
as  filling  should  be  somewhat  smaller  than  that  running  lengthwise. 
On  a  damp  day  the  twine  becomes  tight.  I  then  give  the  netting 
two  good  coats  of  shellac  varnish.  This  cements  the  whole  together, 
and  renders  it  firm  and  durable. 

The  varnish  is  made  by  dissolving  a  quantity  of  gum  shellac  in 
alcohol,  in  a  tin  covered  vessel,  and  placed  near  the  fire.  It  should  be 
reduced,  when  used,  to  the  consistence  of  paint. 

Another  set  of  frames  are  made  in  the  same  way,  and  of  the  same 
size,  and  covered  with  strong  cotton  or  tow  cloth,  this  is  secured  with 
small  tacks.  Upon  these,  the  frames  rest,  which  serve  to  catch  the 
litter  that  falls  from  the  worms. 

Hurdles  made  and  supported  in  this  manner,  admit  of  a  more  free 
circulation  of  air,  and  the  litter  is  less  liable  to  mould  or  ferment,  and 
can  be  removed  and  cleaned  at  pleasure. 

With  this  kind  of  screen,  I  make  use  of  winding  frames  constructed 
in  the  following  manner  :  A  light  frame  is  made  of  boards  one  and  a 
half  inches  wide,  the  length  of  the  hurdles^  and  two  feet  four  inches ; 
this  is  filled  crosswise  with  thin  laths,  about  one  inch  apart,  in  the 
clear.  The  manner  of  using  these  frames  will  be  hereafter  explained. 
They  answer  the  two-fold  purpose  of  winding  frames  and  mounting 
ladders. 

The  care  and  expense  required  in  fitting  up  a  house  on  this  plan, 
may  prevent  its  general  adoption.  The  most  common  method  that  has 
been  heretofore  employed,  is  permanent  shelves,  but  the  labor  required 
to  keep  the  worms  properly  cleaned,  renders  this  plan  objectionable. 

At  Economy,  the  rearing  of  the  silk  worm  is  now  carried  on  to  a 
great  extent,  and  more  successfully  than  in  any  other  part  of  the 
United  States,  or  perhaps  the  world. 

Their  houses  are  two  stories  high.  The  worms  are  fed  on  small 
trays,  about  eighteen  or  twenty  inches  wide,  and  about  three  feet  long 
They  are  supported  in  the  same  manner  as  the  hurdles  above  described, 
and  are  about  six  inches  apart.  When  the  worms  are  about  ready  to 
wind,  they  are  transferred  to  the  upper  story,  to  permanent  shelves, 
about  sixteen  inches  apart,  where  they  form  their  cocoons  in  bunches 
of  straw  placed  upright  between  the  shelves. 

The  worms  are  cleaned  at  least  once  after  every  moulting;  and  after 


140  [Senate 

the  last,  every  day.  For  this  purpose,  they  have  nets,  wove  or  knit,  of 
cotton  twine,  something  larger  than  the  size  of  the  trays,  with  meshes 
of  various  sizes,  suited  to  the  age  of  the  worms.  For  the  last  age, 
they  are  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch  square.  These  are  used  with- 
out frames.  When  it  is  required  to  remove  the  worms  from  their  litter, 
the  nets  are  laid  lightly  over  them,  and  then  plentifully  fed.  When 
the  worms  have  arisen  upon  the  fresh  leaves,  they  are  removed  by  two 
persons  taking  hold  of  the  four  corners  of  the  net  and  transferring 
them  to  clean  trays,  held  and  carried  off  by  a  third  person.  100,000 
worms  are  changed  in  this  way  in  one  hour. 

Description  of  the  Silk  Worm. — It  will  be  necessary  for  the 
inexperienced  culturist  to  have  some  knowledge  of  the  forms,  and 
changes,  and  appearance,  of  the  silk  worm,  before  he  enters  upon  the 
duties  of  his  interesting  charge. 

The  silk  worm  is  a  species  of  caterpillar,  whose  life  is  one  continual 
succession  of  changes,  which  in  due  time  becomes  a  moth,  or  winged 
insect,  like  others  of  the  genus. 

The  time  occupied  in  going  through  its  different  forms  of  existence, 
varied  in  different  countries — governed  by  climate,  temperature,  and 
the  quality  and  quantity  of  the  food  upon  which  it  is  fed,  and  the  nature 
of  the  particular  variety  of  the  insect. . 

The  worm  changes  or  casts  its  skin,  (the  ccmfnon  varieties,)  four 
times  before  it  attains  its  full  growth.  These  changes  are  called  moult- 
ings;  and  the  times  intervening  between  the  several  moultings,  are; 
termed  ages.  When  it  is  first  hatched,  it  is  of  a  blackish  color,  which 
afterwards  becomes  lighter,  varying  almost  daily  to  different  shades, 
and  in  different  varieties,  through  every  age,  to  the  close  of  the  last,* 
or  near  the  time  of  spinning,  when  it  assumes  a  greyish  yellow  semi- 
transparent  appearance. 

Having  tried  all  the  varieties  that  have  been  introduced  into  the 
United  States,  I  consider  the  best  are  those  known  as  the  Chinese 
Imperial — producing  a  large,  salmon  colored,  pea-nut  shaped  cocoon  ; 
and  a  kind  called  the  Peanut,  producing  a  mixture  of  white  and  nan- 
keen colored  cocoon.  This  variety  produces  a  larger  and  more  firm 
cocoon  than  any  of  that  name  that  I  have  seen. 

Time  of  hatching,  rearing,  &c. — When  the  leaves  of  the  mulberry 
have  put  forth,  to  the  size  of  about  an  inch  in  diameter,  it  may  gene- 
rally be  inferred  that  the  proper  season  for  hatching  the  worm  has 
arrived.     The  papers  or  cloths  containing  the  eggs,  should  be  brought 


No.  105.]  141 

out  and  placed  in  the  hatching  room,  upon  a  table  or  trays  made  for  the 
purpose.  When  artificial  means  are  employed,  the  temperature  should 
be  gradually  raised  until  the  time  of  hatching — which  will  be  in  about 
ten  days — to  75  or  80  degrees  of  Fahrenheit's  thermometer.  But  few 
worms  will  make  their  appearance  on  the  first  day,  but  on  the  second 
and  third,  the  most  will  come  out.  Should  there  be  a  few  remaining 
unhatched,  on  the  fourth  day,  they  may  be  thrown  away,  as  they  do 
not  always  produce  strong  and  healthy  worms.  When  the  young 
worms  begin  to  make  their  appearance,  tender  mulberry  leaves,  cut 
into  narrow  strips,  should  be  laid  over  them,  to  which  they  will  readily 
attach  themselves.  These  should  be  carefully  removed,  and  placed 
compactly  upon  a  cloth  screen,  or  tray,  prepared  for  them,  and  other 
leaves  placed  upon  the  eggs  for  the  worms  that  will  still  remain,  which 
should  be  passed  off  as  before. 

A  singular  fact  will  be  observed,  that  all  the  worms  will  hatch 
between  sunrise  and  before  noon,  of  each  day.  Care  must  be  taken  to 
keep  the  worms  of  each  day's  hatching  by  themselves,  as  it  is  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  have  the  moultings  and  changes  of  all  the 
worms  as  simultaneous  as  possible.  It  is  also  important  that  the  worms 
that  have  been  transferred  to  the  trays  should  not  be  fed  until  the  hatch- 
ing of  the  day  is  completed,  so  that  all  may  be  fed  equally.  Young 
and  tender  leaves  should  be  selected  to  feed  the  worms  with ;  these 
should  be  cut  with  a  knife  into  pieces,  not  exceeding  a  quarter  of  an 
inch  square,  and  evenly  sifted  over  them.  They  should  be  fed  in  this 
way  six  or  eight  times  in  twenty-four  hours,  as  near  as  possible  at 
regular  and  stated  periods. 

It  will  be  impossible  to  lay  down  any  definite  rules  for  the  quantity 
of  leaves  necessary  for  a  given  number  of  worms  for  each  succeeding 
day,  through  every  age.  After  a  little  acquaintance  with  their  nature 
and  habits,  the  intelligence  and  judgment  of  the  attendant  will  be  the 
best  guide.  They  should,  however,  have  as  much  as  they  will  eat ; 
but  after  a  few  days,  care  should  be  taken  not  to  give  them  more  than 
they  will  generally  consume,  as  this  will  increase  the  accumulation 
of  litter,  which  will  endanger  the  health  of  the  worms.  In  the  last 
age  they  eat  voraciously,  and  a  supply  of  leaves  should  always  be 
on  hand  in  case  of  wet  weather. 

When  the  average  range  of  the  themometer  is  between  70  and  80 
degrees,  the  several  moultings  will  take  place  near  the  5th,  9th,  15thj, 


142  [Senate 

aTid22d  days  after  hatching.  It  may  be  known  when  the  worms  are 
about  to  cast  their  skins,  as  then  they  cease  to  eat,  and  remain  sta- 
tionary, with  their  heads  raised,  and  occasionally  shaking  them.  This 
operation  will  be  more  distinctly  observed,  as  they  increase  in  size 
through  their  succeeding  ages. 

Assuming  the  above  temperature  as  a  standard,  the  quantity  of 
leaves  for  the  three  first  days  of  the  first  age,  must  be  gradually  in- 
creased at  each  feeding,  after  which  they  will  require  less  at  each 
succeeding  meal,  until  the  time  of  moulting  arrives,  w^hen  for  about 
twenty-four  hours  they  eat  nothing.  But  as  it  is  seldom  the  case 
that  all  cast  their  skins  at  one  and  the  same  time,  some  will  still  be 
disposed  to  eat,  when  a  few  leaves  must  be  cut  fine  and  sparingly 
scattered  over  them,  so  that  those  that  remain  torpid  be  disturbed 
as  little  as  possible.  They  must  now  be  carefully  fed  in  this  way 
until  it  is  discovered  that  some  have  moulted,  when  the  feeding  must 
cease  altogether,  until  the  most  of  them  have  recovered.  This  rule 
must  be  particularly  regarded  through  all  the  succeeding  moultings, 
otherwise,  some  of  the  worms  will  be  far  in  advance  of  the  others, 
and  this  want  of  uniformity  will  increase  throughout  each  succeding 
age,  and  to  the  period  of  winding,  which  will  not  only  result  in 
great  inconvenience  in  gathering  the  cocoons,  but  will  materially  in- 
jure the  worms  and  consequently  lessen  the  crop  of  silk. 

When  the  greatest  portion  of  the  worms  have  moulted  and  appear 
active,  leaves  a  little  wilted  are  laid  over  them,  by  which  they  are 
passed  to  clean  trays.  If  any  still  remain  that  have  moulted,  they 
must  be  transferred  in  the  same  manner  by  laying  more  leaves  upon 
them.  The  remnant  of  worms  that  have  not  changed  their  skins  should 
be  left  upon  the  litter,  and  added  to  those  of  the  next  day^s  moulting. 
By  closely  regarding  these  rules  [and  they  are  of  the  first  importance,) 
throughout  the  several  ages,  the  worms  will  generally,  all  commence 
the  formation  of  their  cocoons  about  the  same  period. 

After  having  gone  through  and  furnished  all  the  worms  with  a 
quantity  of  leaves,  it  is  well  to  go  through  a  second  time  and  add 
more  where  they  seem  to  require  it. 

Very  young  and  tender  leaves  must  be  given  to  the  worms  in  the 
first  age,  after  which,  older  ones  can  be  given,  as  they  advance  in 
age,  until  after  the  last  moulting,  when  they  should  be  fed  upon 
sound  full  grown  leaves. 


Jo.  105.]  143 

After  the  second  moulting,  the  leaves,  when  large  crops  are  fed, 
may  be  cut  by  running  them  twice  through  a  common  rotary  hay  or 
straw  cutter  of  Hovey's  or  those  of  a  similar  make. 

The  worms  will  frequently  heap  together  and  become  too  thick,  as 
they  increase  in  size.  When  they  are  fed,  the  leaves  must  be  spread 
and  the  space  enlarged,  or  removed  by  leaves,  or  twigs  of  the  mul- 
bery,  to  spaces  unoccupied.  If  they  are  permitted  to  be  crowded, 
disease  is  apt  to  follow,  and  the  whole  crop  endangered. 

It  will  sometimes  be  observed,  when  the  light  falls  more  directly 
on  one  side  of  the  hurdle,  that  the  worms  will  incline  to  leave  that 
side,  and  become  crowded  on  the  opposite,  when  the  hurdle  should 
be  turned  around. 

Up  to  the  last  moulting,  it  is  best  to  feed  the  worms  entirely  upon 
the  leaves  of  the  Morus  Multicaulis,  after  which  the  canton,  or  white 
Italian  should  be  used,  if  a  full  supply  can  be  obtained.  The 
former  being  consumed  with  greater  avidity,  and  the  accumulation  of 
litter  is  consequently  less.  The  Canton  and  Italian  produces  the 
heaviest  cocoon,  while  the  Multicaulis  yields  a  finer  and  stronger 
fibre.  In  pursuing  this  course,  the  advantages  of  both  are  in  some 
degree  secured. 

The  worms  should  be  removed  from  their  litter  immediately  after 
each  moulting,  and  in  their  fourth  age,  the  hurdles  should  be  cleaned 
a  second  time,  and  after  the  last  moulting  they  should  be  removed 
at  least  every  second  day. 

Where  nets  are  not  used  in  the  last  ages,  the  worms  are  changed 
by  laying  over  them  the  small  branches  of  the  mulbery. 

Recently  branch  feeding  has  been  introduced  with  some  success, 
and  with  great  economy  of  time  in  the  last  ages  of  the  worms.  Care 
should  be  taken  to  lay  the  branches  as  evenly  as  possible,  especially 
when  it  is  designed  to  use  twine  hurdles,  otherwise  it  will  be  difficult 
for  the  worms  to  ascend  through  the  netting. 

When  the  worms  are  about  to  spin,  they  present  something  of  a 
yellowish  appearance  ;  they  refuse  to  eat,  and  wander  about  in  pur- 
suit of  a  hiding  place,  and  throw  out  fibres  of  silk  upon  the  leaves. 
The  hurdles  should  now  be  thoroughly  cleaned  for  the  last  time,  and 
something  prepared  for  them  to  form  their  cocoons  in.  Various  plans 
have  been  proposed  for  this  purpose.  The  lath  frames,  before  de- 
scribed, I  prefer.  They  are  used  by  resting  the  back  edge  of  the 
frame  upon  the  hurdle  or  tray,  when  the  two  meet  in  the  double  range. 


144  [Senate 

and  raising  the  front  edge  up  to  the  underside  of  the  hurdle  above, 
which  is  held  lo  its  place  by  two  small  wire  hooks  attached  to  the 
euge  of  the  hurdle.     Showing  an  end  view  thus  : 


A  covering  of  paper  or  cloth  should  be  applied  to  the  upper  side  of 
the  frames.  In  using  the  hurdles  and  screens  before  described, 
remove  the  screen  from  the  underside  of  the  hurdle  turning  the  other 
side  up,  and  let  it  down  directly  upon  the  winding  frame.  This 
affords  double  the  room  for  the  worms  to  wind  in,  and  serves  for  a 
covering  to  the  frames,  answering  at  the  same  time  as  screens  to  catch 
the  litter  as  before.  Lath  frames  of  this  description  have  advantages 
that  no  other  fixtures  for  winding  possess,  that  I  have  ever  seen  tried. 
The  frames  resting  upon  the  back  side  of  each  hurdle,  renders  this, 
side  more  dark,  which  places,  the  worms  instinctively  seek,  where 
they  at  once  meet  with  the  ends  of  the  laths,  and  immediately  as- 
cend to  convenient  places  for  the  formation  of  their  cocoons.  From 
these  frames  the  cocoons  are  gathered  with  great  facility,  and  free 
from  litter  and  dirt  ;  and  w^hen  they  are  required,  they  are  put  up 
with  great  expedition. 

Where  branch  feeding  has  been  adopted  by  some,  no  other  accom- 
modation has  been  provided  for  the  winding  of  the  worms,  than  that 
afforded  them  by  the  branches  from  which  they  have  fed.  This  is 
decidedly  objectionable,  as  the  worms  are  always  disposed  to  rise 
until  their  course  is  obstructed  above,  and  when  this  is  not  the  case, 
they  wander  about  for  hours  upon  the  tops  of  the  branches,  and  only 
descend  after  their  strength  becomes  exhausted,  and  the  result  is  the 
production  of  a  crop  of  loose  inferior  cocoons. 

Next  to  the  lath  frames,  small  bunches  of  straw  offered  the  best 
accommodation  for  the  purpose.  Rye  straw  is  preferred.  Take  a 
small  bunch  about  the  size  of  the  little  finger,  and  with  some  strong 
twine,  tie  it  firmly  about  half  an  inch  from  the  cut  straw,  cut  the  butt  of 
the  bunch  off  about  half  an  inch  longer  than  the  distance  between  the 
hurdles  or  shelves  ;  they  are  thus  placed  upright  with  their  butt-ends 
down,  and  their  tops  spreading  out  interlacing  each  other,  and  press- 
ing against  the  hurdles  above.  They  should  be  thickly  set  in  double 
rows  about  16  inches  apart,  across  the  hurdles.  They  may  be  pre- 
served for  use  a  number  of  years. 


No.  105.]  145 

After  the  most  of  the  worms  have  arisen,  the  few  remaining,  may 
be  removed  to  hurdles  by  themselves. 

In  three  or  four  days,  the  cocoons  maybe  gathered.  While  gath- 
ering, those  designed  for  eggs,  should  be  selected.  Those  of  firm 
and  fine  texture,  with  round,  hard  ends  are  the  best.  The  smaller 
cocoons  most  generally  produce  the  male,  and  those  large  and  more 
full  at  the  ends,  the  female  insect.  Each  healthy  female  moth  will 
lay  from  400  to  600  eggs.  But  it  is  not  always  safe  to  calculate  on 
one-half  cocoons  to  produce  female  moths  ;  therefore  it  is  well  to  save 
an  extra  number  to  insure  a  supply  of  eggs. 

Preservation  of  Eggs. — The  cocoons  intended  for  eggs  should 
be  stripped  of  their  floss  or  loose  tow,  which  consists  of  irregular 
fibres,  by  which  the  worm  attaches  its  work  to  whatever  place  it  is 
about  to  form  its  cocoon.  These  should  be  placed  on  hurdles  in  a 
thin  layer,  and  in  about  two  weeks,  the  moths  will  come  out  always 
in  the  fore  part  of  the  day,  and  generally  before  the  sun  is  two  hours 
high.  If  laid  upon  net  hurdles,  (which  is  best,)  they  will  immediately 
fall  through  the  meshes  and  remain  suspended  on  the  under  side, 
where  they  are  not  liable  to  become  entangled  in  the  cocoons.  As 
soon  as  the  male  finds  the  female  they  become  united  ;  they  should 
he  taken  carefully  by  the  wings  in  pairs,  and  placed  on  sheets  of  pa- 
per, to  remain  until  near  night,  when  the  female  will  be  anxious  to 
lay  her  eggs,  then  take  each  gently  by  the  wings  and  separate  them, 
placing  the  females  at  regular  distances,  about  two  inches  from  each 
other,  upon  sheets  of  paper,  or  fine  cotton  or  linen  cloth.  These 
should  hang  over  a  line,  or  be  tacked  to  the  side  of  the  house.  In 
two  or  three  nights  the  moths  will  complete  their  laying,  when  they 
should  be  removed  from  the  papers  or  cloths. 

Frequently  the  males  appear  first  in  the  greatest  numbers,  some  of 
which  should  be  reserved  each  day,  in  case  there  should  afterwards 
be  an  excess  of  females.  They  should  be  shut  out  from  the  light, 
otherwise  they  are  liable  to  injure  themselves  by  a  constant  flutter- 
ing of  their  wings.  The  female  is  largest,  and  seldom  moves  or  flut- 
ters. 

Killing  the  Chrysalides — Curing  Cocoons. — After  the  cocoons 
have  been  gathered,  those  that  are  intended  for  sale  or  for  future 
reeling,  must  be  submitted  to  some  process  by  which  the  moths  will 
be  killed,  otherwise  they  will  perforate  and  spoil  the  cocoons.     This 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  10 


146  [Senate 

is  done  by  various  methods.  The  most  simple  and  convenient,  is  to 
spread  them  thinly  on  boards,  and  expose  them  to  the  direct  rays 
of  the  sun.  In  a  hot  day,  many  of  them  vvrill  be  killed  in  a  few  hours^ 
but  they  must  be  stirred  occasionally,  or  some  will  be  liable  to  es- 
cape the  heat,  and  afterwards  come  out.  The  best  plan  is  that 
adopted  at  Economy.  They  place  them  in  an  air  tight  box  contain- 
,  ing  about  ^e/i bushels,  (the  box  should  always  be  full^  or  if  not^a  par- 
tition fitted  down  to  the  cocoons)  sprinkling  evenly  through  the  whole  y 
beginning  at  the  bottom,  about  three  ounces  of  camphor,  slightlv 
moistened  in  alcohol,  and  finely  pulverized.  The  box  is  then  closed 
and  the  seams  of  the  top  covered,  by  pasting  strips  of  paper  over 
them.  They  remain  in  this  way  about  three  or  four  days^  they  are- 
then  spread  out  thinly  in  an  upper  loft  to  cure,  where  they  should  be 
occasionally  stirred.  It  will  require  some  weeks  to  thoroughly  dry 
them.  Before  camphoring,  the  dead  and  bad  cocoons  must  be  taken 
out,  otherwise  they  will  spoil  the  good  ones. 

When  it  is  convenient,  it  is  best  to  reel  as  many  of  the  cocoons  a& 
possible,  immediately  after  they  are  gathered,  as  they  reel  much  more 
freely  before  they  are  exposed  to  the  sun  or  dried. 

Succession  or  Crops. — Repeated  attempts  have  been  made  to 
feed  a  succession  of  crops  of  worms  from  the  same  stock  of  eggs.  la 
most  instances,  success  has  failed  to  attend  these  efforts.  When 
proper  means  are  employed,  and  due  care  observed,  the  eggs  may  be 
preserved,  and  worms  successfully  raised  until  the  feed  is  destroyed 
by  frost.  In  many  years'  experience  I  have  never  failed  in  this  re- 
spect. 

In  the  spring  of  1840, 1  communicated  to  Miss  Rapp,  of  Economy,, 
my  method  of  preserving  eggs  in  icfe^  which  she  immediately  adopted^, 
and  has  pursued  it  until  the  present  time  with  perfect  success,  feed- 
ing from  18  to  25  crops  each  year.  The  following  is  an  extract  of  a 
letter  from  the  postmaster  at  Economy,  dated  Jan.  19,  1843. 

"  Between  May  and  September,  we  raised  near  two  millions  of 
worms,  in  18  sets  of  near  equal  numbers,  about  a  week  apart,  produc- 
ing 371  bushels  of  cocoons.  The  last  crop  hatched  the  9th  day  of 
September,  and  spun  the  10th  of  Oct.  W^e  found  no  difference  in 
the  health  of  the  different  sets.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  late 
keeping  of  the  eggs  does  not  bring  disease  on  the  worms,  if  they  are 
kept  right  and  gradually  brought  forward  as  they  ought  to  be." 


No.  105.]  147 

It  may  be  remarked  that  the  qualities  of  the  mulberry  leaf  are  such 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  season,  that  as  heavy  cocoons  will  not  be 
produced  as  those  of  the  first.  A  bushel  of  the  first  crop  raised  at 
Economy,  in  the  season  referred  to,  produced  23j  ounces  of  reeled 
silk,  and  the  last  crop  wound  in  Oct.  but  19  oz.  About  one  month  of 
the  best  part  of  that  season  of  feeding,  was  lost  by  the  severe  frost  of 
the  5th  of  May,  which  entirely  killed  the  young  leaves,  and  must 
have  materially  injured  the  whole  crop  of  the  season. 

My  method  of  preserving  eggs,  is  to  place  them  in  the  ice  house  in 
February  or  early  in  March,  or  sooner  if  the  weather  sets  in  warm 
For  this  purpose,  a  box  or  square  trunk  should  be  made,  extending 
within  one  foot  of  the  bottom  of  the  ice  to  the  top.  This  may  be  made 
in  joints  so  that  as  the  ice  settles,  the  upper  joints  may  be  removed. 
The  eggs  should  be  placed  in  tin  boxes,  and  then  enclosed  in  wood 
ones,  and  suspended  in  the  trunk  7iear  the  ice.  The  communication 
of  warm  air  should  be  cut  off,  by  filling  the  opening  with  a  bundle  of 
straw  or  hay.  The  eggs  should  be  aired  for  a  few  minutes,  as  often 
as  once  in  one  or  two  weeks,  always  choosing  a  cold  morning,  when 
also  selections  for  succeeding  crops  may  be  made,  these  should  be 
placed  in  another  box,  and  gradually  raised  in  the  trunk  for  several 
days,  (from  10  to  14)  avoiding  a  too  sudden  transition  from  the  ice  to 
the  temperature  of  the  hatching  room. 

Their  ice  house  at  Economy  is  connected  with  the  cellar,  the  bot- 
tom of  the  former  being  eighteen  inches  below  that  of  the  latter.  A 
long  wooden  box  extending  into  the  ice  house  level  with  the  bottom 
of  the  cellar  floor,  contains  all  the  smaller  boxes  of  eggs.  The  door 
of  the  box,  opening  in  the  cellar,  is  kept  well  closed,  to  prevent  the 
admission  of  warm  air. 

They  employ  another  ice  house,  sunk  deep  in  a  cellar,  with  shelves 
gradually  rising  from  the  ice,  up  to  the  top  of  the  ground,  upon  which 
the  eggs  of  succeeding  crops  are  placed,  and  raised  one  shelf  higher 
every  day,  until  they  are  taken  into  the  hatching  room. 

The  past  season  (1845)  they  have  hatched  about^ve  oimces  of  eggs 
or  100,000  worms  every  four  days. 

Diseases  of  the  Silk  worm. — The  silk  worm  like  every  other  ani- 
mal or  insect,  is  liable  to  disease  and  premature  death.  European 
writers  have  enumerated  and  described  six  particular  diseases  to  which 
it  is  subject :  But  in  our  more  congenial  climate  nothing  is  wanting  to- 


148  [Senate 

insure  a  healthy  stock  of  silk  worms,  and  a  profitable  return  from  their 
labors,  but  to  give  them  sufficient  room,  a  regular  and  full  supply  of 
suitable  food,  a  strict  regard  to  cleanliness,  and  a  proper  ventilation  of 
their  apartments. 

In  excessively  hot,  damp,  or  sultry  weather,  in  the  last  age,  the  dis- 
ease known  as  the  yelloios  sometimes  occurs.  Where  open  feeding  is 
adopted,  some  fine  air-slacked  lime  may  be  sifted  on  the  worms,  once 
or  twice  a  day,  before  feeding  ;  and  the  diseased  and  dead  worms  care- 
fully picked  out  and  thrown  away.  In  a  regular  cocoonery  properly 
ventilated,  and  supplied  with  an  air  furnace,  dry  warm  air  should  be 
made  to  circulate  freely :  But  if  the  temperature  is  above  80  or  85  de- 
grees, the  ventilating  apparatus  should  be  constantly  employed,  until  a 
change  of  weather  occurs,  or  the  disease  disappears. 

In  apartments  where  worms  are  fed,  or  cocoons  are  stored,  means 
must  be  employed  to  protect  them  from  the  depredations  of  rats  and 
mice,  or  they  will  be  found  destructive  to  both. 

Reeling. — -We  have  now  arrived  at  another  branch  of  the  silk  busi- 
ness, which  more  properly  comes  under  the  head  of  manufacturing. 
Every  farmer  who  engages  in  the  silk  culture,  in  order  to  avail  him- 
self of  an  additional  profit,  should  provide  his  family  with  a  suitable 
reel ;  by  the  use  of  which,  after  a  little  experience,  he  will  be  enabled 
to  offer  his  silk  in  market  in  a  form  that  will  greatly  enhance  its  value, 
and  much  reduce  the  expense  and  trouble  of  transportation. 

Reels  can  now  be  procured  in  almost  any  of  the  principal  cities,  at  a 
small  cost ;  or  they  can  be  made  by  any  ingenious  farmer  or  ca""penter. 

The  reel  now  uniformly  used,  is  that  known  as  the  Piedmontese, 
(the  plan  and  dimensions  of  which  can  be  found  in  the  second  number, 
page  64  of  the  "  Journal  of  the  American  Silk  Society,"  Baltimore, 
1839,  by  G.  B.  Smith.)  All  attempts  to  improve  this  reel  in  its  gene- 
ral principle,  I  believe  have  failed.  At  Economy,  however,  they  have 
made  an  addition,  which  may  be  found  useful.  It  consists  of  two  pair 
of  whirls,  made  of  wire,  in  the  form  of  the  aspel  of  a  reel,  about  four 
indies  long,  and  two  and  a  half  inches  across  at  the  ends  ;  the  wires 
being  bent  in  the  middle,  leaving  them  about  one  and  a  half  inches 
across  from  arm  to  arm,  making  the  circumference  about  six  inches. 
These  whirls  are  set  in  an  iron  frame,  and  run  each  upon  two  points  or 
centres ;  each  pair  is  set  equidistant,  on  a  direct  line,  about  8  inches 
apart,  between  the  first  guide  and  that  on  the  transverse  bar.     Instead 


No.  105.]  149 

of  making  the  usual  number  of  turns  around  each  thread  as  they  pass 
between  the  guides  on  the  reel  ;  with  this  improvement,  each  thread  is 
taken  from  the  basin,  after  passing  through  the  first  guides,  and  carried 
over  and  around  the  two  whirls,  and  when  they  pass  each  other  on  the 
top,  the  turns  are  made,  necessary  to  give  firmness  to  the  thread,  then 
passing  directly  through  the  guides  of  the  traverse  bar,  to  the  arms  of 
the  reel  ^  making  each  thread  in  reeling,  independent  of  the  other. 
This  enables  the  reeler,  when  a  remnant  of  cocoons  are  to  be  finished, 
on  leaving  the  work,  to  unite  both  threads  into  one,  retaining  the  ne- 
cessary size  J  whereas  both  would  be  too  fine  if  continued  on  the  reel 
in  the  ordinary  manner. 

Directions  for  Reeling. — In  family  establishments,  a  common 
clay  or  iron  furnace,  and  a  tin  pan  should  be  procured  :  To  the  fur- 
nace should  be  fitted  a  sheet  iron  top  about  twelve  inches  high,  with 
a  door  on  one  side  and  a  small  pipe  on  the  other,  to  convey  oiT  the 
smoke.  This  top  should  retain  the  same  bevel  or  flare  of  the  furnace, 
so  as  to  he  about  the  size,  at  the  top,  as  the  tin  pan.  The  pan  should 
be  about  twenty  inches  square,  and  six  inches  deep,  divided  into  four 
apartments,  two  of  which  should  be  one  inch  larger  one  way,  than  the 
others;  they  should  all  communicate  with  each  other  at  the  bottom. 

In  large  filatures  a  small  steam  engine  to  propel  the  reels  &c.  and 
heat  the  water  for  reeling  would  be  necessary. 

Before  the  operation  of  reeling  is  commenced,  the  cocoons  must  be 
stripped  of  their  floss,  and  assorted  into  thi'ee  separate  parcels,  accord- 
ing to  quality,  or  of  different  degrees  of  firmness.  The  double  cocoons, 
or  those  formed  by  two  or  more  worms  spinning  together,  the  fibres  of 
which  cross  each  other  and  render  them  difficult  to  reel.  These  should 
be  laid  aside  to  be  manufactured  in  a  different  manner. 

After  the  cocoons  have  been  prepared  as  above  directed,  the  opera- 
tion of  reeling  may  be  commenced.  The  basin  should  be  nearly  filled 
with  the  softest  water,  and  kept  to  a  proper  heat,  by  burning  charcoal, 
or  some  other  convenient  method  of  keeping  up  a  regular  heat.  The 
precise  temperature  cannot  be  ascertained,  until  the  reeling  is  com- 
menced, owing  to  the  different  qualities  of  cocoons :  Those  of  the  best 
quality  will  require  a  greater  degree  of  heat  than  those  of  a  more  loose 
and  open  texture  ;  hence  the  importance  of  assorting  them.  Cocoons 
also  require  less  heat,  and  reel  much  better  when  done  before  the 
chrysalides  are  killed,  ond  the  cocoons  become  dried. 


150  [Senate 

The  heat  of  the  water  may  be  raised  to  near  tae  boiling  point,  (it 
should  never  be  allowed  to  boil,)  when  two  or  three  handsful  of 
cocoons  may  be  thrown  into  one  of  the  largest  apartments  of  the  basin, 
which  must  be  gently  pressed  under  the  water  for  a  few  minutes,  with 
a  little  brush  made  of  broom  corn,  with  the  ends  shortened.  The  heat 
of  the  water  will  soon  soften  the  gum  of  the  silk,  and  thereby  loosen 
the  ends  of  the  filaments.  The  reeler  should  then  gently  stir  the  cocoons 
with  the  brush,  until  the  loose  fibres  adhere  to  it ;  they  are  then  sepa- 
rated from  the  brush,  holding  the  filaments  in  the  left  hand,  while  the 
cocoons  are  carefully  combed  down  between  the  fingers  of  the  right 
hand,  as  they  are  raised  out  of  the  water ;  this  is  continued  until  the 
floss,  or  false  ends,  are  all  drawn  off,  and  the  fine  silk  begins  to  appear ; 
the  fibres  are  then  broken  off  and  laid  across  something  rough,  over 
the  size  of  the  basin.  The  floss  is  then  cleaned  from  the  brush  and  laid 
aside  as  refuse  silk  ;  and  the  operation  continues  until  the  most  of  the 
ends  are  thus  collected. 

If  the  silk  is  designed  for  sewing,  about  twenty  fibres  should  com- 
pose a  thread  ;  if  intended  for  other  fabrics,  from  eight  to  twelve  fibres 
should  be  reeled  together.  The  cocoons  composing  the  threads  are 
taken  up  in  a  small  tin  skimmer,  made  for  the  purpose,  and  passed  from 
the  large  apartment  to  those  directly  under  the  guides ;  as  the  ends 
become  broken,  they  are  passed  back  into  the  spare  apartment^  where 
they  are  again  collected  to  be  returned  to  the  reel. 

The  requisite  number  of  fibres  thus  collected,  for  two  threads  are 
passed,  each,  through  the  lower  guides  ;  they  are  then  wound  around 
each  other,  fifteen  or  twenty  times,  and  each  carried  through  the  two 
guides  in  the  traverse  bar,  and  then  attached  to  the  arms  of  the  reel. 
The  turning  should  now  be  commenced,  with  a  slow  and  steady  motion, 
until  the  threads  run  freely.  While  the  reel  is  turning,  the  person 
attending  the  cocoons  must  continually  be  adding  fresh  ends,  as  they  may 
be  required^  not  waiting  until  the  number  she  began  with  is  reduced, 
because  the  internal  fibres  are  much  finer  than  those  composing  the 
external  layers.  In  adding  new  ends,  the  reeler  must  attach  them  by 
gently  pressing  them,  with  a  little  turn,  between  the  thumb  and  finger, 
to  the  threads  as  they  are  running.  As  the  silk  is  reeled  off,  the  chry- 
salides should  be  taken  out  of  the  basin,  with  the  skimmer,  otherwise 
they  will  obscure  and  thicken  the  water,  and  injure  the  color  and  lustre 


No-  105.]  151 

of  the  silk.     When  the  water  becomes  discolored,  it  should  always  be 
changed. 

If  in  reeling  the  silk  leaves  the  cocoons  in  burs  or  bunches,  it  is 
evident  that  the  water  is  too  hot ;  or  when  the  ends  cannot  be  easily 
collected  with  the  brush,  or  when  found,  do  not  run  freely,  the  water 
is  too  cold.  A  pail  of  cold  water  should  always  be  at  hand  to  be 
added  to  the  basin  as  it  may  be  required. 

When  the  cocoons  yield  their  fibres  freely,  the  reel  may  be  turned 
with  a  quick  motion ;  the  quicker  the  motion,  the  smoother  and  better 
■will  be  the  silk. 

When  from  four  to  eight  ounces  has  been  reeled,  the  aspel  may  be 
taken  off,  that  the  silk  may  dry,  and  another  put  in  its  place.  The 
ends  of  the  silk  should  be  fastened  so  as  to  be  readily  found.  When 
the  skein  is  removed,  squeeze  the  silk  together  and  loosen  it  upon  the 
bars,  then  on  two  opposite  sides,  tie  it  with  a  band  of  refuse  silk,  or 
yarn,  then  slide  it  off  the  reel — double  it,  and  again  tie  it  near  each 
extremity. 

The  quality  of  the  silk  depends  much  upon  the  art  and  skilful 
management  of  the  reeler.  All  that  is  required  to  render  one  perfect 
in  the  art  of  reeling,  is  a  little  j)ractice,  accompanied  at  the  beginning 
with  a  degree  of  patience,  and  the  exercise  of  judgment  in  keeping  the 
proper  temperature  of  water,  and  the  thread  of  a  uniform  size. 

Manufacture  OF  Perforated  Cocoons. — The  perforated  and  double 
cocoon  can  be  manufactured  into  various  fabrics,  such  as  stockings, 
o-loves,  undershirts,  and  the  like.  Before  the  cocoons  can  be  spun,  they 
must  be  put  into  a  clean  bag,  made  of  some  open  cloth,  and  placed  in 
a  pot  or  kettJe,  and  covered  with  soft  water,  with  soap  (hard  or  soft) 
added  sufficient  to  make  a  strong  suds,  and  boiled  for  three  or  four 

hours. 

If  they  are  required  to  be  very  nice  and  white,  the  water  may  be 
changed,  and  a  small  quantity  more  of  soap  added,  and  again  boiled 
for  a  few  minutes.  After  they  are  boiled,  they  should  be  draingd,  they 
should  then  be  rinsed,  while  in  the  bag,  in  pure  water,  and  hung  out  to 
dry,  without  disturbing  them  in  the  bag.  When  completely  dry,  they 
may  be  spun  on  the  common  flax  wheel,  by  first  taking  the  cocoon  in  the 


152  [Senate 

fingers  and  slightly  loosening  the  fibres  that  have  become  matted  down 
in  boihng,  and  then  spinning  off  from  XYie  pierced  end  3  the  silk  will  run 
entirely  off,  leaving  the  shell  bare. 

The  double  cocoons  may  be  spun  in  the  same  manner^  but  should  be 
boiled  separately. 


DOMESTIC  MANUFACTURES. 

The  committee  on  domestic  manufactures  respectfully  report,  that 
they  have  awarded  premiums  to  the  following  persons,  to  wit : 

On  Woolen  Blankets 

To  Geo.  W.  Henry,  Martinsburgh,  1st, $5  00 

To  Jacob  S.  Van  Allen,  Black  Rock,  2d, 4  00 

Mrs.  V.  R.  Voorhees,  Amsterdam,  3d, 3  00 

On  Flannels, 

To  Chester  Buck,  Lowville,  1st, 5  00 

Geo.  W.  Henry,  Martinsburgh,  2d, 4  00 

Wiliam  Ottley ,  Phelps,  3d, 3  00 

On  Woolen  Cloth. 

Jlo  Samuel  Churchill,  Little  Falls,  1st, 5  00 

(There  were  other  specimens  entered  by  William  Ottley,  of 
Phelps,  and  Clark  Corbin,  of  Ovid,  but  the"  committee,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  ill  arrangement  of  the  articles,  were  unable  to  find  them.) 

On  Woolen  Carpets, 

To  Hiram  Mills,  Martinsburgh,   1st, .$  5  00 

William  Ottley,  Oaks  Corners,  2d, 4  00 

Mrs.  Voorhees,  Amsterdam,  3d, 3  00 

On  Brussels  Carpets, 

To  Hotchkiss  &  Smith,  Auburn,  1st, 5  qO 

The  Thompsonville  Co.,  2d, 4  00 

On  Rag  Carpets. 

To  Mrs.  Benj.  Blackman,  Verona,  1st, 3  qq 

Mrs.  Benj.  Plant,  New-Hartford,  2d, 2  00 

C.  Robinson,  Clinton,  3d, , ,   1  00 

On  Kersey. 

To  E.  W.  Bateman,  Venice,  1st, 3  00 

S.  W.  Abbott,  Kirtland,  Oneida  county,  2d, 2  00 

Geo.  W.  Henry,  Martinsburgh,  3d, .'  *  * .    1  00 


No.  105.J  153 

On  Double  Carpet  Coverlids. 

To  Miss  Adeline  A.  Jones,  Westmoreland,  1st, 4  00 

John  Winslow,  Watertown,  2d, 3  00 

Abraham  Koonz,  Albany,  3d, 2  00 

Susan  H.  Bronson,  Vernon,  4th, 1  00 

On  Knit  Woolen  Stockings. 

To  Mrs.  Achsah  Cole  Columbia,  1st, 2  00 

Hannah  Bostwick,  Lowville,  2d, 1  00 

Chester  Buck,  Lowville,  3d, Diploma. 

(The  attention  of  the  committee  was  called  to  samples  of  cotton 
manufactures,  presented  by  Benjamin  S.  Walcott,  Agent  of  the  New- 
York  Mills,  comprising  a  number  of  pieces  of  corded  dimity,  bleached 
shirting,  twilled  jeans,  corded  skirts,  and  French  (pantaloon)  jeans. 
These  articles  are  not  on  the  printed  list  of  premiums,  but  the  com- 
mittee recommend  a  discretionary  premium  or  diploma  to  be  awarded 
for  these  beautiful  specimens  of  domestic  manufactures.) 

On  Linen  Cloth. 

To  Joseph  Wells,  Denmark,   1st, |5  00 

Aaron  Bailey,  Cherry  Valley,  2d, 4  00 

William  Ottley,  Phelps,  3d, 3  00 

On  Linen  Diaper. 

To  Mrs.  Achsah  Cole,  Columbia,  1st, 5  00 

Mrs.  Geo.  W.  Henry,  Martinsburgh,  2d, 4  00 

Mrs.  Levi  T.  Marshall,  Vernon,  3d, 3  00 

On  Hearth  Rugs. 

To  George  B.  Carey,  Richfield,  1st, 5  00 

Mary  Tunecliff,  Warren,  2d, 4  00 

George  B.  Carey,  Richfield,  3d, 3  00 

Miss  Marahan,  Utica,  4th, 2  00 

Mrs.  Peter  Miller,  Turin,  5th, 1  00 

C.  Robinson,  Clinton,  6th, Diploma. 

On  Linen  Sewing  Thread. 
To  Peter  Crispell,  Jr.,  one  pound,  (being  the  only  specimen 

presented  to  the  committee,) 2  00 

On  Linen  Knit  Stockiiigs. 

To  Mrs.  Calvin  Aldrich,  New-Hartford,  1st, 2  00 

Mrs.  W.  C.  Burritt,  Paris,  2d, 1  00 

Mrs.  Squire  M.  Morse,  New-Hartford,  3d, Diploma. 

On  Silk  Stockings. 

To  Mrs.  E.  Dayton,  Vernon,  a  discretionary  premium  ordiploma 
for  the  best  pair. 

Mrs.  Irish,  Perryville,  a  like  premium  for  the  2d  best. 


154  [Senate 

On  Wove  Woolen  Stocking. 

Thomas  Potter,  Utica,  a  like  premium  for  specimens  of  ladies 
and  gentlemen's  woven  woolen  stockings. 

On  Cotton  Stockings. 

To  Mrs.  M.  J.  A.  Morris,  1st, 2  00 

Sophia  Willard,  New-Hartford,  2d, 1  00 

Mrs.  Dolphus  Skinner^  Deerfield,  3d, Diploma. 

On  Tow  Cloth. 

To  Mrs.  William  Potter,  Marcy,  1st, 1  00 

Mrs.  William  Ottley,  Phelps,  2d, Diploma, 

being  the  only  two  pieces  presented  for  premium  from 
the  Empire  State. 

The  articles  of  blankets,  flannels,  carpets,  coverlids  and  hearth 
rugs  were  many  and  of  respectable  manufacture,  but  in  most  other 
articles  there  was  but  a  meagre  competition,  and  particularly  in 
woolen  cloth,  which  ought  to  be  the  staple  of  home  manufacture,  in- 
stead of  fifty  pieces  being  presented  for  premiums,  which  might  be 
considered  a  moderate  estimate,  there  were  but  two  pieces,  and  those 
manufactured  by  machinery ! 

ROSWELL  RANDALL,  Cortland,  Chairman, 
IRA  HOPKINS,  >  p 

HENRY  FELLOWS,  I  '"^^^Sa, 

Committee. 


FRUIT. 

The  committee  on  fruit  report : 

The  exhibition  of  this  year,  from  the  unfavorable  season,  was  much 
smaller  than  usual.  There  were  however,  several  collections  of  dis- 
tinguished merit,  among  which  was  a  fine  one  from  Wm.  Kenrick,  of 
Newton,  near  Boston,  and  several  others  from  contributors  within 
the  State,  to  whom  premiums  were  not  given,  but  who  deserve  the 
thanks  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society  for  their  praiseworthy  zeal 
in  thus  adding  to  the  interest  of  the  Fair.  In  the  department  of  ap- 
ples, the  committee  were  at  a  loss  to  choose  between  several  collec- 
tions of  nearly  equal  merit,  and  the  difficulty  was  increased  in  some 
cases  by  confusion  of  arrangement  from  a  want  of  distinct  labels,  and 
by  the  exclusion  of  some  varieties  not  cultivated  on  the  grounds  of 
the  exhibitors.  Members  of  the  committee,  who  were  competitors, 
were  not  consulted  in  deciding  on  their  own  cases.  The  majority  of 
the  committee  agreed  in  awarding  the  following  premiums  : 

Table  .Apples. 

For  the  greatest  variety  of  Table  Apples,  to  Ellwanger  & 

Barry,  Rochester, $5  00 


No.  105.]  155 

Second  greatest,  to  David  Thomas,  Cayuga  co., $3  00 

Third  greatest,  to  J.  C.  Hastings,  Kirkland, Vol.  Trans. 

Table  Pears. 

Greatest  variety  of  Table  Pears,  to  David  Thomas,  Cayuga 

county, $3  00 

Second  greatest,  to  Ellwanger  &  Barry,  Rochester,. .  Vol.  Trans. 

Winter  Apples. 

Greatest  variety  of  Winter  Pears,  to  David  Thomas,  Cayuga 
county, do. 

Quinces. 

Best  twelve  quinces,  to  Oliver  Phelps,  Canandaigua, ....      do. 
Second  best  twelve  quinces,  to  N.  Goodsell,  Greece,  Mon- 
roe county, do. 

Plums. 
Best  twenty-four  plums,  to  Henry  Green,  Utica, do. 

Chrapes. 

Best  six  bunches  native  grapes,  to  Wm.  Mervine,  Utica, . .     do. 
*'      "        "        foreign  grapes,  to  Silas  D.  Childs,  Utica,     do. 

Apples. 

Best  twelve  varieties  of  Table  Apples,  to  Oliver  Phelps, 

Canandaigua, 3  00 

No  new  Seedling  Apple  appeared  worthy  of  the  premium. 
By  order  of  the  Committee, 

J.  J.  THOMAS,  Chairman. 


FLOWERS. 

The  committee  on  flowers,  report  that  they  have  examined  the 
flowers  and  flowering  plants  exhibited  at  the  fair,  and  recommend 
that  the  premiums  be  awarded  as  follows  : 

For  the  greatest  variety  and  quantity,  gold  medal,  to  Frederick  W. 
Boies,  of  Utica. 

For  the  second  greatest  $5.  to  Elwanger  &  Barry,  of  Rochester. 

For  the  third  greatest.  Vol.  of  Transactions,  to  MrsL  Prof.  Jackson, 
of  Schenectady. 

For  the  best  floral  ornament,  silver  medal,  to  Frederick  W.  Boies, 
of  Utica. 

For  the  second  best  $3.  to  Mrs.  Lyndes,  of  Utica. 

For  the  third  best.  Vol.  Transactions  to  Elwanger  &  Barry  of 
Rochester. 

For  the  best  seedling  Dahlia,  $3.  to  Frederick  W.  Boies,  of  Utica. 


156  [Senate 

For  the  best  25  varieties  for  dahlias  |5.  to  Mrs.  Prof.  Jackson,  of 
Schenectady. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  regular  premiums,  the  committee  re- 
commend discretionary  premiums  as  follows  : 

To  J.  C.  Chedell,  of  Auburn,  $2.  for  12  beautiful  dahlias. 

To  Mrs.  Lawrence,  of  Utica,  vol.  Transactions,  for  Roseflake  Car- 
nation, Stock  Gilliflower,  Malope  grandiflora,  Amaranthus  cristata,and 
other  plants  and  flowers. 

To  Mrs.  J.  E.  Hinman,  of  Utica,  vol.  Transactions,  for  Pittosporum 
tobira,  double  splendid  Oleander,  Camellia  japonica,  Laurustinus, 
cuellia,  Ficus  elastica,  (Caoutchou  or  India-rubber  tree,  a  splendid 
specimen,)  and  a  profusion  of  cut  flowers. 

To  Mrs.  Benjamin,  of  Utica,  vol.  Transactions,  for  Laurustinus,  au- 
cuba  japonica  and  Ficur  carica,    (a  beautiful  fig-tree  in  fruit.) 

To  S.  D.  Childs,  of  Utica,  Coleman's  Tour,  for  three  superb  va- 
rieties of  Camellia  japonica  in  flower,  and  a  splendid  lemon  tree  in 
flower  and  fruit,  the  fruit  being  of  an  extraordinary  size. 

To  J.  B.  Marchisi,  of  Utica,  vol.  Transactions,  for  Euonimus  japo- 
nica with  silver  striped  leaves,  and  Eriobotrya  japonica  or  Japan  Lo- 
quat,  both  being  new  and  rare  plants. 

The  committee  also  notice  with  pleasure,  the  following  among  the 
contributions  to  the  floral  exhibition : 

Bouquets  from  J.  C.  Hastings,  of  Clinton,  and  from  J.  Thomas,  of 
Macedon  ;  several  baskets  containing  a  variety  of  cut  flowers  from  J. 
W.  Williams,  William  Tracy,  Mrs.  A.  Thomas,  and  Mrs.  C.  Tracy, 
Oleanders  from  Mrs.  C.  S.  Wilson,  Mrs.  Faxton,  and  Mrs.  Living- 
ston. Fuchsia  coccinia,  splendid  double  Oleander,  and  other  plants 
Mrs.  Thorne  ;  Heliotropum  grandiflorum,  from  Mrs.  Lyon  ;  Ficus 
elasticus  from  Mrs.  Stocking ;  Pyramid  of  flowers  from  Mrs.  D.  Skin- 
ner; Madagascar  Peri  winkle,  from  Mrs.  Noah  White;  Au'cubajopan- 
ica,  from  Mrs.  Munson ;  Rooellia  serratifolia,  Byronia  evanciana,  and 
Pelargonium  quercifolium,  from  Mrs.  T.  S.  Faxton  ;  Liatris  squar- 
rosa,  L.  macrostacha,  L.  scariosa,  Gentiana  alba,  G.  saponaria,  Fuch- 
sia japonica  alba — very  rare  flowers — from  Mrs.  Prof.  Jackson  ; 
beautiful  varieties  of  roses,  yellow,  roisette,  smithii,  and  Belle  de  moz- 
za,  from  Mrs.  Sanger  ;  Prunus  lancifolia,  or  Apollo's  Laurel,  and  Pro- 
tea  argentea  from  Mrs.  Dana  ;  splendid  double  tuberose  from  Mrs.  H. 
Spencer. 

The  committee  have  also  a  complete  list  of  the  botanical  names  of 
all  the   flowers   exhibited,  which  will  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
Secretary,  not  being  appropriate  for  a  public  reading. 
All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

CHARLES  TRACY, 
ALEXANDER  THOMPSON, 
WM.  R.  PRINCE. 

•  Committee. 

Utica,  Sept.  18,  1845. 


No.  105.]  157 


VEGETABLES. 


The  committee  on  vegetables  have  adjudged  the  following  pre- 
miums, viz : 
On  12  best  white  table  turnips,  to  Dr.  Amaziah  Brighara, 

of  the  Lunatic  Asylum $1  00 

On  12  best  carrots,  to  Mr.  George  S.  Dana,  of  Utica, 1  00 

On  12  best  table  beets,  to  David  Gray,  of  Marcy, 1  00 

On  12  best  onions,  to  C.  F.  Grossman,  of  Rochester, 1  00 

On  12  best  tomatoes,  to  David  Gray,  of  Marcy, 1  00 

On  3  best  heads  of  cabbage,  to  David  Gray,  of  Marcy, 1  00 

On  10  egg  plants  and  1  tree  of  do.  to  C.  E.  Goodrich,  of  Utica,     1  00 

On  best  half  peck  of  Lima  beans  to  Amaziah  Brigham, 1  00 

On  3  best  squashes  to  the  same,    1  00 

On  best  half  peck  of  table  potatoes,  to  James  Rees,  of 

New-Hartford, 2  00 

On  second  best  diito,  to  Robert  Eells  of  Westmorland, ....      1  00 
On  best  seedling  potatoes  four  specimens,  half  peck 

each,  W.  N.  Langworthy,  of  Irondequoit,  Monroe  co. . . . . .     5  00 

On  12  ears  best  corn,  to  Charles  W.  Eells,  of 

Kirkland, 1  00 

They  also  recommend  that  one  volume  of  Transactions  be  given  to 
J.  Greenleaf,  Esq.  of  Brockport,  of  Monroe  county,  and  one  dollar 
in  cash  for  one  and  a  half  barrels  of  seed  of  the  potato  onion,  given 
for  distribution  among  the  members  of  agricultural  society. 

They  also  recommend  that  one  volume  of  Transactions  be  given 
to  Mr.  G.  W.  Cromwell,  for  several  fine  specimens  of  Watermelons, 
Mr.  E.  C.  Goodrich,  for  several  fine  samples  of  watermelons  and  can- 
telopes. 

They  also  recommend  one  dollar  to  be  given  to  E.  C,  Goodrich, 
for  12  best  ears  sweet  corn  one  dollar. 

They  also  recommend  that  a  volume  of  Transactions  be  given  to 
Mr.  David  Gray,  for  numerous  fine  samples  of  various  species  of  veg- 
etables. 

B.  W.  DWIGHT, 
WILLIAM  NEWCOMB, 
H.  L.  R.  SANFORD. 

Utica,  Sept.  17,  1845. 


MISCELLANEOUS  AND   DISCRETIONARY  PREMIUMS. 

G.  Farmer,  Mohawk,  steam  dairy  operator, Diploma. 

Albert  E.  Jackson,  Boonville,   cheese  press, do 

Mrs.  L.  T.  Marshall,  of  Vernon,  Oneida  county,  worked 

worsted  shawl,  ladies  mitts,  gentleman's  gloves,  ....  3  00 

Mather  Beecher,  Remsen,  Oneida  county,  a  bark  mill,  a 

premium  of , vol.  Trans. 


158  [Senate 

S.   Purely  &  Co.,   Whitesboro,   Oneida  county,  2  white 

oak  churns,    1  molasses  can, Vol. Trans. 

N.  P.  White,  Whitesboro,  dentist  plate  work, Diploma. 

Charles  Lombard,  Elbridge,  4  lengths  of  improved  fence, .  Vol.  Trans. 

Miss  Olive  Austin,  Smyrna,  Chenango  county,  1  knit  veil, 
8  caps,  1  knit  muff,  1  knit  bonnet,  1  knit  collar,  2  knit 
bands,  2  lace  worked  pockets,  Diploma,  and 3  00 

Warnick  &  Bryan,  Utica,  Oneida  county,  for  samples  of 
tobacco  and  segars,  highly  creditable  to  the  skill  and 
taste  of  the  manufacturers,  also  a  fine  specimen  of 
mustard, Diploma. 

Mrs.  Guinguiner,  Utica,  fine  specimens  of  millenery, ...         do 

Benedict  &  Barney,  Syracuse,  for  a  case  of  gold  pens, 

an  elegant  article, do 

Henry  Lawrence,  Mount  Upton,  Chenango  county,  com- 
pound lever  tug  buckle, do 

Mrs.  Dolphus  Skinner,  Deerfield,  Oneida  county,  a  ma- 
rine palace  of  shell  w^ork,  2  ottomans  and  woollen  shoes, 
highly  creditable  to  her  taste  and  ingenuity, 3  00 

The  committee  notice  with  pleasure  the  four  bells  presented  by 
A.  Meneely,  of  West-Troy,  of  the  high  finish  and  excellent  tone 
for  which  these  bells  have  long  been  celebrated  but  as  they  have 
always  received  the  premiums  of  the  society,  the  comimittee  award 
its  certificate. 

Miss  Catherine  Devereux,  Utica,  sofa  cushions,  worked 

table  cover,  Diploma. 

Miss  L.  Jones,  Utica,  1  case  of  wax  floral  ornaments,  an 

elegant  article, 3  00 

Jonathan  Caxon  &  Co.,  of  Utica,  for  specimen  of  brown 

earthen  ware, $3  and  Diploma. 

Curtiss  &  Van  Arsdale,  of  Kirkland,  for  a  sample  brown 

earthen  ware, 2  00 

Noah  White,   c  f  Utica,   for   specimens  of  stone  ware,  a 

premium, 3  00 

Miss  Lucretia  Tyler,  Laurens,  Otsego  county,  for  2  pair 

and  1  single  horse  nettings, 3  00 

James  Sangster,  Buifalo,  a  miniature  representation   of 

Noah's  ark  ;   120  figures  cut  with  a  jack  knife,  boy,  14 

years  of  age, 3  00 

Gaius  Clark,  Syracuse,  1  congress  desk, Vol.  Trans. 

Miss  Mary  E.  Spencer,  Utica,  an   elegant  embroidered 

shawl, Diploma. 

Mrs.  James  H.  Dunbar,  East  Hamilton,  Madison  county, 

1  pair  fringe  mittens, f  1  00 

Miss  L.   C.   Morris,  Auburn,  a  specimen  of  shell  work, 

made  from  shells  collected  on  Onondaga  lake, 5  00 

Miss  Gay,  Troy,  shell  flowers  and  seed  bags, 2  00 


No.  105.]  159 

Grove  Lawrence,  Syracuse,  1  bbl.  patent  salt, Diploma, 

and,  Vol.  Trans. 

Joseph  Miller,  Utica,  miniature  frigate,  and  miniature  ship 

full  rigged, $3  00 

E.  Comstock,  Rome,  a  variety  of  agricultural  and  horticul- 
tural implements  presented  for  exhibition, Diploma  and  5  00 

Julia  N.  Tucker,  Albany,  an  embroidered  port  folio, Diploma. 

D.  J.  &  A.  T.  Smith,  Syracuse,  1  hand  railroad  car,  ....         do 

Mrs.  Mary  E.  Storms,  Utica,  a  brass  bound  shell  box,. . .  $2  00 

William   Butler,  Phelps,  Ontario  county,  1  coon  skin 

rope, Vol. Trans 

George  W.  Henry,  Frankfort,  Herkimer  county,  a  speci- 
men of  brushes,  manufactured  by  him  while  entirely 
blind, $2  00 

David  Kendall,  New-Lebanon,  a  sample  of  themometers, 

exhibited, Diploma. 

J.T  .  Farrand,  for  one  water  drawing  machine, Vol.  Trans. 

Mrs.  B.  R.  Voorhies,  of  Amsterdam,  for  4  cases  of 
manufactured  articles,  exhibiting  very  great  evidence 

of  skill,  taste,  industry  and  perseverance, Silver  cup, 

and  Diploma. 

Messrs.  Brainard,  Comstock  &  Co.,  Oneida  county,  pre- 
sented 2  ploughs  as  specimens  of  workmanship,  and 
though  to  this  committee  was  not  delegated  the  autho- 
rity to  judge  of  these  implements,  yet  as  specimens  of 
finish  and  mechanical  execution,  they  take  pleasure  in 
awarding  a Diplom  a 

George  Geddes,  Onondaga  county,  presented  5  samples 
seed  corn,  of  different  varieries,  all  very  fine, do 

E.  P.  Evans,  Lodi,  Cattaraugus  county,  presented  a  stump  machine, 
in  favor  of  which  the  committee  were  highly  impressed,  but  after 
some  expense  to  the  society  in  procuring  an  object  for  trial  on  the 
ground,  through  some  defect  in  construction,  rather  than  principle, 
probably,  it  failed.  They,  therefore,  feel  constrained  to  withhold 
the  premium  they  might  otherwise  have  awarded. 

Walker  &  Gavit,    Albany,   for  the  best   specimens    of 
Daguerreotype  likenesses, Silver  Med, 

S.  C.  Coffin,  Portland,  Chautauque  county,  presented  some  oil 
paintings,  which  your  committee  consider  commendable  as  specimens 
of  early  effort  in  the  art. 

Miss  E.  W.  Gridley,  of  Kirkland,  presented  a  beautiful 

specimen  of  oil  painting, Diploma. 

Miss  L.  M.  Fames,  of  New-Hartford,  presented  8  knit 

window  curtains,  a  tasty  and  elegant  article, Diploma. 


160  [Senate 

Miss  S.  M.  Pierson,  of  Sullivan,  Madison  county,  an  ele- 
gant white  counterpane, Diploma. 

Mrs.  Luke  Coan,  of  Westmoreland,  presented  a  straw 

hat,  manufactured  by  herself, do 

E.  R.  Brow^ning,  Utica,  presented  a  specimen  of  machine 

cards, $3  00 

Hopkins,  Sergeant  &  Co.,  Auburn,  a  second  premium,  for 

a  box  of  machine  cards, 3  00 

Mrs.  Mary  Bradley,  of  Utica,    presented    an   elegantly 

wrought  and  embroidered  bedspread  ;  a  premium  of, . .  5  00 

Mrs.  Mary  Bradley,  of  Utica,  for  the  same, Diploma. 

A  case  of  carved  toys,  exhibiting  great  taste,  skill  and 
perseverance,  was  presented  by  the  male  members  of 
the  State  Lunatic  Asylum, Diploma. 

A  case  of  fine  specimens  of  embroidery  and  needle  work, 
&c.  was  presented  by  the  female  department  of  the 
same  institution,  which  elicited  their  unqualified  ap- 
probation,       Diploma. 

Fine  specimens  of  raised  worsted  work  was  presented  by 

the  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum,  of  Utica, do 

Miss  O'Toole  and  Miss  Mary  Putnam,  of  Rome,  pre- 
sented two  samples  of  raised  worsted  work, do 

To  Miss  Margaret  Hawthorne,  of  Deerfield,  for  an  em- 
broidered silk  apron, |2  00 

Miss  C.  M.  Curtenius,  of  Utica,  presented  two  specimens 

of  worsted  work,  finely  shaded, 3  00 

Miss  C.  M.  Curtenius,  for  the  same, Diploma. 

George  R.  Fairbanks,  of  Adams,  Jefferson  county,  pre- 
sented a  pieced  silk  bedspread,  and  a  pieced  silk  table 
spread, |3  00 

Mrs.  George  B.  Cary,  of  Richfield,  presented  six  worsted 

worked  chair  bottoms,  fine  specimens  of  embroidery,.  3  00 

Miss  Augusta  Dye,  Penn-Yan,  Yates  county,  presented 
an  embroidered  piano  cover,  a  tasty  and  beautiful  arti- 
cle,    2  00 

Miss  Augusta  Dye,  for  the  same, Diploma. 

To  Miss  Martha  Jane  Johnson,  of  Little-Falls,  for  a  spe- 

men  of  needlework  on  paper, 3  00 

Mrs.  William  Otley,  Phelps,  Ontario  county,  presented  a 

pieced  quilted  bed  spread, 3  00 

To  Edward  P.  Webster,  of  tjtica,  16  years  old,  we  award 

a  premium  for  a  carved  miniature  cottage,  of 2  00 

Miss  Abbey  Allin,  Castile,  Wyoming  county,  presented 

an  embroidered  screen  and  sofa  pillow,  of  great  merit,  2  00 

To  William  Potter,  of  Marcy,  Oneida  county,  a  pair  of 

horse  blankets, 1  00 

To  John  Kirkland,  of  Kirkland,  Oneida  county,  we  award 

a  premium,  for  a  worsted  table  cover,  of  a Diploma. 

To  G.  W.  J.  Brownson,  of  Amsterdam,  for  a  specimen 

of  corn  brooms, $2  00 


No.  105.]  161 

To  Miss  M.  J.  Morris,  of  Auburn,  Cayuga  county,  for 

amples  of  lace  work, 3  00 

To  Mrs.  Achsah  Cole,  of  Columbia,  Herkimer  county, 

for  two  pair  of  cotton  and  woolen  blankets, 3  00 

To  same,  for  same, Diploma. 

To  Miss  Georgiana  S.  Manning,  Syracuse,  for  a  worsted 

worked  reticule, $2  00 

To  Mrs.  C.  M.  Bennett,  of  Penn-Yan,  Yates  county,  for 

an  ottoman  cover, Diploma. 

To  J.  Parish,  of  Mendon,  Monroe  county,  for  a  washing 

machine, vol.  Trans. 

John  Wilkinson,  of  Union-Vale,  Dutchess  county,  pre- 
sented a  convenient  plan  of  a  barn,  which  we  take  plea- 
sure in  commending  to  the  public. 

To  James  Goold,  of  Albany,   for  a  two  horse  pleasure 

sleigh, : Diploma. 

To  B.  S.  Seymour,  of  Westmoreland,  for  window  and  door 

butts  and  fastenings, Diploma. 

To  Elijah  Hurlbut,  of  Waterloo,  for  a  clover  machine, . .         do 

To  Joel  Clough,  of  Whitesboro',  for  a  self-setting  appa- 
ratus for  saw-mills, do 

To  J.  L.  Cady,  of  Newport,  for  Yates'  jiatent  lock, do 

To  Dunbarton  Glass  Factory,  Durhamville,  Oneida  co., 

for  specimen  of  glass, do 

There  were  five  beautiful  specimens  of  flour  presented  ; 

For  a  good  barrel,  to  John  Bowling,  jr.  Manlius, do 

For  a  better  barrel  of  flour,  to  John  Williams,  of  Roches- 
ter,   $3  00 

For  the  best  barrel,  to  John  G.  Rowling,  Manlius, 5  00 

There  were  several  cooking  stoves  presented,  and  after 
examination  we  have  concluded  to  award  premiums  as 
follows  : 

First  premium,  to  Atwood's  Empire  stove  of  Troy, Diploma. 

The  first  premium  to  Bailey,  Wheeler  &  Co.,  Utica,  for 

their  air  tight  parlor  stove, do 

To  Messrs.  Robinson  &  Vanderbilt,  manufacturers,  Al- 
bany, for  four  light  pleasure  wagons, do 

To   David    A.  Lyons,  manufacturer,  Utica,  for  a  light 

pleasure  wagon, |3  00. 

To  William  L.  Edwards,  St.  Lawrence  county,  for   a 

double  acting  bellows, Diploma. 

To  Charles  Pope  &  Co.,  Syracuse,  a  sample  of  plating,  a 

superior  article, do 

To  0.  Reynolds,  Webster,  Monroe  county,  for  best  bee- 
hive,          do 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  11 


162  [Senate 

Ray  &  Madole,  Norwich,  Chenango  county,  steel  ham- 
mers, good  workmanship, vol.  Trans. 

Thomas  Potter,  Utica,  knitting  machine  and  lace  machine, 

very  ingenious  articles, , Diploma. 

To  same,  for  same, vol.  Trans». 

Mrs.  Hamilton  Spencer,  Utica,  embroidered  chair, ......     Diploma.. 

Mrs.  H.  Rhodes,  S.  Trenton,  box  of  butter,  elegantly 

^\T0Ught,  &c do 

E.  P.  PRENTICE, 
JOEL  RATHBONE, 
OLIVER  PHELPS, 
BENJ.  N.  HUNTINGTON^, 
J.  J.  VIELE, 


No.  105.]  163 


REPORT  ON  FARMS. 


Mr.  Beekman — In  behalf  of  the  committee  to  whom  was  referred 
the  several  communications  in  answer  to  the  circular  issued  by  the 
executive  committee  of  the  New-York  Agricultural  Society,  to  ascer. 
tain  which  was  the  best  cultivated  farm  in  the  State,  so  far  as  these 
answers  would  give  such  information,  begs  leave  to  report  that  they 
(the  committee)  have  received  nine  several  communications  to  the 
queries  proposed  by  the  executive  committee,  a  copy  of  which  is  in- 
serted. 

PREMIUMS  ON  FARMS  FOR  1845. 

For  the  best  cultivated  farm,  of  not  less  than  fifty  acres,  exclu- 
sive of  wood-land  and  waste-land,  regard  being  had  to  the  quantity 
and  quality  of  produce,  the  manner  and  expense  of  cultivation,  and 
the  actual  profits : 

First  Premium, $50. 

Second  Premium, $30. 

Third  Premium, $20. 

The  persons  making  application  for  these  premiums,  must  submit 
written  answers  to  the  following  questions. 

To  all  who  furnish  full  answers  to  these  questions.  Premiums  will 
be  given,  consisting  of  single  volumes  of  the  Transactions  of  the 
State  Society,  or  sets  of  those  volumes,  according  to  thevalue  of  such 
reports. 

Soilsj  fyc. 

1.  Of  how  much  land  does  your  farm  consist ;  and  of  how  much 
wood,  waste,  and  improved  land  respectively  ? 


164  [Senate 

2.  What  is  the  nature  of  your  soil  and  subsoil  1  Is  there  limestone 
ni  it  1     What  rocks  are  found  in  it  ? 

3.  What  do  you  consider  the  best  mode  of  improvirg  the  different 
kinds  of  soil  on  your  farm  1 

4.  What  depth  do  you  plow  '?  What  effect  has  deep  plowing  had 
on  various  soils  1 

5.  Have  you  used  the  the  subsoil  plow  ;  and  what  have  been  its 
effects  on  different  soils  and  crops  1 

Manures. 

6.  How  many  loads  of  manure  (30  bushels  per  load)  do  you  usu- 
ally apply  per  acre  ?  How  do  you  manage  your  manure  1  Is  it  kept 
under  cover  1  or  are  there  cellars  under  your  barns  or  stables,  for  re- 
ceiving it  1 

7.  What  are  your  means,  and  what  your  manner  of  making  and 
collecting  manure  1 

8.  How  many  loads  of  manure  do  you  manufacture  annually  1 
How  many  do  you  apply  1 

9.  How  is  your  manure  applied  ;  whether  in  its  long  or  green  state, 
or  in  compost  1  For  what  crops,  or  under  what  circumstances,  do 
you  prefer  using  it,  either  in  a  fresh  or  rotten  state  1 

10.  Have  you  used  lime,  plaster,  guano,  salt,  or  any  substance, 
not  in  common  use,  as  manure  1  In  what  manner  were  they  used, 
and  with  what  results  1 

Tillage  Crops. 

IL  How  many  acres  of  land  do  you  till  1  and  with  what  crops  are 
they  occupied,  and  how  much  for  each  crop  1 

12.  What  is  the  amount  of  sesd  planted  or  sown  for  each  crop, — 
the  time  of  sowing, — the  mode  of  cultivating,  and  of  harvesting, — 
and  the  product  per  acre  "? 

13.  What  kind  and  quantity  of  manure  do  you  prefer  for  each,  and 
:at  what  times,  and  in  what  manner  do  you  apply  it  1 

14.  How  deep  do  you  have  manure  covered  in  the  earth,  for  differ- 
ent crops  and  different  soils  1 

15.  Have  your  potatoes  been  affected  with  any  peculiar  defect  or 
disease,  and  have  you  been  able  to  discover  any  clearly-proved  cause 
■for  it,  or  found  any  remedy  1 


No.  105.]  165 

Grass  Lands,  ^c. 

16.  What  kinds  of  grasses  do  you  use  ?     How  much  seed  of  clover 
or  the  various  kinds  of  grass,  do  you  sow  to  the  acre  1     At  what  sea- 
son of  the  year  do  you  sow, — and  what  is  the  manner  of  seeding  1 

17.  How  many  acres  do  you  mow  for  hay,  and  what  is  the  average 
product  ?  At  what  stage  do  you  cut  grass,  and  what  is  your  mode  of 
making  hay  ? 

18.  Is  any  of  your  mowing  land  unsuitable  for  the  plow,  and  what 
is  your  mode  of  managing  such  land  ? 

19.  Have  you  practised  irrigating  or  watering  meadows  or  other 
lands,  and  with  what  effect  ?  What  is  your  particular  mode  of  irri- 
gation, and  how  is  it  performed  1 

20.  Have  you  reclaimed  any  low,  bog,  or  peat  lands  ?  What  was 
the  mode  pursued,  the  crops  raised,  and  what  the  success  1 

Domestic  Animals. 

21.  How  many  oxen,  cows,  young  cattle,  and  horses  do  you  keep, 
and  of  what  breeds  are  they  X 

22.  Have  you  made  any  experiments  to  show  the  relative  value  of 
different  breeds  of  cattle  or  other  animals  for  particular  purposes,  and 
with  what  results  1 

23.  How  much  butter  and  cheese  do  you  make  annually,  from  what 
number  of  cows,  and  what  is  your  mode  of  manufacture  1 

24.  How  many  sheep  do  you  keep  1  of  what  breed  or  breeds  are 
they  1  How  much  do  they  yield  per  fleece,  and  what  price  does  the 
wool  bring  ?  How  many  of  your  sheep  usually  produce  lambs,  and 
what  number  of  lambs  are  annually  reared  1  How  much  will  your 
sheep  or  lambs  sell  for  per  head  to  the  butcher  7 

25.  How  many  swine  do  you  keep,  of  what  breed  are  they,  how 
do  you  feed  them,  at  what  age  do  you  kill  them,  and  what  do  they 
weigh,  dressed  1 

26.  What  experiments  have  you  made  to  show  the  relative  value 
of  potatoes,  turneps,  and  other  root  crops,  compared  with  Indian 
corn,  or  other  grain,  for  feeding  animals,  either  for  fattening  or  for 
milk? 


166  [Senate 

Fruit. 

27.  What  is  the  number  of  your  apple  trees  1  Are  they  of  natu- 
ral or  grafted  fruit  1  and  chiefly  of  what  varieties  1 

28.  What  number  and  kind  of  fruit  trees,  exclusive  of  apples,  have 
you  ?  and  what  are  among  the  best  of  each  kind  1 

29.  What  insects  have  attacked  your  trees,  and  what  method  do 
you  use  to  prevent  their  attacks  1 

30.  What  is  your  general  management  of  fruit  trees  ? 

31.  What  other  experiments  of  farm  operations  have  produced  in- 
teresting or  valuable  results  1 

Fences,  Buildings.,  ^c. 

32.  What  is  the  number,  size,  and  general  mode  of  construction 
of  your  farm  buildings  ;  and  their  uses  ? 

33.  What  kinds  of  fences  do  you  construct  1  What  is  the  amount 
or  length  of  each  kind  1    And  their  cost  and  condition  1 

34.  To  what  extent  are  your  various  farming  operations  guided  by 
accurate  weighing  and  measuring  *?  And  to  what  degree  of  minute- 
ness are  they  registered  by  daily  accounts  ? 

It  is  expected  that  these  questions  will  be  answered  with  as  much 
precision  and  minuteness  as  possible,  the  applicant  submitting  the 
information  according  to  his  best  knowledge  and  belief,  of  the  cor- 
rectness of  ail  which  an  affidavit  shall  be  made. 

The  statements  must  be  sent,  free  of  postage,  to  Luther  Tucker, 
Recording  Secretary,  Albany,  on  or  before  the  First  of  December ^ 
1845. 

Daniel  Gates,  of  Sullivan,  Madison  go.  in  answer  to  the  circular, 
informed  the  committee  that  he  cultivates  185  acres  of  land.  His  soil 
sandy  marl — plows  about  6  inches  deep — does  not  use  a  sub-soil  plow. 
Manures  with  about  30  loads  of  30  bushels  each  to  the  acre  ;  makes 
about  366  loads  of  manure  annually.  Manures  before  seeding  his  grass 
land  to  prevent  the  soil  from  becoming  clover  sick;  has  93|  acres  under 
the  plow,  46  of  wheat,  10  of  oats,  2  of  corn,  31  of  peas,  11  potatoes. 
Sows  2  bushels  wheat  to  the  acre  ;  yield  this  year  32  bushels  per 
acre.  Sows  2|  bushels  oats  per  acre — thinks  it  will  yield  65  or  70 
bushels  per  acre.  His  corn,  he  thinks,  will  yield  55  bushels  per 
acre  ;  sows  3|  bushels  peas  to  the  acre ;  yields  about  56  bushels  per 
acre.     His  wheat  crop  was  not  manured.     He  sows  about  4  quarts 


No.  105.]  167 

timothy  seed  to  the  acre  in  the  fall,  and  adds  two  more  in  the  spring — 
cuts  about  80  tons  of  hay  upon  42  acres  ;  manures  his  meadows  and 
top  dresses  with  plaster. 

His  hogs  generally  weigh  about  370  lbs.  each. 

Destroys  the  Canada  thistle  by  plowing  first  in  September  and  then 
four  or  five  times  the  succeeding  season,  and  then  sows  to  wheat.  His 
fences  are  stone,  costing  one  dollar  and  five  cents  per  rod  ;  stone  topped 
with  cedar,  ninety-three  cents  per  rod ;  stumps  ranged  in  line,  about 
forty-five  cents  per  rod ;  and  rail  fence,  costing  about  seventy-six  cents 
per  rod. 

N.  S.  Wright,  Vernon  Centre,  Oneida  county,  sent  in  the  next 
communication. 

He  cultivates  about  eighty  acres.  His  soil,  gravelly  loam,  clay  loam, 
sandy  loam,  and  muck.  He  improves  his  soil  by  summer  fallowing, 
and  plows  at  least  three  times ;  he  plows  from  seven  to  twelve  inches 
deep,  and  thinks  deep  plowing  beneficial ;  makes  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  loads  manure  annually ;  uses  part  in  the  spring — the  remain- 
der in  the  fall,  on  his  fall  crops. 

The  product  of  wheat  per  acre  was  24 J  bushels;  of  barley,  38 i 
bushels  per  acre;  of  corn,  41  bushels  per  acre;  it  was  twice  hoed — 
"sows  8  quarts  timothy  per  acre,  and  when  mixed  with  other  grasses, 
proportionately  less. 

He  thinks  the  Devons  mixed  with  the  native  breed,  are  the  hardiest 
animals,  and  the  easiest  kept.  Keeps  209  sheep ;  his  wool  averaging 
about  3  lbs.  per  fleece,  and  sold  the  largest  portion  for  62  J  cents  per 
lb.     His  hogs  at  9  months,  average  390  lbs. 

Plows  his  orchard  once  in  four  years,  and  finds  it  very  beneficial  to 
his  fruit.  His  receipts  and  estimates  for  the  year  are  |1,569.75  ; 
his  expenditures,  $346.00;  and  without  taking  into  consideration  the 
principal  of  the  investment  of  his  farm,  leaving  him  $1,223.07  over 
the  expenditure. 

William  P.  Capron,  Macedon,  Wayne  county,  a  mechanic,  next 
drew  the  attention  of  the  committee,  by  his  communication. 

He  cultivates  107  acres.  His  soil  and  subsoil,  "gravelly  loam,  sandy 
loam,  and  some  muck  land."  He  pursues  a  regular  rotation  of  crops, 
so  as  to  come  round  once  in  six  years.  He  begins  with  summer  fallow, 
followed  l»y  wheat ;  next  corn,  then  barley,  followed  by  wheat,  seeded 


168  [Senate 

with  clover.  He  plows  about  six  inches  deep ;  makes  from  300  to 
350  loads  manure,  annually  ;  uses  it  all,  unfermented,  in  the  spring  . 
uses  one  bushel  plaster  to  the  acre,  and  thinks  it  very  beneficial  j  sows 
two  bushels  wheat  to  the  acre  ;  leaves  his  summer  fallow,  after  plow- 
ing, ready  to  sow  in  ridges;  sows  and  harrows  lengthways,  so  as 
to  have  the  growing  wheat  as  much  as  possible  in  drills  ;  sows  early  in 
September — if  sown  too  early,  there  is  danger  of  the  Hessian  fly — if 
late,  it  is  liable  to  rust.  Soaks  his  wheat  in  brine,  and  mixes  it  with 
slaked  lime,  before  sowing  ;  has  never  had  any  rusty  wheat.  Wheat 
crop  generally  averages  about  25  bushels  per  acre — never  less  than 
20.  Sows  three  bushels  barley  to  the  acre  ;  average  crop,  30  bushels  to 
the  acre ;  manures  for  corn  50  to  60  loads  to  the  acre  ;  uses  the  cultiva- 
tor in  cleaning  it ;  hoes  and  plows.  Sows  clover  and  timothy,  from  7 
to  10  lbs.  per  acre ;  meadows  yield  about  2|  tons  to  the  acre.  He 
salts  his  hay,  one  peck  to  the  ton,  if  any  way  damp — if  perfectly  dry, 
does  not  use  it.  Plows  his  meadow  once  in  ten  years,  without 
manure. 

His  swine,  at  18  months,  weigh  about  300  lbs — and  feeds  his  corn 
of  the  preceding  year,  boiled  and  shelled ;  finds  10  bushels  to  go  as 
far  as  25  fed  the  ordinary  way. 

John  Talcot,  of  Rome,  Oneida  county.  Improves  about  100  acres 
of  land.  Soil,  gravelly  loam  and  clay  ;  uses  unfermented  manure,  30 
loads  to  the  acre ;  plows  6  inches  deep,  generally,  but  finds  deep 
plowing  attended  with  good  effects.  He  stables  all  his  stock,  and 
makes  about  200  loads  of  manure  ;  uses  plaster  successfully;  sows 
one  and  a  half  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre. 

He  raised  20  bushels  barley  to  the  acre ;  40  bushels  of  oats,  50 
of  corn,  and  25  of  peas ;  1,120  of  carrots.  This  was  his  crop  foj- 
1844.  Sows  clover  and  timothy  from  four  to  eight  quarts  to  the 
acre. 

Tyler  Fountain,  (letter  post-marked)  Peekskill.  His  improved 
land,  90  acres.  His  soil,  clay,  sand,  gravel,  and  organic  matter. 
Plows  from  6  to  10  inches  deep ;  uses  stable  and  yard  manure,  20 
loads  to  the  acre.  Purchases  200  loads  manure — makes  about  100 
loads.  Has  used  salt  to  good  effect,  10  bushels  to  the  acre.  Plows 
his  orchard  often,  with  good  effect.  Sows  3  bushels  oats  to  the  acre  ; 
yields  48  bushels  per  acre;   of  corn,  40  bushels;  rye,  16  bushels. 


No.  105.)  169 

He  seeds  with  timothy  and  clover,  4  quarts  to  the  acre.     Raises  1 J 
tons  to  the  acre.     Keeps  an  account  of  sales. 

RuFus  S.  Ransom,  Perryville,  Madison  county.  Improves  176  acres 
Soil,  vegetable  mould  mixed  with  clay,  gravel,  with  a  slight  pro- 
portion of  sand,  subsoil,  clay,  and  shelly  slate.  Blasts  the  scattered 
rocks  on  his  farm,  and  makes  stone  wall  of  them.  Has  300  rods 
underground  drains.  Plows  from  6  to  8  inches  deep  ;  deep  plowing 
is  desirable  both  in  wet  and  dry  weather.  Uses  about  20  loads 
manure  to  the  acre ;  makes  about  250  loads  annually.  Plows  in 
unfermented  manure  for  spring  crops,  from  15  to  20  loads  to  the  acre ; 
then  uses  a  topdressing  of  from  5  to  8  loads,  well  rotted.  Has  found 
lime  useful,  and  plaster  valuable ;  has  used  salt  with  good  effect. 
Found  lime,  salt,  plaster  and  leached  ashes,  mixed,  a  good  application 
for  corn.     Sows  plaster  in  the  fall,  with  good  effect. 

He  sows  2 1  bushels  barley  to  the  acre  j  yield  35  bushels.  Of  oats, 
45  to  55  bushels  per  acre. 

He  sows  spring  wheat  IJ  to  2  J  bushels  to  the  acre.  Product,  22 
bushels  per  acre. 

Plants  about  18  bushels  potatoes  to  the  acre.     Yield,  200  bushels. 

Plows  three  or  four  times,  for  flax.  Product,  generally,  from  15  to 
22  bushels  seed  from  the  acre,  and  from  250  to  400  lbs.  lint.  Manure, 
20  loads  to  the  acre,  unfermented. 

^    Yield  of  hay,  11  tons  to  the  acre.     Has  practised  irrigation,  to  a 
small  extent,  with  good  effect. 

His  cattle,  a  cross  of  native  and  Devon. 

Weight  of  swine,  at  18  or  20  months,  from  300  to  450  lbs.,  feeding 
mostlv  with  boiled  food. 

He  made  the  following  experiment  with  potatoes : 

On  one  row,  he  put  on  each  hill  a  teaspoonful  of  plaster  ; 

On  the  next  row,  on  each  hill,  an  equal  quantity  of  lime  ; 

On  the  third,  same  quantity  of  salt. 

The  first  row  yielded  281  lbs. ; 

The  second         do.     300  lbs. ; 

The  third  do.     282  lbs. 

The  fourth  row,  where  nothing  had  been  used, 273 lbs;  and  the  row 
immediately  before  number  one,  274  lbs. 

According  to  this  calculation,  if  he  had  used  only  lime,  it  would 
have  increased  the  product  16  bushels  per  acre. 


170  [Senate 

His  fences  are  cedar  and  stone  wall,  costing  fifty  cents  per  pannel. 
His  fences  are  good  and  he  keeps  a  journal. 

The  committee  present  these  as  the  abstracts  from  six  several  more 
extended  reports  received  from  different  persons.  The  quantity 
of  land  mentioned  is  not  the  whole  embraced  in  their  several  farms, 
but  only  the  part  cultivated,  waste  and  wood  land  have  been  de- 
ducted. They  would  further  say,  that  the  material  facts  presented 
have  in  their  judgment  been  stated  in  the  above  abstract,  and  there  are 
many  suggestions  in  them,  the  publication  of  which  may  be  useful  to 
the  farmer.  Some  few  of  these  communications  are  evidently  from 
unlettered  men,  but  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee  some  of  them 
are  from  persons  of  close  practical  observation,  and  are  on  that 
account  the  more  valuable.  It  is  careful  observation  that  is  of  great 
use  to  the  farmer,  and  they  can  only  say  to  these  gentlemen  that  if 
they  have  not  received  the  highest  premiums,  awarded  by  the  society 
for  the  best  managed  farms,  they  are  entitled  to  its  thanks  for  their 
general  intelligence  and  zeal  thus  manifested  in  the  cause  of  agricul- 
ture. They  award  to  each  of  these  gentlemen  full  sets  of  the  volumes 
of  the  Agricultural  Transactions. 

There  were  three  other  reports  on  farm  management  presented  to 
the  committee,  one  by  George  Geddes,  of  Fairmount  farm,  town  of 
Camillus,  Onondaga  county  ;  another  by  William  Buell,  of  Gates, 
Monroe  county,  and  a  third  by  William  Garbott,  of  Wheatland, 
Monroe  county. 

To  the  first  mentioned  in  the  arrangement,  viz  :    Georg€ 

Geddes,  is  awarded  the  first  premium  of $50  00 

To  the  second,  viz :  William  Buell,  is  awarded  the  second 

premium  of 30  00 

To  the  third,  viz  :    William  Garbutt,  is  awarded  the  third 

premium  of 20  00 

As  the  committee  recommend  the  publication  of  these  three  several 
communications,  their  authors  having  received  the  highest  premiums, 
no  abstracts  of  them  are  required.  It  must  be  noticed  that  Mr. 
Garbutt's  communication  was  accompanied  only  by  a  certificate,  which 
under  the  circumstances  we  deem  sufficient. 

The  committee  might  with  perfect  propriety  stop  here,  having  to 
the  best  of  their  ability    discharged  the   duty  assigned  them  ;  but 


No.  105.]  171 

having  at  an  early  day  connected  themselves  with  the  society,  and 
become  deeply  interested  in  its  success,  having  long  watched  the 
progress  of  agriculture  in  this  State,  and  feeling,  in  common  with 
their  associates,  its  members,  that  no  labor  on  their  part  should  be 
omitted  to  carry  out  their  objects,  beg  leave  to  submit  a  few  remarks 
in  connection  with  their  report,  and  upon  such  subjects  as  would 
naturally  suggest  themselves  after  an  examination  of  the  subject  com- 
mitted to  them. 

The  first  series  of  questions  to  which  answers  were  required,  are, 
^'  The  kind  of  soil  cultivated,  and  the  manner  of  doing  it."  The 
answers  to  the  first  branch  of  this  subject  are  such  as  any  ordinary 
intelligent  farmer  would  make,  and  which  were  tolerably  well  under- 
stood, perhaps  enough  for  practical  purposes.  Indeed,  the  committee 
found  it  so  ;  but  the  second  branch  of  inquiry,  viz  :  "  What  is  the 
best  mode  of  improving  the  different  kinds  of  soil  on  your  farm," 
admits  of  great  latitude  of  remark,  inasmuch  as  it  is  universally  con- 
ceded that  the  different  kinds  of  soil,  such  as  clay,  sand,  gravelly 
loam,  alluvial,  or  a  mixture  of  two  or  all  the  different  varieties,  must, 
to  be  profitable,  be  cultivated  somewhat  differently. 

The  committee  will  not  go  into  this  extensive  inquiry.  They  will 
take  up  only  one  important  part  of  it,  and  that  is  the  query,  "  What 
depth  do  you  plow,  and  what  effect  has  deep  plowing  had  on  various 
soils  and  crops."  Upon  reading  over  the  several  communications  in 
answer  to  this  inquiry,  and  as  connected  with  it,  the  use  of  the  sub- 
soil plow,  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  general  answer  is  that  the  several 
individuals  plow  to  the  depth  of  from  five  to  seven  inches,  in  one 
instance  I  believe  to  twelve  ;  and  that  all  speak  in  general  terms  of 
deep  plowing  as  beneficial,  I  think  without  one  dissenting  voice. 
But  it  must  be  observed  that  in  no  instance  does  any  one  give  this 
opinion  as  the  result  of  careful  investigation,  founded  on  a  set  of 
experiments  intended,  as  far  as  can  be  done,  to  settle  this  question. 
They  simply  state  it  as  a  conviction  founded  on  general  observation. 
The  conclusion  drawn  is  probably  correct ;  it  is  so  at  least  as  far  as 
the  observation  of  one  of  the  committee  has  gone.  It  is  only  to  be 
wished,  from  the  importance  of  the  interest  involved,  that  the  dif- 
ference in  results  of  produce  from  shallow  or  deep  plowing,  wide  or 
narrow  furrows,  one  or  repeated  plowings,  and  the  plowing  up  every 
inch  of  ground  or  the  leaving  half  a  dozen  or  more  baulks  in  each  fur- 


172  [Senate 

row,  had  not  been  oftener  and  more  satisfactorily  tested,  and  the 
entire  farming  community  informed  of  the  result,  and  thus  enabled 
to  make  up  their  minds  on  the  best  mode,  and  then  adopt  it. 

In  American  farming,  it  is  unfortunate  for  our  interests  that  this 
subject  is  yet  so  imperfectly  understood,  and  that  upon  the  community 
as  a  mass  the  best  mode  has  not  long  since  been  settled,  for  we 
see  it  practised  in  all  its  variety,  and  it  appears  to  at  least  one  of 
the  committee  thzt  shallow  furrows  have  a  decided  advantage  as  to  the 
quantity  of  land  plowed.  But  is  it  reasonable  that  if  we  are  to  stir  the 
ground  at  all,  it  is  not  good  sense  and  good  farming,  too,  to  stir  it 
deep  and  stir  it  welll  We  revolt  at  the  idea  of  sowing  without 
plowing,  because  the  practice  has  not  only  been  handed  down  from 
remote  antiquity  as  essential  to  the  growth  of  plants,  but  not  to  do 
it  is  repugnant  to  common  sense.  Does  not  the  same  good  sense  tell 
us  that  if  it  is  necessary  to  loosen  the  soil  imperfectly  for  the  benefit 
of  growing  plants,  it  is  more  useful  to  do  it  in  the  best  possible 
manner ;  to  stir  every  part  of  it  and  to  make  it  as  light  and  loose 
as  possible?  By  doing  so  we  give  to  the  roots  of  plants  a  facility  of 
throwing  out  their  rootlets  in  every  direction  ;  we  give  them  a  chance 
of  absorbing  all  the  juices  that  are  in  the  earth  intended  for  their 
benefit,  of  permitting  the  air  to  enter  the  loose  soil,  and  make  it 
more  friable ;  of  aiding  the  rains  and  dews  to  penetrate  easily  and 
quickly ;  and  if  it  is  a  soil  that  holds  water  to  open  the  earth  to  per- 
mit it  to  pass  off  and  not  injure  the  growing  plants.  These  are 
surely  benefits  that  must  have  fallen  under  the  observation  of  every 
practical  farmer,  and  every  encroachment  upon  them  has  been  visited 
by  corresponding  loss.  In  the  nature  of  things  it  must  be  so,  for 
it  is  the  dictate,  not  only  of  common  sense,  but  common  observa- 
tion. Are  not  these  the  data  which  ought  to  govern  us  in  the  prac- 
tice of  this  important  branch  of  husbandry  ;  and  can  any  man  be  a 
good  farmer  without  he  follows  out  these  suggestions  ?  For  surely  if 
it  is  necessary  to  do  it  at  all,  it  is  indispensable  to  entire  success 
to  do  it  in  the  most  perfect  manner.  We  are  not  generally  careful 
enough  in  the  selection  of  our  plows,  plowmen  and  teams,  for  re- 
member all  our  success  as  men  and  citizens  depends  mainly  upon  the 
manner  in  which  this  operation  of  farming  is  carried  out.  They  who 
do  it  the  best  must  be  the  most  successful,  and  those  who  do  it  most 
imperfectly  the  least  thrifty.     Our  greatest  fault  is,  we  are  too  much  in 


No.  105.]  173 

a  hurry  with  the  team,  which  is  usually  too  light.  It  is  seldom  we  stop 
for  baulks  or  to  remove  obstacles,  but  good  farming  will  not  allow 
this.  Our  great  object  is  to  mellow  the  ground  perfectly.  To  do  this  a 
baulk  must  never  be  made,  orif  made  inadvertently,  go  back  and  take 
it  up.  We  must  plow  deeply  if  we  wish  the  roots  to  penetrate  deeply, 
and  take  narrow  furrows  if  we  intend  to  turn  the  entire  surface, 
This  is  the  practice  through  all  the  best  cultivated  parts  of  Europe, 
for  a  furrow  from  ten  to  fourteen  inches  wide  is  never  seen  there. 
From  six  to  seven  inches  is  the  width  of  the  furrow  slice,  and  it  is  as 
uniform  as  a  good  tool,  a  powerful  team,  and  the  best  plowman 
can  make  it.  The  earth  is  not  thrown  over  in  masses  to  remain  as 
compact  and  adhering  as  the  simple  turning  over  without  breaking  up 
the  soil  will  effect,  but  the  process  of  plowing  pulverizes  the  soil  and 
opens  it.  Now,  is  not  one  such  plowing  worth  more  to  the  growing 
plant  than  two  or  three,  where  from  twelve  to  eighteen  inch  fur- 
rows are  cut  at  a  slice  ?  In  the  last  there  is  a  mass  so  large  as  to 
remain  undisturbed,  except  simply  so  far  as  the  turning  over  is  con- 
cerned, whilst  the  other  being  a  smaller  quantity  will  more  na- 
turally fall  to  pieces.  Why  do  we  summer  fallow,  but  to  give  the 
field  the  benefit  of  repeated  plowings,  thus  loosening  perfectly  every 
part  of  it,  and  permitting  every  particle  of  earth  to  be  acted  on  by 
the  rains,  the  dews,  and  the  influence  of  light  and  warmth?  The 
effect  of  all  this  stirring  is  observable  upon  the  seed  put  into  the 
ground,  for  all  have  observed  that  the  grain  sown  in  a  fallowed  field 
will  germinate  several  days  quicker  than  on  one  where  only  one 
plowing  has  been  practiced,  and  the  growing  plant  will  maintain  its 
superiority  for  a  long  subsequent  time.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  therefore, 
that  our  farmers  will  turn  their  attention  to  this  important  subject, 
and  give  us  the  result  of  some  well  conducted  experiments,  which 
will  establish  the  difference  in  product  between  a  well  stirred  or  an 
imperfectly  plowed  field.  Of  so  much  importance  is  this  subject 
regarded  in  Europe,  that  experiments  are  there  in  process  of  exe- 
cution to  ascertain  how  far  spade  husbandry  as  a  farming  operation 
will  compare  with  that,  where  the  plow  is  used  ;  and  as  far  as 
we  are  informed,  although  the  expense  is  much  greater,  a  cor- 
responding increase  of  crop  has  nevertheless  uniformly  been  the 
result.  Indeed,  the  experimenters  have  been  induced  to  carry  out 
their  plans  and  continue  the  system.     Their  more  numerous  popu- 


174  [Senate 

lation  gives  them  much  greater  facilities  than  we  enjoy,  and  they 
have  established  the  great  practical  truth,  that  a  deep  and  per- 
fectly stirred  soil  is  an  essential  element  of  a  farmer's  success- 
No  one  of  our  several  correspondents  upon  farm  management  ac- 
knowledges the  use  of  the  subsoil  plow  ;  it  really  appears,  to  at  least 
one  of  the  committee,  that  to  follow  the  first  furrow  with  another  team 
drawing  the  subsoil  plow,  and  farther  deepening  it  from  eight  to  ten 
inches,  whilst  it  does  not  bring  this  soil  to  the  surface,  must  be  ex- 
tremely beneficial  to  all  of  our  root  crops,  and  might  be  serviceable  to 
corn.  It  opens  the  soil  where  required,  together  with  the  ordinary 
plow,  eighteen  inches,  and  thus  permits  the  roots  of  all  plants  to 
penetrate  deep,  at  the  same  time  that  it  lets  off  any  superfluous  or 
standing  water.  Good  farming  must  hereafter  require  the  use  of 
this  excellent  implement  in  many  soils,  and  the  benefits  to  be 
derived  from  it  are  yet  to  be  more  carefully  ascertained ;  but  it  cer- 
tainly promises  to  be  one  of  incomparable  value  to  the  farmer.  The 
subject  of  plowing  is  a  fruitful  theme  to  descant  upon  for  an  observing 
man,  fond  of  the  cultivation  of  the  earth.  But  as  there  are  yet  many 
other  topics  to  be  touched  upon,  each  of  great  importance  to  the 
farmer.  The  committee  will  forego  any  further  remark  on  this 
branch  of  the  subject,  but  simply  will  say  that  the  plow  for  the  last 
six  or  eight  years  has  received  in  its  construction,  such  important 
improvements  as  will  amply  compensate  for  all  the  trouble  and  ex- 
pense our  State  and  county  fairs  have  ever  cost.  It  is  competition 
that  has  brought  them  for  exhibition  hundreds  of  miles  to  our  fairs, 
and  this  exhibition  and  competition  have  been  the  cause  of  the  im- 
proved construction  of  the  instrument.  One  fault  now  is,  that  they 
plow  too  wide.  Remedy  that  evil,  and  they  will  compare  for  exe- 
cution with  any  plows  ever  made. 

The  next  class  of  queries  is  on  the  subject  of  manures,  (viz.) 
"  How  many  loads  of  manure  (30  bushels  to  the  load)  do  you  usually 
apply  to  the  acre."  "  How  do  you  manage  your  manure  1  is  it  kept 
under  cover  1  how  much  do  you  manufacture  1  how  much  apply  1  of 
what  kind?  fermented  or  unfermented?"  &c.,  &c.  This  branch  of 
agriculture  is  of  no  less  importance  than  the  one  upon  which  the 
committee  have  already  at  some  length  commented,  and  is  equally 


No.  105.J  175 

deserving  of  all  the  consideration  that  the  farmer  can  bestow  upon 
this  part  of  his  most  important  vocation.  All  created  things  are  so 
constituted  that  the  perfect  development  of  one  almost  necessarily 
involves  the  destruction  of  its  predecessor.  This  is  most  empha- 
tically the  case  with  the  long  list  of  vegetable  productions  given 
us  by  the  Almighty.  The  death  and  decay  of  the  one  affords 
the  aliment  for  the  growth  and  development  of  its  successor,  and  its 
perfection  is  much  aided  by  the  application  of  the  decayed  remains 
of  the  former ;  and  the  series  by  carrying  out  the  rule  instead  of  be- 
coming more  and  more  degenerate  is  only  rendered  more  vigorous 
and  healthy.  Manure,  it  is  generally  understood,  is  the  organic  re- 
mains of  what  has  constituted  vegetable  life.  Its  application  in  this 
state  to  the  germinating  seeds  and  quickly  absorbing  roots  stimulates 
the  tender  plant  to  put  forth  all  its  powers  for  growth  and  matu- 
rity. That  this  is  a  law  of  creation,  is  dictated  alike  by  reading, 
reflecttion  and  observation.  Men  cannot  violate  this  law  with- 
out loss,  nor  act  upon  it  without  remuneration.  Such  being  the 
case,  what  then  becomes  our  duty  1  Why,  to  use  all  our  efforts 
to  make  or  gather  so  much  of  this  valuable  treasure  as  we  can 
possibly  consume.  Not  to  be  content  with  the  foecal  discharges 
of  our  cattle,  collected  in  our  barn-yards  alone  but  to  use  as 
much  time  as  is  consistent  with  our  other  farming  duties  in  col- 
lecting all  else  that  will  contribute  to  its  increase.  Providence 
has  not  stinted  us  to  the  use  only  of  one  kind  of  manure,  but  in  his 
wise  dispensation  he  has  enlarged  the  field  from  which  it  may  be 
gathered,  almost  "  ad  injinitum^''  and  made  the  supply  almost  ex- 
haustless.  Indeed,  he  has  done  more  ;  he  has  made  the  supply  the 
more  abundant,  the  greater  the  demand,  leaving  it  to  the  industry  of 
man  alone  to  make  it  commensurate  to  his  wants.  Within  a  few 
years  the  substances  used  for  it  have  increased  to  a  great  extent,  and 
instead  of  being  confined  now  only  to  the  supply  of  the  barn-yard,  it 
shows  us  in  its  catalogue  quite  an  extended  variety.  But  the  great 
source  of  dependence  for  the  farmer  is  his  barn-yard,  and  effort  on 
his  part  will  add  much  to  increase  its  quantity.  Indeed,  if  he  does 
but  proportion  his  stock  to  the  productions  of  his  farm,  he  has  it  in 
his  power  constantly  to  increase  its  fertility.  He  must  not  be  con- 
tent with  the  gatherings  of  his  stables  and  cattle  yards.  He  must 
use  abundance  of  litter — draw  in   the   muck,  leaves,  scrapings  of 


176  FSenate 

1. 

ditches,  sods,  ashes  Loth  of  wood  and  coal ;  indeed,  almost  every 
locality  has  its  own  peculiar  advantages  to  increase  this  kind  of  col- 
lection, and  it  is  very  easy  generally  to  double  the  quantity  that 
under  the  ordinary  course  of  farm  management  would  be  collected. 
Assiduity  in  this  particular  is  sure  to  pay  well,  for  by  increasing  the 
fertility  of  the  soil,  you  not  only  enlarge  the  crop,  but  it  enhances 
the  means,  from  its  very  abundance,  for  its  own  subsequent  aug- 
mentation. The  committee,  from  the  several  communications  on  farm 
management,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  in  no  one  of  these  did  the 
quantity  made  come  up  to  the  standard  they  had  wished,  al- 
though in  most  cases  it  was  fair,  yet  they  do  not  hesitate  to  say 
that  in  many  it  ought  to  have  been  greatly  increased.  Until  this  is 
done,  our  crops  will  not  bear  a  comparison  with  the  average  yield  in 
the  best  cultivated  countries  abroad.  The  subject  of  using  fermented  or 
unfermented  manures,  they  will  not  now  touch  upon — nor  whether 
it  is  best  to  plow  it  under  shallow  or  deep,  or  use  it  as  a  top-dress- 
ing— as  all  this  may  vary  according  to  the  season  of  the  year  and  the 
crop  upon  which  it  is  intended  to  be  used.  To  enter  into  all  these 
details  would  make  this  communicatian  too  extended. 

The  remaining  queries  propounded  by  the  Executive  Committee  are 
on  '-field  crops,  grass  lands,  irrigation,  domestic  animals,  fruits,  fen- 
ces, buildings,"  &c.  On  these  topics  we  will  not  now  enlarge.  How 
far  the  answers  to  the  several  queries  propounded  meet  the  expecta- 
tions of  the  committee,  the  public  on  reading  them  can  judge  as  well  as 
they;  but  they  feel  called  upon  to  say  that  it  was  evident  from  the  seve- 
ral communications  that  sufficient  attention  has  not  been  paid  to  mak- 
ing regular  daily  entries  in  their  farmer's  journal.  Many  of  these  state- 
ments no  doubt  were  made  with  as  great  a  regard  to  accuracy  as  cir- 
cumstances warranted,  but  in  harily  an  instance  with  a  definiteness 
satisfactory  to  the  committee.  Indeed  it  cannot  be  done  to  the  sat- 
isfaction of  the  farmer  without  he  keeps  regular  farm  accounts  of  all 
expenses  and  all  his  products.  This  would  give  confidence  to  his 
statements  and  precision  to  his  observation  and  I  have  no  doubt 
would  end  in  more  individual  prosperity  than  any  other  plan  for  his 
benefit  that  could  be  devised.  If  a  farmer,  like  a  merchant,  would 
enter  all  his  transactions,  keep  a  regular  debtor  and  creditor  account 
and  make  the  requisite  notes  upon  such  things  as  require  to  be  remem- 
bered, he  would  make  few  annual  mistakes  on  his  farm,  and  still  fewer 


No  105.]  177 

for  his  ultimate  success.  He  would  at  the  end  of  the  year  be  enabled 
to  ascertain  both  his  circumstances  and  the  products  of  his  year's 
labors,  and  if  unsuccessful,  it  would  not  be  from  want  of  information, 
should  the  continuance  of  a  bad  system  end  in  bankruptcy.  We  are 
yet  in  hopes  as  education  is  diffused  and  our  farmers  become  more 
imbued  with  a  desire  to  adopt  all  the  means  to  make  them  better 
acquainted  with  their  business  that  the  keeping  of  farm  accounts  will 
be  generally  adopted.  It  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  the  present 
occasion  to  look  a  little  into  the  statistical  information  gathered  in 
taking  the  census  of  this  State  as  far  as  its  agriculture  is  concerned. 
It  has  been  carefully  compiled  by  Mr.  S.  S.  Randall,  Esq.,  and  it 
gives  the  following  general  results.  The  tables  themselves  are  ap- 
pended, which  it  is  useful  to  consult  for  more  particular  information. 

The  whole  population  of  the  State,  it  appears  by  the  census  of 
1845,  amounts  to  2,604,495.  One-tenth  of  our  whole  population  are 
farmers,  and  they  are  as  one  to  two  of  all  other  professions.  The  vo- 
ters (white)  in  the  State  are  539,379,  of  which  one  half  are  farmers. 

The  whole  number  of  acres  of  improved  land  in  the  State  are 
11,737,276. 
Sowed  to  wheat,  1845,  1,013,665  acres,  average  prod,  per  acre,  14  bu. 


do       Oats,       " 

1,026,915 

do 

do 

do 

26  do 

do       Barley,  " 

182,504 

do 

do 

do 

16  do 

do       Peas,      " 

117,379 

do 

do 

do 

15  do 

do       Rye,       " 

317,099 

do 

do 

do 

9h  do 

Planted  to  Corn,    " 

595,135 

do 

do 

do 

25  do 

do     Potatoes,  " 

255,762 

do 

do 

do 

90  do 

When  we  look  over  these  results  and  see  how  small  the  quantity 
raised  compared  to  what  has  been  done — wheat  60  bushels  to  the 
acre — oats  70 — barley  50 — peas  45 — rye  40 — corn  130 — and  pota- 
toes 500 — it  leaves  no  room  to  conjecture  how  much  farther  we  have 
to  advance  in  Agriculture  before  we  can  in  truth  be  called  farmers, 
for  three-fourths  remain  yet  to  be  done.  We  know  it  can  be  done, 
for  we  have  thousands  of  instances  of  the  production  of  these  several 
large  crops  in  the  State,  and  that  too  in  many  instances  from  what  was 
formerly  worn  out  lands.  As  a  striking  instance  of  this  we  will  refer 
you  to  the  Report  of  the  Officers  of  the  Washington  County  Agricul- 
tural Society  contained  in  this  volume.  With  this  view  before  us, 
shall  w^e  despair  to  raise  the  agriculture  of  this  State  so  that  succeed- 

[Senate,  No.  105. J  12 


178  [Senate 

ing  averages  shall  testify  to  our  improvement.  It  must  be  done. 
It  can  be  done — and  if  farmers  will  call  upon  the  intelligence  of  the 
head  to  aid  the  labor  of  the  hands,  it  v?ill  be  done.  We  have  a  no- 
ble State,  a  fertile  soil,  a  salubrious  climate  and  industrious  people. 
All  we  want  is  to  throw  our  mental  and  bodily  energies  into  the  ful- 
filment oi  the  task,  and  a  quadruple  product  will  in  a  few  years  com- 
pensate you  for  the  toil.  When  we  look  at  this  great  State,  and  cast 
an  eye  to  what  it  may  become,  we  are  lost  in  the  contemplation  of  her 
future  wealth  and  greatness,  and  the  Agricultural  Society  will  not  do 
itself  justice  nor  attain  the  ends  of  its  creation,  if,  through  her  efficient 
committees  in  their  several  departments,  they  do  not  give  an  effect- 
ive impulse  to  improvement  and  foster  a  taste  for  the  pursuit  of  hus- 
bandry among  the  citizens,  and  let  me  mention  this  for  their  encou- 
ragement, that  retiring  statesmen  of  every  age  and  nation  have 
chosen  this  employment  as  best  fitted  to  give  to  life  its  sweetest 
charm  and  to  the  restless  mind  the  greatest  repose. 

All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 
In  behalf  of  the  Committee, 

J,  P,  BEEKMAN* 
Albany  J  March  I  ^IS4Q^ 


FARM  STATEMENTS. 


FARM  OF  GEORGE   GEDDES. 

Luther  Tucker,  tlsq,. 

Cor.  Sec.  of  JV*.  Y.  State  Agr.  Sac. 

The  following  answers  to  the  interrogatories  of  the  New- York 
State  Agricultural  Society,  are  respectfully  submitted  :  x 

1.  My  home  farm  consists  of  three  hundred  acres.  Thirty  are  in 
Avood,  About  ten  acres  of  the  side  hills  are  unsuitable  for  plowing, 
and  are  only  used  for  pasture  ;  the  remainder  is  under  cultivation, 
except  what  is  required  for  roads,  yards,  &c. 

2.  The  soilis  principally  a  disintegrated  gypseous  shale,  it  being  the 
first  stratum  below  the  Onondaga  lime,  running  up  to  and  takino-  in 
some  sixteen  acres  of  the  lime,  which  is  covered  with  about  one  foot 
of  soil.  This  is  in  the  wood  lot,  and  furnishes  quarries  of  good 
stone.  There  were  formerly  a  few  cobble  stones  on  the  surface,  and 
one  very  large  granite  boulder.  A  small  brook  running  through  the 
farm  is  bordered  by  about  forty  acres  of  soil  that  has  been  deposited 
by  the  brook,  and  is  not  suited  to  the  production  of  wheat.  In  the 
valley  of  the  brook  is  found  marl  and  peat,  and  at  the  springs  that 
•come  from  the  hill  sides  calcareous  tufa. 

3.  I  consider  the  best  modes  of  improving  the  soil  of  my  farm,  to 
be  deep  plowing,  application  of  barn  yard  manure,  free  use  of  sul- 
phate of  lime,  and  frequent  plowing  in  crops  of  clover. 

4.  Unless  I  am  plowing  in  manure,  I  plow  from  six  to  eight  inches 
deep.  Deep  plowing  upon  the  gypseous  shales,  never  fails  to  in- 
crease fertility.  Full  triels  justify  my  speaking  with  confidence  on 
this  point. 

5.  I  have  not  used  the  sub-soil  plow,  as  I  have  no  retentive  sub- 
isoil  on  my  farm. 

6.  I  apply  my  barn  yard  manure  in  large  quantities  at  a  time,  pre- 


180  [Senate 

f     .  .        . 

erring  to  at  once,  do  all  for  a  field  that  I  can  in  this  way.     About 

fifty  loads  of  thirty  bushels  each,  of  half  rotted  manure  to  the  acre  at 
a  dressing. 

My  stables  are  situated  on  two  sides  of  a  square  :  the  manure,  as  it 
is  taken  from  the  stables,  is  at  once  piled  in  the  centre  of  the  yard^ 
as  high  as  a  man  can  pitch  it.  Sulphate  of  lime  is  put  on  the 
manure  in  the  stables,  and  the  heap,  as  soon  as  fermentation  com- 
mences, is  whitened  over  with  it.  My  sheep  are  all  fed  under  cover, 
and  most  of  their  manure  is  piled  under  cover  in  the  spring,  and 
rotted.  As  to  keeping  manure  under  cover,  my  experience  has  led 
me  to  believe,  that  the  best  way  is  to  pile  it  under  cover,  when  it  is 
most  convenient  to  do  so,  and  only  then,  as  I  am  compelled  to  apply 
water  to  the  heap  to  rot  it,  unless  it  has  received  the  snows  and  rains 
out  doors.  The  coating  of  sulphate  of  lime  will,  I  believe,  prevent 
loss  of  the  gases,  and  in  process  of  fermentation  the  heap  will  settle 
so  close  together,  that  water  w^ill  not  after  that  enter  into  it,  to  any 
considerable  depth,  particularly  if  it  was  piled  high  and  came  up  to 
a  sharp  point. 

7.  My  means  of  collecting  and  making  manure,  are  the  straw,  corn 
stalks  and  hay  raised  on  the  farm,  fed  to  farm  stock,  and  what  is  not 
eaten,  trampled  under  foot,  and  converted  as  before  described,  so 
much  of  it  as  goes  through  the  stables.  But  large  quantities  of  straw 
never  pass  through  the  stables  at  all  ;  stacks  are  built  in  the  yards,^ 
and  the  straw  is  from  time  to  time  strewed  over  the  ground,  where  it 
receives  the  snows  and  rains,  and  is  trampled  by  the  cattle.  Embank- 
ments around  the  lower  sides  of  the  yard,  prevent  the  water  from 
running  off,  and  confine  it  in  water  tight  pools,  which  are  filled  with 
straw  to  absorb  the  water,  except  so  much  of  it  as  is  wanted  to  put 
on  the  garden, 

8.  I  make  from  four  to  five  hundred  loads  of  manure  annually,  and 
it  is  all  applied. 

9.  Most  of  the  manure  is  put  on  corn  ground.  It  is  drawn  on 
about  one  half  rotted,  and  spread  over  the  surface,  and  plowed  under 
about  four  inches  deep.  The  reason  I  do  not  plow  it  under  deeper, 
is,  that  I  suppose  I  must  plow  deeper  the  next  time,  to  bring  up  the 
earth  into  which  the  manure  has  been  carried  by  the  rains. 

10.  I  have  never  used  lime  in  any  quantity,  excepting  in  the  form 
of  a  sulphate  as  a  manure,  believing  that  there  is  enough  in  the  soiL 


No.  105.]  181 

Sulphate  of  lime,  I  use  in  large  quantities  :  fourteen  tons  this  year. 
It  is  sown  on  all  the  wheat,  corn,  barley,  and  oats,  and  on  the  pas- 
tures and  meadows  in  quantities  varying  from  one  to  three  bushels 
to  the  acre.  All  the  ashes  made  by  my  fires  is  used  as  a  manure, 
and  I  think  that  it  is  worth  as  much  as  the  same  bulk  of  sulphate  of 
lime  to  use  on  corn.  Sulphate  of  lime  has  been  used  on  the  farm 
for  many  years,  and  in  large  quantities,  and  I  think  it  essential  in 
my  system  of  farming.     I  have  not  used  salt  or  guano  as  manure. 

I  raised  this  year,  about 
77  acres  of  wheat,  yielding  1,616  bushels,  averaging  per  acre,  20,99 
15  i     "       corn,         ''  821  "  52,96 

18       "       barley,      "  665  "  36,94 

38       "       oats,         "        2,249  ''  56,55 

2^       '•       potatoes,  "  292  "  116,80 


5,643 
50  acres  of  pasture  and  30  of  meadow. 

12.  I  sow  at  the  rate  of  two  bushels  to  the  acre,  about  the  fifteenth 
day  of  September.  I  summer  fallow  but  little,  and  only  to  kill  foul 
stuff,  and  to  bring  the  land  into  a  good  state  of  cultivation.  A  part 
of  my  wheat  is  sown  on  land  that  has  been  pastured,  or  mowed, — 
plowing  it  but  once,  but  that  done  with  great  care,  and  as  deep  as  I 
can.  The  oat  and  barley  stubble,  as  a  general  rule,  is  sown  to  wheat, 
plowing  only  once,  having  previously  fed  off  the  stubble  with  sheep 
so  close  as  to  have  most  of  the  scattered  grain  picked  up.  The 
plowing  is  done  as  near  the  time  of  sowing  the  wheat  as  is  practica- 
ble, and  the  wheat  is  sown  upon  the  fresh  furrows,  and  harrowed  in. 
I  have  tried  various  modes  of  treating  stubble,  but  none  of  them  has 
answered  as  well  as  this.  What  little  grain  of  the  spring  crop  is  left 
on  the  ground  is  turned  deep  under,  and  the  wheat  being  on  the  top 
gets  the  start  of  it.  The  harvesting  is  done  with  a  cradle.  Corn,  is 
generally  planted  by  the  tenth  day  of  May,  on  sod  land  ;  most  of 
the  manure  is  put  upon  this  crop.  The  corn  is  planted  in  hills  three 
feet  apart  each  way  ;  from  four  to  six  kernels  in  a  hill,  and  no  thin- 
ning out  is  practised.  Sulphate  of  lime,  or  ashes  is  put  on  the  corn 
as  soon  as  it  comes  up.  Two  effectual  hoeings  is  given  to  it_,  and  a 
cultivator  with  steel  teeth,  is  run  twice  each  way  of  the  field  between 
the  rows,  to  prepare  it  for  the  hoe.  Corn  plows  and  cast  iron  culti- 
vator teeth  are  entirely  discarded. 


182  [Senate 

At  the  proper  time,  the  stalks  are  cut  up  at  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  and  put  into  small  stooks,  and  when  the  corn  is  husked,  the 
stalks  are  drawn  at  once  into  the  barn,  without  being  again  set  up. 
In  this  way  they  are  kept  m  good  condition,  and  labor  saved, 

Oats  or  barley  is  sown  the  next  spring,  on  this  corn  stubble.  Of 
each  of  these  grains,  three  bushels  of  seed  is  put  upon  an  acre.  As 
soon  as  the  grain  is  up,  sulphate  of  lime  is  sown.  These  grains  are 
also  sowed  on  sod  land.  The  reason  of  this  is,  I  cannot  command  the 
manual  labor  necessary  to  cultivate  one-fifth  of  my  land  in  corn,  and 
secure  it  at  the  proper  season.  The  rotation  of  crops  I  attempt  to 
pursue,  is — first  corn,  second  oats  or  barley,  third  wheat  on  the  oat  or 
barley  stubble,  fourth  clover  and  herds  grass  pasture — the  seed  sown 
on  the  wheat — fifth  meadow.  But  inasmuch  as  certain  portions  of  my 
farm  are  not  suited  to  raising  wheat^  and  as  I  cannot  command  the 
force  necessary  to  cultivate  the  proportion  of  corn,  lam  compelled  to 
modify  ;  but  T  come  as  near  to  this  rotation  as  I  can. 

The  usual  time  of  sowing  barley  is  as  soon  as  the  ground  is  settled — 
commonly  by  the  twentieth  of  April.  The  oats  are  sowed  later — gene- 
rally  early  in  May. 

The  yield  of  the  crops  for  this  year  has  already  been  given,  and  I 
thmk  I  am  safe  in  saying,  that  the  average  of  one  year  with  another, 
upon  the  system  of  rotation  before  given,  comes  up  to  that  of  this  year. 
The  pasture  will  sustain  two  cows  upon  an  acre,  and  the  hay  will 
generally  "yield  two  tons  to  the  acre. 

13.  This  interrogatory  has  been  so  far  anticipated,  that  it  is  only 
necessary  to  add,  that  sometimes  manure  that  it  is  not  convenient  to 
draw  in  the  spring,  is  put  upon  the  corn  stubble  and  upon  wheat. 

14.  This  interrogatory  has  been  anticipated,  in  part.  My  reasons 
for  applying  my  manure  to  corn,  are,  that  I  have  better  means  of 
destroying  the  seeds  of  weeds,  and  from  the  belief  that  corn  is  the  best 
crop  to  take  up  that  part  of  the  manure  that  the  first  crop  can  use,  and 
that  the  manure  is  thus  prepared  for  the  crops  that  follow.  Experi- 
ments that  I  have  made,  go  to  show  that,  coarse  manure  benefits  the 
second  crop  as  much  as  it  does  the  first — and  the  third  crop  cannot  but 
receive  great  benefit  from  it.  The  fourth  and  fifth  crops  probably  do 
not  impoverish  the  soil.  By  this  rotation,  three  crops  are  had  for  three 
plowings  ;  and  my  experience  proves  that  the  soil  increases  in  fertility 
under  this  management. 


No.  105.]  183 

15.  Potatoes.  In  consequence  of  the  disease  that  has  injured  this 
crop,  there  were  but  two  and  a  half  acres  planted  this  year ;  the  disease 
was  very  destructive  to  my  crop  last  year,  but  thus  far  nothing  has 
been  discovered  of  it  this  year.  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  either 
the  cause  or  remedy  for  this  disease. 

16.  Herds  grass,  at  the  rate  of  eight  quarts  to  the  acre,  is  sown  on 
bottom  land.  Clover  and  herds  grass,  mixed  in  equal  quantities,  is 
sown  on  uplands,  at  the  rate  of  eight  quarts  to  the  acre,  commonly. 
Generally  sow  herds  grass  in  September,  when  it  is  sown  alone  on 
wheat ;  but  if  mixed  with  clover,  sow  it  in  March,  on  a  light  snow,  if 
possible  J  the  sowing  is  done  by  hand.  The  last  spring,  I  sowed  herds 
grass  seed  at  the  rate  of  eight  quarts  to  the  acre,  on  a  field  of  wheat 
that  I  wanted  to  mow.  Sixteen  quarts  of  clover  seed  were  mixed  with 
the  other  seed  and  sown  on  fifteen  and  a  half  acres.  In  the  fall,  this 
field  was  not  fed  off  until  the  clover  headed  out,  when  it  appeared 
finely  covered  with  clover. 

17.  I  usually  mow  about  thirty  acres,  and  expect  two  tons  to  the 
acre.  This  year  the  herds  grass  was  killed  by  a  frost  late  in  May,  and 
the  estimate  made  was  one  ton  to  the  acre.  I  use  the  variety  of  clover 
known  as  the  "medium,"  and  cut  it  when  one-half  of  the  heads  are 
turned.  At  this  stage,  a  very  considerable  proportion  of  the  herds 
grass  will  be  sufficiently  advanced  for  the  seeds  to  mature.  The  mode 
of  making  the  hay,  is  to  move  it  as  little  as  possible.  Generally  it  is 
put  into  cock.  When  the  bottom  lands  are  stocked  down,  clear  herds 
grass  used. 

18.  There  is  no  part  of  my  farm  that  cannot  be  plowed,  except  the  ' 
side  hills  before  mentioned.     These  side  hills  are  in  grass  and  are  pas- 
tured. 

19.  I  have  irrigated  a  part  of  my  bottom  lands.  For  a  few  years, 
the  grass  was  very  much  increased  in  quantity ;  but  the  herds  grass 
disappeared,  and  a  kind  of  grass  took  its  place  of  but  little  value.  I 
now  suppose  that  the  water  was  suffered  to  remain  too  long  on  the 
meadow,  and  thus  destroyed  the  valuable  grasses.  This  meadow  has 
been  plowed  up,  with  a  view  to  subdue  it,  and  again  seed  it  with  herds 
grass  ;  when  it  is  to  be  hoped  a  second  experiment  in  irrigation  may  be 
made,  with  more  skill  and  better  success. 

The  mode  of  watering  the  meadow,  was  by  a  small  ditch  taken  out 
of  the  brook,  at  a  point  high  enough  to  enable  me  to  convey  the  water 


184  [Senate 

through  the  middle  of  the  meadow.  Lateral  cuts  from  this  main  ditch, 
with  gates,  distributed  the  water. 

^  20.  Of  the  bottom  lands  mentioned,  about  twenty  acres  were  very 
wet,  and  may  have  come  under  the  denomination  of  "  low  peat  lands." 
This  land  has  been  thoroughly  drained,  with  ditches  from  three  to  five 
feet  deep.  Very  heavy  oats  were  this  year  raised  upon  some  of  this 
land,  and  about  one-half  of  my  corn  was  upon  this  description  of  land. 
The  next  year,  the  whole  forty  acres  are  to  be  planted  or  sown  to 
oats. 

21.  There  have  been  four  oxen,  seventeen  cows,  and  sixteen  head  of 
store  cattle,  eighty  sheep,  eleven  horses  and  thirty-three  swine  kept  on 
the  farm  the  past  season,  with  the  exception  of  a  short  time.  The 
cattle  are  either  thorough  bred,  or  high  grade  short  horns. 

22.  I  have  made  no  accurate  and  careful  experiments  to  test  the* 
comparative  value  of  different  breeds  of  cattle. 

23.  No  account  is  kept  of  the  butter  and  cheese  made  on  the  farm, 
as  it  is  mostly  consumed  on  the  premises. 

24.  There  have  been  but  eighty  sheep  kept  on  the  farm  the  past  season. 
The  flock  has  recently  been  very  much  reduced,  with  a  view  to  substi- 
tute pure  Merinos.  My  sheep  yielded  a  little  over  four  pounds  of  wool 
each,  for  the  whole  flock.  The  pure  Merino  ewes,  each  raised  a  lamb, 
and  they  averaged  a  little  over  five  pounds  to  the  fleece.  I  think  that 
about  ninety  lambs  may  be  expected  to  be  raised  from  one  hundred 
ewes.  I  have  heretofore  raised  mutton  sheep,  but  have  disposed  of  all 
my  sheep  whose  chief  value  was  for  mutton,  and  intend  to  turn  my 
attention  to  the  raising  wool,  as  the  first  consideration.  Two  dollars  has 
been  about  the  average  price  I  have  received  for  mutton  sheep  fattened 
on  grass. 

25.  There  have  been  thirty-three  swine,  of  grade  Berkshire,  kept  on 
the  farm  this  year.  About  one-half  of  them  have  been  slaughtered. 
Our  hogs  weigh  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  five  hundred,  averaging 
over  three  hundred  and  fifty,  when  dressed. 

26.  No  accurate  experiments  have  been  made  by  me,  to  test  the 
value  of  roots  as  compared  with  Indian  com.  I  fatten  my  hogs  and 
cattle  on  corn  ground  with  the  cob.  Cooked  for  hogs,  and  sometimes 
cooked  and  sometimes  raw  for  cattle,being  governed  in  this  particular, 
by  the  amount  of  grain  I  am  feeding.     I  think  corn  the  most  economi- 


No.  105.]  185 

cal  grain  I  raise  to  feed,   in  view  of  the  prices  coarse  grains  usually 
bring;  in  market. 

27.  There  are  about  two  hundred  apple  trees  oa  the  farm,  most  of 
them  grafted — spitzenbergs,  russets,  pippins,  &c. — most  of  the  approved 
varieties. 

28.  Pears,  peaches,  plumbs,  cherries,  quinces,  &c.,  are  raised  in 
abundance  for  our  own  consumption  ;  and  we  have  many  of  the  best 
varieties  of  these  fruits  :  five  or  six  of  pears,  twenty  of  peaches,  seven 
or  eight  of  cherries,  and  four  or  five  of  plumbs. 

29.  Various  insects  common  to  this  country  have  depredated  upon  the 
fruit  trees;  the  most  troublesome  of  all,  is  the  common  apple  tree 
worm.  Strong  soap  suds  applied  by  means  of  a  piece  of  sheep  skin 
with  the  wool  on,  attached  to  a  pole  is  the  most  effectual  means  of 
destroying  them. 

30.  My  general  management  of  fruit  trees  is,  to  prune  them  annu- 
ally, keep  them  free  from  insects,  and  see  personally  to  the  selection  of 
scions  for  grafting. 

31.  I  have  applied  leached  ashes  to  wheat,  grass,  and  corn  land, 
without  being  able  to  see  any  benefit. 

32.  Besides  the  mansion  house,  I  have  four  houses  occupied  by  men 
that  work  on  the  farm.  Two  of  these  houses  have  barns  connected 
with  them.  In  a  central  position  is  a  grain  barn,  fifty-four  feet  long 
and  forty  wide,  twenty  feet  high,  with  a  stone  wall  under  it — making 
a  granary  and  sheds.  Near  the  mansion  house  are  the  hay  barn,  sheep 
barn,  and  a  grain  barn  fifty-four  feet  long  by  thirty-four  wide.  Base- 
ment stories  to  all  these  buildings,  furnish  sheds  and  stables  for  the 
stock:  so  that  every  animal  I  winter,  is  fed  all  the  valuable  food  in  a 
rack  or  manger,  and  under  cover. 

Besides  these  buildings,  is  the  wagon  house,  forty-two  feet  long, 
with  a  basement  under  it ;  and  the  tool  house,  carriage  house,  corn 
house,  milk  house,  smoke  house,  ice  house,  hen  house,  &c.  A  small 
mill  upon  the  brook  grinds  my  coarse  feed.  My  yards  around  the 
buildings  near  the  mansion  are  all  supplied  with  water  in  tubs,  sent 
there  by  a  powerful  force  pump  under  the  mill,  driven  by  the  same 
wheel  that  grinds  the  feed  and  saws  the  wood. 

33.  The  common  fence  on  the  farm  is  posts  and  boards,  the  posts 
set  three  feet  or  more  in  the  ground.  Of  red  cedar  posts  I  have  about 
three  miles — and  of  the  timber  for  posts,  about  two  miles.     I  have 


186  [Senate 

something  more  than  a  mile  of  stone  wall,  made  from  stone  quarried 
from  the  quarries  mentioned.  These  walls  are  built  four  feet  ten  inches 
high,  two  and  a  half  feet  thick  on  the  ground,  and  eight  inches  thick 
on  top,  having  the  same  slant  on  both  sides,  and  laid  straight  and 
strong.  This  fence  costs  me  $1.50  a  rod,  and  I  build  fifty  rods  or 
or  more  every  year,  upon  a  system  of  fencing  that  in  time  will  put  an 
end  to  further  expense.  The  board  fence  costs  from  88  to  100  cents  a 
rod.  There  is  a  considerable  portion  of  my  fences  of  rails,  mostly 
cedar,  but  no  new  rails  are  made.  As  to  the  condition  of  my  fences,  I 
would  respectfully  refer  to  the  report  of  the  committee  on  farms  for 
this  year,  for  the  county  of  Onondaga,  a  copy  of  which  report  is 
attached. 

34.  Most  of  my  fields  have  been  measured,  but  sometimes  more  than 
one  kind  of  grain  is  raised  in  a  field — and  thus  the  amount  of  ground 
covered  by  each  kind  of  grain  is  not  always  accurately  known.  All 
the  grain  raised  on  the  farm  is  measured,  and  the  measurements  entered 
in  books  kept  for  that  purpose  by  proper  men.  The  work  hired  by  the 
day  is  entered  in  these  books,  and  any  other  thing  that  appears  of 
sufficient  importance. 

These  memorandum  books  furnish  most  of  the  materials  for  a  farm 
book  which  is  kept  by  myself. 

From  the  farm  book,  it  appears  that  there  have  been  nine  hundred 
and  twenty-seven  days'  work  done  on  the  farm,  from  the  1st  day  of 
April  to  the  1st  day  of  November.  This  account  covers  all  the  work 
done  in  drawing  plaster,  sowing  it,  drawing  out  manure,  threshing  and 
delivering  so  much  of  the  grain  in  market,  as  has  been  sold,  and  all 
other  men's  labor  on  the  farm.  There  have  been  produced  on  the 
farm  five  thousand  six  hundrd  and  forty-three  bushels  of  grain,  aside 
from  garden  vegetables.     Besides  this,  sixty-six  loads  of  hay. 

As  the  grain  is  sold,  entries  are  made  in  the  farm  book,  of  the  price 
it  brings;  and  that  part  of  the  products  of  the  farm  that  is  kept  for 
home  consumption,  is  estimated  at  the  price  it  is  worth  in  market. 
Thus  arrived  at,  the  grain  and  hay  raised  this  year  was  worth  three 
thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty -three  dollars  and  seventy-nine  cents. 

I  have  no  means  of  determining  the  value  of  the  pasture,  fruit  and 
many  other  things  produced  on  the  farm,  nor  the  cost  of  team  work. 

GEO.  GEDDES. 

Fair  Mount,  Onondaga  county,  JV.  F.,  Dec.  31,  1845. 


No.  105.]  187 

FARM  OF  WILLIAM  BUELL. 

The  farm  I  now  occupy  lies  in  the  town  of  Gates,  Monroe  county; 
about  one  mile  and  a  half  west  of  the  city  of  Rochester,  in  front  and 
through  which  runs  the  great  Buffalo  road  and  the  Rochester  and 
Batavia  railroad. 

Before  I  came  in  possession  it  had  been  very  loosely  farmed  for  six 
or  seven  years,  and  what  improvements  had  previously  been  made 
upon  it  in  the  way  of  fences,  outhouses,  &c.  had  gone  into  almost 
ruinous  decay.  The  answers  to  the  prescribed  interrogatories  will 
show  what  improvements  I  have  made,  and  what  its  present  state  of 
production  and  tillage  is. 

1.  My  farm  consists  of  three  hundred  and  seventy  acres,  upon 
which  is  fifty-three  acres  of  wood  land.  Timber,  generally  hardwood 
and  some  chesnut,  every  acre  of  which  is  arable  and  fit  for  the  plow, 
without  one  rod  covered  with  brush,  briars  or  swamp  holes.  Some 
twenty  acres  is  a  black  ash  bottom,  the  black  muck  from  three  to 
five  feet  thick,  which  I  have  used  with  great  profit  on  the  upland. 

2.  The  soil  is  a  gravelly  loam,  with  a  good  portion  of  black  ori- 
ginal vegetable  matter,  intermixed,  a  loose  gravelly  subsoil,  which 
at  from  four  to  six  feet  becomes  quite  coarse.  The  few  stone  found 
in  the  soil  are  small  boulders  of  granite  and  other  primitive  founda- 
tions, red  sandstone  and  blue  limestone,  the  latter  predominating. 
The  first  regular  rock  formation  is  what  is  called  the  geodiferous 
limestone,  and  lies  about  twenty  feet  from  the  surface.  There  is  not 
as  far  as  yet  discovered,  over  one  acre  of  hard-pan  on  the  farm. 

3.  For  improving  and  keeping  the  land  in  heart,  I  principally  depend 
on  the  three  years'  rotation  system,  with  those  three  indispensables 
clover,  plaster  and  what  manure  can  be  made.  Three  to  four 
regular  plowings  for  summer  fallow.  For  spring  crops,  if  sward,  I 
fall  plow  with  a  dressing  of  coarse  manure  in  the  spring. 

4.  I  always  plow  from  six  to  eight  inches,  the  soil  has  such  a  quan- 
tity of  decomposing  marl,  that  deep  plowing  does  not  render  it  sterile, 
but  a  few  years  creates  a  soil  of  that  depth  and  readiness  that  ordi- 
nary droughts  do  not  affect  it,  and  it  is  in  my  opinion  altogether  the 
best  system  to  pursue.  On  light  and  sandy  soils,  where  one  depends 
every  year  on  the  vegetable  matter  one  plows  in,  shallower  plowing 
seems  to  operate  best. 


188  [Senate 

My  farm  has  no  hard-pan  or  retentive  subsoil,  and  I  therefore  have 
no  need  of  the  operation  of  the  subsoil  plow,  nor  have  I  tried  the 
experiment.  In  all  close  and  hard  bottoms,  as  a  species  of  under- 
standing, it  is  an  invaluable  process. 

Manures. 

6,  7,  8.  I  generally  use  about  twenty  loads  of  thirty  bushels  each 
per  acre  of  barn  yard  manure,  piled  up  in  the  yard  in  the  spring, 
composed  of  the  droppings  of  the  animals,  litterings  of  straw,  and 
black  muck.  I  make  about  two  hundred  loads  annually,  and  draw 
from  fifty  to  one  hundred  from  the  city,  and  one  hundred  loads  of 
black  muck  on  corn  ground. 

I  generally  drag  in  my  compost  manures  on  my  wheat  grounds,  at 
the  time  of  sowing,  which  course  I  prefer,  as  it  leaves  it  within  the 
reach  of  the  roots  of  the  young  plant,  and  gives  it  a  strong  and 
healthy  start  in  its  young  and  feeble  stage  of  existence.  For  corn 
and  potatoes  it  is  used  fresh  from  the  yards  and  plowed  in. 

My  cattle  and  horses  are  all  stabled  in  winter,  and  the  manure  and 
litter,  as  it  is  thrown  out,  is  kept  in  heaps  that  it  may  not  be  but 
little  exposed  to  leach  from  falling  rains  and  snows.  The  yards  are 
kept  constantly  littered  with  straw,  having  always  a  surplus  on  hand, 
and  having  water  in  the  yard,  the  animals  when  out  are  preparing 
the  litter  for  the  summer  compost. 

The  most  of  the  droppings  are  in  the  stables.  The  balance  when 
out  is  hardly  enough  to  cause  fermentation  and  decomposition  in  the 
straw. 

9.  The  most  of  the  manure  is  used  for  the  wheat  crop,  for  which 
purpose  it  must  be  thoroughly  decomposed,  and  turned  as  often  as 
it  heats,  or  it  will  mildew  and  burn,  as  our  lands  in  this  region 
require  lime.  I  prefer  plaster  (as  an  absorbant  with  the  com- 
post) to  lime,  as  it  has  a  tendency  to  extricate  and  throw  off 
the  gasses.  If  the  manure  is  not  well  decomposed,  it  has  a  ten- 
dency to  increase  the  straw  at  the  expense  of  the  grain  ;  it  falls 
down,  rusts  or  blasts,  and  is  a  decided  detriment  to  the  crop.  If 
fresh  manures  are  plowed  in  in  the  spring,  and  a  corn  or  potatoe  crop 
taken  off,  it  is  then  in  a  proper  state  for  the  wheat  crop,  and  if  it  can 
be  sown  in  season,  on  or  before  the  15th  September,  it  makes  one 
of  the  cheapest  and  best  crops  the  farmer  can  make. 

I  have  only  used  plaster  and  lime.  Lime  at  the  rate  of  forty 
bushels  slacked  per  acre,  from  the  use  of  which,  as  yet,  I  have  seen 


No.  105.]  189 

no  beneficial  results.  Plaster  is  indispensable  with  clover,  whether 
it  is  a  benefit  to  the  wheat  plant  or  not,  is  an  unsettled  point  with 
farmers. 

11.  Two  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  my  farm  are  in  regular  rota- 
tion under  the  plow,  eighty-five  acres  was  in  wheat  the  past  year, 
eight  acres  in  corn,  twenty-five  in  oats,  two  and  a  half  potatoes,  six 
peas,  and  four  and  a  half  turneps.  I  have  now  in  wheat  one  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  acres,  all  summer  fallowed. 

12.  The  past  wheat  crop  was  sown  a  little  more  than  two  bushels 
of  seed  per  acre,  on  account  of  the  dryness  of  the  season,  but  it  all 
came  up,  and  was  too  thick  and  heavy  on  the  ground,  which  caused 
it  to  rust  and  shrink  ;  it  was  sown  from  the  25th  August  to  the  10th 
September.  Some  of  the  heaviest  was  reaped,  but  generally  cut 
with  the  cradle.  About  forty  acres  was  shrunk,  and  only  yielded 
twenty-seven  and  a  half  bushels  per  acre,  which,  had  it  ripened  well, 
would  have  yielded  forty,  and  by  many  it  was  thought  more  bushels 
per  acre.  The  present  crop,  or  seeding  of  this  fall,  was  sown  from 
the  1st  to  the  15th  September,  with  one  bushel  and  a  half  of  the 
white  flint  variety,  on  regular  summer  fallows,  all  plowed  three 
times,  and  some  of  it  four,  and  thoroughly  dragged. 

13.  14.  Answered  to  previous  questions. 

15.  I  have  never  had  any  disease  in  my  potato  crop,  although  it 
has  prevailed  to  some  degree  in  this  region.  It  is  thought  by  some 
of  our  best  observers,  that  the  cause  of  the  disease  is  in  the  leaf,  and 
is  analagous  to  the  curl  in  Europe. 

Grass  Lands. 

16.  I  use  clover  and  timothy  alone  on  wheat  land,  and  red  top  and 
timothy  on  black  or  mucky  land,  six  quarts  of  clover  and  eight  quarts 
of  timothy  per  acre  ;  one-half  of  the  timothy  in  the  fall  at  seeding 
time,  and  the  balance  with  the  whole  clover  in  the  spring,  before  the 
last  falls  of  snow,  or  before  the  frost  has  done  operating  on  the  soil. 
In  all  cases  intended  for  mowing,  the  large  kind  of  clover  should  be 
used  with  timothy,  as  they  both  ripen  together ;  if  only  for  pasture, 
and  to  plow  in  as  manure,  the  medium  kind  will  answer. 

17.  I  have  mowed  but  twenty  acres  the  past  year.  I  have  now 
fifty  acres  stocked  down.  Old  meadows  have  this  year  hardly  ave- 
raged one  ton  per  acre,  and  new  ones  about  two  tons.     I  commence 


190  [Senate 

cutting  timothy  as  soon  as  it  is  out  of  blossom,  and  so  on  as  fast  as 
possible.  It  spends  best  and  furnishes  more  nutriment  when  pretty 
ripe,  but  not  so  much  so  as  to  shell  in  handling.  My  hay  is  made 
in  the  usual  manner,  and  all  put  under  cover. 

18.  I  have  only  twenty  acres  but  what  is  plowed  land ;  that  is  low 
black  ash  bottom,  thoroughly  drained,  and  will  be  seeded  to  red  top 
and  timothy  for  permanent  meadow.  All  other  parts  of  my  farm  are 
put  into  wheat  as  often  as  once  in  three  years,  and  seeded  down. 
No  such  case  can  be  properly  tolerated  as  to  have  a  wheat  stubble 
without  clover.  Timothy  is  worth  very  little  as  a  fertilizer,  and  is 
only  used  as  hay  and  pasturage. 

19.  I  have  not  practised  irrigation,  not  having  the  means. 

20.  I  have  reclaimed  about  fifty  acres  of  an  old  slashing  of  the 
worst  kind,  grown  up  in  bushes,  elders,  briars,  and  all  abominable 
things  !  by  thorough  stumping,  logging,  bogging,  piling  and  burning 
the  whole,  and  by  effectually  draining  by  ditches  ten  feet  broad  and 
four  to  five  feet  deep.  The  earth  taken  out  below  the  black  muck 
was  distributed  on  the  surface  and  plowed  in. 

The  first  crop,  white  turneps,  and  potatoes  after,  and  until  sub- 
dued, and  then  seeded  down  with  red  top  and  timothy.  A  part 
being  enclosed  in  a  wheat  field,  was  regularly  summer  fallowed,  and 
sown  with  timothy  alone,  on  the  10th  September,  at  the  time  of 
wheat  seeding. 

Domestic  Animals. 

I  have  now  on  the  farm  six  cows  and  five  young  cattle  ;  grade, 
Durham  and  common  ;  one  yoke  oxen,  five  spans,  and  one  single 
horse,  all  heavy  working  teams. 

Hay  near  this  city  is  too  valuable  to  allow  us  to  keep  any  more 
dairy  than  for  family  use,  and  in  the  wheat  farming  process,  a  heavy 
stock  of  cattle  require  too  much  meadow  and  pasture  land  to  accom- 
modate the  wheat  rotation.  Sheep  are  much  more  profitable,  and  in 
fact  are  indispensable  for  wheat  farms,  they  keep  down  grasses  and 
weeds,  and  prepare  and  manure  summer  fallows  better  than  cattle, 
and  are  easier  kept. 

22.  Not  being  engaged  in  cattle  raising  or  feeding,  I  am  unable  to 
say  anything  definite  from  experience. 

23.  Butter  only  for  family  use. 


Jo.  105.]  191 

24.  I  have  270  sheep  :  they  are  grade  Merinos,  and  were  all  lambs 
of  the  spring  of  1844,  and  therefore  produced  but  few  lambs  ;  they 
are  about  half  ewes.  The  clip  of  the  year  averages  2i  pounds  and 
sold  at  a  little  less  than  30  cents.  I  do  not  sell  to  butchers,  as  I 
have  need  of  them  on  the  farm,  and  the  wool  is  too  valuable.  The 
worst  wooled,  I  select  and  fatten  for  family  use.* 

25.  I  usually  fatten  from  eight  to  ten  hogs  of  the  Leicester  breed, 
for  family  use  only.  They  are  fattened  on  peas  soaked,  and  finished 
with  corn  ;  at  one  year  old,  weigh  from  250  to  300  pounds. 

26.  I  have  as  yet  made  no  trial  experiments  with  the  )oot  crops, 
for  feeding  or  fattening.  I  use  mostly  mill  feed,  as  slops  for  milch 
cows.  As  to  roots,  I  should  prefer  carrots  and  beets  for  cows ;  for 
working  oxen,  potatoes  and  ruta  bagas,  and  for  fattening,  corn  and 
barley  meal,  before  all  other  feed  in  my  estimation. 

Fruit. 

27.  I  have  120  apple  trees,  all  grafted.  Greenings,  Spitzenbergs, 
Swaars,  20  or  25  Pippins,  Russets,  Seek-no-farthers,  Early  harvest. 
Boughs,  &c. 

100  peach  trees,  of  choice  early  kinds. 

12  plums.  Gages,  Orleans,  Bolmers,  and  Blues. 

12  cherries  of  the  Heart  and  Kentish  varieties. 

29.  Apples  with  us,  have  no  natural  enemies  except  the  caterpil- 
lars, whose  nests  are  easily  destroyed,  if  attended  to  early  enough  in 
the  season,  by  twisting  out  with  a  switch,  or  firing  with  light  charges 
of  gun  powder,  or  with  swabs  wetted  with  tobacco  juice,  whale  oil 
soap  or  spirits  of  turpentine.  Peaches  are  liable  to  the  grub  at  the 
root,  which  are  easily  prevented  by  raising  a  mound  of  earth  at  the 
root  in  June,  and  removing  it  after  the  first  frost,  then  killing  those 
that  have  made  a  lodgment. 

The  curculio,  the  insect  that  stings  the  plum,  is  beyond  the  reach 
of  my  art,  and  in  some  years  commits  great  ravages. 

30.  My  practice  is  to  cultivate  the  land  with  hoed  crops  among 
young  trees  ;  the  grasses  have  a  very  bad  and  fatal  effect  in  the  course 
of  cultivation.     I  give  them  their  share  of  manure  until  they  are 

*  Since  making  the  above  statement,  I  have  changed  my  flock  of  sheep  and  it  now 
consists  of  409  nearly  full  blood  saxony.  There  are  209  ewes,  12  rams,  81  weathers, 
and  107  spring  Iambs. 


192  [Senate 

come  into  bearing,  after  which,  a  rotation  of   clover  and  grain  or 
hoed  crops. 

31.  I  have  made  no  other  experiments  which  have  yet  showed 
their  results,  to  offer  safe  conclusions,  except  such  as  have  been 
before  stated. 

Fences  and  Buildings. 

32.  Dwelling  house  of  wood,  cottage  style,  with  kitchen  and 
wood-house  attached  ;  a  cellar  under  the  whole,  with  a  water  lime 
concrete  bottom.  Two  other  new  farm  houses  with  appendages  for 
tenants^  workmeuj  &c. 

Three  barns,  two  of  them  30  by  40  feet,  usual  style  of  farm  barns. 
The  house  barn  is  123  by  32  feet.  Double  barn  floors  and  bays,  and 
carriage  and  farm  implement  departments,  with  a  wing  or  L,  32  by  30. 
Basement  under  the  whole  of  stone  wall,  laid  in  lime  mortar, 
with  a  well  and  force  pump.  The  basement  is  devoted  to  horse,  ox, 
and  cow  stables  and  for  granaries  and  binns  for  cut  straw  and  hay, 
roots  and  mill  feed. 

The  basement  of  the  wing  is  a  retreat  and  shed  for  sheep,  and  for 
a  shearing  department.  Which  together  with  a  granary,  and  well 
constructed  piggery,  constitute  my  present  farm  buildings. 

33.  My  fences  are  mostly  of  plain  capped  and  battened  board  fence, 
all  with  red  cedar  posts,  of  which  kind  I  have  now  1,200  rods  ;  the 
balance,  eight  rail  worm  fence,  with  the  corners  locked  with  rails 
which  I  prefer  to  stakes  or  riders,  as  it  takes  less  room  and  there  is 
no  rotting  of  stakes. 

I  have  670  rods  of  deep  and  broad  open  ditches  j  a  row  of  maple 
shade  trees  on  both  sides  of  the  road  leading  to  the  house.  Twenty- 
one  well  constructed  12  foot  gates,  well  ironed  and  hung  to  heavy 
posts,  and  one  pair  of  bars.  The  ditches  are  so  laid  down  as  to 
water  every  lot  on  the  farm,  with  a  never  failing  supply  of  water. 

34.  I  have  an  accurate  survey  and  map  of  my  farm,  on  which  is 
laid  down  every  ditch,  fence  and  building,  and  the  exact  contents  of 
every  field,  in  acres  and  rods.  I  keep  a  regular  and  distinct  farm 
book,  in  which  all  transactions  are  registered,  as  to  men's  time, 
wages  and  payments,  times  of  sowing  and  planting  and  gathering, 
rate  of  crops  per  acre-,  amount  of  sales  and  prices,  loss  and  gain,  &c. 
Making  it  a  complete  register  of  the  whole  farming  transactions. 

WILLIAM  BUELL. 


No.  105.]  193 


FARM  OF  WILLIAM  GARBUTT. 

Luther  Tucker,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir — In  endeavoring  to  answer  the  numerous  questions  which 
are  required  of  the  competitors  on  farms,  I  will  be  as  short  and  con- 
cise as  possible;  many  of  them  will  be  easiest  answered  under  the 
head  of  general  farm  arrangement. 

It  is  necessary  to  make  some  introductory  explanations  so  as  to 
be  distinctly  understood. 

There  are  not  names  in  common  use,  to  convey  a  correct  idea  of 
the  numerous  varieties  of  soils,  their  fertility  or  barrenness;  from  the 
sterile  clay  to  the  barren  sand,  we  have  but  four  names  to  distinguish 
them  by,  viz :  clay,  sand,  clay  loam,  sandy  loam,  and  the  same  in- 
convenience exists  to  a  certain  extent  with  all  other  varieties  of  soils. 

And  it  is  equally  so  with  what  is  termed  coarse  or  green  manure; 
the  droppings  of  animals  when  lightly  mixed  with  litter,  is  very  dif- 
ferent manure  from  dried  vegetables  lightly  mixed  with  animal  drop- 
pings or  only  saturated  with  water,  yet  they  are  all  termed  coarse 
manure  when  they  are  unfermented. 

It  is  also  difficult  to  estimate  the  skill  of  the  cultivator  or  the  pro- 
ductiveness of  his  farm  from  one  season's  productions,  so  numerous 
and  varied  are  the  causes  which  regulate  the  productions  of  the  soil 
and  the  profit  of  the  farmer,  that  one  season,  or  even  two,  are  not 
sufficient  to  make  an  accurate  estimate.  And  the  same  inconve- 
nience exists  in  ascertaining  the  exact  profit  of  any  one  particular 
crop,  for  there  are  numerous  items  of  outlay  and  expense  which  has 
to  be  paid  from  the  farm,  that  cannot  be  accurately  estimated  in  the 
expenses  of  a  single  crop,  or  even  season. 

My  farm  contains  246  acres,  46  of  it  in  wood.  The  timber  prin- 
cipally oak  and  hickory.  Allen's  creek  passes  through  it  from  S.  W. 
to  N.  E.  on  which  there  is  a  mill  dam  that  overflows  10  acres,  and 
renders  it  of  little  value,  excepting  as  pasture  in  autumn  or  very  dry 
seasons ;  and  six  acres  are  occupied  by  roads  and  yards,  and  184  of 
arable  ground  all  capable  of  wheat  culture. 

The  soil  varies  from  a  clay  loam  to  a  sandy  loam,  with  a  small  por- 
tion of  calcareous,  (under  which  there  is  a  plaster  rock)  all  of  it  ca- 
pable of  producing  wheat,  but  much  of  it  too  stiff  for  corn. 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  13 


194  [Senate 

The  subsoil  is  firm,  yet  suflEiciently  porous  to  let  the  surface  water 
pass  freely  through  it,  and  is  very  similar  to  the  soil  on  the  surface 
previous  to  its  cultivation  down  to  the  rock,  which  is  limestone  un- 
derlaying the  whole,  averaging  in  depth  from  5  to  30  feet  from  the 
surface,  owing  to  the  undulating  of  the  ground  ;  and  it  was  covered' 
with  loose  stones,  principally  lime,  sufficient  to  fence  the  farm. 

It  was  originally  oak  openings,  covered  with  young  oaks,  hickories 
and  various  shrubs  mixed  with  coarse  grass,  that  had  been  annually 
burnt  for  years  unknown,  which  consumed  all  the  vegetable  mould 
on  the  surface,  and  left  the  soil  cold  and  barren.  The  first  crops  of 
wheat  were  light,  but  the  straw  was  bright,  and  the  quality  of  the 
grain  excellent,  and  cultivated  grasses  would  scarcely  grow  at  all. 
But  by  a  liberal  use  of  plaster,  clover  and  barn-yard  manure,  the  soil 
has  completely  changed  its  appearance  and  its  productiveness. 

Of  the  184  acres,  I  calculate  to  have  one-third  or  one-fourth  of  it  an- 
nually in  wheat,  according  to  the  condition  of  the  soil  to  produce  a 
bountiful  crop,  two-fifths  of  which  is  sown  after  summer  crops,,  bar- 
ley, oats  or  peas,  but  generally  barley.  The  remaining  three-fifths 
of  it  sown  on  summer  fallow,  viz  :  45  or  55  acres  in  wheat,  10  or  15 
for  hoe  crop,  the  same  in  barley  and  oats,  40  in  pasture,  40  for  hay 
and  clover  seed,  and  30  for  fallow. 

The  summer  fallow  is  broken  up  from  1st  of  April  to  the  15th  of 
August,  as  circumstances  may  require.  A  stiff  clay,  tough  sward, 
or  weedy-ground,  ought  to  be  plowed  early,  and  thoroughly  and  fre- 
quently pulverized  through  the  summer  with  the  harrow  or  cultivator. 
But  when  the  soil  is  rich  and  clean,  and  light,  it  may  be  pastured  un- 
til the  middle  or  the  last  of  August,  once  well  plowed,  thoroughly  har-- 
rowed,  and  be  in  a  good  condition  for  wheat. 

All  the  ground  in  wheat  is  sown  with  grass  seeds  the  last  of  March 
or  first  of  April,  (on  the  snow  if  practicable,)  six  pounds  of  the  large 
clover  seed,  and  two  quarts  of  timothy  seed  per  acre.  Always  raise 
my  own  clover  seed,  and  occasionally  for  market,  but  consider  it  an 
exhausting  crop  on  the  soil. 

Ground  intended  for  hoe  crop  in  clover  sod,  manured  in  the  fall, 
with  rotten  manure  25  or  30  load  per  acre,  spread  evenly  over  the 
surface,  and  plowed  seven  inches  deep,  furrow  slices  laid  edging  on 
each  other.     In  the  spring  it  is  harrowed  and  cross  harrowed  until 


No.  105.]  195 

it  is  thoroughly  pulverized,  but  not  again  plowed  ;  do  all  the  plow- 
ing for  spring  crops  in  the  fall  if  practicable. 

The  ground  in  hoe  crop  is  plowed  in  the  fall  for  barley  next  spring, 
(and  plowed  but  once,)  the  barley  stubble  is  twice  plowed,  and  re- 
ceives a  light  dressing  of  manure,  10  loads  per  acre  put  on  before  the 
last  plowing  and  sown  with  wheat,  that  ground  then  remains  two 
years  in  pasture.  The  ground  that  was  summer  fallowed,  the  first  sea- 
son that  it  is  in  grass  it  is  pastured,  the  second  season  it  is  mown 
for  hay  or  clover  seed,  or  perhaps  plowed  for  hoe  crop. 

Plaster,  clover  and  barnyard  manure,  are  the  renovators  of  the 
soil ;  never  used  any  other  manure  to  any  extent.  Apply  from  10 
to  16  tons  of  plaster  per  annum  ;  sow  plaster  on  all  ground  intended 
for  grain  or  root  crops  before  it  is  plowed,  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred 
weight  per  acre  ;  all  waste  foliage  is  put  into  the  yards,  and  mixed 
with  the  animal  droppings,  in  winter  for  manure,  of  which  I  make 
annually  from  300  to  350  loads,  according  to  the  bountifulness  of  the 
crops  the  previous  season. 

In  March,  the  manure  heaps  that  are  made  from  the  stables  are 
covered  with  plaster,  and  a  light  covering  spread  all  over  the  yards, 
and  about  the  last  of  May  the  whole  of  the  manure  is  put  into  heaps 
in  the  yards,  (and  receive  another  covering  of  plaster,)  where  it  re- 
mains until  autumn,  to  be  applied  as  before  stated,  and  it  requires 
all  the  heat  and  moisture  that  it  can  receive  through  the  summer  to 
decompose  the  straw  and  other  dried  vegetables,  (which  always  are 
abundant  in  the  yards,)  to  prepare  them  as  food  for  plants, 

I  have  tried  many  experiments  .relative  to  manures  and  their  appli- 
cation, and  am  satisfied  that  the  above  method  is  the  most  profitable 
for  my  soil  and  culture.  Last  spring  I  applied  plaster,  lime,  ashes, 
salt,  and  all  four  of  them  mixed  together,  barn-yard  manure  and  hen 
dung,  each  on  one  rod  of  wheat,  and  the  same  on  the  corn,  each  on 
four  rows  through  the  field,  but  the  severity  of  the  drouth  prevented 
any  satisfactory  result. 

Always  prefer  deep  plowing  in  the  fall,  and  breaking  up  of  fallows 
about  seven  inches,  after  plowing  from  four  to  five.  I  never  have 
used  a  subsoil  plow,  nor  could  I  conveniently,  owing  to  the  numer- 
ous stones  in  the  ground ;  but  the  openness  of  the  subsoil  renders  it 
not  very  necessary.  Never  have  irrigated  any,  and  could  not  for 
■want  of  elevation  of  water. 


196  [Senate 

My  potatoes  never  have  been  affected  by  the  rot,  the  general  yield 
has  been  300  bushels  per  acre  ;  the  two  seasons  past  the  crop  was 
light,  owing  to  the  dry  weather.  The  large  variety  of  red  clover  and 
timothy  are  the  only  grasses  that  I  cultivate. 

The  average  stock  on  the  farm  for  several  years  past,  has  been 
eight  horses,  fifteen  head  of  neat  cattle,  from  thirty  to  forty  hogs,  and 
from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred  sheep. 

At  present,  have  a  yoke  of  oxen,  six  cows,  and  twelve  head  of 
young  cattle,  principally  Devon  ;  have  not  tested  their  relative 
value  by  weight  or  measure,  but  am  satisfied  that  they  yield  more 
profit  for  the  food  they  consume  than  any  other  breed  of  cattle  in 
this  section  ;  only  make  butter  and  cheese  sufficient  for  our  own  use  ; 
raise  four  or  six  calves  annually. 

Have  nine  horses,  five  of  them  Cleveland  bays,  which  I  consider 
the  most  valuable  for  farming  purposes,  also  two  blood  mares  ;  they 
are  excellent  breeders,  but  are  rather  fine  in  the  bone  for  hard  ser- 
vice; the  other  two  horses  are  of  common  breed. 

At  present  250  sheep,  two-thirds  of  them  pure  Merinoes,  the  others 
a  cross  with  the  New  Leicester  and  Merinoes  ;  the  fine  wool  generally 
averages  3|  pounds  per  fleece,  and  the  cross  bloods  4h  pounds  per 
fleece ;  generally  have  80  brood  ewes,  that  raise  the  same  number  of 
lambs,  which  are  generally  reared  ;  lambs  when  sold  to  the  butchers, 
bring  from  eight  to  ten  shillings  per  head,  and  fat  weathers  and  dry 
ewes,  bring  from  twenty  to  thirty  shillings  per  head. 

This  season  have  35  hogs,  which  are  here  known  as  the  Leicester  and 
Byfield  cross  ;  they  are  pure  white,  fine  boned  and  easily  fattened  ; 
frequently  kill  them  at  twelve  months  old,  which'  weigh  when  dressed, 
from  200  to  250  pounds,  at  eighteen  months  old  they  average 
from  300  to  350  pounds  ;  generally  feed  my  hogs  with  potatoes  and 
mill  feed,  and  finish  with,  corn,  cook  by  boiling  all  the  food  for  fatting 
hogs ;  have  not  made  any  pork  for  market  the  past  three  years  ; 
formerly  fatted  from  thirty  to  forty  per  annum  ;  at  present  sell  the 
surplus  swine  on  foot  lean. 

Never  have  tested  the  relative  value  of  roots  and  grain  for  feeding 
by  actual  weight,  but  am  convinced  that  cooked  potatoes  are  the 
cheapest  food  for  feeding  swine,  and  that  Swedish  turneps,  sugar 
beets  or  mangel-wurtzels,  are  the  most  valuable  for  neat  stock,  and 
especially  to  grain  growers  who  have  abundance  of  straw  ;  carrots  are 
the  most  profitable  as  extra  feed  for  horses  in  winter ;  the  large  sugar 


No.  105.]  197 

beet  and  mangel-wurtzel  are  the  most  valuable  succulent  food  for 
milch  cows  in  winter.  I  generally  raise  from  three  to  five  acres  of 
roots  per  annum,  (not  including  potatoes.) 

Have  stables  or  good  hovels  for  all  my  animals  in  winter  ;  corn- 
stalks, straw  and  roots,  are  the  winter  forage  for  cattle ;  sheep  are 
fed  on  stalks,  straw,  chaff  and  shorts  ;  feed  little  hay  excepting  to 
the  working  horses  and  young  animals  ;  always  feed  well  with  the 
food  I  have  to  give,  believing  that  the  better  animals  are  fed,  and 
the  more  comfortable  they  are  kept,  the  greater  the  profit ;  do  my 
thrashing  in  winter,  and  save  all  the  straw  and  chaff  for  feeding. 

Have  150  grafted  apple  trees,  consisting  of  various  kinds  of  sum- 
mer, fall  and  winter  fruit ;  a  variety  of  peaches  and  plums,  a  few 
cherries  and  pears,  but  they  are  rather  poor  ones,  three  varieties  of 
bearing  grapes,  and  twenty  bearing  chesnut  trees  raised  from  the 
seed;  have  spent  much  time  in  transplanting  chesnuts,  but  never  have 
got  one  to  live. 

The  grubs  affected  the  roots  of  my  peach  trees.  I  applied  half  a 
bushel  of  leached  ashes  to  each  tree,  which  renovated  them  with  re- 
newed vigor. 

The  fences  are  principally  stone  wall  with  posts  and  boards,  or 
stakes  and  riders  on  the  top  of  it ;  there  is  on  the  farm  1100  rods  of 
stone  wall,  260  rods  of  post  and  board  fence,  the  residue  is  the  re- 
mainder of  the  old  rail  fence  which  yet  answers  the  purpose. 

Buildings. — The  dwelling  house  is  two  stories,  with  kitchen  and 
wood-house,  all  built  with  stone  ;  out  buildings  are  numerous,  com- 
modious and  convenient,  grain  barn  stands  east  and  west  on  a  gentle 
rise  of  the  ground,  and  is  36  by  120  feet,  two  stories  high,  with  two 
floors  to  drive  into  ;  the  under  part  is  seven  feet  high,  built  with 
stone,  the  upper  built  with  wood  posts  sixteen  feet  long. 

In  the  under  part  there  is  a  horse  power  for  thrashing,  two  stables, 
for  20  head  of  cattle,  and  one  for  six  horses ;  a  room  to  clean  grain, 
and  a  granary,  and  two  of  the  bays  go  to  the  bottom ;  also  have  a  lean- 
to,  10  by  48  feet,  under  part  of  it  for  holding  chaff,  and  upper  for  straw; 
and  a  cellar  that  holds  1,000  bushels  of  roots. 

There  are  two  yards,  one  on  the  south  side  of  the  barn,  for  cattle 
and  horses — the  other  on  the  north  side,  for  sheep.  On  the  west  side 
of  the  yards,  a  shed  the  whole  extent,  295  feet  long,  and  18  wide,  two 
stories  high,  under  part  of  stones,  for  shelter,  and  other  conveniences 


198  [Senate 

the  upper  part  of  wood,  for  forage.  The  sheep  yard  is  also  sheltered 
at  the  north,  by  a  temporary  hovel,  70  feet  long,  and  affords  ample 
shelter  for  two  flocks  of  sheep. 

In  the  east  part  of  the  south  yard,  there  is  a  horse  barn  34  feet  square ^ 
two  stories  high,  under  part  built  with  stone,  which  makes  stabling  for 
4  horses;  a  wagon  house,  and  small  granary,  the  upper  part  of  wood, 
for  hay ;  also  a  sheep  barn,  which  stands  in  a  grove,  30  by  40  feet 
under  part  built  with  stone  sufficiently  high  for  sheep  to  go  under ;  the 
upper  part  of  wood,  for  fodder.  A  corn  barn,  with  hogpen,  and  a 
cellar  for  roots,  underneath  ;  a  swill  house  with  boilers,  for  cooking 
food  for  the  swine  ;  at  each  of  the  buildings,  there  is  a  cement  cistern, 
which  affords  a  bountiful  supply  of  water,  in  ordinary  seasons.  Also 
have  three  cottage  houses,  with  each  one  small  barn,  for  the  accommo. 
dation  of  my  laborers  who  have  families. 
Have  an  accurate  map  of  the  farm,  with  the  fields  numbered,  and 
equantity  of  ground  in  each  field  marked  on  the  map  ;  keep  a  jour- 
nal, and  enter  on  it  the  crop  that  is  raised  in  each  field,  each  season ^ 
how  it  is  cultivated,  and  its  yield,  and  the  time  of  performing  the  various 
operations  on  the  farm,  and  an  exact  debt  and  credit  account — all  the 
expenses  relative  to  the  farm  are  entered,  and  every  thing  sold — the 
time  of  selling,  and  the  price,  is  put  down. 

The  amount  of  the  present  season's  products  cannot  be  known  until 
next  spring,  I  will  therefore  give  the  proceeds  of  the  farm  in  1844, 
which  was  57  acres  of  wheat,  that  yielded  1,384  bushels — 18  acres  of 
it  was  after  oats  and  barley,  sown  September  5th,  in  good  condition, 
but  was  so  much  destroyed  by  the  Hessian  fly  that  it  only  yielded  9 
bushels  per  acre ;  30  acres,  on  summer  fallow,  gave  35  bushels  per 
acre,  and  9  acres  of  it  was  sown  after  late  oats,  (which  were  fed  off  on 
the  ground,)  the  straw  was  very  heavy,  but  wheat  shrunk — only  gave 
19  bushels  per  acre. 

Had  nine  acres  of  barley,  which  yielded  420  bushels — 46 i  bushels  per 
acre  ;  five  acres  of  corn,  which  produced  390  bushels — 78  bushels  per 
acre ;  two  acres  of  potatoes,  which  produced  400  bushels — ^200  bushels 
per  acre ;  three  acres  of  roots,  not  measured,  and  eight  of  oats,  not 
measured  ;  6  acres  of  clover  seed,  which  yielded  24  bushels,  all  saved 
for  my  own  use,  and  afarm  at  Sheldon,  for  two  years.  The  amount  which 
was  sold  from  the  products  of  said  season,  was  |2,244.01 ;  (see  schedule 


"No.  105.]  199 

A,)  no  estimate  being  made  of  what  was  used  in  the  family,  which 
averages  18  persons,  old  and  young,  the  whole  year. 

The  labor  performed  in  that  season,  was  done  by  three  good  teams  and 
a  span  of  brood  mares,  for  odds  and  ends ;  four  men  by  the  year — one 
after  the  first  of  July,  three  each  one  month  in  harvest  and  one  by  the  day 
through  grain  cutting.  The  expenses  of  said  year  was  $1,069.98 — 
(see  B) . 

Seed  sown  four  pecks  of  wheat,  six  or  seven  of  barley  and  oats,  per 
acre  ;  clean  out  of  the  seed  all  foul  stuff,  and  the  small  and  defective 
kernels,  (but  never  have  used  any  other  preparation) .  Corn  is  tarred, 
and  rolled  in  plaster,  put  from  five  to  six  kernels  per  hill,  plant  thee  feet 
apart,  each  way,  and  thinned  to  four  kernels  per  hill. 

Potatoes,  always  cut— large  ones  into  three,  next  into  two  pieces — 
small  ones  not  planted — put  two  pieces  in  each  hill,  plant  three  feet 
apart,  each  way. 

Mangel  wurtzels  and  sugar  beets,  4  lbs.  of  seed  per  acre,  soaked  in 
warm  water  until  it  begins  to  sprout ;  mix  it  with  plaster ;  sow  in 
drills,  two  and  a  half  feet  apart,  and  thin  the  plants  to  eight  or  twelve 
inches  apart  in  the  drills. 

Rutabagas,  2  lbs.  per  acre,  soaked  in  tanner's  oil,  plastered,  and 
planted  the  same  as  beets,  and  thinned  to  six  or  eight  inches. 

Long  white  carrots — 2  lbs.  per  acre,  soaked,  and  kept  warm  until  it 
germinates — plastered,  planted  and  thinned  the  same  as  the  ruta  bagas. 

PLANTING,  SOWING,    AND  SHEARING  SHEEP. 

The  time  of  commencing  the  various  operations  on  the  farm^  from 

1840  to  1845,  inclusive  : 

1840.  April  1st,  sowed  clover  seed  ;  10th,  oats  ;  17th,  barley ;  25th, 

plaster. 

potatoes. 
May  12th,  sowed  mangel  wurtzei ;  19th,  planted  corn;  20th, 
June  1st,  sheared  sheep. 
Sept.  10th,  sowed  wheat. 

1841.  April  3d,  sowed  clover ;  23d,  barley;  26th,  oats. 

May  14th,  sowed  plaster  ;  18th,  mangel  wurtzei ;  23d,  planted 

corn ;  26th,  potatoes. 
June  11th,  sheared  sheep. 
Sept.  17th,  sowed  wheat. 

1842.  March,    sowed  clover;    April   1st,  oats;    14th,  barley;   23d, 

plaster. 


200  [Senate 

May  3d,  planted  roots;  6th,  com;  10th,  potatoes. 
June  15th,  sheared  sheep. 
Sept.  14th,  sowed  wheat. 

1843.  April  12th,  sowed  clover ;  20th,  oats ;  25th,  barley. 
May  13th,  sowed  plaster ;  18th,  corn ;  20th,  potatoes. 
June  I9th,  sheared  sheep. 

Sept.  5th,  wheat;  (too  early,  much  hurt  by  the  fly.) 

1844.  April  1st,  sowed  barley ;  18th,  oats;  19th,  plaster. 

May  3d,  planted  mangel  wurtzel ;  10th,  corn ;  13th,  potatoes. 

June  12th,  sheared  sheep. 

Sept.  11th,  sowed  wheat;    (19th,  finished  sowing  wheat.) 

1845.  March  28th,  sowed  barley. 
April  6th,  sowed  plaster. 

May  3d,  planted  mangel  wurtzel ;  6th,  corn;  10th,  potatoes. 
June  3d,  sheared  sheep. 

Sept.  5th,  sowed  wheat — ^too  early,  but  feared  heavy  fall  rains — 
the  Hessian  fly  is  now  injuring  it  much,  Nov.  10th= 

Harvesting. 

1840.  July  18th,  begun  to  cut  wheat,  rather  shrunk,  but  heavy ;  28th, 

barley. 
Sept.   17th,  cut  up  corn,  very  good ;  24th,  gathered  apples ; 

28th,  clover  seed,  very  poor. 
October  Ist,  dug  potatoes — ^300  bushels  per  acre;  13th,  husked 

corn ;  19th,  gathered  roots,  very  good. 

1841.  July  20th,  cut  wheat,  light;  29th,  barley,  very  poor,  too  dry. 
August  4th,  cut  oats,  good  for  the  season ;  29th,  clover  seed, 

very  light. 
Sept.  6th,  cut  corn,  poor,  too  dry  ;  25th,  husked  corn, 
October  26th,  dug  potatoes. 
November  2d,  gathered  roots. 
Sept.  22d,  gathered  apples. 

1842.  July  25th,  cut  wheat,  very  light,  much  rusted. 
August  2d,  cut  barley,  good  ;  16thj  oats,  heavy. 

Sept.  20th,  cut  corn — good,  but  rather  green,  feared  frost. 
October  6th,  cut  clover  seed — poor;  1st,  gathered  apples ;  10th, 
dug  potatoes,  200  bushels  per  acre  ;  19th,  husked  corn . 
November  2d,  gathered  carrots  and  mangel  wurtzels. 


No.  105.]  201 

1843.  July  26th,  cut  wheat,  rather  light. 
Aug.  2d,  cut  barley  ;  9th,  oats. 

Sept.  20th,  cut  corn ;  28th,  gathered  apples. 

Oct.  4th,  dug  potatoes;  7th,  husked  corn;  28th,  dug  roots. 

1844.  July  12th,  barley,  very  good;    15th,  wheat,  in  No.  3,  very 

poor;  No.  10  light,  too  much  straw ;  No.  12,  very  good; 

25th,  cut  oats. 
Aug.  28th,  cut  clover  seed,  good. 
Sept.  14th,  cut  corn,  very  heavy ;  22d,  gathered  apples ;  25th, 

dug  potatoes ;  30th,  husked  corn. 
Oct.  22d,  gathered  roots,  very  good. 

1845.  July  14th,  cut  barley — good  for  the  season;  15th,  wheat — No. 

5  and  11th,  good  ;  9th,  poor,  much  rusted. 

Aug.  20,  cut  corn,  very  poor,  much  too  dry. 

Sept.  18th,  husked  corn. 

Oct.  9th,  dug  potatoes — very  poor;  15th,  gathered  apples; 
28th,  gathered  roots,  midling  good,  fall  rains  improved 
them  much;  29th,  took  out  dung  for  hoe  crop. 
^  Nov.  7th,  commenced  fall  plowing  for  spring  crops ;  getting  out 
of  the  dung,  and  fall  plowing,  have  been  omitted — they 
always  are  the  last  of  the  seasons'  work. 

Average  crops  of  wheat  per  acre,  in  each  year,  from  1829  to  1844, 

inclusive. 

In  1829, 24  J  bushels  per  acre, 

1830, 281  do  do 

1831, 27J  do  do 

1832, 29   do  do 

1833, 38|  do  do 

1834, 30   do  do 

1835, 331  do  do 

1836, 22^  do  do 

1837, 271  do  do 

1838, 31i  do  do 

1839, 32   do  do 

1840, 29h     do  do 

1842, 19^  do  do 

1843, 20J  do  do 

1844, 24i  do  do 


202  [Senate 

Two-fifths  of  the  ground  sown,  was  after  summer  crops,  and  the 
general  average  has  been  23  bushels  per  acre  ;  three-fifths  of  it  on 
summer  fallow,  which  averaged  28  bushels  per  acre — making  a  general 
average  for  16  years  of  26  bushels  per  acre. 

Average  crops  of  barley  from  1843  to  1844,  inclusive. 

In  1831, 40  bushels  per  acre. 

1832, 40       do        do 

1833, 37       do        do 

1834, 45       do         do 

In  1835,  the  two-rowed  was  63  bushels  per  acre,  and  the  six-rowed 
was  40  bushels — making  an  average  in  1835,  of  51  bushels;  1836, 
40 ;  1837,  50  ;  1838,  only  22 ;  1839,  none  sown ;  1840,  26 ;  1841, 
only  21  ;  1842,  36 ;  1843,  40 ;  1844,  46i— making  an  average  of 
34  bushels  per  acre,  for  13  years. 


(SCHEDULE  A.) 

Amount  sold  from  the  crop  and  stock  of  1844. 
1844. 

June  15.  44^  pounds  of  fine  wool,  at  40  cents, $179  20 

108|       do        coarse  do        30  cents, 41  55 

11           do                do           35  cents, 4  07 

138         do       made  into  cloth,  at  30  cents, ....  41  40 

20.  4  head  of  young  cattle,  rather  poor, 60  00 

Sept.27.  12  fat  sheep,  at  $2  50, 30  00 

Nov.  19.  16  spring  pigs  at  21  cents  per  pound,  average 

15  h  pounds, 62  67 

341  bushels  of  wheat  at  7^ 30  18 

Dec.  19.  Sheep  skins^  4  at  3^.  15  at  4?., 9  00 

1845. 

Jan.  28.  388  bushels  of  barley  at  4s., 194  00 

Mutton  and  beef  sold  to  laborers  at  3  and  4  cents,  47  00 

March8.  354  bushels  of  corn  at  4^., 177  00 

Carried  forward, . , ... , . .  . . . . . » $876  07 


No.  105.]  203 

Brought  forward $876  07 

Mar.  20.  947i§  bushelsof  wheat  at  7^.  6d., 887  99 

April  1.  190           do             do             do 178  12 

36            do             do  to  hands,  at  7^.6^., 33  75 

7.  20  fat  sheep  at  24^., 60  00 

A  yoke  of  oxen,  fatted, 31  00 

Two  2  years  old  steers, 40  00 

A  Devon  heifer,  very  fat, 30  33  ^ 

200  pounds  of  tallow  at  7  cents, 14  00 

2  hides  and  2  calf  skins, 5  75 

Rent  of  houses,  gardens  and  cow  pasture,  for  3 

men, 90  00 

Total  amountsold, $2,244  01 

Expense  of  raising, 1,069  98 

The  amount  of  profit, $1,74  02 

Independent  of  the  farm-living  of  the  family. 

The  wool  was  principally  raised  from  the  crop   of  the  previous 
season,  but  always  commence  the  year's  credit  the  first  of  May. 

(SCHEDULE  B.) 

Expense  of  labor,  stock  and  tools,  for  1844. 

1844. 

Aug.         A  man  7^  days  cradling,  at  10s.  per  day, $9  37 

3  men,  each  one  month  in  hay  and  harvest,  at 

$17  per  month, 51  00 

20.  2,000  bushels  of  shorts,  at  5  cents, 100  00 

1,000  bushels  of  bran,  at  4  cents, 40  00 

2,400  pounds  of  midlings,  at  5  shillings  per  100 

pounds, 15  00 

Dec.  12.  A  young  man  4i  months,  at $10  per  month,. ...  45  00 

1845. 

Jan.    20.  Town,  county,  and  State  tax, 46  11 

Carried  forward, $306  48 


204  [Senate 

Brought  forward, $306  48 

3  men  11|^  months,  each  at  $12  per  month,  (each 

h  month  lost  time,) 414  00 

One  man  in  the  house  at  $10  per  month, 120  00 

Hired  girl  at  9s.  per  week, 58  50 

Blacksmith's  bill  past  year, «...  51  00 

Plows,  harrows  and  furnace  bill,  past  year, 20  00 

Cost  of  sleighs,  carts,  wagons  and  harness,  past 

year, 50  00 

Hoes,  shovels,  forks,  rakes,  scythes,  cradles,  &c. 

&c.,  per  year, 10  00 

16  tons  of  plaster  at  20^.  per  ton, 40  00 

Total  amount  of  expenses  for  1844, $1,069  98 


WILLIAM  GARBUTT. 

Wheatland,  JVov.  11,  1845. 


EXTRACT  FROM  MONROE  COUNTY  REPORT. 
PREMIUM    ON    FARMS. 

The  committee  on  farms  have  to  regret  that  so  little  attention  is 
paid  to  the  calls  and  designs  of  the  society,  and  so  little  pride  exhib- 
ited in  making  application  to  the  committee  to  examine  their  premi- 
ses and  review  their  manner  of  farming,  and  the  process  by  which 
they  regulate  their  agricultural  operations.  The  committee  have  in 
various  instances  volunteered  to  call  upon  persons  of  established 
reputations  as  farmers,  much  to  the  edification  and  satisfaction  of  its 
members  ;  and  the  good  feeling,  friendship  and  hospitality  exhibited, 
rendered  it  a  very  pleasing  ad  desirable  duty. 

The  objects  for  the  bounty  of  the  society  as  defined  in  their  in- 
structions are,  that  premiums  are  to  be  granted  to  those  farms  only, 
which  by  a  general  system  of  management  and  real  profitable  improve- 
ments, with  a  sole  view  to  a  producing  investment  for  farm  purposes, 
and  not  to  those  farms  which  by  nature  required  not  the  improving 
hand  of  industry  and  perseverance,  nor  to  those  who  by  expensive 
outlay  in  buildings  and  fancy  improvements,  have  rendered  their 
premises  a  gentleman's  villa  or  citizen's  summer  residence.  On 
these  grounds  the  committee  have  made  their  awards. 

To  Martin  Smith,  of  Wheatland,  the  individual  who  with  only  20 
acres  of  land,  has  sustained  and  brought  up  a  family  of  thirteen  chil- 
dren— had  money  on  hand  to  assist  his  poor  neighbor  who  had  200 
acres  of  land — and  who  by  his  indomitable  industry,  good  manage- 
ment and  perseverance,  has  been  enabled  to  hold  on  to  his  grain 
crop  three  years,  waiting  for  a  market — a  diploma  framed  and  glazed. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  PRIZE  ESSAYS. 


The  Committee  on  Prize  Essays  offer  the  following  report:  They 
have  received  seven  essays,  and  one  manuscript  copy  of  a  work  on  ag- 
riculture for  schools,  all  of  which  they  carefully  examined,  and  to  some 
of  which  they  have  awarded  the  prizes  of  the  society.  The  following 
are  the  titles  of  the  essays  here  referred  to,  viz : 

Three  essays  on  the  application  of  science  to  agriculture. 

One  on  the  silk  culture ;  * 

Two  on  the  potatoe  disease,  and 

One  on  irrigation. 

The  committee  farther  report  that  they  have  awarded  the  one  hun- 
dred dollar  prize  to  the  essay  entitled  science  and  agriculture,  by 
J.  J.  Thomas,  of  Macedon,   Wayne  county. 

As  this  essay  will  be  published  in  the  society's  transactions,  we  for- 
bear commenting  on  its  peculiar  excellencies,  and  Ave  scarcely  deem  it 
necessary  to  state  the  reasons  which  induced  your  committee  to  make 
the  award. 

The  committee  have  awarded  the  prize  of  fifteen  dollars  for  an  essay 
on  the  potatoe  disease.  That  the  society  may  understand  the  grounds 
upon  which  this  premium  has  been  recommended,  the  committee  beg 
leave  to  say  that  they  do  not  mean  to  convey  the  impression  that  the 
author  of  it  has  discovered  the  cause  of  the  disease,  or  a  certain  remedy 
for  it — but  in  their  opinion  the  views  of  the  author  are  rational  and 
practical,  and  accord  better  with  vegetable  physiology  than  those  which 
have  been  heretofore  offered  to  the  public.  In  concluding  our  remarks 
upon  the  essay  we  deem  it  proper  to  urge  our  farmers  to  adopt  the  au- 
thor's plan  for  managing  the  potatoe  ;  for  though  it  may  not  prove  en- 
tirely effectual  in  saving  the  entire  crop  ;  yet  we  believe  it  will  greatly 
diminish  the  amount  of  loss  which  farmers  have  suffered  during  the 

•  See  reports  of  the  committees  on  root  crops  and  silk. 


206  _  [Senate 

last  three  years.     It  will  at  least  test  the  value  of  the  principles  which 
the  author  proposes  for  the  treatment  of  the  disease. 

Again,  the  committee  have  awarded  two  premiums  of  ten  dollars 
each. 

One  for  an  essay  on  irrigation,  and 

One  for  an  essay  on  the  silk  culture. 

One  general  remark  applies  equally  well  to  both  of  these  essays  ;  viz. 
they  embrace  in  small  compass  the  principal  facts  which  the  farmer 
should  know  upon  these  subjects  respectively.  We  do  not  viish  to  con- 
vey the  impression  that  they  contain  new  discoveries,  or  much  matter 
that  is  new,  but  the  authors  have  posted  up  the  facts  relating  to  these 
subjects,  and  have  given  them  a  tangible  form,  and  hence  we  were 
induced  to  make  the  awards  as  stated  above. 

EBENEZER  EMMONS, 
ANTHONY  VAN  BERGEN^ 
AMOS  DEAN, 

Albany,  January,  1846, 


SCIENCE  AND  AGRICULTURE. 


PRIZE  ESSAY — BY  J.  J.  THOMAS. 


The  past  fifty  years  have  been  remarkably  distinguished  by  nume- 
rous and  extraordinary  improvements  in  the  useful  arts.  A  great 
portion  of  these  have  resulted  from  the  direct  application  of  scientific 
principles.  The  wonderful  advancement  in  nearly  all  branches  of 
manufacture,  which  so  eminently  distinguishes  the  present  century 
from  the  past,*  is  largely  indebted  to  science.  It  was  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  chemistry  and  mechanical  philosophy,  that  enabled 
James  Watt  to  place  the  steam  engine  at  once  before  the  public  as 
a  powerful  and  efficient  machine — a  machine  which  has  within  the 
memory  of  middle-aged  men,  almost  changed  the  face  of  civilized 
countries  ;  and  has  spread  towns,  villages,  and  cultivated  fields,  in 
regions  where,  but  for  this  invention,  nothing  would  be  seen  but  un- 
broken forests. 

Very  great  advantages  have  resulted  from  the  precision  with  which 
the  principles  of  mathematics  and  mechanical  philosophy,  may  be  ap- 
plied in  arriving  at  practical  results.  The  accurate  knowledge  of 
pressure  and  force,  in  constructing  machinery,  and  in  civil  engineer- 
ing, which  calculation  enables  us  to  obtain,  before  trial,  is  of  the 
greatest  importance.  The  mathematician,  who  knows  the  force  of 
gravity,  may  sit  in  his  closet  and  tell  us,  without  error,  the  velocity 
of  a  falling  body,  and  the  precise  increase  in  its  rate  of  descent;  or 
he  may  determine,  by  calculation,  from  a  knowledge  of  this  velocity, 

•  A  single  instance  of  this  advancement  is  mentioned  by  J.  F.  Herchel,  in  the  fact 
that  a  man  can  now  produce  about  two  hundred  times  as  much  cotton  goods,  in  a 
given  time,  from  the  raw  material,  as  he  could  seventy  or  eighty  years  ago. 


208  [Senate 

the  exact  length  of  a  pendulum  to  beat  seconds.  The  engineer  may 
ascertain,  before  he  erects  his  work,  the  best  form  of  an  arch,  to 
afford  the  greatest  strength  against  the  pressure  of  a  superincumbent 
weight ;  or  he  may  calculate,  accurately,  the  angle  at  which  the  lock- 
gates  of  a  canal  should  meet,  to  give  the  greatest  security  against 
the  pressure  of  the  head  of  water  upon  them,  before  a  single  trial 
has  ever  been  made. 

Interesting  and  important  practical  results  are  also  obtained,  in  the 
manufacture  of  various  articles  of  commerce,  by  the  application  of 
the  principles  of  chemistry.  Geology  has  rendered  great  aid  in  the 
art  of  mining,  in  all  its  departments.  Not  only  in  explorations  for 
the  more  valuable  metals,  but  for  the  coarser,  but  not  less  important 
articles,  salt  and  coal,  tens  of  thousands  might  often  have  been  saved, 
by  a  knowledge  of  the  relations  and  character  of  the  rocky  strata  at 
the  surface  of  the  earth.* 

The  precision  with  which  the  principles  of  natural  philosophy, 
have  been  variously  applied  in  machinery  and  engineering, — and 
chemistry  and  geology  in  manufactures  and  mining, — has  led  to  the 
apparently  plausible  conclusion,  that  not  less  important  results  might 
be  at  once  obtained  by  the  application  of  science  to  agriculture. 
From  the  rapid  advancement  of  science  within  the  present  age,  the 
opinion  seems  to  be  gaining  ground,  that  some  great  and  extraordi- 
nary results  are  about  to  take  place  ;  that  the  slow  progress  in  agri- 
culture which  practice  and  experience  have  effected,  will  soon  com- 
mence taking  more  rapid  and  powerful  strides  j  that  we  are  about  to 
remove  the  veil  of  obscurity  and  uncertainty,  which  hangs  over  so 
many  operations  in  culture,  understand  every  process,  and  so  com- 
pletely control  the  growth  of  plants,  as  almost  to  set  man  free  from 
the  labor  of  tilling  the  earth  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow  ;  or  in  other 
words,  that  the  agricultural  millenium  is  near  at  hand.     But  a  more 


*  Some  years  ago,  twenty  thousands  pounds  were  expended  in  England,  in  a  useless 
search  for  coal  in  Hastings  sand.  Although  there  were  some  apparent  indications,  a 
geologist  could  at  once  have  predicted  failure.  "  All  are  familiar,"  says  James  Hall, 
"  with  the  mining  enterprises,  now  less  frequent,  in  search  of  coal  along  the  valley  of 
the  Hudson:  in  which  there  have  been  expended  more  than  half  a  million  of  dollars 
within  the  last  fifty  years."  And  Murchison,  in  his  treatises  on  the  geology  of  Wales, 
remarks,  that  more  wealth  has  been  expended  in  the  useless  search  for  coal  in  that 
part  of  the  country,  than  all  the  geological  investigations  ot  the  whole  world  have 
cost. 


No.  105.]  209 

thorough  examination,  will  clearly  show  that  we  have  no  reasons  for 
drawing  such  a  conclusion  ;  that  the  other  sciences,  have  as  yet, 
accomplished  directly,  but  little  for  agriculture  ;  and  that  years  of 
slow  and  patient  experiment  must  yet  determine  many  points,  which 
are  already  by  many  persons  taken  for  granted.  The  same  precision 
with  which  conclusions  have  been  arrived  at  in  other  arts,  is  entirely 
out  of  the  question  here.  A  great  deal  of  uncertainty  must,  for  a 
long  time  yet  to  come,  attend  the  application  of  other  sciencies  to 
the  art  of  cultivation.  The  investigation  of  questions  strictly  chemi- 
cal, is  far  easier  than  to  determine  the  intricate  and  combined  rela- 
tions existing  between  chemistry  and  vegetable  physiology.  In  the 
first  place,  the  analysis  of  soils  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  of  all 
kinds  of  earthy  analysis.  In  the  next,  vegetable  chemistry  is  in- 
volved in  a  great  deal  more  uncertainty  than  other  departments  of  the 
science.  Thirdly,  the  changes  which  are  constantly  taking  place  in 
(  growth  of  plants,  variously  influenced  as  they  are  by  the  atmos- 
phere, by  drought  or  moisture,  by  the  nature  of  the  soil  and  the 
many  different  materials  of  which  it  consists,  some  fitted  for  assimi- 
lation, and  others  not, — are  from  these  causes,  and  the  time  required 
to  effect  them,  and  the  minute  quantities  of  matter  controlling  them, 
often  entirely  beyond  the  closest  observations,  and  can  be  determined 
but  very  imperfectly  by  an  examination  of  the  final  results. 

Now,  the  object  of  these  remarks,  is  not  to  denounce  nor  dis- 
courage the  application  of  science  to  agriculture  ;  but,  directly  the 
reverse,  to  prevent  a  total  rejection  from  the  disappointment  and 
disgust,  which  must  follow  the  practice  of  holding  up  false  hopes. 
If  an  enterprise  is  attended  with  peculiar  difficulties,  that  enterprise 
is  not  forwarded  by  representing  it  as  easy  of  accomplishment,  by 
concealing  its  difficulties,  and  overstating  its  advantages.  Those 
who  are  falsely  allured  at  the  outset,  will,  from  the  disappointment 
resulting,  be  led  to  refuse  even  the  benefits  which  might  be  secured. 
Hence,  one  of  the  greatest  injuries  to  science,  is  to  invest  it  with 
false  colors.  On  the  other  hand,  the  highest  benefit  is  to  strip  it  of 
its  artificial  dress,  and  exhibit  its  true  character,  that  proper  caution 
may  be  used,  and  success  instead  of  chagrin  be  the  consequence. 

A  brief  glance  at  the  different  ways  in  which  science  is  expected 
to  benefit  agriculture,  may  serve  to  show  in  what  direction  the  great- 
sest  assistance  will  be  afforded. 

[Senate^  No.  105.]  14 


210  .  [Senate 

In  the  first  place,  a  more  certain  result  is  to  be  looked  for  in  no 
quarter,  than  in  the  application  of  the  principles  of  mechanical  phi- 
losophy to  the  construction  of  farm  implements  and  machines.  A 
great  and  decided  benefit  has  already  followed  from  this  cause  ;  and 
no  doubt  machines  might  be  much  improved,  simplified,  and  render- 
ed lighter,  and  at  the  same  time  stronger,  by  a  strict  observance  of 
the  nature  of  forces,  of  the  mechanical  powers  and  elements  of 
machinery,  to  determine  precisely  where  strength  is  indispensible,, 
and  where  also  it  is  not  needed  ;  and  in  changing  and  adapting  the 
moving  power  in  the  best  possible  manner  to  effect  the  intended  pur- 
pose. It  is  highly  essential,  that  every  thing  of  the  kind  in  constant 
employ,  and  requiring  for  its  use,  perhaps  thousand  of  repeated  mo- 
tions of  the  hand  in  a  single  day,  should  not  be  encumbered  with  a 
needless  pound  in  w^eight.  The  laborer  who  uses  the  hand-hoe^ 
usually  makes  with  it  no  less  than  two  thousand  strokes  in  an  hour^ 
or  twenty  thousand  in  a  day  of  ten  hours.  If  in  any  part,  where 
strength  is  not  needed,  it  is  made  unnecessarily  heavy,  even  to  the 
amount  of  half  a  pound,  then  the  aggregate  force  uselessly  expend- 
ed, w^ould  amount  to  no  less  than  ten  thousand  pounds,  or  five  tons,, 
in  a  single  day.  In  larger  machines,  worked  by  horses,  including 
wagons  and  carts,  as  well  as  thrashing  machines,,  and  even  plows  and 
harrows,  there  is  no  doubt  in  nearly  all  cases  a  waste  of  power.  A 
strict  regard  to  mechanical  principles,  and  their  mathematical  appli- 
cation, throughout  the  numerous  implements,  tools,  and  machines,, 
constantly  in  use  by  every  farmer,  would  be  of  the  highest  benefit. 
An  entire  volume  might  be  written  on  this  subject  alone.  It  is  true 
that  the  manufacturer  of  these,  is  the  person  directly  concerned  y  but 
farmers  too  are  deeply  interested  in  the  improvement. 

Those  sciences,  however,  which  are  regarded  as  more  particularly 
and  directly  applicable  to  agriculture,  are  vegetable  physiology  and 
chemistry,  and  geology.  The  intimate  connexion  between  vegetable 
physiology  and  vegetable  chemistry,  and  between  geology  and  the- 
chemistry  of  the  soils,  render  them  all  in  a  manner  inseparable,  and 
they  will  be  mostly  considered  together. 

The  relations  of  vegetable  physiology  to  the  practice  of  horticul- 
ture, are  vastly  more  important  than  to  agriculture.  The  far  greater 
number  of  species  which  come  under  the  cognizance  of  the  horticul- 
turist, and  the  variety  of  treatment  they  need,  render  it  very  neees- 


No.  105.]  211 

sary  that  he  should  understand  the  nature  of  acclimation,  the  influ- 
ence of  heatj  cold,  moisture,  and  fertility,  on  the  germination,  and 
action  of  the  roots,  stems,  leaves,  and  various  other  parts  of  plants. 
Such  knowledge  would  be  also  highly  advantageous  to  the  enterpris- 
ing agriculturist,  whose  object,  aside  from  the  profit,  is  to  introduce 
new  vegetable  productions  for  general  culture,  and  who  should  there- 
fore understand  the  effect  of  removal  to  an  unlike  climate  and  soil. 

But  this  science  often  becomes  very  useful  to  the  common  farmer. 
A  knowledge  of  physiology,  and  of  the  enormous  quantity  of  moisture 
which  plants  perspire  insensibly  from  the  leaves,  would  have  wholly 
prevented  the  very  common  and  pernicious  error,  that  weeds  pre- 
served moisture  in  the  earth,  and  shade  contiguous  plants  from  the 
effect  of  drought,  while  in  fact  every  weed  is  an  outlet  through  which 
moisture  as  well  as  nourishment  is  rapidly  drained  from  the  soil.     An 
acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  botany  would  have  prevented  the 
prevalence  of  the  equally  pernicious  notion,  that  the  weed  so  com- 
mon in  wheat,  termed  chess,  could  ever  be  transmuted  to  wheat,  a 
plant  not  only  of  a  different  species,  beyond  the  boundary  of  which, 
a  plant  by  no  change  ever  passes,  but  is  also  of  a  different  genus. 
A  knowledge  of  the  fact,  that  no  root  of  a  plant  can  long  remain 
alive,  which  in  a  growing  state,  when  deprived  of  its  breathing  ap- 
paratus, the  leaves,  would  have  prevented  the  wild  attempt  practised 
some  years  ago,  of  endeavoring  to  destroy  patches  of  canada  thistles, 
by  carefully  digging  up  every  fibre  of  the  roots  from  a  depth  of  seve- 
ral feet  ;  while  a  simple,  obvious,  and  efficacious  remedy  consisted 
in  merely  starving  the  roots,  by  cutting  off  unremittingly  the  supply 
from  the  leaves  for  a  proper  length  of  time.     Were  the  vital  impor- 
tance of  the  leaves  to  the  health  and  perfection  of  the  seeds  of  plants 
properly  understood,  the  practice  of  "topping"  corn  would  never 
have  been  resorted  to.     In  numerous  other  cases,  this  science  serves 
to  throw  light  on  operations  of  culture  and  to  assist  correct  practices. 
I    An  intimate  and  important  connexion  exists  between  agriculture, 
and  chemistry  combined  with  vegetable  physiology.     In  some  cases, 
considerable  accuracy  of  reasoning,  and  certainty  of  application  may 
exist  ;  in  others,  all  seems  as  yet  involved  in  uncertainty.     The 
triple  relations  of  the  analysis  of  plants,  of  soils,  and  of  manures, 
and  the  determination  of  the  constituents  of  each,  promise,  perhaps, 
more  important  results  than  any  other  department. 


212  [Senate 

The  knowledge  of  the  organic  constituents  of  plants,  composed  of 
various  combinations  of  the  four  elements,  carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen, 
and  nitrogen,  may  afford  some  very  useful  suggestions  in  practice. 
By  knowing  for  instance,  the  proportions  of  these  constituents,  we 
can  often  arrive  at  a  comparative  value  of  different  kinds  of  grain. 
Analysis  shows  that  some  vegetable  products  contain  more  starch  than 
others  ;  some  abound  in  gluten  ;  some  contain  a  large  portion  of 
oily  matter,  and  others  are  distinguished  for  other  ingredients.  Now, 
some  of  these  are  best  adapted  to  one  object,  and  others  to  another 
object.  If  for  instance,  in  feeding  animals,  it  is  intended  to  fatten 
them,  those  grains  would  be  pointed  out  as  best,  which  most  largely 
contain  oil  ;  if  to  make  them  grow  in  flesh  and  muscular  parts,  those 
which  abound  in  gluten  ;  if  the  object  is  to  make  a  cow  yield  butter, 
food  containing  oily  matter  should  be  given  ;  if  to  yield  cheese,  beans, 
peas,  and  clover  should  be  given  ;  and  if  milk  in  quantity  merely, 
succulent  food  should  be  employed.  But  although  in  these  instances, 
analysis  may  suggest  useful  practices,  yet  the  amount  of  the  benefit 
must  be  determined  by  practice.  Theory  may  point  out  one  course 
as  better  than  another,  but  the  difference  may  be  so  small,  as  not 
to  merit  attention  in  practice,  which  can  only  be  determined  by 
direct  experiment.* 

The  difficulty  of  arriving  at  a  correct  practical  conclusion,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  quantity  of  nutriment  in  grain  and  other  food  by  analysis 
will  be  evident  from  the  fact,  abundantly  proved  by  some  of  the  best 
farmers  in  New-England  as  well  as  in  western  New -York,  that  corn 
ground  and  boiled  with  water,  is  more  effective  in  fattening  hogs, 
than  twice  the  amount  fed  in  the  dry  grain. 

Analysis,  in  other  cases,  will  show  the  comparative  value  of  differ- 
ent varieties  of  the  same  grain.  A  very  valuable  ingredient  in  wheat 
is  gluten  ;  of  this,  French  wheat  has  been  found  to  contain  12  per 
cent.  ;  Bavarian,  24  per  cent.  H.  Davy  obtained  19  per  cent,  from 
winter,  and  24  from  summer  wheat  ;  from  Sicilian  21,  and  from  Bar- 
bary  wheat  19  per  cent.  But  the  uncertainty  of  permanent  depen- 
dance  on  such  analysis  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  nature  of  the 
soil  may  considerably  influence  the  result.      Hermbstsedt  found  that 

•  All  results  of  this  kind  are  greatly  influenced  by  circumstances.  For  instance^ 
experiments  accurately  conducted,  have  shown  that  Indian  corn,  ground  and  boiled^ 
will  fatten  hogs  more  than  twice  as  fast  as  the  same  amount  of  raw  material* 


No.  105.]  213 

the  same  wheat  which,  with  vegetable  manure  only,  gave  scarcely  10 
per  cent,  of  gluten,  yielded  more  than  three  times  as  much  when 
manured  with  powerful  animal  substances,  rich  in  ammonia.  Some 
varieties  of  the  potato  are  found  to  contatn  more  starch  than  other 
varieties  ;  and  this  quantity  is  also  controlled  to  some  extent  by 
soil. 

The  analysis  of  plants  will  also  indicate  what  plants  are  best  to 
employ  as  manure  by  plowing  in  the  green  crop.  A  considerable 
portion  of  nitrogen  is  essential  to  the  growth  of  wheat.  Now  clover 
is  also  found  to  contain  a  large  portion  ;  hence  a  crop  of  clover  be- 
comes eminently  useful  as  manure  for  this  grain.  Wheat  abstracts 
its  nitrogen  chiefly  from  the  soil,  and  is  consequently  exhausting  ; 
clover  obtains  it  mostly  from  the  air,  and  is  not  exhausting,  but  becomes 
in  this  way  the  provider  for  the  wants  of  the  wheat. 

Analysis  has  also  proved  that  in  addition  to  the  usual  organic  ele- 
ments, there  are  about  ten  organic  or  earthy  constituents,  most  of  which 
are  invariably  found  in  the  same  species,  and  are  indispensible  to  its 
healthy  growth.  These  are  potash,  soda,  lime,  magnesia,  alumina, 
silica,  iron,  manganese,  sulphur,  phosphorus,  and  chlorine.  These 
substances  are  derived  by  the  plants  from  the  soil  ;  hence  a  fertile 
soil, — one  from  which  plants  may  draw  these  essential  constituents, 
must  of  course  contain  them.  Here  the  intimate  relation  between 
the  constituents  of  plants  and  of  soils  is  at  once  obvious.  Hence 
soils  which  are  destitute  of  a  part  of  these  ingredients,  or  contain 
them  in  very  small  proportions,  is  necessarily  sterile  ;  or  if  they  be 
destitute  of  one  only,  the  same  result  must  take  place,  if  that  one  is 
an  essential  ingredient  to  the  crop  growing  upon  them.*  And  here 
it  is  that  the  great  benefits  to  be   derived  from  analysis  of  soils,  at 

*  Those  plants,  says  C.  W.  Johnson,  which  yield  salt,  never  grow  well  on  lands 
which  do  not  contain  it;  those  in  which  carbonate  of  lime  is  found,  never  flourish  in 
soils  from  which  this  is  absent.  Plants  which  abound  with  nitrate  of  potash,  such  as 
the  sun-flower  and  the  nettle,  always  languish  in  soils  free  from  that  salt;  but  when 
watered  with  a  weak  solution  of  it,  their  growth  is  very  materially  promoted,  and 
saltpetre  is  then  found  in  them,  upon  analysis,  in  very  sensible  proportion.  The  same 
writer  states,  that  an  old  pasture  became,  in  spite  of  various  liberal  top  dressings  of 
difierent  manures,  incapable  of  producing  a  luxuriant  crop.  At  last  peat  ashes  were 
found  to  produce  the  best  result,  or  an  increase  of  more  than  a  ton  of  hay  per  acre. 
These  peat  ashes  were  found  to  contain  one-eighth  of  their  weight  of  gypsum,  which 
was  the  ingredient  the  soil  needed.  Gypsum  itself  was  then  applied  with  the  same 
successful  result. 


214  [Senate 

once  force  themselves  upon  the  mind.  If  a  soil  is  barren,  determine 
its  constituents  —  see  what  is  wanting  —  what  is  in  excess  ;  apply 
at  once  the  "deficient  ingredient,  or  counteract  or  neutralize  the  inju- 
rious one,  and  fertility  is  restored.  A  soil  was  shown  to  H.  Davy, 
which,  though  apparently  abounding  in  every  enriching  material,  was 
incapable  of  yielding  a  crop.  He  found  by  examination,  that  it  was 
poisoned  by  a  considerable  portion  of  sulphate  of  iron  or  copperas. 
He  decomposed  this  sulphate  by  applying  lime,  and  the  difficulty 
was  removed.  Here  the  remedy  was  simple  and  certain  ;  but  such 
cases  very  rarely  occur  in  practice. 

As  different  plants  draw  from  the  soil  the  same  substances  in  un- 
like proportions,  analysis  of  these  plants  will  show  which  substances 
are  most  largely  needed  for  the  different  crops.     And  it  points  out  a 
reason  of  the  fact,  long  since  known,  that  a  field  which  may  bear  a 
profitable  crop  of  one  kind,  may  be  unable  to  yield  a  good  return  of 
another  ;  and  that  by  alternation  or  rotation,  different  portions  are 
variously  abstracted,  and  time  left  for  the  restoration  of  each  by  vari- 
ous processes  in  nature,  and  by  artificial  means.     But  the  fact  that 
these  ingredients  vary  in  the  same  plants,  shows  the  great  necessity 
of  caution  in  dra^ving  practical  conclusions.     Justus  Liebig,  one  of 
the  most  eminent  chemists  of  modern  times,  but  whose  deductions 
are  often  deficient  in  value  from  a  want  of  sufficient  corroboration  by 
actual  experiment  in  cultivation,  says  that  one  hundred  parts  of  the 
stalks  of  wheat  yield   1.55    parts   of  inorganic  constituents  ;   barley 
8.54  parts  ;  and  oats  only  4.42  parts,  all  being  of  the  same  composi- 
tion.    "  We  have  in  these  facts,"  he  then  adds,  "  a  clear  proof  of 
what  plants  require  for  their  growth.     Upon  the  same  field  which  will 
yield  only  one  harvest  of  wheat,  two  crops  of  barley,  and  three  of 
oats  may  be  raised."     But  every  good  farmer  knows  that  oats  is  ex- 
hausting to  an  extraordinary  degree,  instead  of  being  less  so  than 
barley,  and  only  one  third  as  much  as  wheat,  according  to  this  con- 
clusion of  Liebig.     Some  of  the  best  farmers  of  New-York,  never 
suffer  an  oat  crop  to  grow  on  land  ever  appropriated  to  wheat.     Pro- 
fessor Johnston  has,  however,  demolished   Liebig's  reasoning,   by 
showing  that  these  inorganic  constituents  are  not  only  different  in 
composition,  but   greatly  variable  in  quantity,  the   oats  sometimes 
considerably  exceeding  the  barley,  and  the  wheat  varying  from  3.5 
per  cent,,  to  15.5  per  cent.     But  neither  of  these  chemists  appear  to 


No.  105.1 


215 


have  considered  the  composition  of  the  graiuj  nor  to  have  remem- 
bered the  difference  in  the  weight  of  the  crop.  Superficial  reasoning 
and  general  theories  often  appear  beautiful  ;  but  thorough  investiga- 
tion in  detail,  and  the  results  of  actual  practice,  will  frequently  ex- 
hibit  their  uncertainty  and  error. 

A  department  of  analysis,  perhaps  the  least  liable  to  erroneous 
results,  is  the  examination  of  manures.  Fertilizing  substances  are 
known  by  their  effects  applied  separately  to  plants  or  in  mixture  ; 
and  by  the  fact  that  fertile  soils  and  well  grown  plants  are  found  to 
contain  them.  Now,  analysis  will  show  what  proportion  of  the  ferti- 
lizing materials  exist  in  different  kinds  of  manure  ;  and  hence  the 
value  of  manures  may  be  ascertained,  at  least  to  some  extent,  by  a 
previous  chemical  examination.  A  comparison  of  common  manure 
with  guano,  exhibits  this  principle  in  a  striking  light : 

A  ton  of  manure  yields  2  pounds  and  4  ounces  of  potash. 


do 

guano 

do  66 

do 

8 

do 

do 

do 

manure 

do     1 

do 

10 

do 

soda. 

do 

guano 

do  36 

do 

15 

do 

do 

do 

manure 

do     5 

do 

1 

do 

phosphoric  acid. 

do 

guano 

do  283 

do 

9 

do 

do 

do 

manure 

do     1 

do 

4 

do 

sulphuric  acid. 

do 

guano 

do  93 

do 

8 

do 

do 

do 

manure 

do     1 

do 

9 

do 

chlorine. 

do 

guano 

do  62 

do 

00 

do 

do* 

Here  it  will  be  seen  that  most  of  these  enriching  ingredients  are 
from  thirty  to  seventy  times  as  great  in  quantity  in  guano  as  in 
common  manure.  Experiment  accordingly  proves  that  guano  often 
produces  from  thirty  to  seventy  times  as  great  a  growth  in  plants,  as 
an  equal  quantity  of  manure. 

One  of  the  most  powerful  manures  is  poudrette,  a  preparation  from 
night-soil.  Let  us  see  what  kind  of  comparison  analysis  will  draw 
between  this  substance  and  guano : 


•  London  Ag.  Gazette. 


216  [Senate 

A  ton  of  night-soil  yields  6  pounds  7  ounces  of  potash. 


do 

guano         do     66 

8 

do 

do 

do 

night-soil  do      4 

10 

do 

soda. 

do 

guano         do     36 

15 

do 

do 

do 

night-soil  do  120 

do 

phosphoric  acid 

do 

guano         do  283 

9 

do 

do* 

Here  we  see  that  guano  still  vastly  exceeds  even  night-soil  in  these 
important  requisites  to  fertility  ;  although  the  latter  possesses  a  very 
striking  superiority  in  composition  over  common  manure.  We  ac- 
cordingly find  in  practice,  that  the  comparative  value  of  these  diffe- 
rent manures  is  very  nearly  the  same  that  analysis  indicates,  when 
the  average  of  experiment  is  taken. 

There  are  many  other  substances  which  chemistry  points  out  as 
valuable  for  manure,  which  are  found  useful  in  practice.  Many  of 
these,  however,  if  used  singly,  or  mixed  with  only  one  or  two  others^ 
often  give  uncertain  results,  frequently  prove  failures,  and  some- 
times are  a  positive  injury.  Sulphate  of  ammonia,  nitrate  of  soda, 
sulphate  of  lime,  silicate  of  potash  and  other  salts  have  been  knowr^ 
to  produce  extraordinary  growth  ;  but  in  other  cases  were  valueless- 
So  many  causes  control  their  action,  that  this  uncertainty  must  con- 
tinue to  exist.  The  soil  may  be  already  supplied  with  them  ;  drought 
may  derange  entirely  their  action  ;  and  ather  influences  now  unknown 
may  produce  a  similar  result. 

Common  barn-yard  and  stable  manure,  though  not  so  powerful y 
appears  to  be  more  universally  beneficial  than  any  other  from  the 
certainty  of  its  operation.  This  certainty  is  dependent  on  the  great 
number  of  its  ingredients.  It  contains  a  large  portion  of  decaying^ 
vegetable  derived  from  the  pulverized  hay  consumed  by  the  animal ; 
it  is  rich  in  ammonia  and  other  animal  matters,  resulting  from  the 
secretions  ;  and  it  contains  many  salts  derived  from  both  these  sour- 
ces. Poudrette  possesses  nearly  the  same  advantages  ;  and  guano, 
from  its  great  quantity  of  animal  matter  and  enriching  salts,  rarely 
fails  if  properly  applied.  With  single  substances,  however,  there  is 
great  uncertainty,  until  experiment  points  the  way. 

Wheat  was  found  by  H.  Davy  to  contain  more  nitrate  of  potash 
than  any  other  farm  product ;  yet  the  Author  of  British  Husbandry 

London  Ag.  Gazette. 


No.  105.]  217 

says,  "  although  it  has  generally  occasioned  an  increase  of  straw^ 
the  yield  of  grain  has  not  been  improved,  and  the  crops  have  in  ma- 
ny instances  been  found  unusually  subject  to  mildew."  Similar  ex- 
periments, by  the  writer,  have  produced  no  favorable  result.  Hence 
we  perceive  that  supplying,  simply,  an  essential  ingredient,  does  not 
always  answer  the  purpose.  Artificial  guano,  made  by  an  obser- 
vance of  the  analysis  of  the  natural,  though  useful,  has  not  been 
found  nearly  so  powerful  as  the  latter.  Nitrogen,  supplied  properly 
to  plants,  causes  a  healthy  and  rapid  growth ;  yet  although  this  ele- 
ment exists  uncombined  as  a  component  of  the  atmosphere,  and  in 
direct  contact  with  the  leaves  of  plants,  they  will  perish  for  want  of 
it  before  they  will  draw  a  particle  of  it  from  the  air.  Hence  in  all 
chemical  deduction  relative  to  manners,  the  experiments  of  the  cul- 
tivator only  are  to  be  depended  on,  and  to  remain  as  the  decisive 
test.  Suggestions  of  incalculable  importance  may  come  from  theory, 
but  practice  alone  must  prove  their  value. 

The  importance  of  the  analysis  of  soils,  to  determine  deficient  in- 
gredients, and  then  to  supply  defects,  has  been  already  adverted  to. 
Although  its  value  thus  appears  to  be  very  great,  and  has  been  much 
extolled  by  chemical  writers  and  their  imitators,  yet  there  are  diffi- 
culties in  practice  which  render  extreme  caution  in  drawing  conclu- 
sions very  necessary.  The  constituents  of  plants  may  indeed  be 
determined  with  much  accuracy  ;  and  the  different  ingredients  in 
manures,  and  their  consequent  adaptation  to  those  plants,  and  of 
their  comparatively  fertilizing  effects,  may  be  ascertained  frequently 
in  the  laboratory.  But  the  extensive  diffusion  of  these  ingredients 
through  broad  acres  of  soil,  and  the  exceedingly  minute  proportion 
which  some  bear  to  the  whole  bulk  of  the  soil,  renders  the  determi- 
nation of  these  proportions,  if  not  the  actual  existence  of  the  ingre- 
dients, difficult  if  not  impossible.  A  distinguished  chemist  told  the 
writer,  that  for  ordinary  earthy  substances,  the  detection  of  a  thou- 
sandth part  required  skilful  analysis.  Minuter  portions  of  some 
constituents  are  more  easily  detected  than  of  others.  But  suppose  a 
ten-thousandth  part  the  utmost  limit  for  agricultural  practice,  a  few 
instances  will  show  the  inadequacy  of  analysis  in  cases  which  may 
occur : 

A  considerable  portion  of  sulphate  of  lime  or  gypsum  is  found  to 
exist  in  red  clover,  and  other  leguminous  plants.     Hence  a  reason 


218  [Senate 

that  gypsum  so  eminently  benefits  the  growth  of  red  clover.  And 
hence  reason  would  here  suggest,  that  to  determine  the  fitness  of  a 
soil  for  clover,  an  analysis  should  be  made  ;  if  it  contain  gypsum,  all 
is  right,  and  the  clover  will  flourish  ;  but  if  not,  then  a  dressing  of 
this  material  must  be  applied.  This  is  the  theory.  Let  us  compare 
it  with  practice.  A  hundred  pounds  of  gypsum  to  the  acre  has  often 
doubled  the  clover  crop  5  and  a  tenth  part  of  that  quantity,  or  ten 
pounds  to  the  acre,  will  produce  in  some  cases  very  sensible  effects. 
After  it  is  spread  on  the  ground,  and  before  any  sensible  effect  is 
produced  on  the  crop,  the  rain  has  usually  dissolved  it  and  carried  it 
into  the  soil  and  among  the  roots  of  the  young  plants.  It  thus  be- 
comes intimately  diffused  through  the  soil.  Now,  will  analysis 
detect  its  presence  1  If  the  soil  is  a  foot  deep,  half  a  grain  to  a 
pound  will  indicate  a  hundred  pounds  to  an  acre.  Yet  this  half  a 
grain  to  a  pound  is  only  one  fourteen-thousandth  part,  though  often 
producing  a  most  luxuriant  growth  of  red  clover.  A  tenth  part  of 
that  is  only  one  hundredth  and  forty-thousandth  part ;  yet  this  mi- 
nute portion  often  is  found  to  exert  a  very  visible  influence  in 
growth  ;  though  far  beyond  the-reach  of  ordinary  analysis.  A  crop 
of  clover,  of  a  ton  and  a  half  to  the  acre,  contains  only  three  times 
this  amount,  or  thirty  pounds  of  gypsum,  in  its  stems  and  leaves. 

Again  ;  twenty  pounds  of  muriate  of  ammonia  applied  to  an  acre  of 
rye  added  five  bushels  to  the  product.  *  But  this  is  only  one-sev- 
enty-thousandth part  of  the  soil.  One  hundred  and  forty  pounds  of 
guano  added  more  than  sixteen  hundred  pounds  to  an  acre  of  hay. 
But  this  manure,  when  diffuserl  through  the  soil,  constituted  only 
about  a  ten-thousandth  part ;  its  proportion  of  phosphoric  acid,  form- 
ing about  one-eighth,  and  a  very  important  ingredient,  would  be 
about  one  eighty-thousandth  part ;  its  sulphuric  acid  would  consti- 
tute less  than  a  two-hundred-thousandth  part,  and  its  potash  about 
one  three-hundred-thousandth  part.  I  am  not  aware  that  many  che- 
mists claim  sufficient  skill  to  determine  such  small  proportions  in  the 
soil  ;  yet  these  experiments  show  their  great  practical  influence  when 
existing  as  added  constituents. 

The  ammonia  of  the  atmosphere  is  considered  by  eminent  chemists 
as  holding  a  very  important  relation  to  the  healthy  and  vigorous 

•  Johnston's  Lectures,  Appendix,  p.  29. 


No.  105.]  219 

growth  of  plants  ;  yet  its  presence  has  never  been  directly  detected, 
and  only  indirectly  by  favorable  opportunities  when  absorbed  in 
snow  or  rain  water.  Eminent  and  accurate  experiments  had  not  dis- 
covered even  this  until  within  a  few  years. 

It  is  not  denied  that  a  bright  light  may  be  thrown  on  the  practice 
of  agriculture  by  carefully  conducted  analyses  of  soils.  The  results 
of  many  examinations  which  have  been  made,  show  frequently  a 
very  striking  difference  between  fertile  and  barren  soils.  But  these 
analyses  were  conducted  with  the  most  rigid  care  and  accuracy,  by 
men  of  such  skill  and  eminence  as  could  hardly  be  expected  to  be  at 
the  service  of  any  common  practical  farmer.  And  after  all  accurate 
experiments  in  cultivation  would  determine  all  that  is  necessary  in 
many  points  of  practice,  and  would  in  any  case  be  needed  as  a  test 
of  the  truth  of  the  theory. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  chemists  will  continue  to  pursue  their  inves- 
tigations on  doubtful  points,  until  certainty,  if  possible,  may  be  ar* 
rived  at;  and  that  all  well-established  facts  may  have  as  extensive 
application  in  farming  as  their  value  merits.  But  it  must  be  admit- 
ted that  there  has  been  a  disposition  to  take  too  much  for  granted, 
and  to  overstate  the  certainty  of  success  in  connecting  chemistry 
with  agriculture.  The  precision,  so  striking  in  other  sciences,  and 
other  applications  of  this  science  to  various  arts,  does  not  hold  in  case 
of  the  growth  of  plants,  which,  though  governed  by  fixed  laws,  is 
too  much  controlled  by  circumstances,  and  too  much  obscured  from 
view,  to  be  thoroughly  understood.  This  growth  is  slow  and  imper- 
ceptible to  the  sight ;  plants  are  surrounded  by  an  invisible  air  above 
ground,  and  are  hidden  from  view  below  ground  ;  their  surfaces  re- 
ceive nourishment  by  pores  only  seen  by  powerful  microscopes  ;  the 
nourishment  is  drawn  from  vapors  and  floating  gases  in  the  air,  and 
liquids  in  the  earth  charged  with  many  substances  in  minute  propor- 
tions ;  and  the  whole  process  is  entirely  beyond  the  reach  of  the  clo- 
sest scrutiny  of  the  eye. 

It  is  not  surprising  therefore  that  there  should  be  a  difference  of 
opinion  among  high  authorities.  The  constituents  of  vegetable  mould 
have  led  to  much  dispute,  and  no  less  than  twenty  different  substan- 
ces have  been  discovered  or  named  by  various  chemists.  Dr.  Dana, 
in  attempting  to  prove  the  inutility  of  applying  lime  and  potash  as 
manures,  shows  that  nearly  all  soils  contain  lime  and  potash  enough 


220  [Senate 

for  the  growth  of  all  the  crops  which  may  be  produced  on  the  land 
for  thousands  of  years.  Yet  other  chemists  dwell  on  the  importance 
of  these  substances  applied  as  manures,  and  direct  experiment  shows 
their  utility.  *  Liebig  says  that  "  wheat  does  not  flourish  in  a  sandy 
soil,  and  that  a  calcareous  soil  is  also  unsuitable  for  its  growth  unless 
mixed  with  a  considerable  quantity  of  clay" — "  because  these  soils 
do  not  contain  alkalies  in  sufficient  quantity."  But  Johnston  shows 
not  only  that  excellent  wheat  crops  are  reaped  from  those  soils,  but 
that  turnips,  universally  admitted  to  be  finely  adapted  to  sandy  land, 
contain  in  a  single  crop  of  ordinary  productiveness,  nearly  ten  times 
as  much  potash  and  soda,  as  a  crop  of  fifty  bushels  of  wheat  with  the 
straw  included.  The  contradictions  of  chemists  on  the  single  article 
of  gypsum  alone  would  perhaps  fill  a  volume.  According  to  Koll- 
ner,  its  action  depends  on  the  power  possessed  by  lime  to  form,  with 
the  oxygen  and  carbon  of  the  atmosphere,  compounds  which  are 
favorable  to  vegetation  ;  according  to  Mayer  and  Brown,  it  merely 
improves  the  physical  properties  of  the  soil ;  ^vhile  according  to  Riel, 
it  is  an  essential  constituent  of  the  plant.  Hedwig  called  it  the  sa- 
liva or  gastric  juice  of  the  plant ;  Humboldt  and  Thaer  considered 
it  a  stimulant ;  Chaptal  ascribed  its  action  to  a  supposed  power  of 
supplying  water  f  and  carbonic  acid  to  plants  ;  and  Davy  regarded 
it  as  an  eessential  constituent  of  plants.  J  According  to  Liebig,  it 
fixes  the  ammonia  of  the  atmosphere  ;  according  to  Sprengel,  it  sup- 
plies sulphur  for  the  formation  of  the  legumin  of  leguminous  plants  ; 
and  according  to  Dana  it  merely  assists  the  decomposition  of  other 
substances  in  the  soil. 

The  question  has  been  much  oftener  asked  than  answered,  "  Who 
shall  decide  when  doctors  disagree  1"  If  great  men,  ^who  have 
spent  their  whole  lives  in  examining  such  questions,  are  so  much  at 
variance,  to  what  power  is  the  farmer  to  look,  to  dissolve  the  thick 

*  It  has  been  asserted  by  Liebig  and  others,  that  the  benefit  of  lime  is  owing  to  the 
potash  it  contains.  Lime  has  been  applied  with  great  success  to  soils  in  Western 
New-York,  which  contained  many  broken  fragments  of  limestone.  The  lime  was 
from  localities,  where,  by  the  analysis  of  Dr.  Beck,  no  potash  existed. 

f  The  opinion  that  gypsum  owed  its  efficacy  to  the  absorbtion  of  moisture,  has  been 
common  in  this  country.  H.  Davy  exposed  a  portion  of  gypsum  to  the  air  three  fog- 
gy nights,  and  found  it  absorbed  only  a  720th  part.  Calculation  will  show  that 
two  bushels  spread  over  an  acre,  would  absorb  at  the  same  rate,  a  stratum  of  moisture 
only  one-millionth  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  or  five  thousand  times  thinner  than  paper. 

I  Hlubeck. 


No.  105.]  221 

mist,  and  remove  his  doubts,  in  relation  to  such  matters  ?  The  an- 
swer cannot  be  avoided,  To  repeated,  varying  and  actual  experiments 
in  practical  cultivation.  Such  experiments  have  long  since  estab- 
lished the  value  of  gypsum,  lime,  and  other  manures  ;  while  emi- 
nent chemists  are  still  disputing,  not  only  on  their  theory  of  action, 
but  whether  they  are  really  of  any  value  whatever. 

The  distinction  must  be  drawn  between  The  Application  of  Science 
to  Agriculture,  and  The  Science  of  Agriculture.  The  former  has 
been  already  explained  ;  the  latter  consists  of  the  facts  which  prac- 
tice has  established,  and  the  truths  it  has  developed,  reduced  to  a 
system,  and  in  some  degree  arranged  under  fixed  principles.  The 
Science  of  Agriculture  explains  the  theory  and  operations  of  drain- 
ing, plowing,  subsoiling,  and  manuring,  of  rotation  of  crops,  of  cul- 
tivating the  soil,  of  adapting  culture  to  crops,  and  many  other  prac- 
tices which  distinguished  the  best  modern  specimens  of  farming.  It 
is  a  systematic  arrangement  of  knowledge,  which  the  experience  of 
centuries  has  accumulated.  Many  of  its  principles,  it  is  true,  are 
those  of  other  sciences ;  but  they  were  usually  discovered  in  the 
course  of  cultivation,  before  those  sciences  had  a  distinct  existence. 
A  professor  of  one  of  our  colleges  has  cited  the  practices  of  draining, 
subsoil  plowing,  trenching,  and  clovering  and  plastering,  as  specimens 
of  the  application  of  science  to  agriculture.  But  these  have  all  re- 
sulted entirely  from  experience  ;  they  are  indeed  specimens  of  sci- 
entific farming,  but  they  originated  from  the  science  of  agriculture, 
as  just  explained,  and  not  from  science  to  agriculture  in  its  common 
acceptation. 

The  best  modern  practices  of  agriculture,  are  in  nearly  all  cases 
much  in  advance  of  the  theory.  It  is  for  this  reason,  that  the 
cause  of  agricultural  improvement  would  be  much  better  served  by 
holding  up  for  imitation  the  experience  and  management  of  the  best 
farmers  of  the  day,  rather  than  a  too  frequent  reference  to  chemical 
authority.  How  many  of  our  citizens  might  have  avoided  shipwreck 
of  their  property,  and  made  handsome  profits,  if  they  had  followed 
the  best  established  courses  of  cultivation.  But,  have  any  failed 
from  a  want  of  knowing  the  sciences  1  Some  of  our  farmers  make 
money  rapidly, — that  is,  they  farm  well.  Others  make  a  scanty  liv- 
ing ;  and  others  are  reduced  to  insolvency.  What  is  the  reason  of 
the  success  of  the  farmer — what  the  cause  of  the  failure  of  the  latter  1 


222  [Senate 

Is  it  a  knowledge  of  chemistry  in  one  case,  and  a  deficiency  in  the 
other?  No  one  will  ever  think  of  ascribing  the  results  to  such 
causes. 

It  is  not  denied,  that  important  aid  may  yet  be  derived  from  agri- 
cultural chemistry.  But  its  advance  must  be  slow,  and  attended 
with  caution.  Years  of  careful  and  accurate  analyses  of  soils,  and 
of  the  trial  of  manures,  separate  and  mixed,  in  connexion  with  ex- 
periments on  growing  crops  performed  with  the  utmost  judgment  and 
precision,  can  only  settle  uncertain  points.  Reasons  will  thus  be 
rendered  clearer  by  science,  and  practices  explained,  enforced  and 
established.  But  these  experiments  must  be  performed  chiefly  by  the 
enterprising  few,  and  not  by  the  common  farmer.  The  study  is  indeed 
deeply  interesting  and  fascinating ;  and  every  one  who  has  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  natural  sciences,  will  not  unfrequently  find  useful  appli- 
cations in  the  every-day  business  of  life.  But  to  hold  them  up  as  a 
means  by  which  the  young  farmer  is  to  conduct  his  business  most 
profitably,  while  he  yet  remains  wholly  or  partially  ignorant  of  the 
most  improved  modern  systems  of  practice  and  management,  cannot 
be  followed  by  the  best  results.  The  most  important  knowledge 
must  be  first  attained,  and  afterwards  that  which  is  less  essential  in 
practice.  If  possible,  neither  should  be  neglected.  We  should  not 
denounce  any  study  because  it  is  encompassed  with  so  ae  difficulties. 
Chemistry  is  affording  many  valuable  suggestions  for  trial  and  prac- 
tice ;  and  as  Professor  Johnston  very  justly  remarks,  "  It  is  foolish 
to  refuse  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  morning  light  because  it  is  not 
equal  to  the  mid-day  sun," 


IRRIGATION. 


PRIZE  ESSAY — PREMIUM   $20. 


Its  utility. — The  application  of  water  to  the  surface  of  lands,  for 
the  promotion  of  vegetable  growth,  has  been  practised,  in  warm  coun- 
tries, from  the  earliest  ages.  Its  indispensably  essential  use  in  ancient 
Egypt,  and  the  great  benefits  derived  from  its  introduction,  at  a  later 
day,  into  Italy,  sufficiently  established  its  eminent  utility.  But,  being 
less  necessary  in  the  cooler  and  more  moist  climate  of  Britain,  it  was 
afterwards  lessextensively  practised  in  the  system  of  agriculture  which 
spread  to  the  settlements  of  America.  The  summers  of  the  northern 
and  middle  States,  are  equal  in  warmth  to  those  of  northern  and  central 
Italy ;  but  in  copying  the  practice  of  agriculture  from  England  and 
Scotland,  the  wide  difference  in  the  heat  and  dryness  of  summers  has 
been  too  much  forgotten; 

The  great  advantages  resulting  from  a  due  proportion  of  moisture  in 
the  soil,  must  be  evident  to  every  one,  on  a  moment's  reflection.  Who 
does  not  know  that  nearly  all  farm  crops,  during  vigorous  growth,  are 
benefitted  by  frequent  showers?  Who  has  not  noticed  the  great  dimi- 
nution in  the  amount  of  pasture  and  hay,  in  potatoes,  ruta  bagas,  and 
other  farm  products,  resulting  from  long  continued  or  unusual  droughtl 
What  farmer  is  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  meadows  and  pastures  in  wet 
or  moist  situations,  or  which  are  occasionally  overflowed  by  streams, 
are  covered  with  a  growth  of  herbage  far  heavier  and  more  luxuriant 
than  the  diminished  products  of  dry  and  unwatered  uplands?  Who, 
then,  can  question,  that  during  the  heat  and  drouth  of  our  summers, 
not  unfrequently  quite  severe,  our  root  crops  would  be  greatly  assisted 
in  their  growth,  and  our  crops  of  grass  double  in  weight,  by  artificial 
watering,  through  channels  spread  over  the  surface  of  the  land  1 

There  appears  to  be  but  very  few  examples  in  this  country,  of  well 
conducted  and  systematic  irrigation.  A  few,  however,  have  sufficiently 
shown  its  advantages. 


224  [Senate 

E.  D.  Andrews,  of  Pittsford,  N.  Y.,  says— ''In  the  hilly  country  of 
Termont,  I  owned  a  farm,  over  which  I  carried  the  water  of  a  small 
stream,  in  artificial  channels,  more  than  a  mile.  Lands  that  did  not 
yield  half  a  ton  to  the  acre,  were  thus  made  at  once  to  yield  two  tons ; 
by  which  means  I  added  to  my  crop  six  or  eight  tons."  E.  Wilbur,  for- 
merly of  Yates  county,  N.  Y.,  while  a  resident  of  that  county,  watered, 
artificially,  a  very  dry  and  unproductive  seven  acre  lot,  by  means  of  side 
channels  from  a  stream  which  passed  through  the  centre.  About  one 
day's  work  was  needed  in  arranging  and  plowing  these  furrows.  "  The 
effect  was  such, "  said  he,  "  that  it  paid  me  a  hundred  fold  for  the  seven 
acres,  after  the  first  year.  It  produced  for  several  years,  while  I  owned 
it,  from  two  and  a  half  to  three  tons  of  hay  to  the  acre  ;  and  the  man 
I  sold  it  to,  told  me  last  year  that  he  hardly  ever  saw  such  grass — there 
was  hardly  room  on  the  ground  to  make  the  hay  after  it  was  mowed." 

In  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  irrigation  has  been  occasionally  prac- 
tised. Permanent  meadows  are  selected  on  the  two  facing  slopes 
towards  a  stream,  from  which  the  water  is  diverted  by  successive 
parallel  channels,  carried  as  high  up  the  sides  of  the  valley  as  the 
head  of  the  water  will  admit.  Two  and  a  half  tons  of  hay  to  the  acre, 
are  a  common  crop  on  lands  thus  treated. 

A  brother  of  the  writer,  by  spreading  a  small  stream  over  the  surface 
of  his  meadow,  tripled  at  least  the  product  from  the  land.  A  successful 
a  barn  on  elevated  ground,  to  spread  over  about  five  acres  of  meadowj 
farmer  of  western  New-York,  by  allowing  the  wash  or  liquid  manurefrom 
cut  from  a  part  of  it  no  less  than  five  tons  of  dried  hay.  Dr.  Kirtland, 
of  Cleveland,  says  that  during  the  past  parching  season,  a  field  was 
made  to  produce  two  tons  of  hay  to  the  acre,  by  turning  on  it  the 
wash  of  the  yards  and  road,  and  the  water  from  two  small  springs.  He 
also  states  that  an  intelligent  farmer  purchased  a  farm  consisting  mostly 
of  barren  side  hills,  and  dry,  sterile,  sandy  flats.  "  He  discovered,  with 
the  eye  of  an  engineer,  that  a  stream  of  some  size  might  be  turned 
from  a  deep  glen,  by  means  of  a  dam,  and  conducted  upon  one  side  of 
-  the  glen,  so  as  to  be  accumulated  upon  the  back  part  of  the  farm. 
From  this  point  it  discharges  at  pleasure,  upon  different  fields,  in  diffe- 
rent directions.  It  is  an  interesting  spectacle,  to  view  his  different  dams 
and  canals,  and  to  see  the  brook  discharging  from  level  to  level, 
dividing  and  subdividing,  over  many  acres,  spreading  fertility  through 
all  its  varied  meanderings.     At  this  time,  the  farm  sustains  a  flock  of 


No.  105.]  225 

500  or  600  of  the  best  Merino  sheep.  Twenty  years  since,  it  would 
not  have  fed  a  twentieth  part  of  that  number. 

Accidental  instances  often  exhibit  strongly  the  advantages  of  water- 
ing. In  a  meadow  belonging  to  the  writer,  a  part  of  the  land  was 
occasionally  overflowed  by  a  large  stream ;  another  portion,  of  similar 
soil,  was  left  dry.  The  watered  portion  was  usually  double  and  some- 
times triple  in  product ;  and  so  clear  was  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  these  portions,  that  high-water  mark  could  be  distinctly  traced 
by  the  difference  in  growth,  at  any  time  before  cutting  the  hay. 
Meadows  on  the  lower  side  of  the  Erie  Canal  in  Niagara  county,  were 
noticed  last  summer,  when  water  had  escaped  from  the  canal,  to  be  at 
least  double  in  growth  in  consequence ;  and  a  farmer  who  allows  the 
wash  from  the  public  road,  during  all  rains,  to  pass  upon  his  adjacent 
meadow,  cuts  annually  two  and  a  half  tons  of  hay  to  the  acre. 

Rationale. — A  supply  of  water  to  plants,  is  essential  on  two 
accounts.  First,  it  is  necessary  that  all  plants  m  a  growing  state  have 
at  hand  a  supply  of  the  water  which  enters  t©  largely  into  their  com- 
position. Secondly,  that  there  be  enough  to  dissolve  freely  all  sub- 
stances which  ascend  through  the  stem  from  the  roots ;  for,  without 
solution,  no  fertilizing  substances  can  enter  the  plant. 

The  large  quantities  of  water  needed  during  vegetable  growth,  are 
evident  from  the  abundance  which  exists  in  nearly  all  living  plants. 
Some  plants  contain  more  than  three-quarters  of  their  weight,  and  most 
others  more  than  one-half.  In  addition  to  this,  the  enormous  quantities 
thrown  off  in  hot  dry  weather,  by  perspiration,  amounting  sometimes 
to  the  entire  weight  of  the  plant  in  a  day  or  two,  or  to  several  tons 
daily  from  an  acre,  render  an  abundant  supply  still  more  important. 
Hence  the  reason  they  droop  and  witlier  so  soon,  when  the  usual  supply 
is  withheld.  Water  also,  of  itself,  forms  an  essential  portion  of  the 
food  of  plants,  by  furnishing  nearly  all  the  hydrogen  they  consumed. 

But  a  most  important  office  performed  by  water,  is  its  solvent  power. 
During  its  fall  in  rain,  in  washing  and  purifying  the  atmosphere  as  it 
descends,  it  brings  down  matter  which  had  previously  risen  in  the  form 
of  vapor  ;  and  afterwards  as  it  flows  along  the  surface  or  through  the 
soil,  it  dissolves  many  solid  substances,  and  becomes  charged  with 
various  matters  of  organic  origin,  which  possess  more  or  less  highly 
fertilizing  powers,  and  which  are  thus  conveyed  in  a  fluid  form  to  the  roots 
of  plants.     Water  thus  becomes  one  of  the  best  and  most  efficient 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  15 


226  [Senate 

modes  of  manuring;  the  quantity  of  foreign  matter  thus  held  in  solu- 
tion, and  the  enriching  power  it  possesses,  are  often  almost  incredibly- 
large,  even  though  it  may  appear  but  little  discolored  by  their  presence. 
There  are,  of  course,  various  degrees  of  foreign  and  fertilizing  matters 
to  be  found  in  water,  according  to  circumstances;  from  the  purest 
brook  or  river  water,  to  the  heavily  loaded  drainings  of  the  city  sewer, 
or  the  farmer's  manure  tank.  * 

In  England,  and  in  all  countries  so  cool  and  moist  that  plants  do  not 
suffer  greatly  from  drought,  the  chief  benefit  resulting  from  irrigation^ 
arises  from  the  foreign  matter  contained  in  the  water.  Hence  it 
becomes  a  very  important  object  to  obtain  such  streams  as  contain  the 
most  enriching  substances.  Some  interesting  illustrations  of  this  fact 
have  been  given  to  the  public.  In  one  case,  a  gentleman  who  owned 
meadows  on  the  bank  of  the  stream  which  passes  through  Winchester, 
observed  the  great  superiority  of  the  waters  of  the  stream  below  the 
city,  after  they  had  received  the  drainage  of  the  sewers.  The  benefits 
which  the  plants  derived  from  the  water,  was  strikingly  shown  by  its 
deteriorated  quality  after  it  had  passed  over  the  fields  and  imparted  its 
fertility  to  the  plants.  On  one  occasion,  after  having  long  enjoyed  the 
exclusive  use  of  a  stream,  his  neighbor,  higher  up,  imitated  his  example ; 
and  the  water,  in  consequence,  was  so  reduced  in  value,  that  he  thought 
of  disputing  the  right  with  him. 

An  interesting  experiment  was  made  in  Scotland,  to  show  this 
abstraction  of  dissolved  substances  by  the  plants.  A  stream  of  water 
before  its  use  in  irrigation,  was  analyzed,  and  was  found  to  contain  per 
gallon  about  10  grains  of  common  salt,  and  4  grains  of  the  salts  of 
lime.  After  passing  over  50  yards  of  meadow,  it  was  again  analyzed, 
and  yielded  only  5  grains  of  common  salt  to  the  gallon,  and  2  grams 
of  the  salts  of  lime.  ' 

A  long  continued  flow  of  the  water  will  thus  impart  to  the  plants  a 
large  and  most  important  quantity  of  mineral  as  well  as  organic  manures. 
It  is  not  necessary  that  streams  should  always  appear  to  the  eye  turbid 
or  impure,  in  order  to  be  well  adapted  to  this  kind  of  manuring ;  in- 
deed, a  turbid  stream,  rendered  so  by  the  suspension  of  clay  merely, 
may  be  less  valuable  than  a  limpid  stream,  which  holds  gypsum  and 
various  other  salts  in  solution.  Several  analyses  have  shown  that  all 
hard  waters  contain  considerable  portions  of  gypsum  or  sulphate  of 
lime ;  and  that  not  unfrequently  every  two  thousand  parts  of  the  water 


No.  105.]  227 

of  our  rivers  and  brooks,  contain  one  part  of  gypsum.  If  therefore, 
every  square  yard  of  common  meadow  soil  absorbs  only  eight  gallons 
of  water,  more  than  a  hundred  weight  and  a  half  of  gypsum  per  acre 
is  thus  diffused  through  the  soil. 

It  would  be  hardly  possible  to  convince  the  community  of  the  enor- 
mous amount  of  wealth  lost  to  the  country  yearly,  by  a  neglect  to 
secure  the  liquid  manure  with  which  it  abounds.  The  quantities  which 
are  every  year  swept  from  our  fields  and  farm  yards,  and  carried 
through  our  lands,  unapplied,  in  running  streams,  into  our  rivers,  and 
lakes,  and  into  the  sea,  might  safely  be  estimated  at  millions.  The 
sewers  of  towns  and  villages,  alone,  carry  off  a  vast  amount  of  manure. 
A  meadow  near  Edinburgh,  belonging  to  the  Earl  of  Moray,  which  was 
watered  for  several  years  by  drainage  from  the  city,  yielded  so  heavy 
a  crop  of  grass  that  it  was  cut  six  times  a  year,  and  the  whole  yearly 
crop  was  sold  at  one  hundred  and  twenty  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
per  acre. 

But  even  throwing  the  manuring  process,  strictly  speaking,  out  of 
the  question,  who  can  estimate  the  beneficial  results  of  judicious  irriga- 
tion, if  generally  applied  through  the  country,  wherever  running  water 
is  accessible '?  During  hot  and  dry  summers,  our  parched  and  withered 
grass  fields,  and  our  diminished  and  stunted  ruta  baga  and  potato 
crops,  might  in  many  situations,  be  at  once  stimulated  into  freshness 
and  vigor,  and  doubtless  be  double  in  product.  The  artificial  improve- 
ment of  supplying  manure  to  the  soil,  is  universally  practised  and 
commended,  and  considered  the  first  and  last  requisite  in  successful 
culture ;  while  the  artificial  application  of  water,  which,  unlike  manure, 
costs  nothing,  nor  requires  the  labor  or  expense  of  cartage,  but  is  often 
equally  if  not  more  important,  seems  to  be  nearly  unknown.  Why 
should  the  Yankees  be  behind  other  portions  of  the  world  in  this  par- 
ticular 1  We  do  not  lack  proofs,  sufficient  to  every  observing  mind, 
even  in  the  rough  and  wild  manner  in  which  it  is  performed  by  the 
inundation  of  the  flats  of  creeks  and  rivers,  nor  has  such  proof  been 
wanting,  from  the  overflowing  of  the  Nile  in  ancient  days,  down  to  the 
present  age  of  the  world;  but  the  artificial  process  possesses  this 
eminent  advantage — that  while  the  former  is  uncontrollable  and  uncon- 
trolled— the  latter  may  be  applied  or  withheld  at  pleasure,  as  the  crop 
suffers  from  drought,  or  becomes  injured  by  too  heavy  a  flooding. 


228 


[Senate 


Fig. 


Fig.  3. 


Modes  of  Practice. 

The  simplest  mode  is  represented  in  fig.  1,  where  A.  B.  is  the 
stream  to  be  used,  running  in  the  bottom  of  a  valley.  From  this 
stream  the  water  is  conducted  in  channels  on  each  side,  as  high  up 
the  sides  of  the  valley  as  a  moderate  current  in  those  channels  will 
admit,  and  from  these  the  water  is  made  to  escape  through  holes  in 
small  pieces  of  boards,  placed  at  regular  intervals,  so  as  to  spread 
the  water  over  the  surface  below.  If  the  sides  of  the  valley  are 
steep,  the  angles  w^hich  these  channels  will  form  with  the  main 
stream  will  be  acute,  that  is,  it  will  be  necessary  to  conduct  them  to 
a  considerable  distance  down  the  valley,  in  order  to  recede  much 
from  the  main  stream.  Where,  however,  the  land  is  more  nearly 
level,  they  W'ill  diverge  from  the  stream  more  nearly  at  right  angles. 

Where,  however,  the  land  lies  very  nearly  on  a  level,  it  becomes 
necessary  to  guard  against  the  stagnation  of  the  water  upon  the  sur- 
face. This  object  is  accomplished  by  means  of  the  mode  represented 
in  fig.  2,  where  the  channel  C  carries  the  water  from  the  main  stream, 
and  from  which  again  the  smaller  channels  c  c  c  c,  conduct  the  water 
more  evenly  over  the  surface.  To  prevent  the  water  standing  on  the 
ground,  small  drains  d  d  d  d,  are  made  between  the  channels  and 
alternating  with  them,  which  convey  the  water  to  the  main  drain  D, 
through  which  it  again  empties  into  the  stream. 

When  land  subjected  to  irrigation  is  nearly  level,  it  should  be 
plowed  into  "  lands"  in  such  a  manner  that  the  channels  for  distri- 
buting the  water,  as  in  fig.  2,  may  be  upon  the  ridges,  and  the  drains 


No.  105.]  229 

in  the  dead  furrows.     This  is  shown  by  the  section  represented  by 
fig.  3,  c  c  c  c^  being  the  distributing  channels,  and  d  d  d,  the  drains. 

Laying  out  the  channels. — This  can  never  be  done  with  suffi- 
cient accuracy  without  a  levelling  instrument.  The  cheapest  for  this 
purpose  is  represented  by  fig.  4.  It  consists  of  the  two  legs  AB  and 
ACj  which  should  be  light,  but  not  less  than  ten  feet  long,  connected 
and  stiffened  by  the  cross  bar,  the  two  ends  of  which  must  be  exactly 
equidistant  from  the  point  A.  A  plumb  line  is  suspended  from  the 
summit  A,  and  if  the  legs  stand  on  level  ground,  the  line  will  cut 
the  cross  bar  exactly  in  the  middle  ;  but  if  the  point  of  one  leg  be 
lower  than  the  other,  the  line  will  fall  out  of  the  centre  and  towards 
that  lower  leg.  The  difference  in  the  level  of  the  two  legs  will  be 
accurately  indicated  by  the  graduated  scale  on  the  cross  bar.  If,  for 
instance,  the  distance  AD,  be  one-third  the  length  of  one  of  the 
legs,  (the  angle  formed  by  the  two  legs  being  a  right  angle,)  then  a 
movement  of  the  plumb  line  half  an  inch  from  the  centre,  would 
indicate  a  ditference  in  the  level  of  the  two  points  of  the  legs  of 
about  two  inches.  The  following  is  a  general  rule  for  this  purpose 
applicable  to  all  cases  with  sufficient  accuracy,  where  the  ground  does 
vary  greatly  from  a  level.  Multiply  the  distance  AD,  by  the  num- 
ber of  times  the  leg  exceeds  it  in  length,  then,  as  fourteen  is  to 
twenty,  so  is  the  product  to  the  difference  in  the  level  of  the  two 
points  of  the  legs. 

If  the  two  points  are  therefore  one  rod  apart,  a  channel  may  be 
expeditiously  and  accurately  laid  out,  so  as  to  have  a  slope  of  two 
inches  in  a  rod,  by  placing  the  level  in  such  a  position  that  the  plum 
will  fall  half  an  inch  from  the  centre  if  the  distance  AD  is  one-third 
of  AB,  or  seven-tenths  of  an  inch  from  the  centre,  if  AD  is  half 
of  AB,  according  to  the  above  rule.  Successive  points  are  thus 
found  by  alternately  bringing  forward  the  legs  of  the  instrument, 
each  being  two  inches  lower  than  the  preceding.  Small  sticks  are 
driven  into  the  ground  at  these  points,  and  by  them  a  uniformly  de- 
scending furrow  is  easily  and  accurately  plowed  for  a  distributing 
channel.  If  half  that  slope  only  is  needed,  one-half  the  distance 
from  the  centre  of  the  graduated  bar  is  to  be  taken. 

The  preceding  course  of  marking  the  channel  is  more  particularly 
adapted  to  uneven  ground,  where  every  rod  of  distance  must  be  ac- 
curately known.     But  on  large  tracts  of  nearly  level  land,  it  will  be 


230  [Senate 

easier  to  attarh  two  sights  at  the  ends  of  the  cross  bar,  and  take 
longer  observations,  a  rod,  marked  at  a  height  equal  to  the  height 
of  these  sights,  being  held  at  a  distance  by  an  assistant. 

Such  a  level  mav  be  made  to  close,  like  a  pair  of  compasses,  when 
when  not  in  actual  use.  If  the  points  are  accurately  one  rod  apart, 
the  operation  of  measuring  the  distance  is  combined  with  that  of 
leveling. 

Precautions  needed. — Irrigation,  like  every  other  farm  operation 
of  importance,  needs  to  be  conducted  with  care  and  skill.  A  want 
of  judgment  or  proper  intelligence,  may  in  some  cases  lead  to  failure, 
or  greatly  lessen  advantages. 

Practice   has   fully  shown  that  too  long  a  continued  and  heavy 
flooding  of  upland  plants,   is  actually  prejudicial  to  their  growth. 
The   plants   should  enjoy  the  full  benefits  of  both  air  and  water. 
There  is  no  better  way  of  accomplishing  this  object  than  to  keep  the 
water  constantly  passing  over  the  surface  in  a  tolerably  brisk  current. 
It  must  not  be  so  rapid  as  to  wash  away  the  soil,  nor  so  slow  as  to 
stagnate,  or  to  drown  the  plants.     It  is  only  while  water  is  in  motion 
that  plants  are  enabled  to  draw  from  it  to  advantage  by  successive  fresh 
supplies  the  nutritive  substances  it  contains  in  solution.     A  farmer  ac- 
customed to  the  appearance  of  plants  when  in  the  most  rapid  and 
healthful  state  of  vegetation,  will  detect  at  a  glance  any  injury  which  an 
overdose  of  water  may  occasion,  when  the  supply  should  be  withdrawn. 
Excessive  irrigation  may  also  prove  injurious  where  it  produces  a  wa- 
ter-soaked subsoil,  the  remedy  for  which  should  be  draining.     Indeed, 
so  different  in  nature  is  a  water-soaked  and  an  irrigated  soil,  that  while 
the  former  injures,  the  latterbenefits ;  the  former  state  resulting  from 
a  want  of  draining,  and  the  latter  always  proving  most  eminently  bene- 
ficial on  well  drained  land,  where  stagnant  water  can  never  accumulate. 
Equal  success  has  not  always  attended  irrigation,  in  consequence 
of  the  different  quantities  of  enriching  matter  contained  in  different 
streams.     The  most  valuable,  usually,  are  those  which  have  passed 
through  a  thickly  populated  country,  and  have  received  and  become 
saturated  with  different  kinds  of  waste  manures.     Hence  the  drainage 
of  sewers,  and   the   washings  of   roads,    are  particularly  valuable. 
Sometimes,  however,  there  are  fertilizing  substances  derived  from 
the  soil  or  the  minerals  it  contains,  which  may  not  in  the  least  dis- 
order the  water,  and  yet  be  of  very  important  benefit.     These  can 


No.  105.]  231 

only  be  known  by  their  effects  in  practice,  or  by  analysis.  But  these 
considerations  more  particularly  demand  attention  in  cool  and  moist 
climates,  as  in  Britain,  where  the  simple  application  of  water  is  un- 
important. Hence  there  autumn  and  winter  irrigation  is  much  prac- 
tised the  water  being  then  charged  with  animal  and  vegetable  matters 
which  have  accumulated  during  the  summer.  In  the  United  States, 
where  a  supply  of  water  during  drougth  and  heat  is  so  much  more 
essential,  this  difference  in  the  richness  of  water  is  not  so  visibly 
observed. 

In  using  small  streams,  on  considerable  acclivities,  by  catch-work 
as  represented  in  fig.  1,  temporary  means  of  diverting  the  water  from 
the  main  channel  may  be  resorted  to,  and  there  can  possibly  be  a  failure. 
But  in  larger  streams,  the  work  should  always  be  well  formed  at 
once.  A  good  permanent  dam  must  be  made,  and  substantial  hatclies^ 
or  solid  framework  furnished  with  a  sliding  gate,  inserted.  In  using 
small  streams,  many  diverging  channels  may  be  cut ;  in  large  ones 
this  cannot  be  done,  from  the  cost  of  many  large  dams ;  a  single 
dam  may  therefore  be  used,  from  which  a  main  side  channel  should 
pass,  to  be  subdivided  according  to  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 

Irrigation  will  always  need  an  exercise  of  the  judgment,  to  be  done 
in  the  best  manner ;  no  two  pieces  of  land  being  exactly  alike,  and 
the  irregularities  of  the  surface  varying  in  many  ways,  the  plan  of 
the  work,  or  the  distribution  of  the  channels  must  vary.  Each, 
therefore,  requires  a  different  design,  adapted  to  the  circumstances 
of  the  case.  But  no  one  should  be  deterred  from  an  attempt,  nor 
lose  the  eminent  advantages  of  irrigating  his  grounds,  because  he 
cannot  attain  perfection  at  once. 

It  is  sometimes  objected  to  watering  grass  and  other  lands,  that 
the  crop,  though  greatly  increased  in  quantity,  is  lessened  in  quality. 
This  is  indeed  true  to  a  small  degree,  but  not  more  so  than  results 
from  an  increased  growth  by  stable  manure.  The  slight  inferiority 
in  quality  is  immeasurably  overbalanced  by  the  increase  in  bulk.  No 
objector  would  desire  his  hay  crop  to  be  lessened  one-half  in  quantity 
by  a  parching  drought,  in  order  that  the  hay  might  be  better. 

Application  to  different  crops. — Irrigation  is  usually  applied 
to  grass  land,  but  there  appears  to  be  no  reason  why  it  may  not  be 
greatly  advantageous  if  used  for  different  cultivated  crops  during  our 
hot  summers.     S.  Williams,  of  Waterloo,  N.  Y.,  states  that  during 


232  [Senate 

a  severe  drougth,  he  admitted  water  in  small  gutters  between  the 
hills  and  rows  of  vegetables  in  his  garden.  "  In  ten  days  early  po- 
tatoes grew  two-thirds  in  size."  In  fact  he  never  obtained  good 
potatoes  before.  Other  vegetables  were  greatly  benefitted.  The 
great  increase  by  watering,  in  the  growth  of  spinach,  lettuce  and 
strawberries,  by  the  English  and  Flemish  gardeners,  is  well  known. 
In  a  warmer  climate,  the  advantages  would  be  increased.  "The 
melon,"  says  Lindley,  "  acquires  its  highest  excellence  in  countries 
where  its  roots  are  always  immersed  in  water,  as  in  the  floating 
islands  of  Cashmere,  the  irrigated  fields  of  Persia,  and  the  springy 
river  beds  of  India."  But  the  same  experiments  were  not  attended 
with  such  success  in  London,  where  the  leaves  perspire  less,  and  the 
climate  is  cooler.  During  the  past  summer,  raspberry  plants,  watered 
by  the  drippings  from  the  eaves  of  a  workhouse,  grew  triple  the  size 
of  others  deprived  of  this  advantage. 

But  as  all  plants  are  rendered  more  succulent  by  watering,  the 
supply  of  water  should  be  withheld  to  all  that  bear  fruit,  as  the  pe- 
riod of  maturity  approaches,  or  diminished  flavor  will  be  the  conse- 
quence. 

Calculating  the  velocity  of  water  in  channels. — It  often 
becomes  a  matter  of  some  consequence,  not  only  in  cutting  channels 
for  irrigation,  but  for  surface  drains  in  reclaiming  wet  lands,  to  know 
the  exact  amount  of  water  which  may  be  carried  with  a  given  descent 
in  the  stream.  To  enable  any  person  to  calculate  this  readily,  the 
following  rule  is  given,  and  may  be  readily  used  by  any  boy  who 
understands  common  arithmetic. 

To  ascertain  the  mean  velocity  of  water  in  a  canal  or  river  flowing 
through  a  straight  channel  of  equal  size  throughout : 
Let  /=  the  fall  in  one  English  mile  in  inches  : 
Let  d  =  the  hydraulic  mean  depth  ; 
Let  V  =  the  velocity  in  inches  per  second,  then 

V  =  1.23vW- 

The  hydraulic  mean  depth  is  a  quantity,  which  when  multiplied 
by  the  perimeter  of  the  channel  in  contact  with  the  water,  gives  an 
area  equal  to  the  area  of  the  section. 

Example  :  Suppose  a  furrow  is  cut  six  inches  wide  and  four  inches 
deep,  with  perpendicular  sides,  and  that  it  descends  one  inch  in  a 


No.  105.]  233 

rod  ;  to  find  the  quantity  of  water  that  will  flow  In  it.  It  will  fall 
320  inches  in  a  mile  ;  the  perimeter  in  contact  with  the  water  will 
be,  six  inches  on  the  bottom  and  four  inches  at  each  side  =  l4 
inches  ;  the  area  of  the  section  will  be  6  times  4  =  24,  which  di- 
vided by  14,  the  perimeter,  gives  1.7  =  the  hydraulic  mean  depth. 
Then  by  applying  the  above  rule, 

y  =1 .  23  v/320xl  .7  =  1. 23x7 .4  =  9.1  inches,  the  velocity  per  se- 
cond, or  about  one  gallon  per  second,  or  one  hogshead  per  minute. 
In  practice,  considerable  allowance  must  be  made  for  rough  and 
uneven  sides  and  bottom,  which  would  tend  to  retard  the  current. 
In  larsfer  channels,  the  calculation  would  be  more  accurate. 


HINTS  ON  THE  CONSTRUCTION  OF  FARM-HOUSES 


Any  one  may  see  that  a  decided  taste  is  beginning  to  manifest  it^ 
self  at  the  present  moment  in  rural  architecture.  Every  where,  in 
the  middle  and  eastern  StateSj  one  sees  that  the  newly  built  cottages 
and  villas  are  no  longer  in  those  clumsy  and  unmeaning  forms  that 
ten  years  ago  so  generally  prevailed. 

This  is  a  most  hopeful  and  encouraging  symptom.  It  tells  us  very 
plainly  that  our  country  proprietors  have  begun  to  give  some  thought 
to  the  construction  of  their  own  houses  ;  that  they  aire  no  longer  con-^ 
tent  with  what  the  nearest  carpenter  or  mason  may  have  to  offer  as 
the  latest  style  ;  that  they  have  at  least  a  desire  for  something  fit  for 
their  own  wants,  the  beauty  of  which  is*  of  a  kind  becoming  and  suit- 
able to  the  purpose  in  view-. 

In  this  aspect  of  things,  nothing  is  more  to  be  desired,  than  the 
general  prevalence  of  correct  principles  of  taste  among  our  agricul- 
turists of  intelligence. 

The  Farm-House  in  this  country  is  not  the  hovel  of  a  serf.  It  is 
not  the  hut  of  a  peasant.  It  is  the  cottage  of  a  freeman^— the  pro- 
prietor of  the  soil  he  cultivates.  It  is  the  home  of  the  best  virtues 
and  the  soundest  hearts.  It  must  necessarily-^if  it  be  true  to  itself — 
give  a  character  of  moral  and  physical  beauty  to  the  whole  rural 
scenery  of  the  Union.  Let  us  not  deny,  therefore^  the  importance 
of  the  farm-house.  It  seems  to  us  to  be  w^orthy  of  the  attention  of 
every  one  who  would  render  our  country  life  expressive  of  its  true 
usefulness  and  beauty. 

We  should  be  glad  in  this  brief  space,  to  say  a  few  words  about 
farm-houses  ;  our  limits  will,  however,  only  permit  us  to  point  out  a 
few  errors  into  which  our  country  builders  have  hitherto  fallen. 
Something  may  perhaps  be  gained  even  by  considering  the  mistakes 
into  which  those  most  commonly  fall,  who  have  built  with  little  re* 
flection. 


No.  105.] 


235 


In  the  first  place,  we  think  a  farm-house  should  be  unniistdkeahly 
a  farm-house.  That  is  to  say,  it  should  not  be  a  citizen's  dwelling- 
house,  or  a  suburban  villa,  set  down  in  the  midst  of  a  plain  farm. 

Nothing  has  been  more  common  for  the  past  ten  years,  than  to  see 
a  good  substantial  farmer  building  a  large  plain  dwelling — unobjec- 
tionable enough  as  a  plain  dwelling— but  to  which  he  has  been  per- 
suaded to  add  a  Grecian  portico — {Jig-  !•) — ^copied  from  a  great 
house  of  the  neighboring  town  or  village* 

{Fig.  1.) 


The  portico  is  very  well  where  it  belongs — ^as  a  part  of  a  hand- 
some villa,  every  part  of  which  is  carefully  finished  with  correspond-' 
ing  elegance.  It  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  a  true  farm-house.' 
It  is  too  high  to  be  comfortable  by  its  shade  or  shelter.  It  is  too' 
costly  and  handsome,  to  accord  with  the  neat  and  rustic  character  of 
a  farm-house.  But  it  has  been  the  fashion  of  the  day,  and,  if  the 
farmer  has  not  reflected  for  himself,  it  is  ten  to  one  that  he  has  fallen 
a  victim  to  it,  instead  of  employing  the  more  comfortable  and  more 
characteristic  verandah.      {Fig.  2.) 


[Senate 


PEASE. 


Another  of  the  greatest  mistakes  in  building  a  farm-house,  is  to 
adopt  any  thing  like  <\jlat  roof. —  {Fig.  3.)  — A  broad  and  rather  high 
roof  is  as  essentially  a  handsome  feature  in  a  farm-house,  as  the  ex- 

(Ho-.  3.) 


panded  chest  and  broad  shoulders,  are  in  the  farmer  himself.  It  is 
a  kind  of  beauty  that  springs  out  of  a  most  natural  and  enduring 
source — manifest  utility. 


No.  105.] 


237 


The  roof  of  a  farmer's  house  ought  then  to  be  high,  so  as  to  give 
him  an  ample  garret — that  useful  store-house  of  country  varieties.  It 
ought  to  be  rather  steep,  to  bear  and  carry  off  rapidly  the  burdens 
of  heavy  snows  and  the  violence  of  wintry  storms.  It  ought  to  be 
strong,  and  little  liable  to  speedy  decay — that  the  purse  may  not  be 
called  on  for  frequent  repairs. 

The  flat  roof  comes  to  us  from  southern  countries  and  mild  climates. 
In  town-houses,  and  ornamental  villas,  in  the  classical  styles  let  the 
architect  satisfy  the  demands  of  art  with  such  a  covering  to  his  house. 
But  in  the  exposed  farm-house,  in  our  blustering,  sturdy  weather  of 
the  north,  the  farmer  should  have  none  of  it.  He  must  nestle  ujider 
the  high  and  broad  roof  which  properly  belongs  to  a  northern  climate. 
{Fig.  4.)  This  has  all  the  beauty  of  thoroughly  answering  its  pur- 
pose, and  conveying  at  a  glance  the  most  complete  notions  of  comfort. 

{Fig.  4.) 


When  it  is  desired  to  render  a  l^rm-house  ornamental,  it  is  the 
most  fatal,  though  the  most  common  of  all  mistakes,  to  suppose  it 
should  be  done  by  the  imitation — the  mengre  imitation — of  some  gen- 
tleman's fine  house.  It  is  a  mode  that  is  never  successful.  It  is  the 
old  story  of  the  jay  in  his  borrowed  peacock's  plumes.  Every  one 
detects  and  exposes  the  want  of  fitness  and  propriety.     Fluted  col- 


238  [Senate 

lumns,  ornamental  pediments,  moulded  friezes,  and  the  like,  have 
little  or  nothing  to  do  with  farm-houses.  They  will  give  an  ambi- 
tious and  flashy  character  to  the  front  •  it  will  be  belied  by  the  use- 
ful and  every  day  character  of  the  rear. 

The  truth  is,  a  farmer's  house  looks  as  ill  when  bedecked  with  the 
stolen  ornaments  of  a  highly  architectural  villa,  as  the  honest,  digni- 
fied, plain  farmer  himself  would,  if  tricked  out  in  the  fashionable  fin. 
ery  of  the  reigning  Paris  exquisite.  The  beauty  of  propriety  is  a 
species  of  moral  beauty  even  in  houses  and  clothes. 

There  should  be  a  kind  of  homely  country-like  air  about  every 
genuine  farm-house.  It  ought  at  the  first  glance  to  be  recognised  as 
belonging  to  the  open  meadows,  orchards  and  pastures,  that  surround, 
and  the  fresh  luxuriant  trees  that  wave  over  it.  It  should  be  neat 
and  strong,  and  capacious,  and  comfortable.  If  something  is  wanted 
beyond  this— and  we  are  sure  our  farming  countrymen  will  more  and 
more  desire  a  manifestation  of  the  agreeable  about  their  houses — -then 
should  something  ornamental  combine  itself  with  the  most  important 
and  useful  features  of  the  house.  Let  a  veranda  be  added,  which  may 
be  adorned,  not  so  much  with  expensive  pillars,  as  with  beautiful  and 
flagrant  climbing  plants.  Let  the  porch  be  made  a  suitable  covering 
to  the  principal  entrances.  Let  the  gables  be  enriched  with  simple 
ornaments,  and  the  chimney  stacks  be  built  in  some  pleasing  forms. 
These  are  the  first  points  that  really  demand  attention  in  a  farmer's 
house,  w^hich  we  wish  to  raise  to  its  highest  expression  of  fitness  and 
beauty.  Some  examples  of  this  kind  of  rural  architecture  we  hope 
to  be  able  to  offer  at  no  distant  time.  These  trifling  hints  may  per- 
haps lead  some  agricultural  friend  to  consider  what  is  essential  to 
the  character  of  a  farm-house,  and  thus  at  least  prevent  his  marring 
the  beauty  of  simplicity  and  propriety. 

A.  J.  DOWNING, 
Highland  Gardens,  JVewburgh^  Jan^  1846, 


No.  105.]  239 


FIELD  CROPS. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  examination  of  the  state- 
ments of  the  competitors  for  the  premiums  offered  by  the  New-York 
State  Agricultural  Society  on  the  following  field  crops  :  Winter  Wheat, 
Spring  Wheat,  Barley,  and  Oats  having  attended  to  that  duty,  respect- 
fully report : 

WINTER  WHEAT. 

EDWARD    RIVENBERG. 

The  first  premium  of  $15  is  awarded  to  Edward  Rivenberg  of  the 
town  of  Vernon,  Oneida.     His  statement  is  as  follows: 

Soil  in  poor  condition  at  the  commencement  of  cultivation  ;  previous 
crop  peas  from  one  plowing,  and  peas  plowed  in  without  manure. 
For  the  crop  of  wheat  summer  fallowed  with  twenty-five  loads  of  ma- 
nure to  the  acre  ;  plowed  three  times  near  ten  inches  deep.  Sown  the 
24th  of  August  broadcast,  with  three  bushels  of  Canada  Flint  to  the 
acre.  Harvested  about  the  middle  of  July,  with  the  sickle  and  cradle, 
and  cleaned  in  the  ordinary  way  with  fanning  mill.  The  amount  of 
crop  by  actual  weight  was  one  hundred  and  ten  bushels  and  twenty 
pounds  from  the  two  acres. 

Expense  and  -profit  of  crop. 

Rent  of  two  acres  of  land $10  00 

Fifty  loads  manure  3s 18  75 

Four  days  plowing  12s 6  00 

Half  day  harrowing, 75 

Harvesting  five  days,  8s 5  00 

Carting  one  day,  16s 2  00 

Threshing  at  8  cents    8  81 

Cleaning  two  hands  one  day,  6s 1  50 

$52  61 

Cr, 

By  llOf «  bushels  at  8s.  6d 106  85 

By  straw 5  00 


$121  65 
52  81 


Showing  a  profit  of 69  04  profit. 

Yield  per  acre  55^  J  bushels. 


240  [Senate 

stephen  b.  dudley. 

The  second  premium  of  10  is  awarded  to  Stephen  B.  Dudley  of  On- 
tario county. 

Mr.  Dudley  gives  the  following  statement :  Soil  gravelly  loam,  call- 
ed here  oak  openings.  The  field  produced  broom  corn  two  years  be- 
fore, and  was  then  mauured  with  25  waggon  loads  to  the  acre.  Last 
year  it  produced  barley  without  any  manure.  In  Sept.  1844,  it  was 
ploughed  and  sowed  (the  10th)  broadcast,  with  five  bushels  of  wheat, 
known  as  Soul's  wheat;  sown  dry  without  any  preparation;  harrowed 
in  both  ways. 

Plastered  in  April  following,  1 J  bushels  to  the  acre.  Harvested  about 
the  24th  of  July,  and  threshed  in  August;  measured  in  a  half  bushel, 
one  of  which  weighed  30^  pounds. 

Expense  and  profit  of  crop. 

Ploughing  2i  days  at  16s $5  00 

Sowing  and  harrowing,  1  day    2  00 

Five  bushels  seed,  8s 5  00 

Plaster  and  putting  on   1  50 

Harvesting  and  carting 3  00 

Threshing  and  cleaning  at  6  cents  per  bushel. .  .  6  75 


$23  25 


Cr. 


Value  of  crop  112^^  bushels  at  $1  per  bushel,  $112  50 
Straw  and  chaff 7  50 


120  00 
Showing  a  profit  of 23  25 

96  75 


Mr.  Dudley's  field  contained  two  acres  and  thirty-nine  rods,  being  a 
fraction  over  fifty  bushels  per  acre. 


ABRAHAM    FAIRCHILDS. 


The  third  premium  of  two  volumes  transactions  is  awarded  to  Abra- 
ham Fairchilds,  of  Arcadia,  Wayne  co. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  soil,  culture,  &c.  Gravelly  loom, 
previous  crop  pasture  ;  the  ground  sward  ploughed  first  in  June  1844, 
then  harrowed,  then  cultivated  with  the  two  hf)rse  cultivator;  after- 
wards cross  ploughed  three  times,  and  harrowed  and  cultivated  each 
time.  The  object  of  so  much  labor  was  to  destroy  Canada  thistles. 
Sown  the  13th  of  Sept.     Harrowed  and  cultivated  in  one  and  three- 


No.  105.]  241 

fourths  bushels  per  acre.  One  acre  is  sown  with  Souks,  one  with 
White  Flint,  and  harvested  the  23d  of  July,  cut  with  cradle  and  thresh- 
ed with  machine. 


I 


Expense  and  profit  of  one  acre. 

Produce :  One  acre  of  Souls  wheat,  51  bush $51   14 

Expense  :  Four  ploughings, $5  00 

Harrow^ing,   1  00 

Cultivating, 1  50 

1  f  bushels  seed, 1  75 

Harvesting,   3  00 

Threshing,  Sets,  per  bushel, 4  00 

Interest  on  land  at  $30  per  acre, ...     2  10 

18  35 

Profit  on  one  acre, $32  79 

One  acre  of  white  flint  produced  39^^. 

The  two  acres  producing  90f^  at  a  cost  of  $36  86,  giving  a  profit 
of  $53  55. 

The  two  acres  were  taken  from  a  field  of  17  acres  ;  12  Soules,  5 
white  flint ;  the  Soules  was  very  even  ;  the  white  flint  not  as  even, 
being  sown  near  the  woods. 


Nathaniel  S.  Wright,  of  Vernon,  Oneida  county,  made  application 
for  a  premium  on  two  acres  of  winter  wheat,  producing  79  bushels 
and  twenty-eight  quarts,  at  a  profit  of  $46.28. 

Daniel  Gates,  of  Sullivan,  Madison  county,  applied  for  a  premium 
on  winter  wheat,  at  44  bushels  per  acre. 

R.  L.  Pell,  of  Pelham,  forwarded  a  communication  to  the  com- 
mittee on  the  preparation  of  seed  w^heat,  a  preparation  for  the  top- 
dressing  of  wheat ;  and  the  weight  of  the  wheat  so  produced,  per  bushel, 
being  sixty-five  pounds,  and  a  sample  of  flour  from  the  same,  which  is 
of  very  superior  quality.  The  quantity  of  the  several  preparations, 
and  the  amount  thus  produced,  is  not  given. 

The  committee  have  returned  the  paper,  hoping  the  society  may 
receive  a  more  definite  statement  of  his  experiments. 

Samuel  Davison,  of  Green,  Monroe  country,  has  furnished  the  com- 
mittee with  a  paper  giving  his  experiments  on  six  different  pieces  of 
wheat  which  have  proved  an  extra  yield.  The  committee  have  awarded 
him  a  discretionary  premium  of  eight  dollars. 

ROSWELL  HARMON. 


[Senate,  No.  105.]  16 


242  Senate 


EXTRACTS  FROM   CAYUGA  COUNTY  REPORT. 
SARAH  WARN. 

The  quantity  of  land  is  eleven  acres  ;  summer  fallowed,  plowed 
three  times  ;  soil  sandy  gravelly  loam.  The  seed  sown  were  of  the 
Flint  and  Hutchinson  varieties.  Harvested  and  threshed  together. 
The  yield  from  the  eleven  acres  was  420  bushels,  averaging  38^i  bu- 
shels per  acre.  Nine  out  of  the  eleven  acres  no  doubt  would  have 
turned  something  over  40  bushels  to  the  acre,  and  if  the  best  acre 
had  been  selected  from  the  nine,  no  doubt  there  would  have  been 
nearly,  or  quite  fifty  bushels  from  that  acre. 

Expense  of  plowing  11  acres  3  times, , ,  $33  00 

"            seed  2  bushels  per  acre, 22  00 

"            harrowing  5  times, 11  00 

"            harvesting, 16  00 

"            carting  2  days,  team  and  4  hands, 6  00 

"            threshing  and  cleaning  at  10  cts.  per  bushel, . .  42  00 

Interest  on  land  at  $100  per  acre, 77  00 

Total, $207  00 

Cr.  By  420  bushels  wheat,  at  $1,  420  00 

Nett  profits, , $213  00 


The  above  estimate  is  near  the  cost  and  profits  of  the  crop  of 
wheat. 

N.  B.  There  was  applied  about  20  loads  of  barnyard  manure  per 
acre  on  the  nine  acres  above  mentioned. 

Sennett,  Jan.  12fh,  1846, 


THOMAS    OGDEN. 

I  raised  on  my  farm  about  fourteen  acres  of  winter  wheat,  which 
averaged  about  27  bushels  per  acre.  About  one  half,  or  seven  acres, 
after  spring  wheat,  barley,  and  meadow,  once  plowed.  The  remain- 
der summer  fallow,  plowed  three  times.  The  whole  soil  a  sandy 
gravelly  loam.  The  part  sowed  after  spring  crops  averaged  as  high  as 
the  fallow.  But  my  best  acre  was  selected  from  the  fallow  part^ 
which  was  harvested  and  threshed  separate.  It,  when  cleaned,, 
measured  38  i  bushels. 


No.  105.]  243 


Expense  of  plowing  3  times,  1  acre, $3  00 

"            seed,  2  bushels,  at  |1, 2  00 

"            harrowing  5  times, 1  25 

"           manure,  6  loads, 3  00 

'*            harvesting, 1  50 

"            carting  and  threshing, 3  50 


Total, $14  25 


Cr.  By  38|-  bushels  wheat  at  10^, |48  12^ 

Deduct  for  expenses, 14  25 

133  871 
From  which  deduct  interest  of  land  at  $50  per  acre, 3  50 

Nett  proceeds  from  the  acre, $30  2>1\ 

Sennett,  January  12, 1846. 


EXTRACT  FROM  CORTLAND  COUNTY  REPORT. 
OLIVER  M.  SHEDD. 

From  219  square  rods  we  gathered  703  sheaves,  which,  being 
thrashed  and  cleaned  up  measured  42  J  bushels.  This  crop  was  sown 
after  spring  wheat,  the  ground  being  once  plowed,  the  stubble  being 
turned  in  about  eight  inches  deep  the  first  week  in  August, no  ma- 
nure being  applied  the  first  week  in  September.  The  ground  was 
twice  thoroughly  dragged ;  the  9th  September  the  ground  was  sown 
at  the  rate  of  two  bushels  of  the  Hutchinson  wheat  to  the  acre,  and 
thoroughly  dragged  twice  and  rolled  down.  When  the  wheat  was 
fully  up  in  the  blade,  there  was  a  top  dressing  put  on  at  the  rate  of 
eight  bushels  of  fresh  lirne,  four  bushels  of  house  ashes,  and  one  of 
plaster,  being  mixed  together.  The  crop  was  cut  the  21st  of  July, 
1845,  while  the  berry  was  yet  soft,  so  that  it  might  be  mashed  with 
the  fingers,  bound  up  and  capped  so  as  to  protect  it  from  the  sun 
whilst  curing. 

Expenses  of  crop. 

For  once  plowing, $1  00 

For  twice  dragging, 1  00 

Three  bushels  of  seed,  at  7s 2  63 

Expenses  of  sowing,  dragging,  rolling, 1  50 

The  top  dressing  and  labor  for  putting  on, 2  00 

Cutting  and  securing, 1  70 

$11  83 


244  [Senate 

EXTRACTS  FROM  LEWIS  COUNTY  REPORT. 
RUFUS    STEPHENS. 

Awarded  first  premium. 

The  land  was  an  old  pasture,  taken  up  the  year  previous  and 
planted  to  corn.  Next  season  summer  fallowed  ;  plowed  three  times; 
no  manure  used  ;  seed,  White  Canada  Flint  ;  1%  bushels  per  acre  ; 
sowed  3d  September  ;  harrowed  both  ways  and  rolled  ;  cradled  6th 
August,  and  put  up  in  Dutch  shocks,  where  it  remained  four  days 
when  it  was  drawn  in. 

Expense  plowing, $4  00 

"      harrowing, 1  00 


$5  00 


Product  43|  bushels  per  acre. 
Martinshurgh. 


EXTRACT  FROM  ONEIDA  COUNTY  REPOST. 
D.  SKINNER. 

In  the  spring  of  1843,  I  broke  up  a  little  over  an  acre  of  green 
sward  previously  in  pasture,  and  in  good  heart.  I  put  on  a  few  loads 
of  barn-yard  manure  on  a  part  of  it  only,  and  raised  potatoes  on  the 
whole. 

In  the  spring  of  1844,  I  put  a  few  (say  four  or  five)  loads  of  ma- 
nure of  the  same  kind,  on  that  part  of  the  piece  which  had  received 
none  the  previous  year,  and  sowed  jpeas  on  the  piece.  After  harves- 
ting the  peas,  I  plowed  the  ground  about  eight  inches  deep,  then 
drew  from  Utica  ten  two  horse  wagon  loads  of  leached  ashes  and 
spread  them  evenly  over  the  ground,  harrowed  it  thoroughly,  sowed 
the  w^heat  and  plowed  it  lis^htly  in,  on  the  last  day  of  August,  1844, 
and  then  harrowed  it  once  lightly  over. 

I  used  for  seed  tw^o  bushels  of  white  flint  wheat,  procured  from 
Monroe  county.  The  merchant  of  whom  I  bought  it  in  Utica  thought 
it  was  what  some  called  the  Hutchinson  wheat.  I  soaked  it  in  a 
strong  brine  of  salt  and  water,  skimmed  off  all  the  light  and  foul 
seeds,  (though  there  was  not  much  of  either,)  then  rolled  it  in  lime 
and  sowed  it  as  above. 

It  wintered  well,  and  did  well  through  the  season,  till  about  a 
week  before  it  was  ripe  enough  to  cut,  I  then  discovered  that  the 
rust  had  struck  the  whole  of  it  with  great  violence,  and  I  therefore 
cut  it  several  days  before  it  was  fully  ripe,  and  the  yield  was  by 
weight,  41  bushels  and  9i  pounds,  as  stated  in  Mr.  Northup's  certi- 
ficate accompanying  this  statement.  Had  not  the  rust  struck  it,  I 
believe  there  would  have  been  some  two  or  three  bushels  more  to  the 
acre.  The  berry  is  quite  plump,  but  would  have  been  extraordina- 
.n7i/ so,  but  for  this  cause. 


No.  105.]  245 

I  would  further  remark  that  the  barn  floor  on  which  the  wheat  was 
threshed,  was  an  old  floor  with  several  large  cracks  in  it  by  which 
I  am  confident  a  number  of  quarts  were  lost ;  this  being  the  first 
threshing  done  on  it  this  season,  and  I  had  not  examined  and  stop- 
ped the  crevices  till  after  threshing  the  wheat. 

One  further  remark  respecting  the  wheat  fly,  commonly  (though 
erroneously)  called  the  weevil.  I  discovered  none  of  these  insects  in 
or  about  the  wheat  till  nearly  the  whole  of  it  had  gotten  so  far  ad- 
vanced as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  this  pest  of  the  wheat  grower. 
But  as  there  were  a  few  apple  trees  standing  in  the  field,  under  which 
in  consequence  of  their  shade,  the  wheat  was  several  days  later  than 
elsewhere,  I  noticed  that  the  wheat  under  the  trees  was  seriously  af- 
fected by  the  fly,  and  that  immediately  after  the  rest  of  the  wheat 
had  passed  out  of  their  reach,  or  power  to  harm  it,  they  were  quite 
numerous  through  the  whole  of  it,  from  which  I  naturally  inferred 
that,  had  I  sown  the  wheat  much  later  than  I  did,  the  whole  of  it 
might  have  been  materially  or  fatally  injured  by  the  wheat  fly. 

Deer  field  J  December,  1845. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  WASHINGTON  COUNTY  REPORT. 

JAMES    STEVENSON. 

A  statement  of  the  mode  of  culture  of  a  crop  of  wheat  raised  in  the 
town  of  Argyle,  county  of  Washington,  embracing  the  following  par- 
ticulars. 

1st.  The  kind  of  soil  upon  which  was  raised  said  wheat,  may  be 
ranked  as  gravel,  and  subsoil  is  also  gravel. 

2d.  The  situation  was  upon  the  hill-side,  inclining  to  the  west, 
and  is  a  dry  situation. 

3d.  The  previous  condition  of  field  for  the  last  thirty  years  has  been 
various;  it  has  been  under  culture  for  at  least  thirty  years,  and  has 
uniformly  yielded  a  good  crop ;  for  three  years  previous  to  its  being 
sown  with  this  crop  of  wheat  it  was  pastured, 

4th.  There  was  no  manure  or  other  fertilizing  agent  employed  up- 
on the  field  for  the  last  four  years. 

5th.  The  ground  was  first  plowed  on  the  25th  or  26th  of  June, 
1844,  and  again  plowed   and   sown  about  the  26th  day  of  August, 
1844,  and  harrowed  over  twice;  once  with  a  double,  and  once  with 
,a  single  stroke. 

6th.  There  was  eight  bushels  of  the  white  bearded  wheat,  sown 
upon  the  whole  four  acres  of  ground,  and  there  was  no  preparation 
of  the  wheat  before  it  was  sown. 

7th.  There  was  no  subsequent  cultivation  after  the  wheat  was 
sown. 


246  [Senate 

9th.  The  value  of  man  and  team  in  plowing  and  preparing 

the  ground, |2  75 

The  value  of  the  seed, 2  00 

The  value  of  sowing  and  harrowing, 0  75 

Value  of  harvesting  and  drawing  into  barn, 3  00 

The  value  of  thrashing, 2  50 

The  value  of  interest  upon  the  land  at  $30  per  acre, 2  45 

|13  45 


The  market  value  of  the  crop  44||  bushels  at  $1,  $44  87 h 

46  87 


The  market  value  of  the  straw, 2  00 


Nett  profit  of  the  crop,         '      $33  42^ 


JAMES    T.  GREEN. 

From  one  acre  of  land  lying  and  being  in  the  town  of  Jackson, 
county  of  Washington,  I  have  raised  forty-four  bushels  and  three 
pecks  of  \\inter  wheat  this  present  year.  The  soil,  culture,  measure- 
ment and  situation  of  the  land  is  as  follows,  to  wit :  The  soil  is  a 
mixture  of  slate  and  loam  ;  the  land  lays  nearly  level,  but  inclining 
a  little  to  the  east,  and  shaded  on  the  west  and  north  by  wood  land. 
The  land  had  been  cleared  about  five  years  ;  no  crop  had  preceded  it ; 
it  was  plowed  for  the  first  time  the  fall  previous ;  the  next  June 
cross  plowed,  and  again  the  first  of  August ;  the  fourth  and  last  time 
it  was  plowed  the  last  of  August,  and  sowed  on  the  3d  or  4th  of 
September,  1844.  No  manure  nor  plaster  was  put  upon  the  land. 
The  wheat  sown  upon  the  acre  was  one  bushel  and  a  half ;  before 
sown  it  was  simply  wet  with  pickle,  and  three  pecks  of  slacked  lime 
put  upon  it.  The  ground  was  measured  before  the  grain  was  cut  in 
presence  of  myself  and  William  Weir,  of  said  town.  The  area  of 
ground  was  precisely  160  rods.  The  wheat,  three-fourths  of  it  was 
cut  with  a  cradle,  the  rest  by  sickle  and  threshed  by  horses  ;  the  grain 
measured  by  myself  in  a  sealed  half  bushel. 

N.  B.  The  sides  of  the  acre  were  ten  by  sixteen  rods. 


EXTRACT  FROM  WAYNE  COUNTY  REPORT. 
ABRAHAM    FAIRCHILD. 

The  kind  of  soil  on  which  my  crop  of  wheat  mentioned  in  the  an- 
nexed certificates  was  grown,  is 
Jljis.  Gravelly  loam. 
The  previous  crop  was. 


No.  105.]  247 

Ans.  Pasture. 

Amount  and  kind  of  manure  to  previous  crop, 

Ans.  None. 

Time  and  frequency  of  plowing,  harrowing,  &c.,  in  preparing  for 
the  crop, 

Ans.  The  ground  was  sward  and  plowed  first  time,  in  June,  1844. 
Then  harrowed,  then  cultivated  with  two  horse  cultivator,  then  after- 
wards the  same  ground  was  cross  ploughed  three  times,  and  each 
time  between  plowing,  it  was  harrowed  and  cultivated  as  above. 
The  object  of  so  much  labor  w^as  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the 
thistle. 

Time  and  manner  of  sowing. 

Ans.  It  was  sowed  about  the  13th  of  September,  1844. 

Kind  of  seed,  and  quantity  per  acre. 

Ans.  The  kind  of  seed  was  Soul's.  The  quantity  per  acre  was 
about  1|  bushels. 

After  culture. 

Ans.  After  sowing  it  was  cultivated  and  then  harrowed. 

Time  and  manner  of  harvesting. 

Ans.  Harvested  about  the  23d  July,  1845,  and  cradled  and  raked 
up  and  bound  into  bundles  in  the  usual  way.  The  grain  was  thrash- 
ed by  and  with  thrashing  machine. 

The  whole  expense  per  acre  of  producing  and  harvesting  the 
crop,  as  near  as  can  be  stated,  including  the  value  of  seed,  the  labor 
of  men  and  teams  at  cost,  was 

Four  plowings, $5  00 

"     harrowings, 1  00 

"     cultivatings, 1  50 

IS  bushels  seed, 1  75 

Harvesting, 3  00 

Threshing,  8  cts.  per  bushel, 4  08 

Interest  of  land  at  $30, 2  10 

$18  43 


Yield  for  one  acre  was  49^  bushels,  by  measure,  and 
w^eighed  62  lbs.  per  bushel,  which  will  make  51/^ 
bushels  at  $1, $51  14 

Deduct  for  expenses  of  men,  teams,  &c., 18  43 

Leaving  a  nett  profit  of $32  71 


This  statement  is  for  one  acre  of  wheat  of  the  Souls  variety, 
I  will  now  give  another  statement  for  one  acre  of  wheat  of  the 
White  Flint  variety,  which  grew  in  the  same  field,  underwent  all  the 
expense  that  the  other  did,  being  in  same  field,  and  cultivated  both 
at  the  same  time,  and  sowed  on  the  same  day,  which  yielded  me  as 
follows  : 


248  [Senate 

Yield  for  last  variety  of  wheat  was  38  bushels,  by- 
measure,  and  weighed  62  lbs.  per  bushel,  which  will 

be  39}^  bushels  per  acre,  at  $1, $39  27 

Expenses  as  above, 18  43 

Leaving  nett  profit  of, $20  84 


Now  if  the  committee  are  strict  to  their  rules  as  to  the  two  acres  the 
result  will  be  as  follows  :  from  the  first  statement  the  yield  is  by 
measure,  49^  51g|  by  weight,  and  the  second  is  by 

do  38  39^^  " 


87  h               90^   Dushels  by  weight  at  $1,  $90  41 
Expenses  less  at  $18.43  each,  is 36  86 

From  two  acres  the  average  is  45i|  bushels,  nett  profit, , . . ,   $53  55 


EXTRACT  FROM  YATES  COUNTY  REPORT, 
AETEMUS    BIGELOW. 

To  the  Committee  on  Wheat: 

One  year  ago  last  spring,  when  we  were  beginning  to  prepare  our 
summer  fallow,!  proposed  to  my  father  to  prepare  a  portion  of  it  with 
compost  manure,  that  we  might  see  the  effect,  and  whether  we  could 
profitably  use  our  surplus  manure.  The  crop  taken  off  this  season 
attracted  the  notice  of  many  ;  and  some  of  the  officers  of  your  society 
requested  me  to  give  a  statement  of  the  process  of  cultivating  and 
amount  of  yield. 

I  will  premise  by  saying,  that  the  field,  like  a  jaded  horse,  had 

been  overtasked  for  a  few  previous  years,  and   our  first  crop  upon  it 

was  but  little  over  ten  bushels  to  the  acre  ;   it  was  put  in,  however, 

after  oats.     We  suppose  the  whole  field  to  contain  10 i  acres  ;  from 

this  we  measured  off  two  acres,  (a  more  accurate  measurement  since 

the  wheat  was  taken  off  makes  it  two  acres  and  three  rods  ;)  over 

the  rest,  8^  acres,  we  spread  the  cleanings  of  the  lime  kiln,  about  30 

bushels  to  the  acre.     Over  the  two  acres  I  spread  the  ashes  of  burnt 

wheat  straw,  in  a  very  light  state,  having  been  burned  in   the  open 

air,  about  30  bushels.     I   will  here   state  that  these  ashes,  together 

with  those  put  into  the  compost,  were  my  main  ground  of  hope  that 

the  wheat  would  not  lodge  while  growing  rapidly  in  May  and  June  ; 

for  early  in  May  much  of  it  was  from  16  to  20  inches  high. 

We  drew  out  our  manure  for  the  compost  as  early  as  practicable, 
30  wagon  loads  and  made  of  it  two  heaps,  consisting  of  alternate 
layers  of  manure,  and  ashes,  and  lime  well  slacked  ;  and  we  sprink- 
led upon  the  layers  of  manure  a  portion  of  plaster,  also  upon  the 
top  of  each  heap  which  we  left  flat,  and  the  sides.     We  let  these  re- 


No  105.]  249 

main  until  just  before  the  last  plowing,  then  spread  and  plowed  in 
immediately.  In  every  other  respect  the  treatment  of  the  two  acres 
was  the  same  as  the  other  part.  The  whole  was  plowed  three  times 
and  sowed  with  two  bushels  of  seed  per  acre,  on  the  first  day  of  Sep- 
tember. 

The  two  acres  ripened  earlier  than  the  other  part ; — after  it  was 
well  up  in  the  fall,  it  could  be  distinguished  from  the  other,  the  line 
of  diff'erence  in  color  and  height  being  perfectly  distinct  ;  and  it  con- 
tinued in  advance  of  the  other  through  the  following  spring  and  sum- 
mer, and  was  harvested  first.  We  cut  from  it  79  dozen  of  very  large 
sheaves  ;  and  the  wheat,  when  threshed  and  cleaned,  measured  83 
bushels  and  about  four  quarts  of  clean  wheat.  When  sold  at  the 
mill  the  quantity  by  weight  was  87  bushels. 

In  estimating  the  expenses  I  have  endeavored  to  put  them  suffi- 
ciently high  ;  not  having  made  any  account  at  the  time,  I  put  the 
prices  we  usually  pay. 

Expenses  of  cultivating  two  acres  of  wheat,: 

Plowing  4  days, $8  00 

Harrowing  twice, 0  50 

Sowing  4  bush,  and  harrowing  in 0  75 

Cost  of  seed, 1  75 

Drawing  manure  &c., , 5  50 

do  and  spreading  on  field, 4  00 

Cost  of  12  bush,  lime, 1  80* 

do     do     10  do  ashes, 0  60 

Cutting  wheat  and  binding, 2  00 

Drawing  in  barn, 1  50 

Threshing  and  cleaning, 6  48 

Interest  on  land, ^ , 11  20 


$44  08 


Produce  of  the  above  two  acres,  87  bushels  at 

84  cents  per  bush. $73  40 

Amount  of  expenses, 44  08 

Profit, $29  32 

Note  1.  The  whole  field  was  sowed  alike,  yet  the  composted  part 
was  a  third  thicker  than  the  other  ;  and  tillered  so  as  to  completely 
cover  the  ground  in  the  spring  ,'  the  stalks  grew  rapidly  and  slender, 
and  I  was  fearful  they  would  lodge.  It  is  my  opinion  that  one  bushel 
of  seed  per  acre  would  have  been  enough.  One  thing  is  true,  the 
better  we  prepare  our  ground  and  the  more  fertile  we  make  it,  the 
more  certainty  there  is  of  the  seed  coming  up  well  and  tillering, 
other  things  being  equal. 

2.  Of  the  8h  acres,  there  were  about  two  acres  that  had  been  wet 
ground  and  would  winter  kill  grain  ;  we  dug  and  laid  several  blind 
ditches,  which  drained  the  land  so  that  we  obtained  from  that  wet 


S50  [Senate 

pottion,  we  judged  about  25  bushels.  The  8|  acres  yielded  at  the 
rate  of  about  31  bushels  an  acre ;  which  was  the  fruit  of  putting  on 
the  lime  kiln  cleanings,  consisting  of  lime,  ashes,  and  a  little  char- 
coal. 

3.  Two  things  I  think  are  wanting,  which  are  essential  to  any 
great  improvement  in  wheat  culture  in  this  county  ;  and  the  most  of 
farmers  in  this  county  I  suppose  would  differ  from  me  in  respect  to  one 
thatis,  deep  plowing.  While  plowing  in  one  of  our  fields,  I  dugupsome 
of  the  subsoil,  which  had  been  pressed  with  the  plow,  and  in  other 
ways  beaten  so  as  to  be  with  difficulty  penetrated,  and  1  washed  it  and 
found  it  to  be  of  equal  parts  of  clay  and  sand.  That  is  about  the  pro- 
portion of  our  surface  soil,  setting  aside  its  vegetable  matter.  If  that 
subsoil  was  plowed  up  deep  and  pulverized,  it  would  be  as  mellow  as 
the  surface  is  now,  and  besides  giving  more  nourishment  to  plants, 
would  drain  the  surplus  water  from  around  their  roots.  The  second 
thing  requisite  is  thorough  under  draining, 

Benton,  Yates  co.,  Sept.  13;  1845. 


SPRING  WHEAT. 

There  were  three  applicants  on  spring  wheat.  The  first  premium, 
of  $15,  is  awarded  to  Robert  Eells,  of  Westmoreland,  Oneida  county. 

The  statement  of  Mr.  Eells  is  as  follows  :  Soil,  clay  and  gravel,  in 
good  condition.  It  was  an  old  meadow  which  was  broken  up  the  pre- 
vious year — -a  crop  of  corn  taken  from  it.  It  was  manured  at  the  rate 
of  20  loads  of  coarse  manure  to  the  acre,  and  8  loads  of  fine,  put  in 
the  hill.  The  corn  yielded  88f|  per  acre.  Plowed  last  spring  seven 
inches  deep  and  harrowed  twice;  no  manure.  I  sowed  four  bushels  of 
Siberian  spring  wheat,  the  16th  of  April,  broadcast.  Cut  with  sickle,  the 
first  of  August ;  threshed  the  middle  of  November,  with  flail,  producing 
53  bushels  and  24  pounds  of  superior  wheat,  valued  at  10^.  per  bushel. 

Amounts  to f  66  94 

Expense  of  cultivation  and  use  of  land, 21  00 

Showing  a  profit  of $45  94 

The  second  premium,  of  $100,  is  awarded  to  Erastus  Dayton,  of 
Vernon,  Oneida  county. 

The  statement  of  Mr.  Dayton  is  as  follows  :  The  soil  is  clay  and 
gravel,  in  fine  condition  at  the  commencement  of  the  cultivation  of  the 
crop.  The  previous  crop  was  corn  and  potatoes,  with  one  pne  plow- 
ing, and  ten  loads  manure  per  acre  ;  the  present  season,  ten  loads 
corn  stalks  manure. 

Sowed  two  bushels  of  Black  Sea  variety,  per  acre.  It  was  sown  3d 
of  April — harvested  20th  of  August,  with  cradle,  and  thrashed, 
yielded  fifty  and  one-tenth  bushels. 


No.  105.]  251 

Expense  of  culture. 

Two  and  a  half  days  plowing,  at  125., $3  75 

One  half  day  sowing, 38 

Two  and  a  half  days  harvesting,  85., 2  50 

Threshing, 5  00 

4  bushels  seed, 4  00 

Expense  of  culture, $15  63 

The  sample  presented  by  Mr.  Dayton,  was  some  mixed  with  other 
grains. 

Charles  Lee,  of  Yates  county,  applied  for  a  premium  for  spring 
•wheat,  85  bushels  on  two  acres. 

No  certificate  from  the  surrogate  being  furnished,  the  committee 
could  not  award  him  a  premium. 


CHARLES   LEE. 

To  the  JVew-  York  State  Agricultural  Society : 

Gentlemen — 1  propose  to  compete  for  the  premium  offered  by  you 
for  the  best  two  acres  of  spring  wheat,  and  will  first  give  you  the 
manner  of  culture. 

The  soil  is  a  deep  sandy  loam,  with  a  slight  elevation,  inclining 
both  to  the  east  and  west.  One  acre  was  occupied  the  previous  year 
with  corn  and  potatoes,  having  plowed  in  twenty-five  loads  of  long 
manure  ;  the  other  acre  was  occupied  the  previous  year  with  beans  and 
corn,  with  about  ten  loads  of  long  manure  having  been  plowed  in; 
applying  during  the  cultivation  probably  one-eighth  of  a  ton  of  plaster 
on  the  two  acres,  plowed  "beam  deep,"  about  the  5th  November; 
harrowed  once  before  and  twice  after  sowing,  which  was  done  with 
White  Italian,  Ih  bushels  per  acre;  on  the  3d  April,  sowed  |  ton 
plaster ;  sowed  grass  seed,  and  rolled  on  the  1st  May — and  15th 
August,  harvested,  threshed  and  cleaned. 

From  the  two  acres  I  obtained  eighty-jive  bushels  of  good,  plump, 
clean  wheat — fifty-seven  bushels  from  the  corn  and  potato  ground  and 
twenty-eight  from  the  beans  and  corn  ground  ;  and  I  have  yet  to  see 
the  first  kernel  of  oats  in  the  entire  crop,  being  160  bushels  from  five 
acres. 

The  ground  measured  by  Henry  Beman,  surveyor ,  with  chain — the 
grain  by  Richard  Leach,  with  a  sealed  half  bushel. 

Accompanying  the  above,  I  present  you  with  a  fair  sample  of  the 
whole  crop,  together  with  the  expense  of  cultivation. 


252  [Senate 

Plowing  1  day,  man  and  team,  at  12^.  per  day,  $1  50 
Harrowing  and  sowing,  man  and  team,  at  12^. 

per  day, .  1  50 

3  bushels  seed  wheat  at  7^ 2  62 

i  ton  plaster  at  $4 . 00  per  ton, 50 

Sowing  and  rolling  h  day,  man  and  team, ....  75 

1  day  harrowing,  2  men,  at  8s., 2  00 

h  day  drawing  to  barn,  2  men  and  team, 1  50 

Threshing  at  $S .  00,  per  hundred, 6  80 

i  day  cleaning  and  measuring,  2  men,  at  6^., . .  75 

Interest  on  land  for  6  months  at  $60  per  acre, .  3  70 


121  63 


Cr,  By  85  bushels  wheat,  at  8^., $85  00 

"      5  loads  straw  at  8iy.  per  load, ......       5  00 

90  00 
Deduct  expenses, 21  63 

Use  of  land,  profits,  &c., ...» 68  37 

Pen  Yan,   Yates  county ,  Dec.  29,  1845. 


EXPERIMENT  IN  WHEAT  CULTURE. 

by  samuel  datidson,  gkeene,  monroe  co. 

Luther  Tucker,  Esq., 

Secretary  of  the  JYew-York  State  Agricultural  Society: 

Sir — Since  the  organization  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society,  (as 
well  as  county  societies,)  experiments  in  that  profession  have  been 
numerous,  and  I  hope  they  will  redound  in  much  practical  good  to  the 
agricultural  community ;  and  as  I  have  been  one  of  that  class  of 
experimentalists,  I  will  take  the  liberty  to  give  you  a  few  details  of 
one  of  my  own  on  a  field  of  wheat  I  harvested  last  July. 

About  the  middle  of  June,  1844,  I  finished  breaking  up  a  field  con- 
taining nine  acres,  (chained) ;  harrowed  the  same  about  the  middle  of 
July,  and  about  four  weeks  after  dragging,  I  cross  plowed  the  same  ; 
after  plowing,  I  harrowed  it  again,  and  on  the  10th  of  September  I 
finished  plowing  the  third  and  last  time ;  after  which,  I  divided  the 
field  into  six  parcels,  of  which  the  following  is  a  diagram,  and  treated 
as  hereinafter  mentioned. 


No.  105.] 


253 


No.  6 

contains 

380  square 

rods. 


106  bushels 
and  14  pounds. 


Part  flint 

and  part  bearded 

Tuscany. 


No,  5 

contains 

315  square 

rods. 


77  bushels. 


All  bearded 
Tuscany. 


No.  3 

contains 

153  square 

rods. 


30  bushels 
47  pounds. 


All  flint. 


No- 4 

contains 

126  square 

rods. 


21  bushels 
20  pounds. 


All  flint. 


No.  2 
contains 
256  square 
rods. 


42  bushels. 
32  pounds. 


All  flint. 


No.  1 

contains 

210  square 

rods. 


37  bushels 
20  pounds. 


Part  flint  and 
part  bearded 
Tuscany. 


No.  1.  Sowed  as  above  prepared. 

No.  2.  I  put  on  sixteen  bushels  of  horn  shavings. 

I  put  ten  bushels  of  horn  shavings  and  fifty  bushels  of  leached 


No.  3. 
ashes. 

No.  4. 

No.  5. 
of  salt 

No. 


I  put  fifty  bushels  of  leached  ashes. 

I  put  one  hundred  bushels  of  leached  ashes  and  one  barrel  of 
;  and  on 
6.  I  put  one  hundred  bushels  of  leached  ashes  one  barrel  of 


ab 


ove    were 


all 


salt,  and   twenty  bushels   of   horn  shavings.     The 
applied  to  the  ground  before  the  wheat  was  sowed. 

On  the  19th  of  September  I  sowed  my  wheat,  which  was  all  well 
brined  and  limed,  and  all  harrowed  the  day  it  was  sowed ;  and  on  the 
seventh  day  of  July  last,  I  commenced  harvesting  the  above,  (which 
was  fully  ripe  for  the  sickle,)  and  in  harvesting,  putting  in  the  barn, 
threshing,  measuring  and  weighing,  the  several  parcels  were  kept  sepa- 
rate— and  the  product  of  each  piece  is  set  in  its  proper  place  in  the 
above  diagram. 

The  whole  expense  of  salt,  ashes,  and  horn  shavings,  was  eight  dol- 
lars and  forty-five  cents,  on  the  ground ;  two  days'  work  with  a  team, 
in  spreading  the  ashes,  three  dollars — which  was  done  with  a  shovel, 
and  out  of  the  cart ;  one  day  sowing  the  salt  and  horn  shavings,  seventy- 
five  cents.  The  whole  amount  of  extra  expense  (from  the  usual  course 
of  fallowing  without  manure,)  does  not  exceed  twelve  dollars  and 
twenty-five  cents. 

The  two  varieties  of  wheat,  the  flint  and  bearded  Tuscany,  as  marked 
in  the  diagram,  weighed  as  follows  :  Flint  64  pounds  to  the  bushel,  and 
Tuscany  66  pounds. 

As  much  has  been  said  in  the  agricultural  journals  about  guano,  and 
its  fertilizing  properties,  ascertained  from  analysis,  I  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  every  farmer  may  make  some  tons  a  year  of  an  equal 
fertilizer,  and  at  a  trifling  expense  per  ton,  compared  to  guano. 


254  [Senate 

Within  the  last  twelve  months,  I  have  prepared  and  applied  several 
tons,  with  satisfactory  results.  One  instance  I  will  here  state,  after 
telling  the  manner  of  preparing  the  above  mentioned  substitute. 

To  one  barrel  of  human  urine,  I  add  six  pounds  of  sulphate  of 
magnesia ;  after  dissolving  the  salts,  I  mix  this  with  as  much  dry 
gypsum  as  will  form  a  mass  about  the  consistency  of  leached  ashes  ;  of 
this  I  apply  three  bushels  per  acre,  to  grass  or  plowed  land. 

On  the  first  of  May  last  I  commenced  plastering  with  dry  plaster 
a  field  of  six  acres,  (old  meadow;)  on  the  first  acre  I  put  three  bushels 
of  dry  plaster;  the  next  two  acres  I  put  the  above  preparation  three 
bushels  per  acre  ;  on  the  balance  of  the  field  I  put  dry  plaster  three 
bushels  per  acre  ;  I  then  turned  the  sward  over  and  prepared  it  with 
the  harrow  for  corn,  and  planted  it.  When  the  corn  came  up,  I  put 
dry  plaister  over  the  whole  alike,  and  tilled  it  all  alike,  the  last  of 
September  I  chained  off  an  acre  of  that  which  had  the  compound  on, 
and  another  beside  it  of  equal  quality  of  soil,  and  each  were  husked 
separate  ;  the  first  yield  was  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  bushels, 
and  the  other  thirty.  So  my  thirty-two  bushels  did  not  cost  to  ex- 
ceed one  cent  per  bushel.     More  anon. 

Greece,  Monroe  co.  JY.  Y. 


EXTRACT  FROM  LEWIS  COUNTY  REPORT. 

First  premium  awarded  to  Israel  Knight,  Lo7Cville, 

Previous  crop  potatoes,  planted  on  sward  ;  fifteen  to  twenty  loads 
cow  stable  manure  turned  under  present  crop  ;  land  plowed  once  ; 
two  bushels  of  Black  Sea  wheat,  soaked  in  strong  brine  and  dried 
w^ith  ashes,  sowed  per  acre  ;  harrowed  well  and  rolled. 

Product  34  bushels  13  quarts,  at  95., ,, |38  70 

Expense  of  cultivation, $8  GO 

Interest  on  land  at  $30,  per  acre, _.- .     2  10 

—  10  10 

Profit  per  acre, $28  60 


255  [Senate 


THE  WHEAT-FLY.* 

Although  several  facts  in  the  habits  and  economy  of  the  wheat-fly 
had  occurred  to  my  notice  at  sundry  times  since  its  appearance  in 
this  vicinity,  yet  as  ray  leisure  for  studies  of  this  nature  was  wholly 
engrossed  in  other  departments  of  the  science  of  entomology,  these 
facts  had  been  observed  in  too  cursory  a  manner  to  be  of  material 
value  in  preparing  an  account  for  the  public  eye.  It  has  not  been 
until  the  present  year,  that  I  have  made  this  and  its  allied  species 
my  particular  study.  And  as  some  few  interesting  points  still  remain 
undetermined,  ere  a  perfectly  complete  history  of  this  insect  can  be 
given,  I  should  be  inclined  still  to  defer  preparing  a  paper  upon  this 
subject,  but  that  I  deem  some  of  the  observations  already  made  of 
too  much  importance  to  be  longer  withheld,  and  am  moreover  very 
well  aware  that  if  no  writer  ventured  to  appear  before  the  public 
until  his  investigations  were  so  complete  in  every  particular  that  he 
could  exhaust  the  subject  on  which  he  wrote,  very  little  would  be 
published,  and  the  world  would  have  but  a  small  fraction  of  that 
amount  of  information  which  it  now  possesses. 

It  is  necessary  for  me  further  to  premise,  that  although  we  have 
two  distinct  species  of  wheat-flies,  as  will  be  fully  shown  in  the 
sequel  of  this  paper,  to  wit,  the  clear-winged  wheat-fly  (Cecidomyia 
Tritici  of  Kirby)  and  the  spotted-winced  wheat-fly,  which  has  hitherto 
remained  a  nondescript ;  yet  as  nothing  is  yet  known  of  the  habits 
and  transformations  of  one  of  these  as  distinct  from  the  other,  through 
the  body  of  this  article  the  common  name  "  wheat-fly"  will  be  em- 
ployed for  convenience  as  referring  to  both  these  species.  Future 
researches,  however,  may  detect  dissimilarities  in  their  habits,  and 
show  that  portions  of  the  following  account  are  true  only  with  regard 
to  one  of  these. 


*  The  following  essay  originally  appeared  in  the  American  Quarterly  Journal  of 
Agriculture  and  Science,  vol.  ii,  number  2;  to  the  editors  of  which  our  acknowledg- 
ments are  also  due  for  the  illustration  with  which  it  is  accompanied.  The  essay  has 
been  revised,  and  new  paragraphs  added  by  the  author. 


256  [Senate 

Its  Foreign  History. 

The  first  distinct  and  unequivocal  account  of  the  wheat-fly,  of 
which  I  am  aware,  is  that  given  by  Mr.  Christopher  Gullet,  in  1771, 
in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Matty  "  On  the  effects  of  elder  in  preserving  growing 
plants  from  the  insects  and  flies,"  which  letter  was  published  in  the 
Philosophical  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  the  following  year.* 


*  So  long  ago  as  the  year  1768,  Col.  La,ngdon  Carter,  of  Virginia,  transmitted  to  the 
An*erican  Philosophical  Society  a  paper  entitled  "  Observations  concerning  the  fly- 
weevil  that  destroys  the  wheat;"  vs^hich  was  published  in  the  first  volume  of  the  So- 
ciety's Transactions,  2d  edition,  pages  274-287.  The  account  here  given,  is  in  nearly  all 
its  particulars  so  strikingly  applicable  to  the  wheat-fly,  that  so  much  of  it  as  relates  to 
the  insect  itself  merits  an  introduction  in  this  place.  He  rather  quaintly  remarks,  "  In  a 
pleasant  evening,  after  the  sun  was  down,  and  every  thing  serenely  calm,  I  found  the 
rascals  extremely  busy  amongst  my  ears,  and  really  very  numerous.  I  immediately  in- 
closed some  of  them  in  a  light  loose  handkerchief;  and  by  the  magnifiers  of  my  tele- 
scope, I  took  occasion  minutely  to  examine  them.  They  are  a  pale  brownish  moth,  with 
little  trunks  or  bodies,  some  trifle  shorter  than  their  wings;  and  as  some  of  their  little 
bodies  appeared  bulging  as  if  loaded;  I  applied  the  pressure  of  a  fine  straw  upon 
them,  and  saw  them  squirt  out,  one  after  another,  a  number  of  little  things  which  I 
took  to  be  eggs,  some  more,  some  less:  some  emitted  fifteen  or  twenty  of  them;  and 
others  appeared  extremely  lank  in  their  little  trunks,  which  I  could  not  make  dis- 
charge anything  like  an  egg.  Whether  they  had  done  this  in  the  field  before,  or  were 
of  the  male  kind,  I  could  not  tell;  but  from  this  discovery  I  concluded  that  there  need 
not  be  above  two  or  three  flies  to  an  ear  of  corn,  to  lay  eggs  enough  to  destroy  the 
greatest  crop.  *  *  *  It  is  with  much  propriety  called  a  weevil,  as  it  de- 
stroys the  wheat  even  in  our  granaries ;  though  it  is  not  of  the  kind  termed  by  natu- 
ralists the  curculio;  of  which  they  have  given  a  very  long  list;  for  it  is  not  like  a  bug; 
it  carries  no  cases  for  its  wings ;  neither  has  it  any  feelers,  with  which  the  curculio 
is  always  distinguished;  and  perhaps  (as  I  fancy  it  will  turn  out  in  the  course  of  this 
letter  that  they  never  attack  grain  when  hard)  they  really  have  no  occasion  for  such 
feelers.  For  from  the  make  of  it,  to  my  judgment,  it  appears  an  impossibility  that  it 
should  ever  perforate  into  a  hard  grain,  being  furnished  with  nothing  in  nature,  from 
the  most  minute  examination  by  glasses,  that  could  make  such  a  perforation;  and 
seems  indeed  a  fly  itself,  consisting  of  nothing  sensible  to  the  slightest  touch  with  the 
finger,  nor  to  the  eye  assisted  with  glasses,  leaving  only  a  little  dry  pale  brown  glossy 
dust  on  being  squeezed." 

I  doubt  not  but  that  on  perusing  this  extract,  almost  every  reader  who  is  conversant 
with  our  wheat-fly,  which  also  is  so  frequently  called  "  the  weevil,"  will  feel  confi- 
dent that  it  is  the  same  insect  to  which  Col.  Carter  alludes.  Yet  if  his  account  be 
more  particularly  observed,  we  gather  from  it  some  characters  which  assure  us  that  i^ 
was  not  the  wheat-fly  which  he  examined.  Although  he  uses  the  terms  moth  and  Jly 
as  synonymous,  and  no  where  tells  us  whether  his  specimens  had  four  or  only  two 
wings,  yet  he  could  scarcely  have  spoken  of  the  lively  orange  color  of  our  wheat-fly 
as  "  pale  brownish  ;"  and  what  is  yet  more  conclusive,  his  insect,  on  being  pressed 
between  the  fingers,  left  "a  little  dry  pale  brown  glossy  dust;"  whereas  the  wheat- 
fly  leaves  no  mark  upon  the  fingers,  unless  it  be  actually  crushed,  in  which  case  its 


No.  105.]  257 

From  this  it  would  appear  that  the  effects  produced  by  the  wheat-fly 
had  been  known  for  some  time  to  the  farmers  of  England,  though 
imputed  by  them  to  a  wrong  cause.  He  says,  "What  the  farmers 
call  the  yellows  in  wheat,  and  which  they  consider  as  a  kind  of 
mildew,  is  in  fact  occasioned  by  a  small  yellow  fly  with  blue  wings, 
about  the  size  of  a  gnat.  This  blows  in  the  ear  of  the  corn,  and 
produces  a  worm,  almost  invisible  to  the  naked  eye  ;  but  being  seen 
through  a  pocket  microscope,  it  appears  a  large  yellow  maggot,  of 
the  color  and  gloss  of  amber,  and  is  so  prolific  that  I  last  week  dis- 
tinctly counted  forty-one  living  yellow  maggots  in  the  husk  of  one 
single  grain  of  wheat — a  number  sufficient  to  eat  up  and  destroy  the 
corn  in  a  whole  ear.         *         *         *  q^^  q^  tj^ggg  yellow  flies 

laid  at  least  eight  or  ten  eggs  of  an  oblong  shape  on  my  thumb,  only 
while  carrying  by  the  wing  across  three  or  four  ridges." 

It  was  several  years  subsequent  to  this  date,  that  the  accounts  of 
the  appalling  ravages  of  the  Hessian  fly  among  the  wheat  crops  of 
America  reached  Europe  ;  and  as  this  fly  was  universally  believed  to 
have  been  derived  from  the  old  world,  extensive  and  careful  exami- 
nations of  the  grain  fields  there  were  made  to  detect  it,  that  its  habits 
might  be  learned,  and  means  devised  for  preventing  its  becoming 
such  a  scourge  as  it  was  to  this  country.  These  investigations,  con- 
ducted often  at  the  public  expense,  and  by  men  whose  acquirements 
peculiarly  fitted  them  for  such  a  work,  resulted  in  a  confident  an- 
nouncement, which  received  general  credence  for  a  long  series  of 
years,  that  the  Hessian  fly  did  not  exist  in  Europe  ;  yet  in  their 
course,  s'everal  other  species  of  insects  injurious  to  the  cultivated 
grains  of  that  continent  were  discovered,  and  the  wheat-fly  received 
a  particular  examination.  Mr.  Curtis,  generally  so  accurate  in  his 
statements,  says  that  it  was  first  discovered  at  this  time  ;  but  the  ac- 
count already  given  from  Mr.  Gullet,  shows  that  it  was  known  in 
England  at  least  twenty-five  years  earlier  than  Mr.  C.  supposes,  and 

fluid  juices  produce  a  yellow  stain,  without  any  glossiness.  Every  one  accustomed  to 
the  handling  of  insects,  will  at  once  recognize  the  character  in  question  as  applying 
admirably  to  some  small  species  of  moth;  and  the  "  Committee  on  Husbandry"  of  the 
Society,  in  their  remarks  at  the  close  of  Col.  Carter's  paper,  are  doubtless  correct  in 
their  statement,  that  these  insects  "  appear  to  be  of  the  same  kind  with  those  that  do 
the  like  mischief  in  Europe,  which  a  gentleman  of  Angumois  describes  to  Mr.  Du- 
hamel,"  and  which  have  since  become  so  well  known  as  the  "Augnmois  grain-moth," 
described  by  the  naturalist  Olivier  under  the  technical  name  of  Alucita  cerealella. 

[Senate,  No.  105.J  17 


258  [Senate 

anterioi'  even  to  the  date  when  the  Hessian  fly  was  first  observed  in 
America. 

In  1795,  as  we  are  informed  by  Mr.  Marsham,  in  a  paper  read  be- 
fore the  Linnsean  Society,  London,  and  published  in  their  Transac- 
tions, vol.  iii.  p.  142,  towards  the  end  of  July,  Mr.  Long  had  observed 
an  insect  that  threatened  to  do  much  mischief  to  the  wheat  crops, 
attacking  one  or  more  of  the  grains  in  an  ear,  and  causing  the  chaff 
of  these  grains  to  become  yellow  or  ripe,  whilst  the  remainder  of  the 
head  w^as  still  green.  Mr.  Marsham,  on  opening  the  chaff  of  these 
grains,  found  an  orange-colored  powder,  and  in  many  of  them  one  or 
two  very  minute  yellowish-white  or  deep  yellow  larvae,  the  grain  it- 
self appearing  to  be  a  little  shrunk.  Mr.  Markwick,  of  Sussex,  also 
observed  the  same  larvae  in  his  wheat,  the  forepart  of  August,  but 
was  confident  they  had  done  no  injury  to  it.  The  same  larvse  were 
also  noticed  by  Mr.  Kirby,  this  year,  in  Suffolk. 

In  a  subsequent  paper  from  Mr.  Marsham  {Trans.  Lin.  Soc.  vol. 
iv.  p.  224),  we  are  informed  that  Mr.  Markwick,  July  12, 1797,  saw 
the  flies  themselves,  at  rest  upon  the  heads  of  the  wheat,  and  also  a 
few  of  the  larvse  within  the  flowers  ;  and  that  awhile  later  in  the  sea- 
son the  fly  appeared  reduced  in  numbers,  whilst  the  larvae  had  be- 
come much  more  abundant.  From  heads  of  the  wheat  enclosed  in  a 
flowerpot,  he  reared  the  fly,  and  also  its  parasite  ;  the  fly  thus  ob- 
tained having  "  spotted  wings,'?  a  fact  which  we  shall  revert  to  here- 
after. 

Following  this  account  is  an  excellent  article  (p.  230)  by  the  Rev. 
William  Kirby,  who  has  since  become  so  well  known  by  his  various 
writings  upon  entomology.  Mr.  Kirby  here  gives  a  scientific  de- 
scription of  the  wheat-fly,  bestowing  upon  it  the  specific  name  triticiy 
by  which  it  has  been  definitely  distinguished  by  all  subsequent  wri- 
ters, and  correctly  referring  it  to  the  genus  Tipula  of  Linnaeus,  a  genus 
which,  in  consequence  of  the  vast  number  of  species  afterwards 
discovered  to  be  comprised  under  it,  naturalists  have  since  found  it 
necessary  to  subdivide  ;  and  the  species  in  question  at  this  day  falls 
within  that  group  to  which  the  name  Cecidomyia  was  given  by  La- 
treille — an  arrangement  concurred  in  by  Mr.  Kirby  himself  in  his 
communication  in  Loudon's  Magazine  of  Natural  History,  vol.  i.  p. 
227  ^  and  which  I  note  thus  particularly,  as  by  most  writers  in  our 


No.  105.]  259 

agricultural  papers  it  is  still  spoken  of  as  solely 'the  Tipula  Tritici  of 
Mr.  Kirty. 

In  this  article,  and  another  presented  about  a  year  afterwards, 
(Trans.  Lin.  Soc.  vol.  v.  p.  96),  Mr.  Kirby  gives  a  large  number  of 
most  interesting  and  valuable  observations  upon  this  insect,  the  cor- 
rectness of  which,  generally,  more  recent  investigations  have  fully 
attested.  With  regard  to  its  abundance  at  that  time,  he  says  he 
could  scarcely  pass  through  a  wheat  field,  in  which  some  florets  of 
«very  ear  were  not  inhabited  by  the  larvae  ;  and  in  a  field  of  fifteen 
acres,  which  he  carefully  examined,  he  calculated  that  the  havoc 
done  by  them  would  amount  to  five  combs  (twenty  bushels). 

From  this  time  we  have  met  with  no  notices  of  the  wheat-fly,  ex- 
<;ept  occasional  references  to  the  articles  above  mentioned,  until  the 
year  1828,  when,  and  for  a  few  of  the  following  years,  it  again  ap- 
peared in  such  numbers  and  with  such  havoc  in  several  of  the  coun- 
ties of  England  and  Scotland,  as  to   elicit  communications  in  the 
magazines  from  several  writers.     In  some  districts  of   Scotland,  its 
devastations  would  seem  to  have  approached  in  severity  what  has 
been  experienced  upon  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  ;  for  "  Mr.  Gorrie 
■estimates  the  loss  sustained  by  the  farming  interest  in  the  Carse  of 
Crowrie  (the  rich  alluvial  district  along  the  Isla  and  its  tributaries  in 
Perth  and  Forfarshire}  by   the  wheat-fly  alone,  at  20,000/.  in  1827, 
at  30,000/.  iu  1828,  and  at  36,000/.  in  1829"  {Encyc.  ofAg.  3d  Lond. 
ed.  p.  820.  §  5066).     And  Mr.  Bell,  writing  from  Perthshire,  June  24, 
1830,  says,  ^^  We  are  anxious  to  have  the  present  cold  weather  con- 
tinue for  another  ten   days,  to  prevent  the  eggs  from  hatching,  until 
the  wheat  be  sufficiently  hardened  and  beyond  the  state  which  affords 
nourishment  to   the  maggot.     Another  year  or  two  of  the  wheat-fly 
will  make  two-thirds  of  the  farmers  here  bankrupts,"  {Gardener's 
Magazine,  vol.  vi.  p.  495).     Mr.  Gorrie,  in  a  letter  dated  at  Annat 
Gardens,   Errol,    Perthshire,  Sept.   1828,  {Loudon's  Mag.  of  Mat. 
Hid.  vol.  ii.  p.  292) ,  solicits  information  "  on  the  nature  and  mode 
of  propagation  of  a  fly  which  has  this  year  destroyed  about  one-third 
of  the  late  sown  wheat  all  over  this  country."     He  describes  a  small 
yellow  -caterpillar,  one-eighth  of  an  inch  long,  as  numerous  in  the 
young  ears  of  wheat,  completely  devouring  the  young  milky  grain, 
becoming  torpid  in  about  twelve  days,  and  in  six  days  more  chang- 
ing to  a  small  black  fly.     In  a  subsequent  communication,  August 


260  [Senate 

1829  (p.  323),  he  corrects  the  latter  part  of  the  above  statement,  and 
says,  "  At  that  time  I  did  not  know  that  a  yellov»^  fly  had  deposited 
the  eggs  within  the  glume,  which  became  maggots.  Observing 
numbers  of  black  flies  on  the  ears  of  wheat,  I  believed  they  had  been 
the  produce  of  the  caterpillar.  I  have  this  season,  hov/ever,  observ- 
ed the  yellow  fly  (described  by  Rev.  W.  Kirby)  deposit  its  eggs  in 
the  wheat-ear,"  etc.  I  notice  this  more  particularly,  because  the 
farmers  in  this  vicinity,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  have  fallen  into 
the  same  error,  and  to  this  day  suppose  a  small  black  fly,  of  the  fam- 
ily Muscidce,  which  occurs  abundantly  in  wheat-fields,  to  be  the  real 
wheat-fly. 

Mr.  Patrick  ShirrefF,  of  East-Lothian,  gives,  in  the  same  volume 
of  Loudon's  Magazine,  pages  448  -  451,  an  excellent  and  very  accu- 
rate summary  of  the  habits  and  transformations  of  the  same  insect,, 
the  result  chiefly  of  his  own  observations.  For  a  concise  account, 
this  is  not  surpassed  by  any  that  has  fallen  under  my  notice. 

Still  more  recently,  this  subject  has  been  investigated  by  the  Rev. 
J.  S.  S.  Henslow,  Prof,  of  Botany  in  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
whose  valuable  "  Report  on  the  diseases  of  wheat"  forms  the  first 
article  in  vol.  ii.  of  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of 
England.     And  in  the  same  Journal  for  the  present  year  (vol.  vi.  p. 
131.  plate  M.)  an  admirable  production  is  inserted  from  the  pen  and 
graver  of  that  accomplished  naturalist,  John  Curtis,  F.  L.  S.,  giving 
much  more  accurate  and  precise  descriptions  and  delineations  of  the 
wheat-fly,  in  the  different  stages  of  its  existence,  than  any  that  had 
previously  appeared.      To   it  I  am  particularly  indebted  for  such 
characters  as  enable  me  to  say  without  a  doubt,  that  the  clear- winged 
wheat-fly  of  America  is  identical  with  the  English  Cecidomyia  Tri- 
tici. 

In  closing  this  summary  of  the  notices  of  the  wheat-fly  abroad,  I 
would  allude  to  what  has  occurred  to  me  as  perhaps  true  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  insect,  to  wit,  that  it  has  somewhat  regular  periods  of  re- 
curring in  such  numbers  as  to  become  a  pest  to  the  agriculturist. 
Thus,  it  is  manifest  from  Mr.  Gullet's  account  that  it  was  abundant 
for  a  few  years  previous  to  1771.  So  destructive  was  it  then,  that 
he  pronounces  "  these  small  insects — the  wheat  crop's  greatest  ene- 
my." After  an  interval  of  twenty-five  years,  it  is  again  observed 
plentifully  for  three  or  four  years,  and  in  different  districts,  by  Messrs^ 


No.  105.]  261 

Kirby,  Markwick  and  Long.  Again  it  ceases  to  elicit  attention,  vn- 
til  a  period  but  a  little  longer  elapses,  when,  in  1828  and  the  follow- 
ing years,  it  forces  itself  once  more  and  still  more  prominently  into 
notice.  All  that  I  design,  is  to  direct  attention  to  this  point  :  the 
facts  are  as  yet  too  few  and  too  vague  to  justify  anything  more  than 
a  suggestion.  The  observations  of  Mr.  Kirby,  reaching  now  over 
half  a  century,  could  probably  shed  some  light  upon  this  most  inte- 
resting topic. 

As  respects  the  extent  of  its  range  abroad.^  it  has  been  noticed  in 
most  of  the  southern  and  eastern  counties  of  England,  from  Cornwall 
to  Norfolk,  and  also  in  Shropshire  ;  in  Perthshire  and  the  Lothians, 
and  probably  in  other  districts  of  Scotland ;  and  in  the  north  of  Ire- 
land. Whether  it  occurs  upon  the  continent  of  Europe,  we  are  not 
positively  informed.  It  is  not  noticed  by  Macquart,  either  in  his 
Diptera  of  the  North  of  France,  or  his  Natural  History  of  Dipterous 
insects  (for  a  perusal  of  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  Dr. 
T.  W.  Harris  of  Harvard  University  ;)  and  we  can  scarcely  believe 
that  if  it  existed  in  his  district,  it  could  have  been  overlooked  by  so 
assiduous  a  naturalist.  M.  Herpin,  however  (as  we  are  told  by  Mr. 
Curtis,)  isof  opinion  that  it  is  an  inhabitant  of  France,  and  the  state- 
ment which  he  makes  strongly  supports  this  opinion.  He  says,  "  I 
have  also  found  in  ears  of  corn,  at  the  time  of  flowering,  many  little 
yellow  larvae,  very  lively,  from  two  to  three  millimetres  long,  lodged 
between  the  chaff  of  the  grain  :  these  larvse  nibble  and  destroy  the 
generative  organs  of  the  plant,  and  the  germen  where  they  are  found 
are  sterile.  These  larvse  appear  to  me  to  have  a  very  great  analogy 
with  those  which  have  been  de""scribed  in  Linnssan  Transactions,  un- 
der the  name  of  Tipula  Tritici  :  it  is  probably  a  Cecidomyia.^^  M. 
Herpin  placed  several  ears  of  diseased  barley  and  wheat  in  bottles, 
and  in  these  bottles  a  number  of  Cecidorayia  flies  were  afterwards 
found.  Meigen — a  copy  of  whose  noted  work  upon  the  Diptera  of 
Europe  I  regret  that  I  have  been  unable  to  meet  with — as  I  learn 
from  Mr.  Curtis's  paper,  gives  descriptions  and  figures  of  the  wheat- 
fly.  Were  his  specimens  collected  in  Germany,  or  received  from 
Eng-land? 


262  [Senate 


ITS    DOMESTIC    HISTORY. 


It  will  be  unnecessary  to  particularly'  specify  the  various  notices  of 
this  insect,  that  have  appeared  in  the  different  agricultural  papers  of 
the  Northern  States  during  the  last  twelve  years.  The  more  impor- 
.  tant  and  valuable  of  these  may  be  found  in  the  several  volumes  of 
the  Cultivator  and  of  the  New-England  Farmer,  An  excellent  sum- 
mary of  the  history  and  habits  of  the  wheat-fly,  both  in  this  country 
and  abroad,  is  also  given  in  Dr,  Harris's  Report  on  the  Insects  of 
Massachusetts,  p.  437-444.  Mr.  Gaylord's  paper  on  injurious  in- 
sects briefly  notices  this  species  {Trans.  JV.  F,  State  Agric.  Society ^ 
1843,  vol.  iii.  p.  145-147.) 

With  the  prominent  facts  that  have  been  laid  before  the  public  by 
our  agricultural  periodicals,  every  intelligent  farmer  is  already  fa- 
miliar.    The  great  difficulty  experienced  by  persons  but  little  conver- 
sant with  zoological  science,  in  determining  what  this  wheat-worm 
really  was,  forms  a  striking  feature  in  the  earlier  notices  that  appeared 
respecting  it.  Thus,  by  some  it  was  for  a  time  regarded  as  an  animal- 
cula  of  the  vibrio  genus,  analogous  to  the  "eels"  generated  in  vinegar 
and  paste.     By  others,  and  quite  extensively,  it  was  pronounced  to 
be  a  weevil,  and  this  very  iijiproper  name  is  to  this  day  often  applied- 
to  it.     Others,  still,  deemed  it  to  be  "Monsieur  Tonson  come  again,'^' 
considering  it  as  a  return  of  the  Hessian  fly  to  a  section  of  the  coun- 
try from  which  it  had  long  been  absent.  It  would  be  easy  to  point  out 
how  erroneous  each  of  these  opinions  are  -,  but  I  deem  it  w^holly  un- 
necessary, as  the  public  mind  is  now  no  longer  distracted  upon  this 
subject ;  and  the  correct  view,  that  this  insect  is  a  fly,  peculiar  in  its- 
habits,   and  differing  from  any  of  those  previously  known  in  this- 
country,  universally  prevails. 

It  is  not  improbable  but  that  one  or  both  of  the  species  of  the  wheat- 
fly  may  have  been  present  in  this  country,  in  limited  numbers,  many 
years  before  it  was  distinctly  noticed.  In  truth,  common  as  this  in- 
sect still  is  in  this  district,  if  our  farmers,  guided  by  the  knowledge 
they  have  acquired  of  it,  were  not  zealously  searching  for  it  in  every 
field,  I  much  doubt  whether  it  would  be  at  all  observed  here  at  the 
present  day.  And  often  too  when  a  careful  examination  of  the  grow- 
ing grain  leads  to  a  belief  that  the  crop  is  scarcely  infested,  an  in- 
spection of  the  threshing-floor,  or  of  the  screenings  of  the  fanning- 


No.  105.]  263 

mill,  will  frequently  demonstrate  that  it  was  present  in  much  greater 
abundance  than  was  surmised.  These  facts  plainly  show,  that  this 
insect  might  lurk  a  long  time  in  our  country  wholly  unobserved. 

Mr.  Jewett  says  the  wheat-fly  first  appeared  in  western  Vermont  in 
the  year  1820,  (JVezo  Eng.  Farmer^  vol.  xix.  p.  301.)  It  was  not, 
however,  till  the  years  1828  and  1829  that  it  became  so  numerous  as 
to  attract  the  attention  of  community  ;  the  same  years,  be  it  observed, 
when  its  ravages  were  so  annoying  in  Scotland.  It  was  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  Vermont,  bordering  upon  the  line  of  Lower  Canada,  where 
it  became  so  excessively  multiplied  at  this  time ;  and  from  that,  as  a 
central  point,  it  seems  to  have  extended  in  nearly  all  directions.  In 
this  vicinity,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  or  fifty  miles  south  of  the 
locality  above  indicated,  it  was  certainly  observed  in  1830  ;  and  in 
1832  the  wheat  crops  were  so  completely  destroyed  by  it,  as 
to  lead  to  a  general  abandonment  of  the  cultivation  of  this  grain. 
This  was  the  year  in  which  the  malignant  cholera  swept  over  our 
land,  and  it  was  a  common  remark,  that  what  the  pestilence  spared 
famine  bade  fair  to  destroy.  Having  spread  east  over  Vermont  and 
New-Hampshire,  it  in  1834  appeared  in  the  State  of  Maine,  and  con- 
tinued to  advance  in  that  direction,  it  is  said,  at  the  rate  of  twenty  or 
thirty  miles  a  year.  Westward  its  progress  would  seem  to  have  been 
less  rapid,  and  along  the  Mohawk  river  by  no  means  so  generally 
destructive.  It  is  not  till  within  a  year  or  two  past,  that  it  has  ap- 
peared in  the  Black  river  country  east  of  Lake  Ontario,  as  I  am  in- 
formed by  an  intelligent  gentleman  resident  there ;  nor  until  the  pre- 
sent season  that  it  has  been  so  injurious  as  to  induce  in  some  instan- 
ces a  premature  mowing  of  the  crop,  and  preserving  it  for  hay.  Ru- 
mor states  that  farther  west,  in  the  wheat-noted  Genesee  country, 
it  has  been  detected  for  the  first  time  the  present  year. 

The  amount  of  injury  inflicted  by  this  insect  will  be  more  distinctly 
and  vividly  realized,  if  we  can  arrive  at  some  approximation  to  the 
sums  of  money  that  have  been  lost  to  certain  districts  in  consequence 
of  its  presence.  The  Maine  Farmer,  vol.  xiv.  No.  2,  states  that  "a 
million  of  dollars,  nay,  more  money,  would  not  pay  the  damage  it  has 
done  to  the  state  of  Maine,  alone."  Half  of  that  sum,  it  is  probable, 
would  not  repay  the  loss  which  has  been  sustained  merely  In  Washing- 
ton county,  N.  Y. — a  county  embracing  (the  untilled  mountain  district 
bordering  upon  Lake  George  being  deducted,)  a  population  of  about 


264  [Senate 

35,000  souls,  and  an  area  of  700  square  miles,  of  which  nearly  500 
are  cleared  and  improved. 

Lest  this  statement  should  be  deemed  extravagant  by  the  reader,  I 
vrill  adduce  the  data  on  which  it  is  founded.  When  it  is  considered 
that  the  entire  crop  of  1832  was  almost  totally  destroyed — that  the  crop 
of  the  previous  year  was  much  injured,  and  that  for  several  of  the  sub- 
sequent years  the  man  was  deemed  fortunate  who  received  but  half  of 
a  fair  yield  per  acre — many  obtaining  back  but  little  more  than  the 
amount  of  seed  which  they  committed  to  the  ground.  I  say,  Avhen 
these  facts  are  duly  considered,  I  think  it  will  be  regarded  as  but  a 
moderate  estimate  if  we  set  down  the  total  amount  of  loss  during  the 
fourteen  past  years,  as  equal  to  the  entire  crops  of  three  years,  under 
ordinary  circumstances.  Had  the  usual  quantity  of  land  been  all  along 
sowed  with  wheat,  the  loss  Vi^ould  doubtless  have  been  double  that 
which  we  here  are  supposing  it  to  have  been.  What,  then,  was  the 
amount  of  the  ordinary  wheat  crops  in  this  country,  formerly  1  No 
statistics,  that  I  am  aware,  were  then  taken,  by  which  this  point  can  be 
definitely  ascertained.  But  in  1844 — the  crop  of  which  year  is  com- 
monly supposed  to  have  been  about  a  third  or  a  fourth  less  than  what 
was  required  for  the  consumption  of  the  country — according  to  the 
census  returns,  75,500  bushels  were  produced. 

Now,  since  the  county  formerly  not  only  supplied  its  own  wants,  but 
transmitted  a  considerable  surplus  annually  to  market,  it  is  probable 
that  the  yearly  crop  previous  to  the  appearance  of  the  wheat-fly,  was 
twice  or  thrice  what  it  amounted  to  in  1844,  which  would  be  from  150 
to  200,000  bushels,  the  value  of  which  for  three  years,  gives  us  the 
sum  first  stated,  half  a  million  of  dollars.  And  this  estimate,  be  it 
observed,  only  contemplates  the  grain  that  has  been  destroyed,  without 
taking  into  consideration  the  detriment  that  has  been  indirectly 
sustained  by  our  farmers  in  being  driven  to  a  cultivation  of  those 
coarser  grains  which  have  yielded  them  a  much  less  profit. 

The  adjoining  counties  of  Ptensselaer  and  Saratoga,  and  the  five 
western  counties  of  Vermont,  constituting  the  district  over  which  this 
fly  first  swept  and  where  perhaps  its  ravages  have  been  most  severe, 
have  probably  suffered  in  about  an  equal  degree  with  Washington 
county.  Together  they  embrace  an  area  about  six  times  greater  than 
that  of  Washington  county.  The  whole  of  this  district  is  therefore 
about  equal  in  extent  to  the  State  of  Connecticut,  and  the  amount  of 


No.  105.]  265 

loss  from  the  wheat-fly,  upon  the  data  above  indicatedj  may  be  set  down 
at  three  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars! 

The  history  of  the  career  of  this  insect,  appears  to  be  quite  uniform 
in  most  of  the  districts  hitherto  visited  by  it.  About  two  or  three  years 
after  its  first  arrival  at  a  particular  locality,  it  becomes  most  excessively 
multiplied,  and  the  devastations  which  it  now  commits  are  almost 
incredible.  Though  I  believe  that,  through  unduly  excited  fears,  or 
a  hope  of  thereby  destroying  hosts  of  this  marauder,  a  mowing  of 
the  crop  whilst  yet  green  and  a  curing  of  it  for  hay  has  often  been 
resorted  to,  when,  had  it  been  harvested  as  usual,  a  less  sacrifice  would 
have  been  made — yet  many  cases  have  occurred  in  which  diligent 
search  by  different  persons  has  failed  to  discover  a  single  developed 
kernel  of  grain  in  any  of  the  heads  of  an  entire  field  I 

This  havoc,  so  extreme  and  general,  though  not  universal  (for  some 
fields  even  now  escape  with  comparatively  little  injury,)  lasts  but  a 
few  years.  The  numbers  of  the  pest  and  its  consequent  ravages  soon 
become  sensibly  diminished  ;  and  after  the  lapse  of  some  seasons,  the 
cultivation  of  the  wheat  crop  is  again  found  to  be  comparatively  safe, 
and  its  yield  only  in  isolated  instances  materially  lessened  by  the  con- 
tinued presence  of  the  fly,  which  has  now  become  probably  a  perma- 
nent inhabitant. 

It  is  now  commonly  supposed  that  this  rapid  diminution  in  the  num- 
bers of  the  wheat  fly  has  been  produced  by  the  general  abandonment 
of  the  cultivation  of  wheat  in  this  section  of  the  country  ;  that  thus 
the  insect,  having  no  place  to  deposit  its  eggs  where  its  young  could 
be  nourished,  has  become  measurably  ''  starved  out."  But  that  this 
opinion  is  erroneous,  is  I  think  evident  from  one  or  two  facts.  During 
this  entire  period,  since  notice  was  first  attracted  to  the  wheat-fly,  there 
are  some  farmers  who  have  every  year  continued  the  cultivation  of 
wheat  with  very  fair  success,  their  crops  having  been  in  no  one  of  these 
years  so  severely  injured  as  to  dishearten  them  ;  and  their  respective 
situations  are  so  dissimilar,  that  this  immunity  can  with  no  plausibility 
be  attributed  to  any  peculiarity  in  the  location  of  their  farms.  Now  if 
the  swarms  of  these  insects  which  for  a  time  pervaded  every  neighbor- 
hood through  this  entire  section  of  country,, and  which  possess  a  power 
of  wing  capable  of  bearing  them  from  twenty  to  fifty  miles  in  a  single 
season,  had  been  in  the  "starving"  condition  supposed,  how  have  the 
fields  alluded  to  escaped  destruction?     Certainly  these  myriads  of  tiny 


266  [Senate 

Ci'eatures  could  not  have  been  reduced  to  such  straits  for  want  of  the 
appropriate  repository  for  their  eggs,  until  after  these  crops  have  been 
utterly  consumed.  And,  with  the  insect  not  exterminated,  but  still 
everywhere  common,  now  that  the  culture  of  wheat  has  been  gradually 
returned  to  with  such  success  that  it  has  again  become  general,  why  has 
not  the  fly  again  increased?  Why  have  the  considerable  crops  of  the 
past  and  the  abundant  ones  of  the  present  year  (1845)  in  this  county, 
been  so  little  injured]  I  am  firmly  persuaded,  therefore,  that  the  speedy 
diminution  in  the  numbers  of  the  wheat-fly,  which  soon  follows  a  season 
in  which  it  has  been  extremely  annoying,  can  not  be  truly  assigned  to 
the  cause  above  stated;  but  that  it  is  rather  to  be  attributed  to  that 
beautiful  provision  of  nature  long  since  observed,  and  additional 
instances  of  which  are  brought  to  light  by  the  investigations  of  every 
year,  to  wit,  that  an  undue  increase  in  any  of  the  species  of  the  anima  1 
or  vegetable  world  never  takes  place,  without  being  speedily  succeeded 
by  a  corresponding  increase  of  the  natural  enemies  and  destroyers  of 
that  species,  whereby  it  again  becomes  reduced  to  its  appropriate 
bounds. 

Whenever  once  introduced,  it  is  probable  the  wheat-fly  will  ever 
after  continue  in  limited  numbers,  laying  the  wheat  crop  annually 
Under  a  moderate  contribution  for  its  support.  Isolated  fields  will 
occur  v/here  its  devastations  will  be  quite  serious,  whilst  the  crop  of 
the  district  generally  will  suffer  but  little,  and  many  fields  none  at 
all.  Such  has  appeared  to  be  its  history  in  this  vicinity  for  several 
years  past.  Seasons  favorable  for  its  multiplication  will  doubtless 
occur,  when  its  injuries  will  be  much  augmented ;  as  well  as  seasons 
of  a  reverse  character,  when  its  presence  will  scarcely  be  known.  It 
is  therefore  very  important  that  the  entire  history  and  habits  of  this 
insect  should  be  accurately  traced  out.  For  only  with  a  full  knowledge 
of  these,  can  we  be  able  to  resort  intelligently  to  such  measures  as  will 
keep  its  numbers  constantly  limited,  or  sweep  it  from  those  fields  that 
will  probably  at  times  be  excessively  infested  by  it. 

Its  habits. 

Relying  upon  the  correctness  of  the  published  statements,  that  it 
Was  not  till  "towards  the  last  of  June"  that  the  fly  infests  the  wheat- 
fields,  and  that  the  "principal  deposit  of  eggs  is  made  in  the  first 
half  of  July,"  1  had  not  commenced  searching  for  it,  when  on  the 


No.  105.]  267 

16th  of  June  I  was  informed  by  a  neighbor,  that  it  had  beeii  present 
for  some  days  in  large  numbers,  in  a  field  of  thrifty  winter  wheat  of 
his.  Upon  repairing  to  this  field,  a  small  black  fly,  about  one-third  of 
the  size  and  much  resembling  the  common  house-fly,  was  pointed  out 
as  the  dreaded  enemy ',  and  so  universally  has  this  doubtless  harmless 
species  been  for  years  regarded  as  the  true  wheat  fly  by  the  farmers 
throughout  this  whole  section  of  the  "  infected  district,"  merely  from 
the  circumstance  of  its  occurring  abundantly  in  wheat  fields  simultane^ 
ously  with  the  wheat- worm,  that  my  companion  was  much  surprised, 
and  disposed  to  be  incredulous  of  my  assertion  that  that  was  not  the 
wheat-fiy.  On  opening  the  flowers  of  wheat,  however,  the  eggs  of 
the  real  marauder  were  found  in  abundance ;  and  a  sweeping,  with  the 
small  gauze  fly-net  in  common  use  by  entomologists,  betv/een  the  stalks 
of  grain  towards  their  roots,  immediately  caught  within  it  a  number 
of  the  winged  insects.  My  comrade  was  little  less  surprised  on  my 
pointing  the  real  fly  out  to  him,  being  scarcely  able  to  conceive  that 
such  a  tiny  fragile  atom,  seemingly  a  mere  moat  floating  before  his  eye,- 
could  be  that  potent  enemy  that  had  spread  such  desolation  over  our 
land.  Several  of  the  specimens  thus  caught,  were  of  the  spotted- 
winged  species.  These  I  conjectured,  until  1  afterwards  came  to 
examine  them  attentively  with  the  microscope,  were  only  a  variety  of 
the  common  or  clear-winged  species,  else  I  should  not  have  failed  to 
have  regarded  them  more  particularly. 

All  parts  of  this  field  of  four  acres  were  found  to  be  infested  more 
or  less  with  the  wheat-fly,  but  they  occurred  most  abundantly  along 
one  of  its  sides,  in  the  field  adjoining  which,  wheat  had  been  grown 
the  preceding  year,  which  had  been  considerably  injured  by  this 
insect.  Such  a  host  of  destroyers  as  were  here  found,  and  the  profusion 
of  eggs  that  had  been  already  deposited,  strongly  indicated  that  it 
must  have  commenced  appearing  in  its  winged  state  many  days  previous 
to  this  time. 

The  wheat-fly  may  be  met  with  daily,  from  the  fore  part  of  June,- 
until  so  late  at  least  as  the  middle  of  August.  Although  it  congregates 
in  swarms  about  fields  of  wheat  at  the  time  they  are  in  blossom,  it  also 
occurs  in  a  great  variety  of  other  situations.  It  often  enters  houses^ 
upon  the  windows  of  which  it  may  be  observed  dancing  along  the 
panes,  sometimes  in  numbers.  It  may  also  be  taken  among  the  grass 
of  pastures,  and  of  alluvial  meadows  that  have  never  been  turned  up 


268  [Senate 

by  the  plow.  It  is  sometimes  found  in  shady  places,  particularly  along 
the  margin  of  streams,  associated  with  other  minute  species  of  Tipu- 
lidcB  in  those  dances  in  which  swarms  of  these  insects  so  often  engage. 
One  specimen  was  met  with  on  weeds,  in  the  margin  of  an  entensive 
and  dense  forest,  through  which  it  must  have  made  its  way,  or  over 
an  adjoining  lake  a  half  mile  broad,  on  the  opposite  side  of  which  was 
the  nearest  cultivated  ground. 

The  fly  during  the  sunshine  of  day  moves  about  but  little,  remaining 
mostly  at  rest  or  lurking  about  in  the  shade  furnished  towards  the 
roots  of  the  growing  grain.  In  the  twilight  of  evening  it  becomes 
active  and  continues  so  perhaps  during  the  entire  night;"  for  before  the 
morning  sunrise  it  may  be  seen  abundantly  upon  the  wing,  though  less 
agile  than  in  the  evening,  as  though  it  had  now  become  somewhat 
wearied  or  was  rendered  sluggish  by  the  coolness  and  dampness  of  the 
night  air.  Upon  cloudy  days,  also,  it  resorts  but  little  to  its  usual 
retreats.  In  short,  it  appears  to  be  only  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  which 
it  avoids,  for  if  a  tree  be  standing  in  an  infected  wheatfield,  the  fly  may 
be  met  with  in  its  shade,  on  the  wing  and  depositing  its  eggs  at  mid- 
day. Hence  those  parts  of  a  field  shaded  by  trees  or  an  adjoining 
wood,  have  been  repeatedly  observed  to  be  severely  devastated  or  even 
entirely  destroyed,  when  the  other  parts  of  the  same  field  have  been  but 
moderately  injured. 

But  it  is  during  the  evenings  which  succeed  hot  days  of  sunshine 
that  the  fly  appears  to  be  most  busy  and  full  of  life.  If  a  field  infested 
with  them  be  visited  with  a  lantern  at  this  time,  such  hosts  as  were 
little  imagined  to  exist,  will  be  found  busily  hovering  about  the  grain, 
the  most  of  them  with  wings  and  legs  extended,  dancing,  as  it  were, 
slowly  up  and  down  along  the  ea.rs,  intently  engaged  in  selecting  the 
most  suitable  spot  where  to  deposit  their  eggs.  This  being  found,  the 
insect  alights,  and  standing  upon  the  outer  glume  or  chaff  of  the  ker- 
nel, curves  its  abdomen  so  as  to  bring  the  tip  in  contact  at  right  angles 
with  the  surface  of  the  glume.  It  now  toils  industriously  to  insinuate 
its  ovipositor  through  the  scale,  which  is  not  accomplished  till  after  a 
considerable  exertion.  Sometimes  even,  the  scales  having  probably 
acquired  too  much  maturity  and  hardness  to  be  pierced  by  the  tiny 
stinger  which  the  fly  protrudes,  it  is  foiled  in  its  efforts,  and,  as  if 
vexed  at  its  ill  success,  spitefully  jerks  its  wings  apart  and  darts  away. 
This  occurrence,  however,  is  rare.     And  having  penetrated  with  its 


No.  105.]  269 

ovipositor  into  contact  with  the  germ  of  the  future  grain,  through  this 
tube  one  egg  after  another  is  passed  in  at  short  intervals  until  several 
are  deposited.     The  usual  number  of  eggs  thus  deposited,  appeared  to 
be  from  six  to  ten ;  and  as  thrice  or  four  times  as  many  larvse  can 
sometimes  be  met  with  on  a  single  germ,  it  is  probable  that  three  or 
four  insects  sometimes  successively  puncture  the  same  floret.     Very 
frequently  two,  four  or  six  flies  may  be  seen  at  the  same  time  on  diffe- 
rent florets  of  the  same  ear,   depositing  their  eggs ;  and  Mr.  Shirreff" 
says,  "  Upon  one  occasion  I  numbered  thirty-five  flies  on  a  single  ear, 
and,   after   carrying  it  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  six  of  them 
still  continued  to  deposit  eggs."     This  work  being  done,  another  labo- 
rious task  for  the  tin;y  creature  remains,  that  of  withdrawing  the  oviposi- 
tor ;  and  to  accomplish  this,  the  energies  of  the  insect  are  sometimes 
'  inadequate,  and  it  remains,  Prometheus-like,  chained  to  an  immoveable 
mountain,  until  it  expires.     This  curious  fact,  first  observed  by  Mr. 
Kirby,  I  have  seen  fully  verified,  meeting  in  several  instances  with  the 
dead  insect  still  remaining  thus  suspended. 

Although  the  flowers  of  the  wheat  are  the  favorite  resort  of  this 
insect  for  depositing  its  eggs,  yet  it  is  not  limited  solely  to  this  plant. 
It  is  currently  reported  to  have  been  occasionally  met  with  in  rye 
and  oats  in  this  country.     Mr.  Shirreff"  and  Mr.  Gorrie  both  found 
the  wheat-worm  in  ears  of  the  quack  or  couch  grass  [Triticurn  re- 
pens  Linn.  ;  Jlgropyron  repens,  Pal.   de   Beauvois) ;  and  the  latter 
gentleman  hereupon  rather  naively  remarks,  "  The  fly  has  not  known 
that  modern  botanists  no  longer  ranged  the  couch  grass  among  the 
wheat  tribe  ;  but,  like  myself,  it  is  most  attached  to  the  Linnsean 
names  and  systems."   Mr.  Markwick  also  found  the  same  worms  in 
the  wild  bearded  oats  (Jlvenafestuca,  Linn.) 
The  eggs  are  of  an  oblong,  cylindrical  form,  with  rounded  ends, 
'  They  are  pellucid  and  nearly  colorless  at  first,  but  acquire  a  yellow- 
ish tinge  ere  they  are  hatched,  which  is  in  rather  over  a  week  after 
they  are  deposited. 

The  larva  has  two  distinct  stages  in  its  existence  :  an  active  or 
growing  state,  which  is  passed  through  in  about  a  month  ;  and  a 
dormant  state,  which  then  supervenes,  and  continues  through  the 
winter.  This  latter  has  been  generally  but  incorrectly  regarded  as 
its  pupa  state  by  writers.  ' 

When  it  comes  from  the  egg,  the  larva  is  a  minute  oblong  soft 


270  [Senate 

Hvorm,  without  feet  or  hairs,  and  transparent  or  of  a  whitish  tinge 
at  first,  but  soon  changing  to  a  bright  amber  or  orange  yellow.  It 
moves  but  slowly,  and  with  difficulty,  by  a  wriggling  motion  of  its 
body.  It  remains  within  the  particular  floret  in  which  it  is  hatched, 
until  it  attains  its  full  growth.  Mr.  Kirby  says  it  feeds  upon  the  pol- 
len of  the  anthers ;  and  perhaps  it  does  so  at  first,  but  certainly 
whilst  they  are  quite  small,  all  the  worms  within  the  floret  clus- 
ter upon  the  sides  of  the  germ,  and  generally  towards  its  base 
(Plate  5,  fig.  a.)  I  apprehend  they  chiefly  subsist  and  attain  their 
growth  there,  upon  the  fluids  destined  for  the  nourishment  of  the 
germ,  and  which,  for  want  of  these  fluids,  becomes  shrivelled  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  and  does  not  attain  that  plump  form  on  which 
the  value  of  this  grain  so  much  depends.  The  amount  of  injury  re- 
ceived by  the  individual  kernel  of  grain  varies  according  to  the  num- 
ber of  worms  that  have  been  nourished  in  the  chaff  in  contact  with 
it.  If  mature  worms  grow  from  all  the  eggs  deposited  by  the  fly  at 
a  single  puncture,  the  kernel  is  doubtless  rendered  worthless ;  but  a 
single  worm,  as  is  occasionly  found,  would  scarcely  produce  a  per- 
ceptible effect. 

Having  attained  its  growth,  and  in  its  dormant  state,  it  does  no^ 
differ  sensibly,  as  I  have  been  able  to  discover,  from  its  previous  ap- 
pearance ;  and  the  only  reason  for  marking  this  as  a  distinct  stage, 
is,  that  the  insect  now  remains  for  a  long  period  (probably  two-thirds 
of  its  entire  term  of  existence)  without  increasing  in  size  or  under- 
going any  other  perceptible  change.  The  texture  of  its  body  seems 
to  have  acquired  rather  more  firmness  than  it  possessed  while  it  was 
growing,  and  its  motions  are  more  sluggish.  It  is  less  than  the 
tenth  of  an  inch  long  :  a  measurement  of  several  specimens  gives 
0.07  as  their  average  length.  It  is  of  a  rich  orange  color,  and  of  an 
oblong-oval  form  (Plate  5,  fig,  b) ,  being  broadest  in  the  middle  and 
rounded  at  each  end  :  it  is  slightly  depressed,  the  under  side  being 
considerably  flattened  ;  thus  in  form  somewhat  resembling  the  leech 
when  contracted.  Its  joints  are  indicated  by  slight  transverse  im- 
pressed lines,  by  which  it  is  divided  into  twelve  segments  of  about 
equal  length.  Sometimes  a  brownish  cloud  is  perceptible  near  the 
middle  of  the  body  on  its  underside,  which  is  probably  caused  by 
alimentary  matter.  If  these  worms  are  placed  for  some  days  on  a 
plate  in  a  dry  room,  the  outer  skin  of  the  body  becomes  so  dry  and 


No.  105.]  271 

indurated  that  the  worm  is  incapable  of  making  the  slightest  motion  ; 
but  on  covering  them  with  a  wetted  cloth,  the  surface  again  in  a 
short  time  becomes  pliant  and  yielding ;  and  if  pressed  with  a  needle, 
the  animal  writhes,  and  sometimes  turns  itself  over  to  escape  from 
the  annoyance.  I  doubt  whether  it  ever  moults,  or  casts  off  its  skin, 
between  its  egg  and  its  pupa  state  ;  but  my  observations  have  not 
been  sufficiently  exact  and  prolonged  to  speak  positively  upon  this 
point. 

This  is  the  form  in  which  the  insect  passes  the  autumn  and  winter. 
The  accounts  of  writers  disagree  as  to  where  the  worm  remains 
during  this  period ;  in  fact  few  of  them  speak  distinctly  upon  this 
particular  point.  Mr.  Kirby,  however,  describes  the  worm  as  still 
continuing  in  the  heads  of  the  wheat ;  but  as  a  considerable  portion 
of  them  are  missing,  he  thinks  these  have  been  destroyed  by  para- 
sitic enemies.  He  says,  "  I  have  seen  more  than  once,  seven  or 
eight  florets  in  an  ear  inhabited  by  the  [active]  larvae,  and  as  many 
as  thirty  in  a  single  floret,  seldom  less  than  eight  or  nine,  and  yet  I 
have  scarcely  found  more  than  one  pupa  [dormant  larva]  in  an  ear, 
and  had  to  examine  several  to  meet  with  that."  Mr.  Gorrie,  on  the 
other  hand,  asserts  that  the  maggots  quit  the  ears  of  the  wheat  by 
the  first  of  August,  and  enter  into  ihe  ground,  where  they  remain 
through  the  winter.  Mr.  Shirreff",  also,  from  finding  the  fly  much 
more  abundant  in  fields  where  wheat  had  been  grown  the  preceding 
year  than  it  was  in  other  fields,  entertains  the  same  opinion.  Now 
the  truth  is,  Mr.  Kirby  and  Mr.  Gorrie  are  both  right.  A  portion  of 
the  larvae  leave  the  grain  before  it  is  harvested,  and  descend  to  the 
ground,  where  I  have  found  them,  under  mouldy  fragments  of  straw 
on  the  surface,  or  buried  a  half  inch  or  less  within  the  soil.  I  thus 
found  them,  common  in  the  field  already  spoken  of  as  examined  on 
the  16th  of  June,  a  few  days  after  the  grain  was  harvested  ;  and 
also  early  in  March,  in  a  field  in  which  wheat  was  grown  the  pre- 
ceding year,  that  had  been  somewhat  injured  by  the  fly.  Another 
portion  of  these  larvae  remain  in  the  heads  of  the  wheat,  and  are 
carried  into  the  barn,  where  they  may  readily  be  observed  upon  the 
threshing-floor,  and  found  in  quantities  among  the  screenings  of  the 
fanning-mill,  a  considerable  portion  of  which  sometimes  consists  of 
these  worms.  Thence  our  farmers  kindly  empty  them  out  at  the 
door  of  the  barn,  where  most  of  them  doubtless  find  among  the  litter 


272  [Senate 

of  the  yard  a  bed  equally  as  comfortable  and  secure  as  that  in  which 
their  brethren  in  the  field  are  at  this  time  reposing. 

Whence  does  this  singular  diversity  in  the  habits  of  these  larvse 
arise  ?  All  the  worms  are  undoubtedly  fully  matured  before  the 
grain  becomes  ripe  and  dry  and  hard.  Why  then  do  one  part  of 
them  leave  the  wheat  heads  and  enter  the  ground  ere  the  harvest — 
and  another  portion  of  them  remain  wdthin  the  ears  to  be  carried  into 
the  barn  with  the  grain  when  it  is  housed  *?  Two  well  attested  ob- 
servations, I  think,  shed  important  light  upon  this  interesting  point. 
And  if  the  inference  which  I  deduce  from  them  be  correct,  we  have 
arrived  at  another  very  curious  trait  in  the  economy  of  this  insect. 

Dr.  Harris  informs  us,  that  "  after  a  shower  of  rain,  they  [the  larvee] 
have  been  seen  in  such  countless  numbers  on  the  beards  of  the  vJieat^  as 
to  give  a  yellow  color  to  the  whole  field  ;  "  and  he  refers  to  the  New- 
England  Farmer,  vol.  xii.  p.  60,  in  confirmation  of  this  statement,  a 
volume  which  I  have  not  at  hand.  For  an  analogous  but  still  more 
instructive  fact,  I  am  indebted  to  Gen.  M'Naughton,  a  practical  far- 
mer of  this  town,  the  accuracy  of  whose  statements  no  one  acquainted 
with  him  will  doubt.  In  1832,  his  wheat,  in  which  the  fly  had  made 
sad  havoc,  w^as  cradled  and  lying  in  the  swath,  when  a  moderate  rain 
came  on,  followed  by  a  damp  cloudy  afternoon.  At  this  time,  with 
his  hired  help,  he  repaired  to  the  harvest-field  to  bind  up  the  grain. 
They  here  found  not  only  the  heads,  but  also  the  stravj  in  its  entire 
length  spi'inkled  over  with  these  worms.  On  my  observing  to  him,  that 
I  could  scarcely  believe  it  possible  for  a  footless  w^orm  to  crav.d  along 
the  straw  when  it  was  lying  horizontally,  he  stated  that  he  was  par- 
ticularly positive  with  regard  to  that  fact  ;  for  he  distinctly  recollect- 
ed that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  draw  the  band  around  a  bundle 
and  tie  it  [in  v/hich  process  the  heads  of  the  grain  are  not  touched,] 
without  having  at  least  a  half  dozen  of  these  v^orms  adhering  to  his 
hands. 

From  these  facts,  I  infer  that  the  worm  does  not  crawl  out  of  the 
chaff  and  "  drop  "  itself  to  the  ground,  as  has  been  stated  by  some 
writers  ;  but  that  having  attained  its  growth,  it  lies  dormant  vdthin 
the  chaff,  aw^aiting  a  favorable  state  of  the  weather  in  which  to  make 
its  descent,  to  wit,  a  rain  w^hich  is  not  immediately  follov.'ed  by  a 
clear  sky  and  warm  sun  that  would  soon  dry  the  straw.  Hence  it  is 
doubtless  almost  invariably  by  night  that  this  journey  of  the  worm 


No.  105.J  273 

is  performed,  and  that  it  has  therefore  never  been  seeij.  The  straw 
itself  being  wet,  and  the  body  of  the  worm  rendered  supple  by  the 
moisture  surrounding  it,  it  leaves  its  abode  in  the  head  of  the  wheat, 
and  adhering  to  the  wet  straw  by  the  glutinousness  of  the  surface 
of  its  body,  gradually  works  its  way  downwards  by  the^  wriggling 
motion  to  which  it  so  often  resorts  when  disturbed,  until  it  reaches 
the  ground.  That  there  is  such  a  glutinous  secretion  upon  the  sur- 
face of  the  worm  as  would  enable  it  to  adhere  to  the  wet  straw  in 
the  manner  supposed,  I  might  adduce  a  number  of  facts  to  prove.  I 
was  desirous  of  taking  a  drawing  of  the  larvae  which  I  found  among 
wheat-stubble  last  March  ;  but  particles  of  earth  adhered  to  them 
so  firmly,  that  I  could  not  separate  them  with  the  point  of  a  needle 
without  also  mutilating  the  worms,  A  few  weeks  since,  on  visiting 
a  neighbor's  threshing-floor,  I  gathered  a  number  of  larvae  by  mois- 
tening the  end  of  my  finger  and  touching  it  to  the  worm,  which, 
thus  adhering,  was  scraped  off  upon  the  edge  of  a  tin  box.  The  box 
is  now  before  me,  with  each  of  the  worms  alive,  but  firmly  glued  to 
its  sides,  and  many  of  them  to  each  other  ;  and  on  forcibly  removing 
some  of  them,  the  outer  dried  and  hardened  case  of  the  worm  is 
fractured  in  the  operation. 

It  would  thus  appear  that  those  worms  which  are  matured,  leave 
the  grain  at  the  close  of  a  shower,  and  crawl  down  the  wet  straw  to 
the  €arth.  It  may  be  also,  that  a  heavy  night-dew  sometimes  fur- 
nishes a  sufficient  degree  of  moisture  to  enable  them  to  do  this. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  those  worms  which  are  later  in  arriving  at 
maturity,  in  awaiting  suitable  weather  for  making  the  same  descent  are, 
-ere  such  weather  arrives,  carried  with  the  grain  into  the  barn. 

As  illustrating  the  strong  tenacity  of  life  possessed  by  these  larvae, 
I  may  in  this  connexion  state,  that  the  few  specimens  gathered  in 
March  as  already  stated,  were  placed  with  a  little  earth  in  a  vial,"  and 
a  piece  of  gauze  tied  over  its  mouth,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
the  transformations  of  the  insect,  if  any,  from  its  then  condition  to 
that  of  a  winged  fly.  Other  avocations  diverted  my  attention,  and 
this  vial  was  forgotten  for  a  fortnight ;  by  which  time  the  earth  within 
had  become  so  completely  dried,  that  not  doubting  but  the  worms  had 
all  perished,  no  farther  attention  was  paid  to  it,  and  it  remained  in  a 
vdry  room  over  three  months,  until  the  middle  of  June,  when,  on  ex- 
amining it,  half  the  specimens  put  into  the  vial  were  found  to  have 

[Senate,  No.  105  .J  18 


274  [Senate 

completed  their  transformations  ;  a  corresponding  number  of  dead 
wheat-flies  being  found  attached  to  a  straw  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
vial.  Prof.  Henslow  thinks  that  it  is  only  those  larvae  that  are 
punctured  by  ichneumons,  that  leave  the  wheat-ears  and  enter  the 
ground  ;  but  the  facts  now  stated  show  that  this  opinion  is  erro- 
neous. 

On  removing  the  earth  from  the  vial  above  alluded  to,  the  cases  of 
the  pupcB  from  which  the  flies  had  proceeded,  were  found  very  per- 
fect. These  conclusively  showed  that  the  real  pupa  is  not  formed 
until  in  the  spring,  and  that  it  is  then  altogether  different  in  form, 
from  what  has  been  described  by  writers  as  its  pupa.  It  corresponds 
identically  in  its  appearance  (perhaps  with  the  exception  of  color) 
with  that  of  the  Cecidomyia  Salicisy  as  exhibited  in  the  first  volume 
of  the  American  Quarterly  Journal  of  Agriculture  and  Science. 
Plate  2,  fig.  1.  It  also  closely  resembles  the  figure  of  the  pupa  of 
Cecidomyia  Pini  ?  as  given  from  De  Geer  in  Westwood^s  Introduc- 
tion to  the  Modern  Classification  of  Insects,  vol.  ii.  p.  518,  fig.  125j. 
No.  7.*  Its  length  is  slightly  less  than  that  of  the  dormant  larva. 
The  antennee,  legs  and  wings,  are  each  enclosed  in  separate  sheaths,. 
which  lie  externally  to  the  integument  in  which  the  body  is  envelop- 
ed. The  three  pairs  of  legs  all  lie  parallel  and  in  contact  with  each 
other  upon  the  breast,  reaching  far  down  past  the  tips  of  the  wings  ; 
the  inner  pair  being  shortest,  and  the  outer  pair  longest.  Judging 
from  the  analogy  afforded  by  the  Cecidomyia  Salicis,  I  presume  the 
wheat-fly  only  remains  in  its  pupa  state  three  or  four  weeks  in  the 
latter  part  of  May  and  the  fare  part  of  June. 

ITS    NATURAL    ENEMIES, 

One  of  the  most  effective  natural  destroyers  of  the  wheat-fly,  is 
undoubtedly  our  common  yellow-bird  [Fringilla  tristis,  Lin.)  Fields 
much  infested  by  the  insect,  have  been  for  many  years  recognized 
even  by  passers  on  the  highway  contiguous  to  them,  by  the  rough 
and  ragged  aspect  of  the  heads  .of  the  grain  (Plate,  fig.  c).  I  am 
not  aware  that  the  cause  of  this  peculiar  appearance  has  ever  been  sta- 
ted in  any  of  the  communications  that  have  appeared  in  our  agricultu- 

*  I  cannot  but  regard  the  figure  here  referred  to  as  inaccurate,  in  repi-esenting  the 
wings  as  enclosed  in  one  common  case,  over  which  the  legs  are  laid.  The  tips  of  th© 
wings  should  probably  be  rounded^  instead  of  being  brought  to  a  points 


No.  105.]  275 

ral  papers.  It  results  from  the  operations  of  this  bird.  Alighting,  it 
adroitly  grasps  the  wheat  stalk  just  below  the  ear,  and  clinging  fear- 
lessly to  it,  even  when  swayed  to  and  fro  by  the  wind,  it  with  its  bill 
parts  down  the  chaff  from  the  grain,  and  one  after  another  of  the  worms 
to  which  it  thus  gains  access  are  rapidly  picked  off  and  devoured. 
Thus  several  heads  are  generally  freed  from  the  worms,  ere  its  repast 
is  completed.  That  it  is  the  worms  and  not  the  grain  that  it  is  in  pur- 
suit of,  is  readily  ascertained  by  an  inspection  of  the  heads  after  the 
bird  has  left  them  :  many  of  the  kernels,  not  being  sufficiently  loosened 
to  drop  to  the  ground  by  the  operation,  will  be  found  remaining,  the 
maggots  that  were  upon  them  only  having  been  removed ;  whilst  those 
kernels  of  the  head  which  are  not  infested  by  the  worm,  are  passed 
over  untouched.  It  is  curious  that  this  little  creature,  by  a  tap  with 
its  horny  bill,  or  some  other  process,  is  enabled  to  distinguish  those 
scales  of  chaff  which  conceal  so  minute  a  worm,  from  those  which  do 
not ;  a  knowledge  which  we  only  arrive  at  when  we  have  parted 
down  the  chaff.  A  flock,  numbering  about  fifty,  embracing  both  male 
and  female  birds,  appeared  to  make  the  field  which  I  examined  on  the 
16th  of  June  their  constant  resort,  for  a  period  of  three  weeks  or  more, 
where  they  could  be  seen  busily  occupied  almost  constantly  every 
day.  The  number  of  worms  consumed  by  them  during  this  time  must 
have  been  immense  ;  and  I  cannot  but  believe  that  this  lovely  bird 
will  henceforward  be  esteemed  for  its  utility,  as  much  as  it  has  hereto- 
fore been  for  its  beauty. 

I  have  as  yet  found  but  one  insect  parasite,  which  I  am  well  assured 
subsists  upon  and  destroys  the  worm  of  the  wheat-fly.  It  is  a  hyme- 
nopter  of  the  family  ChalcididcB  ;  but  my  acquaintance  with  the  de- 
tails of  its  history  is  as  yet  too  limited  to  attempt  an  account  of  it.  I 
shall  be  much  disappointed  if  I  do  not  meet  with  still  other  species 
which  prey  upon  the  wheat-fly ;  and  as  all  these  parasites  upon  the 
Cecidomyise  are  more  or  less  closely  related  to  each  other,  they  can 
probably  be  most  advantageously  presented  in  a  separate  article  devo- 
ted exclusively  to  that  subject. 

Four  or  more  species  are  known  abroad,  which  destroy  the  wheat- 
worm.  One  of  these,  it  is  stated  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Edinburgh 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Agriculture,  deposits  an  egg  beside  an  egg  of  the 
wheat-fly,  the  worm  from  which  devours  the  wheat-worm  soon  after  it 
hatches,  and  thus  effectually  saves  the  wheat.     The  observations  of 


276  [Senats 


Mr.  Shirreff  upon  another  of  these  cannot  but  interest  the  reader.  He 
says,  "  Upon  presenting  four  Jarrse  (of  the  wheat-fly)  to  an  ichneumon^ 
it  soon  stung,  or,  according  to  Mr.  Kirby,  deposited  an  egg  in  each  of 
their  bodies,  and  stung  one  of  them  a  second  time.  The  maggot 
writhed  in  seeming  agony,  and  straggled  upon  my  thumb-nail,  where 
it  was  again  stung  three  times  by  the  same  fly ;  and  in  a  second  strug- 
gle, both  fell  to  the  ground." 

ARTIFICIAL   MEANS    FOR   ARRESTING    ITS   RAVAGES. 

These  may  be  divided  into  two  classes,  as  they  refer  to  the  protec- 
tion of  the  grain  from  the  fly  when  in  its  winged  form  and  depositing 
its  eggs  ;  or  as  they  directed  to  the  destruction  of  the  fly  itself,  in  the 
previous  stages  of  its  existence. 

Several  measures  have  been  proposed,  and  some  of  them  with  much 
confidence  and  plausibility  of  reasoning,  for  protecting  the  wheat  crop 
from  this  insect  during  the  period  of  its  blossoming.  The  more  pro- 
minent of  these  I  will  advert  to. 

The  smoke  of  a  number  of  smouldering  fires,  or  of  brimstone 
matches,  in  different  parts,  and  particularly  upon  the  windward  side 
of  an  infested  field,  has  been  recommended.  The  known  eflEicacy  of 
smoke  in  repelling  the  musketoe  renders  it  probable  that  this  remedy 
would  be  of  signal  utility,  were  it  not  for  the  discouraging  amount  of 
labor  that  is  required  to  make  so  thorough  and  protracted  a  use  of  it 
as  would  be  necessary. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  anal  follicles  of  the  skunk  {Mephitis 
americana,  Desm.)  might  be  extracted,  and  that  yarn  impregnated 
with  the  fluid  contained  in  them,  and  suspended  through  wheat-fields, 
would,  by  its  intolerable  odor,  banish  the  wheat-fly.  I  imagine  that  in 
carrying  this  suggestion  into  practice,  the  operator  would  be  the  great- 
est sufferer — "  unless  my  nose  deceives  me." 

Sowing  the  field  with  lime  at  the  time  the  wheat  is  in  blossom,  has 
been  repeatedly,  and  by  some  with  much  confidence,  urged.  This  re- 
medy has  been  much  resorted  to,  and  very  conflicting  statements  with 
regard  to  its  eflEicacy  have  been  laid  before  the  public.  A  simple  ex- 
periment, directly  to  the  point,  is  of  more  value  than  a  thousand  cases 
that  tend  to  support  any  particular  opinion  ;  and  such  an  experiment 
I  am  prepared  to  narrate.  Jarvis  Martin,  Esq.,  the  owner  of  the  infes- 
ted field  repeatedly  alluded  to,  at  my  suggestion,  repaired  to  it  one 


No.  105.]  277 

evening,  and  sprinkled  several  of  the  heads  with  tolerably  fresh  air- 
slaked  lime,  until  they  were  white  with  the  powder  adhering  to  them  y 
thus  applying  it  far  more  profusely  and  effectually  than  can  be  accom- 
plished by  any  "  sowing"  of  this  substance.  With  the  light  of  a  lan- 
tern, these  heads  were  now  closely  watched,  and  the  flies  were  ob- 
served to  hover  around  and  alight  upon  them  as  freely,  and  insert  their 
ovipositors  with  the  same  readiness  that  they  did  upon  the  contiguous 
heads  that  were  not  thus  treated.  I  deem  this  experiment  sufficient  to 
put  to  rest  the  much  mooted  question  with  regard  to  the  utility  of  lime 
as  a  shield  against  the  wheat-fly. 

A  yet  more  prominent,  and  much  more  plausible  mode  of  enabling 
the  wheat  to  escape  injury  from  the  fly,  is,  sowing  the  seed  at  such 
times  as  will  prevent  its  being  in  blossom  at  the  period  when  the  in- 
sect appears.  With  this  view,  it  is  recommended  to  sow  winter  wheat 
much  earlier  than  was  ordinarily  done,  that  it  may  be  so  far  matured 
the  following  season  at  the  time  of  the  appearance  of  the  fly,  as  to  be 
invulnerable  to  it ;  and  spring  wheat,  so  late  as  not  to  be  in  blossom 
until  the  fly  has  finished  depositing  its  eggs.  This  plan  has  been  much 
relied  upon,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and  I  have  been  heretofore 
disposed  to  regard  it  as  probably  the  most  feasible  of  any — though  by 
avoiding  Scylla  we  are  in  danger  of  Charybdis — for  early  sown  win- 
ter wheat  invites  a  return  of  the  Hessian  fly,  and  late  sown  spring 
wheat  is  almost  certain  in  this  vicinity  to  be  attacked  by  "  the  rust" 
{Puccinia  graminis).  Numerous  instances,  moreover,  can  be  adduced 
which  tend  much  to  support  the  utility  of  this  measure.  One  of  these, 
as  strong  as  any  that  has  come  to  my  knowledge,  I  may  here  state. 
In  a  field  of  spring  wheat  of  my  own,  raised  in  1843,  every  kernel  in 
the  top  of  almost  every  head  was  entirely  destroyed,  whilst  the  lower 
two-thirds  or  three-fourths  of  the  ears  were  wholly  uninjured.  I  could 
account  for  this  only  by  supposing  that  these  heads  were  just  begin- 
ning to  be  protruded  from  their  sheaths  as  the  operations  of  the  fly 
were  closing  for  that  year  ;  and  hence  confidently  inferred  that  if  that 
wheat  had  been  sowed  a  few  days  later,  it  would  have  escaped  entire- 
ly, or  a  few  days  earlier,  it  would  have  been  entirely  destroyed.  By 
a  reference  to  my  Farm  Book,  I  find  this  crop  was  sowed  April  26th, 
and  cradled  August  10th,  but  no  note  was  taken  of  the  time  when  it 
was  in  blossom.  I  must  confess,  however^that  my  observations  the 
present  season  have  greatly  diminished  my  confidence  in  the  time  of 


S78  [SENAfS 

sowing  as  securing  the  crop  from  injury.     Though  I  did  not  see  the 
fly  abroad  until  the  16th  of  June,  it  was  then  present  in  such  swarms^ 
and  had  already  deposited  its  eggs  so  profusely,  that  I  think  it  must 
have  commenced  appearing  quite  early  in  that  month.     It,  moreover^ 
continued  to  be  abundant  until  about  the  middle  of  July,  and  speci- 
mens were  occasionally  met  with  a  month  longer.     Certainly  if  it  is 
usual  for  it  to  be  spread  out  over  such  an  extent  of  time,  it  will  be 
vain  to  rely  upon  the  time  of  sowing  to  insure  a  crop  against  its  rava- 
ges.    Some  observations  in  the  foreign  accounts  also  throw  light  upon 
this  subject.     Mr.  ShirrefF  says,  in  1829  the  fly  appeared  June  21st  j 
"  and  from  the  vast  numbers  of  them  then  seen,  it  is  probable  a  few  of 
them  may  have  been  in  existence  some  days  previous."     Their  eggs  were 
seen  June  23d,  and  must  therefore  have  been  deposited  on  the  evening 
of  the  22d.     "  The  flies  were  observed  depositing  eggs  on  the  28thj 
and    finally  disappeared  on    the  30th  of  July,  thus   having   existed 
through  a  period  of  thirty-nine  days,"  and  depositing  eggs  during  thir- 
ty-seven of  these  days.     I  know  not  how  Mr.  S.  could  be  certain  that 
the  fly  had  disappeared  for  the  season  on  the  30th  of  July,  for  his  ac- 
count is  dated  the  first  day  of  August.     For  a  few  days  only  after 
their  first  appearance,  he  tells  us,  they  frequented  the  couch-grass  as 
well  as  the  wheat.     Was  not  this  because  there  was  not  at  that  time  a 
suflScient  quantity  of  wheat  in  bloom  to  accommodate  the  number  of 
insects  that  were  then  out  1     And  Mr.  Markwick  distinctly  states  that 
it  was  after  the  grain  had  been  harvested,  that  he  found  the  larvse  in 
the  wild  oats.     Were  not  the  parent  flies  then  obliged  to  resort  to  this 
plant,  because  all  the  wheat  had  become  mature  ere  they  had  comple- 
ted depositing  their  eggs  1     These  facts  certainly  make  it  appear  as 
though  the  fly  is  often  abroad  before  the  wheat  commences  blossoming, 
and  continues  till  after  it  becomes  mature. 

Is  there  then,  no  mode  by  which  the  flowering  grain  can  be  shield- 
ed from  the  ravages  of  the  fly  1  This  is  a  subject  on  which  I  have 
bestowed  much  thought;  and  I  am  not  now  prepared  to  tell  the  rea- 
der what  he  must  do,  but  I  wall  briefly  inform  him  what  I  shall  do, 
upon  the  first  occasion  that  calls  for  it.  A  method  is  sometimes  re- 
sorted to  abroad,  for  saving  grain  fields  from  the  depredations  of  cer- 
tain insects  of  peculiar  habits.  A  rope  is  drawn  along  over  the 
grain  by  two  men  walking  at  a  brisk  pace  ;  which  rope  thus  knock- 
ing against  the  heads  of  the  grain,  causes  the  depredators  to  drop 


No.  105.]  279 

themselves  instantly  on  the  ground,  and  it  is  a  slow  and  tedious  task 
for  them  to  get  up  to  the  heads  of  the  grain  again.  A  similar  pro- 
cess, but  with  a  different  apparatus,  I  contemplate  employing  against 
the  wheat-fly.  This  apparatus  is  a  light  net  made  of  gauze,  three 
or  four  feet  deep  and  one  or  two  rods  long ;  its  mouth  reaching  the 
entire  length  of  the  net,  and  opening  to  a  width  of  about  eighteen 
inches.  A  small  rope  is  to  be  stitched  to  the  upper  and  another  to 
the  lower  side  of  the  mouth,  reaching  slightly  beyond  the  net  at  each 
end,  which  is  to  be  carried  by  two  persons  holding  the  ends  of  these 
Topes.  If  on  closely  examining  the  wheat-fields  of  my  vicinity,  from 
the  time  that  the  heads  begin  to  protrude  from  their  sheaths,  the  fly 
is  found  to  be  gathering  in  swarms  in  any  one  of  them,  I  intend  re- 
pairing to  that  field  in  the  evening,  when  the  insects  will  be  hovering 
in  such  myriads  about  the  heads  of  the  grain,  and,  with  an  assistant, 
carrying  the  net  so  that  the  lower  cord  will  strike  a  few  inches  below 
the  heads  of  grain,  the  upper  one  being  heldnearly  a  foot  in  advance 
of  it,  and  about  the  same  distance  above  the  tops  of  the  heads,  by 
keeping  the  cords  tense  and  walking  at  a  uniformly  rapid  pace  from 
side  to  side  of  the  field,  until  the  whole  is  swept  over,  I  shall  be 
much  disappointed  if  countless  millions  are  not  gathered  into  the 
net,  which  is  to  be  instantly  closed  whenever  a  pause  is  made,  by 
bringing  the  cords  together.  It  is  now  to  be  folded  or  rolled  together 
into  a  smaller  compass,  and  then  pressed  by  the  hands  or  otherwise 
so  as  to  crush  the  vermin  contained  within  it.  This  measure  has 
been  suggested  to  me,  by  observing  the  perfect  facility  with  which 
the  small  entomological  fly-net  becomes  filled  with  these  flies,  on 
sweeping  it  to  and  fro  a  few  times  among  the  heads  of  infested 
wheat  in  the  evening.  Of  course  this  operation  should  be  resorted 
to  on  the  first  appearance  of  the  fly  in  numbers,  and  before  its  eggs 
have  been  deposited  so  profusely  as  will  occur  in  the  course'of  a 
few  days.  I  feel  strongly  confident,  that  by  sweeping  over  a  field 
a  very  few  times  in  the  manner  above  described,  the  fly  may  be  so 
completely  thinned  out  and  destroyed,  as  to  be  incapable  of  injuring 
the  crop  perceptibly. 

With  regard  to  destroying  the  fly  in  the  earlier  stages  of  its  exis- 
tence, only  a  few  words  will  require  to  be  said.  Whoever  has  read 
the  preceding  account  of  the  habits  of  this  insect,  must  have  been 
struck  with  a  consciousness  of  the  perfect  facility  with  which  that 


280  [Senate 

portion  of  the  worms  that  are  brought  into  our  bams  may  be  exter- 
minated. It  would  seem  as  though  Divine  Providence  had  expressly- 
designed  to  place  a  part  of  every  generation  of  these  insects  directly 
in  the  hands  of  man,  that  he  might  destroy  them  or  not,  at  his  option. 
And  Uncle  Toby  is  so  extremely  benevolentj  that  he  has  uniformly 
carried  them  to  the  door,  and  said  ^^  Go  away,  little  flies,  go  away  ^ 
the*worid  is  wide  enough  for  you  and  me  both."  Now  it  is  scarcely 
necessary  for  me  to  say,  that  the  screenings  of  the  fanning-mill 
should  invariably  be  closely  examined,  and  if  the  minute  yellow 
wheat  worms  are  numerous  in  them,  the  person  should  consider  it 
a  sacred  duty  which  he  owes  to  himself  and  his  neighbors,  to  con- 
sign these  screenings  at  once  to  the  flames.  If  there  are  but  occa- 
sional worms  among  them,  let  them  be  emptied  into  a  hog-trough  ; 
but  never  empty  them  upon  the  ground,  or  among  the  straw  of  the 
barn-yard,  unless  they  appear  to  be  entirely  free  from  these  vermin. 
And  now,  if  that  portion  of  the  worms  which  remain  in  the  fields 
can  also  be  destroyed,  it  becomes  certain  that  we  are  at  once  and 
forever  relieved  from  all  farther  solicitude  with  regard  to  future  in- 
juries which  this  insect  can  inflict  upon  us.  But  can  this  be  done  1 
It  has  been  proposed  to  burn  the  stubble  of  wheat-fields  after  the 
harvest ;  and  if  this  measure  be  resorted  to  at  a  very  dry  time  in  the 
autumn,  probably  some  of  the  worms  would  be  destroyed  by  it. 
But,  so  far  as  I  have  observed,  they  uniformly  lie  here  in  situations 
where  they  are  surrounded  with  some  degree  of  moisture,  under 
damp  and  mouldy  clusters  of  straw  and  stubble,  or  slightly  within 
the  surface  of  the  ground.  It  would,  therefore,  only  be  those  strag- 
gling individuals  that  were  not  in  their  usual  haunts,  that  the  tran- 
sient heat  caused  by  such  a  burning  would  reach.  Would  a  turning 
over  of  the  field  with  the  plow  bury  them  to  such  a  depth,  that  they 
would  fail  of  finding  their  way  to  the  surface  again  ?  This  is  an  im- 
portant inquiry.  It  is  very  probable  that  the  larva  can  work  its  way 
to  the  surface,  from  a  greater  depth  than  what  the  pupa  can.  Direct 
experiment  only  can  determine  accurately  at  what  depth  the  insect, 
in  both  these  stages,  must  be  buried  in  order  to  destroy  it.  No  in- 
formation of  any  value  can,  therefore,  be  given  upon  this  point, 
until  such  experiments  are  made. 


plat,'  .5 


.r  K.G-ttvit  Sc. 


Engraved fyr the  Ameriran  Qaarterlii  Ji'nrn///  <>/' .  {//rut 


No.  105.]  281 


DESCRIPTION    OF   THE    CLEAR-WINGED    WHEAT-FLY. 
Cecidomyia  Tritici. — Kirby. 

The  importance  of  full  and  accurate  descriptions  of  every  one  of 
the  several  parts  of  a  natural  object,  in  order  that  it  may  be  identified 
with  certainty,  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  present  species.  For 
some  years  it  has  been  supposed  to  be  identical  with  the  English 
wheat-fly ;  but  those  who  are  aware  of  the  large  number  of  both  plants 
and  animals  in  Europe,  that  have  analogous  representatives  in  this 
country  so  closely  resembling  them  as  to  have  been  in  many  instan- 
ces for  a  long  time  considered  identical  even  by  accurate  and  experi- 
enced observers,  could  not  but  entertain  doubts  upon  this  point;  and 
with  the  fifteen  or  twenty  characters  of  this  insect  which  could  be 
gathered  from  different  sources,  I  could  still  only  say  that  our  wheat- 
fly  was  probably  the  Tritici  of  Mr.  Kirby,  some  of  its  prominent  pecu- 
liarities seeming  even  to  conflict  with  the  descriptions  given  of  that 
species.  For  instance,  all  that  we  could  gather  respecting  the  form 
of  the  joints  of  the  antennae,  was,  that  they  were  "  momVi/brmy'' 
and  Messrs.  Kirby  and  Spence,  in  their  "Introduction  to  Entomology," 
define  this  term  to  mean  "  oval  or  globular  joints,  like  a  necklace  of 
beads."  Now  the  joints  of  the  antennae  in  our  insect  are  oblong, 
and  each  has  a  marked  contraction  in  its  middle,  thus  approaching  to 
an  hourglass  shape,  a  form  the  very  reverse  of"  oval"  or"  globular." 
It  was  not  until  I  saw  the  excellent  figures  and  descriptions  of  Mr. 
Curtis,  that  I  became  well  assured  that  our  species  was  identical  with 
the  European. 

The  common  reader  will  get  the  most  clear  and  definite  idea  of  the 
appearance  of  the  wheat-fly,  by  being  told  that  it  looks  almost  exactly 
like  the  wheat-worm  with  wings  and  legs  added  to  it.  These  mem- 
bers, however,  are  so  very  small  as  to  be  scarcely  recognized  by  the 
naked  eyes,  except  when  they  are  fixed  intently  upon  the  object. 

The  HEAD  of  the  female  Cecidomyia  Tritici  (Plate,  fig.  1)  is  of  an 
orbiculate  or  flattened-globular  form,  with  the  eyes  forming  its  peri- 
phery. These  are  large,  occupying  full  two-thirds  of  the  entire  head. 
They  are  of  a  deep  black  color,  and  are  separated  from  each  other  on 
the  top  of  the  head  only  by  a  slight  and  almost  imperceptible  clefty 
so  that  when  viewed  in  front  they  appear  like  a  continuous  broad 


282  [Senate 

black  band  surrounding  the  head,  and  interrrupted  only  below  at  the 
tnouth,  thus  resembling  a  horse  shoe  in  their  figure.  The  face 
2s  pale  yellow.  In  its  centre,  and  contiguous  to  each  other,  are  two 
pale  yellow  tubercles  or  spherical  eminences,  more  or  less  conspicu- 
ous, on  which  the  antennae  are  inserted,  and  which  are  by  some  re* 
garded  as  forming  a  joint  of  these  organs,  in  addition  to  the  number 
commonly  stated.  The  antenn(B  are  of  a  deep  brown  or  black  color, 
less  intense  than  the  eyes.  They  are  of  about  the  same  length  as 
the  body,  and  composed  of  twelve  joints.  Each  joint  (Plate,  fig.  h) 
is  commonly  oblongs  with  a  marked  contraction  in  its  middle,  a  shape 
which  is  sometimes  designated  as '' coarctiform,"  and  is  surrounded 
with  a  whirl  or  row  of  hairs  near  its  base,  and  another  near  its  apex.* 
The  joints  are  ordinarily  about  thrice  as  long  as  they  are  broad,  their 
diameter  being  but  little  less  than  that  of  the  legs.  They  are  connected 
together  by  a  slender  thread  intervening  between  each  joint,  and  about 
a  fourth  as  long  as  the  joints  themselves.  The  two  palpi  are  pale 
yellow,  and  clothed  with  shortish  hairs:  each  is  composed  of  four  oval 
joints;  the  one  terminal  being  longer,  but  of  the  same  diameter  with 
the  preceding. 

The  THORAX  is  of  a  pale  yellow  color ;  its  upper  side  commonly 
tinged  with  fulvous  brown,  which  sometimes,  though  rarely,  forms 
three  vittse  or  longitudinal  spots  forw'ard  to  the  middle.  It  is  of  an 
ovate  form,  its  greatest  breadth  being  immediately  back  of  the  wing 
sockets.  Its  vertical  diameter  much  exceeds  the  transverse,  as  is 
common  in  most  species  of  Tipulidm^  the  breast  jutting  down  far 
below  the  level  of  the  head  and  abdomen.  The  poisers  are  oVal, 
honey-yellow,  their  pedicels  with  a  strong  notch  in  the  middle  of 
their  anterior  sides b 

The  ABDOMEN  throughout  is  of  an  orange  color,  more  inclining  to 
red  than  to  yellow.     Its  broadest  part  scarcely  equals  the  thorax  in 

*Not  unfrequently,  however,  singular  anomalies  occur  in  these  joints.  Thus  in 
some  the  contraction  will  he  so  considerable  as  to  cause  the  segment  to  appear  like 
two  globular  joints  slightly  hut  distinctly  separate  from  each  other;  whilst  other  seg- 
ments of  the  same  series  are  abbreviated  and  dilated,  the  usual  contraction  thus  becom- 
ing obsolete,  and  the  joint  taking  on  a  short  cj'lindrical  form.  It  would  thus  seem  as 
though  we,  in  the  female,  met  with  twenty-four  joints  of  the  male  attennse  in  a 
modified  or  imperfectly  developed  condition ;  that  what  appears  as  a  single  oblong 
coarctiform  joint,  is  in  reality  two  joints  united.  This  would  give  but  a  single  whirl 
of  hairs  to  each  joint,  as  is  common  in  most  of  the  species  of  this  genus. 


No.  105.]  S83 

diameter.  It  is  of  an  ovate  form,  often  conspicuously  attenuated 
towards  its  tip,  (as  represented,  fig.  1.)  whence  the  two  valvular  sheaths 
of  the  ovipositor  are  seen  more  or  less  exserted,  and  sometimes  the 
apex  of  the  ovipositor  itself  projecting  between  them  like  a  fine  slen- 
der thread.  According  to  Mr.  Curtis,  by  a  slight  pressure  on  the 
abdomen  of  the  living  insect,  the  ovipositor  (Plate  fig.  /)  can  be 
made  to  protrude,  and  may  then  be  drawn  out  to  nearly  thrice  the 
length  of  the  body. 

The  WINGS  are  hyaline  and  colorless,  appearing  like  thin  plates 
of  glass  or  mica,  but  reflecting  the  tints  of  the  rainbow,  particularly 
the  violet,  when  viewed  in  certain  directions.  Their  margins  are 
densely  ciliated  with  longish  hairs,  and  their  surface  is  covered  with 
minute  pubescence.  The  mediastinal  or  suhmarginal  nerve  is  but 
slightly  distant  from  the  costal  (marginal),  and  becomes  confluent 
with  it  rather  forward  of  the  middle  of  the  exterior  margin.  From 
its  middle)  it  sends  a  small  connecting  nerve  backward  to  the  post-' 
costal.  The  postcostaly  which  is  the  most  conspicuous  nervure  of 
the  wing,  runs  direct,  or  with  but  an  insensible  curve,  to  the  tip  of 
the  wing.  The  medial  is  straight,  and  attains  the  inner  margin  at 
about  three-fourths  of  the  distance  from  the  base  to  the  apex  of  the 
wing.  The  anal  runs  nearly  parallel  with  the  inner  margin,  and,  with 
a  very  sudden  curve  from  its  direct  course,  joins  the  margin  near 
its  middle.  It  gives  off  an  obscure  branch  at  its  angle,  which  curves 
outwards  and  backwards,  joining  the  medial,  or  rather,  seeming  (if 
the  wing  be  moved  so  as  to  give  a  slightly  different  incidence  to  the 
light)  to  be  continued  onward,  parallel  with  and  contiguous  to  the 
medial  nerve,  till  it  attains  the  margin  of  the  wing.  The  medial  and 
anal  nerves  are  very  slender,  and  are  often  invisible,  except  in  a  par- 
ticular reflection  of  the  light.  The  former,  especially,  can  seldom  be 
distinctly  traced,  except  towards  its  termination.  These  details  of  the 
neuration  of  the  wing  apply  equally  well  to  all  the  species  of  Ceci- 
domyia  that  have  fallen  under  my  observation,  save  only  that  they 
are  more  distinctly  traced  in  the  others,  particularly  the  larger  species. 
At  rest  (Plate  fig.  6,)  the  wings  are  laid  one  upon  the  other, 
reposing  horizontally  upon  the  back  of  the  abdomen,  and  reaching 
about  a  fourth  of  their  length  beyond  it. 

The  LEGS  are  whitish  or  very  pale  yellow,  long  and  slender,  of  a 
cylindrical  form,  and  of  nearly  the  same  diameter  through  their  entire 


284      .  [Senate 

length.  The  coxee  (small  joints  by  which  the  femurs  are  connected 
with  the  sternum),  as  they  are  directed  more  or  less  backwards,  vary 
the  point  from  which  the  legs  seem  to  arise  in  different  specimens  when 
viewed  from  above.  The  femurs,  tibise,  and  second  joint  of  the  tarsi, 
are  all  of  about  the  same  length.  The  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  joints  of 
the  tarsi  (Plate  fig.  g),  are  successively  shorter  j  whilst  the  basal 
joint  is  the  shortest  of  all,  its  length  little  exceeding  its  diameter. 

All  parts  of  the  body  and  limbs  are  clothed  with  minute,  slender, 
longish  hairs. 

The  MALE  differs  so  remarkably  in  its  aspect  from  the  fem^e,  and 
is  moreover  so  rare  an  insect,  that  it  has  generally  escaped  the 
researches  of  observers.  It  would  appear  from  Mr.  Curtis's  paper, 
that  Meigen  is  the  only  one  who  has  identified  and  given  a  description 
of  this  sex ;  and  I  should  distrust  my  having  any  specimens  of  it,  but 
that  one  of  the  flies  hatched  from  the  larvae  already  spoken  of  as 
gathered  in  a  wheat-field  early  in  the  spring,  is  a  male  (Plate,  fig. 
4) ;  and  a  few  of  my  other  specimens  manifestly  coincide  with  this. 
In  these  the  antenncB  are  at  least  double  the  length  of  the  body,  and 
composed  of  twenty-four  joints  of  a  very  exact  globular  form  (Plate, 
fig.  e.) ;  each  joint  encircled  with  a  single  row  of  hairs,  and  sepa- 
rated widely  from  its  fellows,  the  thread  between  being  of  about  twice 
the  length  of  the  joint  itself.  The  abdomen,  instead  of  being  an  ovate 
form,  as  in  the  female,  is  broadest  at  the  base,  and  thence  tapers  gradu- 
ally, though  slightly,  towards  the  apex  ;  the  terminal  segment,  how- 
ever, being  broader  than  the  one  or  two  preceding  it,  and  of  a  reniform 
shape,  with  the  lobes  directed  backwards.  The  male  is  also  somewhat 
smaller  in  size :  in  all  its  other  marks,  it  appears  to  correspond  with 
the  female. 

Among  the  hosts  of  specimens  of  the  female  that  may  be  met  with, 
there  will  occur  considerable  variations  in  size,  color,  and  some  minor 
particulars.  The  common  length,  to  the  tip  of  the  abdomen,  is  the 
twelfth  of  an  inch,  or  slightly  under  this ;  yet  I  have  measured  recent 
specimens  from  the  wheat-field,  that  were  but  half  this  size.  The 
color  seems  to  be  more  uniform  in  specimens  taken  from  the  wheat- 
field,  than  in  those  procured  in  other  situations.  It  is  of  a  lively  orange- 
red,  particularly  upon  the  abdomen,  where  the  color  is  most  observed  j 
but  varies  from  that  to  amber  or  honey-yellow,  lemon-yellow,  and 
even  to  a  cream-color.     The  specimens  already  spoken  of  as  having 


No.  105.]  285 

been  raised  in  dried  earth  ;  are  all  quite  pale ;  and  it  would  hence 
appear  as  though  these  lighter  colored  varieties  were  caused  by  unfa- 
vorable circumstances  in  which  the  insect  had  been  placed  when  in  its 
larva  state. 

THE    SPOTTED  WINGED   WHEAT-FLY. 

CECIDOMYIA    CEREALIS. 

Another  species  of  Cecidomyia  (Plate  fig.  2,)  as  the  reader  has 
been  already  informed,  is  frequently  met  with,  associated  with  the 
Tritici  in  fields  of  wheat.  It  is  closely  allied  to  the  latter  in  form 
and  coloring,  having  like  it  an  orange  colored  body,  hyaline  wings, 
pale  yellowish-white  legs,  and  twelve  joints  to  the  antennse,  identical 
with  those  of  the  Tritici  in  their  details.  It  is,  however,  readily 
distinguished  from  the  Tritici,  as  well  as  from  all  the  other  species  of 
this  genus,  with  only  two  or  three  exceptions,  by  having  spots  upon 
its  wings.  (Plate,  fig.  k.)  These  spots  are  so  conspicuous  as  to 
be  recognized  by  the  naked  eye,  even  when  the  insect  is  flying. 
They  are  of  a  pale  black  or  smoky  color,  and  bix  in  number  on  each 
wing.  Two,  and  these  the  most  conspicuous  from  being  commonly 
of  a  deeper  tint,  are  placed  upon  the  outer  margin  ;  one  being  at  the 
tip  of  the  submarginal  nerve,  where  it  unites  with  the  costal ;  the 
other,  half  way  between  this  and  the  apex  of  the  wing.  Both  these 
spots  reach  across  the  costal  cell,  and  often  slightly  into  the  externo- 
medial.  Another  spot  occupies  the  apex  of  the  wing,  at  the  tip  of 
the  post-costal  nerve.  Two  others  are  based  upon  the  inner  margin, 
one  at  the  apex  of  the  middle  nerve  and  mostly  in  the  inner  middle 
cell,  the  other  occupying  the  middle  of  the  anal  cell,  but  nowhere 
touching  the  anal  nerve.  The  sixth  spot  is  upon  the  disk  of  the 
wing,  mostly  in  the  outer  middle  cell,  and  is  sometimes  confluent 
more  or  less  with  one  or  more  of  the  marginal  spots.  The  nerves, 
when  traversing  these  spots,  are  of  a  deeper  black  color  than  in  other 
parts  of  their  course,  as  are  also  the  hairs  which  proceed  from  them 
into  the  fringed  border  of  the  wing.  These  spots  are  formed  by  a 
pigment  in  the  membrane  of  the  wing,  the  fine  pubescence  upon 
the  surface  being  no  more  dense  here  than  upon  the  other 
parts.  The  species  under  consideration  is  farther  distinguished 
from  the  Tritici,  by  invariably  having  the  base  of  the  abdomen,  on 
its  upper  side,  of  a  brown  or  blackish  color.     The  last  joints  of  the 


286  [Senate 

feet,  moreover,  are  black  in  this  species,  and  there  is  a  broad  black 
band  at  the  base  of  the  anterior  tarsi. 

The  males  have  the  antennae  composed  of  twenty-four  joints,  each 
encircled  as  usual  with  a  row  of  hairs.  These  joints  approach  a 
globular  form,  but  have,  in  common  with  those  of  the  males  of  several 
other  of  our  species,  this  striking  peculiarity,  namely,  that  through 
the  whole  series,  though  preserving  the  same  diameter,  they  are  al- 
ternately shorter  and  longer;  twelve  being  compressed-globular  or 
double-convex,  and  between  each  of  these  a  very  short  cylindrical 
joint  w^ith  convex  ends. 

This  species  is  closely  related,  to  the  ornata  oi  Say  [Appendix  to 
Long^s  Expedition^  p.  357),  but  is  readily  distinguished  from  that  by 
its  blackish  antennse,  the  color  of  which  contrasts  strongly  with  that 
of  the  legs ;  by  the  greater  number  of  spots  on  its  wings,,  and  these 
spots  not  being  "occasioned  by  the  greater  density  of  the  hair  of 
the  surface  in  those  parts."  In  the  latter  character  it  also  differs 
from  the  pictipennis  of  Meigen,  as  described  by  Macquart ;  as  also 
in  not  having  the  spots  forming  bands  across  the  wings.  If  any 
description  of  the  maculipennis  of  Stephens,  in  his  catalogue  of 
British  insects,  has  ever  been  published,  I  have  not  met  with  it. 
That  this  species,  however,  exists  abroad,  is  highly  probable,  from 
the  fact  that  the  specimens  reared  from  wheat-w^orms  by  Mr. 
Markwick  had  "  spotted  and  transparent  wings,"  as  he  describes 
them,  or  "  0  1  clouds"  as  they  were  termed  by  Mr.  Marshara. 
Mr.  Curtis  calls  attention  to  this  fact  respecting  these  specimens, 
apparently  from  a  suspicion  thus  excited  that  another  species  existed. 
He  says,  "  I  am  particular  in  noticing  this,  because  the  wings  of 
Mr.  Kirby's  C  Tritici  are  not  spotted,  nor  are  any  individuals  that 
I  have  seen  ;  and  excepting  the  C.  pictipennis,  which  is  larger,  I 
know  of  no  species  of  the  genus  with  spotted  wings." 

The  species  under  consideration,  may  appropriately  be  named  and 

characterized  as  follows  : 

Cecidomyia  cerealis.  Pale  orange;  tips  of  tarsi  black;  wings  hyaline,  with  six  dusky 
spots,  two  only  based  on  the  inner  margin ;  apex  of  anal  nervure  immaculate. 
Length  0.05. 

Specimens  have  been  taken  almost  weekly,  from  the  middle  of 
June  till  the  fore  part  of  September,  in  fields  of  flowering  wheat, 
among  the  grass  of  plats  contiguous  to  dwellings,  and  upon  the 
windows  of  houses.    I  do  aot  doubt  but  its  habits  are  very  similar 


No.  105.]  287 

and  perhaps  identical  with  those  of  the  Tritici,  and  that  in  proportion 
to  its  numbers  it  is  equally  destructive.  The  investigations  of  ano- 
ther year,  may,  I  hope,  enable  me  to  furnish  something  more  definite 
upon  this  most  interesting  subject. 

SPECIES    RESEMBLING    THE    WHEAT-FLIES. 
CECIDOMYIA    CALIFTERA:     C.    THORACICA:     C.   TERGATA. 

We  have  what  appear  to  be  several  species  of  Cecidomyides,  allied 
to  our  wheat-flies  in  size,  in  the  number  and  form  of  the  joints  of 
the  antennse,  and  more  or  less  in  the  colors  of  their  bodies.  Among 
objects  so  exceedingly  minute,  and  so  closely  related  to  each  other, 
a  most  patient  and  critical  study  of  a  large  collection  of  specimens, 
in  their  recent  as  well  as  their  dried  state,  is  indispensable,  in  order 
to  trace  out  with  accuracy  and  define  with  precision  each  of  these 
species.  Perplexity  and  confusion  will  be  the  inevitable  result  of  a 
hasty  or  superficial  performance  of  a  work  of  this  character.  It  is 
hence  that  I  shall  at  present  venture  to  name  and  characterize  but 
three  of  these  species,  whose  marks  are  so  evident  and  distinct  as 
to  render  their  recognition  comparatively  easy,  yet  whose  colors  are 
so  analogous  to  those  of  the  two  insects  above  described  that  they 
would  be  confounded  with  them  by  ordinary  observers,  unless  aware 
of  their  distinctive  marks.  I  am  only  acquainted  with  these  species 
in  their  perfect  state. 

From  the  middle  of  July  to  the  first  of  September,  a  number  of 
specimens  were  taken,  of  a  species  intimately  allied  to  the  spotted- 
winged  wheat-fly.  The  body,  however,  is  more  deeply  colored, 
being  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  tinged  with  red,  and  the  thorax 
both  above  and  on  the  sides  is  of  a  fulvous-brown  shade.  It  may  be 
readily  distinguished  from  the  cerealis  by  its  tarsi,  the  tips  of  which 
are  of  the  same  pale  yellowish  hue  as  the  legs,  and  yet  more  readily 
by  the  spots  on  its  wings,  which  are  seven  in  number  (Plate,  fig. 
I).  These  spots  are  similarly  placed  with  those  of  the  wheat-fly, 
except  on  the  inner  margin  of  the  wing,  where  the  present  species 
has  three  in  number.  One  of  these  is  situated  on  the  apex  of  the 
middle  nerve,  a  second  one  on  the  apex  of  the  anal  nerve,  and  a 
third  at  the  axilla  or  base  of  the  anal  cell.  These  spots,  though 
smaller,  are  equally  conspicuous  with  those  of  the  cerealis^  being 
commonly  of  a  deeper  shade  than  those  possess  which  are  based  oa 


288  [Senate 

tlie  exterior  margin.  The  two  species  may  at  once  be  discriminated 
from  each  other  by  observing  the  space  about  the  apex  of  the  anal 
nerve  ;  this  is  perfectly  hyaline  in  the  wheat-fly,  and  clouded  in  the 
species  under  consideration,  to  which  the  following  name  and  essen- 
tial marks  may  be  assigned  : 

Cecidomyia  caliplera.  Orange-red;  tarsi  whitish  to  their  tips;  wings  hyaline,  with 
seven  dusky  spots,  three  based  on  the  inner  margin,  the  middle  one  being  on  the  apex 
of  the  anal  nerve. 

Length  0j05. 

A  few  specimens  occurred  to  my  notice  about  the  middle  of  the 
month  of  August,  having  the  abdomen  more  tinged  with  red  than  in 
the  wheat-flies,  but  commonly  fading,  when  preserved,  to  a  flesh- 
color  or  dull  yellow ;  the  thorax  brown  or  blackish  above,  its  sides 
dull  yellow;  legs  blackish  except  at  their  bases,  and  poisers  of  the 
same  hue;  wings  dusky,  with  their  nervures  more  distinctly  marked 
than  in  the  wheat-flies.  I  would  propose  for  this  species  a  name 
alluding  to  the  contrast  between  the  color  of  the  thorax  and  of  the 
abdomen,  in  a  dorsal  view  of  the  insect  (Plate,  fig.  8) . 

Cecidomyia  thoracica.    Red :  thorax  above  blackish-brown :  legs  and  poisers  blackish : 
wings  dusky. 
Length  0.05. 

A  much  more  abundant  species,  and  very  closely  related  to  the 
preceding,  occurs  from  the  last  of  July  till  the  middle  of  September, 
and  perhaps  later.  Its  legs  are  dusky,  but  not  of  so  deep  a  tint  as 
those  of  the  thoracica,  from  which,  moreover,  it  is  readily  distin- 
guished by  having  invariably  a  fulvous-brown  or  blackish  spot  at 
the  base  of  the  abdomen  on  its  upper  side.  The  base  and  sides  of 
the  thorax  are  of  the  same  color  with  the  abdomen,  namely,  red,  or 
in  old  specimens  dull  pale  yellow ;  the  upper  side,  forward  of  the 
scutel,  being  brown.  This  species  (Plate,  fig.  5) ,  may  be  named 
and  characterized  as  follows : 

Cecidomyia  tergata.    Red:  thorax  anteriorly  and  spot  at  base  of  tergum  brown :  wings, 
legs  and  poisers  dusky. 
Length  about  0.06. 

Each  of  the  preceding  appear  to  be  quite  distinct  from  any  of  the 
European  species  that  have  been  described. 

The  history  of  the  insect  which  has  now  been  considered,  presents 
some  very  singular  and  deeply  interesting  traits.  Far  back  in  the 
vista  of  years  we  see  it  a  powerful  depredator  :    anon  it  sinks  into 


No.  105.]  289 

obscurity  and  becomes  wholly  forgotten.     After  a  lapse  of  time,  a 
person  observes  a  minute  worm  in  the  ears  of  wheat  which  he  appre- 
hends will  do  mischief.     Another  sees  it,  and  for  a  time  is  persuaded 
that  it  does  his  crops  no  damage  whatever.     A  student  has  his  curi- 
osity so  far  excited  that  he  closely  investigates  its  operations,  and 
records  the  results  of  his  observations,  estimating  that  in  one  field 
twenty  bushels  of  grain,  probably  a  fifteenth  part  of  the  crop,  had 
been  destroyed.     How  little  is  there  here  to  excite  alarm.     How- 
many  fortuitous  circumstances  annually  occur  which  cause  us  greater 
losses.     And  now,  year  after  year  rolls  away,  till  one  generation  of 
the   human  race  has  nearly  passed  out  of  existence,  yet  nothing, 
nothing  further  is  heard  of  this  matter.     That  student  bids  fair  to 
sink  into  the  grave,  perhaps  with  the  apprehension  that  posterity 
will  pronounce  his  early  labors  tinged  with  the  exaggerations  of  a 
juvenile  enthusiasm.     Butlo,  a  new  epoch  unexpectedly  opens  before 
us.     Suddenly  bursting  from  its  long  obscurity,  it  rushes  forth  with 
resistless  vigor.     It  menaces  the  population  of  entire  districts  with 
bankruptcy,  and  even  threatens  to  wrest  from  man  his  "  staflf  of  life." 
More  marvellous  still,  it  overleaps  the  ocean's  vast  expanse,  it  plants 
itself  far  in  the  interior  of  another  continent,  and  there  runs  a  career 
surpassing  in  the  severity  of  its  havoc  all  that  had  been  known  of  it 
in  its  native  haunts.     And  what  is  this  potent  enemy  ?     A  diminutive 
gnat,  seemingly  too  trivial  to  merit  a  moment's  notice,  too  impotent 
to  excite  an  uneasy  thought ! — a  tiny  midge,  so  puny  as  to  flee  from 
the  light  of  day,  so  fragile  as  to  be  dismembered  by  a  breath,  or 
crushed  by  the  drop  of  a  pin  !     Yet  man,  the  vaunted  "  lord  of  cre- 
ation" stands  dismayed  and  powerless  before  it.     He  sees  his  pro- 
perty wasted  to  the  amount  of  millions,  yet  is  incapable  of  resorting 
to  any  measure  to  mitigate  the  severity  of  its  devastations,  or  of 
erecting  the  slightest  barrier  to  check  it  in  its  triumphant  progress  ! 
We  close  this  account,  then,  with  the  hope  that  what  has  now 
been  written  ma}  be  of  some  avail,  not  merely  in  giving  the  agri- 
culturist a  more  intimate  knowledge  of  one  of  his  greatest  enemies, 
but  also  in  enabling  the  general  reader  more  duly  to  appreciate  the 
vast  value  of  a  branch  of  natural  science  but  slightly  esteemed  and 
but  little  pursued  in  this  country.     Since  there  is  not  one  of  our  cul- 
tivated plants,  not  one  of  our  forest  or  fruit  trees,  not  one  of  our 
domesticated  animals  but  is  frequently  attacked  and  liable  to  be  de- 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  19 


290  [Senate 

stroyed  by  one  or  more  of  that  myriad  of  beings  which  belong  to  the 
insect  races  of  our  land,  how  very  important  is  it  that  the  habits  of 
each  one  of  these  should  be  fully  and  accurately  investigated.  May- 
hap many  of  them,  minute  though  they  are,  and  apparently  feeble 
and  innoxious,  may  one  day,  like  the  wheat-fly,  become  powerful 
despoilers  of  our  property  and  inflict  upon  us  most  severe  calamities. 
It  is  only  by  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  them  that  we  can  hope  tO', 
avert  from  us  such  disasters. 
Salem,  JY.  F.,  Feb.  6,  1846. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PLATE. 


Fig.  1.    Clear- winged  wheat-fly,  Cecidomyia  Tritici. 

Fig.  2.    Spotted- winged  wheat-fly,  Cecidomyia  cereaUs. 

Fig.  3,     Cecidomyia  thoracica. 

Fig.  4.    Male  of  the  clear-winged  wheat-fly. 

Fig.  5.     Cecidomyia  tergata. 

Fig.  6.    Wheat-fly  at  rest,  with  its  wings  in  their  natural  position. 

Fig.  a.  Kernel  of  wheat,  its  chaff  parted  down  to  show  the  worms  in  their  usual 
situation. 

Fig.  6.    A  mature  worm  or  larva,  highly  magnifl«d. 

Fig.  c.  Wheat-head,  with  the  chaff  at  *  *  *  as  bent  down  by  the  yellow-bird 
in  feeding  upon  the  worms,  the  kernels  remaining  at  ft- 

Fig.  e.    Part  of  a  male  antenna. 

Fig.  /.    Tip  of  the  abdomen,  with  the  ovipositor  drawn  out  (from  Curtis] . 

Fig.  g.    Foot  of  a  wheat-fly,  highly  magnified  to  show  its  several  joints. 

Fig.  h.    Part  of  a  female  antenna. 

Fig.  i.    Wheat-fly  in  its  natural  size. 

Fig.  k.    Magnified  wing  of  Cecidomyia  cerealis. 

Fig.  I.    Magnified  wing  of  Cecidomyia  caliptera. 


No.  105.]  295 


CORN. 

The   committee   awarded   the    first   premium  on  corn  of  $15,  to 

George  Vail  of  Troy. 

GEORGE  GEDDES. 


GEORGE   VAIL. 

To  the  committee  appointed  to  award  premiums  on  corn  crops  : 

Gentlemen  —  In  the  fall  of  1844  I  caused  about  four  acres  of 
ground  to  be  plowed  on  my  farm,  about  two  miles  from  this  city. 
The  field  had  been  appropriated  to  meadow,  seven  or  eight  years 
preceding  ;  the  sod  was  turned  over  about  seven  inches  in  depth, 
with  an  iron  plow,  manufactured  in  Union  Village,  Washington  co., 
and  the  furrow  laid  as  smooth  as  it  could  be  done.  The  soil  is  a 
black  vegetable  mould,  averaging  about  three  feet  in  depth,  based 
upon  a  clay  bottom. 

In  the  winter  and  spring  of  1845,  I  had  about  twenty-five  ordinary 
two  horse  wagon  loads  of  unfermented  slaughter  house  and  barnyard 
manure,  carried  on  two  acres,  designated  in  the  surveyor's  report 
hereunto  attached,  and  piled  in  small  heaps  ;  about  the  9th  of  May, 
the  manure  was  evenly  spread  over  the  surface,  and  twice  dragged, 
first  length  ways  and  then  across  the  furrow.  On  the  13th  of  May, 
commenced  furrowing  the  ground  shallow,  with  a  one  horse  plow  for 
planting  about  two  and  a  half  feet  apart  north  and  south,  and  about  two 
feet  apart  east  and  west.  Previous  to  dropping  the  corn,  put  into 
each  hill  a  handful  of  compost  manure,  composed  of  two  ordinary 
wagon  loads  of  fermented  slaughter  house  manure,  about  three  loads 
of  fermented  barn-yard  manure,  one  load  of  old  plaster  mortar  taken 
from  a  house  repairing,  the  scrapings  of  a  hen  house,  and  12  bushels 
of  unleached  ashes.  These  materials  when  thoroughly  mixed,  made 
about  seven  ordinary  wagon  loads,  and  when  applied  as  above  stated, 
did  not  hold  out  to  supply  each  hill,  there  being  seven  or  eight  rows 
in  which  the  composit  was  not  used. 

But  on  these  rows,  a  handful  of  unleached  ashes  was  applied  to  each 
hill,  after  the  corn  was  hoed  the  second  and  last  time.  Six  to  eight 
grains  of  Dutton  corn  was  dropped  in  each  hill,  except  about  eight 
rows  which  was  planted  with  a  variety  of  eight  rowed  yellow  corn. 

About  two-thirds  of  the  field  was  planted  on  the  13th  and  14th  of 
May,  and  the  balance  on  the  26th  of  May,  the  ground  being  too  wet 
for  planting,  when  the  first  part  was  done.  The  corn  previous  to 
dropping  was  rolled  in  plaster  and  unleached  ashes,  and  not  steeped  ; 


296  [Senate 

the  corn  was  covered  about  two  inches.  The  after  culture  was  as 
follows  :  June  9th,  run  the  cultivator  through  the  rows  both  ways, 
and  finished  hoeing  the  first  time  on  the  l8th  of  June.  On  the  8th 
of  July  finished  hoeing  the  second  and  last  time,  and  previous  to  the 
second  hoeing,  the  cultivator  was  run  through  the  corn  one  way, 
north  and  south,  the  corn  being  too  high  and  thick  on  the  ground  to 
allow  the  cultivator  to  operate  east  and  west.  While  hoeing  the 
first  and  second  time,  the  hills  were  thinned  so  as  to  leave  an  ave- 
rage of  from  three  to  four  stalks  to  the  hill  ;  in  hilling  the  corn,  the 
surface  was  left  as  nearly  level  as  could  well  be  done.  On  or  about 
the  8th  of  September,  commenced  cutting  the  corn  as  near  the  roots 
as  could  be  done,  and  bound  up  in  stooks,  and  about  the  1st  of  Oct., 
husked  the  corn  on  the  field  and  put  the  corn  in  crib. 

The  expense  of  plowing  the  land,  cultivating,  husking  and  shel- 
ling the  corn  on  the  two  acres,  cannot  differ  materially  either  way 
from  the  following  statement  : 

Expense  of  cultivation. 

Fall  plowing,  2  acres  man  and  team,  2  days  at  16* ^4  00 

50  loads  of  unfermented  manure,  drawing  and  spreading  at 

3^,  per  load, 18  75 

7  loads  compost  manure  put  in  hills,  6s.  per  load, 5  25 

4  days  work  dropping  compost  manure  in  hills,  6*., 3  00 

1  day  team  dragging  in  manure,  16^., 2  00 

1    "     furrowing  for  planting,  man  and  one  horse,  125.,.  . .  1  50 

5  "     labor  in  planting, 3  75 

I    "     man  and  horse  running  cultivator  both  ways,  12^,. .         1  13 

7  "     labor  in  hoeing  corn  first  time,  6^, 5  25 

i    "     man  and  horse,  running  cultivator  one  way,  12s, ....  0  75 

8  "     work  harrowing  second  and  last  time,  6^, 6  00 

About  8  days  work  in  cutting  and  stocking  corn,  6s, 6  00 

About  2  bushels  seed  corn,  4s.  6d, 1  13 

Threshing  or  shelling  182 i  bushels  corn  at  4  cents  per  bu- 
shel,  7  28 

Interest  on  two  acres  land,  one  year,  valued  at  $100,  per 
acre, .^ , 14  00 


$79  79 


From  Nov.  19th,  to  Dec.  6th,  shelled, 69J  bushels, 

January  12th  finished  shelling  the  remainder,  104^       " 
There  was  on  the  two  acres  28  bushels  nubbing 
ears  of  corn,  which  were  not  shelled,  but 
which  I  calculate  was  equal  to  nine  bushels 

shelled  corn, 9         " 

182  J 


No.  105.]  297 

The  result  will  then  be  as  follows,  on  the  two  acres  : 

Say  182  J  bushels  corn,  at  70  cents  per  bushel, |127  75 

14  large  wagon  loads  of  corn  stalks,  which  I  value  at  more 
than  $3,  per  load,  for  fodder  for  my  stock,  call  it  $3  per 
load, 42  00 

$169  75 
Deduct  expense  of  culture  and  interest  on  land  as  above 

stated, 79  79 

Profit, $89  96 

TVoy,  January  19th,  1846. 


GEORGE   GEDDES. 

Four  Experiments  on  Corn. 

Luther  Tucker,  Esq. 

Rec.  Sec.  of  the  JV".  Y,  State  Ag.  Soc. 
In  my  report  of  my  experiments  in  the  culture  of  Indian  corn  last 
year,  I  said  I  should  plant  the  same  ground  to  corn  this  year,  with  a 
view  of  learning  the  effect  of  the  manuring  for  the  second  season. 
1  have  just  finished  harvesting,  and  the  result  is  as  follows : 

Experiment  JVo.  1,  was  manured  with  fifty  loads  of  half  rotted  barn 
yard  manure,  put  on  the  surface,  after  the  ground  was  plowed  and 
harrowed  in. 

The  product  last  year  was  70^  bushels. 
"         u         this     "     ''     67         " 

Experiment  JVb*  2,  was  not  manured. 
The  product  last  year  was  60^  bushels. 
a  a  this      '^      "      65  <' 

Experiment  JVo.  3,  was  manured,  by  filling  each  furrow,  as  it  was 
plowed  full  of  barnyard  manure  unfermented.      The  amount  used 
bring  at  the  rate  of  150  loads  to  the  acre. 
The  product  last  year  was  70  bushels, 
u         «         this     "     "     71i     << 

Experiment  JVo.  4,  was  manured  with  coarse  manure  in  the  same 
manner  as  No.  3,  and  had  besides  a  top  dressing  of  half  rotted  ma- 
nure of  25  loads  to  the  acre. 

The  product  last  year  was  80  bushels. 
u         u         this    "     "     71^     " 

These  are  all  the  experiments  that  were  made  by  me,  to  determine 
the  value  of  manure. 
October  14,  1845. 


298  [Senate 

EXTRACTS  FROM  LEWIS  COUNTY  REPORT. 
HIRAM   MILLS. 

Awarded  first  premium. 

Land  previously  in  pasture  ;  plowed,  in  October,  six  or  seven  inches 
deep ;  early  in  the  spring  applied  about  20  loads  cow  stable  manure  ; 
then  a  two  horse  cultivator  once  in  a  place,  followed  with  fine  har- 
row ;  then  turned  two  furrows  together  to  the  depth  of  2  or  three 
inches  ;  then  rolled  to  make  good  planting  ;  planted  the  15th  and  16th 
of  May,  with  eight  rowed  yellow  corn,  in  double  rows  ;  main  rows  3 
feet  and  double  rows  one  foot  apart ;  two  stalks  in  a  hill  and  2  feet 
apart  in  the  rows  in  a  zig-zag  manner  ;  seed  prepared  by  pouring  on 
warm  water  and  a  thin  coat  of  warm  tar  ;  then  rolled  in  plaster ;  hoed 
three  times  ;  after  two  first,  applied  1 1  bushels  of  plaster  and  unleach- 
ed  ashes,  mixed  equal  quantities  on  the  acre  ;  corn  topped  after  it  was 
mostly  glazed,  and  husked  on  the  hilL 

Expense  and  profit  of  crop. 

Product,  93||  bushels  per  acre  at  5^., $58  58 

By  three  loads  stalks, 8  00 

166  58 

Expense,  plowing  and  preparing  ground, $3  GO 

Seed,  plaster  and  ashes, 1  00 

20  days  planting,  hoeing,  harvesting,  &c., 15  00 

Cultivator  and  horse  one  day, 1  00 

20  loads  manure  and  spreading, 6  00 

Interest  on  land  at  $50  per  acre, 3  50 

29  50 

Profit, , .         137  08 

Martinshurgh. 


EXTRACT  FROM  ONEIDA  COUNTY  REPORT. 
CHARLES    W.    EELLS. 

Statement  of  the  method  of  cultivation,  &c.  of  one  acre  of  corn 
raised  by  Charles  W,  Eells,  of  Kirkland,  and  entered  for  the  pre- 
mium offered  by  the  Oneida  County  Agricultural  Society. 

Soil,  a  dark  clay  loam ;  previous  crop,  grass  in  pasture  •  number 
plowings  one  ;  depth  of  furrow,  seven  inches.  Time  of  sowing  or 
planting,  25th  of  May. 


No.  105.]  299 

Quantity  of  seed  per  acre  and  expense,  one  peck,     $0  25 

Plowing  one   day, 2  00 

Harrowing  half  day, 1  00 

Planting  two  days, 1  50 

Hoeing  six  days, 4  50 

Harvesting  four  days, 3  00 

8  loads  of  fine  barnyard  manure,  used  in  the  hill  a  4*.     4  00 

Threshing  two  days, 1  40 

Interest  on  land  at  7  per  cent,  at  $50  per  acre ...  3  50 

Expenses, $21  25 


No.  bu.  grain  and  value,  89  bu.  and  5  lbs.  at  5^.  ...     55  68 
Value  of  straw  and  stalks, 2  00 

$57  68 
Expense  of  crop, 21  25 

Profit, $36  43 

Kirkland. 


EXTRACT  FROM  OSWEGO  COUNTY  REPORT. 
G.    L.    SHERWOOD. 

_He  raised  the  past  year  133  bushels  of  shelled  corn  to  the  acre. 
His  statement  is  satisfactory  to  the  oflScers  of  the  Oswego  County 
Society.  The  ground,  however,  was  not  measured  by  a  sworn  sur- 
veyor, nor  are  any  of  the  statements  under  oath. 

Soil,  sandy  loam,  underlaid  with  clay.  The  lot  had  been  manured 
for  eight  years,  during  which  period  it  has  been  slightly  top-dressed 
with  manure  twice,  and  with  plaster  twice.  No  measurement  of  the 
field  is  given,  and  no  data  by  which  to  determine  the  quantity  of 
manure  per  acre. 

Manured  with  long  manure  before  turning  over  the  sward — after- 
wards top-dressed  with  a  mixture  of  leached  ashes  and  manure,  from 
the  sheep  and  hay  yards.  Corn  planted  three  feet  by  one  and  half 
feet,  and  dressed  in  the  hill  with  a  mixture  of  equal  parts  of  un- 
leached  ashes  and  plaster ;  portions  were  again  dressed  with  leached 
ashes  and  lime. 

South  Richland. 


300  [Senate 

extract  from  tompkins  county  report. 

First  premium  of  three  dollars  and  a  diploma  to  Elias  J.  Ayers,  of 
Ulysses,  for  the  best  crop  of  corn,  not  less  than  one  acre.  Mr. 
Ayers'  corn  crop,  for  which  this  premium  was  awarded,  yielded  98 
bushels  and  24  pounds  by  weight  at  56  pounds  to  the  bushel,  per 
acre — or  90  bushels  and  24  quarts  by  measure.  From  the  acre  were 
harvested  88  baskets  of  ears  at  two  bushels  each.  Each  basket  of 
ears  produced  one  bushel  and  one  quart  of  shelled  corn,  the  weight 
of  which  was  60  pounds  15  ounces  to  the  bushel.  The  ground  was 
previously  cropped  with  clover  and  in  1844  mowed  twice,  once  for  hay 
and  once  for  seed.  In  the  fall  of  1844  it  was  pastured,  but  not  very 
close.  In  the  spring  of  1845  thirty  loads  of  long  barnyard  manure  were 
carefully  spread  over  the  surface  and  plowed  under  with  the  sward, 
rolled  and  harrowed.  Four  rows  were  then  marked  lengthwise  with 
the  plowing  three  feet  nine  inches  apart.  The  corn  was  dropped  in 
those  rows,  three  kernels  in  a  place,  12  inches  apart.  One  load  of 
compost,  consisting  of  20  bushels  of  well  rotted  and  pulverized  barn- 
yard manure,  mixed  with  one  and  a  half  bushels  of  leached  ashes 
and  a  half  bushel  slacked  lime  and  a  composition  of  eight  quarts  of 
plaster  (gypsum)  to  two  quarts  of  common  salt,  was  then  drawn 
along  side  of  the  four  rows,  and  a  shovel  full  thereof  put  upon  from 
three  to  four  hills  and  thus  continued  until  the  four  rows  were  cov- 
ered. The  ground  for  four  more  rows  was  then  harrowed  to  loosen 
the  same,  marked,  dropped  and  covered  as  before  and  so  on  until  the 
acre  was  covered ;  which  completed  the  planting.  Twelve  loads  of 
compost  were  put  upon  the  acre.  When  the  corn  had  come  up  a 
light  harrow  was  run  over  between  the  rows  ;  after  which  the  culti- 
vator was  run  three  times  through  and  the  corn  hand  hoed  :  the  two 
bushels  of  plaster  were  sown  broadcast.  The  seed. was  the  Dutton 
corn,  mostly  12  but  some  S-rowed,  selected  and  planted  the  second 
and  third  of  May.  The  crop  was  cut  up  at  the  ground  about  the 
20th  Sept.  The  cost  of  the  crop  including  for  all  labor,  team  work, 
and  manure,  &c.  and  including  six  dollars  for  use  of  the  land  amounted 
to  thirty-two  dollars  and  seventy  cents.  The  proceeds  including 
two  dollars,  for  stalks  amounts  to  fifty  dollars.  Showing  a  nett  pro- 
fit of  seventeen  dollars  and  thirty  cents  in  one  year  from  one  acre  of 
ground  after  paying  an  interest  of  six  per  cent  upon  its  cost  at  one 
hundred  dollars  per  acre. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  WASHINGTON  COUNTY  REPORT. 

CALVIN   SKINNER. 

The  sample  of  corn  was  raised  the  present  season,  on  my  farm,  and 
was  taken  from  an  acre,  measured,  and  the  baskets  of  ears  accurately 
counted. 

Number  of  baskets, 222 

Quantity  of  shelled  corn  in  each, Idqts. 

?'Ji-,l:in'Torshr'if^^]  mm , ISl^bus. 


No.  105.]  301 

Supposed  market  value,  fifty  cents  per  bushel, $65  65 

Also  raised  on  the  same  acre  two  loads  of  pumpkins,  sup- 
posed value, 2  00 

The  stalks, 8  00 

$75  65 

Cost  of  plowing, $2  00 

do       harrowing, 1  00 

35  loads  manure,  4s., 17  50 

Cost  of  seed, 35 

do     planting, 75 

do  hoeing  twice, 2  50 

do     plaster  and  applying, 50 

do     cutting  and  shocking, 1  00 

do     harvesting, 4  00 

Interest  on  land  valued  at  $50  per  acre, 3  50 

33  10 

Deduct  value  of  manure  retained  in  soil, 8  75 

24  35 

Nett  profit, $51  30 


Soil,  gravelly  loam  and  alluvial ;  subsoil,  retentive ;  has  been  in 
meadow  some  ten  years,  and  has  produced  very  large  crops.  Last 
April  drew  on  twenty  loads  common  barn  manure  ;  plowed  the  first 
days  of  May  ;  then  drew  and  spread  on  fifteen  loads  of  fine  barn  ma- 
nure ;  then  harrowed  thoroughly,  and  furrowed  exactly  three  feet 
apart  each  way ;  planted  the  seed  dry,  four  kernels  in  a  hill ;  planted  the 
14th  day  of  May  ;  when  it  first  came  up  applied  leached  ashes  ;  after  a 
few  days  applied  plaster ;  harrowed  it  and  hoed ;  second  time  plowed  and 
hoed  it ;  took  no  more  than  ordinary  care  in  hoeing  and  the  tillage 
generally.  The  above  statement  includes  all  the  corn  raised  on  the 
above  described  acre  of  land  ;  it  is  remarkably  sound,  and  probably 
there  are  not  more  than  five  bushels  that  is  not  merchantable  at  this 
time. 

Cambridge,  Oct.  IZth,  1845. 


JOHN    MCNAUGHTON. 


John  McNaughton,  of  the  town  of  Salem,  of  this  county,  presents 
for  premium  the  produce  of  one  acre  of  corn,  being  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  bushels  and  eighteen  quarts  of  shelled  corn. 


302  [Senate 

Account  of  particulars. 

First. — Soil,  slatey  loam  ;  retentive  subsoil. 

Second. — Situation,  a  side  hill  facing  the  south ;  gentle  descent. 

Third. — Previous  condition,  for  four  years  previous  it  had  been 
mowed,  producing  clover  and  timothy  in  fair  abundance. 

Fourth. — Manure,  present  year.  About  one-half  of  said  acre  ma- 
nured with  yard  manure,  taken  out  the  fall  preceding,  and  in  the  spring 
spread  over  the  ground  before  plowing  ;  in  previous  years  not  manured, 
except  one  year  ;  three  years  ago  it  had  one  coat  of  plaster.  The  part 
not  manured  had  been  used  to  fodder  cattle  on  for  three  or  four  years. 

Fifth. — Ground  plowed  about  the  middle  of  April ;  green  sward  ; 
turned  over  about  six  inches  deep  ;  dragged  just  before  planting  so  as 
not  to  displace  the  turf  j  marked  out  three  feet  wide  with  a  corn  plow 
about  two  inches  deep  ;  planted  on  the  4th  and  5th  days  of  May,  three 
feet  one  way  and  two  the  other,  with  four  and  five  seeds  in  a  hill, 
rolled  in  plaster  ;  after  it  was  up  it  was  plastered  immediately  j  the 
seed  was  of  the  eight  rowed  variety. 

Sixth. — Cultivation.  It  was  weeded  about  the  fore  part  of  June, 
and  hoed  before  the  4th  of  July.  In  both  cases  the  corn  plow  was 
used  one  way  only. 

Seventh. — Crop  secured.  Corn  cut  up  by  the  roots  in  August  and 
September,  and  husked  in  October,  finished  on  the  7th  or  8th  day. 

Eighth — Expense. 

20  loads  manure, . , 

Plaster,  say  1  bushel, , 

Plowing, .    e ......,.,  . 

Harrowing, 

Planting,  weeding  and  hoeing, 

Harvesting  same, 

Value  of  land, , . 


«    •   e    s    • 


$5  00 

Zlh 

1  50 

50 

4  50 

3  00 

3  50 

$18  371 

Value  of  the  crop. 

128^  bushels  corn  at  50  cents, $64  25 

Stalks, 10  52 

$74  75 

Expense, $18  37| 

Ket  profit, $56  37i 

Salem,  Oct.  14,  1845. 


No.  105.]  303 


BARLEY. 

The  committee  on  barley  report,  that  there  were  five  competitors  for 
the  premium  on  barley. 

The  first  premium,  of  $10,  is  awarded  to  Hiram  Mills,  of  Martins- 
burgh,  Lewis  county. 

Two  acres  and  seventy  one-hundredths  produced  191  bushels — at  the 
rate  of  70f  |  bushels. 

The  second  premium,  of  $5,  is  awarded  to  Nathaniel  S.  Wright,  of 
Vernon,  Oneida  county. 

Two  acres  produced  one  hundred  and  seventeen  bushels  and  thirty- 
four  forty-eighths,  or  at  the  rate  of  51|i  bushels  per  acre. 

The  third  premium,  of  Vol.  Trans.,  is  awarded  to  S.  B.  Dudley,  of 
Ontario  county. 

Two  acres  and  forty-two  rods  produced  one  hundred  and  thirty 
bushels  and  three  pecks — at  the  rate  of  fifty  bushels  and  twenty-one 
pounds. 

*  RAWSON  HARMON. 


HIRAM  MILLS. 

Statement  of  the  method  of  cultivation  of  a  crop  of  barley  raised  on 
his  farm  in  the  town  of  Martinsburgh,  on  two  acres  and  ^^"jj  of  an 
acre  of  land. 

The  soil  on  which  said  crop  was  raised  is  a  mixture  of  clay  and 
loam. 

Previous  crop  potatoes,  manured  with  about  ten  loads  of  cow  stable 
manure  to  the  acre.  In  the  spring  of  1845,  three  or  four  loads  of  hog 
manure  was  spread  on  the  poorest  part  of  the  piece — plowed  once,  and 
sowed  about  the  first  of  May,  3  bushels  two  rowed  barley  per  acre ; 
harrowed  well  and  rolled.  Harvested  about  the  last  of  July,  and 
yielded  191  bushels,  or  70||  bushels  per  acre. 

Expense  of  cultivation  per  acre. 

Plowing,  harrowing  and  rolling,  one  day, $1  50 

Three  bushels  seed,  4^., 1  50 

Harvesting  3  days, • .  2  25 

Threshing  5  days  in  winter,  45. , 2  50 

Three  loads  hog  manure,  and  drawing,  3*., . . . .  1  13 

Drawing  to  market, 3  00 

Interest  on  land  at  $50  per  acre, 3  50 

$15  38 


•  This  gentleman's  name  has  been  printed  Rosweil  Harmon,  owing  to  his  not  having 
afEixed  it  to  some  of  his  reports. 


304  [Senate 

I- 

Cr. 

By  70|f  bushels  barley  at  45., $35  36 

Straw  worth  $2, 2  00 

$37  36 

Deduct  expense, 15  38 

Profit  per  acre, $21  98 


NATHANIEL  S.  WRIGHT. 

Soil  in  good  condition  at  the  commencement  of  cultivation,  com- 
posed mostly  of  gravel,  with  a  portion  of  clay  and  sandloam. 

Previous  crop  barley,  with  one  plowing,  and  seed  well  harrowed  in. 

Sowed  with  three  bushels  two-rowed  barley  to  each  acre,  broadcast, 
about  the  25th  of  April. 

Harvested  the  25th  of  July,  with  cradle,  and  bound  in  sheaves. 
Cleaned  in  the  ordinary  way,  with  fanning  mill. 

Product  one  hundred  and  seventeen  bushels  and  thirty-four  pounds, 
by  actual  weight. 

Cr. 

By  117||  bushels,  at  4^., $58  85 

«  straw, 4  00 


62  85 


Expense  of  cultivation. 

One  day  plowing,  at  12s., $1  50 

One  and  a  half  day  harrowing,  12s., 2  25 

Four  days  harvesting,  8s., 4  00 

Carting, 1  50 

40  loads  manure,  2^., 10  00 

Threshing  and  cleaning, 6  00 

Six  bushels  seed,  4s., 3  00 

Interest  on  land, 5  60 

$33  85 

Profit,   $29  00 


No.  105.  J  305 

S.    B.    DUDLEY. 

Soil,  gravelly  loam,  once  covered  with  oak  openings,  and  been  under 
cultivation  40  years. 

Previous  crop  corn,  which  was  manured  25  loads  yard  manure  to 
the  acre ;  no  manure  after  cultivation.  Once  plowed  previous  to  sow- 
ing. Sowed  on  seven  and  a  half  bushels  of  six  rowed  barley,  soaked 
in  brine  and  rolled  in  lime. 

Sowed  14th  April,  and  plastered  soon  after,  100  pounds  to  the 
acre. 

Harvested  1st  July,  and  threshed  in  August. 

The  specimen  of  barley  accompanying  this  statement,  is  a  fair  speci- 
men of  the  crop. 

Expenses  of  cultivation, 

2\  days  labor  plowing,  18^., $4  50 

Preparation  of  seed,  4s. — sowing  do  4*., 1  00 

Harrowing,  both  ways,  h  day, 1  00 

Plaster,  and  putting  on, 1  00 

7i  bushels  barley,  sowed,  4s., 3  75 

Expense  of  threshing  $2.40  cents — cleaning, 

&c.,  12.60, 5  00 

Harvesting,  $3 .  50— drawing,  $1 .  00, 4  50 

$20  75 


Cr. 

By  130  bushels  3  pecks  4s., |65  37 

«  straw, 10  00 


$75  37 
20  75 


$54  62 
The  amount  per  acre  is  57^  bushels. 


EXTRACT  FROM  ALLEGANY  COUNTY  REPORT. 

LYMAN   SMITH. 

I  this  year  sowed  one  acre  of  ground  to  barley,  and  harvested  there- 
from sixty-three  and  one-half  bushels  of  barley,  by  measure,  of  a 
quality  which  would  exceed  lawful  weight. 

The  soil  is  a  sandy  loam,  not  this  year  manured.  Last  year,  it  was 
planted  to  com;  before  which  planling,  it  was  lightly  manured. 
The  ground  was  plowed  but  once  before  sowing  the  barley. 

Portage  J  JVov.  10,  1845. 


306  [Senate 

extract  from  lewis  county  report. 

hiram  mills. 

Awarded  first  premium. 

Soil,  loam  and  clay.  Previous  crop,  potatoes,  with  ten  loads  cow 
stable  manure  per  acre. 

Present  crop,  three  or  four  loads  hog  manure  on  the  poorest  part  of 
the  piece.  Plowed  once,  and  about  the  first  of  May  sowed  three 
bushels  of  two-rowed  barley  on  the  acre  ;  harrowed  well  and  rolled. 
Harvested  about  the  1st  August. 

Br. 

One  day  with  team  plowing,  harrowing,  &c.,  $1  50 

Three  bushels  seed,  As. — sowing,  1^., 1  63 

Three  loads  hog  manure,  and  drawing, 150 

Harvesting  and  threshing,  $4 — drawing  to  mar- 
ket, $3, 7  00 


Interest  on  land  at  $50  per  acre, 3  50  J 

115  13 

Cr. 

Product  741  bushels  at  4^., |37  25 

Straw, 2  00 

$39  25 
Expense, 15  13 

Profit, $24  12 


EXTRACT  FROM  ONEIDA  COUNTY  REPORT. 
HENRY  B.  BARTLETT. 

Statement  of  the  method  of  cultivation,  &c.,  of  one  acre  of  barley 
raised  by  Col.  Henry  B.  Bartlett. 

Soil,  sandy  loam  ;  previous  crop,  oats;  number  of  plowings,.once  ; 
depth  of  furrow,  six  to  eight  inches. 

Br. 

Quantity  of  seed  per  acre,  and  expense,  three 

bushels, $1  50 

Time  of  sowing  or  planting,  very  early,  the  day 
I  can't  say, 

One  day  with  drag, 1  50 

Harvesting,  one  day, 1  00 

Threshing  2  days  with  horse, 1  50 

Interest  on  land  at  7  per  cent, 3  50 

$8  50 


No.  105.]  307 

Cr. 

Number  of  bushels  of  grain,  and  value — 63||^ 

bushels,  value $31  75 

Value  of  straw  and  stalks, 1  00 


$32  75 
Expense, 8  50 

Profit, ,  .  $22  25 


ERASTUS  DAYTON. 

Statement  of  the  method  of  cultivation,  &c.,  of  one  acre  of  barley 
raised  by  Erastus  Dayton,  of  Vernon. 

Soil,  clay  and  gravel ;  previous  crop,  potatoes ;  number  of  plow- 
iags,  two ;  depth  of  furrow,  six  inches ;  time  of  sowing  or  planting, 
about  the  15th  of  May. 

Dr. 

Quantity  of  seed  per  acre  and  expense,  4  bushels,  $2  00 

One  day's  plowing, 1  50 

Harrowing,  half  day, 0  75 

Planting, 0  25 

Harvesting  two  days, 2  00 

Threshing, 2  50 

Interest  on  land  at  7  per  cent, 2  80 

$11  80 


Cr, 

Number  of  bushels  of  grain  and  value — 63/^ 

bushels,   value $31  60 

Value  of  straw  and  stalks, 2  00 

$33  60 

Expense, 11  80 

Profit,.. $21  80 


fSenate,  No.  105.]  20 


308  [Senate 


G.    L.    SHERWOOD. 

The  ground  on  which  I  sowed  barley  this  season  has  been  cropped 
for  two  years.  Previous  to  that  time  it  had  been  in  mowing.  In 
the  spring  of  1845,  I  drew  on  some  forty  loads  of  manure  to  the  acre,, 
and  turned  the  sward  six  inches  deep,  planting  on  the  turf  (corn^  a 
very  good  crop) . 

The  present  season  no  manure  was  applied,  except  on  the  poorest 
places,  on  which  was  spread  some  five  loads  of  leached  ashes  and 
fine  manure  to  the  acre.  The  first  of  May,  plowed  the  ground  twice, 
and  harrowed  twice.  I  then  sowed  three  bushels  of  the  two  rowed 
variety  to  the  acre  ;  after  sowing  rolled  with  a  heavy  roller.  When 
the  grain  had  been  up  about  four  weeks,  I  sowed  on  some  two  and  a. 
half  bushels  of  plaster  per  acre. 

South-Richlandy  December  15,  1845. 


No.  105.1  309 


RYE.  ' 

There  was  no  report  from  the  State  Society  on  rye  this  year.     The  I 

following  are  extracted  from  the  county  reports. 

EXTRACT  FROM  ONEIDA  COUNTY  REPORT.  ' 

JAMES    J.    CURTISS,  I 

I 

Awarded  first  premium.  | 

Soil,  clay  and  gravel.     A  summer  fallow,  plowed  three  times  to 
the  depth  of  five  inches  ;  sowed  two  bushels  of  seed  per  acre  on  the  ] 

third   September.     Six  loads   of  manure  was    spread  on  a  part  of  it  i 

after  plowing  and  harrowed  in  with  the  seed.     Harvested  52|  bush-  I 

els  off  an  acre. 

Expense  and  profit  of  crop. 

Produce  :  52h  bushels  of  rye, $32  91 

Value  of  straw, 5  00  , 

37  91  i 

Expense  :  Three  days  plowing, |4  50  I 

Two  bushels  of  seed, 1  25 

Six  loads  manure, 3  00 

One  days  harrowing, 1  50 

Four  4ays  harvesting, 4  00 

Thrashing, '. 3  00 

Interest  on  land  at  7  per  cent, 2  10 

19  35  I 

Profit  of  one  acre, $18  56  i 

Westmoreland y  Oneida  co. 


TRUMAN    CURTISS. 

Awarded  second  premium. 

Soil,  clay  and  gravel.  A  summer  fallow,  plowed  three  times  to 
depth  of  five  inches;  sowed  a  bushel  and  three  quarters  of  seed  on  the 
third  September,  and  harrowed  in  six  loads  of  manure  at  the  same 
time.     Harvested  46|A  bushels  of  rye. 


310  [Senate 

Expense  ^c.  of  crop. 

Produce  :  46f|    bushels  of  rye  at  5s $29  03 

Value  of  straw, 4  50 

33  53 

Expense:  Three  days  plowing, $4  50 

One  and  three  quarters  bu.  seed,     1  09 

Six  loads  manure, 3  00 

One  days  harrowing, 1  50 

Four  days  harvesting, ^  •     4  00 

Threshing,...., 3  00 

Interest  on  land, 2  10 

^ 19  19 

Profit  of  one  acre  of  rye, .' $14  34 

Westmoreland,  Oneida  co. 


OATS.- 

There  was  one  competitor  only  on  oats. 

The  first  premium  was  awarded  to  Elias  T.  Ayres,  of  Tompkins 
county,  on  two  acres  producing  one  hundred  and  eighty  three 
bushels  and  three  pecks  or  ninety-one  bushels  and  twenty-eight 
quarts  per  acre. 

The  competitors  for  spring  wheat,  barley  and  oats  have  given 
nearly  the  same  statements.  The  previous  crop  corn  or  potatoes, 
highly  manured,  plowed  once  in  the  spring,  seed  sown  and  har- 
rowed in.  RAWSON  HARMON. 


E.    J.    AYRES. 

To  the  jVew-York  State  Agricultural  Society: 

Living  in  a  grain-growing  district,  where  wheat,  oats  and  corn 
produce  abundantly  with  good  cultivation  ;  some  of  my  neighbors 
and  myself  have  endeavored  to  improve  the  cultivation,  and  conse- 
quently the  production  of  the  above  mentioned  crops,  and  some 
others,  by  various  experiments. 

Among  which  I  had  in  corn,  this  season,  one  acre,  which  produced 
88  bushels  ;  and  two  acres  of  oats,  which  produced  183  bushels  and 
24  quarts,  or  91  bushels  28  quarts  per  acre. 

The  latter  of  which,  that  on  oats,  I  propose  to  submit  to  our  State 
Society  as  a  competitor  for  a  premium. 

The  ground,  on  which  the  above  mentioned  crop  of  oats  grew,  was 
a  gravelly  loam,  inclining  to  muck.  The  soil  has  not  been  analyzed, 
therefore  I  am  not  able,  accurately,  to  give  its  constituent  parts. 
The  ground  the  previous  year  (1844)  was  tilled  with  corn  ;  about  60 
bushels  to  the  acre,  and  was  manured,  in  the  spring  of  that  year,  with 


No.  105.]  311 

30  loads  of  long  barn-yard  manure  per  acre,  (|  cord  per  load,)  was 
put  on  the  sod  before  plowing,  and  completely  turned  under,  and' 
was  not  brought  to  the  surface  again  that  season  ;  the  after  cultiva- 
tion was  done  with  the  cultivator. 

A  flock  of  sheep  was  fed  on  the  ground,  in  movable  racks,  during 
the  winter  of  1844 — 5. 

The  ground  was  but  once  plowed  in  the  spring  of  1845,  and  har- 
rowed ;  six  bushels  of  seed  oats  were  sown  on  the  two  acres,  and 
well  harrowed  in  with  a  lap  of  one-half  of  the  harrow,  going  over  the 
ground  twice,  which  completed  the  cultivation.  The  oats  were  sown 
on  the  16th  of  April,  and  were  harvested  the  —  of  August. 

An  under  drain  was  put  the  entire  length  of  the  field  with  laterals 
to  tap  a  few  wet  spots  ;  the  soil  otherwise  being  dry  enough  for 
grain  cultivaton.  Several  years  ago  some  leached  ashes  and  gyp- 
sum mixed  were  put  upon  the  previews  crop  of  corn,  at  the  rate  of 
four  bushels  of  the  ashes  to  one  of  plaster  per  acre. 

Much  of  the  success  of  this  crop  of  oats  is  ascribable  to  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  ground  during  the  previous  crop  of  corn,  but  more  per- 
haps to  the  peculiarity  of  the  season.  The  manure  on  the  previous 
crop  added  to  a  previous  rich  sward,  excited  and  quickened  by  the 
ashes  and  gypsum,  and  the  droppings  of  the  sheep  and  their  refuse 
food,  would  have  ultimately  made  the  ground  too  rich,  and  a  too  lux- 
uriant growth  would  have  weakened  the  straw  and  given  it  a  tenden- 
cy to  fall  prematurely.  But  the  season  adapted  itself  to  remedy 
these  evils.  And  a  partial  drouth  on  a  soil  less  retentive  and  rich, 
would  have  had  a  tendency  to  check  its  growth,  and  lessen  its  pro- 
duct. Whereas  the  effect,  in  this  case,  was  the  reverse  ;  only  check- 
ing a  too  luxurious  growth,  thereby  enabling  it  to  stand  until  the 
grain  was  fully  matured.  Very  little  rain  fell  here,  from  the  3d  day 
of  July  until  the  oats  were  secured  ;  and  the  few  showers  we  had 
during  that  time  fell  so  gently,  and  unaccompanied  with  wind,  only 
assisted  the  complete  development  of  the  kernel. 

The  following  is  a  statement  of  the  cost  of  the  production,  followed 
by  the  receipts  of  sale,  &c.,  viz  : 

Dr. 

To  20  loads  of  manure,  (being  one-third  of  that  put  on  the 

previous  crop,)  at  3s.  per  load, $7  50 

To  plowing  two  days  at  16s.  per  day,  and  harrowing  one- 
half  day, 5  00 

To  harrowing  one-half  day,  16s.  per  day,  and  sowing  one- 
half  day  at  6s.  per  day, 

To  six  bushels  of  oats,  bought  at  2s.  per  bushel, 

To  four  days  harvesting,  raking  and  binding  and  setting 
up,  &c., 

To  securing  in  the  barn, 

To  threshing,  cleaning  and  carrying  to  market, 

To  rent  of  two  acres  of  land,  at  $6  per  acre, 

Total  cost, $38  64 


1 

38 

1 

50 

3 

00 

1 

88 

6 

38 

12 

00 

$17  53 

49  78 

4  00 

$71  31 
38  64 

312  [Senate 

Cr. 

By  sale  of  51  bushels  at  2s.  9d.  per  bushul,. 

By  sale  of  132||  bushels  at  3s.  do., 

By  four  loads  of  straw,  estimated  at  8s.  per  load, 

Total  receipts, 

Total  expenses,  (brought  forward,) 

Profits, $32  67 

Dec.  1st,  1845. 


EXTRACT  FROM  CAYUGA  COUNTY  REPORT. 
THOMAS    OGDEN. 

The  soil  sandy,  gravelly  loam  ;  the  preceding  year  planted  to 
potatoes  ;  no  manure  carted  upon  the  land  in  ten  years  ;  once  seeded 
within  that  time  to  clover.  Three  years  since  broke  up,  soil  good. 
The  ground  was  plowed  once  last  spring,  and  sowed  to  oats  at  the 
rate  of  three  bushels  per  acre.  The  oats  were  a  new  variety  to  me, 
but  the  name  of  the  variety  I  have  forgotten.  A  black  oat,  stiff 
straw,  ^with  a  compact  and  very  heavy  head,  stand  up  well.  The 
yield  was  641  bushels. 

Expense  of  plowing, $1  25 

"       "  harrowing  three  times, 0  63 

"       "  three  bushels  seed  at  3 1  13 

"       "  harvesting  and  carting, 2  00 

"       "  threshing  and  cleaning, 2  44 

Interest  on  land  at  50  dollars  per  acre, 3  50 

Total $10  95 

Cr.  By  641  bushels  of  oats  at  three  shil-.  .  .. 

lings  per  bushel, 24  19 

Nett  profits, $13  14 

Sennett,  Jan.  12,  1846. 


m.  105.]  313 

EXTRACT  FROM  LEWIS  COUNTY  REPORT. 
ISAAC   KNIGHT. 

Land,  green  sward  ;  plowed  under  ten  loads  of  horse  manure  about 
the  20th  of  May,  six  inches  deep  j  rolled  j  sowed  three  bushels  oats 
to  the  acre. 

Product. 

90/^  bushels  at  2s.  6i., |28  13 

Expense  of  cultivation, $6  00 

Interest  on  land, 2  10 

$8  10 

Profit, $20  30 

Lowiille. 


EXTRACT  FROM  OSWEGO  COUNTY  REPO/JT. 

NICHOLAS    J.    nORT. 

1  raised  on  the  twenty  acre  lot  that  had  been  summer-fallowed 
two  years  since,  sowed  with  winter  wheat,  crop  taken  off  last  season; 
last  fall  I  plowed  it  deep,  last  spring  harrowed  it  well,  then  cross 
plowed  and  sowed  full  three  bushels  of  a  new  kind  of  black  oats  to 
the  acre,  (the  name  of  those  oats  I  have  forgotten,  I  had  them  of  a 
man  from  the  Black  River  country;)  harrowed  across  the  furrow,  then 
cross  harrow^ed,  after  which  I  rolled  it  with  a  roller  I  kept  for  that 
purpose,  by  which  means  it  came  in  deep  in  the  ground,  and  w^as  not 
pinched  with  the  drought,  I  had  one  acie  measured  in  the  north-east 
corner  of  said  lot  of  oats,  eight  rods  wide  and  twenty  rods  long,  kept 
the  oats  by  themselves,  separate  from  the  other  oats,  carried  them  to 
the  barn  and  threshed  them  right  off",  cleaned  and  measured  one  hun- 
dred six  and  a  half  bushels  of  oats,  weighed  one  bushel  which  weigh- 
ed thirty-three  pounds  and  four  ounces,  which  we  think  is  the  aver- 
age weight  of  all  the  oats  raised  on  the  eighteen  acres  and  some  rods 
of  oats  in  said  twenty  acre  lot ;  you  will  observe  this  was  all  into 
oats  except  one  acre  and  fifty-two  rods,  where  I  grew  barley,  and  I 
would  further  state  that  the  one  hundred  six  and  half  bushels  of  oats 
taken  from  this  acre  to  be  the  average  crop  or  yield  with  the  eighteen 
acres  and  some  rods  of  oats  in  said  lot ;  moreover,  I  have  raised  of 
these  kind  of  oats  for  three  seasons  past,  and  1  think  I  have  and  can 
raise  one  quarter  more  on  the  same  soil,  and  larger,  than  I  could  of 
the  old  kind  of  the  white  or  black  oat,  of  which  I  had  raised  for 
many  years  past. 

Hastings^  Sept.  19,  1845. 


314  [Senate 

EXTRACT  FROM  SENECA  COUNTY  REPORT. 
HELIM    SUTTON. 

On  one  acre  of  ground  I  harvested  and  thrashed  83  bushels  and 
three  quarts  of  black  oats.  The  above  oats  grew  on  low  land  which 
had  laid  several  years  a  sod,  a  large  open  ditch  was  cut  six  feet 
across  and  about  two  feet  deep,  and  the  dirt  was  spread  on  the  lower 
side  of  the  ditch  on  which  most  of  the  oats  grew. 

Cultivation. 

Plowing  one  day  with  team, $1  5Q 

Dragging  half  a  day, 0  75 

Three  bushels  of  seed, 0  75 

Sowing  the  seed , 0  25 

The  use  of  land, 2  00 

Harvesting, . , 1  00 

Thrashing  with  horse  and  log  one  day, 1  50 

Cleaning  half  day  two  hands, 0  50 

$8  25 
83  3^2  bushels  at  two  shillings, . . . .      20  78 

Nett  proceeds  for  one  acre, . . .    $12  53- 

No  estimate  of  boarding  either  horse  or  man. 


EXTRACT  FROM  WASHINGTON  COUNTY  REPORT. 

A,    THOMPSON. 

Andrew  Thompson,  of  Easton,  has  harvested  this  year  eighty-six 
bushels  and  a  half  of  oats  from  150  rods  of  land — the  ground 
last  year  had  corn  on  it,  and  about  fifteen  load  of  manure  from 
the  yard  spread  on  and  plowed  in — this  year  the  ground  plowed 
the  last  of  April,  or  the  first  of  May ;  sowed  the  sixth  or  seventh 
May;  no  manure  this  year  except  a  few  quarts  of  plaster  on  a  small 
part  of  it ;  four  bushels  of  oats  sowed  on  the  ^g-round,  the  oats  were 
rept  in  August,  and  threshed  in  October  with  a  machine.  The  ground 
is  a  loam,  with  a  mixture  of  clay,  the  ground  plowed  once  this  spring. 


No.  105.]  315 

Dr. 

Interest  on  land, ,  $3  50 

Threshing, 2  00 

Seed, 2  00 

Incidental, . , 2  00 


$9  50 

Cr, 

861  bushels,  at  3  5 $32  44 

Deduct, 9  50 


ROOT  CROPS. 


The  committee  appointed  to  examine  the  claims  for  root  crops  have 
attended  to  that  duty  and  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following  report  : 

That  there  were  ten  applications  for  premiums  on  root  crops  entered 
with  the  Secretary,  and  all  supported  by  the  necessary  statements  and 
certificates. 

The  summer  past  has  been  remarkable  for  drouth.  In  some  sections 
little  or  no  rain  fell  for  nearly  three  months.  Under  such  circumstan- 
ces, great  crops  of  roots  could  not  be  expected,  and  the  wonder  is  that 
the  yield  has  been  so  great. 

Potatoes. 

Mr.  Street  Button,  of  Meredith,  Del.  co.,  raised  on  three  acres  and 
34  perches  1047  bushels  of  potatoes,  which  is  at  the  rate  of  324 
bushels  to  the  acre,  which,  in  favorable  seasons  for  this  crop,  would 
not  be  considered  more  than  a  fair  yield.  Eight  hundred  bushels  have 
been  taken  from  one  acre,  and  the  person  who  raised  them  was  confi- 
dent he  could  get  one  thousand  bushels  from  the  same  amount  of  land. 

As  the  potato  is  one  of  the  most  useful  and  necessary  roots  cuhivated 
by  our  farmers  both  for  the  support  of  man  and  beast,  the  committee 
cannot  forbear  to  express  their  regret  that  the  premium?  offered  by  the 
society  on  this  article  should  be  treated  with  so  much  indifference. 
They  believe  that  with  proper  attention  to  the  selection  of  the  kind  of 
seed  to  be  used,  and  care  in  preparing  the  land  and  planting  the  same, 
the  crop  of  potatoes  may  easily  be  made  four  times  as  valuable  as  they 
usually  are,  and  that  our  farmers  cannot  better  appropriate  a  few 
acres  of  land  than  to  the  cultivation  of  the  potato,  as  well  for  stock  as 
for  culinary  purposes.     We  award 

To  Mr.  Street  Button  the  second  premium  of  $5. 

Carrots. 

Mr.  Wm.  Risley,  of  Chatauque  co.,  raised  the  past  season  1183 
bushels  of  carrots  on  one  acre,  at  an  expense  of  $59.  The  soil  on 
which  this  crop  was  grown  must  have  been  rich  and  the  cultivation 
good,  or  such  results  could  never  be  obtained  with  so  light  a  dressing 


No.  105.]  317 

of  manure,  being  only  ten  loads.     The  committee  consider  the  profit 
of  this  crop  superior  to  any  other  offered.     We  award 

To  Mr.  Wm.  Risley  the  first  premium  of  $10. 

Mr.  Lucius  Warner,  of  Vernon,  Oneida  co.,  raised  1143  bushels 
of  carrots  to  the  acre,  at  an  expense  of  |53  41.  Some  allowance 
must  be  made,  however,  as  his  bushels  were  computed  at  45  pounds 
per  bushel  ;  while  Mr.  Risley's  were  computed  at  58  pounds  to  the 
bushel.  This  would  make  considerable  difference  in  the  amount,  as 
well  as  the  expense.  Considering  the  great  quantity  of  manure  ap- 
plied, the  time  and  labor  bestowed  in  their  cultivation,  the  committee 
do  not  deem  it  a  very  extraordinary  crop.     We  award  to 

Mr.  Lucius  Warner  the  second  premium  of  $5. 

Manuel  Wurtzel. 

Mr.  Charles  B.  Meek,  of  Canandaigiia,  Ontario  co.,  raised  on  half 
an  acre  613  bushels  of  Mangel  Wurtzels,  at  an  expense  of  $11L  This 
field  had  been  in  grass  for  several  years  previous,  and  was  highly  ma- 
nured and  well  cultivated,  showing  the  beneficial  effects  of  good  culti- 
vation and  liberal  manuring.  This  crop,  considering  the  small  ex- 
pense at  which  it  was  grown,  is  considered  very  extraordinary,  ex- 
ceeding any  crop  of  the  kind  known  to  the  committee.     We  award  to 

Mr.  Charles  B.  Meek  the  first  premium  of  $10. 

Lucius  Warner,  of  Vernon,  Oneida  co.,  raised  480  bushels  of 
Mangel  Wurtzels  on  half  an  acre,  at  an  expense  of  $21  19.  We 
award  to 

Lucius  Warner  the  second  premium  of  $5. 

Mr.  J.  F.  OsBURN,  of  Port  Byron,  raised  on  half  an  acre  and  7  J 
rods,  443  J  bushels  of  Mangel  Wurtzels,  at  an  expense  of  $12  44. 
Mr.  Osborn  has  been  a  successful  competitor  for  previous  crops  ofler- 
ed  by  the  society,  and  he  is  well  entitled  to  the  thanks  of  the  society 
for  his  example,  spirit  and  enterprise.     We  award  to 

J.  F.  Osborn  the  third  premium  of  a  Vol.  Transactions. 

Sugar  Beets. 

Mr.  S.  B.  Burchard,  of  Hamilton,  raised  on  half  an  acre  487 
bushels  sugar  beets.  This  crop,  considering  the  expense  and  labor 
bestowed,  is  certainly  a  fair  yield,  but  far  short  of  what  has  been  taken 
from  the  same  amount  of  land.  The  committee  consider  the  sugar 
beet,  for  stock,  very  good,  but  no  better  than  mangel  wurtzels,  and 
and  far  inferior  to  carrots  or  ruta  bagas.  Great  encomiums  have 
been  bestow©*!  on  this  root  for  its  fattening  properties.  The  commit- 
tee, from  experience,  have  not  found  them  so.  For  young  cattle  and 
milch  cows  they  are  valuable.     We  award  to 

Mr.  S-  B.  Burchard  the  first  premium  of  $10. 

J.  F.  OsBURN,  of  Port  Byron,  raised  on  half  an  acre  and  7  J  rods 
488  b'jshels  sugar  beets,  at  an  expense  of  $13  94.     We  awnrd  to 


318  [Senate 

Mr.  J.  F.  Osborn  the  third  premium  of  one  Vol.  Transactions. 

Rut  a  Bagas. 

Mr.  John  G.  Smedberg,  of  Prattsville^  raised  on  two  acres  and 
twenty  rods  1965  bushels  of  ruta  bagas,  averaging  925  bushels  to  the 
acre,  at  an  expense  of  $74.75,  which  is  about  $32  per  acre.  In  ma- 
king the  charges  against  this  crop,  we  think  Mr,  Smedberg  approaches 
nearer  the  actual  cost  of  cultivation,  than  any  other  applicant  for  root 
crops.  He  allows  $2  per  day  for  a  man  and  team,  and  50  cents  per 
load  for  manure,  and  interest  on  the  value  of  the  land,  &c.,  while  in 
some  of  the  estimates  we  find  one  dollar  per  day  only  charged  for  a 
man  and  team,  and  only  fifty  cents  per  day  for  a  man,  and  twenty-five 
cents  per  load  for  manure  on  the  ground,  and  nothing  for  interest. 
We  consider  this  yield  rather  extraordinary  for  the  season,  which  has 
been  unfavorable  to  this  crop,  and  we  award  to 

Mr.  J.  G.  Smedberg  the  first  premium  of  $10. 

Charles  B.  Meek,  of  Canandagua,  raised  567  bushels  of  Ruta  Ba- 
gas to  the  acre,  at  an  expense  of  $19.  This,  in  ordinary  seasons  and 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  could  not  be  considered  more  than  a 
fair  crop,,  The  beetle  or  turnip-fly  was  very  destructive  to  this  tribe  of 
plants,  and  his  crop,  Mr.  Meek  says,  suffered  much  by  their  depreda- 
tions.    We  award 

Mr.  C.  B.  Meek  the  third  premium  of  one  Vol.  Transactions. 

The  Ruta  Baga,  we  consider  among  the  most  valuable  of  roots  : 
much  expense,  however,  is  necessary  to  ensure  a  good  crop  of  this 
root,  though  much  less  labor  is  requisite  in  the  cultivation  than  car- 
rots. 

The  expense  of  raising  and  harvesting  a  crop  of  ruta  bagas  is  stated 
to  be  about  3^  cents  per  bushel.  They  can  be  obtained,  on  suitable 
soil,  after  a  crop  of  clover  has  been  taken  from  the  land.  Hence  may 
the  farmer  learn  how  to  relieve  his  anxiety  when  his  crops  of  hay  are 
like  to  fail,  or  his  expectations  not  realized.  By  a  little  extra  labor 
applied  in  proper  season,  an  abundant  supply  of  vegetables  may  be  ob- 
tained for  the  consumption  of  his  cattle  and  sheep. 

Land  yielding  about  30  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre,  will,  under  the 
same  manuring  and  cultivation,  not  be  likely  to  yield  more  than  150 
bushels  of  potatoes  to  the  acre,  or  one  ton  of  good  hay.  These,  we 
admit,  are  small  returns,  much  smaller  than  any  farmer  should  be  sat- 
isfied with.  With  the  same  manure  and  cultivation,  five  or  six  hun- 
dred bushels  of  ruta  bagas  may  be  raised  on  the  acre,  and  when  well 
husbanded,  and  well  applied,  we  deem  them  to  be  fully  equal  to  two 
tons  of  hay,  and  no  crop  returns  more  manure  to  the  soil  when  fed  to 
stock,  and  they  are  at  the  same  time  no  greater  exhausters  of  the  soil 
than  potatoes.  We  are  satisfied  that  even  at  a  yield  of  500  bushels  to 
the  acre,  ruta  bagas  is  one  of  the  best  crops  that  a  stock  breeder  can 
raise  in  proportion  to  the  expense  of  cultivation.     But  then  500  bu- 


No.  105.]  319 

shels  is  a  small  yield,  and  one  with  which  no  enterprising  farmer  should 
be  satisfied.  One  thousand  and  even  1200  bushels  have  been  taken 
from  an  acre,  and  what  has  been  done  can  be  done  again. 

CALEB  N.  BEMENT, 

Chairman. 


POTATOES. 

STREET    BUTTON. 

Sir — In  presenting  my  potato  crop  for  the  premiums,  I  would  state 
that  the  piece  selected  was  the  corner  of  an  old  pasture  field  which  had 
lain  in  pasture  for  ten  or  fifteen  years — so  far  from  the  barn  that  ma- 
nure was  not  used,  so  that  the  plea  that  manure  is  the  cause  why  the 
potato  is  affected  by  the  rot  does  not  apply  in  this  instance.  The 
piece  selected  was  estimated  to  be  about  four  acres.  Soon  as  the  frost 
was  out  of  the  ground  sufficiently,  the  ground  was  turned  over  with 
the  plow.  It  lay  in  that  situation  until  about  the  18th  of  May,  when 
it  received  a  thorough  dragging  with  an  iron  tooth  drag,  and  then 
cross-plowed,  then  dragged  down  smooth  for  planting.  The  piece, 
when  planted,  counted  156  rows — 108  rows  planted  with  what  is 
called  the  orange  with  a  mixture  of  the  flesh-colored  potato — 48  were 
planted  with  what  is  called  in  this  section  the  Dutton  potato,  a  sample 
of  which  you  will  receive,  and  is  presented  as  the  best  in  the  State 
for  the  use  of  the  table. 

Method  of  Planting. — On  about  one  half  of  the  piece  the  potato 
was  dropped  on  the  surface  in  rows,  about  three  feet  apart  one  way, 
with  the  hills  on  the  row  about  from  18  to  20  inches  apart.  The  po- 
tato whole,  as  a  general  thing,  and  covered  with  the  hoe. 

The  other  part  of  the  ground  was  laid  off  in  rows  of  about  the  same 
distance  apart,  by  a  furrow  with  the  plow.  Made  use  of  the  same 
kind  of  seed  as  before,  and  dropped  in  the  furrow  with  the  hills  about 
18  or  20  inches  apart,  and  covered  with  the  plow  running  each  side  of 
the  row,  and  turning  both  furrows  on  the  potato,  which  had  the  effect 
to  cover  the  seed  much  deeper  than  the  other  part  of  the  ground, 
which  was  covered  with  the  hoe.  Consequently  the  piece  covered 
with  the  hoe  came  up  a  few  days  first.  When  the  tops  were  from 
three  to  four  inches  high,  a  sprinkling  of  plaster  was  put  to  each  hill, 
from  one  to  two  table  spoonsful.  Although  the  season  proved  dry, 
there  was  a  large  growth  of  tops  and  a  visible  difference  in  the  color 
of  the  vines  or  tops  the  whole  summer.  That  part  of  the  field  with 
seed  dropped  in  the  furrow  and  covered  with  the  plough  showed  a 
much  darker  green  than  the  part  that  was  covered  with  the  hoe.  The 
tops  exhibited  no  symptoms  of  what  is  styled  the  curl,  or  an  intimation 
to  decay,  but  remained  healthy  and  green  until  frost.  Commenced 
digging  about  the  20th  of  September,  found  no  symptoms  of  the  rot, 
and  the  potato  a  large  size  and  fine  flavor. 


320  [Senate 

A  few  days  after  commencing  digging  the  rot  made  its  appearance 
on  that  part  of  the  field  that  was  covered  with  the  hoe,  while  that  part 
where  the  plow  was  used  was  not  affected,  and  before  the  digging  was 
finished,  which'  was  about  the  middle  of  October,  the  disease  had  made 
considerable  progress  in  its  work  of  destruction  on  this  part  of  the 
field.  A  part  of  the  potatoes,  as  they  were  dug,  were  put  into  a  cellar 
and  part  buried  in  the  field.  On  the  15th  of  October  I  found  it  neces- 
sary to  overhaul  those  in  the  cellar  on  account  of  the  rot,  and  removed 
about  200  bushels.  Those  buried  in  the  field  were  then  examined  and 
they  were  fast  decaying,  and  there  was  no  alternative  but  to  feed  them 
out.  The  potatoes  on  the  other  part  of  the  field  were  disposed  of  in 
the  same  manner,  excepting  the  part  put  into  the  cellar,  which  was  a 
different  one,  and  the  other  part  buried  in  the  field,  and  when  last  exa- 
mined, a  few  days  since,  were  all  sound  and  in  good  condition. 

Why  this  difference  is,  remains  for  the  curious  to  solve,  for  I  cannot 
account  for  it  in  the  least. 

The  number  of  bushels  dug  and  measured  of  the  orange  and  flesh 
colored  was  1047,  and  of  the  Button  or  table  potato  was  399. 

Meredith,  Del.  Co.,  Dec.  7,  1845. 

Expense  of  the  crop  as  herein  stated.. 

First  plowing,  four  days,  at  12^., $6  00 

Two  days  dragging,  at  125'., 

2h  do.  cross-plowing,  at  12^., 

2  days  second  dragging,  12^., 

95  bushels  seed  at  2s., 

Dropping  and  covering, 

Once  plowing  out  and  hoeing, 

9  bushels  plaster,  at  4s., 

2  days  putting  on,  at  6s., 

To  digging  1445  at  12s.  per  100  bushels, 

Total, 

This  amount  will  cover  the  full  expense  of  the  crop. 


3 

00 

3 

75 

3 

00 

23 

75 

9 

50 

9 

50 

4 

50 

1 

50 

21 

75 

186  25 

EXTRACT  FROM  LEWIS  COUNTY  REPORT, 
DAVID   PITCHER. 

Awarded  First  Premium. 

Ground  in  flax  year  previous  ;  commenced  plowing  the  piece  (four 
acres)  10th  May,  after  spreading  sixteen  loads  manure  from  the  hog 
yard,  per  acre  ;  harrowed  once  before  planting  ;  planted  15th  May, 
using  sixteen  bushels  of  peachblow  and  yellow  potatoes  per  acre  ; 
small  ones  whole,  large  ones  cut  into  pieces;  harvested  last  of  Sep- 
tember, and  from  half  an  acre  measured  with  a  pole,  produced  198 
bushels  carefully  measured. 


No.  105.]  321 

Expense  and  profit  of  half  an  acre. 

Produce  :  198  bushels  potatoes  at  2  s.  per  bushel  $49  50 

Eight  loads  manure, 8  00 

Drawing  and  spreading  same, 2  00 

Plowing  $1  50  per  acre, 50 

Harrowing, 75 

Planting  and  cutting  potatoes, 1  30 

Hoeing  twice, 1  50 

Harvesting, 1  50 


$15  00 
Profit  from  half  an  acre, 34  50 


$49  50 


EXTRACTS  FROM  ONEIDA  COUNTY  REPORT. 
WILLIAM    C.    BURRITT. 

Awarded  first  premium  for  quality. 

Soil,  mucky ;  the  previous  crop  was  grass  ;  plowed  once  only  to  the 
depth  of  five  inches  ;  planted  at  the  rate  of  eight  bushels  per  acre,  on 
the  10th  of  May  ;  dug  312  by  measure,  and  328*  *  by  weight  ;  the  po- 
tatoes were  Pinkeyes. 

Expense  and  profit  of  crop. 

Produce,  312  bushels  of  potatoes, $11700 

Expense,  8  bushels  of  seed, $2  00 

1  day  plowing, 2  00 

\  day  harrowing, 1  00 

2  days'  planting, 1  50 

4  days'  hoeing, 2  00 

6  days'  harvesting, 4  50 

Interest  on  land  at  7  per  cent, 2  80 

16  80 

Profit  on  one  acre  of  potatoes, $100  20 


Paris ^  Oneida  county. 


HENRY    B.    BARTLETT. 

Awarded  second  premium  for  quantity. 

Soil,  sandy  loam  ;  previous  crop,  potatoes  for  two  years ;  plowed 
once  to  a  depth  of  six  or  eight  inches  ;  used  twelve  bushels  of  seed  on 


322  [Senate 

"^he  acre,  and  cannot  say  on  what  day  of  the  month  they  were  planted; 
put  plaster,  lime  and  ashes  in  the  hill  when  planted.  Dug  333^  ^  bu- 
shels. 

Expense  and  profit  of  crop. 

Produce,  333^  4  bushels  at  25  cts., .       $83  37^ 

Expense,  12  bushels  of  seed, $2  25 

^  day  harrowing, 50 

2  days  planting, 1  25 

4  days  hoeing, 2  50 

6  days  harvesting, 3  75 

Interest  on  land, 3  50 

$13  75 

Profit  on  potato  crop, , $69  62  J 

Paris,  Oneida  county. 


CARROTS. 


WILLIAM  RISLEY. 


The  previous  crop  was  lettuce  and  radishes  raised  for  the  seed. 
Before  sowing  the  carrots,  there  were  ten  loads  of  fine  manure  spread 
over  the  piece  of  ground,  which  was  a  light  coat.  After  the  land 
was  plowed  and  worked  fine,  the  seed  of  the  large  white  carrot  was 
sowed  on  the  first  day  cf  May,  in  rows  ten  inches  apart,  and  in  weed- 
ing they  were  thined  out  to  four  inches  in  the  row  and  kept  clear 
froraw   eds. 

Expenses  of  crop. 

10  loads  manure  4^. , $5  00 

3  days  team  work,  125., 4  50 

8    "      sowing,  5^., 5  00 

20  "      weeding,  5^., , 12  50 

10  "         do         second  time,  5^., 6  25 

20"         do         third  time,  5^., 6  25 

16  "      harvesting,  5^., 10  00 

6  lbs.  seed,  6s, 4  50 

Use  of  land, 5  00 

$59  00 
Crop  1,183  bushels  carrots  at  Is., 147  88 

Profit, $88  88 


No.  105.]  323 

LUCIUS  WARNER. 

The  soil  on  which  my  carrots  grew,  is  clay,  gravel,  sand  and  loam, 
the  clay  rather  predominant.  The  previous  crop  corn,  mangel  wurt- 
zel  and  carrots,  with  about  50  loads  manure.  The  soil  in  good  con- 
dition. The  ground  was  plowed  in  the  fall  of  1844.  One  half  was 
plowed  twice  in  the  spring,  harrowed  and  sown  8th  May,  the  other 
part  plowed  only  once,  harrowed  and  sown  2d  June,  with  drill  bar- 
row, 16  inches  apart.  Commenced  hoeing  about  five  weeks  after 
sowing,  and  hoed  again  in  about  three  weeks.  The  plants  thinned  to 
three  or  four  inches  in  the  drills  ;  50  loads  yard  manure  applied  be- 
fore the  last  plowing ;  were  harvested  with  spade  from  the  6th  to  19th 
November,  at  considerable  expense,  the  weather  being  unfavorable. 
Amount  of  crop  1,143  bushels  and  10  lbs.  at  45  lbs.  per  bushel,  the 
entire  crop  being  weighed.  The  crop  was  considerably  injured  by 
the  drought.  The  part  sown  first  was  much  the  best,  producing 
about  1,361  bushels  per  acre  while  the  last  sown  produce  only  923 
bushels  per  acre. 

Expense  of  cultivation. 

Plowing, $2  50 

60  loads  manure,  2^., 12  50 

Harrowing, 1  00 

li  lbs.  seed  of  long  orange  variety,  9^., 1  41 

Sowing, 0  50 

32  days  hoeing  and  thinning,  4^., 16  00 

39  days  harvesting,  4^., , 19  50 


$53  41 


EXTRACT  FROM  CORTLAND  COUNTY  REPORT. 
JOSHUA    CHAMBERLAIN. 

I  am  disposed  to  hand  in  a  report  of  a  crop  of  carrots  which  I  raised 
n  a  small  piece  of  ground,  more  to  stimulate  others  to  cultivate  the 
crop  than  for  any  thing  else,  as  the  quantity  of  ground  is  not  sufficient 
to  enter  for  premium.  The  patch  of  ground  was  57  feet  by  27  ;  har- 
vested 30  bushels  of  the  orange  carrot,  which  I  believe  is  not  far  from 
1000  bushels  to  the  acre,  without  any  more  pains  than  I  usually  take 
with  the  turnip,  after  the  seed  is  sown.  For  cows  and  horses  it  is  un- 
doubtedly the  best  root  crop — and  for  aught  I  know,  for  any  kind  of 
stock.  The  ground  should  be  well  manured  and  pulverized,  and  then 
thrown  into  ridges  two  feet  apart,  and  two  rows  on  a  ridge  eight  inch- 
es apart.  I  have  no  doubt  but  subsoil  plowing  would  be  beneficial  to 
the  crop. 

[Senate,  No.  105.]'  21 


324  [Senate 

extract  from  lewis  county  report. 

selden  ives. 

Awarded  First  Premium. 

Forty-three  rods  of  ground  ;  previous  year  in  carrots  with  18  loads 
of  manure  from  cow  yard,  before  plowing,  produce^260  bushels  ;  pre- 
sent year  no  manure  used  ;  plowed  about  the  last  of  May,  and  tho- 
roughly harrowed  and  rolled  first  week  in  June  ;  three  quarters  pound 
seed  sowed  immediately  with  drill  harrow  18  inches  apart.  As  soon 
as  the  crop  was  up,  cleaned  with  hoe  between  the  rows — one  week 
after  weeded  carefully,  without  thinning  the  plants,  three  weeks  after, 
again  hoed  crop;  harvested  about  the  first  of  November. 

Expenses  and  Profit  of  Crop. 

330  bushels  by  actual  measurement,  at  1  s $41  25 

Expense  quarter  day  plowing  at  $1  50, $0  38 

"     Harrowing  and  rolling, 0  38 

"     Planting  quarter  day  at  6  s 0  19 

"     Six  and  half  days  weeding  and  hoeing  at  6  s.  4  50 

"     Six  and  half  days  harvesting, 4  50 

"     Team  work,  at  6  s 75 

10  70 

Nett  profit  43  rods  ground, $30  55 

Or  equal  to  $114  per  acre. 

Mr.  Ives  says  the  plants  were  too  thick  in  places,  and  too  thin  in 
others  ;  had  the  crop  been  attended  to  and  equalized  in  this  respect, 
a  much  larger  product  would  have  been  obtained. 

Turin. 


A.   H.    BUCK. 

Awarded  Second  Premium. 

Ground — old  pasture  plowed  latter  part  of  May,  about  seven  in- 
ches deep  without  manure  ;  rolled  and  well  harrowed ;  planted  in 
rows  twenty  inches  apart ;  hoed  three  times. 

Product  from  quarter  acre  266  bushels  1  s $33  25 

Expense  plowing  and  harrowing, $0  75 

"     Hoeing, 2  00 

"     Harvesting, 0  50 

3  25 


Profit  quarter  acre ...*  $30  00 

Lowville. 


No.  105.]  325 

EXTRACT  FROM  ONEIDA  COUNTY  REPORT.  ' 

PHILO    GRISWOLD. 

Quantity  of  ground,  one  quarter  of  an  acre  ;  soil,  clay  loam,  with 
gravel  ;  previous  crop,  potatoes  ;  plowed  twice  to  the  depth  of  ten 
inches ;  seed  sowed  the  first  of  May,  at  the  rate  of  five  ounces  to  the 
quarter  of  an  acre  ;  harvested  ofi"  one-fourth  of  an  acre  415i|  bushels. 

Expense  and  profit  of  the  crop. 

Product,  415i|  bushels  carrots  at  16  cts.  per  bushel, ....         |66  44 

Expense,  5oz.  seed, |0  42 

1  day  rolling  and  harrowing, 1  50 

J  day  planting, 0  38 

7  days  hoeing  and  weeding, 5  25 

12  days  digging  and  harvesting, 9  00 

Interest  on  land  at  $40  per  acre  at  7  per  cent, 0  70 

$17  25 

Profit  on  crop, $49  19 

Vernon,  Oneida  co. 


LUCIUS    WARNER. 


.^warded  second  premium. 

Soil,  clay,  gravel,  sand  and  loam  ;  previous  crop,  carrots  and  man- 
gel wurtzels ;  plowed  three  times,  eight  or  nine  inches  deep  ;  sowed 
on  a  quarter  of  an  acre  five  ounces  of  seed,  in  drills,  sixteen  inches 
apart,  and  left  three  or  four  inches  apart  in  drills.  There  were  twelve 
loads  of  manure  plowed  in  at  the  last  plowing.  There  were  386  bu- 
shels raised  on  the  above  mentioned  quarter  of  an  acre. 

Expense  and  profit  of  crop. 

Product,  386  bushels  at  Is.  6d.  per  bushel, $72  38 

Expense,  3  plowings,  half  a  day, $0  75 

12  loads  yard  manure, 3  00 

5oz.  of  seed, 5  35 

One-eighth  of  a  day  harrowing  and  rolling, 0  19 

One-fourth  of  a  day  sowing, 0  12 

7  days  hoeing  and  weeding, 3  50 

9  days  digging  and  harvesting, 4  50 

Interest  on  land  at  7  per  cent, 1  75 

$14  16 

Profit  on  one  fourth  of  an  acre, $58  22 


326  [Senate 

william  wr1ght.k 

Awarded  an  extra  premium. 

Soil,  gravel  and  muck ;  previous  crop,  corn  ;  plowed  twice  ;  with  a 
furrow  six  inches  deep,  and  spread  on  two  loads  of  manure  ;  sowed  at 
the  rate  of  two  pounds  of  seed  per  acre,  about  the  10th  of  May  ; 
1198^  bushels  were  taken  off  this  acre. 

Expense  and  profit  of  crop. 

Produce,  1198|  bushels  of  carrots  a  1  5^.  per  bushels,. . . .       $149  01 

Expense,  2  plowings, $1  50 

2  loads  manure  plowed  in, 1  00 

2  pounds  seed, 2  50 

\  day  harrowing  and  rolling, 0  75 

8  days  planting, 4  00 

4  days  hoeing, 2  00 

20  days  harvesting, 10  00 

Interest  on  land  at  7  per  cent, 2  80 

$24  55 

Profit  of  crop, $125  26 


Vernon.,  Oneida  co. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  OSWEGO  COUNTY  REPORT. 
G.    L.    SHERWOOD. 

The  ground  on  which  I  planted  carrots  this  season  has  been  cropped 
two  seasons  ;  the  soil,  a  sandy  loam  with  a  subsoil  of  clay  ;  last  season 
it  was  in  corn,  manured  with  hog  and  stable  manure  at  the  rate  of  50 
loads  to  the  acre  ;  no  manure  applied  the  present  season  ;  planted  the 
first  of  May  in  drills  eighteen  inches  apart ;  seed,  long  orange  and 
field  ;  on  the  first  of  November  we  measured  from  the  aforesaid  piece 
one-fourth  of  an  acre,  by  actual  measurement,  and  harvested  from  the 
oresaid  quarter  three  hundred  and  forty-eight  bushels. 

Expense  of  Cultivation, 

Fitting  the  ground, $0  75 

Planting,  two  days, 1  00 

Weeding,  six  days  at  bOcts.  per  day, 300 

do       five  days  at  do., 2  50 

12  days  work  harvesting  at  do., 6  00 

$13  30 

South  Richland,  JVov.  8,  1845. 


o.  10"5.]  327 

STATEMENTS  OF  MANGEL  WURTZEL  CROPS. 


C.    B.    MEEK. 


The  condition   of  the  field  where  the  mangel  wurtzel  grew  was 
good,  having  been  pastured  five  years  previous  to  the  fall  of  1843. 
At  that  time  it  was  plowed,   and  in  the  spring  of  1844,  sowed  with 
oats  on  the  old  furrow,  no  manure  used.     In  the  fall  of  1844,  the 
greater  part  of  the  field    was  manured  with  unfermented  barnyard 
manure,  at  the  rate  of  40  loads  per  acre,   and  immediately  plowed. 
Having  used  up  all  the  manure,  a  small  part  of  the  lot  was  not  plowed 
until  the  25th  of  February  1845,  having  been  previously  dressed 
with  manure  from  the  hog  pens  and  hen  house,  and  «ome  fresh  ma- 
nure from  the  barnyard.     The  hen  house  and  hog  pens  produced  the 
greatest  crop.     On  the  fifteenth  of  April  the  field  was  well  harrowed, 
and  again  on    the  twenty-ninth  of  the  same  month.     On   the   2nd 
of  May,  plowed,  harrowed  and  spread,  on  half  acre,  two  wagon  loads 
of  unleached  wood  ashes.     On  the   10th  of  May  drawn  up  into  rid- 
'ges  27  inches  apart,  and  planted  with  two  kinds  of  seed,  the  long 
red  and  the  long  yellow,  both  procured  from  Mr.  Skervine,  of  Liver- 
pool.    The  quantity  of  seed  planted  on  the  half  acre  two  pounds. 
The  sowing  was  performed  by  three   hands,   the  first  making  a  bed 
"for  the  seed  with  a  hoe  at  intervals  of  twelve  inches,  the  second 
dropping  the    seed  six  or    eight   in    a   place,    and    the    third   cov- 
ering the   seed  with  a  hoe  or  rake,  taking  care  to  cover  with  fine 
earth.     The  seed  was  not  soaked,  not  considering  it  all  necessary 
where  the  land  is  properly  prepared  for  the  reception  of  the  seed^ 
As  soon  as  the  plants  were  up,  all  the  ground  along  the  centre  of  the 
ridges,  and  close  round  the  clump  of  plants  was  hand  hoed,  leaving 
the    rest  of  the  ground  for  the  cultivator.     The  first   hand   hoeing 
"was  on  the  2nd  of  June,  and  on   the  23rd  of  June,   went  through 
with  the  cultivator.     On   the  26th  of  June  thinned  out  the  plants, 
selecting    the    strongest    plant    in    each    clump,   and    cutting    out 
the    remainder.     On  the  10th    of  July,    and  once    afterwards,    ex- 
cept where  the  long  yellow   grew,  went  through  with  cultivator. 
The  reason  why  the  long  yellow  were  omitted,  was,  that  they  grow 
in  such  a  form,  reaching  over  from  ridge  to  ridge,  so  that  the  culti- 
vator cannot  pass  without  breaking  off  a  number  of  plants,  on  this 
'account  I  intend  to  discard  them,  and  substitute  the  red  globe.     The 
crop  was  harvested  on  the  24th  and  25th  of  October,  and  the  produce 
was,  of  the  quarter  of  an  acre,  of  the  long  red  336  and  half  bushels, 
equal  to  1346  bushels  per  acre,  of  the  long  yellow  277  and  one-fifth 
bushels,  equal  to  1108  and  half  bushels  per  acre,  making  the  yield 
of  the  half  of  an   acre  613  and  three-fifths  bushels,  equal  to  1227 
and  two-fifths  bushels,  or  30  tons,  13  hundred  and  10  pounds,  per 
acre. 


328  [Senate 

Expense  and  profit  of  the  crop. 

Value  of  the  crop  per  acre,  taken  at  the  rate  at 

which  part  of  the  crop  was  sold,  1227| 

bushels,  at  Is , $153  42 

Cultivation,  rent,  manure,  &c. $21  00 

Expenses  drawing  to  market, 22  SOf 

43  50 


jrXOlllf  ••••••••••••OS    »••«    •••«««    •««  dpXV/«7     vj/v 


Value  to  consume  on  farm,  1227  and  two-fifths  at  6  cts.  $73  64 
Expenses  of  cultivation,  manure,  rent,  &c 21  00 


Cahandaigua,  Dec.  1845. 


LUCIUS    WARNER. 

The  soil  on  which  the  mangel  wurtzel  grew  is  a  composition  of 
clay,  gravel,  sand  and  loam,  so  nicely  divided  as  to  render  it  difficult 
to  tell  which  predominates.  It  was  in  good  condition.  The  previous 
crop  was  corn  on  corn  stubble,  with  two  plowings,  and  fifty  loads  ma- 
nure per  acre,  applied  before  the  last  plowing.  It  was  planted  two  and 
a  half  feet  apart  each  way,  and  thinned  to  three  plants  in  a  hill ;  produce 
ninety-eight  bushels  per  acre.  For  the  mangel  wurtzels  the  ground 
was  plowed  once  in  the  fall  and  twice  in  the  spring.  It  was  harrowed 
and  sown  8th  May  with  three  and  a  half  pounds  seed  of  the  long  red 
variety  with  a  drill  barrow  from  twenty  to  thirty  inches  apart.  About 
twenty-five  loads  yard  manure  applied  before  the  last  plowing.  The 
first  of  July  they  were  hoed  and  thinned  to  eight  or  ten  inches,  and 
the  middle  of  July  hoed  again.  Harvested  the  last  of  October,  by 
simply  pulling  and  breaking  the  tops  by  hand.  Amount  of  crop 
480  bushels  at  45  pounds  per  bushel,  or  960  bushels  per  acre.  The 
crop  was  very  promising  until  the  first  of  August,  when  the  drouth 
became  so  severe  as  almost  to  stop  the  growth  four  or  five  weeks,, 
which  I  think  greatly  diminished  the  crop.  Those  sown  thii'ty  inches 
apart  produced  more  than  those  sown  nearer  together. 

Expense  of  cultivation. 

Three  plowings, , . . . . . $1  50 

Twenty-five  loads  manure,  2s. - 6  25 

Harrowing, 50 

Sowing, 25 

Sixteen  days  weeding  and  thinning,  4s. „  8  00 

Seven  days  harvesting,  4s 3  50 

$20  00 
Value  of  seed,  three  and  a  half  pounds,  5s. ............. .       1  19 

$21  19 


No.  105.]  329 

EXTRACT  FROM  ONEIDA  COUNTY  REPORT. 
LUCIUS    WARNER. 

Soil,  sand,  gravel,  clay  and  loam ;  previous  crop,  corn  ;  number  of 
plowings,  three ;  depth  of  fur)Ow,  eight  or  nine  inches  ;  time  of 
sowing  or  planting,  8th  of  May. 

Expense  and  profit  of  crop. 

Plowing  half  day, $0  75 

Harrowing  quarter  day, 0  38 

Seed,  one  and  three-fourths  pounds, 1  09 

Planting  quarter  day, 0  12 

Hoeing  eight  days, 4  00 

Harvesting  three  and  half  days, 1  75 

12  loads  yard  manure  applied  before  the  last  plowing,  3  00 

Interest  on  land  at  7  per  cent, 1  75 

$12  84' 


Cr. 
Roots  236  II  bushels  Is.  3d $36  99 


Profit, $$24  15 


SUGAR  BEETS. 


S.  B.  BURCHARD.. 


1st.  Condition  of  the  land  and  soil  :  The  land  was  meadow,  broke 
up  about  the  20th  of  April,  plowed  seven  inches  deep,  furrows  lapped 
about  one-third;  lay  near  my  barn,  and  had  been  mowed  for  sixteen 
years  previous  to  breaking  up.  I  gave  it  a  light  dressing  with  coarse 
manure  spread  upon  the  land  previous  to  plowing.  The  soil  is  a 
gravelly  loam.  After  the  plowing,  I  harrowed  it  so  as  to  completely 
pulverize  the  soil. 

2nd.  Manner  of  sowing :  I  used  the  drill  barrow,  and  found  it  to 
succeed  well  and  plant  with  great  accuracy. 

3d.  Amount  of  seed  :    One  and  a  half  pounds,  planted  dry. 

4th.  Time  of  sowing:    Twenty-fourth  of  April. 

5th.  Amount  of  crop  :  Four  hundred  and  eighty-seven  bushels,  at 
sixty  pounds  per  bushel. 

6th.  Time  and  manner  of  harvesting  :  Commenced  15th  October  ; 
labor  mostly  done  by  team  and  plow  ;  by  plowing  a  deep  furrow 
close  to  the  edge  of  the  row  of  beets,  I  found  that  two  boys  would 
throw  them  out  on  the  furrow  side  as  fast  as  the  team  would  plow, 
ready  for  topping. 


330  [Senatk 

Expenses  of  cultivation. 

Expense  of  plowing  half  an  acre, |0  87| 

Harrowing, 0  27 

Seed, 0  7d 

Half  a  day's  labor  planting, 0  27 

Interest  on  land  at  60  dollars  per  acte, ».  2  10 

Manure,  ten  loads  and  drawing, 2  50 

Labor  in  weeding  first  time,  three  days, . . . » 2  25 

Two  other  dressings,  four  days, 3  00 

Harvesting, , .  ► ,  » 5  00 

$17  21 i 


Value  of  crop,  487  bushels  at  2s.  per  bushel, |121  75 

Deduct  expense, » ^ .  , 17  21  i 


1104  53^ 


I  would  make  the  following  remarks  in  regard  to  the  statement  :■ 
I  have  endeavored  to  make  it  with  care  and  accuracy  as  to  the  value 
of  the  crop.  I  may  have  overrated.  I  speak  with  reference  to  my- 
self and  circumstances,  owing  to  the  severe  drouth  the  past  summer 
my  hay  crop  is  light.  I  have  forty-five  cows  to  winter,  and  the  beets 
with  something  over  five  hundred  bushels  of  carrots  raised  in  the 
same  field  I  am  confident  no  man  would  buy  of  me  for  two  shillings^ 
per  bushel.  The  carrots  were  raised  on  half  an  acre  of  land  witk 
the  same  cultivation  as  the  beets* 

Hamilton^  JYov.  25,  1846. 


J.  F,  OSBURN. 


I  will  improve  a  few  leisure  moments  in  sending  you  a  state- 
ment of  a  crop  of  beets  raised  by  me  the  present  year.  My  crops 
in  general  are  rather  poor,  owing  to  the  dry  weather.  My  wheat 
yielded  twenty  or  twenty-five  bushels  to  the  acre ;  corn,  three 
acres,  fifty-eight  bushels  per  acre.  On-e  acre  and  a  half  of  Mercer 
potatoes  yielded  250  bushels,  which  are  very  good  size,  and  keep 
-well  as  yet.  Three-quarters  of  an  acre  of  Pinkeyes,  Bradleys,  &c. 
in  another  field  gave  150  bushels  large  and  fair  when  dug,  but  having 
carried  a  quantity  in  my  cellar  for  winter  use,  they  soon  commenced 
rotting.  I  immediately  removed  them,  and  then  washed  and  sorted 
them,  and  found  at  least  three-quarters  of  them  infected.  Over 
those  that  were  sound,  I  sifted  a  small  quantity  of  slacked  lime,  and 
they  are  now  in  a  good  state  of  preservation.  I  planted  half  an  acre 
and  seven  and  a  half  square  rods  to  sugar  beets,  and  the  same  quan- 
tity to  mangel  wurtzel.     When  they  were  last  hoed  they  appeared 


No.  105,]  331 

the  best  of  any  that  I  ever  saw  at  that  season,  but  the  drought  soon 
coming  on  severely  checked  their  grovv^th.  The  lot  contained  one 
acre  and  fifteen  square  rods  as  surveyed  last  year  by  J.  W.  Sawyer, 
and  sent  in  as  an  experiment  acre  of  corn.  (See  vol.  Trans,  for  1844, 
page  174.)  It  was  then  manured  with  different  kinds  of  manure. 
This  year  I  drew  on  the  same  piece  of  ground  twenty  loads  of  barn- 
yard manure,  which  was  spread  evenly  over  the  surface.  The  land 
was  plowed  three  times,  and  dragged  after  each  plowing.  We  then 
planted  on  ridges  made  with  a  small  corn  plow.  Time  of  planting 
was  the  second  day  of  June,  and  the  rows  Were  two  feet  apart. 
*Half  an  acre  and  seven  and  a  half  square  rods  sugar  beets, 

458  bushels,  at  12  cents, $54  96 

Plowing  and  dragging  three  times, $2  25 

One  and  a  half  pounds  seed,  5s 94 

One  and  a  half  days  planting  by  hand,  4s 75 

Horse  and  cultivator,  quarter  of  a  day, 38 

Hoeing  six  and  a  quarter  days,  4s. 3  12 

Oct.  24,  harvesting  and  securing,  eight  days,  4s 4  00 

Ten  loads  manure,  2s 2  50 

'  '  ' 

Expenses, $13  94 

Profit  of  half  an  acre  and  seven  and  a  half  square  rods,  .  . .  $41  02 


Half  an  acre  and  seven  and  a  half  rods  mangel  wurtzel,  rows  two 
feet  six  inches  apart,  slightly  mixed  with  white  sugar  beet  by  mis- 
take, 443J  bushels,  10  cents, $44  35 

Plo^^ing  and  dragging  three  times, $2  25 

One  and  a  half  pounds  seed,  6s 0  94 

One  and  a  half  days  planting  by  hand,  4s 0  75 

Horse  and  cultivator  quarter  of  a  day, 0  38 

Hoeing  $ix  days  and  a  quarter,  4s 3   12 

Oct.  27tb,  harvesting  and  securing,  five  days,  4s. .  . .       2  50 
Ten  loads  manure,  2s , 2  50 

Expenses, $12  44 

Profit  of  half  an  acre  and  seven  and  a  half  square  rods,  . . .  $31  91 


There  was  but  little  difference  in  the  quality  of  the  land,  being  all 
a  sandy  loam.  Of  the  different  kinds  of  manure  the  hog  seemed  to 
have  the  most  effect. 


332  [Senate 

STATEMENTS  OF  RUTA  BAGA  CROPS. 

JOHN    G.    SMEDBERG. 

The  ground  on  which  my  turnep  crop  of  1845  grew,  was  the  same 
on  which  my  crop  of  1,161  bushels  to  the  acre  grew  in  1844,  which 
received  the  society's  premium.  It  was  plowed  May  15th  and  16th 
1845,  12  inches  deep,  had  a  light  dressing  of  28  loads  of  half  rotted' 
horse  manure,  on  the  whole  lot,  plowed  in  June,  5th  and  6th,  four 
inches  deep,  was  ridged  with  a  light  corn  plow  at  30  inches,  June 
10th,  the  ridges  slightly  flattened  by  dragging  a  light  stick  over  them 
and  the  seed  planted  by  a  drill  barrow,  June  11th  and  12th. 

They  were  worked  with  the  cultivator  and  hoed  July  10th  and 
again  July  25th  and  26th,  thinned  to  12  inches,  July  28th,  and  har- 
vested between  October  25th  and  November  2d. 

In  measuring  them,  the  waggon  box  and  cart  body  were  both  care- 
fully and  fairly  measured  with  a  two  bushel  basket,  itself  measured 
carefully  and  accurately  with  potatoes,  by  a  half  bushel  measure, 
and  every  load  made  as  nearly  as  possible,  of  the  same  size.  The 
wagon  held  45  bushels,  and  the  cart  30  bushels,  both  slightly  round- 
ed up.  There  were  harvested  from  the  field,  measured  by  Mr.. 
Daniel, 

11  wagon  loads,  at  45  bushels, r.     495 

49  cart  loads,  at  30  bushels_,  ......    .,,,.....  1,470 


Total, 1,965 


1,965  bushels  from  2  acres  20  rods,  averages,  925  bushels  per  acre. 
They  weighed  about  60  lbs.  per  bushel,  the  average  of  several  weigh- 
ings was  59  i  lbs.  The  extremely  dry  weather  which  we  had  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  time  that  the  crop  was  in  the  ground,  is  my 
excuse  for  offering  a  smaller  yield  than  last  year. 

Expense  of  cultivation. 
3  days  of  team  plowing,  at  I65, $6  00 

U             "                 "                  2  50 

28  loads  manure   4^, 14  00 

Manure  in  ground  from  last  year, 12  00 

Ridging,  &c., 1  00 

Planting, , 0  75 

Seed, 3  00 

Hoeing  and  cultivator  first  time, 4  50 

"                      "          second  time,. 6  00 

Thinning, 1  50 

Harvesting, 13  50 

Interest  on  land, , 10  00 


$74  75 
Deduct  tops  worth  $5,  ;  after  manure  ^S,  ......  .     13  00 

$61  75 


No.  105.]  333 

Cr. 

By  1,965  bushels  turneps,  worth  to  feed  at  present 

price  of  hay,  10  cents, ,  $196  50 

Tops, 5  00 

After  manure, 8  00 

$209  50 
Debit  side, 74  75 

Profit,  $134  75 


CHARLES   B.    MEEKS, 

The  ruta  bagas  grew  on  a  field  which  is  chiefly  a  sandy  loam,  but 
there  are  some  patches  of  stiff  clay.  The  previous  crop  was  oats,  oii 
a  sod  which  had  been  pastured  five  years.  In  November  1844,  the 
field  was  manured  with  unfermented  barnyard  manure,  which  was 
evenly  spread,  and  immediately  plowed  under.  The  land  lay  in  this 
state  till  the  15th  of  the  following  April,  when  it  was  well  harrowed, 
and  on  the  29th  of  April  again  harrowed.  On  the  2nd  of  May  the 
land  was  plowed  and  harrowed,  and  on  the  21st  drawn  up  into  rid- 
ges 27  inches  apart,  and  sown  with  seed  procured  from  Mr.  Skervine, 
Liverpool.  The  kind,  his  improved  purple  top,  and  the  quantity, 
three  pounds  per  acre.  The  seed  was  sown  by  hand.  On  the  16th 
of  June  the  ground  was  hoed,  and  on  the  the  23rd  of  June  worked 
with  the  cultivator.  The  ground  was  once  more  hoed  and  twice 
cultivated.  The  crop  was  harvested  on  the  14th  and  15th  of  Novem- 
ber, and  the  yield  was  567  bushels,  or  14  tons  and  350  pounds  per 
acre.  This  I  confess  is  a  very  poor  crop  to  compete  for  the  premium 
of  the  State  Society,  but  the  season  has  been  very  unfavorable  to  the 
growth  of  turneps.  My  crop  suffered  so  much  from  the  attack  of  the 
Aph'des,  which  (in  spite  of  quick  lime  and  salt,)  spread  all  over  the 
turneps,  that  at  one  time  there  was  scarcely  a  green  leaf  left ;  had  it 
not  been  for  these  vermin  my  crop  would  have  been  at  least  one- 
third  more.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  though  my  mangel  wurtzel 
grew  along  side  the  turneps,  only  separated  by  a  space  of  27  inches,- 
yet  I  never  observed  a  single  Aphis  on  the  former.  Also  on  another 
occasion,  when  my  ruta  bagas  suffered  severely  from  caterpillars,  my 
mangel  wurtzel  though  adjoining  them,  escaped  unhurt.  I  therefore 
give  a  decided  preference  to  mangel  wurtzel. 

Expense  and 'profit  of  the  crop. 

Value  of  crop,  567  bushels,  at  6  cts $34  02 

Expenses,  manure,  &c. , 19  00 

Profit $15  02 

Canandaiguttj  Dec.  20,  1845. 


334     ^  [Senate 

extract  from  oneida  county  report. 

PLIMENT    MATTOON. 

Soilj  sandy  loam  ;  previous  crop,  corn  ;  number  of  plowings  two  ; 
depth  of  furrow,  six  inches  ;  time  of  sowing  or  planting,  18th  June* 

One  pound  and  a  half  seed, $0  28 

Plowing, 0  75 

Harrowing,  quarter  day, 0  38 

Planting, 0  25 

Hoeing,  three  days, 1  50 

Harvesting, 0  63 

Twelve  loads  hog  and  horse  manure,  thoroughly 
mixed  in  March,  and  applied  previous  to  last 

plowing, , , .  3  00 

Interest  on  land  at  7  per  cent, . . . .  ^ 0  70 

Total, . ,-.-. $7  49 


Number  of  bushels  grain,  and  value,  247  at2s, . . .   $61  75 

7  49 


Profit, $54  26 


PEAS. 

To  the  President  of  the  Mew-York  State  Agritulttiral  Sodeiy^: 

Sir— The  committee  appointed  to  examitie  the  applications  for  pre^ 
miums  on  peas,  report : 

We  award  the  first  premium  of  $10  on  Peas  to  Thomas  Lane,  of 
Marcy,  Oneida  county,  for  his  crop  of  fifty-five  bushels  per  acre. 

The  second  premium  of  $5,  to  William  French,  of  Canajoharie, 
Montgomery  county,  for  his  crop  of  47 |f  per  acre. 

J.  M.  SHERWOOD, 
W.  E.  CORNWELL. 

Albany,  January  26,  1846. 


THOMAS    LANE. 

The  land,  prior  to  being  taken  in  hand,  upon  which  thfO  Crop  was 
raised,  was  in  quite  a  low  condition.  It  had  been  injudicioiigly  cropped 
previous  to  its  coming  into  my  possession  some  six  years  since.     Im- 


No.  105.]  335 

mediately  upon  its  coming  into  my  hands  I  seeded  it  and  pastured  it 
four  years,  and  at  the  time  of  breaking  it  up,  manured  with  thirty- 
two  horse  loads  of  barnyard  manure  spread  broadcast  ;  planted  to 
corn,  which  was  a  fair  crop;  no  manure  applied  this  season ;  the 
quantity  of  seed  sown  upon  the  acre,  five  and  a  half  bushels;  kind, 
black-eyed  peas  ;  time  of  sowing,  middle  of  April  ;  manner,  broad- 
cast;  cleaning,  passed  through  a  fanning  mill,  afterward  a  seive  used 
which  retains  the  pea  ;  allowmg  oats  and  split  peas  to  pass  through; 
harvesting,  mowed  with  a  scythe,  rolled,  cured  and  housed.  The  crop 
was  fifty-five  bushels  to  the  acre.  The  sample  sent  is  a  sample  of 
the  whole  crop. 

Expense  of  cultivation. 

One  day  plowing,  a  man  and  team, $1  50 

One  day  harrowing  and  rolling,  a  man  and  team,   1  50 

Two  days  sowing  and  harvestmg,- 1  50 

Two  days  threshing  and  cleaning, 1  50 

$6  00 
Marcy,  Oneida  county. 


WILLIAM    FRENCH. 

I  present  a  claim  for  the  best  crop  of  peas  in  the  county  of  Mont- 
gomery. 

The  land  on  which  the  crop  of  peas  was  raised  was  plowed  last 
fall  once,  and  once  this  last  spring.  After  the  seed  was  sowed  this 
spring  it  was  dragged  three  times.  The  soil  at  the  time  of  sowing 
(this  last  spring)  was  black  loam,  and  good  soil.  About  two  hundred 
sheep  were  fed  on  said  land  for  the  period  of  one  week  last  winter, 
and  the  soil  has  not  been  manured  for  several  years  (eight  years  past 
for  certainty) .  The  crop  of  last  year  on  said  land  was  a  wheat  crop. 
Said  land  was  plowed  twice,  and  harrowed  three  times,  at  the  time 
of  putting  in  said  wheat  crop.  The  quantity  of  seed  used  for  said 
pea  crop  was  eight  bushels.     The  seed  is  called  It  was 

sowed  the  last  week  of  April  last,  and  was  sowed  broadcast.  The 
crop  was  harvested  in  the  third  week  of  August,  and  was  mowed 
with  a  grass  scythe,  and  rolled  into  small  heaps,  which  lay  about  one 
week,  and  were  then  drawn  into  a  barn  and  threshed  with  horses, 
and  was  cleaned  with  a  fanning  mill.  The  crop  by  measurement 
consisted  of  one  hundred  and  two  and  a  half  bushels.  The  land  on 
which  said  crop  was  raised  consisted  of  two  acres  and  twenty-six 
rods,  according  to  an  estimate  of  Mr.  D.  B.  Hager.  The  whole  crop 
yielded  one  hundred  two  and  a  half  bushels  ;  which  would  be  at  the 
rate  of  forty-seven  bushels  one  peck  and  five  quarts  of  peas  per  acre. 
The  expense  of  cultivation  was  eight  dollars  and  twenty-five  cents.. 


336  [Senate 

EXTRACT  FROM  LEWIS  COUNTY  REPORT. 
ISAAC    KNIGHT. 

First  premium  to  Isaac  Knight,  Lowville. 

Previous  crop,  corn,  manured  in  the  hill ;  no  manure  on  the  present 
crop. 

Product, 

54  bushels  4  quarts,  at  65., $40  59 

Expense  of  cultivation, $5  00 

Interest  on  land  at  $30  per  acre, . 2  10 

7  10 

Profit, $33  49 


EXTRACT  FROM  ONEIDA  COUNTY  REPORT. 

AMOS   MILLER. 

Soil,  clay  loam,  intermixed   with  gravel ;    previous   crop,   corn ; 

number  of  plowings,  one  ;    depth  of  furrow,  eight  inches  ;    time  of 

sowing  or  planting,  5th  of  April. 

Quantity  of  seed  per  acre,  and  expense,  5  bushels  at  5s $3  13 

Number  of  days  with  roller,  harrow  or  cultivator,  and  ex- 
pense, one, ,, 1  75 

Number  of  days   harvesting,    and   expense,   and   threshing, 

four, 3  00 

Interest  on  land  at  seven  per  cent,  $40  per  acre, 2  80 


$10  68 


Number  of  bushels  grain,  and  value,  56||  at  5s $35  37 

Value  of  straw  and  stalks,  .... . .  .^ 2  00 

$37  37 
Expense, ,. 10  68 

Profit, $26  69 


EXTRACT  FROM  OSWEGO  COUNTY  REPORT. 
NICHOLAS    GRAY. 

Gentlemen — The  following  is  a  statement  of  my  crop  of  peas, 
entered  for  premium  at  the  last  fair  of  said  society. 

One  acre  and  thirty-three  and  a  half  rods  of  ground,  of  greensward, 
j)lowed  about  the  middle  of  April,  and  dragged  thoroughly  before 


No.  105.]  337 

sowing ;  peas  sowed  about  the  first  of  May ;  no  manure  ever  put 
upon  the  land  ;  harvested  about  the  20th  August,  and  threshed  im- 
mediately.    Yield,  fifty-five  bushels. 

One  day  and  one-fourth,  plowing,  12s $1  88 

Half  a  day  dragging  before  and  after  sowing, 75 

Sowing, 

Harvesting,  getting  in,  threshing, 1  50 

Three  and  a  half  bushels  seed,  4s 1 

$6  13 

Fifty-five  bushels  peas  at  4s $27  50 

Deduct  expenses, 6  13 

Profits,., $21  37 


NICHOLAS    BOST. 


My  crop  of  peas  was  raised  as  follows : — I  plowed  my  land  deep 
last  fall,  harrowed  this  spring.  On  the  15th  ard  16th  days  of  May 
last  I  sowed  ten  bushels  of  the  large  French  pea  on  three  acres  of 
ground,  plowed  them  across  the  furrows  without  harrowing.  By  these 
means  the  peas  remain  covered.  The  rough  furrow  prevents  the 
vines  from  falling  flat,  and  keeps  them  irom  moulding  and  rotting  be- 
fore the  peas  are  ripe  ;  and  by  these  means  I  have  raised  a  beautiful 
large  white  pea.  I  measured  one  acre,  and  measured  off  of  that  acre 
thirty- seven  bushels  and  three  quarts  of  peas  which  is  but  an  average 
yield  of  the  three  acres  aboye  mentioned. 

Hastings,  Sept.  15,  1845. 


338 


[Senate 


FLAX. 

The  committee  on  flax  award  the  first  premium  of  $5  to  E.  C.  Bliss, 
of  Westfield,  Chatauque  county,  for  his  crop  of  flax  and  seed,  being 
28  ,Vo  bushels  per  acre,  and  567  ^^^^  of  dressed  flax  per  acre. 

Also  recommend  that  the  society  give  a  Volume  of  Transactions  to 
Rufus  S.  Ransom,  of  Fenner,  Madison  co.,  for  his  crop  of  flax-seed 
— being  23  i-  bushels  of  seed  per  acre,  and  437^  pounds  weight  dressed 
flax  per  acre. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

J.  M.  SHERWOOD, 
Wm.  J.  CORNWELL, 
Committee. 


E.  C.  BMSS.^ 

Cultivation  and  Expense^ 
1845. 

April.    To  thirteen  loads  stable  manure,  with                 ni- 
tre, 1^.  per  load, , 

To  hauling  and  spreading  manure, 

To  plowing  the  ground  twice  and  dragging  twice, . 
To  six  bushels  of  lime  sowed  and  dragged  in,. . . : 

To  half  bushel  of  salt,  &c., 

To  half  bushel  flax  seed,  to  sow, 

"  14.  To  sowing  flax  seed  and  lime,  &c., 

July.     To  pulling  the  flax,  3  days, 

To  hauling  to  the  barn  and  threshing  off  seed,  2>\ 

days,... 

To  spreading  \\  days, 

To  cleaning  up  seed,  \\  days, 

To  dressing  the  flax,  gave  one-half, 

To  interest  on  eighty-four  rods  land,  at  $40,. . . . 


63 
63 
50 
75 
25 
50 
25 
50 


1  75 

75 

75 

10  43 

1  50 


Cr. 

By  flax,  298  lbs.  7  cts.  per  lb., 

By  14f  bushels  seed, 

By  manure  left  in  the  ground  for  next  crop, , 

Total  Prodtice, 

Total  Expense, 

Profit, 


$23 

19 

— 

$20  86 

14  75 

1  63 

$37  24 
23  19 

$14  05 


The  above  statements  were  kept  on  my  memorandum  book,  and 
they  are  correct  and  true 


No.  105.]  339 

RUFUS    S.    RANSOM. 

Soil  in  good  condition,  having  lain  to  pasture  seven  years,  then 
turned  over  in  the  spring  of  1844,  and  sowed  to  barley,  (after 
being  rolled  and  harrowed,)  at  the  rate  of  2^  bushels  per  acre,  then 
harrowed  thoroughly  both  ways,  no  manure  applied,  crop  amounted  to 
35 if  bushels. 

No  manure  used  the  present  season  ;  one  bushel  of  seed  sown  on  the 
piece ;  common  variety  ;  sown  broadcast  the  2d  day  of  May  ;  pulled 
by  hand  in  the  middle  of  August ;  spread  on  the  ground  till  dry  ;  then 
taken  to  the  barn  and  threshed  by  holding  the  heads  in  the  threshing 
machine,  or  rather  on  the  cylinder,  for  we  take  off  the  concave  when 
we  thresh  flax  ;  cleaned  by  running  the  seed  through  a  common  fan- 
ning mill,  and  sifting  it  afterwards  in  a  flax  riddle.  I  ought  to  have 
mentioned  that  we  go  through  our  flax  just  after  it  is  out  of  the  blos- 
som and  pull  all  weeds  that  can  be  found.  The  amount  of  seed  was 
eleven  bushels  and  twenty-four  quarts,  as  near  as  we  could  measure  it 
in  a  half  bushel  ;  we  have  not  dressed  the  flax  ;  that  is,  separated  the 
lint  from  the  woody  part ;  after  it  was  rotted  and  brought  to  the  barn, 
we  weighed  it,  and  in  that  form  it  weighed  1400  pounds.  We  have 
dressed  10  pounds,  and  it  produced  1  pound  and  9  ounces  ;  therefore 
1400  pounds  before  it  is  dressed  will  produce  21 8|  pounds  of  lint. 
The  cost  of  cultivation,  for  what  has  been  done  and  what  remains  to 
be  done,  as  near  as  I  can  make  it,  is  $11.  We  dress  our  flax  with 
the  brake,  hatchel  and  swingling  board,  the  same  as  our  grandfathers 
did. 


f Senate,  No.  105. J  22 


340  [Senate 

BROOM-CORN. 

First  premium  for  the  best  acre  of  broom-corn  of  $5,  awarded   oa 
the  following  statement. 

GEO.  GEDDES. 


WILLIAM   MCGOWAN. 

Gentlemen — I  propose  to  compete  for  the  premiums  offered  by  you. 
on  two  crops,  broom-corn  and  flax.  They  were  both  raised  in  the 
same  field,  and  the  soil  much  the  same.  The  ground  is  low  and  wet. 
I  have  put  three  blind  ditches  through  the  field  where  the  crops  grew. 
The  soil  is  black  loam  and  naturally  rich ;  the  previous  crop  to  the 
broom-corn  and  flax  was  Indian  corn,  planted  on  green  sward  turned 
over,  then  rolled  and  dug  one  way  ;  planted  in  May  and  dragged 
well  between  the  rows,  and  hoed  once ;  then  in  September  the  corn 
was  cut  up,  and  hauled  off  from  the  ground  in  October ;  the  ground 
was  ploughed  well. 

I  will  give  the  cultivation  and  expense  of  the  broom-corn  crop,  and 
kept  it  on  my  farm  record. 

Cultivation  and  Expense. 

Dr. 

To  25  loads  of  long  manure,  been  piled  in  the  yard  and  about 
half  rotted,  at  1^.  per  load,  (the  load  of  manure  was  reck- 
oned at  82  solid  feet  per  load,) $3  13 

hauling  and  spreading  manure, 3  13 

ploughing  one  day  with  horses, « 1  00 

dragging  half  day, 0  50 

marking  out  the  ground  for  planting,  three  feet  by  one  and  a 

half  feet, 0  50 

8^^^.  seed, 0  13 

planting  5  days  at  4s., 2  50 

dragging  between  the  rows  h  day, 0  50 

hoeing  and  thinning  first  time,  left  from  8  to  10  stalks  in  a 

hill,  6  days, , 3  00 

dragging  for  second  hoeing, 0  25 

hoeing  last  time,  4  days, 2  00 

tableing  the  corn,  5  h  days, 2  75 

cutting  the  broom-corn,  5  i  days, 2  75 

binding  and  hauling  in, = 0  75 

paid  for  scraping  off  the  broom-corn  seed  by  the  job  done  by 

machinery, , 3  00 

cleaning  up  the  seed, , 0  50 

interest  on  land  at  $40  per  acre, 3  50 

Total, .129  89 


No.  105.]  341 

Cr. 

By  1155/65.  brush  at  $4.50, $51  97 

Sllbs.  seed  at  Is.  6d., 15  19 

manure  left  in  the  ground  for  the  next  crop, 3  13 

Total  Cr., $70  29 

Total  Dr., 29  89 


Profit, $40  40 


SOT  IN  POTATOES, 


PEIZE  ESSAY — BY  ANDREW  BUSH,  M.  D.,  EAST  COVENTRY,  CHESTER  CO.,  PA. 


Awarded  the  premium  of  $20. 

The  Potato,  or  Solanum  tuberosum,  is  indigenous  to  the  high 
table  lands  and  mountainous  regions  of  South  America.  In  its  un- 
cultivated state,  the  tuber  is  a  hard,  fibrous  vegetable,  possessing  but 
little  nutritive  property.  It  grows  a  feeble  creeping  vine,  with  a 
trumpet-shaped  flower.  It  derives  its  name  from  solor.,  to  comfort, 
and  belongs  to  that  class  of  plants  that  possess  anodyne  properties. 

In  the  begining  of  the  16th  century  the  Spaniards  in  their  explo- 
ration and  conquest  of  Peru,  discovered  the  potato  as  an  extremely 
nutritious  and  wholesome  esculent  in  cultivation  by  the  aborigines 
of  that  country.  After  the  cruel  thirst  of  their  invaders  for  the  blood 
and  treasures  of  that  unhappy  people  had  been  glutted  to  satiety,  the 
Spaniards  took  with  them  on  their  return  to  Europe  specimens  of  the 
potato,  along  with  other  productions  of  the  country  they  had  sub- 
jugated. 

Its  introduction  as  an  article  of  food  was  a  matter  of  slow  progress, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  thjt 
its  value  became  generally  appreciated,  or  its  cultivation  spread  |o 
any  considerable  extent.  After  its  character  as  a  valuable  article  of 
food  had  become  established,  intelligent  cultivators  produced  rew 
varieties,  superior  in  flavor  and  nutritive  qualities,  but  also  more  celi- 
cate  in  texture,  and  more  liable  to  disease. 

A  variety  of  diseases  are  on  record  to  which  the  potato  is  liable, 
and  it  would  extend  this  paper  beyond  its  proper  limits  to  give  even 
a  brief  account  of  those  most  common.  And  in  as  much  %s  the- 
diagnostic  signs  of  "  the  rot "  are  essentially  difierent  from  everj 


No.  105.]  343 

other  known  disease,  and  the  mode  of  cultivation  recommended  in 
this  paper  to  preserve  the  potato  from  it,  being  directed  to  the  im- 
provement of  its  growth  and  physical  properties,  and  applicable  to 
the  successful  cultivation  of  the  potato  under  all  circumstances,  we 
shall  limit  our  observations  to  this  subject  alone. 

The  "  rot  in  potatoes.''^ 

The  disease  known  by  this  name,  has  occurred  at  various  periods, 
under  various  names,  during  the  last  half  century,  on  the  European 
continent,  and  on  the  British  isles  ;  assuming  latterly  an  epidemic 
character,  and  extending  its  ravages  over  large  districts  of  country. 
As  it  has  appeared  in  our  own  country,  it  may  be  described  in  four 
stages,  by  diagnostic  marks  upon  the  tuber  of  the  plant. 

Incipient. 

In  the  first  or  incipient  stage  of  the  disease,  the  potato  appears  to 
the  eye  sound  and  handles  well  ;  but  on  cutting  it  open,  there  is  a 
crispness  perceptible,  caused  by  the  fibres  being  in  a  state  of  contrac- 
tion, and  a  milkiness  of  the  juice,  peculiar  to  this  disease.  After 
cooking,  the  potato  remains  watery,  and  has  a  rank  flavor,  that 
leaves  a  scratchy  sensation  on  the  fauces,  and  if  eaten  even  sparingly, 
produces  soporific  effects  on  the  senses. 

Fementation. 

In  the  second,  or  fermentative  stage,  the  potato  has  sometimes 
specks  or  blotches  on  the  cuticle,  that  feels  soft  under  pressure,  but 
more  frequently  the  external  surface  presents  no  diagnostic  mark  ;  on 
cutting  open  the  potatoe,  it  presents  a  yellowish,  brown,  or  black 
border  of  demarkation  between  the  cuticle  and  that  part  of  the  pota- 
to apparently  soiind,  or  in  the  incipient  state.  This  border  varies 
in  depth  from  a  line  to  one-third  or  more  of  the  thickness  of  the  po- 
tato. In  this  stage  the  potato  has  undergone  a  chemical  change, 
that  has  developed  poisonous  principles,  and  is  dangerous  as  food  for 
Inan  or  beast.  When  boiled  they  emit  a  fetid  smell.  In  this  stage 
of  the  disease,  if  the  potato  is  left  in  the  ground,  or  harvested,  and 
placed  in  masses,  in  a  damp  and  warm  place,  the  disease  progresses 
rapidly  into  the 


344  [Senate 

Decomposed, 

Or  third  stage.  The  cuticle  of  the  potato  is  now  found  wet  and 
flabby  ;  when  ruptured,  the  pasty  contents,  or  sloughy  fluid,  give  off"  a 
very  fetid  odor.  The  organic  structure  is  destroyed  and  microscopic 
examination  proves  the  existence  there  of  myriads  of  animalculse. 

Scabby, 

Or  fourth  stage  of  the  rot,  is,  properly  speaking,  the  natural  arrest, 
or  cure,  of  a  local  form  of  the  disease.  In  this  case,  the  remote.cause 
of  the  disease,  being  weak  in  force,  or  of  short  continuance,  or  the 
potato  strong  in  vital  staminas  a  local  disease  only  had  been  pro- 
duced, that  extended  no  farther  than  the  size  of  the  scab,  and  was 
arrested  at  the  second,  or  fermentative  stage  of  the  disease,  by  the 
evolution  of  the  farinaceous,  or  starchy  substance,  that  forms  the 
scab,  leaving  the  remainder  of  the  potato  in  sound  and  healthy 
state. 

Cause. 

The  cause  of  the  "  rot "  is  an  epidemic  condition  of  the  atmos- 
phere, brought  into  active  influence  by  heat  and  moisture,  and  pro- 
ducing the  "rot"  in  the  more  tender  varieties  of  the  potato,  or 
those  raised  from  diseased  seed,  or  badly  cultivated,  or  under  any 
circumstance  unfavorable  to  their  growth  or  preservation. 

Manner  of  attack. 

The  disease  frequently  comes  on  suddenly,  attacking  and  destroy- 
ing the  potatoes  in  whole  fields  or  districts  of  country,  within  the 
space  of  a  few  days.  The  roots  and  tubers  of  the  potato  first  be- 
come afiiected,  and  immediately  the  disease  progresses  until  the 
whole  plant  becomes  diseased,  the  «talk  becomes  yellow,  and  the 
leaves  wither  and  curl.  Carbonic  acid  gas  is  generated  and  evolved. 
Fungous  productions  that  live  on  decomposing  vegetable  substances, 
are  observed  on  the  stem  and  leaves.  Insects  and  animalculse  are 
found  subsisting  on  all  parts  of  the  plant,  now  physically  changed  by 
the  fermentative  effects  of  the  disease. 

Illustration. 

The  following  case  illustrates  an  attack  of  the  epidemic  form  of 
the  "  rot  in  potatoes,"  in  Chester  county,  Pa.,  in  1843,  and  the  mode 
of  farming,  manuring  and  management,  that  has  successfully  over- 
come the  disease. 


No.  105.]  345 

In  the  spring  of  1843,  I  had  an  acre  of  ground,  in  corn  stubb-le,  of 
heavy  yellowish  clay,  nearly  level  and  liable  after  heavy  rains  to  have 
water  remain  stagnant  in  the  furrows.  Dry  weather  in  the  begin- 
ning of  May,  gave  opportunity,  by  means  of  two  plowings,  harrowing 
and  rolling,  to  bring  the  soil  to  a  finely  pulverized  state.  Furrows 
were  drawn  at  a  suitable  distance  apart,  to  permit  the  cultivator  to  be 
freely  used  between  them.  Mercer  potatoes,  whole,  about  the  size 
of  a  shelled  walnut,  were  used  for  seed,  and  dropped  ten  inches  apart, 
and  intermixed,  at  the  distance  of  four  paces,  with  seed  of  a  differ- 
ent variety.  Manured  with  composted  hog  dung,  and  covered  light- 
ly with  earth  and  rolled.  After  the  tops  appeared  out  of  the  ground, 
they  were  sprinkled  with  plaster,  at  the  rate  of  two  bushels  to  the 
acre,  and  in  due  season,  were  well  dressed  with  the  cultivator, 
weeded  and  ploughed.  The  season  was  favorable  to  their  growth 
during  May  and  June,  with  one  or  more  heavy  rains  in  July,  follow- 
ed in  August  by  very  dry  weather.  The  last  week  in  August,  I 
observed  the  potatoes  were  done  growing,  and  commenced  taking 
them  up.  They  were  carted  and  spread  on  the  barn  floor,  in  masses 
not  more  than  twenty  inches  deep,  and  remained  there,  before  assort- 
ing and  storing  in  the  cellar,  six  weeks.  The  yield  was  good,  and 
the  size  and  quality  excellent.  Finished  taking  up  the  crop  the  first 
week  in  September.  The  weather  then  changed,  frequent  heavy 
showers  were  followed  by  a  hot  sun  and  sultry  nights  ;  and  for  two 
weeks  the  ground  was  too  wet  to  take  potatoes  up.  During  this 
time  the  "  Rot"  commenced.  All  my  nearest  neighbors  suffered. 
Some  did  not  get  a  sound  potato.  Whether  left  in  the  ground,  or 
carried  to  the  cellar  or  barn,  the  second  or  fermentative  stage  of  the 
disease  had  arrived  and  ended  in  the  destruction  of  the  major  part  of 
the  crop. 

Observations. 

I  have  observed  that  all  who  planted  unsound  potatoes  of  that 
crop  suffered  more  or  less  in  the  crop  of  1844.  And  again,  the 
seed  of  '44  has  produced  the  "rot  "  to  some  extent,  in  the  product 
of  '45,  while  on  the  contrary,  my  potatoes  have  been  uninjured ;  and 
all  who  planted  of  them,  and  attended  to  the  principles  laid  down 
in  this  paper  for  their  cultivation,  have  escaped  the  disease.  In  those 
cases  where  the  injury  done  to  the  vegetable  fibre  of  the  potatoe,  has 
produced  only  the  first,  or  incipient  stage  of  the  "  rot,"  it  may  be 


346  [Senate 

preserved  for  planting,  to  the  succeeding  spring,  without  any  injury 
perceptible  to  the  eye,  and  yet  has  sustained  an  organic  injury,  pre- 
disposing its  offspring  to  "  the  rot  "  from  the  action  of  atmospheric 
causes,  that  could  not  injure  the  produce  of  a  sound  potato.  Seve- 
ral generations  from  diseased  primogenitors,  grown  during  favorable 
seasons,  and  with  proper  cultivation,  will  be  necessary  to  restore 
them  to  their  sound  state.  And  until  sound  seed  is  used,  the  "  rot  " 
may  be  expected  to  continue  its  ravages,  according  as  the  season  is 
more  or  less  favorable,  or  the  principles  that  govern  its  cultivation, 
more  or  less  perfect  in  their  application. 

Remedy. 

The  remedies  that  my  experience  has  proved  successful  to  prevent 
the  "  rot "  are  : 

1st.  Plant  sound  seed  potatoes,  brought  from  districts  of  the 
country  that  have  not  sufferredby  the  "  rot." 

Second.  Cultivate  them  with  reference  to  producing  a  strong  vital 
stamina.  Manure  with  substances  that  will  afford  in  a  proper  state 
for  nutriment,  lime,  potash,  soda  and  other  inorganic  substances  that 
chemical  analysis  shows  the  potato  to  require. 

Third.  Intermix  in  planting,  potatoes  of  the  same,  or  a  different 
variety,  cultivated  in  a  different  soil  or  climate,  to  give  the  plant  a 
germinal  stimulus,  that  I  have  observed  to  promote  the  healthy  growth 
and  large  development  of  the  tuber  as  well  as  strengthening  its  organic 
fibre. 

Fourth.  Drop  the  potatoes  whole.  The  potato  is  a  reservoir  of 
nature,  to  yield  to  the  young  sprouts  an  ample  supply  of  nutritive 
matter,  until  the  roots  shall  be  sufficiently  developed  to  elaborate  and 
absorb  from  the  manure  and  the  soil,  enough  to  maintain  an  indepen- 
dent existence.  They  should  be  dropped  a  sufficient  distance  apart, 
to  prevent  the  roots  and  tubers,  from  crowding  each  other,  the  dis- 
tance, say  from  10  to  18  inches,  to  be  regulated  by  the  size  of  the 
potato,  or  the  disposition  of  the  variety  to  spread  its  roots. 

Fifth      Procure  the  maturity  of  the  potatoe  within  the  period  of 
120  days  from  the  time  of  planting.     Use  those  varieties  for  seed, 
that  experience  proves  to  be  rapid  growers,  they  assimilate  faster,  or 
more  perfectly,  and  are  better  able  to  withstand  the  epidemic  influence 
of  the  "  rot."     Prepare  the  soil  to  a  state  of  pulverization  by  winter 
fallowing,  and  repeated  plowings  in  the  spring.  Draw  the  furrows  me- 


No.  105.]  347 

dium  depth  ;  and  cover  the  potatoes  with  the  manure  well  shaken  up^ 
and  both  with  a  light  covering  of  soil.  Pass  over  the  whole  with  a 
roller,  and  farm  as  described  in  a  previous  part  of  this  paper.  If  the 
ground  or  season  is  disposed  to  excess  of  moisture,  finish  the  dress- 
ing with  the  plow,  but  if  the  contrary  state  prevail,  use  the  cultivator 
only. 

Sixth.  As  soon  as  the  potatoes  are  done  growing,  take  them  up 
at  once,  preserve  them  from  bruises  and  rain,  and  store  them  in  a 
cool  and  dry  place. 

Manure. 

It  may  be  useful  to  give  in  detail  my  method  of  composting  hog 
manure,  that  has  proved  successful  in  raising  potatoes  unaffected  by 
the  rot.  The  proportions  of  the  inorganic  substances  specified  in  the 
the  following  directions,  are  not  given  as  the  amount  that  science 
would  point  out,  they  are  simply  the  amount  that  suits  me  best,  on 
the  score  of  economy  and  convenience  of  application  •  and  will  suit 
every  farmer,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree. 

My  hog-pens  are  deep  and  capacious.  Along  side  of  them  I  have 
equally  capacious  depots  for  all  sorts  of  vegetable  absorbing  substan- 
ces, that  can  conveniently  be  procured.  Most  of  these  substances 
contain  a  large  per  centage  of  potash,  in  combination  with  various 
acids.  These  acids  are  neutralized  by  an  admixture  of  fresh  slacked 
lime,  in  the  proportion  of  four  bushels  to  each  cord  of  the  vegetable 
material,  well  mixed  with  the  same  at  the  time  of  hauling  and  filling 
the  depots. 

After  seeding,  when  summer  made  manure  is  carted  out,  I  com- 
mence filling  up  the  pens  with  the  material  of  the  depots,  as  fast  as 
the  hogs  can  work  it  around,  and  during  the  fattening  season  in  pro- 
portion to  the  quantity  of  corn  fed,  that  is,  to  every  eight  bushels  of 
corn  fed,  I  compost  one  cord  of  the  material  described  and  two 
pounds  of  potash,  and  one  peck  of  salt.  Care  is  taken  that  the 
whole  mass  is  made  of  equal  richness,  and  the  process  is  continued 
until  the  time  of  planting  potatoes  arrives,  when  it  is  hauled  out,, 
spread  in  the  furrows,  and  lightly  covered  with  soil  as  elsewhere 
described. 

I  should  remark  that  the  potash  is  applied  in  the  form  of  the  resi- 
duum of  the  soap  kettles,  ashes  and  spent  ashes.     The  salt  in  the 


348  [Senate 

form  of  refuse  brine,  &c.,  &C.5  and  on  account  of  Gther^  fertilizing 
ingredients  that  the  brine  besides  the  muriate  of  soda,  it  is  preferred, 
I  believe  it  safe  to  say,  that  from  each  bushel  of  corn  fed  to  his  hogs,  a 
mail  may  manufacture  nianure  in  the  manner  pointed  out,  to  produce 
on  poor  land,  five  bushels  of  potatoes  free  of  rot,  or  any  other  defect 
besides  leaving  his  ground  in  a  productive  state  for  wheat  and  grass. 


THE  POTATO  DISEASE  IN  SCO'tLANi)* 


2Y  J.  p.  NORTONj  OF  FARMINGTONj  CONN. 


'There  are  few  subj^ects,  at  the  present  time,  ^^'hich  awaken  so  gene- 
ral an  interest  both  in  Europe  and  America,  as  the  potato  disease. 

The  immense  magnitude  of  the  interests  involved  in  the  production 
of  the  potato  crop,  has  hitherto  been  scarcely  thought  of*  In  our  own 
country,  we  are  favored  with  such  a  superabundance  of  produce,  that 
the  potato  is  not  absolutely  indispensable,  though  even  there,  a  general 
failure  of  this  crop  would  bring  distress  into  many  districts,  and  would 
curtail  the  means  of  nearly  all  our  farmers.  But  here,  in  Britain,  in 
Ireland,  and  on  the  continent,  the  case  is  different.  To  the  poor,  the 
potato  may  be  considered  the  stafT  of  life,  and  in  many  parts  of  these 
countries,  thousands  of  families  rarely  obtain  any  other  food,  from  one 
year's  end  to  another. 

When,  therefore,  as  during  the  present  season,  disease  attacks  the 
potato  crop,  menacing  in  many  places  its  total  destruction,  in  nearly 
all  its  injury  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  we  see  as  we  never  before  have 
done,  how  important  a  means  of  sustenance  is  withdrawn.  This  dis- 
ease becomes  at  once  a  national  calamity.  It  throws  the  gloom  of  al- 
most utter  despair  over  many  a  humble  hearth,  and  many  a  frame  which 
has  endured  long  weary  years  of  unrequited  toil,  sinks  under  the  crown- 
ing evil.  The  fear  of  famine  becomes  universal,  and  every  energy 
is  aroused  to  avert  the  danger. 

In  treating  of  this  disease,  I  shall,  in  another  part  of  this  articlcj 
consider  whether  it  be  the  same  that  has  for  some  years  past  been 
more  or  less  prevalent  in  this  and  other  countries ;  whatever  the  case 
may  be  in  this  respect,  it  is  certain  that  in  no  previous  year  has  it  as- 
sumed a  tithe  of  the  malignity  and  universality,  to  which  it  has  now 


350  [SENiTE 

attained.  The  danger  has,  in  the  minds  of  all,  become  so  pressing, 
that  a  feeling  is  every  where  expressed  that  sometliing  must  be  done 
or  the  potato  bids  fair  to  become  extinct. 

Practice  has  as  yet  utterly  failed  in  accounting  for  the  disease,  and 
has  been  compelled  to  call  in  the  aid  of  science,  in  the  hope  that  by 
the  joint  action  of  theory  and  experience,  some  clue  may  be  obtained 
to  this  mysterious  subject.  Scientific  men  in  various  countries  have 
accordingly  turned  their  attention  to  it,  and  in  most  cases  have  been 
aided  either  by  their  respective  governments,  or  by  agricultural  soci- 
eties. 

Among  the  first  on  the  continent,  was  a  commission  in  Holland  and 
Belgium,  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  facts  whick  should  throw  light 
upon  the  nature  of  the  disease. 

There  was  also  a  commission  appointed  in  the  province  of  Gronin- 
gen,  which  made  a  report  "  on  the  disease  affecting  the  potato  in  the 
Netherlands."     In  this  report  the  commission  gives 

1st,  What  are  the  causes  and  what  is  the  nature  of  the  disease  1 

2d,  What  are  the  remedies  1 

3d,  The  use  to  be  made  of  the  diseased  potatoes. 

In  Germany,  Liebig,  among  others,  has  turned  his  attention  to  the 
potato,  and  has  lately  published  some  observations  on  its  nitrogenous 
constituents. 

A  number  of  the  French  philosophers,  both  alone  and  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Central  Society  of  Agriculture  have  also  attended  to 
the  subject.  M.  Payen  lias  lately  published  three  or  four  reports  con- 
taining the  results  of  elaborate  microscopic  and  chemical  researches. 
Boussingault,  Persoz  and  others,  have  also  made  public  their  opinions. 

Of  what  has  been  done  in  our  own  country,  during  the  present  sea- 
son, I  am  not  well  informed.  I  have  seen  occasional  articles  from  in- 
dividuals, giving  their  private  views,,  but  do  not  know  if  there  has 
been  any  concerted  system  of  action.  The  report  published  last  year, 
by  Mr.  Ellsworth,  the  Commissioner  of  Patents,  was  a  valuble  docu- 
ment, and  is  well  known  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

In  Britain  and  Ireland,  a  great  portion  of  the  best  scientific  and 
practical  men  are  now  uniting  their  efforts  for  the  alleviation,  if  not 
for  the  remedy,  of  this  national  evil.     Ireland,  more  than  any  other 


No.  105.]  351 

country,  is  dependent  upon  the  potato,  as  being  almost  the  only  food 
of  the  greater  number  of  its  inhabitants.  Well  might  the  Irish  peasant 
shed  tears,  as  some  of  them  are  reported  to  have  done,  when,  on  lift- 
ing their  potatoes,  the  fatal  marks  of  decay  appeared.  In  Ireland  the 
potatoes  must  be  saved,  or  famine  of  the  most  dreadful  character  would 
inevitably  ensue. 

The  English  government  has  accordingly  directed  its  attention  first 
to  Ireland,  and  has  sent  thither  three  commissioners,  Doctors  Lyon, 
Play  fair  and  Kane,  as  competent  chemists,  with  Dr.  Lindley  as  bota- 
nist and  physiologist.  This  commission  has  now  been  actively  en- 
gaged since  the  beginning  of  October.  It  has  issued  five  reports,  giv- 
ing some  of  the  results  of  its  inquiries,  and  suggestions  for  the  preser- 
vation of  the  present  crop.  It  is  now  engaged  in  the  more  strictly 
scientific  investigations,  and  has  for  some  time  been  very  quiet. 

But  while  active  eflTorts  are  thus  making  in  Ireland,  other  sections 
of  the  country  are  not  idle,  and  Scotland  has  the  credit  of  the  plan 
which  seems  to  me  most  likely  to  effect  the  desired  end-  This  plan 
originated  with  Prof.  Johnston,  and  a  few  members  of  the  Agricultural 
Chemistry  Association  ;  it  was  first  brought  before  the  public  early  in 
October,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Highland  Society  at  Dumfries, 
and  has  since  been  entirely  sustained  by  private  subscription. 

It  contemplates  a  more  complete  and  extended  investigation,  than 
any  that  has  hitherto  been  attempted  ;  a  conjunction  of  entomological, 
botanical,  meteorological  and  chemical  science,  with  practical  skill. 
In  order  to  carry  out  these  views  fully,  each  branch  has  been  allotted 
to  a  well  qualified  person,  who  is  to  devote  himself  to  it  as  his  particu- 
lar field.  Sir  Wm.  Jardine,  Bart.,  of  Applegarth,  has  been  entrusted 
with  the  entomological  branch  ;  Dr.  Greville,  of  Edinburgh,  with  the 
botanical,  Mr.  D.  Milne,  of  Milne  Graden  ;  with  the  meteorological ; 
Prof.  Johnston  and  Mr.  Fleming,  of  Barochan,  with  the  chemical  and 
practical. 

All  of  these  gentlemen  are  now  actively  engaged,  and  it  is  only  by 
such  a  combination,  whereby  light  from  every  quarter  is  sought,  that 
we  can  ever  hope  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  this  mysterious  disease.  I 
say  that  we  can  hope^  because  I  think  with  the  promoters  of  this 
scheme,  that  success  is  not  absolutely  certain. 


352  [Senate 

In  the  laboratory  of  the  Agricultural  Chemistry  Association,  chemi- 
cal researches  on  an  extended  scale  are  commenced,  and  will  be  car- 
ried on  during  the  coming  year. 

The  purely  scientific  investigations  must  be  slow,  and  a  long  time 
must  elapse  ere  by  means  of  them  we  can  come  to  any  absolute  con- 
clusion that  shall  involve  a  full  explanation  both  of  the  cause  and  the 
remedy.  In  chemistry,  for  instance,  it  is  necessary  to  make  organic 
and  inorganic  analyses,  of  both  sound  and  diseased  potatoes,  of  diffe- 
rent kinds,  from  a  great  variety  of  soils,  grown  with  different  manures, 
imder  different  circumstances,  and  at  different  stages  of  growth.  Even 
persons  unacquainted  with  the  long  processes  of  analysis,  may  see  that 
this  involves  at  least  the  labors  of  one  or  two  seasons. 

While  these  investigations  are  in  progress,  the  gentlemen  engaged  in 
them  have  been  active  in  their  endeavors  to  give  immediate  aid,  in  the 
preservation  of  the  present  crop. 

"  Provisional  suggestions,  for  the  preservation  of  the  potato  crop  of 
the  present  year,"  were  drawn  up  and  published  by  Prof.  Johnston 
and  Mr.  Fleming,  of  Barochan,  at  an  early  period;  and  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  observe,  these  suggestions  embody  nearly  all  of  what  is 
really  useful,  in  that  which  has  since  been  suggested  by  others. 

Immediately  after  the  publication  of  the  suggestions,  a  series  of  que- 
ries drawn  up  by  Prof.  Johnston  and  Mr.  Fleming,  were  transmitted 
to  many  of  the  most  skillful  practical  farmers  in  Scotland,  with  the  re- 
quest that  they  should  return  full  and  explicit  answers.  These  an- 
swers are  sent  to  Prof.  Johnston,  and  he  has  commenced  publishing 
them,  in  order  that  the  knowledge  thus  gained,  may  be  at  once  disse- 
minated, and  that  it  may  call  forth  fresh  accessions  of  experience  from 
others. 

I  have  now  before  me  four  numbers  of  this  publication,  containing 
letters  from  57  practical  agriculturists,  and  furnishing  accounts  from  23 
counties. 

I  can  in  no  way  give  so  clear  an  idea  of  the  features  of  the  disease 
in  Scotland,  its  extent,  and  the  means  used  or  recommended,  to  pre- 
serve the  crop,  as  by  abstracts  of  these  answers.  For  the  more  full 
development  of  the  subject,  I  will  take  up  each  query  separately,  and 
give  all  the  information  that  I  can  collect  from  the  answers,  from  my 


No.  105.]  353 

own  experience,  or  from  the  results  of  the  various  investigations  which 
I  have  previously  noticed. 

Query  1. — To  what  extent  has  the  potato  disease  appeared  in  your 
district,  or  county,  during  the  present  year  1  Is  the  general  crop  large, 
and  how  much  of  it  do  you  think  is  affected  1 

The  answers  to  this  question  show  that  the  crop  throughout  the  coun- 
try is  about  an  average  one.  In  some  districts  it  is  much  larger  than 
usual,  and  in  others  considerably  less.  The  disease  has  prevailed  both 
among  good  and  bad  crops. 

In  the  counties  south  of  Aberdeen,  nearly  every  field  seems  to  be 
more  or  less  attacked.  The  proportion  of  the  infected  tubers  varies  in 
every  district. 

In  Lanarkshire,  Mr.  Findlay  says,  "I  fear  every  potato  is  more  or 
less  affected." 

In  Mid-Lothian,  Mr.  Girdwood  considers  the  proportion  of  potatos 
diseased,  to  be  fully  80  per  cent.  I  had  an  opportunity  of  inspecting  his 
heaps  a  few  days  since,  and  was  astonished  at  the  fearful  progress 
which  infection  is  making  among  them,  The  stench  arising  from  the 
sheds,  where  several  thousand  bushels  were  stored,  was  almost  insup- 
portable. On  the  farm  of  a  neighbor,  it  was  still  worse  ;  the  cover- 
ings of  the  pits  had  actually  fallen  in  from  the  progress  of  decomposi- 
tion. I  have  also  visited  a  large  farm  in  Northumberland,  where  the 
tenant  assured  me  there  was  not  one  sound  potato  in  a  thousand.  I 
was  not  able  to  find  even  one  in  his  heaps.  These  are  extreme  cases, 
but  unfortunately  are  not  unfrequent. 

In  some  parts  of  Kirkcudbrightshire,  Forfarshire  and  Aberdeenshire, 
the  proportion  affected  is  given  in  some  cases  as  low  as  one-tenth.  By 
far  the  greater  number  of  answers  estimate  the  quantity  from  one-fifth, 
to  one-half  and  three-quarters.  Many  say,  however,  that  a  definite 
answer  upon  this  point  is  almost  impossible,  for  the  disease  is  continu- 
ally increasing.  Those  now  in  their  pits,  which  they  consider  sound, 
may  all  be  affected  in  a  few  days  :  some  think  they  will  not  be  able  to 
save  enough  for  seed. 

There  is  one  part  of  Scotland,  that  as  yet  seems  nearly  or  quite 
free  from  this  disease.  This  lies  to  the  north  of  Aberdeen.  From 
Fochabers,   in  the  northwest  part  of  Aberdeenshire,   Mr.  Balmer, 


354  [Senate 

writes,  "I  have  neither  seen  nor  heard  of  disease  in  this  part  of  the 
country." 

From  Morayshire  and  Elgin  are  answers  of  a  similar  character. 

I  have  lately  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Simpson,  in  Rosshire,  who 
says,  "  we  have  luckily  escaped  almost  from  the  potato  disease  in  this 
quarter." 

In  Sutherlandshire  and  Caithness,  "  nothing  of  the  disease  preva- 
lent in  other  parts  of  the  country  has  appeared." 

I  shall,  in  giving  results  under  the  other  queries,  again  refer  to  this 
remarkable  exemption. 

Prof.  Johnston  and  Mr.  Fleming,  in  a  recently  published  paper, 
consider  that  taking  all  the  counties  of  Scotland,  the  proportion  at 
present  affected  is  a  little  less  than  one-third  of  the  whole  crop. 

Query  2.  Is  the  disease  more  extensive  during  the  present  than 
during  past  years  1 

Query  3.  How  many  years  is  it  since  it  first  began  to  be  noticed 
among  you] 

The  answers  to  these  two  queries,  I  shall  unite.  Out  af  fifty-seven 
persons,  who  return  answers,  forty-eight  say  that  the  disease  is 
much  more  extensive  than  during  any  former  year ;  three  say  that  it 
has  been  with  them  equally  or  more  extensive  before  ;  and  six  others 
have  escaped  the  visitation  entirely. 

About  thirty  consider  the  disease  decidedly  a  new  one,  others  are 
doubtful,  and  fifteen  mention  various  periods  as  marking  its  appear- 
ance with  them,  or  in  their  neighborhoods.  The  number  of  years 
named  varies  from  two  to  fifteen.  Some  of  these  gentlemen,  how- 
ever, seem  doubtful  if  it  is  proper  to  say  they  have  experienced 
exactly  the  same  disease  for  so  many  years,  and  therefore  speak  cau- 
tiously. The  answers  themselves  show  in  many  instances  that  if  not 
a  new  disease,  it  is  at  least  a  new  form  of  the  old  one. 

Mr.  Drummond,  near  Dundee,  has  had  "failures  at  brairding  since 
1833,  and  has  seen  dry  rot  at  one  farm,  for  three  years  past." 

Mr.  Gillespie,  Annan  Bank,  Dumfriesshire,  "  has  experienced  a 
very  considerable  rot  after  storing,  for  the  last  two  years." 

Mr.  McKnight,  Barlochan,  Kirkcudbrightshire,  "  has  seen  occa- 
sional instances  of  dry  rot,  since  the  year  1832." 


No.  105.]  355 

Mr.  Fleming,  of  Barochan.,  and  his  overseer  Mr,  Gardiner,  con- 
cur, "  thai  the  disease  (or  a  modification  of  it)  has  been  noticed  in 
spring,  during  the  last  ten  or  twelve  years,  but  never  before  at  this 
season." 

Mr.  Campbell,  of  Craigie,  Ayrshire,  and  several  Dumfriesshire 
gentlemen,  say  that  it  is  the  same  disease  that  has  been  more  or  less 
fatal  during  the  last  twelve  or  fourteen  years. 

The  report  of  the  Groningen  Commission  says,  "  It  is  probable  that 
this  disease  has  long  existed  in  this  country,  but  it  has  never  hitherto 
sufficiently  developed  itself  to  attract  serious  attention.  The  com- 
mission is,  however,  of  opinion,  that  the  disease  as  now  known  to 
us  has  never  been  treated  by  naturalists." 

It  appears,  then,  that  very  nearly  all  agree  that  the  disease  has  at  no 
previous  time  been  as  extensive  as  at  present,  and  that  in  a  majority 
of  cases  it  is  considered  new.  No  doubt  it  is  quite  new  in  some  dis- 
tricts, but  in  others  at  least  a  modification  of  it  seems  to  have  been 
noticed  for  some  years  pasr,  though  not  of  very  alarming  extent. 

Query  4. — At  what  time  during  the  present  season,  did  the  disease 
first  appear  in  your  neighborhood  1  Has  its  appearance  been  sud- 
den and  unexpected  ? 

In  the  majority  of  instances,  the  disease  seems  to  have  appeared 
in  September,  rather  early  in  the  month  ;  in  many  places,  however, 
it  was  observed  long  before  this,  even  in  July.  In  some  instances, 
no  doubt,  it  existed  for  a  considerable  period  before  discovery.  I 
visited  a  farm  in  the  county  of  Durham,  a  short  time  since,  and  was 
told  by  the  farmer,  that  there  was  no  disease  among  his  potatoes. 
After  a  short  inspection  of  his  store  room,  I  found  several  diseased 
ones,  to  his  very  great  astonishment  and  dismay. 

In  almost  every  case,  the  appearance  of  the  disease  was  sudden 
and  unexpected.  In  some  fields  it  broke  out  in  small  spots,  from 
which  it  spread  more  or  less  rapidly.  In  other  cases  the  whole  crop 
seemed  to  be  smitten  at  once.  I  have  heard  of  some  that  were  quite 
destroyed,  from  a  state  of  apparent  soundness,  in  forty-eight  hours. 

Mr.  Findlay,  of  Easterhill,  Lanarkshire,  says,  "I  had  sold  my 
potatoes  at  ,£24  per  acre-  about  a  week  only,  before  the  disease  ap- 
peared, which  was  towards  the  end  of  September.  Before  I  made 
.the  sale,  the  whole  field  was  examined,  and  no  disease  appeared." 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  23 


356  [Senate 

It  is  due  to  Mr.  Findlay  to  mention,  that  when  the  potatoes  were 
after  all  attacked  by  disease,  he  most  promptly  took  the  whole  back, 
though  the  people  had  taken  them  at  their  own  risk  after  the  exami- 
nation. 

I  have  seen  an  instance  near  Edinburgh  where  one  farmer  sold 
about  1500,  or  more  than  ^£2000,  in  value,  of  potatoes.  They  were 
considered  sound,  were  lifted  and  pitted;  but  at  the  present  time  not 
the  fifth  part  of  those  potatoes  are  untainted. 

Mr.  Cumming,  Wigtonshire,  says,  "  I  know  a  seven  acre  field, 
a  splendid  crop,  sixteen  tons  to  the  Scotch  acre,  where,  ten  days 
ago,  the  crop  on  being  taken  up  was  sound,  and  half  the  field  was 
taken  up  and  stored  as  such.  Within  these  few  days  symptoms  of 
disease  became  more  and  more  apparent,  and  now  the  jobbers  raising 
each  two  tons  per  day,  have  suspended  work,  considering  them  lost.'' 

These  facts  naturally  lead  us  to  the  next  question. 

Query  5. — What  peculiar  appearance  has  the  disease  presented — 
does  it  differ  in  character  from  the  disease  of  former  years  1  Does  it 
generally  show  itself  in  the  leaf  and  stem,  before  it  appears  in  the 
bulb? 

Before  mentioning  any  answers  to  this  query,  I  may  premise,  that 
the  rot  in  the  tuber  of  the  potato  is  of  two  different  kinds,  known 
as  the  wet  and  the  dry  rot.  The  latter  has  most  prevailed  here  as  yet. 
It  first  appears  in  the  form  of  brownish  masses  under  the  skin.  These 
spread  more  or  less  rapidly  in  different  instances  and  finally  extend 
inward  to  the  very  core. 

The  wet  rot  forms  a  distinctly  decayed  and  rotten  part  of  the  po- 
tato, in  some  cases  it  appears  to  be  a  continuation  and  worse  stage 
of  the  dry  rot.  I  have  seen  the  one  passing  into  the  other  in  the 
same  heap.  The  formation  of  a  vegetable  acid,  from  the  decompo- 
sition of  the  nitrogenous  compounds,  converts  the  starch  into  sugar 
and  gum ;  the  water  contained  in  the  potato  itself  then  dissolves 
these  substances,  and  the  whole  tuber  becomes  a  semi-fluid  mass,  of 
a  consistence  like  honey.  It  is  much  disputed  whether  this  be  the 
same  disease  that  has  appeared  in  previous  years,  or  an  entirely  new 
one. 

Out  of  thirty-nine  answers  to  this  query,  twenty-three  say  that  the 
disease  has  been  unknown  to  them  before.      Many  of  the  sixteen 


No.  105.]  357 

others,  say  that  it  has  never  appeared  in  exactly  this  form,  or  at  this  sea" 
son  of  the  year.  I  have  met  so  many  intelligent  farmers  who  distinctly 
state  that  they  have  never  seen  anything  of  this  nature  before,  that  I 
am  quite  sure  that  in  its  present  form,  it  must  be  new  to  many  dis- 
tricts if  not  to  all. 

The  form  of  the  attack  has  been  various,  and  opinions  are  very 
nearly  equally  divided  as  to  which  part  of  the  plant  is  first  affected. 
Some  high  authorities  have  contended,  and  from  that  circumstance  per- 
haps, the  idea  has  become  rather  general,  that  disease  commences  in 
the  leaf,  and  proceeds  downwards.  I  find,  however,  in  the  answers 
to  the  above  query,  some  which  go  far  to  prove  the  contrary. 

Mr.  Findlayj  of  Easterhill,  Lanarkshire,  says,  "1  am  of  opinion 
that  there  was  nothing  on  the  leaves  or  stems,  to  indicate  disease. 
In  my  garden,  no  disease  appeared  among  the  early  varieties  until 
at  least  four  weeks  after  the  leaves  and  stems  had  been  dry  as  straw." 

Mr.  Drummond,  of  West  Bank,  Dundee  :  "It  did  not  show  itself 
in  either  leaf  or  stem  on  my  land,  where  they  held  on  strong  to  lift- 
ing, although  planted  and  finished  by  29th  April ;  indeed,  on  the 
lower  land,  I  never  saw  more  luxuriant  shaws.^^ 

Mr.  Caird,  Baldoon  Mains,  Wigton:  "  In  some  fields,  during  the 
harvest,  there  were  many  singular  patches,  as  if  the  stems  had  been 
injured  by  frost;  but  I  believe  it  is  not  found  that  unsound  potatoes 
prevail  more  on  these  spots  than  on  other  parts  of  the  field.  Indeed, 
where  the  stems  were  most  fresh,  luxuriant  and  healthy  looking,  the 
crop  is  equally  bad." 

Mr.  Fleming,  of  Barochan,  a  most  careful  observer,  expresses 
his  belief  that  the  disease  was  first  observed  in  the  tuber,  and  his 
overseer,  Mr.  Gardiner,  says,  "  That  the  disease  does  not  show  itself 
upon  the  stems  and  leaves  before  it  appears  in  the  tubers,  I  am  led 
to  believe  from  many  observations.  I  have  observed  in  every  instance 
decayed  fibrous  roots  and  diseased  tubers,  whilst  the  stem  and  leaves 
above  ground,  were  perfectly  healthy  and  free  from  disease,  and  tha* 
the  decayed  appearance  of  the  stems  and  leaves,  said  to  be  the  first 
symptoms  of  this  disease,  has  been  caused  by  the  roots  gradually 
giving  way  first  in  the  soil,  when  the  decay  of  the  leaves  and  stem 
will  immediately  follow." 


358  [Senate 

Mr.  Welstery  Isle  of  May,  "  I  am  not  aware  in  this  island  of  the 
disease  beins;  observed  in  the  leaf  or  stem."  Some  of  the  facts  stated 
above,  seem  incontrovertable,  and  seem  to  show  that  the  disease  in 
the  tuber  in  these  instances  at  least^preceded  that  in  the  stem.  That 
the  potato  is  diseased  while  the  stem  is  green  and  healthy^  admits  of 
positive  proof,  but  this  disease  may  possibly,  it  wouldseem  from  some 
of  the  above,  not  interfere  with  the  health  of  the  stem.  It  had  been 
said  that  no  circulation  upwards  exists  between  the  tubers  and  the 
stem,  and  if  true,  this  explains  the  facts  mentioned  above  of  the 
stems  and  leaves  of  badly  diseased  potatoes  remaining  vigorous  and 
flourishing  to  the  last.  Whether  this  be  the  explanation  or  not,  the 
fact  of  their  having  done  so  seems  established  so  far  as  four  or  five 
credible  witnesses  go.  Farther  investigation  may  lead  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  disease  in  the  stem  and  leaf  is  a  separate  thing,  and  not 
an  absolutely  necessary  accompaninient  of  that  in  the  potato  itself. 

I  find  it  most  convenient,  in  my  condensation  of  information,  to 
consider  the  next  two  queries  together. 

Query  6. — On  what  soils  is  the  disease  most  prevalent  j  on  light  or 
heavy;   on  wet  or  dry;  or  on  all  soils  equally? 

QuESY  7,- — Has  it  to  your  knowledge  appeared  on  peaty,  or  on  new- 
ly broken  up  grass  lands » 

The  great  mass  of  evidence  tends  to  show  that  the  disease  has  been 
less  fatal  on  light  soils,  this  is  not  however  invariable,  for  several 
instances  are  mentioned  where  dry,  gravelly  and  sandy  soils  were 
worst.  The  Groningen  Report  says,  "  the  failure  is  least  on  dry 
gravelly  soils. 

In  general,  the  failure  seems  to  have  been  worst  on  the  best  land 
and  among  the  best  crops. 

Mr.  Drummond,  near  Dundee,  says,  "  In  general,  on  fine,  early  dry 
land,  in  first  rate  condition,  the  disease  threatens  the  destruction  of  ^ 
the  whole  crop  in  a  very  short  period  ;  on  the  driest  and  surest  pieces 
of  any  field  the  disease  is  worst. 

Mr.  Biggar,  of  Marykohn,  Dumfriesshire :  "  On  dry  early  soils 
first  affected;  no  soil  exempt;  but  cold,  dry  soils  most  so. 

Mr.  Elliott,  Hardgrove,  Dumfriesshire:  "  Prevalent  on  all  soils. 
On  early,  dry  soils  it  was  first  observed,  and  gradually  spread  to  the- 


Ho.  105.]  359 

later  or  colder  soils.  It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  general  rule  that  the 
potato  crop  is  in  a  great  measure  affected  in  proportion  to  the  state  of 
ripeness  in  which  it  was  in,  early  dry  soils  bringing  the  crop  sooner 
to  maturity  than  cold  wet  soils." 

Mr.  Maxwell  of  Munches,  Kirkcudbrightshire:  "  I  have  seen  it 
worst  on  dry  craft  land,  and  on  drained  clay." 

These  and  many  other  instances,  which  I  might  mention,  show 
that  dryness  of  the  land  has  not  proved  an  efficient  protection.  But 
a  still  greater  number  say,  that  on  heavy  moist  land,  and  stiff  clay, 
the  disease  has  been  worst.  These  discrepancies  may  be  in  some 
degree  reconciled  by  the  fact  which  seems  to  be  nearly  universal, 
that  the  best  crop  is  most  liable  to  be  attacked.  On  the  heavy  land 
the  crop  is  most  frequently  best,  and  has  therefore  been  most  often 
attacked.  Where  there  has  been  a  deep  dry  loam,  it  has  in  many 
instances  been  even  worse  than  the  clay,  as  being  still  more  favorable 
to  a  large  and  early  crop.  In  some  districts  all  soils  are  reported  to 
be  nearly  equal. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  preservative  qualities  of  peaty  land, 
and  in  many  cases  the  crops  grown  upon  it  have  been  less  affected. 
Twelve  instances  are  given  in  answer  to  the  above  query,  No.  8, 
where  the  potatoes  grown  upon  peat  have  suffered  little,  if  at  all. 
The  Irish  commissioners  laid  much  stress  upon  this,  and  actually 
carried  their  enthusiasm  so  far  as  to  propose  soaking  the  potatoes  in 
hog  water.  Such  virtues  being  thus  attributed  to  peat,  the  query  No. 
7,  was  made  specially  to  collect  information  about  it. 

Mr.  Elliott,  Hardgrove,  Dumfriesshire,  mentions  "  two  mosses  the 
potatoes  grown  on  which  are  quite  sound ;  one  of  them  was  broken 
up  last  year,  and  the  potatoes  raised  from  that  seed  this  year,  are 
perfectly  sound. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Cheyne,  the  factor 
of  the  island  of  Islay,  a  few  days  since,  he  told  me  that  his  potatoes 
were  part  of  them  this  year,  on  a  pure  moss,  broken  up  for  the  first 
time,  and  that  they  were  at  least  as  bad  there  as  any  where  else. 

.Mr.  Clarke,  Eriholl,  Sutherlandskire,  mentions  several  cases  of  dis- 
eases of  potatoes  also  on  pure  moss. 

Mr.  Gardiner,  overseer  to  Mr.  Fleming,  of  Barochan,  says,  "  The 
disease  has,  to  my  knowledge,  appeared  both  on  peaty  and  newly 


360  [Senate 

broken  up  grass  lands  as  commonly  as  on  any  other  description  of 
lands." 

I  have  before  me  no  less  than  thirteen  other  answers  which  say 
essentially  the  same  thing.  In  a  few  instances,  those  grown  on 
newly  broken  up  grass  lands,  have  been  less  affected,  but  in  the 
majority  of  cases  little  difference  has  been  perceived. 

We  are  compelled  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  disease  has 
appeared  more  or  less  upon  every  variety  of  soil,  and  in  every  situ- 
ation, on  heavy  and  light,  on  dry  and  wet  land,  on  moss,  clay,  loam^ 
gravel  and  sand,  at  every  elevation  where  the  potato  is  cultivated. 
No  variety  of  soil  yet  noticed,  has  proved  an  efficient  protection. 

Query  8.- — In  what  varieties  of  potato  has  the  disease  appeared 
most  ?  Have  old,  or  long  cultivated  varieties  failed  more  than  new^^ 
or  recently  introduced  varieties  1 

The  first  part  of  this  query  has  been  answered  differently  from 
almost  every  farm  and  neighborhood.  In  many  places  all  are  said  to 
be  affected  alike. 

Mr.  Elliottj  Hardgrovej  Dumfriesshire^  says,  "As  a  general  rule 
it  may  be  remarked  that  it  is  worst  upon  the  varieties  which  grow 
w'eak  stems,  and  not  so  bad  upon  those  kinds  which  are  stronger^ 
and  more  vigorous  in  their  stems." 

Mr.  Girdwoody  Corsforphine,  Mid-Lothian:  "  I  possess  twenty 
varieties,  they  are  all  equally  bad." 

Mr.  Maxwell,  of  Munches:  "The  old  varieties  are  decidedly  the 
worst.     The  soundest  potato  is  that  called  cups. 

Mr,  Smith,  Ladyland,  Dumfriesshire :  "  Cups  have  been  long  culti- 
vated, and  have  failed  less  than  any  others." 

Mr.  Goodlet,  Grant'' s  Braes,  Haddington:  "Irish  cups  are  not 
much  affected." 

Mr.  Hird,  Crossjlaf,  ./lyrshire:  The  Irish  cups,  and  early  kinds 
are  less  affected  than  any  others." 

This  would  seem  a  clear  verdict  in  favor  of  the  cups,  but  the  next 
answer  is  of  a  different  cast. 

Messrs.  James  and  John  Jackson,  Houston,  Renfrewshire,  say, 
"  With  us  the  Irish  cup  potato,  is  the  worst  diseased.     But  it  is  not 


No.  105.]  361 

so  all  over  the  neighborhood,  for  it  is  the  reverse  with  some  of  our 
neighbors. 

Mr.  Moffat,  of  the  same  county  gives  a  clue  to  some  of  these 
contradictions.  He  says,  "  The  kind  of  potato  that  is  least  affected 
on  the  heavy  soil,  is  more  affected  on  the  light  soil,  so  far  as  the 
disease  has  shown  itself  on  both  kinds  of  soils.  The  cup  potato  is 
less  affected  on  the  heavy  land  with  me  than  the  red  potato  is.  In 
a  farm  adjoining,  where  the  land  is  light,  the  cup  potato  is  much 
Uiore  affected  than  the  red  one  is." 

Mr.  Gardiner,  overseer  to  Mr.  Fleming,  of  Barochan,  gives  a 
similar  instance.  As  a  general  rule,  the  cups  and  coarser  potatoes, 
seem  to  have  been  least  affected,  and  in  many  cases  to  have  been 
later  in  showing  the  disease.  Neither  does  it  appear  that  changing 
the  seed  is  a  protection,  the  kinds  recently  introduced  have  been  in 
some  instances  less  affected,  but  in  others /ctr  more.  This  brings  us 
to  the  ninth  query. 

Query  9. — Are  varieties  raised  from  seed,  or  such  asbearno  apples, 
to  your  knowledge  liable  to  failure. 

All  who  have  read  the  publications  upon  the  potato  disease,  will 
have  noticed  that  great  stress  has  been  laid  upon  the  necessity  of 
producing  new  varieties  from  the  seed,  to  replace  those  whose  con- 
stitutions are  injured  by  long  cultivation.  In  fact  this  has  been  by- 
some  upheld  as  a  certain  remedy  for  the  disease.  It  is  most  unfor- 
tunate for  those  who  believe  this,  that  in  the  whole  of  the  answers 
to  the  abt)ve  question,  there  is  not  one  favorable  to  their  theory. 

Mr.  Girdwood  says,  "  I  have  ten  sorts  raised  from  seed  two  years 
ago,  all  affected." 

Mr.  J.  McBride,  Wigfonshire:  "I  know  of  varieties  that  were 
recently  grown  from  the  seed  of  sound  and  healthy  potatoes  that 
have  been  worse  than  any  other  kind.  With  myself  they  have  been 
an  entire  failure." 

Mr.  Kennedy^  Wigtonshire:  "I  use  all  varieties,  the  recently  in- 
troduced have  failed  first,  and  the  older  ones  followed. 

Mr.  Gardiner:  "  Varieties  raised  from  seed  are  as  liable  to  failure 
and  disease  as  any  of  the  older  varieties.  Above  sixty  varieties 
raised  from  seed,  upon  this  farm,  one,  two  and  three  years  ago,  and 
planted  this  spring,  have  been  attacked  by  this  disease  with  as  much, 


362  [Senate 

and  in  some  cases  with  more,  virulence  than  the  older  varieties,  not 
one  of  the  above  seedlings  being  free  from  this  disease." 

I  might  multiply  instances,  but  the  above  seem  quite  sufficient.  I 
may  mention,  however,  that  I  was  lately  upon  a  farm  in  Northumber- 
land, where  a  large  number  of  seedlings  have  been  raised,  and  did 
not  see  a  sound  potato  among  them. 

As  to  the  potato  apples,  it  appears  that  the  cups  and  other  coarse 
kinds  which  bear  no  apples,  are  in  general  less  affected,  though  they 
are  no  where  exempt,  and  in  some  places  worst  of  all. 

Query  10. — ^Have  potatoes  planted  whole,  showed  any  difference 
in  the  extent  of  failures'? 

Of  forty-three  answ^ers  to  this  query,  I  find  but  four  or  five  in  which 
any  superiority  is  ascribed  to  the  whole  potato ;  these  only  give  it  a 
comparative  superiority,  and  say  that  the  potatoes  grown  from  whole 
seed  are  less  affected  than  those  grown  from  cut  seed. 

Mr.  Kennedy,  Stranraer,  Wigtonshire,  says,  "  Potatoes  planted 
whole  are  less  liable  to  fail  in  the  growth  than  cut  ones  ;  but  the 
produce  is  equally  unsound  this  season. 

Mr.  Gardiner:  "Potatoes  planted  whole  are  as  liable  to  be  at- 
tacked by  this  disease  as  those  that  are  cut.  Both  descriptions  planted 
in  the  same  field,  and  under  the  same  circumstances,  are  found  to  be 
equally  tainted  with  this  disease." 

Mr.  Elliot,  Hardgrove.  "  If  any  difference,  those  planted  whole 
showed  the  disease  first,  and  are  a  shade  worse." 

No  confidence,  therefore,  can  be  placed  upon  whole  seed  as  a  pre- 
ventive to  this  disease. 

Query  11. — Has  the  degree  of  ripeness  of  the  seed  potatoes  planted 
by  you,  had  any  effect  in  preventing  the  disease  ? 

There  are  very  few  answers  to  this  question.  I  know  that  for 
several  years  past,  it  has  been  a  common  practice  to  choose  unripe 
tubers  for  seed,  and  this  has  been  highly  recommended.  They  are 
all  equally  affected  this  year,  according  to  the  few  answers  that  speak 
to  this  point. 

Mr.  Burnett,  of  Gadgirth,  Ayrshire,  says,  "For  some  years  back, 
the  potato  crop  has  been  generally  taken  up  in  an  unripe  state,  and 
unripe  seed  has  been  sought  after  to  plant.     May  this  not  have  had 


No.  105.]  363 

an  influence  in  causing  the  present  disease,  as  being  contrary  to  the 
dictates  of  nature,  that  they  should  remain  in  the  ground  from  year  to 
year." 

Whether  this  had  any  influence  in  causing  the  disease  or  not,  it  is 
quite  clear  that  unripe  potatoes  are  also  to  be  placed  among  the  un- 
successful preventives. 

Query  12. — Has  the  previous  draining  of  the  land  any  efl"ect  in 
preventing  the  disease? 

This  query  has  already  been  partly  answered  under  numbers  one 
and  two.  The  answers  directly  to  the  point  of  drainage,  go  to  show 
that  it  cannot  be  relied  on  as  a  preventive  j  though  in  some  cases  it 
seems  to  have  modified  the  disease. 

Mr.  Drummond^  West  Bank,  Dundee,  says,  "  I  see  the  potatoes 
on  drained  clay,  freer  from  disease  than  on  dry  loam." 

Mr.  Fleming  of  Barochan.  "  Draining  has  so  far  had  the  effect 
of  rendering  the  disease  less  virulent,  as  is  the  case  on  all  dry  land." 

Mr.  Goodlet,  Haddington,  on  the  other  hand,  "had  potatoes  in  a 
field,  one  part  of  which  was  drained  and  the  other  not ;  both  parts 
were  affected  alike." 

Mr.  Smith,  Ladyland,  Dumfriesshire,  says,  "  that  draining  pre- 
vented the  ordinary  rot,  but  not  this  disease." 

Mr.  Kennedy,  Stranraer,  Wigton,  mentioned.  "I  have  even  heard 
of  the  crop  being  most  diseased  in  the  drill  which  happened  to  be  on 
the  top  of  the  drain." 

Mr.  Elliot,  Hardgrove,  makes  a  similar  statement,  and  explains  it 
on  the  supposition  that  the  potatoes  ripen  sooner  in  that  drill. 

Query  13. — Has  the  kind  of  manure  applied  any  influence  on  the 
appearance  or  fatality  of  the  disease  ? 

No  less  than  forty-three  answers  declare  that  the  kind  of  manure 
has  made  no  difference.  Many  think  that  all  manure  has  done  harm, 
as  the  crop  has  failed  worst  on  the  richest  soils. 

In  previous  years,  it  has  been  thought  by  some,  that  the  potatoes 
grown  with  guano,  made  better  seed  than  any  others. 

Mr.  Kennedy,  Stranraer,  Wigton,  says,  "  I  have  tried  dung  and 
and  guano  together,  and  each  by  itself,  this  season.  Dung  and 
guano  give  the  worst,  while  guano  by  itself  the  least  diseased  croyi." 


364  [Senate 

Mr.  Burnett,  of  Gadgirth.  "  The  disease  appeared  soonest  on 
lands  heavily  manured  with  ordinary  farm  yard  manure,  and  later  on 
those  manured  with  guano." 

Mr.  Elliot,  Hardgrove.  "  Potatoes  planted  with  stable  manure^ 
are  aifected  sooner  than  those  planted  with  guano  or  bones." 

There  are  also  five  instances  from  a  parish  in  Wigtonshire,  where 
potatoes  planted  wdth  dung  and  guano,  or  guano  alone,  were  better 
than  those  planted  with  dung  alone. 

In  direct  contradiction  to  these  statements  Mr.  Hunter,  West  Kil- 
bride, .Ayrshire,  says,  "  Wherever  I  used  guano  at  the  time  of  plant- 
ing the  disease  showed  itself  sooner,  and  more  in  number  were  af- 
fected." 

The  eight  testimonials  above,  are  the  only  ones  among  nearly  sev- 
enty answers  w-hich  go  to  prove  that  manures  have  even  a  modifying 
influence. 

The  great  body  of  evidence  is  on  the  other  side,  and  goes  far  to 
prove  that  no  manure  can  be  considered  a  specific  remedy. 

Query  14. — Do  you  think  the  want  of  lime  in  the  soil,  is  any 
cause  of  failure  ? 

In  all  the  answers  to  this  query,  I  have  only  been  able  to  find  two 
which  ascribed  any  virtue  to  lime. 

Mr.  William  Lockhart,  Stevenston,  Jlyrskire,  says,  "  I  top  dressed 
seven  acres  heavily  with  hot  lime  on  the  braird,  and  think  them  the 
clearest  of  disease." 

Mr.  Mellville,  St.  Andrews,  Fifeshire.  "I  have  been  told  that 
where  lime  had  been  used  on  the  land,  the  potatoes  were  all  good, 
and  on  part  of  the  same  land  not  limed,  they  were  all  rotten  ;  but  I 
cannot  speak  to  this  from  my  own  knowledge." 

Against  these  two  aflfirmatives,  are  to  be  placed  forty-one  negative 
answers,  some  of  which  are  very  decisive. 

Mr.  Smith,  Ladyland,  Dumfriesshire,  says,  "  I  have  seen  them 
fail  upon  new  broke  up  land,  where  about  seventy  measures  of  lime 
to  the  acre  had  previously  been  applied." 

Mr.  Gardiner,  overseer  to  Mr.  Fleming  of  Barochan.  "I  do  not 
think  the  want  of  lime  in  the  land  has  had  any  influence  in  causing 
the  disease,  as  it  has  appeared  in  fields  which  are  heavily  limed  every 


No.  105.]  365 

four  years,  with  as  much  virulence  as  on  those  fields  which  have  had 
little  or  none  for  years.  In  a  large  field  which  was  well  limed  on 
the  stubble,  at  the  end  of  the  year  before  being  plowed  for  the  potato 
crop,  the  disease  is  very  prevalent,  whilst  in  the  crop  in  a  field  which 
I  believe  has  not  had  lime  for  the  last  century,  there  are  fewer  dis- 
eased tubers  than  in  any  other  field  I  have  seen  this  season." 

Mr.  Mc  Gregory  Dumbartonshire.  '^  It  could  not  be  the  want  of 
lime  in  my  case,  as  I  put  on  seventy  barrels  per  Scots  acre,  before 
drilling  for  seed.  In  another  field  after  they  were  set,  the  same 
quantity." 

Mr.  Drummond,  near  Dundee.  "  I  do  not  think  new  limed  land 
makes  any  difference.  A  field  at  Castle  Huntley  was  laid  down  to 
grass  well  limed,  and  when  plowed  up  it  was  very  full  of  it ;  this 
field  was  very  bad." 

Mr.  Girdwood,  Mid-Lothian.  "  I  find  fields  limed  only  last  year, 
quite  as  bad  as  others." 

Mr.  Laurie^  Dumfriesshire.  My  worst  field,  had  been  heavily 
limed  a  few  years  back." 

These  answers  are,  I  think,  amply  sufficient  to  show  that  lime 
alone  has  little  influence  on  this  disease  ;  though  its  presence  in  the 
soil  naturally  or  otherwise,  is  quite  indispensable  to  the  production 
of  a  healthy  potato.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  no  one  of  the  above, 
tried  the  plan  which  was  successful  with  Mr.  Lockhart,  of  applying 
hot  lime  on  the  braird. 

Query   15. — Does  the  disease  in  your  district  attack   particular 

fields  or  farms,  and  what  are  the  peculiar  conditions  of  those  farms'? 

Most  of  the  facts  embodied  in  the  answers  to  this  query,  have 
been  brought  forward  under  some  of  the  previous  queries.  Nearly 
all  agree,  that  no  soil  is  entirely  exempt,  and  that  the  richest  and 
best  cultivated  fields  have  generally  been  first  attacked. 

Mr.  Kennedy,  Stranraer,  Wigtonshire,  says,  "  Some  well  man- 
aged farms  have  been  severely  attacked,  while  others  scarcely  so 
well  managed  have  comparatively  escaped." 

Mr.  Gardiner  says,  "  It  appears  to  have  spread  most  and  quickest, 
in  heavy  lands,  and  amongst  the  strongest  and  heaviest  crops." 

Mr.  Elliott f  Hardgrove.  "  It  attacks  all  farms  in  this  district, 
only  on  the  richest,  earliest  and  best  soils,  it  was  first  seen." 


366  [Senate 

Mr.  Girdtvood,  Mid-Lothian.  "  The  best  crops  seem  generally  to 
be  most  diseased." 

Query  16. — Does  nearness  to  the  sea,  or  the  use  of  sea  weed? 
make  any  difference  f 

This  query  was  put,  because  many  farmers  have  thought  in  form- 
er years,  that  they  had  discovered  a  cure  for  the  disease  in  certain 
saline  manures. 

In  accordance  with  this  view,  it  has  been  supposed  that  farms  ly- 
ing near  the  sea,  within  the  reach  of  its  spray,  and  therefore  abound- 
ing with  saline  substances  were  less  affected.  For  the  same  reason, 
those  manured  with  sea  weed  should  be  less  attacked.  I  w  11  quote 
first  the  only  favorable  answer  I  have  been  able  to  find,  and  then  a 
few  of  the  others. 

It  is  from  Mr.  JVewton,  Cupar  Angus ^  Forfarshire.  "I  am  inclined 
to  think  that  nearness  to  the  sea  is  of  a  little  benefit,  from  an  impres- 
sion that  I  have  not  heard  so  much  of  the  disease  in  coast  farms." 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Boazie,  Alloa^  says,  ^'  We  had  Mr.  Crom- 
bie,  of  Kilminning,  (the  second  eastmost  farmer  in  Fife,)  here  at  the 
time  of  the  October  tryst.  His  potato  crops,  which  had  been  splen- 
did until  just  shortly  before  that  time,  had  all  got  wrong,  and  you 
know  his  land  is  as  near  to  the  sea  as  any  body's  can  be." 

Mr.  Girdwoodj  Corstorphine,  Mid-Lothian.  "  One  of  the  worst 
cases  I  knov/  is  a  farm  bounded  by  the  sea." 

Mr.  Kennedy,  Stranrcer,  Wigtonshire.  This  parish  (Kirkcolm)  is 
the  point  of  a  peninsula,  and  no  part  of  it  is  far  from  the  sea  ;  not- 
withstanding which  I  think  the  disease  is  worse  here  than  in  some 
of  the  inland  parishes." 

Mr.  Clarke.)  Eriboll,  Sutherlandshire^  speaks  of  potatoes  planted 
on  moss  by  the  sea  side,  and  manured  with  sea  weed,  which  are  al- 
ways infected  with  dry  rot  immediately  after  lifting.  They  can  nev- 
er be  used  for  seed. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  saline  manures  have,  in  former  years, 
been  used  with  admirable  effect  in  the  cultivation  of  the  potato  crop; 
judging  from  the  above,  however,  they  exercise  little  influence  over 
the  prevailing  disease  of  the  present  season.  Decidedly  the  worst 
instance  I  have  seen,  was  on  a  farm  bounded  by  the  sea.     The  tops 


No.  105.]  367 

of  the  pits  were  nearly  all  fallen  in,  and  the   whole  fast  becoming  a 
mass  of  putrefaction. 

Query  17. — What  is  your  opinion  of  the  cause  of  the  disease  1 

On-  this  subject,  as  might  be  expected  a  great  diversity  of  opin- 
ion exists.  Some  ascribe  the  disease  to  electricity,  some  to  atmos- 
pheric influence,  some  to  a  wet  season,  some  to  wet,  drought  and 
frost,  combined,  some  to  insects  or  animalculse,  some  to  ruptures  of 
the  cells,  some  to  decomposition  of  proteine,  others  to  fungi,  others 
to  a  diseased  and  vitiated  constitution  in  the  potato,  weakened  by 
long  and  high  cultivation  ;  others  unite  nearly  all  of  the  above ;  others 
still  ascribe  it  to  a  direct  visitation  of  Providence  ;  and  yet  another 
class  declare  that  they  know  nothing  about  it.  I  think  these  last  are 
the  safest  at  present. 

Liebig,  as  I  have  before  said,  considers  that  the  casein,  or  some  ana- 
logous proteine  compound  which  he  has  found  in  the  potato  is  the  cause 
of  the  disease  ;  it  being  peculiarly  liable  to  decomposition,  he  thinks 
that  some  peculiar  state  of  the  atmorsphere  has  this  year  affected  it. 
That  potatoes  do  contain  some  proteine  compound  is  not  a  new  dis- 
covery, but  I  do  not  see  how  it  is  that  it  should  be  in  larger  quantities 
than  usual  this  year,  than  in  any  preceding  it.  The  disease  unques- 
tionably commences  in  the  nitrogenous  compounds  of  the  potato ; 
whether  atmospheric  influence  caused  it,  is  I  think  not  yet  so  clear. 

Mr.  Gardiner,  overseer  to  Mr.  Fleming  of  Baroclian,  states  one 
very  singular  fact.  He  says,  "  Out  of  a  small  field  planted  with  early 
potatoes,  I  lifted  about  5cwt.  of  potatos  upon  the  5th  September. 
These  were  put  into  a  box  in  a  house,  where  part  of  them  have  re- 
mained ever  since.  These  potatoes  were  sound,  and  perfectly  free 
from  disease  or  taint  when  lifted,  and  are  still  so  at  this  date.  From 
the  same  field,  and  under  the  same  circumstances,  I  lifted  the  same 
quantity  of  potatoes  upon  the  15th  of  September,  which,  after  being 
left  in  the  house  for  two  days,  were  completely  tainted,  and  in  a  few- 
days  rotten  and  decayed.  By  the  end  of  September,  the  whole  of  the 
unlifted  potatoes  in  this  field  were  tainted  and  decaying." 

It  would  seem  plain  that  in  this  case,  the  crisis  in  the  change  of  the 
healthy  to  the  diseased  tuber  took  place  between  the  5th  and  15th  of 
September. 


368  [Senate 

This  would  certainly  favor  Liebig's  view  of  some  atmospheric  influ- 
ence. A  great  number  of  answers,  as  I  have  before  mentioned,  indi- 
cate the  end  of  August  and  the  beginning  of  September  as  the  period 
when  the  disease  first  appeared  :  had  this  been  universally  the  case,  it 
would  have  proved  the  existence  of  some  influence  over  the  whole 
country  at  the  same  time,  quite  independent  of  the  general  condition 
of  the  potato  itself.  But  there  were  places  in  almost  every  neighbor- 
hood where  the  disease  showed  itself  as  early  as  July  and  as  late  as 
October  and  November.  This  fact  of  Mr.  Gardiner's,  then,  though 
striking,  does  not  give  a  sound  foundation  for  the  atmospheric  theory. 
It  would  be  of  much  interest  to  ascertain  what  change  took  place  in 
the  chemical  constituents  of  these  potatoes  between  the  two  periods. 

M.  Payen  has  published  an  account  of  some  elaborate  microscopic 
investigations  showing  that  the  disease  is  a  parasitic  fungus.  Many 
others  have  held  this  opinion  ;  but  it  does  not  improve  our  condition 
much,  for  we  are  not  aware  of  the  cause  of  this  fungus.  There  must 
be  some  cause  affecting  the  potato  previously,  which  enables  the  fun- 
gus to  attack  it. 

The  majority  insist  upon  a  cold  and  wet  season  as  this  predisposing 
cause.  However  this  may  be  the  case  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  it 
cannot  be  so  in  others.  In  Islay,  for  instance,  where  I  was  in  August, 
they  had  not  experienced  so  dry  a  season  for  many  years ;  the  streams 
were  so  low  that  scarcely  any  salmon  had  been  taken.  Islay  is  equal- 
ly affected  now  with  other  parts  of  the  country. 

In  1844,  in  those  parts  of  America  where  the  disease  raged,  the  sea- 
son was  unusually  dry. 

Some  of  the  counties  of  Scotland,  Inverness,  Ross,  &c.,  as  I  have 
mentioned,  have  been  free  from  disease  this  year,  but  I  am  unable  to 
learn  that  their  season  has  been  less  wet  and  changeable  there  than  in 
other  parts  of  the  country.  A  letter  from  a  friend  in  Rosshire,  after 
harvest,  spoke  of  their  harvest  time  as  having  been  most  trying  and 
difficult. 

Here  then  we  have  a  wet  country  free  from  disease,  and  a  dry  coun- 
try as  Islay,  badly  affected. 

1  shall  refer  to  this  subject  again  under  a  subsequent  query. 

Query  18. — Do  you  think  you  have  in  any  way  contrived  to  pre- 
vent the  disease  during  the  present  or  past  season,  and  how  ? 


No.  105.]  369 

To  this  query,  the  answers  are  most  uniformly,  no.  In  districts 
where  no  disease  has  before  appeared,  they  have  of  course  not  taken 
steps  for  prevention,  and  where  they  have  had  some  experience  of  it, 
the  means  which  were  successful  in  former  years  have  failed  now.  An 
excellent  method  hitherto,  has  been,  to  change  the  seed  every  year, 
bringing  it  from  a  high  bare  country,  and  planting  as  soon  as  possible. 

Mr.  Dru7nmond,  Dundee,  has  tried  this  for  many  years,  and  has 
always  been  successful,  but  this  year  he  says,  "  I  am  fairly  bewil- 
dered." 

I  remember  that  when  the  disease  was  first  making  its  appearance, 
an  old  farmer  came  into  the  laboratory  of  the  Ag.  Chem.  Association, 
and  detailed  this  very  mothod  as  his  own,  saying  that  he  never  had 
any  disease,  and  that  there  would  be  little  heard  of  it  if  all  followed  his 
plan.  A  few  days  ago,  he  appeared  again  in  great  distress,  saying 
that  his  potatoes  were  all  rotting  together,  and  wishing  to  know  what 
was  to  be  done. 

Gypsum  and  hot  slaked  lime  have  also  been  highly  recommended  as 
preventives,  but  like  every  thing  else,  they  have  failed  now.  At  least 
twenty  persons  state  in  their  answers,  that  they  have  dusted  their  sets 
with  these  substances,  but  have  been  able  to  perceive  no  efi'ect. 

Mr.  Goodlet,  Haddington,  says,  "  on  cutting  up  greened  or  sun- 
burned potatoes,  it  has  been  found  that  the  disease  had  never  made  any 
progress  beyond  attacking  the  potato  for  a  small  space  around  the 
rootlet.  The  greened  parts  or  eyes  were  in  no  instance  diseased." 
The  greening  of  potatoes  for  seed,  has  been  much  recommended,  and 
if  the  above  fact  be  generally  correct,  it  may  be  well  to  turn  much  more 
attention  to  this  subject. 

Mr.  Gardiner  says,  "  that  in  former  years  he  had  succeeded  in  invi- 
gorating the  potato  crop  by  the  addition  of  certain  saline  manures,  and 
thinks  that  even  this  season  they  have  to  a  certain  extent  been  benefi- 
cial in  preventing  the  disease. 

No  one  mentions  a  plan  that  has  proved  more  than  comparatively 

successful. 

Query  19. — Is  it  consistent  with  your  experience,  that  healthy  pota- 
toes may  be  raised  from  diseased  seed  ] 


370  [Senate 

The  season  is  not  yet  sufEciently  advanced  for  many  answers  to  this 
query. 

Mr.  Burnett,)  Gadgirth,  Ayrshire,  says,  "  I  have  no  decided  experi- 
ence of  this,  but  I  believe  that  the  potato  may  be  diseased,  and  yet 
produce  sound  seed,  provided  the  eyes  are  not  affected,  and  they  be 
planted  in  a  proper  soil  without  manure," 

So  also  Mr.  Lockkead^  Toward,  Argyleshire-,  "  It  is  possible  that 
healthy  potatoes  may  be  raised  from  diseased  seed  if  the  eye  is  good. 

Mr.  McJVeil,  Galdnock,  Wigtonshire,  says  that  some  of  his  martin 
potatoes  have  budded  since  raising,  some  of  them  having  small  new 
potatoes. 

Mr.  Hunter ,  Ayrshire .  "  I  have  seen  healthy  potatoes  raised  from 
diseased  seed." 

I  saw,  a  few  days  ago,  a  potato  from  one  of  the  pits  of  Mr.  Gird- 
wood,  Corstorphine,  which  had  two  young  and  apparently  healthy  po- 
tatoes attached  to  it,  the  parent  tuber  being  quite  black  and  rotten. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  potatoes  will,  in  some,  instances,  at  least,  sprout, 
even  if  diseased.  Whether  the  potatoes  produced  will  remain  healthy 
is  yet  to'  be  proved. 

Query  20. — Has  there  been  any  peculiarity  of  weather,  in  respect  of 
wetness,  or  otherwise,  which,  in  your  opinion,  may  account  for  the  oc- 
currence of  the  disease  in  your  neighborhood  T 

The  report  of  the  Groningen  commission  ascribes  the  disease  to  the 
wetness  and  sudden  changes  of  this  and  the  preceding  season. 

Mr^  Payen  thinks  excessive  moisture  has  predisposed  the  potato  to 
yield  lo  the  attacks  of  fungi. 

Mr.  Phillips,  of  London  has  published  a  pamphlet,  in  which  he  as- 
cribes the  whole  thing  to  the  same  cause. 

These  are  only  a  few  among  the  many  who  advocate  this  view  of 
the  question.  All  those  who  have  experienced  much  rain,  assign  this 
as  the  cause  of  disease,  not  knowing  that  it  is  as  bad  where  there  has 
been  little  rain,  and  on  dry  soils. 

The  answers  to  the  above  query  in  many  instances  confirm  the  opi- 
nion which  I  expressed  under  query  17,  that  wetness  alone  has  not 
caused  the  disease. 


No.  105.]  371 

Mr.  Findlay,  Lanarkshire,  says ;  "  I  do  not  think  it  is  owing  to 
the  season,  which  has  not  been  particularly  wet  in  the  west  of  Scot- 
land." Mr.  F.  thinks  that  the  germs  of  the  disease  were  contained  in 
last  year's  crop. 

Mr.  Drummond^  Dundee.  "  I  by  no  means  consider  this  season  too 
wet  for  potatoes.  Prior  to  the  19th  of  September,  we  had  nothing 
like  wet  land  all  the  season  over,  although  we  had  sunless,  damp 
weather  in  July  and  greater  part  of  August.  Certainly  if  wet  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  disease,  the  wet,  or  rather  damp  land,  would 
have  shown  it  first." 

Mr.  Elliott,  Hardgrove.  Dumfriesshire.  "My  opinion  is  that  this 
season,  up  to  October,  was  far  from  a  wet  season.  We  had  dull 
weather,  and  little  sun,  but  far  from  too  much  rain  ;  in  fact  just  such 
a  season  as  formerly  we  considered  best  adapted  for  potatoes." 

Mr.  McKnightj  Kirkcudbrightshire.  "  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that 
the  wet  season  is  in  any  way  the  cause  of  disease,  when  the  crop  on 
the  driest  ground  is  in  many  instances  the  worst." 

Mr.  Gumming,  Wigtonshire.  ' '  The  wet  and  cold  season  offers  the 
readiest  solution,  at  least  many  hold  it  as  such  ;  but  we  have  seen  as 
wet  and  cold  a  summer  and  no  disease  in  the  potato." 

Mr.  Lyall,  Forfarshire.  "  I  do  not  think  the  wetness  of  the  season 
has  had  anything  to  do  with  the  disease  in  this  neighborhood.  Neither 
do  I  think  we  have  had  so  much  rain  in  the  east  end  of  Forfarshire,  as 
has  fallen  in  the  southern  counties." 

Mr.  Laurie,  Dumfriesshire.  "  We  have  had  some  seasons  of  late 
of  far  more  rain  and  no  disease  appearing." 

Mr.  Webster,  Isle  of  May.  "  I  consider  this  to  be  the  finest  season 
we  have  had  for  some  years  past  for  every  kind  of  crop,  and  pasture 
grass  has  been  most  abundant." 

These  replies  seem  quite  decisive  on  the  subject  of  wetness,  for  one 
well  authenticated  instance  wdiere  the  disease  has  occurred  under  cir- 
cumstances that  precludes  the  idea  of  its  being  caused  by  w^et,  renders 
Ihe  theory  quite  untenable. 

The  question  of  its  being  owing  to  sudden  changes  of  temperature, 
is  not  so  easily  settled,  especially  in  this  country,  where  changes  are 
so  frequent. 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  24 


372-  [Senate 

For  my  ovm  part,  I  must  say,  that  I  remember  no  changes  during 
the  past  summer,  more  sudden  and  violent  than  those  which  occurred 
during  the  preceding  summer,  which  I  also  spent  in  this  country.  In- 
deed it  seems  to  me,  that  if  the  potato  is  fatally  injured  b^  sudden 
changes,  and  cold  wet  weather,  it  never  could  have  thriven  at  all  in 
this  climate.  The  only  really  warm  days  of  the  past  season,  were  in 
June,  and  it  was  much  the  same  in  the  preceding  season. 

Query  21. — What  are  thie  first  symptoms  of  decay  after  storing  1 
Are  the  symptoms  altered  by  previously  drying  the  potatoes  in  the 
air  1 

The  symptoms  described  in  the  answers  to  this  query,  are  much  the 
same  in  most  cases. 

Mr.  Findlay,  Lanarkshin,  says,  '^^  In  spite  of  the  pains  taken  to 
exclude  all  tubers  visibly  infected,  and  to  store  in  narrow  pits  or  bogs, 
my  potatoes  after  being  thus  stored,  very  soon  showed  symptoms  of 
heat." 

Mr.  Elliott  J  Hardgrove.  "The  first  symptoms  of  decay  after  sto- 
ring, are,  w^hite  mould  comes  out  all  over  the  potato  and  the  brownish 
color  of  the  diseased  part  becomes  darker." 

Mr.  Girdwood,  Corstorphine.  "  It  seems  almost  impossible  to  pre- 
vent their  heating  if  stored  at  all." 

Mr.  Pagaii,  Dumfriesshire.  ''  When  close  pitted  they  get  heated 
and  become  mouldy." 

Mr.  Gillespie,  Annan  Bank.  "  A.  mouldiness  very  soon  takes  place, 
heat  and  rottenness  soon  follow." 

Mr.  McBride,  Wigtonshire.  "  After  storing,  all  those  affected 
soon  get  covered  over  with  a  white  mould  or  fungus,  as  far  as  the  dis- 
ease extends.  Exposure  to  the  air  dries  it  up,  and  seems  in  the  mean- 
time to  check  its  progress." 

Mr.  Kennedy y  Stranraer,  mentions  a  fact  which  does  not  seem  to 
have  occurred  to,  or  have  been  noticed  by,  any  one  else.  "  A  sub- 
stance resembling  cream,  oozes  from  the  skin,  which  soon  affects  those 
that  are  comparatively  sound." 

W^ith  this  exception,  the  unanimous  report  is,  that  the  potatoes 
stored  in  close  pits,  soon  heat,  ferment  and  mould,  and  that  the  decay 
proceeds  much  faster  if  they  are  stored  wet= 


No.  105.]  373 

Query  22. — It  is  said  that  the  rot  spreads  faster  after  the  potatoes 
are  put  together  in  heaps  or  pits,  than  when  left  in  the  soil,  and  late 
digging,  or  leaving  them  in  the  ground  all  winter,  is  therefore  recom- 
mended. What  practice  would  your  experience  lead  you  to  adopt  ? 
Does  leaving  them  in  the  ground,  in  your  opinion,  make  them  longer 
in  sprouting  when  planted  the  following  year  1 

The  verdict  of  the  majority  is  clearly  that  the  potatoes  should  be 
lifted.  Many  farmers,  on  the  contrary,  say  they  should  be  left  in  the 
ground,  and  instance  cases  of  their  rotting  with  great  rapidity  when 
taken  up  and  pitted,  but  upon  this  point  Mr.  Dalziel,  Dumfriesshire, 
says,  "It  is  true  that  the  rot  spreads  faster  among  potatoes  put  in 
heaps  or  pits,  than  in  those  left  in  the  soil ;  but  it  is  also  true  that  it 
spreads  faster  in  the  soil  than  among  those  that  are  well  dried. 

Mr.  Pagan,  Dumfriesshire.  "  On  account  of  bad  weather  the  ta- 
king up  of  the  crop  was  stopped  about  a  week,  and  there  were  at  least 
three  aifected  for  every  one  which  was  at  the  time  of  stopping." 

Mr.  Cairdj  Wigtonshire.     "  The  potatoes  may  be  expected  to  ro 
if  put  wet  into  a  pit,  but  they  would  do  so  also  if  left  in  clay  land." 

Mr.  Burritt  of  Gadgirth..  "  When  the  disease  has  shown  itself  in 
the  crop,  the  sooner  they  are  raised  and  dried  the  better.  Had  I  lift- 
ed my  whole  crop  in  August  or  September,  (as  I  did  a  part  which 
were  perfectly  sound,)  and  had  I  then  stored  them  in  a  dry  state,  I  do 
not  think  I  would  have  had  a  diseased  potato.  I  consider,  however, 
that  the  longer  in  the  ground,  and  therefore  the  riper  the  seed  the 
more  sure  and  ready  to  sprout." 

Mr.  Lockhart,  .Ayrshire.  "  My  opinion  is  that  leaving  them  in 
the  ground  is  advantageous  for  sprouting  in  spring." 

Mr.  Gardiner.  "  Under  certain  circumstances,  I  believe  the  tubers 
will  decay  and  rot  quicker  in  the  pits  than  in  the  drills.  As,  how- 
ever, the  disease  began  in  the  drills,  and  has  increased  in  them,  we  have 
no  guarantee  from  by-past  experience  that  it  will  not  continue  to  go 
on,  and  that  by  leaving  them  in  the  soil  in  the  position  they  have 
grown  in,  we  shall  alleviate  the  disease." 

These  remarks  of  Mr.  Gardiner's,  I  think  very  judicious ;  it  cer- 
tainly seems  contrary  to  common  sense  and  a  most  dangerous  experi- 
ment to  leave  the  potatoes  in  the  very  place  where  they  have  become  dis- 
eased in  the  hope  that  they  will  there  improve. 


374  [Senate 


I  visited  a  field  where  the  potatoes  were  unlifted,  a  short  time  sincej 
and  the  disease  was  making  rapid  progress,  not  a  sound  one  did  I  see. 

Query  23. — How  woukl  you  recommend  that  the  potatoes  sliould  be 
stored  during  winter  1  Will  a  sprinkling  of  slaked  or  unslaked  lime^ 
or  of  salt,  or  pounded  charcoal,  or  charred  peat,  or  wood  ashes,  or 
chloride  of  lime,  be  beneficial '?  Will  washing  the  potatoes  clean,  and 
then  picking  and  drying  them  before  storing,  help  to  preserve  them  1 

All  agree,  that,  as  a  preliminary  to  storing,  it  is  of  the  last  impor- 
tance that  the  potatoes  should  be  dry,  that  if  possible  they  should  be 
lifted  in  a  dry  time,  and  spread  out  as  much  as  practicable  in  open 
barns  or  sheds.  After  careful  picking  over  they  may  be  pitted,  and 
nearly  all  here  also  agree,  that  it  is  beneficial  to  dust  them  with  hot 
slaked  lime  or  gypsum.  They  should  be  put  in  small  pits  not  more 
than  eight,  or  ten  cwt.  per  yard  for  instance,  and  lightly  covered  with 
straw  alone. 

Mr.  Smith,  Ladyland,  Dumfriesshire,  says,  "The  way  in  which 
my  potatoes  are  keeping  best  is  in  large,  well  ventilated  houses,  and 
in  the  pits  covered  with  straw  alone,  thatched  and  roped  precisely  in 
the  same  way  that  the  head  of  a  hay  stack  is  finished.  I  have  120 
tons  lying  in  this  way  :  they  are  fine  and  dry,  and  appear  to  be  keep- 
ing well  enough.  I  have  also  about  90  tons  pitted,  and  well  ventila- 
ted with  tiles,  covered  close  up  with  about  four  inches  of  earth  upon 
them.  I  am  just  turning  them  over,  and  I  find  them  in  a  bad  state. 
They  should  have  been  no  worse  than  the  others,  as  they  were  in  the 
same  state  when  taken  up.  The  cause  of  their  being  in  a  worse  state, 
I  have  no  doubt  originates  from  the  covering  of  earth  being  put  upon 
them." 

A  friend  of  mine  showed  me  a  letter  from  an  Irish  gentleman  who 
has  adopted  a  very  ingenious  plan,  he  elevated  his  potatoes  from  the 
ground  by  about  six  inches  of  large  stones,  covered  with  rushes,  and 
turf  cut  thin  and  dried.  Chimnies  of  stones  go  up  through  the  pota- 
toes at  intervals  of  four  feet.  In  this  way  he  secures  a  most  thorough 
ventilation,  and  has  entirely  checked  the  disease. 

The  potatoes  stored  in  pits  are  of  course  to  be  often  inspected,  and 
picked  over  as  when  instances  of  disease  appear. 

This  appears  to  be  the  best  plan  yet  devised  for  storing  them  on  a 
large  scale.     On  a  smaller  scale,  kiln  drying  has  been  generally  found 


No.  105.]  375 

effective.     It  of  course  destroys  the  potatoes  for  seed,  but  preserves 
them  as  food. 

In  the  case  of  those  intended  for  seed,  extraordinary  efforts  must  be 
made  to  preserve  them  by  drying,  picking,  &c. 

Washing  with  water  is  considered  by  many  experienced  farmers  in- 
jurious, and  it  is  besides  impracticable  on  a  large  scale.  It  is  said  that 
the  potatoes  wither  after  washing. 

The  government  commissioners  in  Ireland  recommend  the  laying  of 
the  potatoes  with  a  space  between  each  on  a  bed  of  dry  ashes  or 
charred  soil.  The  spaces  between  them  are  to  be  filled,  and  a  covering 
placed  over  their  top,  of  the  same  material.  Another  layer  of  potatoes 
is  then  to  be  arranged  in  the  same  way,  and  so  on  until  the  edifice  is 
about  2h  feet  in  height. 

If  the  results  of  this  commission  have  not  answered  the  expectations 
that  were  formed,  it  is  because  sufficient  care  was  not  taken  to  unite 
with  them  some  persons  practically  acquainted  with  agriculture.  Ow-. 
ing  to  this  defect  in  its  constitution,  most  of  their  recommendations 
have  savored  rather  strongly  of  theory  alone,  and  of  the  laboratory 
where  things  are  done  on  a  small  scale. 

The  idea  of  putting  up  his  six  or  seven  thousand  bushels  of  potatoe  s 
after  the  above  method  struck  a  friend  of  mine,  a  large  Lothian  far- 
mer, so  ludicrously,  that  he  said  they  might  as  well  have  recommend- 
ed him  to  wrap  them  in  white  paper,  like  oranges. 

But  after  all  the  labor  involved  in  this  plan,  it  does  not  secure  the 
potatoes  ;  there  is  no  ventilation,  and  they  have  been  found  to  rot 
with  great  rapidity,  even  where  the  packing  material  was  pounded 
charcoal. 

The  result  of  the  numberless  schemes  which  have  been  proposed  and 
tried,  seems  to  be,  that  the  best  way  of  storing  is  in  small  heaps  or 
thin  layers,  in  dry  situations,  and  with  the  greatest  possible  amount  of 
ventilation  consistent  with  preservation  from  frost.  If  this  fails,  the 
only  resource  is  kiln  drying  or  exposure  to  chlorine  ;  but  these  are  ex- 
pensive methods,  and  only  resorted  to  in  extremity.  With  careful 
picking,  any  of  the  methods  which  secure  the  above  requisites  have 
been  found  greatly  to  retard,  and  in  many  instances  absolutely  to  stop 
the  progress  of  disease. 


S76  [Senate 

Hundreds  of  plans  have  been  proposed,  but  it  would  be  worse  than 
useless  to  enter  into  a  lengthened  detail  of  them,  as  all  of  the  success- 
ful ones  are  modifications  of  the  above,  or  are  only  calculated  for  em- 
ployment on  a  small  scale. 

Query  24. — What  precautions  would  you  adopt  in  preparing  the  seed 
in  spring  1 

Under  this  query  I  cannot  do  better  than  give  the  answer  of  Mr. 
Gardiner^  which  unites  almost  all  of  the  precautions  recommended, 
with  an  improvement  of  his  own.  He  says  :  "  I  endeavor  as  much  as 
possible  to  prevent  the  starting  into  growth,  of  the  tubers,  by  turning 
them  in  a  coal  shed  until  wanted  for  planting,  carefully  hand  picking, 
and  retaining  only  those  for  seed  which  are  free  from  spot  or  blemish ; 
having  none  of  the  eyes,  blind,  and  of  middle  size.  When  required 
for  planting,  the  tubers  are  cut  into  large  setts,  with  from  two  to  three 
eyes  in  each,  rejecting  all  those  cuts  which,  from  the  dullness  of  the 
color  of  the  eyes  and  skin,  appear  to  be  deficient  in  vigor  to  produce 
a  perfectly  healthy  shoot.  As  the  cutting  of  the  sets  goes  on,  sprinkle 
the  cuts  freely  with  roasted  gypsum  in  powder,  or  use  sulphuric  or 
muriatic  acid,  diluted  with  water  in  the  proportion  of  one  pound  of  acid 
to  four  gallons  of  water.  With  this  sprinkle  the  cuts  till  they  are  all 
wetted  over,  then  sift  dry  new  slaked  lime  over  them,  which  will  com- 
pletely dry  them  up,  and  coat  them  over  with  the  lime  ;  plant  them 
immediately.  Sets,  so  prepared  with  the  acid,  I  have  found  to  start 
earlier  and  more  vigorously  into  growth,  resisting  the  effect  of  disease 
in  a  greater  degree  than  by  any  other  method  I  have  tried." 

All  unite  in  recommending  the  sprinkling  of  the  setts  with  slaked 
lime  or  gypsum.  Many  think  it  better  to  cut  the  seed  a  month  or  two 
before  planting  ;  one  man  has  gone  so  far  as  to  publish  a  book,  called 
"  The  Potato  Problem  solved  ;"  in  which  he  says  the  whole  cause  of 
the  disease  lies  in  the  cutting  of  the  seed  potatoes  in  the  spring,  imme- 
diately before  planting.  He  contends  that  the  proper  time  is  in  the 
autumn. 

Many  of  the  farmers  think  that  contact  with  fresh  manure  is  injuri- 
ous, and  are  manuring  their  potato  fields  this  autumn. 

Query  25. — Have  any  cases  occurred  in  your  neighborhood  in  which 
the  use  of  diseased  potatoes  has  been  injurious  to  animal  life. 


Ho.  105.]  377 

Among  nearly  seventy  answers  to  this  query,  I  only  find  three  that 
ascribe  any  bad  effect  to  the  use  of  the  diseased  tubers. 

Mr.  Lockhartj  Stevenston  Ayrshire  says  :  "  Only  three  ;  but  the 
cause  may  have  been  from  over  quantity  as  much  as  bad  quality." 

Mr.  Mc  Gregor,  Dicmbartonshire.  "  There  have  been  cases  in  which 
they  have  been  injurious  to  animal  life,  in  the  neighborhood." 

Mr.  Dalziel,  Dumfriesshire.  "  Two  horses  and  two  pigs,  whose 
death  is  attributed  to  eating  diseased  potatoes." 

These  are  the  only  instances ;  opposed  to  them  are  a  very  great 
number  which  go  to  show  that  the  diseased  potatoes  may  be  used  for 
food  with  perfect  safety, 

Mr.  Laurie,  Dumfriesshire  says  :  "  I  have  been  giving  them  by  way 
of  experiment,  in  the  raw  state,  but  clean  washed,  to  a  young  quey  that 
I  am  feeding.  She  gets  as  many  as  she  will  take,  without  any  thing 
else  but  straw  ;  and  as  yet  there  is  no  appearance  of  injurious  effects 
to  health. 

Mr.  Mc  Knight,  Barlochan.  "  My  horses  and  pigs  have  been  fed  with 
the  most  diseased,  after  having  been  boiled  and  mixed  with  chaff  and 
meal. 

Mr.  Gardiner.  *'  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  their  use  as  food  for 
cattle  and  pigs  does  not  produce  disease  in  them  if  due  care  is  taken 
as  to  how  they  are  given.  I  am  induced  to  this  belief  from  having  fed 
a  number  of  pigs  upon  diseased  tubers  since  the  middle  of  September. 
They  are  now  in  perfect  health  and  thriving  well.  Six  West  Highland 
bullocks,  taken  from  the  pasture  and  put  into  a  shed,  have  been  fed 
for  the  last  two  weeks  upon  very  much  diseased  potatoes  and  oat  straw 
alone,  and  they  are  still  healthy  and  keeping  up  in  condition.  They 
ate  so  fond  of  the  potatoes  that  they  take  them  in  preference  to  tur- 
nips." 

Mr.  Findlay,  Larnarkshire.  "  All  of  us  are  giving  our  milch  cows  half 
a  peck  of  those  potatoes,  raw  and  sliced,  with  seeds  or  chaff  mixed, 
daily,  and  they  thrive  upon  them." 

Mr.  Girdwood,  Mid-Lothian.  "  My  horses  eat  forty  pounds  each, 
daily  (steamed)  and  my  pigs  eat  as  many  as  they  please  raw.  They 
are  all  healthy  and  thriving.  I  have  not  given  any  to  cattle  yet,  but 
those  who  have  done  so  have  no  bad  effects." 


378  [Senate 

These  instances  show  clearly  that  no  danger  is  to  be  apprehended 
from  a  moderate  use  of  the  diseased  potatoes. 

A  portion  of  those  that  are  affected  may  thus  be  profitably  disposed 
of ;  but  it  must  be  comparatively  a  small  portion.  Where  the  disease 
is  proceeding  rapidly  on  large  farms,  and  also  among  those  who  have 
not  stock  to  feed,  other  means  are  necessary.  The  manufacture  of 
farina,  or  potato  flour,  should  at  once  be  commenced.  The  starch 
from  diseased  potatoes  is  not  quite  so  much  in  quantity  as  from  those 
that  are  healthy,  and  it  is  often  dark  in  color,  but  it  is  equally  useful 
for  food. 

The  first  step  is  to  grate  the  potatoes.  Large  mills  have  been  es- 
tablished for  this  purpose,  in  many  parts  of  the  country  ;  but  every 
farmer  may  have  one  attached  to  his  threshing  mill  or  water  power,  at 
a  very  small  expense.  If  he  has  neither  of  these,  a  small  machine  ca- 
pable of  grinding  half  a  ton  a  day,  may  be  made  by  nailing  a  sheet  of 
tin  punched  full  of  holes,  on  a  wooden  cylinder,  and  placing  it  at  the 
bottom  of  a  hopper.  Even  a  common  grater  may  easily  supply  the 
wants  of  a  family. 

The  grated  pulp  is  mixed  with  water,  and  the  whole  thrown  upon  a 
seive.  By  working  and  stirring  with  the  hand,  the  starch  passes 
through,  and  the  coarse  fibre  remains  on  the  seive.  After  standing 
two  or  three  hours,  the  starch  settles  to  the  bottom  of  the  vessel ;  the 
water  is  then  poured  away,  more  water  is  added,  and  drawn  off,  in  suc- 
cessive portions  until  it  comes  off  quite  tasteless,  and  without  color. 
The  starch  is  now  collected  and  dried  by  a  gentle  heat,  or  hung  up  in 
bags,  where  there  is  a  free  circulation  of  air.  It  may  be  used  as  food, 
by  mixing  in  various  proportions  with  oatmeal  or  wheaten  flour.  I 
have  eaten  cakes  thus  made  from  very  diseased  potatoes  that  were 
excellent.  It  also  makes  excellent  puddings,  and  is  of  use  for  all  the 
purposes  to  which  arrow  root  is  applied.  As  an  article  of  commerce, 
potato  starch  is  now  very  valuable. 

The  fibre  which  remains  on  the  seive,  is  to  be  dried  also,  and  makes 
an  excellent  food  for  animals,  or  if  ground  into  flour,  nourishing  bread. 
Sometimes  the  starch  and  fibre  are  washed  without  separation  by  the 
sieve,  and  the  two  together  made  into  very  good  bread.  This  is  not  a 
new  thing,  as  I  saw  a  few  days  since,  a  piece  of  bread  made  chiefly  of 
potato  flour,  that  was  seventeen  years  old. 


No.  105.]         -  379 

I  have  now  finished  the  list  of  queries  that  were  put  forth  by  the 
Agricultural  Chemistry  Association.  In  considering  them,  and  embo- 
dying the  information  hitherto  obtained,  I  have  touched  upon  the  pirn- 
cipal  points  of  interest  connected  with  the  disease. 

If  no  advance  has  been  made  towards  the  discovery  of  the  cause,  it 
is  much  to  know  what  are  false  theories.  This  is  of  immense  advan- 
tage to  the  one  who  next  takes  up  the  subject,  for  he  will  spend  no 
time  in  looking  over  trodden  ground. 

It  was  in  this  view  that  I  thought  that  such  a  sketch  of  the  Potato 
Disease  as  I  have  now  attempted  to  give,  would  be  highly  useful. 

We  are  forced  to  conclude  that  the  origin  and  causes  of  this  disease 
are  at  present  unknown  ;  its  mysterious  marks  have  appeared  suddenly 
on  two  continents,  separated  by  wide  oceans,  under  heat  and  drought; 
on  wet  and  dry,  light  and  heavy  soil,  at  every  elevation,  and  in  every 
variety  of  potato.  Those  who  have  most  carefully  investigated  its 
peculiarities,  most  widely  its  range,  are  most  undecided  as  to  its  cause. 

It  is  possible  that  Providence  may  withdraw  this  scourge  with  the 
present  year  ;  but  it  is  also  possible  and  probable,  that  it  may  continue. 
Therefore  should  every  energy  be  taxed,  every  means  employed  to 
counteract  and  overcome  a  disease  which,  those  who  have  most  care- 
fully studied  are  obliged  to  confess,  can,  by  no  combination  of  circum- 
stances at  present  known,  be  certainly  prevented. 

Edinburgh,  Scotland,  December,  1845. 


It  was  intended  to  have  inserted  the  premium  Essay  on  the  Potato  Disease  and  the 
communication  of  Mr  Norton  immediately  after  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  roots  5 
but  it  has  inadvertently  been  placed  after  the  flax  and  broom-corn  report,  which  it 
was  designed  it  should  precede. 


iGEiCULTUEAL  STATISTICS  OF  TPIE  STATE  OF  NEW-YOtt 


BY    S.    S.    RANDALL."* 


Luther  Tucker,  Esq., 

Corresponding  Secretai'y  of  the  JY.  Y.  S.  Jigricultural  Society: 

Dear  Sir— =-In  accordance  with  your  request  I  have  carefully  com- 
piled, from  the  original  returns  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  Statej 
and  herewith  transmit  to  you,  such  statistics  in  reference  to  the  agri- 
cultural interest  of  the  State  as  I  conceived  would  be  most  acceptable 
to  the  members  of  the  society  with  which  you  are  connected,  and 
best  adapted  to  the  diffusion  of  an  accurate  knowledge  of  our  agri- 
cultural resources  and  condition. 

The  entire  population  of  the  State,  as  returned  by  the  marshals,  is 
2,604,495  :  comprising  1,311,342  males  and  1,293,153  females. 

The  aggregate  number  of  farmers  and  agriculturists  in  the  State  is 
253,292,  or  somewhat  less  than  one-tenth  of  the  entire  population, 
and  one-fifth  of  the  whole  male  population.  The  number  of  legal 
voters  in  the  State  (exclusive  of  persons  of  color)  is  539,379  :  con- 
sequently the  proportion  of  farming  to  all  other  professions  is  very 
nearly  as  one  to  two. 

The  whole  number  of  acres  of  improved  land  in  the  State  is 
11,737,276:  of  which  1,013,665  is  devoted  to  the  production  of 
wheat ;  1,026,915  to  that  of  oats  ;  595,135  to  that  of  corn  ;  255,762 
to  that  of  potatoes  ;  317,099  to  that  of  rye  ;  192,504  to  that  of  bar- 
ley ;  117,379  to  that  of  peas  ;  16,232  to  that  of  beans ;  255,496  to 
that  of  buckwheat ;  15,322  to  that  of  turnips,  and  46,089  to  that  of 
flax  ;  wheat  and  oats  being  the  great  agricultural  staples  of  the  State  ; 
corn  and  rye  holding  the  next  place,  potatoes  and  buckwheat,  in 
about  equal  proportion,  the  next,  and  barley,  peas,  flax,  beans  and 
turnips  following  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  here  named ;  the 
least  number  of  acres  being  devoted   to  the  culture  of  the  turnip. 

*  This  communication  of  Mr.  Randall  should  have  accompanied  Dr.  Eeekman's  re- 
port, but  the  tables  had  been  mislaid,  which  rendered  it  necessary  to  postpone  its  in- 
sertion to  this  place. 


No.  105.]  3$1 

The  western  and  northern  portions  of  the  State  are  best  adapted  to 
the  cultivation  of  wheat,  potatoes,  oats  and  rye,  while  the  southern 
and  eastern  portions  seem  most  favorable  to  corn,  barley,  peas,  beans, 
turnips  and  flax.  The  middle  counties  afford  the  best  encourage- 
ment to  the  raising  of  cattle. 

Of  the  1,013,665  acres  employed  in  the  raising  of  wheat,  the  num- 
ber harvested  during  the  year  is  reported  at  958,234,  yielding  an 
aggregate  of  13,391,770  bushels,  exceeding  by  1,438,263  bushels  the 
amount  raised  in  1840,  and  averaging  a  fraction  under  14  bushels  to 
the  acre.  In  the  county  of  Monroe,  the  average  yield  is  19 h  bush- 
els ;  in  the  county  of  Kings,  19  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Orleans 
and  Niagara,  18;  in  the  county  of  Clinton,  11  i  ;  in  Genesee  county, 
16 J  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Cayuga,  Ontario,  Livingston  and 
Franklin,  16;  and  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Onondaga,  Richmond, 
Seneca,  Warren  and  Wyoming,  15.  In  two  of  the  outer  wards  of 
Brooklyn,  the  average  yield  was  24  bushels  to  the  acre  ;  in  the  town 
of  Wheatland,  Monroe  county,  22  bushels,  and  in  Sweden,  same 
county,  21. 

From  the  1,026,915  acres  devoted  to  the  production  of  oats,  the 
aggregate  number  of  bushels  harvested  during  the  year  is  stated  at 
26,323,051,  exceeding  by  5,594,313  the  quantity  raised  in  1840,  and 
averaging  nearly  26  bushels  to  the  acre.  In  the  counties  of  Seneca 
and  Kings,  the  average  exceeded  35 ;  in  Monroe  and  Ontario,  32  ; 
in  Onondaga,  31 ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Cayuga,  Dutchess  and 
Livingston,  30 ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Orleans,  Niagara  and 
Rensselaer,  29  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Chenango,  Madison, 
Oneida,  Orange,  Wayne  and  Yates,  28;  and  in  each  of  the  counties 
of  Chautauque,  Clinton,  Columbia,  Jefferson,  Queens,  Richmond, 
Suffolk  and  St.  Lawrence,  27. 

From  the  317,099  acres  devoted  to  the  production  of  rye,  the  ag- 
gregate number  of  bushels  harvested  during  the  year  is  stated  at 
2,966,322,  being  18,591  bushels  less  than  were  harvested  in  1840, 
or  an  average  of  nearly  9^  bushels  to  the  acre.  In  the  county  of 
Kings,  the  average  product  is  reported  at  nearly  20  bushels  to  the 
acre ;  in  the  county  of  Richmond,  at  14^  ;  in  the  county  of  Jefferson, 
13  J  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Clinton,  Orleans  and  St.  Lawrence, 
12  ;  in  Chenango,  Hi  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Erie,  Livingston, 
Rensselaer  and  Wyoming,  11  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Schenec- 


382  [Senate 

tady,  Queens  and  Essex,  10  J  ;  and  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Alba- 
ny, Delaware,  Franklin,  Fulton,  Genesee,  Herkimer,  Lewis,  Mon- 
roe, Montgomery,  Orange,  Warren  and  Westchester,  10.  In  the 
ninth  ward  of  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  265  bushels  were  obtained  from 
16  acres,  being  an  average  of  25  bushels  to  the  acre  ;  and  an  equal 
average  crop  was  obtained  in  the  town  ,of  Gravesend  in  the  same 
county. 

From  595,135  acres  planted  with  corn,  the  aggregate  number  of 
bushels  harvested  is  returned  at  14,722,115,  being  an  increase  of 
3,636,973  over  the  harvest  of  1840,  and  averaging  nearly  25  bushels  to 
the  acre.  In  the  county  ol  New-York,  the  average  yield  was  40; 
in  Kings  county,  38^ ;  in  Richmond,  35  ;  in  Suffolk,  34;  in  each  of 
the  counties  of  Orange  and  Westchester,  32  ;  in  Rockland,  31 ;  in 
each  of  the  counties  of  Monroe  and  Orleans,  30  ;  in  each  of  the  coun- 
ties of  Niagara,  Ontario  and  Seneca,  29 ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of 
Chemung,  Chenango,  Jefferson,  Oneida,  Onondaga,  Putnam  and 
Tioga,  27  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Clinton  and  Wayne,  26^ ;  and 
in  the  county  of  Broome,  26. 

From  255,762|  acres  planted  with  potatoes,  the  aggregate  number 
of  bushels  obtained  was  23,653,418,  or  an  average  of  90  bushels  to 
the  acre.  In  Jefferspn  and  Franklin  counties  the  average  yield  ex- 
ceeded 150  bushels  ;  in  St.  Lawrence,  145  ;  in  Clinton  and  Orleans, 
137  ;  in  Essex  and  Genesee,  125  ;  in  Washington,  122  ;  in  Suffolk 
and  Wayne,  120;  in  Chautauque,  112;  in  each  of  the  counties  of 
Kings,  Monroe  and  Niagara,  110;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Onta- 
rio, Cattaraugus  and  Cayuga,  105  ;  in  Allegany,  99  ;  in  Yates,  98  ; 
in  Seneca,  97  ;  and  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Lewis  and  Queens,  95. 
In  each  of  the  towns  of  Antwerp  and  Rutland,  in  Jefferson  county, 
the  average  yield  per  acre  was  187  bushels.  There  has  been  a  fall- 
ing off  of  the  potato  crop  of  upwards  of  six  millions  of  bushels  since 
1840. 

From  117,379  acres  sown  with  peas,  the  aggregate  number  of 
bushels  raised  was  1,761,504,  or  an  average  of  15  bushels  per  acre. 
In  the  town  of  Westchester,  Westchester  county,  upwards  of  170 
bushels  are  returned  as  having  been  produced  from  3 1  acres,  avera- 
ging 56  bushels  per  acre.  In  the  county  of  Kings,  the  average  crop 
was  35  bushels  ;  in  Richmond,  24 ;  in  Putnam,  Queens  and  Wyo- 
ming, 20;  in  Onondaga  and  Orleans,  19  i  ;  in  Suffolk,  18;  in  each 


No.  105.]  383 

of  the  counties  of  Genesee,  Madison,  Montgomery  and  Rockland, 
17  ;  and  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Albany,  Allegany,  Cayuga,  Chau- 
tauque,  Erie,  Livingston,  Monroe,  Niagara,  Oneida,  Ontario,  Sene- 
ca, St.  Lawrence  and  Steuben,  16. 

From  16,232  acres  devoted  to  the  raising  of  beans,  the  aggregate 
number  of  bushels  produced  was  162,188,  or  an  average  of  10  bushels 
per  acre.  In  the  town  of  Westfield,  Richmond  county,  from  2| 
acres  2281  bushels  were  produced,  being  an  average  of  114  bushels 
per  acre  ;  in  the  ninth  ward  of  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  1960  bushels 
were  raised  from  19^  acres,  being  an  average  of  100  bushels  per 
acre  ;  in  the  town  of  Newtown,  Queens  county,  the  average  was 
91 ;  in  the  county  of  Westchester,  20  ;  and  in  the  counties  of 
Cayuga  and  Chautauque,  15  and  upwards. 

From  192,504  acres  sown  with  barley,  the  aggregate  number  of 
bushels  raised  during  the  year  preceding  is  returned  at  3,108,705,  ex- 
ceeding by  610,535  bushels  the  crop  of  1840,  and  averaging  16  bushels 
per  acre.  From  11  acres  in  the  county  of  Kings,  360  bushels  were 
raised,  being  an  average  of  nearly  33  bushels  to  the  acre.  In  the 
county  of  Schoharie  the  average  return  exceeded  22  bushels  to  the 
acre  ;  in  the  county  of  Suffolk,  44  bushels  ;  in  the  county  of  Rich- 
mond, 25  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Onondaga  and  Westchester, 
20 ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Madison,  Monroe,  Niagara  and 
Ontario,  19  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Cortland,  Oneida  and 
Schenectady,  18 ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Cayuga  and  Chautau- 
que, 111  •  and  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Allegany,  Chenango,  Essex, 
Franklin,  Rensselaer  and  Seneca,   17. 

From  255,495|  acres  of  buckwheat,  the  aggregate  number  of 
bushels  raised  was  3,634,679^2?  exceeding  by  1,390,241  bushels  the 
quantity  raised  in  1840,  being  an  average  of  upwards  of  14  bushels 
to  an  acre.  In  one  of  the  outer  wards  of  New-York  300  bushels 
were  obtained  from  8\  acres,  or  an  average  of  nearly  38  bushels  to 
the  acre.  In  each  ot  the  counties  of  Onondaga  and  Ontario,  the 
average  was  21 ;  in  Genesee,  19  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Cayuga, 
Kings,  Putnam,  Richmond,  Schenectady,  Seneca  and  Wayne,  18; 
in  each  of  the  counties  of  Chemung,  Chenango,  Clinton,  Livingston, 
Montgomery,  Niagara,  Tompkins  and  Yates,  17  ;  in  each  of  the 
counties  of  Albany,  Chautauque,  Cortland,  Queens,  Rensselaer, 
Steuben,  Tioga  and  Westchester,   16  ;    and  in  each  of  the  coun- 


384  [Senate 

ties   of   Allegany,   Broome,  Delaware,    Dutchess,   Erie,   Herkimer 
Monroe,  Oneida,  Orange,  Schoharie,  St.  Lawrence  and  Ulster,  15. 

From  15,322  i  acres  devoted  to  the  production  of  turneps,  the  ag- 
gregate number  of  bushels  raised  was  1,350,332,  being  an  average  of 
88  bushels  per  acre.  In  the  county  of  Suffolk,  however,  the  average 
is  as  high  as  240 ;  and  in  one  town  of  that  county  (Riverhead)  the 
average  yield  was  293  bushels.  In  Kings  count}^  the  average  w^as 
197  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Monroe  and  Queens,  180 ;  in  each 
of  the  counties  of  Niagara  and  Rockland,  155  ;  in  Ontario,  148;  in 
Wayne,  146  ;  in  Richmond,  142 ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Onon- 
daga and  St.  Lawrence,  140;  in  Otsego,  135;  in  Orleans,  126;  in 
Cortland,  125 ;  in  Clinton,  122;  in  Essex,  121;  in  Cayuga,  120; 
in  Steuben,  115;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Delaware,  Oswego,  Sa- 
ratoga and  Schenectady,  110;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Franklin 
and  Jefferson,  108  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Chemung  and  Mont- 
gomery, 107  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Genesee  and  Seneca,  105  ; 
in  Chautauque,  104  ;  in  Wyoming,  103  ;  in  Livingston,  99  ;  in  Alle- 
gany, 98 ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Tioga  and  Warren,  95 ;  in 
Washington,  92 ;  and  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Cattaraugus,  Lewis 
and  Schoharie:  90. 

From  46,089  acres  of  flax,  the  average  number  of  pounds  produced 
was  2,897,062 i,  or  an  average  of  62|  pounds  to  the  acre.  In  the 
town  of  Islip,  Suffolk  county,  120  pounds  were  produced  from  one 
quarter  of  an  acre  ;  in  Poughkeepsie,  Dutchess  county,  360  pounds 
from  five-eighths  of  an  acre  ;  in  the  towns  of  Amenia  and  Rhinebeck, 
in  the  same  county,  an  average  of  350  pounds  per  acre  is  returned  ; 
in  Pleasant-Valley,  285,  and  in  Clinton,  275.  The  average  product 
in  the  county  is  237  pounds  per  acre.  In  Jefferson  county  the  ave- 
rage is  190 ;  in  Columbia,  187 ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Chautau- 
que and  Chenango,  180  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Lewis,  Queens 
and  Washington,  175  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Orange  and  Ulster, 
165 ;  in  Essex,  164 ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Clinton,  Cortland, 
Franklin,  Oneida,  Putnam  and  Rensselaer,  150  ;  in  each  of  the 
counties  of  Oswego,  Sullivan  and  Westchester,  140 ;  in  Warren, 
139  ;  in  Delaware  and  St.  Lawrence,  135  ;  in  Broome,  132 ;  and  in 
each  of  the  counties  of  Greene,  Hamilton,  Monroe,  Onondaga,  Rich- 
mond, Saratoga,  Steuben,  Tioga  and  Wyoming,  100  and  upwards. 

The   aggregate  number  of  heads   of  neat  cattle  in   the  State  is 
2,072,330,  being  an  average  of  upwards  of  35,000  to  each  county. 


No.  105.]  385 

of  which  there  are  nearly  86,000  in  the  county  of  Jefferson ;  85,464 
in  the  county  of  Oneida  ;  nearly  78,000  in  the  county  of  St.  Law- 
rence ;  66,885  in  the  county  of  Chautauque  ;  63,745  in  the  county 
of  Chenango ;  62,555  in  the  county  of  Delaware;  61,706  in  the 
county  of  Otsego  ;  59,712  in  the  county  of  Orange ;  57,506  in  the 
county  of  Erie  ;  55,482  in  the  county  of  Steuben  ;  53,440  in  the 
county  of  Herkimer ;  nearly  52,00^^  in  the  county  of  Allegany ; 
49,498  in  the  county  of  Onondaga  ;  47,258  in  the  county  of  Dutchess  ; 
45,256  in  the  county  of  Cattaraugus ;  45,216  in  the  county  of  Madi- 
son ;  43,527  in  the  county  of  Washington ;  41,584  in  the  county  of 
Cayuga  ;  and  41,300  in  the  county  of  Oswego.  The  number  of  neat 
cattle  under  one  year  old  is  334,456,  and  the  number  over  one  year 
old  is  1,709,479.  The  aggregate  number  of  neat  cattle  is  less  by 
about  130,000  than  in  1840. 

The  aggregate  number  of  cows  milked  is  returned  at  999,490,  or 
an  average  of  nearly  17,000  to  each  county.     The  aggregate  number 
of  pounds  of  butter  made  during  the  year  w^as  79,501,733 i,  or  an 
average  of  about  1,350,000  to  each  county,  or  79  J  pounds  to  each 
cow  milked  ;  while  the  aggregate  number  of  pounds  of  cheese  is  re- 
turned at  36,744,976,  being  an  average  of  622,796  pounds  to  each 
county,  or  about  36  pounds  to  each  cow  milked.     In  the  county  of 
Oneida,  the  number  of  cows  milked  is  stated  at  47,713 ;  from  which 
3,876,276  pounds  of  butter,  and  3,277,750  pounds  of  cheese  were 
made,  or  an  average  of  upwards  of  80  pounds  of  the  former  and  68 
of  the  latter.     In  the  county  of  Orange,  from  42,256  cows   milked 
4,108,840  pounds  of  butter  were  obtained,  being  an  average  of  97 
pounds  to  each.     In  the  county  of  Jefferson,   from  41,360  cows, 
3,080,767  pounds  of  butter  and  2,802,314  of  cheese  w^ere  obtained  ; 
averaging  74  pounds  of  the  former  and  nearly  70  of  the  latter.     In 
the  county  of  Kings,  the  average  number  of  pounds  of  butter  made 
from  each  cow  milked  was  110;  in  the  counties  of  Delaware  and 
Chenango,  100  ;  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Putnam,  Sullivan  and 
Tompkins,  95 ;   in  each  of  the  counties  of  Cortland,  Greene,  Onon- 
daga, Schenectady,  Schoharie,  Seneca,  Wayne  and  Yates,  90;  in 
Livingston,  85 ;    and  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Dutchess,  Ontario, 
Saratoga,  Steuben,  Tioga,  Warren  and  Washington,  80. 

In  the  county  of  Herkimer,  8,208,796  pounds  of  cheese  were  ma- 
nufactured from  the  milk  of  36,255  cow^s,  being  an  average  of  226 


386  [Senate         ! 

I 
pounds  to  each ;    in   the   town    of  Fairfield,  in  the  same  county,         ' 

1,355,967  pounds  were  manufactured  from  the  milk  of  3,910  cows,         ' 

being  an  average  of  nearly  350  pounds.     In  the  county  of  Madison  ; 

2,022,855  pounds  were  obtained  from  21,513  cows,  being  an  average         ; 

of  90  pounds  ;  and  in  the  county  of  Lewis,  1,420,368  pounds  from 

18,024  cows,  or  an  average  of  80  pounds.     In  the  county  of  Otsego, 

the  average  exceeds  50  pounds. 

The  aggregate  number  of  horses  in  the  State  is  505,155,  being  an 
increase  of  over  29,000  since  1840.     In  Oneida    county  there  are         ■ 
17,303  ;  Onondaga,  16,968  ;  in  Monroe,  16,811  ;  in  Jefferson,  16,397;         ; 
in  Otsego,   14,183;   in   Cayuga,  13,922;   in  Erie,  13,527;   in  St.         I 
Lawrence,  13,470  ;  in  New- York,  13,346  ;   in  Steuben,  12,310  ;   in 
Wayne,    12,258;    in   Madison,  11,774;    in  Dutchess,   11,342;    in         j 
Tompkins,    11,191;   in  Washington,   11,115;    and  in  each  of  the 
counties    of    Albany,    Allegany,    Chautauque,  Chenango,  Genesee,         i 
Herkimer,  Livingston,  Orange,  Rensselaer  and  Saratoga,  10,000  and 
upwards. 

The  aggregate  number  of  hogs  returned  is  1,584,344,  or  an  average 
of  nearly  27,000  to  each   county.     In   Dutchess   county  there   are 
66,828 ;    in  Orange,  57,265 ;    in   Columbia,  54,477 ;    in  Jefferson, 
53,068 ;    in   Onondaga,  52,907 ;    in  Monroe,  48,493  ;    in  Niagara, 
45,723;  in  Cayuga,  43,546;   in  Ulster,  42,627;    in  Washington, 
42,189  ;  in  Rensselaer,  39,262 ;  in  Otsego,  38,485  ;  in  St.  Lawrence,         I 
38,150  ;  in  Erie,  38,087  ;  in  Saratoga,  37,882  ;  in  Ontario,  36,986  ;         | 
in  Steuben,  35,987  ;  in  Wayne,  35,873  ;  in  Westchest€r,  35,609  ;  and 
in  each  of  the  counties  of  Albany,  Chautauque  and  Niagara,  upwards         I 
of  30,000.     In  1840,  the  aggregate  number  of  swine  in  the  State         ' 
was  1,916,953 ;  being  an  excess  of  332,619  beyond  that  of  the  pre-         ! 
sent  year.  i 

The  aggregate  number  of  sheep  in  the  State  is  6,443,855,  exceed-         ! 
ing  by  1,062,630  the  number  returned  in  1840,  and  being  an  average 
of  upwards  of  107,000  to  each  county.     Of  this  number  1,870,728 
are  under  one  year  old,  and  4,505,369  over  one  year  old.     The         i 
number  in  the  county  of  Otsego  is  270,564;  in  Madison,  263,132; 
in   Ontario,   257,821 ;    in   Washington,   254,866 ;    in   Chautauque,         i 
235,403  ;  in  Chenango,  223,453  ;  in  Livingston,  218,258 ;  in  Steu- 
ben, 217,658 ;   in  Dutchess,  nearly  200,000  ;  in  Oneida,  194,589  ; 
in  Onondaga,  190,429  ;  in  Allegany,  184,901  ;  in  Jefferson,  184,526  ; 


No.  105.]  387 

in  Cayuga.  175,148 ;   in  Monroe,  173,952 ;  in  Columbia,   172,959 ; 

in  Rensselaer,  170,552;    in  St.  Lawrence,  168,314;    in  Wyoming, 

166,365  ;   in  Genesee,  156,578 ;    in  Erie,  148,732 ;    in  Tompkins, 

135,787;   in  Delaware,   135,633;    in  Wayne,  130,562;   in  Yates, 

130,134;    and  in   Cortland,    108,862.     The   aggregate   number  of 

fleeces  obtained  is  returned  at  4,607,012|,    comprising  13,864,828 

pounds  of  wool,  less  by  208,306  pounds  than  the  aggregate  fleece  of 

1840,  and  averaging  about  three  pounds  to  a  fleece.     In  the  county 

of  Kings  the  average  is  upwards  of  six  pounds. 

The  annexed  tables  show  the  agricultural  statistics  of  each  of  the 

counties  in  the  State,  under  the  various  heads  above  enumerated ; 

and  will,  I  trust,  be  found  valuable  as  well  for  present  information 

as  future  reference  and  comparison. 

Very  respectfully  your  ob't  serv't, 

S.  S.  RAJ^DALL. 
Albany^  January  1,  1846. 


|Senate,  Ne.  105.J  25 


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S98 


[Senate 


(  No.  6.  ) 

Agricultural  Statistics- 
DOMESTIC  MANUFACTURES. 


COUNTIES. 


.S    t,  -i 


-a  u 
cu 

=  -22-3^^ 

S  5   3   S   <u  S? 


fl  R  5  .5  .5 


Albany, 

Allegany,  .... 
Broome,  ..... 
Cattaraugus, . . 

Cayuga,    

Chautauque,  . . 
Chemung,  . . . . 
Chenango, . . . . 

Clinton, 

Columbia,  ... . 
Cortland,  .... 
Delaware, . . . . 

Dutchess, 

Erie, 

Essex, 

Franklin, 

Fulton, 

Genesee, 

Greene,  

Hamilton,  . . . . 
Herkimer, . . . . 

Jefferson, 

Kings, 

Lewis, 

Livingston,  , . 

Madison, 

Monroe, 

Montgomery,  . 
New- York,  ... 

Niagara, 

Oneida, 

Onondaga, 

Ontario, 

Orange, 

Orleans, 

Oswego, 

Otsego, 

Putnam, 

Queens,  , 

Rensselaer,  . , . 
Richmond,  . .. 
Rockland,  . . . . 

Saratoga, 

Schenectady, . . 
Schoharie, . . . . 

Seneca, 

St.  Lawrence^, 


26,117 
44,341 
30,994 
35,762 
38,168 
59,170 
16,004 
48,055 
23,927 
17,469 
26,161 
50,167 
11,361 
46,248 
19,750 
25,702 
21,810 
25,635 
22,525 
1,811 
29,618 
80,135 
89 
17,801 
24,002 
26,686- 
30,171 
25,745 


26,001 
43,379 
43,678 
22,151 
13,422 
21,117 
46,216 
55,056 
5,443 
77,032 
23,305 

1,071 
29,037 

9,906 
40,357 

5,848 
97,137 


29,850 

104,703 
47,232 
85,955 
75,646 

127,381 
25,485 
77,040 
25,997 
24,036 

.46,247 
82,660 
15,783 

100,613 
28,998 
43,255 
24,957 
47,641 
28,357 
3,695 
40,614 

113,104 

18 

29,620 

41,943 

55,161 

58,117 

29,426 

2,620 

40,154 

88,780 

72,554 

47,377 

12,194 

39,462 

69,747 

83,384 

5,200 

2,440 

35,966 

1,213 

39,358 
11,709 
49,249 
15,583 
139,649 


2o 
o.S 

S    01 

.3  5 
^  o 


S  .^  « 
J  S  «  S 


27,505 
64,948- 
32,86a 
42,436. 
57,278 
93,359 
18,025 
61,240 

7,221 
20,523. 
44,173 
32,641 
'10,765 
36,848 

8,227 
14,352 
22,240 
17,713 
13,529 

1,203 
32,602 
70,304 
25 
23,876 
33,379 
46,898 
13,404 
32,066 
901,461 

9,745 

277,698 

43,760 

18,565 

8,440 
13,759 
48,378 
72,790 

2,052 

747 

36,417 

172 
16,315 
7,306 
58,375 
15,185 
50,498 


No.  105.1 


399 


(No.  6.) — Continued. 


COUNTIES. 


Steuben, .... 

Suffolk, 

Sullivan,  . . . 

Tioga, 

Tompkins,.. 

Ulster, 

Warren, .... 
Washington, 

Wayne, 

Westchester, 
Wyoming, , . 
Yates, 


O  d  . 

a 


3 

B  S 


o 

£^ 

a  a 


54,729 
9,143 
13,074 
24,944 
28,673 
25,697 
18,382 
23,640 
32,484 
6,114 
24,583 
17,313 


1,664,366 


O    V 

o  g 


I! 

O  -3 
^.3 


r3   o 

=3    S    «^    S 

"S   01   bo  bJl 
C  *j  .rt  .rt 


■a  o 


98,984 
11,667 
20,693 
38,630 
52,855 
34,636 
23,182 
39,040 
67,947 
7,008 
56,755 
28,413 


2,650,116 


g  ■-;  ^  -3  o 

O  O  «    4) 

^  C  S  3  W  *^ 

Q  ^  O   ^  -W  .-1  .rt 


>> 


57,883 

3,586 

6,820 

32,394 

44,762 

34,024 

7,790 

23,951 

47,124 

1,734 

40,513 

12,856 


2,775,657 


NEW-YOxRK  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY. 


TREASURER'S  REPORT, 


January — 1846 . 

Receipts — 1845, 

State  of  New- York, . .' . .  ........  ....  ......   $700  00 

Cash  balance  in  hand, o.. .     932  09 

Membership's  annual  meeting, 80  00 

Interest  on  Mohawk  bonds,  to  June  15, 105  00 

Receipts  at  Utica  Fair, 4,370  18 

Francis  Granger,  subscription, 25  00 

R.  S.  Pell,.... 5  00 

Interest  on  Mohawk  bonds,  ..........................      105  00 

$6,322  27 


Expenses— 1844. 

Premiums. 

E.  Dodge,  for  Cheese  Press, $3  00 

H.  S.  Randall,  Sheep, 12  00 

H.  S.  Randal],  Turneps, 5  00 

J.  G.  Ward,  Buckskin  Mits, 2  00 

G.  Smedberg,  Turneps, 10  00 

E.  F.  Cushman,  Smut  Machine, 3  00 

V.  Halleck,  Plowing, 5  00 

E.  Halleck,  Sheep, 5  00 

Silkman,  Heifer, 9  00 

W.  Wright,  Barley, 5  00 

J.  Bowen,  Cloth, 4  00 

S.  B.  Dudley,  Barley, 10  00 

George  Geddes,  Corn, 25  00 

Do         do            Harrow, 5  00 


Carried  forward, |103  00 


401 

Brought  forward, 6l03  00 

J.  J.  Thomas,  Essay, 20  00 

Do         do           do       20  00 

Do         do           do       20  00 

M.  Walters,  Wheat,   15  00 

E.  Dubois,  Coverlid,   3  00 

E.  J.  Ayres,  Wheat,   15  00 

G.  White,  Horse  Rake, 5  00 

W.  V.  Price, 1  00 

P.  Garbut,  Flour, 3  00 

C.  Frisbee,  Carrots, 10  00 

Seth  Lauton,  Oats, 10  00 

J.  F.  Osborn,  Corn, 15  00 

J.  C.  Hall,  Timothy  Seed, 3  00 

J.  Hall,  Coverlid, 2  00 

J.  F.  Osborn,  Oats, 10  00 

C.  B.  Meach,  Beets, 10  00 

N.  S.  Davis,  Essay, 15  00 

A.  James,  Vegetables, 5  00 

P.  B.  Westcot,  Quilts, 2  00 

N.  S.  Davis,  Essay, 5  00 

A.  S.  Fish,  Cheese  Dairy, 12  00 

A.  Meneely,  Church  Bells, 5  00 

A.  J.  Downing,  Fruit, 8  00 

C.  Godfrey,  Fat  Cattle, 15  00 

F.  Smith,  Plowing, 15  00 

E.  S.  Hagar,  Gram  Cradles, 3  00 

R.  &  E.  Clark  &  Co.,  Hoes, 2  00 

F.  D.  Grosvenor,  Cow, 10  00 

C.  E.  Goodrich, 2  00 

S.  T.  Marshall,  Worsted  Shawl, 3  00 

Mrs.  Bradley,  Bedspread, 5  0 

H.  Delano,  Plow, 15  00 

C.  W.  Eells,  Seed  Corn, 1  00 

C.  Avery,  Cocoons, 10  00 

S.  T.  Marshall,  Lambs, 5  00 

D.  Skinner,  Grade  Cows, 15  00 

H.  N.  Wakeman,  Cattle, 35  00 

T.  Hawks,  Butter, 15  00 

O.  Barton,  Scarifier, 5  00 

H.  N.  Langworthy,  Potatoes, 5  00 

H.  Gridley,  Steers, 15  00 

A.  Hurd,  Working  Oxen, 15  00 

A.  J.  Bell,  Heifer, 5  00 

A.  D.  Neal,  Working  Oxen, 4  00 

C.  F.  Grosvenor,  Beet  Onions, 1  00 

E.  Sheldon,  Working  Oxen, 5  00 

E.  B.  Evans,  Butter  from  five  Cows,  25  00 

Carried  forward, $548  00 


402  [Senate 

Brought  forward, $548  00 

€.  Avery,  Sewing  Silk, 15  00 

E.  P.  Beck,  Devon  Cow, 15  00 

J.  Cowan,  Stallion, 15  00 

P.  W.  Boyce,  Dahlias,  .....  o 3  00 

D.  Gray,  Vegetables, 3  00 

J.  Sangster,  Noah's  Ark, 3  00 

W.  S.  Ford,  Cheese,   15  00 

D.  Fish,  Sewing  Silk, 20  00 

E.  P.  Beck,  Devon  Bull, 10  00 

W.  Ferguson,  Stallion, 10  00 

C.F.Abbot,        do 20  00 

O.  Hussey,  Reaping  Machine, 15  00 

J.  G.  Rowling,  best  barrel  flour, 5  00 

J.  M.  Sherwood,  Durham  Cattle, ...» 35  00 

J.  G.  Bochart,  Ewe, 10  00 

J.  G.  Bochart,  Sow, 10  00 

M.  Eames,  Maple  Sugar, 10  00 

H.  Crocker,  Heifer, 10  00 

H.  Crocker,  Fat  Ox, 10  00 

D.  Spencer  &  Co.,  Stone  Ware, 3  00 

S.  Manning,  Reticule, 2  00 

S.  Tyler,  Horse  Nets, 10  00 

S.  Comstock,  Working  Oxen, 8  00 

D.  F.  Lyons  &  Co.,  Pleasure  Wagon, 3  00 

E.  Comstock,  Farm  Implements, 5  00 

E.  Comstock,  Plowing, 12  00 

Oneida  County  Agricultural  Society,  Cheese, 10  00 

S.  W.  Gunn,  Steers, 8  00 

S.  C.  Morris,  Shell  Work, 5  00 

J.  Mclntyre,  Sheep , 35  00 

W.  Otley,  Domestic  Manufacture, 10  00 

S.  Greene,  Cheese, 8  00 

W.  W.  Ballard,  Durham  Bull, 10  00 

J.  Wells,  Linen  Cloth, 5  00 

T.  W.  Boyce,  Flowers, 10  00 

G.  B.  Cary,  Hearth  Rugs, 8  00 

H.  &  J.  Carpenter,  Merino  Buck, 10  00 

E.  H.  Head,  Heifer, 5  00 

H.  Curtiss  &  Co.,  Earthen  Ware, 2  00 

D.  Eells,  Cotton  Stockings, 1  00 

J.  D.  Van  Allen,  Woollen  Blankets, 4  00 

M.  Hauthorn,  Silk  Apron, 2  00 

Hopkins  &  Co.,  Machine  Cards, 3  00 

Mrs.  Hurley, 2  00 

C.  R.  Nichols,  Boar, 10  00 

P.  S.  Eastman,  Farm  Wagon, 10  00 

R.  S.  Ransom,  Butter, 10  00 

Carried  forward, $993  00 


No .  105.]  403 

Brought  forward, $993  00 

A.  D.  Childs,  Horse  Power,   10  00 

J.  A.  Pitts,  Corn  Crusher,  . .    10  00 

A.  Douglass,  Threshing  Machine, 10  00 

T.  H.  Hyatt,  Bull  and  Heifer, 20  00 

G.  Forden,  Mare  and  Colt, 20  00 

J.  Butterfield,  Horses, 10  00 

C.  Booram,  Fat  Cow, 10  00 

R.  Blackstone,  Working  Oxen, 10  00 

Bell  and  Morris,  Bull  and  Cow, 20  00 

J.  B.  Nott,  Mare  and  Colt, 10  00 

A.  Dye,  Piano  Cover, 2  00 

A.  Koonz,  Coverlid, 2  00 

A.  Austain,  Worsted  Work, 3  00 

M.  Fames,  Hearth  Rug, 1  00 

G.  B.  Cary,  Chair  Bottom, 3  00 

A.  Baillie,  Linen  Cloth, 4  00 

C.  Aldrich,  Stockings,  etc 2  00 

A.  Cole,  Cotton  Blankets, 3  00 

H.  N.  Cary,  Grade  Cattle, 26  00 

B.  P.  Johnson,  Devon  Bull, 10  00 

E.  P.  Webster,  Miniature  Cottage, 2  00 

A.  Cole,  Domestic  Articles, 1  00 

C.  W.  Curtenius,  Worsted  Work, 3  00 

M.  E.  TunneclifF,  Hearth  Rug, 4  00 

W.  Otley,  Coverlid, 3  00 

J.  Williams,  Flour, 3  00 

D.  Skinner,  Worsted  Work, 3  00 

M.  G.  Morris,  Lace  Work, 3  00 

M.  G.  Morris,  Cotton  Stockings, 2  00 

H.  S.  Storm,  Shell  Box, 2  00 

E.  K.  Browning,  Machine  Cards, 3  00 

G.  Brinkerhoof,  Sheep, 2  50 

F.  D.  Hollis,  Sheep, 2  50 

N.  White,  Stone  Ware, 3  00 

A.  A.  James,  Coverlid, 4  00 

S.  Rees,  Potatoes, 2  00 

J.  M.  Sherwood,  Sheep, 15  00 

N.  S.  Hungerford,  Horse, 10  00 

T.  J.  Burrall,  Plowing, 10  00 

H.  Tiffany,  Horse,   10  00 

G.  Warren,  Horse, 10  00 

J.  Reeves,  Fat  Sheep, 10  00 

S.  Fancher,  Horse, 20  00 

J.  Fairchild,  Mare  and  Colt, '....". 10  00 

M.  S.  Butter,  Steers, 10  00 

W.  S.  Mould,  Heifers, 10  00 

Carried  forward, $1,337  00 

[Senate,  No.  105.J  26 


404  [Sen 

Brought  forward, 11,337  00 

W.  W.  Eastman,  Cow  and  Heifer, 30  00 

J.  Freeman,  Oxen  and  Steers, 40  00 

H.  W.  Doolittle,  Heifers, 20  00 

A.  Jefferson,  Subsoil  Plow, 10  00 

J.  Woodworth,  Maple  Sugar, 15  00 

A.  Merrill,  Matched  Horses, 10  00 

Elwanger  and  Barry,  Fruit, 10  00 

J.  H.  Church,  Saxon  Ewes, 10  00 

J.  Van  Hoosen,  Draught  Horse, 20  00 

E.  W.  Butler,  Plowing, 10  00 

J.  H.  Crocker,  Saxon  Buck, , 10  00 

H.  Burrell,  best  ten  Dairies, 20  00 

C.  Phelps,  Table  Apples, 3  00 

J.  M.  Cleaveland,  Corn  Cutter, 2  00 

W.  W.  Chase,  Dynomometer, 15  00 

M.  Adams,  Butter, 15  00 

J.  Durkee,  Shell  Flowers,   2  00 

S.  Churchill,  Woolen  Cloth, 5  00 

C.  Buck,  Flannel, .  .  _ 5  00 

R.  Eells,  Cheese,  etc 19  50 

E.  Corning,  Hereford  Cattle, 40  00 

C.  N.  Bement,  Ayrshire  Cattle, 62  00 

E.  P.  Prentice,  Bull  and  Fat  Steers, ,  20  00 

L.  Tucker,  Poultry, 16  00 

C.  E.  Goodrich,  Sweet  Corn, 1  00 

G.  W.  Henry,  Brushes, 2  00 

S.  Thompson,  Carpets, 3  00 

L.  Tucker,  Mittens, 1  00 

D.  Thomas,  Fruit, , 6  00 

J.  Beebe,  Fanning  Mill, 5  00 

E.  M.  Bateman,  Kersey, , 3  00 

E.  Corning,  Draught  Horse, 20  00 

E.  Corning,  Fat  Cow, 5  00 

J.  Callanan,  Fat  Oxen, 10  00 

M.  J.  Johnson,  Needle  Work, 3  00 

W.  Potter,  Tow  Cloth, 2  00 

B.  Blackmore,  Rag  Carpet, 3  00 

K.  Robinson,  Rag  Carpet, 1  00 

T.  Manahan,  Hearth  Rug, 2  OO 

W.  C.  Burrit,  Linen  Stockings, 1  00 

S,  Jones,  Wax  Ornaments, 3  00 

E.  Lynds,  Floral  Ornaments, 3  00 

G.  G.  Dana,  Carrots,   1  00 

B.  Plant,  Rag  Carpet, , 2  00 

J.  Bronson,  Coverlid, 1  00 

S.  T.  Marshall,  Diaper, 3  00 

B.  R.  Voorhees,  Diaper, 13  00 

Carried  forward, ,  $1,840  QO 


No.  105.]  405 

Brought  forward, $1,840  00 

G.  R.  Fairbanks,  Coverlid, 3  00 

Mrs.  Jackson,  Dahlias, 5  00 

George  Vail,  Butter, 10  00 

A.  Allen,  sundry  articles, 2  00 

G.  W.  Henry,  sundry  articles, "  14  00 

J.  Winslow,  Coverlid, 3  00 

$1,877  50 

F.  Rotch,  to  pay  for  medals,  etc 130  00 

Lovet,  for  medals, 78  00 

Lovet,  for  medals, 45  00 

Jordan  &  Co.,  Diplomas, 281  00 

f  2,4 11  50 


Expenses  at  Fair. — (B.) 

Dana  &  Son,  for  Merchandize, |12  47 

Bill  for  Labor, 1  00 

N.  Douner  &  Son,  Lumber,  etc 65  18 

Dr.  Thompson,  expenses  paid, 24  05 

Clerk  at  Ticket  Office, 2  00 

J.  Butterfield's  bill, 50  00 

N.  White,  Cartage, 3  00 

J.  Whiting,  Merchandize, 5  98 

E.  S.  Barnam  &  Co 2  69 

N.  E.  Newell, 3  12 

B.  P.  Johnson,  expenses  paid, 21  50 

Clerk  at  Ticket  Office,  10  00 

Clerk  at  Business  Office, 15  00 

A.  Snow,  Labor, 9  00 

J.  Plant,  trial  Stump  Machine, 5  00 

Clerk  at  Ticket  Office, 18  00 

Clerk  at  Ticket  Office, 18  00 

J.  F.  Kittle,  Printing, 10  00 

Expenses  at  Plowing  Match, 2  50 

Sager  &  House,  Merchandize, 9  54 

G.  Tracy,  Merchandize, 14  50 

N.  Douner,  Carpenter's  Work, 35  13 

Clerk  at  Ticket  Office, 3  00 

Clerk  at  Ticket  Office, 3  00 

Dr.  Lee,  expenses  paid, 10  00 

Clerk  Business  Office, 3  00 

Bennet  &  Co.,  Stationery, 4  38 

G.  Tracy,  Stationery, 5  75 

Carried  forward, $366  79 


406  [Senatb 

Brought  forward, |366  79 

E.  Comstockj  for  bills  paid, 10  63 

L.  Tucker,  for  bills  paid, 10  00 

J.  S.  Clark,  Printing  Badges, 11  00 

Sundry  bills  for  Labor, 8  50 

D.  Gray,  for  Labor, 75 

B.  P.  Johnson,  for  bills  paid, .  , 46  72 

Testing  Plows,. 3  00 

Testing  Plows, 3  00 

S.  Thompson,  Merchandize, 4  00 

G.  Bullock,  Painting, 7  00 

J.  Holland,  Cartage, 7  00 

A.  Northway,  Printing, 6  00 

Sawyer  &  Co.,  Merchandize, 1  30 

Brainard  &  Co.,  use  of  Machine, 7  50 

J.  J.  Francis,  Labor, 3  75 

J.  F.  Strain,  bill  rendered, 53  75 

Stone  &  Henly,  Advertising, 2  50 

R.  Northway,  Printing, 2  00 

T.  S.  Faxton,  bills  paid, 1  75 

1556  94 


Sun  dry  Expenses .—  (C . ) 

M.  Jordan,  Furniture, |17  00 

B.  Tongue,  Labor, 2  00 

B.  Curtain,  Labor,   5  00 

A.  D.  Phelps,  balance  of  account, 8  38 

M.  Jordan,  Services, 12  00 

Albany  Daily  Advertiser, 5  00 

E.  Dwyer,  Labor, 3  25 

Stone  &  Henly,  Printing, 7  00 

J.  Gladding,  Painting, 1  59 

Mulford  &  Co.,  Lettering  Medals, 3  75 

Boston  asourier,  Advertising, 8  67 

Model  of  Prize  Heifer, ,  4  25 

C.  Van  Benthuysen,  Printing,  etc 187  39 

Albany  Argus,  Advertising, 3  75 

Albany  Argus,  Sundries, 10  68 

$279  62 


No.  105.]  407 


Paid  Officers.— (D.) 

Recording  Secretary, $59  00 

Recording  Secretary, 159  OO 

Agricultural  Lecturer, 75  00 

Agricultural  Lecturer, 105  00 

H.  O'Reily,  balance  due, 48  00 

L.  Tucker,  balance  due, 199  00 

1528  00 


408  [Senate 


THOMAS  HILLHOUSE,  TREASURER  STATE  AGRICUL- 

RAL  SOCIETY. 

Dr. 

1846. 

Jan'y.  To  balance  as  by  last  report, $932  09 

Memberships,  1845,  80  00 

Dividend  Mohawk  bonds, 105  00 

Utica  Fair, 4,370  18 

Hon.  Francis  Granger, 25  00 

R.  J.  Pell,  Esq 5  00 

Dividend  Mohawk  bonds, 105  00 

State  of  New-York, , , .  700  00 

16,322  27 

Cr. 

1846. 

Jan'y.  By  premiums  paid,  (A.) $2,411  50 

Expenses  at  Fair,  (B.) 556  94 

Sundry  expenses,  (C.) 279  62 

Salaries  paid,  (D.) 528  00 

Bond  and  mortgage, 2,000  00 

$5,776  06 
Balance, ,         546  21 

$6,322  27 

We  certify  that  we  have  carefully  examined  and  compared  the 
above  account  with  the  accompanying  vouchers,  and  that  the  same 
is  in  all  respects  just  and  true. 

BENJ.  P.  JOHNSON,  President 

Luther  Tucker,  Recording  Secretary. 


AGRICULTURAL  MEETLNGS. 


Subject  for  discussion — "  What  breed  or  breeds  of  cattle,  are  best 
adapted  to  the  purposes  of  farmers  in  the  State  of  New-York  ^" 

Mr.  SoTHAM  said  he  was  an  advocate  of  the  Herefords.  He  be- 
lieved they  would  make  more  flesh  with  same  expense  than  any 
breed  in  the  country — that  they  would  carry  themselves  to  market 
with  less  loss  ;  and  that  their  beef  would,  from  its  superior  quality, 
command  the  highest  price.  In  selecting  these  cattle,  he  had  done 
so  from  a  conviction  that  they  would  prove  more  generally  useful 
here,  than  any  other  breed  in  England.  He  had  had  frequent  oppor- 
tunities of  examining  all  the  breeds  there,  and  thought  he  was  ac- 
quainted with  the  peculiarities  of  each.  He  had  been  perfectly  sat- 
isfied with  the  Herefords  here ;  and  he  only  asked  a  fair  trial  for 
them,  to  satisfy  others.  He  however  considered  mere  opinions  h.s  of 
but  little  consequence  in  regard  to  cattle ,  he  therefore  proposed  to 
hare  the  Herefords  tried  on  their  own  merits  ;  and  for  this  purpose 
was  willing  to  put  three  steers  and  three  cows,  to  a  trial  with  the 
same  number  owned  at  this  time  by  one  man,  of  any  other  breed, 
under  such  regulations  as  impartial  individuals  should  deem  proper. 
He  made  this  public  offer  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  have  a  fair 
comparison  made  with  various  breeds. 

Mr.  Danforth,  of  Jefferson  county,  member  of  the  Assembly,  said 
he  began  breeding  with  what  is  called  the  native  stock.  About  six- 
teen years  ago,  he  purchased  a  Short-horn  bull  of  the  late  Matthew 
Bullock,  of  Albany  county.  The  calves  produced  from  this  animal 
and  the  old  stock,  were  much  improved  for  dairy  purposes — they 
were  also  better  for  fattening.  He  kept  them  as  he  had  formerly 
kept  stock.  They  were  more  tender  in  constitution — did  not  winter 
so  well — were  not  quite  so  good  for  labor — their  dispositions  were 
more  sluggish  ;  but  on  the  whole  they  were  more  profitable  by  at 
least  twenty  per  cent,  than  the  old  stock.  Some  years  since,  Mr. 
D.  used  a  Devon  bidl  in  his  herd.  The  cross  from  him  on  that  of 
the  Short-horn  bull,  had  proved  excellent.  They  are  more  hardy, 
require  less  food,  fatten  easier,  are  better  for  work,  and  are  as  good 
for  milk.  Their  superiority  for  labor  and  fattening  is  quite  obvious 
— for  beef,  the  Devon  cross  is  better  at  three,  than  the  others  are  at 
four  years  of  age.  Both  Durhams  and  Devons  had  improved  his  na- 
1;vr^  c;tnr>V  :  hut  bo  thought  the  Devon  had  benefitted  him  the  most. 


410  [Senate 

Mr.  Betts,  of  the  Assembly,  said  the  best  stock  of  cattle  he  had 
ever  seen,  belonged  to  a  neighbor  of  his.  They  were  genuine  na- 
tives. He  doubted  whether  the  late  imported  breeds  were  proper 
for  the  country,  or  whether  our  stock  could  be  improved  by  them.  In 
attempting  to  improve  our  stock,  we  should  use  that  which  has  been 
acclimated.  He  had  seen  several  of  these  "  improved"  animals,  as 
they  w^ere  called.  He  described  one  in  particlar,  which  all  who  saw 
him  thought  a  very  fine  one.  He  was  large,  and  when  fat,  looked 
well ;  but  he  turned  out  unprofitably.  He  thought  there  was  a  good 
deal  of  deception  in  cattle,  owing  to  the  manner  in  which  they  were 
kept.  He  had  known  men  keep  their  cattle  so  Jat  as  to  make  them- 
selves poor. 

Mr.  Bement  said,  within  the  last  eighteen  years  he  had  had  more 
or  less  experience  with  the  Durhams,  Devons,  Herefords,  Ayrshire s, 
and  natives,  as  they  are  called.  He  had  found  both  good  and  bad 
milkers  among  the  Durhams — generally  speaking,  the  higher  bred 
they  were,  the  less  valuable  they  were  as  milkers.  But  he  was  sat- 
isfied it  was  practicable  to  select  from  certain  families  of  the  Short- 
horns, those  from  which  a  very  superior  breed  of  milkers  might  be 
reared — a  race  perhaps  superior  in  this  respect  to  all  others.  For 
his  land,  however,  which  was  rather  sandy  and  light,  he  liked  the 
Ayrshires  ;  and  so  far,  was  very  well  satisfied  with  them.  He  thought 
Durhams  were  better  workers  than  had  generally  been  allowed.  He 
had  seen  them  tried,  and  they  did  exceedingly  welL 

Judge  Leland,  of  Steuben  county,  said  they  had  tried  several 
breeds  in  his  section — the  Short-horns,  Herefords,  and  Devons,  had 
all  been  there.  Several  years  ago,  Mordecai  Hale,  esq.,  who  was 
in  some  way  connected  with  the  U.  S.  navy,  sent  some  Herefords 
into  that  county  ;  and  perhaps  he  ought,  in  justice  to  the  advocates 
of  Herefords,  to  say  that  they  proved  the  most  generally  useful  of 
any  stock  they  had  tried.  They  were  very  hardy,  were  powerful  in 
the  yoke,  and  a  decided  improvement  on  the  native  stock,  for  the 
dairy.  Comparing  those  Herefords  with  the  herd  owned  at  this  time 
by  Messrs.  Corning  and  Sotham,  he  thought  the  latter  showed  that 
the  breed  had  been  improved  in  regard  to  a  disposition  to  accumu- 
late fat  on  the  most  valuable  parts — the  "  quality  pieces,"  as  Mr. 
Sotham  had  called  them ;  but  while  this  had  been  gained,  it  was  a 
question  in  his  mind,  whether  they  had  not  lost  something  on  the 
score  of  muscular  strength  and  constitution.  In  relation  to  this, 
however,  he  only  spoke  of  the  appearance  of  Messrs.  C.  and  S.'s 
stock. 

Judge  L.  remarked  that  his  experience  and  observations  had  con- 
vinced him,  that  the  native  stock  of  this  section  would  be  improved 
either  by  the  Durhams,  Herefo'^ds,  or  Devons — that  is,  a  cross  from 
either  of  these  made  more  projitahle  stock  for  general  purposes. 

Mr.  Howard,  of  the  Cultivator,  said,  he  should  infer  from  some 
remarks  he  had  heard  in  the  course  of  the  discussion,  the  idea  was 
entertained  that  the  improvers  of  stock  advocate  a  large  breed.  He 
believed  the  idea  erroneous — the  best  and  most  distinguished  breed- 
ers were  never  in  favor  of  very  large  animals.     Bakewell,  who  fur- 


No.  105.]  411 

nished  the  most  striking  example  as  a  successful  breeder,  was  gov- 
erned by  no  such  notions ;  and  from  all  we  can  learn,  his  system  and 
practices  were  quite  opposed  to  them.  Mr.  Marshall,  who  has  told 
us  nearly  all  we  know  of  his  management,  says — "  before  Mr.  Bake- 
well's  day,  nothing  would  suit  but  elephants  and  giants."  He  in- 
troduced a  different  fashion — smaller  animals,  easier  supported,  soon- 
er matured,  truer  in  their  form,  giving  more  useful  flesh,  with  less 
offal.  He  first  taught  the  utility  of  form,  or  that  proportion  of  parts 
which  renders  the  animal  most  useful  in  the  capacity  for  which  it  is 
designed. 

Again,  the  celebrated  improver  of  the  Short-horns,  Charles  Colling, 
who  has  been  called  a  disciple  of  Bakewell — though  he  worked  with 
a  different  breed — it  is  well  known,  begun  with  a  determination  to 
reduce  the  size.  For  this  purpose  he  used  a  bull  smaller  than  the 
Short-horns  usually  were,  (Hubback)  which  in  that  day  was  called 
a  mongrel  by  some  who  thought  to  cast  ridicule  on  his  course.  Mr, 
Colling  saw,  (says  the  Rev.  Henry  Berry)  the  great  "  difficulty  of 
breeding  large  good  animals,"  and  in  the  outset  decided  to  attempt 
the  improvement  of  the  breed  by  lessenmg  its  size.  The  success  of 
Mr.  Colling,  at  least  so  far  as  regards  early  maturity,  and  tendency 
to  fatten,  is  beyond  a  question.  And  the  fact  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  best  of  the  improved  Short-horns,  are  much  smaller  in 
frame  than  the   old  breed. 

Mr.  H.  said  he  knew  it  was  common  for  people  who  had  not  given 
much  attention  to  the  matter,  to  attribute  excellence  in  animals  to 
large  size,  and  he  knew  of  no  error  more  fatal  to  improvement.  It 
had  been  well  observed  by  a  distinguished  breeder,  that  large  size, 
merely,  no  more  indicates  excellence  in  quadrupeds^  than  in  men! 
The  best  cattle  for  any  purpose,  whether  Short-horns,  Herefords,  or 
Devons,  are  comparatively  small  boned. 

Mr.  Stevens,  of  Buffalo,  v/as  sorry  that  the  discussion  had  not 
been  more  specific.  Cattle  are  used  in  the  State  of  New-York  for  va- 
rious purposes,  and  he  regretted  that  the  subject  had  not  been  taken 
up  in  such  a  manner  as  to  show  what  constituted  a  good  animal  for 
some  of  these  purposes.  He  was  aware  that  this  subject  could  not 
be  properly  "  talked  over"  in  the  space  of  a  single  evening  ;  yet  he 
thought  we  should  first  settle  on  the  principles^  and  then  proceed  to 
make  an  application  of  them. 

In  regard  to  the  characteristics  of  different  breeds,  and  their  adap- 
tation to  different  purposes,  much  h.id  been  said.  The  qualities  of 
the  Durhams,  or  Improved  Short-horns,  had  been  spoken  of.  He  had 
been  somewhat  acquainted  with  different  families  of  the  Short-horns, 
and  had  found  them  quite  various  in  their  characters.  The  improved 
variety,  being  an  artificial,  or  "  made  up"  breed,  they  were  less  uni- 
form in  their  character  and  properties  than  some  others.  He  was  a 
strong  advocate  for  the  best  Short-horns,  but  in  obtaining  those  of 
this  description,  almost  everything  depended  on  selection,  or  the 
manner  in  which  they  had  been  bred.  The  best  animals  he  had  ever 
owned,  were  Short-horns,  and  the  wor^^  were  also  Short-horns.  The 
difference  was  owing  to  the  manner  of  breeding. 


412  [Senate 

Mr.  S.  spoke  briefly  of  the  properties  of  different  races — though 
as  the  evening  was  far  advanced,  he  could  only  give  a  general  notice 
of  them.  In  general  he  thought  the  Devons  were  not  good  milkers. 
Some  breeders,  however,  had  cultivated  the  milking  property,  and 
had  obtained  Devons  good  for  the  dairy.  He  cited  the  stock  of  Mr. 
Patterson,  of  Maryland,  which  had  been  obtained  from  the  Earl  of 
Leicester,  and  his  tenant,  Mr.  Bloomfield,  as  being  of  this  character. 
The  milking  qualities  of  the  Short-horns  that  have  been  brought  here, 
as  he  had  before  said,  had  been  very  various.  Mr.  Heaton,  of  Throg's 
Neck,  Westchester  county,  imported  some  in  1793.  They  were 
good  milkers  and  a  useful  stock.  The  late  Samuel  Miles  Hopkins, 
esq.,  imported  some  to  Cayuga  county,  which  were  also  good,  and 
taking  them  for  all  purposes,  he  did  not  know  that  he  had  ever  seen 
better.  The  stock  of  the  late  Matthew  Bullock  were  good  milkers, 
but  many  of  them,  especially  of  those  bred  in  early  times,  had  bad 
constitutions, — they  had  narrow  backs  and  big  bones.  The  Herefords 
were  not  formerly  considered  good  milkers,  but  he  thought  they 
had  been  latterly  improved  in  this  respect — a  Hereford  having  re- 
ceived the  highest  prize  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  in  1839, 
as  the  best  cow  for  dairy  purposes,  in  competition  with  the  Durhams 
and  others.  He  had  reen  the  Herefords  of  Messrs.  Corning  and  So- 
tham,  and  though  he  (Mr.  Stevens)  was  a  "  Durham  man,"  he  must 
say  he  liked  them.  Several  of  the  cows  in  that  herd  showed  good 
developments  for  the  diary.  He  could  not  say  how  the  stock  in  gene- 
ral might  prove  in  this  respect.  If,  as  their  advocates  contend, 
they  are  as  good  as  others  for  dairy  purposes  ;  they  were  certainly  a 
valuable  stock,  for  he  thought  their  properties  for  the  yoke,  and  for 
fattening,  were  unquestionable. 

Mr.  Stevens  made  some  remarks  on  the  anatomy  of  cattle,  of  which 
no  notes  were  taken. 


Subject  for  discussion — "  The  proper  state  for  cutting  grass  and 
the  best  modes  of  making  hay  j  with  the  proper  time  and  manner  of 
seeding  grass  land." 

Mr  Bement  said  he  had  formerly  been  in  the  habit  of  cutting  timo- 
thy grass  quite  late.  It  was  much  easier  cured  after  it  got  pretty 
ripe.  But  he  found  in  using  hay  thus  cut,  that  it  wanted  substance, 
and  he  had  ascertained  that  the  best  time  for  cutting:  was  while  the 
grass  was  in  blossom.  In  making  clover  hay,  he  had  adopted  Judge 
Buel's  plan.  He  thought  it  best  not  to  expose  it  much  to  the  sun. 
His  practice  was  to  cut  it  in  the  morning,  let  it  lay  till  noon,  and  then 
cock  it,  and  let  it  sweat  for  two  or  three  days  according  to  the  state 
of  the  weather.  On  putting  the  hay  in  the  barn,  he  had  used  about 
four  quarts  of  salt  to  the  ton.  Hay  thus  managed  came  out  in  the 
spring  very  bright  and  sweet.  In  the  ordinary  way  of  curing  clover 
hay,  the  best  parts  are  wasted. 


No.  105.]  413 

In  sowing  grass  seed,  he  sometimes  sowed  clover,  red- top  and  timo- 
thy in  the  fall.     Clover  did  not  generally  succeed  so  well  sown  in 
the  fall.     He  had  therefore  sown  part  in  the  fall   and  part  in  the 
spring.     He  iisuallysowed  clover  and  timothy  together,  and  advised 
half  to  be   sown  in  the  fall   and  half  in  the  spring.     His  rule  was  a    ■ 
half  a  bushel  of  timothy  and  12  pounds  of  clover.     He  had  tried  rye 
grass  and  orchard  grass,  but  did  not  succeed  very  w^ell.     He  thought 
them  not  very  good  for  hay,  but  some  thought  them  good  forpasture. 
Mr.  Howard  presumed  it  would  be  proper  to  include  clover  in  the 
discussion,  although  it  was  not,  strictly  speaking,  a  grass.     He  was 
aware  that  there  were  different  opinions  as  to  the  proper  stage  for 
cutting  grass  ;  but  he  thought  the  observance  of  certain  principles 
might  affordi^  guide  in  the  case.     For  example,  the  stems  of  grasses 
were  filled  just  before  the  formation  of  the  seed,  with  a  starchy  or 
saccharine  substance.     In  perfecting  the  seed,  the  stems  were  ex- 
hausted of  this  substance,  it  being  consumed  in  forming  seed.     Now 
if  the  herbage  is  the  object,  the  plant  should  be  cut  before  the  nutri- 
ment has  passed  from  the  stems.     If  seed  is  the  object,  the  plant 
must  of  course  be  allowed  to  attain  a  good  degree  of  maturity.     It  is 
obvious,  for  certain  reasons,  that  grasses  are  valuable  chiefly  for  their 
stems  and  leaves.     In  the  first  place  the  seeds  are  so  minute  that  do- 
mestic animals  do  not  masticate  them,  and  they  are  enveloped  in  so 
hard  a  covering  that  they  are  not  dissolved  by  the  juices  of  the  sto- 
mach— the  heat  and  moisture  they  pass  through,  only  swelling  them 
a  little,  so  that  they  are  known  to  vegetate,  generally  better  from 
having  passed  through  the  animal.     Sheep  partially  destroy  the  veg- 
etative power  of  grass  seeds,  but  cattle  and  horses  scarcely  injure 
them  at  all.     Hay  made  from  ripe  grass  may  "  go  farther,"  or  "spend 
better,"  as  the  argument  is  ;  and  it  is  admitted  that  this  may  be  true, 
for  animals  are  less  inclined  to  eat  it  ;  but  this  is  no  proof  that  it  is 
more  nutritive. 

In  regard  to  making  hay,  Mr.  H.  said  he  was  brought  up  in  the 
belief  that  it  could  only  be  done  when  the  sun  shone  ;  but  the  pres- 
ent generation  had  in  one  respect,  perhaps,  grown  wiser  than  their 
fathers,  for  we  have  found  that  hay  can  be  made  when  the  sun  does 
not  shine.  He  spoke  of  the  different  modes  of  curing  hay,  with 
nearly  all  which,  he  said,  he  had  been  acquainted.  Clover  hay  was 
altogether  better  when  cured  in  cock,  than  by  any  other  mode  he 
knew  practised  All  hay  was  better  for  undergoing  to  some  extent, 
a  sweating  in  the  cock.  Coarse  timothy  was  thus  rendered  much 
softer,  and  was  less  strawy  and  stiff,  and  every  description  of  hay 
was  less  likely  to  be  "  mow  burned." 

As  to  seeding  grass  lands,  Mr.  H.  preferred  the  latter  part  of  the 
season.  If  grass  was  sown  in  the  spring,  it  was  very  likely  to  be 
killed  by  the  summer  drouth.  If  sown  the  latter  part  of  August  or 
the  first  of  September,  it  generally  got  root  enough  to  stand  the  win- 
ter, and  it  would  generally  produce  a  good  crop  the  next  year,  though 
it  woukl  be  later  than  other  grass.  When  it  became  necessary  to 
plough  grass  lands,  and  it  was  not  desired  to  devote  the  land  to  other 
crops,  it  might  be  plowed  after  haying,  and  grass  seed  sown  nt  once 


414  [Senate 

on  the  inverted  sward.  If  the  land  was  tolerably  clear  of  stones,  and 
a  good  plow,  in  good  order,  was  used,  the  work  might  be  so  well 
done,  that  a  light,  sharp  harrow  would  make  the  surface  sufficiently 
level  to  form  a  good  "bottom"  for  mowing  over.  A  roller  might 
sometimes  be  used  to  good  advantage  before  harrowing.  The  suc- 
cess of  clover,  sown  in  the  fall,  depended  much  on  the  nature  of  the 
soil,  and  the  character  of  the  succeeding  winter.  If  the  soil  was  po- 
rous and  not  likely  to  be  thrown  by  frost,  and  the  weather  of  the 
next  winter  and  spring  not  such  as  to  "  winter  kill,"  it  would  do  very 
well.  He  had  known  it  sown  with  rye  with  good  results.  As  a 
general  rule,  however,  it  was  better,  probably,  to  sow  clover  in  the 
spring.  The  late  snows  furnished  a  good  bed  for  sowing  it — as  the 
snow  w^ent  off  it  softened  the  ground  sufficiently  tor  th^  seed  to  sink 
into  it. 

Mr.  Betts  thought  the  time  for  cutting  grass  depended  on  the 
weather,  in  a  great  degree.  He  thought  grass  might  retain  its  nour- 
ishing qualities  till  the  seed  was  formed — it  sometimes  looked  dry  at 
top  "w^hen  it  was  green  at  bottom.  In  wet  weather  it  may  sour  or  rot 
at  the  bottom.  He  agreed  that  clover  should  not  be  much  exposed  to 
the  sun  in  making.  Eut  the  great  thing  in  hay-making,  was  to  have 
good  weather,  and  then  with  proper  care  we  could  have  good  hay. 
He  was  not  in  favor  of  mowing  a  great  deal  of  grass  while  the  dew  is 
on.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  spreading  the  swathes  as  soon  as  the 
ground  was  dry,  and  he  always  had  it  well  cocked  up  before  night. 
The  next  day,  if  the  weather  was  good,  he  opened  it  again,  if  it  did 
not  dry  enough  he  put  it  together  again ;  but  his  object  was  to  get 
it  so  that  it  would  do  to  put  it  in  the  barn.  He  was  in  favor  of  using 
a  little  salt  with  it.  He  had  sometimes  found  his  hay  heat  too  much 
in  the  mow.  From  being  hurried,  he  had  occasionally  put  a  load 
in  the  barn  too  green.  To  stop  the  heat  and  fermentation  which  had 
ensued  in  such  cases,  he  had  made  holes  in  the  hay  with  a  crow-bar, 
and  scattered  in  salt.  In  this  way  he  had  stopped  the  fermentation, 
and  saved  his  hay  in  very  good  order.  In  seeding  he  did  not  use  as 
much  seed  as  Mr.  Bement  had  mentioned.  If  it  was  properly  put 
in,  and  the  weather  was  favorable,  a  less  quantity  than  had  been 
mentioned  would  answer.  He  had  had  as  good  a  crop  as  he  ever 
saw,  with  four  pounds  of  clover  seed  to  the  acre.  It  was  often  hur- 
ried too  deep — so  deep  that  a  great  deal  of  it  does  not  vegetate.  He 
preferred  usinig  only  a  light  bush  for  covering  it — this"  was  better  than 
harrowing  it  in.  He  chose  to  sow  clover  before  the  frost  was  out  of 
the  ground. 

Mr.  Garretson,  of  the  Assembly,  from  Dutchess  county,  said  he 
generally  cut  from  150  to  200  tons  of  hay  per  year,  chiefly  timothy 
and  red-top.  He  generally  begun  when  the  grass  was  in  the  blossom. 
His  method  was  to  cut  in  the  morning,  spread  the  swathes  lightly, 
and  in  the  afternoon  put  it  in  cocks.  The  next  day,  if  the  sun  came 
out,  it  was  again  spread,  and  if  made  enough,  put  in  the  barn,  with 
a  little  salt  sprinkled  on  it.  About  three  quarts  of  salt  on  the  ton 
was  as  much  as  he  used.  There  was  danger  of  using  too  much.  He 
had  formerly  used  more  salt,  and  was  satisfied  his  animals,  particu- 


No.  105.]  415 

larly  sheep  had  suffered  by  it.  It  occasioned  scouring,  and  by  keep- 
ing the  bowels  out  of  order  for  some  time,  they  died.  Grass  on  his 
meadow  lands  runs  out.  If  he  did  not  wish  to  break  up  the  land,  he 
had  gone  over  it  with  a  scarifier,  and  sown  the  grass  seed  after  it, 
bushing  it  in,  with  good  success.  Some  meadows,  however,  requir- 
ed plowing  up.  It  was  decidedly  best  to  sow  timothy  in  the  fall.  As 
to  quantity  of  seed,  people  generally  err  in  not  using  enough — he 
used  it  liberally.  He  usually  got  about  two  tons  of  hay  to  the  acre. 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  season  it  would  sometimes  make  enough  in 
one  day. 

Mr.  Mack  said  that  although  some  regarded  his  claim  to  be  con- 
sidered a  farmer  as  rather  equivocal,  he  thought  he  had  a  good  right 
to  the  title.  He  had  a  farm  on  which  he  spent  his  summers,  and  on 
which  he  had  expended  $10,000  within  a  few  years.  He  felt  a  great 
interest  in  farming,  and  the  subject  before  the  meeting  was  one  of 
the  most  interesting  departments.  He  always  directed  his  men  to 
make  hay  as  rapidly  as  possible.  He  had  often  made  it  and  put  it 
in  the  barn  in  one  day,  and  never  had  better  hay.  He  was  always 
particular  to  secure  it  from  dew  when  it  must  be  left  over  night.  It 
is  said  by  some  who  had  much  practice  in  making  hay,  that  it  is 
never  injured  from  its  own  internal  juice,  but  only  from  rain  or  dew. 
He  has  not  had  much  experience  in  sowing  grass,  but  generally  sows 
timothy  and  clover  in  the  spring — had  found  the  best  results  from 
sowing  on  snow.  From  what  he  had  learned,  however,  he  thought 
it  best  to  sow  timothy  in  the  fall. 

Mr.  SoTHAM  did  not  like  the  plan  of  salting  hay,  neither  did  he 
like  hay  that  was  made  in  one  day.  If  it  could  be  so  made  that  it 
would  take  no  hurt,  in  one  day,  it  must  have  been  too  dry  for  good 
hay  before  it  was  cut,  or  else  very  light  burden.  He  would  as  soon 
have  good  bright  straw  for  cows  or  sheep,  as  timothy  hay  after  it  had 
gone  to  seed.  He  cuts  clover  when  a  part  of  it  is  in  blossom  and 
part  in  the  head.  Cuts  all  his  grass  early.  It  takes  longer  to  make 
hay  cut  thus  early,  but  for  cows  and  sheep,  especially,  it  was  a  great 
deal  better.  The  objection  to  salting  hay  was,  that  animals  were 
forced  to  eat  salt  whether  they  wanted  it  or  not,  and  it  made  sheep 
scour.  His  hay  came  out  of  the  barn  of  a  bright  green  color,  and  his 
stock  would  fatten  on  it.  There  was  another  great  advantage  in 
cutting  early — the  roots  retained  their  life  and  strength  better,  and 
the  after  feed  and  future  crops  were  much  more  abundant.  He  did 
not  Hke  timothy  for  hay — he  never  saw  it  in  England — the  farmers 
there  thought  it  was  too  coarse  and  wiry  for  stock.  Rye  grass  made 
good  hay — would  yield  in  England  two  tons  per  acre.  Pacey's  was 
the  best  variety — red-top  made  good  hay.  He  had  tried  sainfoin — it 
did  not  come  up  well — there  was  always  a  difficulty  about  it  in  this 
respect,  because  the  seed  was  good  only  a  short  time — it  could  hard- 
ly be  brought  across  the  ocean  and  vegetate.  If  we  could  get  it  here 
it  would  be  very  valuable,  especially  for  dry  lands.  As  to  pasturing 
mowing  lands,  some  land  would  not  bear  it — particularly  if  wet — 
but  he  fed  his  dry  lands  very  close,  in  the  fall,  with  cattle  and  sheep, 
and  experienced  no  damage  from  it. 


416  TSenats 

Mr.  Dey  made  some  inquiries  about  sainfoin,  lucerne  and  florin, 
&c,,  to  which  Mr.  Howard  briefly  replied. 

Dr.  Lee  thought  timothy  exhausted  the  soil  much  more  than  clov- 
er. From  scientific  investigations,  it  had  been  well  ascertained  that 
timothy  exhausted  the  soil  three  tihaes  as  much  as  clover.  He  thought 
grasses  should  be  cut  before,  the  seed  is  filled.  It  was  correct,  as 
had  been  stated,  that  the  nutriment  of  the  stems  was  exhausted  in 
forming  seed.  He  thought  some  of  the  plans  which  had  been  men- 
tioned for  making  hay,  required  too  much  labor.  Mr.  Sotham,  for 
instance,  could  hardly  make  his  hay  at  two  dollars  a  ton.  He  thought 
it  the  best  way  to  mow  grass  after  the  dew  was  off — spread  it,  dry  it 
as  much  as  possible,  and  rake  it  into  winrow.  If  it  was  dried  enough, 
and  it  W'Ould  frequently  be  so,  he  would  load  it  from  the  winrow, 
and  save  the  labor  of  cocking  it  up.  He  had  had  some  experience 
in  irrigation,  and  thought  its  advantages  were  considerable.  As  to 
top-dressing  for  grass-lands,  he  w^as  much  in  favor  of  ashes.  Char- 
coal dust,  or  charcoal  pulverized,  had  proved  very  excellent  for  this 
purpose.  The  coal  might  be  crushed  in  a  bark-mill.  He  would  ap- 
ply the  ashes  or  coal  in  the  spring. 


Subject  for  discussion — "  The  best  means  of  advancing  the  Agri- 
cultural Interests." 

Mr.  Howard,  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Cultivator,  being  called  on 
to  open  the  discussion,  observed,  that  as  the  subject  before  the  meet- 
ing was  a  very  broad  one,  he  should  not  attempt,  in  the  remarks  he 
might  make  at  this  time,  to  cover  the  whole  ground,  but  would  only 
speak  of  some  of  the  most  essential  means  of  improvement  w^hich 
had  been  presented  to  his  mind. 

Before  we  can  properly  direct  our  efforts  at  improvement,  (said 
Mr.  H.,)  we  must  consider  the  present  condition  of  agriculture,  and 
the  causes  of  its  depression  ;  and  in  this  view  of  the  case  it  may 
perhaps  be  said  in  the  first  place,  that  low  prices  of  products,  and  an 
inadequate  return  for  labor,  are  the  evils  for  which  a  remedy  should 
first  be  sought.  He  would  not  go  into  detail  in  remarks  on  this  state  of 
things,  but  would  simply  state  that,  in  his  opinion,  the  most  proper 
and  effectual  remedy  w^ould  be  found  in  keeping  the  control  of  our 
own  markets — in  raising  up  among  ourselves,  as  fast  as  can  safely  be 
done,  a  class  of  consumers  of  agricultural  products — and  in  lessening 
the  cost  of  those  products^  by  the  introduction  of  better  systems  of 
husbandry. 

Mr.  H.  said  there  were  other  causes  of  the  depression  of  agricul- 
tvre.  He  would  speak  of  a  particularly  prominent  one,  which  in  his 
opinion,  constituted  a  very  great  obstacle  to  improvement,  viz.  the 
prevalence  of  an  inveterate  habit  of  carelessness  and  negligence 
among  farmers.     Pass  through  the  country,  and  w^e  too  plainly  see 


No.  105.]  417 

the  evidence  of  the  existence,  and  consequences  of  this  habit.  We 
see  this  in  the  neglected  fences,  badly  arranged  farm-buildings  and 
barn-yards — and  in  the  trees  and  fruits  of  the  garden  and  orchard, 
destroyed  by  the  caterpillar  and  curculio. 

In  offering  a  remedy  for  this,  Mr.  H.  would  proceed  as  he  should 
do  in  attempting  all  other  great  revolutions  :  that  is,  he  would  begin 
with  the  rising:  gC7ieration.  He  would  endeavor  to  enlist  the  feelings 
of  the  boy,  at  an  early  age,  in  the  business  of  his  future  vocation — 
would  induce  him  to  bring  the  mind  to  aid  the  hands  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  labors.  Teach  him  habits  of  observation  and  reflection. 
Especially  induce  in  him  the  observance  of  systematic  rules  in  the 
laying  out  and  management  of  his  business.  Induce  him  to  adopt 
as  a  motto,  the  advice  of  Franklin  to  his  young  friend  :  "  Lay  down 
a  little  plan  for  yourself,  and  all  your  operations  will  become  easy." 
Let  him  study  the  principles  of  his  art — trace  effects  to  their  causes, 
and  from  well  established  truths  be  able  to  draw  correct  and  useful 
inferences.  Permit  him  not  to  imbibe  the  idea,  heretofore  too  com- 
mon, that  the  profession  of  agriculture  is  a  menial  drudgery,  fit  only 
lor  the  ignorant  and  degraded ;  but  show  him  that  it  is  a  noble  call- 
ing, where  the  powers  of  the  mind  may  find  full  scope,  and  in  the 
study  and  practice  of  which  the  mysterious  and  most  beautiful  opera- 
tions of  nature  are  unfolded  to  view. 

In  the  pursuit  of  his  calling,  with  a  mind  thus  awakened,  the  sphere 
of  thought  would  become  enlarged,  his  character  elevated,  and  his 
happiness  increased.  In  his  daily  occupation,  he  would  find  sources 
of  the  highest  mental  enjoyment.  In  the  springing  grass,  and  open- 
ing bud,  he  would  recognise  the  evidence  of  design — the  work  of  a 
Creator.     He  would  find 

"  Tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks. 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  evei-y  thing." 

Mr.  H.  would  particularly  encourage  boys  in  reading  books  and 
papers  on  subjects  connected  with  agricultural  pursuits.  The  school 
libraries  may  furnish  to  all  our  youth  an  excellent  medium  for  obtain- 
ing useful  reading  of  this  kind.  Excite  in  them,  if  possible,  a  habit 
of  reading  books  on  natural  history.  Provide  suitable  rudimentary 
works  on  entomology  and  botany.  As  the  boy  studies  these,  stimu- 
late his  interest  by  permitting  him  to  combine  the  knowledge  there 
obtained,  with  his  every  day  business.  When,  in  his  field  labors,  he 
meets  with  a  vvorm,  a  moth,  or  a  beetle,  let  him  put  it  in  a  box  car- 
ried in  his  pocket  for  the  purpose.  On  returning  home,  he  will  find 
out  its  name  and  character,  and  give  it  its  proper  place  in  his  ento- 
mological cabinet. 

And  here  Mr.  H.  would  remark,  that  no  subject  is  more  intimately 
connected  with  the  interest  of  the  farmer,  than  entomology.  Upon 
no  cause,  not  immediately  connected  with,  or  depending  on  the 
farmer's  own  operation,  (excepting,  perhaps,  the  influence  of  the 
weather,)  does  his  success  so  much  depend,  as  on  the  exemption  of 
his  crops  from  the  attack  of  insects;  and  yet  but  little  information 
generally  prevails  on  this  subject.     The  obvious  importance  of  this 


418  [Senate 

matter,  shows  that  it  should  be  better  understood ;  for  it  is  only  by 
a  knowledge  of  the  habits  of  insects,  that  the  best  means  of  obviating 
their  attacks  can  be  applied. 

Mr.  H.  thought  the  establishment  of  a  Model  and  Experimental 
Farm,  under  judicious  management,  would  be  a  very  effectual  means 
of  advancing  the  agricultural  interest.  He  urged  this  matter  with 
much  earnestness,  and  advanced  various  arguments  in  favor  of  such 
an  institution.  Its  great  design  and  object  should  be  the  decision  of 
doubtful  points  in  husbandry  and  rural  economy.  There,  the  various 
breeds  of  animals  might  be  subjected  to  an  impartial  test,  and  their 
relative  value  for  specific  purposes,  fairly  made  known.  Theories, 
deducible  from  experiments  in  the  laboratory,  are  being  every  day 
thrown  before  the  public.  These,  would  there  be  subjected  to  the 
test  of  field  culture — nature's  laboratory ;  and  without  such  tests,  they 
could  never  become  safe  guides  to  the  farmer.  These  points  will 
never  be  decided  by  individuals  acting  in  their  ordinary  capacity. 
Some  persons  are  incapable  of  conducting  experiments  in  such  a 
manner  that  correct  inferences  can  be  drawn  from  them.  Others  can- 
not afford  to  risk  time  and  money  upon  uncertain  results;  and  others 
are  so  biassed  in  favor  of  some  favorite  theory,  as  to  preclude  the 
possibility  of  arriving  at  the  true  result  of  an  experiment.  An  esta- 
blishment conducted  by  competent  persons,  with  a  single  eye  to  the 
development  of  truth,  would  be  liable  to  none  of  these  difficulties  or 
objections. 

The  appointment  of  an  agricultural  missionary ,  or  lecturer,  Mr. 
H.  said,  would,  as  he  believed,  be  an  important  auxiliary,  in  con- 
nection with  other  means,  of  advancing  the  cause  of  agricultural 
improvement.  We  may  find  in  other  countries  an  example  in  point. 
Mr.  Blacker  of  Ireland,  and  Prof.  Johnston  of  Scotland,  have  rendered 
very  important  services  by  their  labors  of  this  kind.  It  was  not  to  be 
expected,  perhaps,  that  an  individual  could  be  found  for  this  business, 
whose  opinions  were  in  all  respects  so  perfectly  orthodox  that  no  one 
could  possibly  make  any  objections  to  them;  nor  was  it  necessary 
that  a  lecturer  of  infallibility  should  be  procured.  The  great  benefit 
which  would  accrue  from  his  mission  and  exhortations,  would  be  the 
stimulus  given  to  study  and  investigation.  Farmers  would  be 
aroused — they  would  devote  their  thoughts  to  their  business — an  ex- 
amination would  be  commenced,  to  ascertain  the  truth  of  any  new 
doctrines  which  might  be  promulgated  ;  and  the  result  could  not  fail 
to  be  beneficial. 

Dr.  D.  Lee,  of  the  Assembly,  observed,  that  Sir  Humphrey  Davy 
had  defined  Science  to  be  "  refined  common  sense."  Mr.  L.  thought 
the  use  of  this  "  science,"  or  this  form  of  "  common  sense,"  would 
greatly  advance  the  agricultural  interest.  He  thought  the  farmer 
should  be  better  educated — especially,  that  he  should  have  more  of 
that  kind  of  knowledge  which  would  enable  him  to  reap  a  bet- 
ter return  for  his  labor — would  enable  him  to  keep  more  of  what 
he  earns.  Ten  days'  work  of  the  farmer,  Dr.  L.  said,  frequently  did 
not  bring  him  more  than  one  day's  work  brought  the  lawyer.  He 
thought  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  of  the  right  kind,  would  tend  to 


No.  105.]  419 

equalise  the  value  of  labor — would  advance  the  interest  of  the  far- 
mer, as  well  as  the  whole  community. 

Dr.  Lee  spoke  considerably  in  detail  and  with  much  force  on  the 
subject  before  the  meeting,  but  as  the  reporter  found  it  difficult  to 
take  such  notes  as  would  furnish  a  just  idea  of  his  remarks,  he  is  un- 
der the  necessity  of  giving  only  a  passing  notice. 

Mr.  Betts  of  Rensselaer  county,  member  of  the  Assembly,  ob- 
served, that  there  were  at  least  two  very  important  means  of  advan- 
cing the  agricultural  interest  which  might  be  said  to  come  legitimately 
within  the  duties  of  legislation.  The  first  was  providing  a  market 
for  produce — and  the  second  affording  facilities  for  arriving  at  a  mar- 
ket- He  thought  if  these  two  objects  M'ere  properly  attended  to,  an 
inducement  was  offered  which  would  stimulate  the  farmer  to  make 
both  profit  and  progress  in  his  profession. 

Judge  Leland  of  Steuben  county,  said  our  condition  as  a  people, 
compared  with  other  nations  is  anomalous.  The  people  of  other 
countries  complain  that  they  have  not  enough  to  eat ;  but  we  com- 
plain that  we  have  too  much  !  Low  prices  of  farm  produce  had  been 
mentioned  as  tending  to  depress  agriculture.  To  that  class  of  far- 
mers who  supported  themselves  pretty  much  from  their  own  farms, 
or  lived  "  within  themselves,"  the  nominal  value  of  articles  made  but 
little  difference.  The  farmer  can  eat  his  bread  at  as  low  a  price  as 
any  one  else.  To  those  farmers,  however,  who  are  in  debt,  the  state 
of  low  prices  is  a  serious  evil.  I5ut  he  (Judge  L.)  thought  our  mar- 
kets might  be  expected  to  improve.  It  seemed  to  be  the  genius  of 
the  country  to  encourage  manufactures,  and  these  open  a  market  for 
agricultural  products. 

Our  progress  in  improvement.  Judge  L.  said,  had  in  many  respects 
been  rapid.  In  some  descriptions  of  manufactures,  we  were  now  in 
advance  of  every  other  nation.  We  had  brought  those  articles  near- 
est perfection  for  which  we  had  the  most  use.  Thus,  in  cutting  down 
the  forest,  which  has  heretofore  been  an  important  business  of  the 
farmer,  the  best  tool  is  wanted,  and  the  American  axe,  as  it  now  is, 
cannot  be  equalled  by  anything  of  the  kind  in  the  world. 

Compared  with  other  nations,  or  with  England,  (said  Judge  L.)  we 
are  in  some  respects  inferior.  We  are  particularly  inferior  in  our 
live  stock,  and  in  the  use  of  means  for  preserving  or  restoring  the 
fertility  of  the  land.  Some  sections  of  our  country  are,  however  bet- 
ter advanced  in  improvement  than  others.  The  northern  section 
was  generally  superior  to  the  southern  in  this  respect.  Some  sec- 
tions of  the  south  present  an  aspect  peculiarly  gloomy — it  seems  as 
though  the  hand  of  desolation  had  swept  over  the  country,  palsied 
the  energies  of  the  population,  and  brought  barrenness  to  the  soil. 
He  deemed  the  density  of  population  to  be  the  foundation  of  the 
improvement  of  the  soil. 

In  regard  to  certain  efforts  which  had  been  made  to  improve  the 
condition  of  the  farmer,  Judge  L.  thought  considerable  good  had  been 
done.  The  suggestions  of  the  late  Judge  Buel,  given  through  the 
Cultivator,  particularly  in  regard  to  raising  corn  and  making  hay,  he 
was  certain  had  been  very  beneficial.     There  are  undoubtedly  many 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  27 


420  [Senate" 

things  in  our  present  management  which  might  be  changed  for  the- 
better.  For  instance,  he  was  satisfied  a  great  loss  was  incurred  froi» 
the  imperfect  manner  in  which  our  seed-grain  is  put  in  the  ground. 
A  great  portion  of  the  seed  is  sometimes  wasted.  Dr.  Lee  had  spo- 
ken of  the  productive  powers  of  a  single  kernel  of  wheat.  He  (Judge 
L.)  had  once  raised  37  heads  from  one  kernel — or  an  equivalent  of 
1637  bushels  for  one. 

Judge  Leland  agreed  to  the  remark  that  had  been  made  relative  to 
the  carelessness  of  farmers.  He  believed  it  was  the  cause  of  much  of 
the  "  ill  luck  "  complained  of,  and  he  had  often  thought,  that,  if  the 
merchant  managed  no  better  than  the  farmer  did,  he  would  inevita- 
bly fail. 

Mr.  McYean,  of  the  Assembly,  remarked  that  to  secure  the  pros- 
perous condition  of  the  farmer,  remunerating  prices  for  products, 
were  all  important.  He  thought  the  reception  of  many  foreign  arti- 
cles tended  to  depress  the  prices  of  agricultural  products. 

Mr.  McV.  spoke  of  the  operation  of  agricultural  societies.  They 
stimulated  emulation,  &c.;  but  he  thought  their  management  in  many 
respects  might  be  improved.  A  great  deficiency  in  farming,  was  the 
want  oi fixed  rides,  and  he  thought  societies  should  direct  their  efforts 
more  to  the  establishment  of  facts  and  principles.  The  Highland 
Agricultural  Society  of  Scotland,  he  learned,  had  made  many  useful 
discoveries  and  eflPected  much  good  in  deciding  unsettled  points. 

Judge  Cheever  thought  the  benefits  of  agi-icultural  societies  had 
been  undervalued.  It  was  a  great  misfortune  to  the  agricultural  in- 
terest, that  farmers  did  not  act  sufficiently  in  concert.  The  people 
of  other  classes  saw  the  benefits  of  association,  and  they  so  combined 
their  forces  that  their  action  was  felt.  Their  influence  on  the  pol- 
icy of  government  was  obvious.  Now  he  would  arouse  farmers  to 
the  importance  of  protecting  their  interests — he  would  have  them 
united  and  firm  in  claiming  of  government  their  rights — the  govern- 
ment should  know  that  their  voice  is  not  to  be  unheeded. 

Some  remarks  passed  between  Judge  Cheever  and  Mr.  Young  (if 
the  reporter  is  correct  in  the  name,)  relative  to  the  importation  of 
flax-seed  to  this  country,  and  the  regulations  of  the  tariff  in  regard 
to  that  article-,  of  which  no  notes  were  taken. 


DISCUSSION  ON  MANURES. 

Mr.  Bement  said  he  looked  upon  the  subject  before  the  meeting 
as  an  important  one,  and  it  could  hardly  be  brought  too  frequently 
before  the  farmer.  In  general  he  thought  there  was  little  danger  of 
applying  too  much  manure,  yet  there  were  cases  where  it  might  be 
put  on  to  excess.  Indian  corn  would  bear  a  heavy  dressing,  but  the 
small  grains  might  be  injured  by  an  over  dose.  It  may  be  said  to 
be  a  law  of  nature,  that  the  soil  which  is  annually  cropped  should 
be  replenished,  as  much  as  that  the  cow  which  is  daily  milked^ 
should  be  daily  fed  ;  excepting  in  situations  where  fertilizing  mat- 


No.  105.]  421 

ters  have  been  allowed  to  accumulate  in  the  soil,  all  farmers  depend 
on  manures  for  the  production  of  their  crops. 

Mr.  B.  said  his  practice  had  been,  as  soon  as  all  the  manure  is  re- 
moved from  the  cattle-yard,  in  the  spring,  to  cart  in  loam,  or  peat, 
to  the  depth  of  two  or  three  inches.  At  the  close  of  every  fourth 
week,  another  covering  of  an  inch  or  two  was  added.  By  the  last 
of  September,  it  has  accumulated  to  the  depth  of  six  or  eight  inches 
over  the  yard.  The  cattle  are  always  confined  in  the  yard  nights — ■ 
their  urine  is  absorbed  by  the  loam  or  muck — and  they  have  always 
a  dry  place  to  lie  on.  He  had  also  increased  the  manure  of  his  hog- 
pens by  the  addition  of  weeds,  refuse  vegetables,  turf  taken  from  the 
roadside,  bottoms  of  ditches,  &c.  His  cattle-yard  is  "  dishing,"  yet 
it  sometimes  overflows,  and  he  has  caused  a  basin  to  be  excavated 
outside  the  yard  to  retain  the  liquid.  Near  this  basin  he  builds  his 
compost  heap,  by  placing  first  a  layer  of  yard-manure,  about  a  foot 
thick,  then  a  layer  of  soil,  then  a  layer  of  green  weeds,  then  a  layer 
of  horse  manure,  then  a  coat  of  turf  or  soil,  and  so  on,  adding  such 
materials  of  a  fertilizing  nature,  as  are  available,  and  carrying  up  the 
sides  square  to  the  height  of  five  or  six  feet.  After  completely 
saturating  the  w^hole  mass  with  the  liquid  which  escapes  from  the 
cattle-yard,  he  covers  the  whole  with  fine  soil  to  prevent  evapora- 
tion. After  a  sufficient  time,  it  is  turned  over  and  completely  mixed, 
throwing  on  the  liquid  manure  as  the  work  progresses.  A  fermen- 
tation soon  takes  place  sufficient  to  destroy  the  vitality  of  the  seeds 
of  weeds,  &c.  After  two  or  three  turnings  it  becomes  sutTiciently  fine. 
He  has  made  in  this  w^ay,  from  a  hundred  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  loads 
of  good  manure  annually. 

In  regard  to  the  application  of  manure,  Mr.  B.  said  his  practice 
had  been  to  plow  in  all  manure  as  soon  as  spread — he  had  even  been 
so  particular  as  to  spread  no  more  in  the  morning  than  he  could  plow 
in  before  noon,  and  while  the  teams  were  eating,  only  so  much  more 
as  could  be  plowed  in  before  night.  He  considered  top-dressing, 
that  is,  spreading  animal  manure  on  grass-lands,  the  most  wasteful 
way  in  which  it  could  be  used,  with  one  exception,  and  that  is,  on 
meadow  land  which  is  so  moist  as  to  render  it  improper  to  break  it 
up.  Lands  kept  constantly  in  pasture,  show  how  little  benefit  is  de- 
rived from  dung  dropped  from  the  animals.  That  of  horses,  though 
of  two  or  three  inches  thick,  very  slightly  enriches  the  spot  where  it 
lies  ;  and  that  of  cattle,  lying  from  one  to  two  inches  thick,  has  no 
considerable  effect.  Whereas  manure  which  is  spread  and  immedi- 
ately plowed  in,  and  in  course  of  cultivation  is  well  mixed  v^ith  the 
soil,  will  produce  several  good  crops — more  or  less  according  to  the 
quantity  applied,  and  the  nature  of  the  soil.  Twenty  loads  of  ma- 
nure, free  from  litter — each  load  filling  a  common  sized  two-horse 
wagon-box,  may  be  considered  a  pretty  good  allowance  of  manure 
for  an  acre  ;  yet  if  evenly  spread,  it  would  form  a  cover  of  but  little 
more  than  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick.  Were  this  thin  covering  left 
on  the  surface,  exposed  to  the  influence  of  the  sun  and  air,  it  was 
doubtful  whether  its  effects  would  be  visible  much  beyond  the  crop  of 


422-  [Senate 

the  year  when  it  was  applied.     If  plowed  in  as  soon  as  applied,  the 
crops  of  four  or  five  years  would  be  manifestly  improved. 

Mr.  B.'s  experience  and  observation  had  convinced  him,  that  ani- 
mal and  vegetable  manures  should  be  exposed  as  little  as  possible  to 
the  sun,  air  and  drenching  rains.  It  was  also  his  opinion  that  when 
manures  are  plow^ed  in,  they  cannot  be  kept  too  near  the  surface, 
provided  they  are  so  covered  and  mixed  that  their  essence  will  be  car- 
ried by  the  rains  to  the  roots  of  the  plants.  The  nourishing  parts  of 
manure  can  only  enter  plants  in  a  state  of  solution.  This  solution  is 
effected  by  rains,  during  the  season  of  vegetation.  There  is  also  a 
constant  evaporation  of  water,  and  the  essence  of  the  manure  ascends 
with  it — thus  that  portion  not  intercepted  by  the  roots  of  plants,  es- 
capes into  the  air. 

Mr.  NoTT  remarked  that  he  had  been  much  pleased  with  hearing 
the  experience  of  Mr.  Bement,  who  was  acknowledged  to  be  a  good 
farmer,  especially  in  relation  to  the  preparation  of  his  manures.  He 
wished  to  know,  however,  if  he  (Mr.  B.)  had  any  facts  which  go  to 
show  that  there  is  any  benefit  from  composting  manure  w^hich  is  to 
be  plowed  in  as  soon  as  put  upon  the  land  ;  and  if  the  benefit  is  in 
proportion  to  the  increased  amount  of  labor  necessary  %  The 
price  of  labor  was  comparatively  high  with  us,  and  he  doubted  if  the 
benefit  from  composting  was  sufficient  to  induce  our  common  farmers 
to  deviate  from  the  usual  practice.  All  our  publications  were  full  of 
plans  in  regard  to  the  best  method  of  preserving  manures,  and  the 
compost  heap  was  generally  recommended.  He  considered  the  re- 
commendations of  vats  for  saving  urine,  and  the  compost  heap,  are 
better  adapted  to  the  climate  of  Europe  than  of  this  country.  He 
put  up  his  cattle  about  the  first  of  November,  and  from  that  time  the 
manure  was  thrown  out  in  a  heap,  nothing  being  lost  during  the  win- 
ter from  fermentation  in  consequence  of  the  lowness  of  temperature 
in  our  climate,  with  the  single  exception  of  horse  manure,  and  in 
that  but  to  a  slight  degree.  Four-fifths  of  our  farmers  leave  their 
manure  exposed  to  the  weather,  and  do  not  lose  much  from  leaching 
because  during  that  season  of  the  year,  there  are  very  few  rains.  He 
wished  to  know  if  Mr.  Bement  had  arrived  at  any  facts  in  the  course 
of  his  experiments  which  would  convince  the  farmer  that  it  was  for 
his  advantage  to  adopt  his  system. 

Mr.  Bement  said  that  his  principal  object  in  making  a  compost 
heap,  was  to  increase  the  quantity  of  his  manures,  and  to  save 
the  liquid.  There  was  a  great  difference  in  the  strength  of  manures. 
Hog  manure  he  considered  the  strongest  of  animal  manures — next 
that  of  sheep,  of  horses — that  of  cattle  being  the  weakest  of  all.  As 
to  the  labor  of  making  his  compost  heap — it  was  done  at  a  season 
when  he  could  do  little  or  nothing  else.  He  had  had  better  success 
with  compost  manure  than  with  long  manure — especially  when  ap- 
plied to  root  crops.  The  principal  object,  however,  was  to  increase 
the  quantity. 

Dr.  Lee  said  that  in  conversation  with  Geo.  Geddes,  esq.,  of  Onon- 
daga county,  a  few  days  since,  he  learned  that  the  gentleman  consid- 
ered one  load  of  fermented  manure  worth  three  of  unfermented,  for 


No.  105.]  423 

Indian  corn.  He  (Dr.  L.)  believed  that  the  effect  of  fermented  ma- 
nure would  be  more  immediately  beneficial,  but  not  so  lasting.  Per- 
haps the  experiments  of  Mr.  Geddes  had  not  been  conducted  with 
sufficient  accuracy  to  settle  the  question,  Fermented  manures,  from 
being  more  soluble,  it  was  evident  would  give  more  nutriment  to  the 
plant  at  first,  but  would  not  the  crop  in  the  end  get  more  organic  mat- 
ter from  the  unfermented  1  [Mr.  Sotham  remarked  incidentally,  that 
much  would  depend  on  the  nature  of  the  soil.] 

In  regard  to  the  practice  of  Mr.  Geddes,  Dr.  L.  said  he  was  inform- 
ed that  he  makes  his  compost  heap  in  the  yard,  covers  it  with  turf— in 
some  instances  slaked  lime  is  mixed  with  it — and  sometimes  leached 
ashes.  The  effect  of  ashes  on  Mr.  Geddes  land  had  been  various — in 
some  cases  very  little  effect  had  followed.  A  gentlemen  from  Ulster 
county,  Mr.  Crispell,  had  informed  him  that  he  paid  ten  cents  a  bushel 
for  leached  ashes  to  spread  on  grass-land,  and  they  pay  well.  He 
got  3  tons  12  cwt  of  hay  to  the  acre  by  using  100  bushels  of  ashes— 
without  the  ashes,  he  only  got  a  ton  to  a  ton  and  a  half.  The  soil 
was  a  dry  alluvion.     The  effects  of  the  ashes  continue  many  years. 

Mr.  NoTT  said  he  had  near  him  a  gentleman,  Mr.  Crane,  who  liv- 
ed on  the  "  barren  sands"  to  which  reference  had  been  made  at  a 
previous  meeting,  but  notwithstanding  the  poorness  of  the  soil  he 
cuts  four  tons  of  hay  to  the  acre,  in  a  single  season,  by  the  use  of 
lime  and  muck. 

Mr.  Crane  remarked  that  he  was  a  mere  novice  in  farming,  hav- 
ing very  recently  turned  his  attention  to  it.  He  had  made,  however, 
some  interesting  experiments  in  the  application  of  lime,  ashes,  and 
muck  to  his  sandy  plains.  A  year  ago  last  spring  he  first  applied  it 
to  clover,  corn  and  potatoes,  and  to  all  with  marked  success.  The 
winter  following  he  tried  the  experiment  of  sowing  lime  upon  the 
snow  covering  a  poor  field  of  clover.  The  crop  came  forward  flour- 
ishingly in  the  spring,  and  by  the  20th  of  June  began  to  lodge,  when 
it  was  cut.  He  had  intended  the  second  crop  for  seed,  but  in  four 
weeks  after  the  first  cutting  it  began  to  lodge  again,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  mow  it.  He  should  think  that  at  both  cuttings  it  gave  at 
least  four  tons  to  the  acre — that  is,  two  at  each  cutting.  Last  spring 
he  prepared  a  field  for  clover  by  spreading  over  it  a  mixture  of  muck 
and  lime  prepared  during  the  winter.  The  seed  was  then  sown  and 
bushed  in.  By  a  strong  wind  about  the  time  of  sowing,  the  seed  of 
some  of  his  neighbors  was  blown  away,  and  he  felt  some  apprehen- 
sions for  his  own.  It  came  up  well,  however,  and  grew  astonishing- 
ly, taking  deep  root.  Some  of  the  roots  measured  12  inches  in  length. 
He  had  covered  it  this  winter  with  40  bushels  of  lime  per  acre.  When 
he  came  to  cut  the  clover  he  found  that  a  hard  crust  had  been  formed 
upon  the  top  of  the  sand.  This  effect  he  anticipated,  and  it  was 
what  he  desired.  It  did  not  keep  the  rains  Irom  the  roots,  but  it  ef- 
fected a  sufficient  cohesion  to  keep  the  seed  from  blowing  away. 
The  second  crop  grew  as  well  as  the  first.  He  had  tried  the  muck 
and  lime  upon  wheat  without  success.  Last  spring  his  muck-heap 
was  so  highly  charged  with  lime  that  he  hesitated  for  some  time  about 
applying  it  to  his  corn  land.     As  he  had  no  other  manure,  however, 


424  [Senate 

he  concluded  to  apply  it,  and  the  result  was  that  his  corn  came  up 
and  did  remarkably  well.  He  had  noticed  too,  that  on  those  hills 
where  a  larger  portion  of  muck  than  usual  had  found  its  way,  there 
the  corn  was  much  the  most  luxuriant.  He  had  tried  it  with  pota- 
toes, and  with  good  effect.  He  had  planted  the  last  year  four  kindSj 
only  one  of  which,  the  Mercers,  planted  on  new  lands,  were  affected 
by  the  prevailing  disease.  His  corn  had  been  planted  just  before  a 
spell  of  weather  so  cold  that  it  did  not  sprout  for  ten  days.  His 
muck  had  been  so  highly  charged  with  lime  that  his  neighbors  pre- 
dicted that  he  would  have  no  corn  ;  and  for  an  experiment,  they  took 
away  the  earth  from  the  roots  of  several  hills,  and  supplied  its  place 
"wath  clear  lime.  The  result  was  that  in  those  hills  the  corn  appear- 
ed larger  and  darker,  than  in  any  others  in  the  field.  In  one  place  a 
seed  was  dropped  where  a  quantity  of  the  muck  had  fallen  in  unload- 
ing the  wagon,  which  produced  several  stalks  and  nine  ears  of  corn. 
He  had  a  passable  crop  of  corn.  In  his  garden  no  barn  yard  manure 
was  applied — lime  and  muck  only,  and  plentifully — and  he  had  nev- 
er raised  better  vegetables  in  his  life. 

Prof.  Emmons  inquired  whether  any  other  gentleman  had  made 
any  experiments  of  sowing  lime  upon  the  snow  1 — and  is  it  not  pos- 
sible that  the  lime  absorbs  the  ammonia  contained  by  the  snow  1 

Mr.  Crane  said,  in  reply  to  some  inquiries  made  by  Dr.  Lee  and 
Mr.  Howard,  that  the  location  from  which  the  muck  had  been  taken, 
was  near  the  branch  of  the  railroad  between  this  city  and  Schenec- 
tady. The  timber  growing  near,  was  pitch  pine,  with  a  few  ash, 
maple,  and  wild  cherry  trees,  and  a  few  alders.  The  vein  was  four 
to  five  feet  deep — some  of  it  was  as  good  peat  as  ever  was  burnt. 
He  did  not  know  precisely  how  much  had  been  applied  to  the  acre, 
or  what  proportion  of  lime  had  been  mixed  with  it — he  should  think 
about  one  load  of  lime  to  eight  of  peat.  He  had  never  used  muck 
by  itself,  but  some  of  his  neighbors  had,  and  he  believed  without 
much  effect.  If  his  life  was  spared,  he  intended  to  make  particulaf 
experiments  by  staking  off  portions,  and  treating  them  with  different 
mixtures.  He  also  intended  to  try  lime  with  sulphuric  acid.  He 
should  also  try  the  acid  in  other  ways,  as  there  were  large  quantities 
of  it  wasted  in  his  vicinity. 

Mr.  Betts  remarked,  that  in  all  our  speculations,  we  should  hafe 
facts  for  a  foundation.  Mr.  Crane  had  sown  lime  on  the  snow  lying 
on  a  field  of  light  blowing  sand.  The  result  had  been  that  the  soil 
was  hardened  so  that  the  seed  did  not  blow  away.  It  was  probable 
that  a  mortar  was  formed  with  sand,  which  occasioned  the  crust. 

Mr.  B.  said  it  had  been  supposed  that  manure, by  laying  exposed, 
evaporated,  or  lost  its  valuable  qualities.  This  he  did  not  believe, 
and  in  proof  of  his  position  would  give  a  little  experiment  of  his  own. 
On  one  part  of  a  field  he  had  spread  on  manure  and  plowed  it  in — 
on  another  part,  it  was  spread  on  the  surface  after  plowing.  The 
latter  produced  much  the  best  effect.  He  was  satisfied  that  even 
horse-manure  might  be  applied  to  the  surface  with  good  advantage. 
He  had  put  it  on  meadows,  and  the  result  had  been  very  beneficial. 
He  thought  plowing  in  manures  a  very  bad  practice.     On  grass-lands. 


Ko.  105.]  425 

especially,  he  should  give  a  preference  to  top-dressing.  But  we 
want  many  and  careful  experiments,  made  with  discrimination  and 
judgment,  to  establish  all  important  facts  in  agriculture,  and  what- 
ever might  be  said  of  other  professions,  a  reflecting  mind  and  common 
sense,  must  unite  to  make  a  good  farmer. 

Mr.  Stevens  would  suggest  that  Mr.  Crane  have  an  analysis  made 
of  his  soil,  and  give  it  to  the  public  in  connexion  with  his  next  ex- 
periments. The  analysis  would  be  very  useful,  as  the  composition 
of  his  soil  probably  did  not  differ  much  from  that  of  other  farms  situ- 
ated on  the  pine  plains  of  this  vicinity. 

Judge  Cheever  had  had  some  little  experience  in  the  use  of  ma- 
nures in  his  boyhood.     The  soil  of  New-England  was  gerierally  very 
barren,  but  still  the  farmers  there  were  in  the  habit  of  raising  as  large 
crops  of  corn  as  we  do  here  upon  the  more  fertile  soils  of  New- York. 
The  old  Pilgrim  mode  (said  Judge  C.)  as  practised  there,  was,  in  the 
fall  to  scrape  up  all  the  old  manure  about  the  barn  yard,  and  cart  it 
out  into  the  field,  putting  it  in  large  heaps.  In  the  spring  they  spread 
the  fresh  manure  (for  they  fed  the  cattle  so  close  as  to  leave  no  long 
manure)    upon  the   field,  and  plowed  it  in,  and  when  the  corn  was 
planted,  put  a  little  of  the  rotted  manure  from  the  heaps   into  each 
hill.     The  reason  given  for  this  was,  that  the  rotted  manure  put  in 
the  hill  would  give  immediate  food  to  the  plant — the  stronger  would 
operate   afterwards.     They  were  particular  to  hoe  their  corn  three 
times,  and  make  a  considerable  hill  about  it— and  they  got  from  20 
to  40  or  even  50  bushels  to  the  acre.     All  this  was  explained  by  the 
fact  that  rotted  manure  went  to  the  plant  at  first,  and  the  other  after- 
w^ards.     He  had  seen  rotted  manure  put  on,  when  the  effect  was  to 
produce  a  great  quantity  of  stalks,  and  but  very  little  corn.     If  only 
long  manure  was  used,  the  corn  in  its  first  stages  would  look  sickly, 
hut  in  the  after  stages  -would  come  up.     He  w^ould,  for  corn,  apply 
both  kinds  of  manure — the  fermented  in  the  hill,  and  the  unferment- 
ed  in  the  ground.     For  potatoes,  long  manure  might  do  as  well  or 
better,  than  the  mixture,  but  it  was  decidedly  better  than  the  old  or 
rotted  manure,  for  that  would  make  a  great  growth  of  vines,  but  not 
many  potatoes,  unless  on  rich  land. 

The  President,  Dr.  Beekman,  remarked,  that  as  to  the  expedi- 
ency of  spreading  manures  on  the  surface,  much  depended  on  the 
weather.  If  the  weather,  soon  after  it  was  applied,  was  moist,  not 
much,  perhaps,  would  be  wasted,  and  the  rains  might  carry  the 
strength  down  to  the  roots  of  the  plants.  But  if  the  weather  was 
dry,  this  could  not  take  place. 

Mr.  How^ARD  said  the  discussion  in  regard  to  the  application  of  fer- 
mented or  unfermented  manure  to  the  corn  crop,  reminded  him  of  the 
old  adage,  that  "  extremes  were  like  the  two  ends  of  a  potato — both 
good  for  nothing."  He  thought  Judge  Cheever  had  shown  the  mat- 
ter in  its  proper  light.  The  action  of  rotted  manures  is  quick,  and 
soon  gone — therefore  on  thin  soils  their  operation  may  be  over  before 
the  crop  is  perfected.  The  action  of  unfermented  manures  is  slow — 
decomposition  or  fermentation  must  take  place  to  some  extent  be- 


426  [Senate 

fore  the  plant  is  benefitted.  The  growth  of  the  plant  is  therefore  re- 
tarded till  this  decomposition  takes  place.  For  corn,  the  whole  of 
our  short  season  is  wanted — it  will  hardly  do  to  wait  or  lose  time, 
for  fear  that  the  season  will  close  before  the  crop  is  ripe.  Hence  we 
should  use  manure  in  such  a  manner  that  a  steady  and  uniform  sup- 
ply of  nutriment  is  kept  up  from  the  time  the  crop  begins  to  grow, 
till  it  is  matured. 

Mr,  Stevens  remarked  that  it  was  frequently  said  muck  was  not 
good  without  some  preparation.  This  is  true  in  regard  to  the  earlier 
stages  of  its  application.  He  had  tried  it — the  first  year  it  produced 
no  beneficial  result— the  second  some  good  effect  was  perceived^  and 
the  third  very  great.  On  land  where  it  had  been  applied,  a  great 
difference  was  perceptible  in  the  crops  for  several  years.  On  root 
crops  it  had  been  very  useful.  If  he  desired  an  immediate  effect,  he 
preferred  composting  it  with  barn  yard  manure.  He  had  mixed  it 
with  lime,  and  its  beneficial  operation  was  quickened  by  it. 


The  subject  of  Peat  has  become  so  interesting^  that  the  introdoic-' 
tion  of  a  few  extracts  from  Professor  Jackson's  contributions  towards 
the  improvement  of  agriculture,  contained  in  his  survey  of  New- 
Hampshire,  and  also  from  Lord  Dundonald,  will  be  pardoned^  even 
if  not  approved  of. 

Origin  of  Peat  and  Swamp  Mucka 

Peat  arises  from  the  disorganisation  anel  partial  decomposition  of 
vegetable  matters  in  water,  and  the  changes  that  take  place   are  very 
different  from  those  which  arise  from  exposure  of  the  dead  plants  t© 
the  atmospheric  influences,  and  to  the  basic  or  earthly  and  alkaliae 
ingredients  of  soils. 

Peat  is  mostly  formed  by  the  growth  of  sphagnous  mosses,,  the 
roots  and  submerged  stems  of  which  die  and  decompose,  while  the 
plants  grow  from  their  upper  parts,  and  furnish  a  continual  supply 
of  carbonaceous  matter^  consolidating,  by  their  fun^^tions,  a  portion 
of  the  carbon  contained  in  the  carbonic  acid  gas  of  the  atmosphere. 
On  cutting  out  a  mass  of  peat,  eveiy  observing  man  must  have  ob- 
served the  gradual  manner  in  which  the  living  stems  and  roots  of 
the  peat  mosses  pass  into  soft,  disorganized  peat  mud,  the  principal 
mass  of  which  is  made  up  from  the  remains  of  the  mosses. 

Dead  leaves,  rotten  trunks  and  branches  of  trees  also  enter  into 
the  composition  of  a  peat  bog ;  but  they  form  only  a  small  propor- 
tion of  the  bog,  though  they  generally  attract  more  attentionj  on  ac- 
count of  the  perfect  preservation  of  their  forms,  by  which  the  nature 
of  the  tree  may  be  recognized,  even  when  its  substance  is  perfectly 
brown,  black  and  rotten. 

Peat  formed  from  mosses,  possesses  antiseptic  properties,  so  that 


No.  105.J  ■      427 

wood  and  even  animal  substances  remain  in  it  undecayed  for  a  long 
time,  animal  bodies  being  not  unfrequently  found  converted  into  a 
kind  of  hard  fatty  substance,  called  adipocire.  This  takes  place  only 
when  the  peat  is  completely  saturated  with  water,  so  as  to  prevent 
the  access  of  atmospheric  air. 

The  products  of  vegetable  decomposition  under  water,  differ  essen- 
tially from  those  arising  from  exposure  to  the  air,  as  before  observed, 
and  the  changes  which  take  place  in  a  bog  by  draining  and  plowing 
it,  are  more  complicated  than  many  imagine. 

It  contains,  according  to  my  analysis,  crenic  acid,  mostly  combin- 
ed with  lime,  magnesia,  alumina  and  oxide  of  iron  ;  apocrenic  acid  ; 
humic  acid  ;  humin,  and  ulmin,  the  latter  being  found  in  brown  peat ; 
extract  of  humus,  consisting  of  two  distinct  substances  ;  vegetable 
fibre,  disorganized  in  part;  phosphoric  acid,  combined  with  the  earthy 
bases  ;  sulphuric  acid,  combined  with  alumina  and  with  oxide  of  iron  5. 
oxide  of  manganese  ;  also  a  little  potash  and  soda,  sea  salt  and  silica. 

There  are,  probably,  other  organic  acids  in  some  kinds  of  peat,  but 
the  above  mentioned  are  those  which  are  generally  present. 

When  peat  is  exposed  to  the  air,  it  blackens,  and  evidently  under- 
goes a  change  in  its  composition,  a  large  proportion  of  apocrenic 
acid  being  produced  by  the  action  of  the  atriiosphere  ;  a  change  ana- 
logous to  that  which  takes  place  when  yellow  subsoil  is  exposed  to 
the  action  of  the  air,  and  becomes  black  mould. 

Peat  always  contains  nitrogen,  and  will  give  out  ammonia  by  the 
action  of  hydrate  of  potash,  when  treated  by  Will  and  Varrentrapp's 
method.  This  is  owing  to  the  presence  of  the  highly  nitrogenized 
apocrenic  and  the  crenic  acids,  which  are  present  in  all  the  peats  I 
have  analyzed. 

This  principle  is  one  of  considerable  practical  importance;  since  as  I 
shall  demonstrate,  these  acids  play  an  important  part  as  fertilizing 
agents,  and  are  readily  convertible  into  other  substances  which  enter 
into  the  composition  of  plants. 

Peat  also  contains  a  sirsall  proportion  of  phosphate  of  lim-e,  a  saline 
ingredient  which  enters  into  the  composition  of  cereal  grains  in  large 
proportions,  and  is  one  of  the  constant  ingredients  of  all  plants  that 
have  been  analyzed.  Phosphate  of  magnesia  is  also  present  in  sev- 
eral kinds  of  swamp  muck  and  peat,  and  is  also  an  important  salt  re- 
quired by  all  plants. 

It  is  well  known  that  when  recent  peat  i&  spread  freely  on  soil,  it 
generally  acts  unfavorably  on  vegetation,  and  the  farmer  justly  says 
it  is  sour  and  worthless  in  that  state.  This  acidity  will  be  recogniz- 
ed by  those  who  have  seen  the  stones  thrown  out  from  bogs  ;  for  all 
those  matters  which  acid  would  attack  and  dissolve,  are  found  to 
have  been  removed,  every  trace  of  felspar  and  mica  are  found  to  be 
dissolved  from  a  piece  of  granite,  and  a  white  silicious  skeleton  of 
the  stone  remains.  All  the  oxide  of  iron  is  generally  taken  up  also, 
unless,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  the  bog  is  already  saturated  with  it. 

Sulphate  of  iron  and  sulphate  of  alumina,  not  unfrequently,  are 
also  present  in  excess^  and  exert  a  baneful  action  on  plants. 

These  facts  will  serve  to  explain  why  peat  should  be  operated 


428  [SENATE 

upon  hy  certain  ingredients  having  alkaline  or  basic  properties,  so 
that  the  acids  may  be  saturated,  and  the  noxious  salts  decomposed 
before  the  peat  can  be  advantageously  used  for  manure. 

I  have  always  earnestly  protested  against  the  employment  of  acid 
peat  on  soils,  and  have  advised  farmers  to  convert  it  into  a  neutral 
compost  by  means  of  animal  manures,  capable  of  generating  ammo- 
nia, and  lime  or  ashes,  the  two  last  being  mixed  into  the  compost 
after  it  has  fermented  sufficiently  to  give  out  ammoniacal  gas  by  the 
action  of  alkaline  matters.  Lime  and  potash  will  disengage  a  por- 
tion of  ammonia  from  some  kinds  of  peat,  and  will  saturate  the  nox- 
ious acids,  converting  them  into  fertilizing  salts  by  combining  with 
them.  Hence  lime  is  generally  a  valuable  top  dressing  for  reclaimed 
peat  bogs,  and  will  render  them  fertile. 

Earthy  substances^  which  will  combine  with  acidsj  serve  on  bogs 
by  combining  with  the  acids  of  peat.  Hence  a  fine  loam  from  de^ 
composed  mica  slate,  or  from  granite,  is  an  excellent  fertilizer ;  for 
the  alkalies,  the  alumina,  magnesia,  oxiles  of  iron  and  manganese, 
act  as  electro-positive  bodies,  and  combine  with  the  acids,  or  electro* 
negative  ingredients  in  peat^  and  form  neutral  combinations  of  vari- 
ous degrees  of  solubility.  Sand,  consisting  of  grains  of  quartz,  is 
inert,  and  it  is  a  waste  of  labor  to  spread  it  on  a  bog,  when  any  sub- 
soilsj  containing  the  other  minerals,  can  be  had ;  and  by  attending  to 
the  nature  of  soils  the  farmer  may  act  with  a  more  just  discrimina* 
tion,  and  thereby  make  more  thorough  improvements  at  less  cost. 

To  m^ake  a  compost  with  peat,  Dundonald  remarks  : 

"  This  object  is  best  attained  by  mixing  newly  made  and  com- 
pletely slacked  lime  with  about  five  or  six  times  its  weight  of  peat, 
which  should  be  moderately  humid,  and  not  in  too  dry  a  state.  In 
this  case,  the  heat  generated  will  be  moderate,  and  never  sufficient  to 
convert  the  peat  into  carbonaceous  matter,  or  to  throw  off,  in  the 
state  of  fixable  air,  the  acid  therein  contained.  The  success  of  most 
operations,  but  more  especially  those  of  a  chemical  nature,  greatly 
depends  upon  a  regular  and  due  observance  of  circumstances  appar- 
ently trivial.  This  preparation  of  lime  and  peat  is  in  a  peculiar 
manner  conducive  to  the  growth  of  clover,  and  of  the  short,  and,  as 
they  are  called,  sweet  kinds  of  pasture  grasses.  The  soil,  also,  by 
the  application  of  it,  acquires  such  a  predisposing  tendency  to  pro- 
mote the  growth  of  such  grasses  as  to  prevent  its  growing  afterward 
rank,  coarse,  or  sour  herbage.  Notwithstanding  that  this  prepara- 
tion of  lime  and  peat  is  certainly,  when  properly  made,  a  valuable 
manure,  yet  the  advantages  that  may  be  derived,  by  using  alkaline 
salts  instead  of  lime,  are  of  much  greater  importance  and  general 
utility,  inasmuch  as  the  peat,  by  alkaline  salts,  is  rendered  complete- 
ly soluble  ;  whilst,  by  the  application  of  lime,  no  greater  proportion 
of  it  is  made  capable  of  solution  than  what  is  equivalent  to  the  quan- 
tity of  volatile  alkali,  which  may  be  generated  in  the  process  ;  besides 
which  a  large  proportion  of  the  acids  contained  in  the  vegetable 
matter,  combine  with  that  which  is  calcareous,  and  form  insoluble 
compounds."     P.  110  to  112. 

"  The  most  efficacious  method  of  applying  peat  to  poor  barren 


No.  105.  429 

soils,  is  to  mix  it  with  the  urine  and  dung  of  cattle  ;  on  failure  of 
these  articles,  with  alkaline  and  other  salts,  and,  lastly,  with  lime." 
P.  181. 

"  Peat  soils  which  acquire  unctuous  rich  claminess,  by  the  appli- 
cation and  action  of  dung,  urine,  alkaline  salts,  &c.,  in  partly  dissolve 
ing  the  peat,  are  the  fittest  of  all  soils  for  the  growth  of  hemp."  P. 
182, 

"From  experiments  made  with  alkaline  salts  and  peat,  it  can  be 
asserted  that  the  effects  of  such  mixture,  weight  for  weight,  are  equal 
if  not  superior  to  those  of  dung."     P.  183. 

"  The  rendering  the  inert  vegetable  matter  of  peat  mosses  and  fens 
serviceable  to  this  purpose,  though  effected  at  a  greater  expense 
than  is  at  present  incurred  by  an  application  or  [of  ?]  dressing  to 
ground,  could  not  fail  to  answer  the  expectation  of  the  farmer,  and 
must  be  considered  as  one  of  the  most  valuable  improvements  that 
has  hitherto  occurred  in  the  annals  of  husbandry."     P.  183. 

The  most  beneficial  and  productive  of  these  preparations  will  be 
found  to  be — 

Peat  with  dung  and  urine  •; 
Peat  with  alkaline  salts  ; 
Peat  with  alkaline  hepar; 
Peat  with  Glauber  salt  and  lime  ; 
And  peat  with  lime. 

When  the  soil  does  not  contain  a  due  proportion  of  calcareous  mat- 
ter, a  preference  should  always  be  given  either  to  the  last,  or  to  the 
two  last  of  the  above  preparations,  until  it  shall  have  received  a  suf- 
ficient supply  of  an  article  so  indispensably  necessary  as  calcareous 
matter  to  the  production  of  sweet  herbage,  leguminous  plants  and 
grain.  Hence  it  is  manifest  that  an  economical  and  frequent  appli- 
cation of  lime,  in  moderate  quantities,  either  mixed  with  peat  or 
other  vegetable  matter,  or  even  by  itself,  is  greatly  to  be  preferred 
to  those  abundant  dressings  of  lime  usually  given  at  one  time,  which 
cause  an  action  on  the  soil  more  powerful  and  violent  than  is  condu- 
cive to,  or  compatible  with  a  continued  state  of  fertility.  In  short, 
lime  should  be  considered  in  a  chemical  and  medicinal  point  of  view, 
when  so  applied,  acting  as  an  alterative,  corrector  and  a  decompound- 
er ;  a  disengager  of  certain  parts  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  sub- 
stances contained  in  soils,  and  as  a  retainer  and  combiner  with  oth- 
ers ;  and  is  not  to  be  regarded  by  the  practical  farmer  as  a  substance 
fit  for  the  immediate  food  and  nourishment  of  vegetables,  like  dung, 
or  decayed  vegetable  or  animal  matters.  For,  although  calcareous 
matter,  or  lime,  forms  a  component  part  of  vegetable  and  animal  bo- 
dies, still  the  quantity  that  can  be  obtained  from  the  annual  produce 
of  most  crops  from  an  acre  of  ground,  will  not  exceed  eighty  pounds 
weight.  This  fact  has  been  well  ascertained,  and  if  proper  attention 
be  paid  to  it,  in  regulating  the  conduct  of  the  agriculturist,  in  the  fu'- 
ture  application  of  lime,  it  will  prove  more  satisfactory  than  all  the 
chemical  reasonings  adduced  in  this  treatise."     P.  116  to  119. 


430  [Senate 

Organic  matters  of  soils  according  to  Jackson. 

When  vegetable  substances  decay  in  soils,  they  undergo  a  kind  of 
fermentation  and  disorganization,  and  ultimately  are  converted  into 
acids,  wrhich  combine  with  the  bases  or  alkalies  and  earths  of  the 
soil.  This  result  is  very  different  from  that  which  takes  place  amid 
pure  vegetable  matter  in  bogs,  where  no  bases  exist  to  combine  with 
the  acids  formed.  Hence  we  find  the  acids  in  soils  that  have  a  suf- 
ficiency of  alkaline  or  earthy  bases,  are  always  neutralized  by  them, 
and  the  soil  is  fertile.  But  if  the  soil  is  silicious  or  sandy,  there  is 
but  little  alkaline  or  earthy  matter  capable  of  taking  up  the  acids, 
and  but  a  small  proportion  only  is  neutralized,  from  whence  a?ises 
the  acidity  and  barrenness  of  the  soil.  It  is  in  vain  that  green  crops 
are  turned  in  or  peat  spread  on  it,  if  there  is  a  deficiency  of  the  bases. 
Hence  arises  the  necessity  of  adding  ashes,  lime  or  ammoniacal  ma- 
nures to  such  soils;  animal  manures,  especially  the  liquids,  answer- 
ing best  for  this  purpose,  and  ashes  on  a  light  sandy  soil,  serving 
both  to  improve  its  texture  and  to  supply  the  alkalies.  If  the  soil 
is  poor  in  vegetable  matters,  ashes,  lime  or  ammoniacal  salts  will 
serve  only  for  a  short  time  as  fertilizing  agents,  and  vegetable  ma- 
nures should  be  supplied. 

Keeping  these  principles  in  -^iew,  the  farmer  may  act  with  more 
certainty  of  success,  in  reclaiming  a  field  from  barrenness. 

In  all  soils  which  I  have  analyzed,, and  I  have  obtained  them  for 
that  purpose  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  the  following,  organic  mat- 
ters are  invariably  present  : 

1.  Crenic  acid  and  crenates  of  bases  ; 

2.  Apocrenic  acid,  combined  also  wnth  bases  ;. 

3.  Humic  acid,  "  "         "         " 

4.  Humin,  or  neutral  undecomposed  vegetable  matter  | 

5.  Extract  of  humus,  and 

6.  A  second  extract,  not  yet  named,  separated  from  the  above; 

7.  Phosphoric  acid,  in  minute  quantities,  combined  generally  with 
lime,  alumina  or  magnesia. 

The  same  organic  acids  have  been  found  by  Hermann  Berzelius 
and  others,  in  a  number  of  European  soils,  so  that  it  may  be  regarded 
as  certain  that  all  soils  contain  them,  and  thei'e  can  be  no  doubt  that 
they  are  essential  to  the  fertility  of  soils. 

Origin  of  the  saline  matters  of  soils. 

The  alkaline,  earthy  and  metallic  bases  of  the  salts  found  in  soils, 
are  traced  directly  to  the  mineral  kingdom,  some  of  them  being  de- 
rived from  the  decomposition  of  the  minerals  of  rocks,  and  others 
from  the  saline  contents  of  mineral  waters.  The  same  is  true,  also, 
of  the  mineral  acids,  such  as  the  sulphuric,  muriatic,  nitric  and  phos- 
phoric acids  ;  while  the  vegetable  acids,  composed  of  carbon,  oxy- 
gen, nitrogen  and  hydrogen  are  products  of  vegetable  elaboration 
the  elements  of  water  and  air» 


No.  105.]  431 

The  vegetable  acids  are  valuable  as  a  means  of  rendering  soluble 
certain  earthy  matters  of  the  soil,  whereby  they  become  capable 
of  entering  into  the  sap  vessels  of  plants,  and  there  undergo  such 
elaboration  as  may  be  suited  to  the  wants  of  the  plant.  The  most 
valuable  acids  are  those  which  contain  the  largest  proportion  of  ni- 
trogen, and  at  the  head  of  the  list  stands  the  apocrenic  acid,  which 
contains  17  per  cent,  of  nitrogen. 

It  is  essential  to  the  durability  of  a  manure,  as  also  to  the  healthy 
growth  of  plants,  that  manures  should  not  be  too  soluble,  and  this 
acid  and  its  salts,  especially  its  combination  with  lime,  possesses  the 
right  degree  of  solubility,  and  its  aluminous  and  ferruginous  salts  yield 
the  acid  slowly  and  gradually  to  the  carbonate  of  ammonia  or  to  the 
fixed  alkalies,  potash  and  soda. 

Animal  matters,  when  they  decay,  undergo  a  more  rapid  putrefac- 
tion, and  the  first  product  is  ammonia.  This  gas  is  readily  separated 
from  the  putrescent  matter  by  the  action  of  hydrate  of  lime.  When 
the  putrefaction  or  disorganization  of  animal  matter  is  completed,  a 
black  mould  is  formed,  which  consists  of  organic  acids,  united  with 
ammonia,  and  the  salts  which  existed  in  the  animal  matter,  are  eith- 
er converted  into  other  salts,  or  they  remain  undecomposed,  accord- 
ing to  the  play  of  aflftnities  in  each  case. 

Owing  to  the  formation  of  ammonia  by  decomposing  anima     ma 
ter,  it  is  found  advantageous  to  mix  animal  manures  with  all  v     (<,  et 
ble  substances  in  forming  composts  ;  and,  since   peat  posseses      r.  nt 
septic  properties,  it  is  proper  in  the  spring  season  to  mix  hydrate  o 
lime  with  the  compost,  in  order  to  complete  the  decomposition.     B 
this  operation  the  ammoniacal  gas  is  set  free  and  penetrates  ever 
part  of  the  compost  heap,  and  if  due  care  is  taken  to  cover  the  hea 
with  peat,  or  with  a  layer  of  gypsum,  no  ammonia  will  be  lost. 

Having  explained,  in  some  measure,  the  changes  which  organic 
matters  undergo  while  decomposing,  I  w^ould  next  give  some  account 
of  the  acids  which  ultimately  result  from  the  process.  Formerly,  the 
organic  matter  of  mould  was  called  ulmine  and  ulmic  acid,  from  its 
resemblance  to  the  substance  exuded  by  disease  in  the  elm  tree. 

Subsequently,  Berzelius  examined  this  matter,  and  divided  ulmine 
into  three  distinct  substances,  which  he  called  geine  and  geic  acid, 
and  apotheme.  (See  Traite  Elementaire  de  Chimie,  T.  V.,  page  549, 
and  T.  VI,  page  573.)  Lately  that  distinguished  chemist  has  aban- 
doned the  names  geine,  geic  acid  and  apotheme,  and  has  given  new 
names  to  the  substances  of  which  his  old  geine  was  found  to  be  com- 
posed. 

Humus  or  mould  is  now  found  to  consist  of  the  following  acids, 
united  to  various  bases.  They  were  discovered  and  named  by  Ber- 
zelius and  Hermann  : 

1.  Crenic  acid  ; 

2.  Apocrenic  acid  ; 

3.  Humic  acid  ; 

4.  Humin  : 


432  [Senate 


5.  Coal  of  humus;* 


6.  Extract  of  humus. 

Crenic  acid  exists  most  abundantly  in  the  subsoil  from  which  it  is 
in  part  separated  by  water  or  alcohol,  or  still  better,  by  a  weak  solu- 
tion of  carbonate  of  ammonia,  which  decomposes  the  crenates  of  lime, 
alumina  and  iron,  and  takes  up  their  crenic  acid. 

Crenic  acid,  as  I  ascertained,  exists  in  soils  and  peat  from  various 
localities.  It  is  universally  present  in  the  soils  of  every  quarter  of  the 
globe.  Crenic  acid  is  composed,  by  weight,  of  C.  14.24,  H.  7.69, 
N.  7.50,  Ox.  44.57,  or  C.  7,  H.  16,  O.  6,  N.  1,  atomically.  Ap- 
ocrenic  acid  is  distinguished  by  its  forming  dark  brown  salts  with  bina- 
cetate  of  copper.  It  is  most  abundant  in  the  black  mould  of  the  sur- 
face, and  especially  in  long  cultivated  soils.  It  may  be  separated  from 
its  copper  salt  by  the  action  of  sulph-hydric  acid  gas. 

It  is  a  very  highly  nitrogenized  substance,  and  is  composed  of — 

Carbon, 62.57  or  14.  Atoms. 

Hvdrogen, 4.80  "   14.     " 

Nitrogen, 15.00  "     3.     " 

Oxygen, 17.63"      3.     "    {Hermann.) 

This  acid  is  formed  by  long  exposure  of  crenate  of  ammonia  to 
atmospheric  influence.  It  is  formed  by  exposure  of  peat  to  the 
action  of  ammoniacal  manures  in  presence  of  atmospheric  air.  Hu- 
mic,  glucic  and  apoglucic  acids  are  readily  converted  into  it  by  cata- 
lytic action. 

The  carbonate  of  ammonia,  which  is  washed  out  from  the  air  by 
rain,  is  fixed  by  mould  in  the  state  of  soluble  apocrenate  of  ammonia, 
which  is  a  much  better  manure  than  the  sulphate. 

HuMic  Acid. — After  separating  the  apocrenic  and  crenic  acids  from 
the  solution  in  carbonate  of  ammonia,  we  free  the  solution  remaining 
from  copper,  by  passing  sulph-hydric  acid  gas  through  it,  so  long  as  it 
gives  a  precipitate  ;  then  filter  and  obtain  a  brownish  yellow  solution, 
which  contains  humic  acid  and  extract  of  humus.  Boil  the  solution  un- 
til freed  from  sulph-hydric  acid,  or  evaporate  to  near  dryness,  and  re- 
disolve  in  water.  Add  now  a  solution  of  sub-acetate  of  lead,  and  a 
greyish  precipitate  of  the  humate  of  lead  is  thrown  down.  Collect 
this  on  a  filter,  wash  it  and  then  decompose  it  by  sulph-hydric  acid  gas; 
filter,  evaporate  in  vacuo  to  dryness,  and  obtain  humic  acid. 

It  is  composed  of  C.  30,  H.  30,  0.  15. — Sprengel  Malaguti ; — or 
according  to  Mulder,  of  C.  40,  H.  26,  O.  12. 

It  forms  soluble  salts  with  lime,  and  with  all  the  alkalies.  It  is  not 
precipitated  by  salts  of  copper.  It  forms  with  persalts  of  iron  humate 
of  the  peroxide,  which  is  of  a  yellow  color.  It  is  this  salt,  chiefly, 
which  gives  the  yellow  color  to  subsoils. 

After  clearing  from  lead,  the  solution  from  which  the  humate  of  lead 
had  been  thrown  down,  we  evaporate  to  dryness  in  vacuo,  and  obtain 
a  brown  extract,  which  is  called  extract  of  humus.  This  is  a  highly 
nitrogenized  compound,  which,  when  treated  %vith  proto-nitrate  of 
mercury  and  nitrate  of  silver,  yields  two  different  salts,  that  have  not 
yet  been  analyzed  or  described. 

*  Probably  altered  humin  or  humic  acids,  for  it  is  not  obtained  when  the  operation 
of  evaporation  is  conducted  in  vacuo  without  heat. 


No.  105.]  433 

Coal  of  humus  is  not  produced  when  we  evaporate  in  vacuo  at  a 
moderate  heat,  hence  I  do  not  consider  it  as  a  regular  component  of 
humus,  but  as  an  altered  humic  acid,  partially  carbonized  by  heat.  It 
was  not  produced  in  any  of  my  researches,  where  heat  was  dispensed 
with. 

In  1839,  Peligot  described  a  new  acid  under  the  name  of  glucic 
acid.  My  first  knowledge  of  this  discovery  was  from  the  researches 
of  Mulder,  who  has  made  a  series  of  experiments  on  humic  acid,  from 
soil  and  from  the  decomposition  of  sugar.  This  acid  I  have  also  sepa- 
rated from  the  sap  of  the  sugar  maple  tree,  and  from  that  of  the  yel- 
low and  white  birch.  It  exists  also  abundantly  in  the  brown  sugars  of 
commerce,  and  in  beet  sugars,  and  is  generally  separated  in  the  state 
of  biglucate  of  lime.  It  is  readily  extracted  by  pouring  a  small  quan- 
tity of  alcohol  on  brown  sugar,  which  takes  up  the  biglucate  of  lime, 
which  gives  a  buff  colored  precipitate  with  subacetate  of  lead. 

It  frequently  happens  that  crenic,  apocrenic  and  humic  acids  exist 
in  brown  sugar,  and  I  think  they  arise  from  the  decomposition  of  the 
glucic  acid,  by  the  action  of  ammonia  generated  in  the  process  of  boil- 
ing the  syrup  with  pearlash  or  lime  water. 

Apoglucic  acid  exists  in  the  sap  of  the  sugar  maple,  and  is  converti- 
ble into  the  other  organic  acids  very  readily. 

The  action  of  apocrenic  acid  on  vegetation  I  have  examined  experi- 
mentally, by  mixing  a  little  apocrenate  of  potash,  (obtained  by  the 
decomposition  of  apocrenate  of  copper  by  pure  potash,)  with  pure  pul- 
verized rock  crystal,  (quartz,)  a  comparative  experiment  being  made 
with  the  quartz  and  rain  water.  The  result  was  that  green  crops  of 
corn,  barley,  rye,  oats  and  beans,  weighed  from  4J  to  5  times  as  much 
when  grown  in  the  quartz  containing  apocrenate  of  potash,  as  they  did 
when  grown  in  the  quartz  with  water.  The  experiment  was  also  tried 
in  test  tubes,  using  solutions,  and  all  the  plants  tried,  absorbed  the 
apocrenate  and  removed  it  from  the  water,  diminishing  its  color.  In 
experiments  I  find  that  ammoniacal  salts  act  through  the  medium  of 
the  organic  acids  most  favorably,  and  have  no  action  in  pure  quartz, 
nor  even  in  quartz  containing  all  the  mineral  salts  of  plants,  no  fruit 
being  produced  in  a  single  instance  unless  organic  matter  was  present. 


TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  COUNTY  SOCIETIES. 


ALLEGANY  COUNTY. 

The  Annual  Fair  of  the  Society  held  at  Angelica,  October  16th, 
1845.  Premiums  to  the  amount  of  $200,00  or  over  were  offered, 
awarded  and  paid.  It  is  evident  that  the  interest  manifested  by  the 
members  of  this  society  is  much  increased  during  the  last  year.  The 
articles  of  different  kinds  exhibited  by  the  ladies  were  numerous,  and 
evinced  much  industry,  skill  and  taste,  in  the  arrangement  of  the  mate- 
rials of  which  their  articles  were  made.  The  stock  of  all  kinds  exhib- 
ited, shows  a  degree  of  improvement  not  anticipated,  and  clearly  proved 
that  the  society  was  advancing  in  the  agricultural  arts.  In  relation  to 
crops,  the  year  1845  has  exceeded  any  previous  year,  both  in  amount 
and  quality  since  the  society  was  organized  and  we  hope  and  expect 
an  increase  of  members  hereafter  to  said  society,  as  well  as  an  increase 
of  the  productions  of  the  county.  Farmers  and  mechanics  seem  deter- 
mined to  teach  the  present  and  rising  generations  that  to  labor  is  neces- 
sary for  the  preservation  of  health  and  the  enjoyment  of  a  good 
reputation. 

ALVAN  BURR, 
President  of  Allegany  County  Agricultural  Society. 

Angelica^  January  1846. 


BROOME  COUNTY. 

The  Fair  in  this  county  was  held  on  the  of 

The  first  day  was  devoted  mainly  to  the  cattle  show.  All  were 
excellent  of  their  kind  ;  and  the  best  of  each,  we  believe,  would  not 
suffer  in  comparison  with  the  best  of  those  exhibited  on  like  occasions, 
in  the  oldest  and  primest  counties  of  the  state.  The  second  day  was 
especially  devoted  to  in-door  affairs.  In  the  Court  House  were  gath- 
ered specimens  of  the  various  produce  of  the  county  in  the  shape  of 
grains,  fruit,  vegetable,  butter,  cheese,  cloth,  mechanic  articles,  &c. 
•&c.,  but  the  crowd  of  persons  was  so  great,  that  it  was  very  difficult 
to  examine  them. 

It  is  now  seen  that  large  gains,  that  wealth  indeed,  follows  the  well 


No.  105.]  435 

directed  efforts  of  the  farmer  among  us.  To  refer  to  one  or  two  cases 
in  point  :  Mr.  Oliver  C.  Crocker  of  Union,  who  took  the  first  premium 
on  butter  at  our  Fair,  and  the  second  on  twenty-five  pounds  made  in 
June,  at  the  State  Fair,  has  sold  his  whole  dairy,  which  will  reach, 
probably,  about  three  tons,  at  eighteen  pence  a  pound  at  his  own  door, 
for  the  New-York  market.  And  this  sale  was  effected,  in  consequence 
of  the  w^ell  known  quality  of  Mr.  Crocker's  butter,  several  months  ago, 
at  a  time  when  ordinary  butter  was  selling  in  this  vicinity,  we  presume, 
for  nine  or  ten  cents.  Three  tons  of  butter  at  eighteen  pence  a  pound, 
amount  to  $1125.00 — a  handsome  sum  for  a  farmer  from  his  dairy 
merely.  Again,  Mr.  Joseph  Carman  of  this  town,  has  raised  this  year 
from  forty  acres  of  land,  two  thousand  and  one  hundred  bushels  of  oats, 
eighty-one  bushels  of  which  were  the  produce  of  a  single  acre.  Mr. 
Carman  sent  his  oats  to  New-York,  and  sold  them  for  forty-two  and 
one-fourth  cents  per  bushel,  thus  receiving  for  his  crop  of  oats  alone, 
$887.25. 

The  dairy  establishments  in  Chenango,  Madison,  Herkimer,  Dutch- 
ess, Orange,  and  other  parts  of  the  state,  are  worthy  of  a  study. 
Broome,  is  soon  to  be  placed  side  by  side  with  the  best  of  these.  Her 
soil  for  dairying  is  equal  to  any ;  and  dairying  must  soon  be  our  great 
source  of  wealth.  We  can  grow  grain  as  well  as  some  of  our  neigh- 
bors, but  we  can  make  butter  and  cheese  of  better  quality  and  with  a 
better  profit,  than  most  of  them.  In  butter,  we  are  already  doing 
well — in  cheese,  as  yet  but  little. 

One  word  as  to  quality.  In  general  it  costs  but  a  very  little  more 
to  make  a  prime  article,  than  it  does  a  common  one  ;  and  it  is  surpris- 
ing what  a  difference  in  price  there  is.  Good  dairy  cheese  commands, 
we  believe,  of  late  years,  five  or  six  cents  a  pound ;  but  many  dairies 
bring  much  more.  Mr.  Lewis  M.  Norton,  of  Goshen,  Ct.,  makes 
what  is  called  piiie  apple  cheese  ;  that  is,  small  cheeses  weighing  about 
five  pounds,  and  pressed  in  a  mold  into  the  shape  of  a  pine  apple. 
His  cheese  in  this  form  nets  him  ten  cents  a  pound.  Mr.  Norris  Coe, 
of  Winchester,  in  the  same  state,  makes  cheese  of  such  superior 
quality,  that  it  usually  commands  from  sixteen  to  eighteen  cents  per 
pound  by  the  quantity,  in  the  New-York  market,  and  retails  at  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five.  Mr.  C.  is  so  particular  with  his  cheese,  that 
he  has  a  perfectly  dark  room,  constructed  within  another  room,  where 
he  keeps  it  cool  and  safe  until  it  is  sold.  Mr.  Robert  Pell  of  West- 
chester Co.  in  this  state,  sold  from  three  to  four  thousand  barrels  of 
his  superior  Newtown  Pippin  in  New-York,  this  fall,  at  six  dollars  per 
barrel.  Last  season  they  sold  in  London  at  $21  per  barrel,  and 
some  of  them  were  actually  retailed  at  a  guinea  a  dozen,  that  is,  about 
forty-five  cents  an  apple.  So  much  for  quality.  The  farmer  should 
be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  the  very  highest  degree  of  perfection 
in  the  article  he  produces,  and  he  will  find  his  profit  in  it.  Mr.  Crocker 
of  Union  sells  his  butter  at  eighteen  pence,  when  good  butter  brings  but 
ten  ;  and  his  neighbors,  Jesse  Richards  and  Lawrence  Allen,  and  some 
others  of  our  prime  farmers,  we  presume,  do  nearly  if  not  quite  as 
much. 

[Senate,  No.  105.J  28 


436  [Senate 

CAYUGA  COUNTY. 

The  Cayuga  County  Agricultural  Society  respectfully  reports,  that 
during  the  year  1845,  much  more  interest  has  been  obvious  on  the 
part  of  the  people  in  the  success  of  this  society,  than  has  heretofore 
existed.  The  8th  of  October,  the  first  day  of  our  fair,  proved  not 
very  pleasant,  still  the  people  who  were  there  in  mass,  continued 
upon  the  field  viewing  the  specimens  until  very  late,  and  on  the  9th 
the  interest  was  still  manifest,  in  the  great  numbers  attending  in  the 
field  selected  for  the  plowing  match,  where  at  the  time  announced, 
several  teams  were  ready  to  enter  for  trial,  aud  where  each  gave  am- 
ple demonstration  of  their  superior  power,  and  their  drivers  proof  of 
great  skill  ;  the  match  was  so  close  that  it  was  no  easy  matter  for 
judges  to  award  to  the  winners  their  proper  rank  of  excellence. 
The  specimens  exhibited,  although  not  so  numerous  as  was  desira- 
ble, were  vastly  praiseworthy.  Taking  into  consideration  the  highly 
prosperous  condition  of  the  treasury,  the  warm  interest  of  the  inhabi- 
tants as  compared  with  prior  years,  it  is  confidently  believed  that 
this  society  will  do  more  hereafter  for  the  substantial  advancement  of 
agricultural  improvement  than  has  been  heretofore  brought  about. 
The  officers  elected  to  serve  for  the  ensuing  year  are. 

Officers — E.  W.  Bateman,  President ;  J.  C.  Derby,  Treasurer  ; 
B.  F.  Hall,  Recording  Secretary  ;  P.  Hurd,  Corresponding  Secretary. 

Also  one  Vice  President  residing  in  each  town,  and  one  member 
of  an  executive  committee  in  each  town. 


Venice,  Jan.  1,  1846. 


E.  W.  BATEMAN,  President 


CHAUTAUQUE  COUNTY. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Chautauque  County  Agricultural  Soci- 
ety was  held  at  Forestville,  on  the  24th  and  25th  inst.,  and  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  President,  the  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  David  J. 
Matteson,  first  Vice  President,  when  the  following  named  persons 
were  chosen  oflacers  of  the  society  for  the  ensuing  year : 

Officers — G.  W.  Patterson,  President;  Seth  W.  Holmes,  Wil- 
liam Colvill,  Leonard  Tuffs,  John  Miller,  John  G.  Palmeter,  George 
C.  Rood,  B.  W.  Field,  J.  A.  Showerman,  William  GifFord,  J.  E. 
Griswold,  R.  F.  Fenton,  Vice  Presidents  ;  Alvin  Plumb,  Secretary ; 
Lemuel  Cottrell,  Treasurer. 

The  exhibition  throughout,  is  pronounced,  on  all  hands,  superior 
to  any  of  former  years. 

The  display  of  horses  was  fine,  while  that  of  neat  stock,  including 
first  and  second  classes  and  embracing  a  larger  number  than  usual, 
afforded  a  rich  sight  to  the  lovers  of  animal  excellence. 

Up  to  Wednesday  evening,  the  w^eather  had  been  unpropitious 
and  somewhat  unfavorably  affected  the  exhibition  of  the  morrow. 
Thursday  morning,  however,  broke  clear  and  auspicious,  and  crowds 


No.  105.]  437 

of  our  industrious  farmers  and  mechanics,  with  their  diligent  wives 
and  handsome  daughters,  continued  to  pour  into  the  pretty  village 
through  its  several  avenues,  until  the  throng  swelled  into  a  multitude 
of  from  4,000  to  6,000  persons,  all  apparently  animated  with  a  de- 
gree of  enthusiastic  feeling  worthy  the  occasion. 


CHEMUNG  COUNTY. 

The  annual  fair  of  the  Chemung  County  Agricultural  Society,  was 
held  at  the  village  ot  Elmira,  on  the  1st  and  2d  of  October,  inst. 
The  fair  was  well  attended,  and  the  exhibition  of  stock,  manufac- 
tured articles,  fruits  and  vegetables  highly  creditable  to  the  county. 

An  appropriate  address  was  delivered  by  H.  M.  Partridge,  Esq., 
after  which  the  following  gentlemen  were  duly  elected  officers  of 
the  society  for  the  ensuing  year,  to  wit : 

Officers — Charles  Cook,  of  Havana,  President ;  Comfort  Ben- 
nett, Bigflats;  Gabriel  Sayre,  Chemung,  Ira  Cole,  Catlin  ;  Nathan 
Barnes,  Cayuta;  Green  Bennett,  Dix;  William  Hoffman,  Jiilmira  ; 
Arden  Austin,  Erin;  Samuel  Leverich,  Southport ;  James  Locke, 
Veteran  ;  Vice  Presidents.  Daniel  Bennett,  of  Bigflats  ;  John  G. 
Mc  Dowell,  of  Chemung;  Abram  Primer,  of  Catlin;  Sidney  S.  Deck- 
er, of  Catharine;  Hiram  White,  of  Cayuta;  John  Crawford,  of  Dix; 
Harvey  Luce,  of  Elmira  ;  John  A.  Mc  Key,  of  Erin  ;  Lewis  Millerg 
of  Southport ;  Reuben  Tift,  of  Veteran  ;  Executive  Committee. 
William  T.  Post,  of  Elmira — Recording  Secretary.  Levi  J.  Cooley, 
of  Elmira — Corresponding  Secretary.     B.  B.  Payne — Treasurer. 

Believing  as  I  do,  that  the  great  mass  of  community  think  favora- 
bly of  the  county  organization — wishing  their  continued  prosperity 
and  usefulness — believing  them  to  be  highly  conducive  to  the  ad- 
vancement and  prosperity  of  agriculture,  horticulture  and  mechanic 
arts,  and  wishing  to  see  a  system  adopted  in  their  management  and 
reports  to  the  public,  that  will  best  accomplish  the  great  object  in 
view,  in  that  spirit  alone,  I  must  beg  leave  to  differ  with  the  mana- 
gers of  the  State  Society  in  their  conclusions,  in  relation  to  publish- 
ing the  proceedings  of  the  county  societies  in  the  last  volume  of 
Transactions. 

I  do  not  object  to  any  matter  published  in  that  volume,  but  believe 
that  more  liberal  quotations  from  the  proceedings  of  county  societies 
would  have  added  materially  to  its  interest  and  value.  I  am  not 
willing  to  believe  that  the  managers  of  the  State  Society  intend  to 
submerge  the  county  fairs  into  the  one  held  by  the  State,  and  think 
they  should  pursue  a  policy  that  could  not  be  construed  in  that  way. 

None  could  be  more  pleased  with  thp  past  management  of  the 
State  Society  than  myself,  with  the  exception  1  have  mentioned  ; 
none  can  wish  it  greater  prosperity  in  future  than  I  do.  I  believe  it 
should  and  will  be  well  sustained,  as  a  model  and  grand  rallying 


438  [Senate 

point  for  the  county  associations  ;  which  I  hope  to  see  at  the  same 
time,  equally  prosperous  in  their  proper  snhere. 

E.  C.  FROST,  President. 
Catharine^  Dec.  20,  1845. 


CLINTON  COUNTY. 

The  proceedings  of  this  county  are  published  in  pamphlet  form, 
accompanied  with  the  details  of  raising  premium  crops,  although 
these  are  not  as  full  as  could  be  wished. 

Officers — Thomas  Croak,  President.  William  Hedding,  S.  H. 
Knappen,  William  Kease,  N.  Moore,  Vice  Presidents.  Jonathan 
Battey,  Ausable,  Corresponding  Secretary.  J.  W.  Bailey,  Platts- 
burgh,  Recording  Secretary.     P.  Keese,  Treasurer. 


COLUMBIA  COUNTY. 

Premiums  were  awarded  for  73  and  66  bushels  corn  per  acre,  and 
for  52  bushels  rye  on  two  acres. 

The  society  held  its  regular  annual  meeting  September  27th,  when 
officers  for  the  year  were  elected  as  follows,  viz  : 

Officers — Oliver  Wiswall,  President.  Leonard  W.  Tenbroek, 
Jacob  N.  Harder,  John  Martin,  Abraham  Van  Beuren,  Vice  Presi- 
dents.    James  Mc  GifFert,  Secretary.     Henry  C.  Miller,  Secretary. 

Oct.  1th.     The  Fair  took  place  this  day. 

Suffice  it  to  say  in  addition,  that  every  person  seemed  satisfied, 
and  as  a  whole,  it  was  the  best  we  ever  had  in  this  county.  In  con- 
clusion, I  remark,  that  since  the  commencement  of  our  society,  there 
has  been  a  general  improvement  in  agriculture  throughout  the  county, 
especially  in  the  superior  grades  of  stock  of  every  kind.  I  hesitate 
not  in  saying  that  the  monies  expended  in  our  county  has  been  of 
very  great  advantage  to  the  community,  as  it  has  given  rise  to  a 
spirit  of  improvement  in  every  branch  of  agriculture  and  its  sister 
arts,  which  is  worth  more  than  ten  times  all  the  expenses  incurred. 
Even  those  farmers  who  at  first  looked  upon  the  society  with  indif- 
ference, now,  in  many  instances  come  forward  and  acknowledge  the 
great  advantage  which  they  have  received  from  it,  and  are  willing  to 
aid  even  with  their  purse  in  every  plan  which  might  tend  to  add  to 
the  increasing  usefulness  of  the  society. 

Plowing  Match. 

For  the  first  time  since  the  organization  of  the  agricultural  society 
in  this  county,  a  plowing  match  took  place,  which  added  much  in- 
terest to  the  proceedings  of  the  day.  Ten  teams  were  entered  as 
competitors  for  the  premiums,  and  the  whole  was  conducted  in  hand- 
some style. 

JAMES  Mc  GIFFERT,  Secretary. 

Greenport,  Dec.  4,  1845. 


No.  105.]  439 

CORTLAND  COUNTY. 

To  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  New- York  State  Agricultural 
Society : 

Gentlemen, — In  transmitting  to  you  our  fourth  annual  report,  I 
have  the  pleasure  of  saying  that  our  society  has  enjoyed  its  usual 
prosperity,  and  I  trust  has  somewhat  gained  in  the  confidence  of  the 
community.  Our  last  Annual  Fair  was  held  at  Truxton.  It  was 
never  held  away  from  the  centre  of  the  county  before,  and  fears  were 
entertained  that  it  would  be  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  Society  to 
move  the  place  of  holding  the  Fairs,  but  such  was  not  the  case  in 
this  instance.  Our  Truxton  friends  came  up  to  the  work  nobly,  and 
the  two  days  passed  off  with  an  interest  and  spirit  that  pleased  all. 
There  was  on  the  show  ground  one  hundred  and  twenty  cattle, 
twenty-five  horses,  seventy-five  to  eighty  sheep,  and  twenty  hogs, 
almost  all  showing  a  decided  improvement  on  former  years.  An 
admirable  address  was  delivered  by  H.  S.  Randall. 

Officers. — Rufus  Boies,  President ;  Chas.  Mc  Night,  John  Burn- 
ham,  Hiram  Hopkins,  Thomas  Harrop,  Vice  Presidents  ;  Amos  Rice, 
Treasurer  ;  Paris  Barber,  Corresponding  Secretary  ;  G.  W.  Cham- 
berlain, Recording  Secretary. 


DELAWARE  COUNTY. 

Funds. 

Balance  in    treasury  from  last  year, $15  09 

Raised  by  voluntary   subscription, 106  00 

Received  from  the  State, 106  00 

227  09 

We  paid  premiums  to  the  amount  of $199  50 

Contingent  expenses, 7  50 

207  00 

We  have  in  the  treasury  a  balance  of  $20  00 


Our  fair  was  well  attended  (considering  that  our  county  was  in  a 
state  of  insurrection)  and  shows  clearly  that  our  cause  is  onward, 
that  our  improvement  in  Agriculture  is  progressive.  The  exhi- 
bition of  stock  and  agricultural  productions,  if  not  more  numerous, 
was  decidedly  better  than  at  any  former  exhibition. 

At  the  annual  meeting  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  January  inst., 
Cornelius  R.  Fitch  was  elected  President,  Daniel  S.  Smith,  of  Mere- 
dith, David  Morell,  of  Davenport,  John  B.  Thomas,  of  Stamford, 
Thomas  M.  Clarke,  of  Kortright,  Alexander  Mable,  and  C.  B.  Shel- 
don, of  Delhi,  Vice  Presidents;  Alfred  Redfield,  Secretary;  A.  M. 
Paine,  Treasurer. 

M.  L.  FARRINGTON, 

Secretary  for  1845. 


440  [Senate 

DUTCHESS  COUNTY. 

The  annual  Fair  of  this  Society  was  held  in  this  village  on  Wed- 
nesday and  Thursday  last,  the  first  and  second  inst.  It  was  got  up 
in  a  manner  highly  creditable  to  the  spirited  farmers  and  other  indus- 
trious classes  of  this  first  of  agricultural  counties.  The  displays  of 
stock,  farming  implements,  &c.  were  decidedly  superior  to  those  at 
any  other  fair  of  the  kind  ever  held  here,  excepting  only  the  State 
fair  of  last  year.  In  the  line  of  agricultural  products  there  was  noth- 
ing wanting,  and  the  display  was  greatly  beyond  what  any  had 
expected  considering  the  past  unfavorable  season.  In  fruits  and 
flowers  few  if  any  counties  in  the  state  could  beat  us.  Only  in  man- 
ufactures did  the  collections  fall  short  of  the  general  expectation,  or 
what  they  should  have  been.  An  immense  crowd  of  people  attended 
from  all  parts  of  the  county,  which  shows  that  the  interest  felt  in 
these  annual  exhibitions,  instead  of  diminishing,  is  constantly  on  the 
increase. 

The  following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year : 
Stephen  Haight,  of  Washington,   President ;    Cornelius  Dubois, 
Elnathan  Haxtun,  John  Fisher  Sheafe,  Thos.  Tabor,  Obadiah  Titus, 
Dudley  B.  Fuller,  Vice  Presidents  ;  Henry  Mesier,  John  Van  Wyck, 
Sees. ;  Barclay  Haviland,  J.  W.  Wheeler,  Recording  Secretaries. 


ERIE  COUNTY. 

The  executive  committee,  through  the  President  of  the  Erie  county 
Agricultural  Society,  report,  that  this  day  has  been  finished  the  show 
for  this  year,  held  on  the  8th  and  9th  of  this  month.  They  have  to 
state,  that  the  show  this  year  is  in  most  respects  inferior  to  the  four 
which  have  preceded  it.  This  inferiority  has  arisen  from  two  causes. 
For  the  last  three  weeks  there  have  been  frequent  rains,  and  in  con- 
sequence the  roads  have  become  very  bad  and  heavy,  which  has 
deterred  many  from  attending.  During  both  days  of  the  show,  the 
weather  was  stormy  and  inclement.  While  the  condition  of  the  roads 
prevented  the  attendance  of  the  farmers  of  the  country,  with  their 
families,  the  storm  during  the  fair  kept  away  large  numbers  of  the 
citizens  of  Buffalo.  There  was  yet  a  more  powerful  cause  to  occasion 
the  decline  this  year.  The  rule  which  excludes  all  animals  that  have 
taken  first  premiums  from  competition,  tended  to  retain  at  home 
nearly  all  the  best  animals  in  the  county.  This  alone,  without  unfa- 
vorable weather,  would  have  made  the  show  very  limited  in  the 
number  of  animals.  To  remedy  this,  it  is  recommended  to  alter,  at 
the  show  of  next  year,  this  rule  of  exclusion,  and  again  allow  to  be 
brought  forward  all  our  best  animals  to  compete  with  each  other. 
With  all  the  discouraging  circumstances,  there  was  a  very  large  num- 
ber of  farmers  in  attendance  from  nearlv  all  the  towns  of  the  county  ; 
and  more  of  them  were  in  attendance,  paying  their  membership  fee, 
without  exhibiting,  than  on  any  former  year.  This  evinces  that  the 
right  spirit  is  active,  and  would,  under  favorable  circumstances,  have 
made  a  capital  show.    From  it  the  committee  augur  well  for  the  future. 


No.  105.]  441 

Officers.— Robert  McPherson,  Prest.,  Black  Rock  ;  R.L.Allen, 
Buffalo,  James  Wood,  Wales,  Benj.  Hodge,  Black  Rock,  O.  Mans- 
field, Clarence,  N.  G.  Stebbins,  Chicktawaga,  and  William  S.  Rees, 
Evans,  Vice-Presidents. 


GENESEE  COUNTY. 

Fair  was  held  on  the  23d  Sept.  The  excitement  runs  very  great, 
bringing  together  a  larger  number  of  people  than  ever  before  assem- 
bled in  this  county,  except  at  political  gatherings.  The  plowing 
match  gave  unusual  interest  to  the  Fair.  The  show  of  horses,  horned 
cattle  and  sheep,  was  far  beyond  the  most  sanguine  anticipation  of 
the  warmest  friend  of  the  society. 

Domestic  manufactures  contributed  largely  to  the  brillianc}^  of  the 
Fair.  This  county  has  always  had  great  success  in  raising  silk,  and 
in  manufacturing  silk  hose,  &c. 

At  its  commencement,  this  society  was  not  very  successful  in  its 
operations  ;  but  it  has  now  received  an  impetus  that  bids  fair  to  carry 
it  onward  rapidly  in  a  career  of  usefulness.  The  prevailing  senti- 
ment among  the  farmers  of  this  county,  is  that  the  law  of  the  State  in 
relation  to  agriculture,  has  contributed  most  essentially  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  farmer. 


GREENE  COUNTY. 

The  Annual  Fair  of  this  Society  for  1845,  was  held  at  Cairo,  on 
the  24th  and  25th  of  September.  The  attendance  was  much  larger 
and  more  general  than  at  any  previous  meeting,  and  an  increased 
interest  was  shown  in  the  subject  by  the  great  body  of  our  farmers  and 
mechanics.  The  show  of  cattle  and  horses  was  particularly  large, 
on  account  of  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  county,  and  its  adaptation 
to  the  raising  of  stock.  The  Society,  in  awarding  the  premiums  on 
cattle  and  horses,  has  directed  its  aim  towards  the  encouragement  of 
the  native  breed,  which  is  peculiarly  fitted  and  adapted  to  the  surface 
of  this  section  of  the  country  ;  and  the  propriety  of  this  course  was 
shown  in  the  improvement  and  more  general  interest  exhibited  in 
this  branch  of  the  exhibition. 

The  samples  of  butter  and  cheese  offered,  were  fully  equal  to  any 
thing  of  the  kind  ever  before  shown  by  our  farmers. 

The  exhibition  of  fruits  and  vegetables  showed  an  increased  atten- 
tion to  this  branch  of  horticulture,  and  evinced  a  great  improvement 
on  former  years,  in  the  quality  and  variety  of  the  specimens. 

The  list  of  manufactured  articles  was  also  full ;  also  several  wag- 
gon loads  of  agricultural  implements  and  mechanical  improvements. 
There  was  also  exhibited  excellent  samples  of  cloths  and  cassimeres, 
from  the  Prattsville  woolen  factory,  where,  within  the  past  year 
another  establishment  has  been  formed  to  carry  on  the  same  business  ; 
and  it  would  seem  that,  situated  in  a  i^ool-growing  country,  with 
good  facilities  for  mill  sites,  such  establishments  are  calculated  to 


442  [Senate 

exert  a  favorable  influence  on  the  interests  of  the  society.  Last,  but 
not  least,  the  ingenuity  and  taste  of  the  ladies  contributed  largely  to 
the  interest  of  the  fair,  by  elegant  specimens  of  their  handiwork  in 
the  shape  of  housekeeping  and  fancy  articles  ;  also  by  bouquets  of 
rare  and  beautiful  flowers,  appropriate  offerings  from  the  wives  and 
daughters  of  our  agriculturists. 

At  the  close  of  the  exhibition,  an  address,  a  copy  of 'which  accom- 
panies this  report,  was  delivered  by  the  undersigned  to  a  large  and 
attentive  audience.  In  conclusion,  the  unusual  attendance  and  in- 
creased interest  and  good  feeling  shown  by  all,  is  a  promise  that  the 
interests  of  the  society  are  advancing,  and  that  the  great  drawback  on 
the  society,  a  want  of  interest,  is  fast  giving  place  to  a  general  and 
systematic  effort  on  the  part  of  our  farmers. 

Z.  PRATT. 

President. 

Prattsvilkj  Greene  Co.  JV.  F. 


HERKIMER  COUNTY. 

Although  a  little  mistake  arose  in  publishing  the  time  for  the  Fair, 
yet  w^e  believe  that  old  Herkimer  has  never  more  fully  exhibited  her 
agricultural  improvements  and  the  proper  spirit  of  emulation  that 
prevails  among  the  farmers  and  among  the  mechanics  to  be  first  in 
stock,  first  in  butter  and  cheese,  and  first  in  mechanical  instruments. 

The  occasion  was  peculiarly  interesting,  and  called  out  a  great 
number  of  spectators  to  witness  the  plowing  match.  We  are  of  the 
opinion  that  plowing  matches  should  be  encouraged,  as  good  will 
result  from  them  to  the  farming  community.  After  the  plowing 
match,  the  people  took  dinner,  and  were  then  marched  to  the  court- 
house by  Col.  John  Hartman,  the  marshal  of  the  day,  w^here  an  ex- 
cellent and  appropriate  address  was  delivered  by  Professor  D.  Chas- 
sell,  of  Fairfield,  the  president  of  the  society.  The  premiums  then 
being  declared  off",  the  following  oflficers  were  chosen  for  the  ensuing 
year,  to  wit:  David  Chassell,  President;  Abijah  Beckwith,  Vice 
President;  Thomas  Burch,  Treasurer;  Arphaxad  Loomis,  Secretary  ; 
and  Charles  Kathern,  Samuel  Green,  Zalmon  B.  Wakeman,  Loran 
A.  Mills  and  Peter  B.  Casler,  Executive  Committee. 


JEFFERSON  COUNTY. 

The  Jeff"erson  County  Agricultural  Society  was  organized  under 
the  act  of  May  5,  1841.  The  officers  are  :  George  White,  of  Rut- 
land, President ;  E.  S.  Salisbury,  Eli  Farwell,  Curtis  Goulding, 
Jonathan  Webb,  Jason  Clark,  Wm.  Carlisle,  Jason  Rice,  Ward 
Hubbard,  A.  Ely,  John  A.  Sherman,  Vice  Presidents  ;  John  C.  Ster- 
ling, Corresponding  Secretary  ;  Edward  S.  Massey,  Recording  Sec- 
retary; O.  V.  Brainard,  Treasurer. 

The  annual  fair  was  held  at  its  hall  in  the  village  of  Watertown, 
on  the  11th  and  12th  day  of  September. 


No.  105.]  443 

The  receipts  for  the  last  year  have  been  : 

From  members  of  Society, $418  81 

State  of  New-York, 183  00 

Strangers  for  admission  into  hall, 41  30 

$643  11 

Disbursements  :  Paid  for  premiums, $404  00 

Contingent  expenses, 74  36 

Leaving  balance  in  treasury, $164  75 


HART  MASSEY,  President. 


LEWIS  COUNTY. 

Upon  a  general  review  of  the  county  for  the  year,  I  think  the 
agricultural  spirit  has  not  been  surpassed  by  any  former  season.  The 
State  Fair,  which  was  held  in  an  adjoining  county,  afforded  our  citi- 
zens the  opportunity  of  witnessing  that  ample  field  of  competition, 
and  large  numbers  of  them  attended  it,  and  carried  off  no  inconside- 
rable share  of  the  premiums  as  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  list. 
Our  county  society  was  as  numerously  and  respectably  attended  as 
on  any  former  occasion,  and  but  for  the  large  attendance  at  the  State 
Fair  I  have  no  doubt  the  turn  out  and  the  competition  would  have 
greatly  exceeded  our  former  exhibitions. 

The  annual  address  was  delivered  by  the  Hon.  Francis  Seger. 

L.  R.  LYON. 


LIVINGSTON  COUNTY. 

The  following  is  an  abstract  of  the  doings  of  the  Livingston  County 
Agricultural  Society  for  the  past  year.  The  executive  committee 
having  fixed  upon  the  28th  of  May  for  a  plowing  match,  the  occasion 
attracted  a  very  large  audience,  and  though  the  day  was  from  the  mid- 
dle till  evening  very  stormy  ;  more  than  twenty  teams  were  entered 
as  competitors.  The  work  required  was  one-fourth  of  an  acre  of  sward 
land,  to  be  plowed  seven  inches  deep  within  two  hours,  each  plow- 
man to  drive  his  own  team.  Though  the  ground  was  very  dry  and 
stiff,  and  consequently  the  labor  severe  for  the  team,  the  work  was 
remarkably  well  done.  The  premiums  were  awarded  at  the  court- 
house, after  which  an  address  of  much  interest  was  delivered  by  the 
Hon.  Daniel  Lee.  A  very  interesting  collection  of  plows  and  other 
farming  implements  were  exhibited  near  the  court-house. 

From  the  interest  which  was  evidently  manifested,  as  well  as  from 
the  general  concessions  of  all,  this  exhibition  will  be  of  decided  ad- 
vantage to  the  farming  interest,  as  well  in  the  introduction  of  more 
improved  plows  as  in  the  skilful  manner  of  using  them. 

The  annual  fair  came  off  on  Thursday  in  the  last  week  in  Septem- 
ber. For  the  number  and  quality  of  animals  exhibited,  as  well  as  for 
the  exhibition  of  all  other  articles,  it  exceeded  all  previous  shows  of 


444  [Senate 

the  kind  in  this  county.     The  number  of  farmers,  with  their  wives, 
and  sons,  and  daughters,  in  attendance,  was  very  great. 

The  following  gentlemen  were  elected  officers  for  the  ensuing  year  : 

Asa  Nowlen,  President;  Aaron  Barber,  Campbell  Harris,  D.  H. 
Fitzhugh,  Vice  Presidents  ;  Curtiss  Hawley,  Sec;  Ira  Merrill,  Trea- 
surer; Charles  Colt,  Geneseo,  Asahel  H.  Warner,  Lima,  0.  Comstock, 
Avon,  A.  Hallenbeck,  Caledonia,  P.  C.  Fuller,  Conesus,  G.  T.  Oly- 
phant,  Mount-Morris,  Roswell  Root,  York,  Charles  Pierce,  Livonia, 
Charles  Shepard,  Sparta,  W.  W.  Wooster,  Leicester,  Richard  Johnson, 
Groveland,  Horatio  Dyer,  Springwater,  Managers. 

It  was  resolved  to  hold  the  next  Cattle  Show  and  Fair  at  Avon. 

There  cannot  be  any  doubt  but  that  there  is  an  awakened  feeling 
in  the  agricultural  interests  of  this  county.  It  is  manifested  in  the 
improved  appearance  of  the  farms,  in  the  great  pains  in  procuring  the 
best  breeds  of  domestic  animals,  in  the  increasing  numbers  who  at- 
tend our  annual  fairs;  and  in  fine,  it  is  obvious  that  the  doings  of 
the  society  have  produced,  and  are  producing,  a  better  and  more 
profitable  state  of  husbandrv. 

C.  H.  BRYAN,  Sec. 


MADISON  COUNTY. 

The  county  agricultural  society  respectfully  submit  to  the  State  Soci- 
ety the  following  report  : 

Madison  county  held  its  first  annual  Fair  at  Morrisville,  in  the  fall 
of  1842,  with  some  interest  and  by  very  great  exertions  on  the  part 
of  its  friends.  The  second  fair  was  also  held  at  the  same  place  with 
about  the  same  success,  engaging  and  securing  the  interest  of  a  few  of 
the  farmers  in  the  vicinity,  and  still  holding  on  to  those  whose  minds 
were  more  enlightened,  and  felt  a  deeper  interest  in  the  rising  pros- 
pects of  the  good  that  would  result  from  the  society,  when  they 
could  see  the  majority  of  their  fellow  citizens  engaged  in  this  noble 
enterprise.  They  might  be  found  scattered  in  all  most  all  parts  of 
our  county. 

Under  these  circumstance,  it  was  thought  best  to  change  the  place 
of  holding  our  annual  fair,  and  shift  to  the  different  villages  in  the 
county,  awakening  an  interest  deeper  and  lasting,  wherever  a  fair 
should  be  held.  We  are  happy  to  say  that  in  this  we  have  not  been 
disappointed,  but  our  expectations  have  been  more  than  realized. 

Our  third  fair  was  held  in  Cazenovia,  which  was  one  of  very  great 
interest,  and  we  think  has  given  to  this  society  an  accelerative  mo- 
tion which  will  not  be  easily  stopped. 

The  fourth  annual  fair  was  held  in  the  village  of  Hamilton,  on  the 
1st  and  2nd  days  of  October,  the  weather  being  fine,  the  exhibitions 
of  stock  and  farming  products  being  numerous,  and  exhibiting  a  de- 
cided improvement  upon  former  years,  especially  in  the  products  of 
the  dairy. 

The  second  day  was  improved  by  a  plowing  match.  The  judges 
found  it  extremely  difficult  to  decide,  the  plowing  all  being  done  in 
the  most  workmanlike  manner. 


No.  105.]  445 

The  afternoon  was  most  agreeably  spent  in  listening  to  an  address 
appropriate  to  the  occasion,  by  Z.  J.  Conant,  D.  D.,  and  the  election 
of  officers  for  the  ensuing  year,  reports  of  the  different  committees 
who  decided  on  the  various  propositions  committed  to  them,  and 
paying  the  premiums  by  them  awarded.  As  an  evidence  of  the  in- 
terest felt  in  the  society  on  this  occasion,  we  would  present  the  fol- 
lowing :  the  congregation  were  called  upon  by  the  President  to  give 
their  names  as  members  for  another  year,  when  in  a  few  moments, 
more  responded  to  the  call  than  had  ever  been  members  at  any  pre- 
vious year,  thus  saving  much  time  and  labor  of  committees  soliciting 
members,  and  forming  a  basis  for  the  officers  of  the  society  in  deter- 
mining the  amount  to  be  paid  in  the  next  premium  list,  which  has 
heretofore  been  mostly  made  on  anticipation,  as  members  seldom  join 
until  after  the  list  is  published.  We  are  fully  of  the  opinion  that  this 
is  the  most  favorable  time  to  start  the  subscription  list  of.  members 
for  the  coming  year,  as  an  interest  has  been  awakened  by  the  fair, 
and  men  will  be  more  ready  to  part  with  a  dollar  when  their  feelings 
are  awake  to  the  object,  and  they  then  have  a  year  to  produce  some- 
thing of  merit  at  the  next  fair,  and  will  use  some  exertions  to  get  the 
dollar  back,  making  the  next  fair  still  more  interesting. 

The  state  of  our  funds  are  as  follows  : 

Balance  of  former  years  in  the  hands  of  our  Treasurer, . .       $50  00 

Received  for  membership  this  year, 189  00 

Received  from  the  State, 120  00 

Total, $359  00 

Paid  out  for  premiums, $290  00 

"    for  printinp;  and  incidental  expenses, ....        30  00 

^  ^  V 320  00 

Balance  now  on  hand, $39  00 


As  a  specimen  of  our  crops,  we  present  the  following  on  which 
premiums  were  awarded  at  our  last  fair  : 

Wheat,  amount  per  acre  53j  bushels. 

Best  acre  of  Indian  corn,  amount  122f. 

Second  best,  120  J  bushels  per  acre. 

Third,  117  bushels  per  acre. 

Best  acre  of  barley,  67  bushels. 
"  peas,  56|f  bushels. 

Best  half  acre  of  potatoes,  213  J  bushels. 

We  had  54  different  competitors  on  sheep,  at  the  fair  and  about 
the  same  number  on  cattle. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  officers  for  the  ensuing  year  : 

S.  B.  Burchard,  Hamilton,  President  ;  Elijah  Morse,  David  Hop-, 


446  [Senate 

John  B.  Coe,  Vice-Presidents  ;  Thomas  A.  Clark,   Sullivan,  Cor- 
responding Secretary;  Ledyard  Lincoln,  Cazenovia,  Recording  Sec- 
retary ;  Stephen  Weman,  Eaton.  Treasurer. 
The  foregoing  is  respectfully  submitted. 

S.  B.  BURCHARD. 

This  society  has  published  its  transactions  of  the  four  past  years 
in  a  pamphlet  form,  in  a  manner  well  worthy  of  imitation.  It  con- 
tains a  colored  geological  map  and  is  accompanied  with  a  geological 
account  of  the  county,  explanatory  of  the  map.  It  also  contains  the 
very  able  address  delivered  before  the  society  by  Ledyard  Lincoln, 
Esq.,  and  Professor  Conant,,  This  publication  shows  that  the  agri- 
cultural society  of  the  county  is  in  a  flourishing  condition.  Every 
county  society,  however,  when  it  publishes  its  transactions,  should 
always  publish  the  details  of  the  manner  of  raising  premium  crops, 
in  order  that  any  valuable  information  they  contain  may  be  widely 
circulated. 


Monroe  county* 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Monroe  County  Agricultural  Society, 
held  pursuant  to  adjournment,  at  the  office  of  the  Genesee  Farmer^ 
in  Rochester,  on  the  lOth  day  of  December,  1845,  the  following  nam- 
ed gentlemen  were  elected  officers  for  1846  : 

John  H.  Robinson,  President  |  Elisha  Harmon,  Caleb  K.  Hobbie, 
Fred.  P.  Root,  Vice-Presidents  ;  James  P.  Fogg,  Treasurer  ;  James 
H.  Watts,  Recording  Secretary  ;  Josiah  W.  Bissellj  Corresponding 
Secretary. 

The  Treasurer  made  the  following  report  : 

Amount  of  cash  on  hand,  Dec.  30^  1844, .  . , , .  |46  37- 

"         received  from  202  members, 202  00 

'«  "  «'     the  State, 194  00 


1442  37 


Paid  receipts  from  No.  81  to  156  inclusive, ....        |308  25 

Paid  expenses  of  society,  i 65  81 

Cash  on  hand » 68  31 


$442  37 


JAMES  P.  FOGG,  Treasurer, 


No.  105.  J  447 

MONTGOMERY  -COUNTY. 

I  enter  upon  this  ray  last  official  act,  under  the  pleasing  conviction 
that  whatever  may  be  said  of  other  counties  in  the  State,  the  Act  of 
1841,  has  given  a  new  impulse  to  that  branch  of  productive  industry 
in  this  county,  which  it  was  the  especial  design  of  its  framers  to 
promote. 

It  is  a  fact  too  well  known,  to  be  here  repeated,  that  the  valley  of 
the  Mohawk,  although  one  of  the  most  fertile  and  desirable  agricul- 
tural districts  in  the  State,  and,  at  a  period  not  remote,  one  of  the 
granaries  from  which  the  eastern  markets  looked  for  their  supplies'of 
the  staff  of  life,  has  not  kept  pace  with  the  improvements  that  have 
been  witnessed  in  other  counties. 

Bad  husbandry,  pursued  uninterruptedly  and  steadily,  for  a  long 
series  of  years,  did  more  to  hasten  on  the  catastrophe  alluded  too, 
than  the  combined  agency  of  insects  and  unpropitious  seasons.  The 
ravages  of  the  insect  tribe  may  be  guarded  against  ;  not  so  the  con- 
sequences resulting  from  the  infraction  of  natural  laws. 

There  are  not  a  few  of  the  tillers  of  the  soil  among  us,  who  have 
caught  the  inspiration  so  generally  prevailing  throughout  the  farming 
community.  Repudiating  the  too  common  notion,  that  it  is  a  decree 
of  fate,  that  the  soil  by  continued  use  must  necessarily  become  sterile 
and  unproductive,  they  now  subscribe  most  confidently  to  the  senti- 
ment of  the  honored  and  lamented  Buel,  that  the  "  productions  of 
agricultural  labor  may  be  doubled  in  ten  years,  and  trebled  in 
twenty."  With  this  conviction  a  spirit  of  inquiry  hitherto  unknown, 
is  manifesting  itself  in  various  parts  of  this  county.  And  instances 
not  a  few,  are  being  presented,  that  show  the  striking  contrast  be- 
tween the  old  and  slovenly  methods  of  tilling  the  soil  and  that  other 
and  better  system  that  has  its  foundation  in  scientific  principles,  and 
which  as  it  develops  itself,  affords  tangible  and  conclusive  evidence 
that  the  more  labor  is  enlightened,  the  greater  will  be  its  rewards. 

The  fifth  annual  cattle  show  and  fair  of  our  society,  was  held  at 
Canajoharie,  on  the  7th  and  8th  days  of  October  last.  The  con- 
course of  farmers  and  citizens  generally  in  attendance  on  both  days, 
was  unusually  large,  and  the  spirit  and  interest  manifested  on  the 
occasion,  was  evidently  a  foretaste  of  a  better  state  of  things.  The 
exhibition  of  domestic  animals,  including  horses,  cattle,  sheep  and 
swine,  was  highly  respectable,  both  as  to  numbers  and  quality.  The 
productions  of  the  farm  and  the  garden,  together  with  the  specimens 
of  household  manufactures,  far  exceeded  in  every  respect,  similar 
exhibitions  in  this  county,  in  any  previous  year.  Our  enterprising 
fellow  citizen,  John  Sandford,  Esq.,  of  Amsterdam,  presented  for  in- 
spection, some  fine  specimens  of  ingrain  carpeting,  and  hearth  rugs. 

The  annual  address  before  our  society,  was  delivered  by  Oliver  A. 
.Morse,  Esq.,   of  Cherry  Valley.     Of  this  production  I   cannot  but 
speak  in  terms  of  the  highest  praise,  Mr,  Morse  is  by  profession  a  law- 
yer, although,  aside  from  the  duties  of  his  professsion,  he  devotes  more 
or  less  attention  to  the  practical  details  of  agriculture.      It  evinced. 


448  [Senate 

moreover,  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  science  and  theory  of 
the  great  subject  he  came  to  discuss. 

Wm.  S.  Shuler,  of  Amsterdam,  was  elected  President  of  the  socie- 
ty, for  the  ensuing  year,  and  Clark  B.  Cochran,  of  the  same  place. 
Secretary. 

GEORGE  GEORTNER, 

President. 


NIAGARA  COUNTY. 

The  annual  cattle  show  and  fair  of  the  Niagara  County  Agri- 
cultural Society,  was  held  at  the  village  of  Lockport,  the  9th  and 
10th  days  of  October  last.  The  list  of  premiums  then  and  there 
awarded  by  and  in  pursuance  of  the  conditions  previously  adopted 
and  published,  are  contained  in  the  annexed  printed  schedule.  The 
amount  of  said  premiums,  including  the  discretionary  premiums, 
awarded  accordirg  to  previous  notice, are  $186.91. 

On  the  10th  day  of  October,  the  following  officers  were  chosen  for 
the  year  1846  : 

Hiram  McNeil,  President  ;  Moses  C.  Crapsey,  O.  P.  Hoag,  Vice- 
Presidents  5  Alfred  Holmes,  Secretary  ;  F.  W.  Leonard,  Treasurer. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 


Lockport,  Bee.  26,  1846. 


J.  D.  SHULER,  President. 


ONONDAGA  COUNTY. 

The  cattle  show  and  fair,  we  are  gratified  to  state,  was  one  of  the 
most  interesting  we  have  ever  had  in  this  county.  It  was  more  ex- 
clusive an  affair  of  the  farmers  themselves  than  any  that  has  preced- 
ed it.  We  are  doubly  pleased  to  mark  this  sign,  because  nothing  is 
wanting  to  render  our  agricultural  exhibition  complete,  and  to  make 
the  influence  exerted  by  them  of  the  most  salutary  order,  but  to  have 
the  tillers  of  the  soil  comprehend  their  true  interests  in  them,  and 
give  them  the  benefit  of  their  hearty  and  vigorous  support. 

The  number  of  people  attending  the  cattle  show  the  first  day,  was 
by  far  the  largest  we  have  ever  seen  in  this  village,  except  upon  the 
occasion  of  great  political  gatherings  from  the  State,  or  surrounding 
counties. 

Of  horned  cattle,  the  numbers  on  the  ground  were  a  third  larger 
than  last  year.  The  display  of  working  cattle  was  especially  fine. 
The  pens  were  better  filled  than  we  have  ever  known  them.     A  large 


No.  105.]  449 

number  of  fine  sheep  were  brought  out,  of  a  great  variety  of  breeds 
and  grades.  In  fact,  we  thought  that  in  this  department,  our  county 
show  W£S  not  far  behind  the  State  fair.  Some  good  swine  were  also 
present,  and  for  the  first  time,  we  beheve,  there  was  a  show  of  poul- 
try ;  we  hope  to  see  it  better  attended  to  next  year. 

Squire  M.  Brown,  of  Elbridge,  President ;  George  Geddes,  John 
F.  Clark,  Vice-Presidents  ;  Russell  Hebbard,  of  Syracuse,  Recording 
Secretary  ;  James  M.  Ellis,  of  Onondaga,  Corresponding  Secretary  ; 
Thomas  A.  Smith,  of  Syracuse,  Treasurer. 


ONEIDA  COUNTY. 

To  the  JY.  Y.  State  Agri.  Society. 

The  officers  of  the  Oneida  County  Agricultural  Society  respect- 
fully submit  for  your  perusal,  a  brief  account  of  the  doings  of  their 
society  for  the  past  year.  In  connection  with  this  report,  they  will 
also  refer  to  the  former  action  and  history  of  the  society,  sufficiently 
to  show,  that  since  its  organization  in  April  1841,  to  the  present 
time,  its  course  has  been  onward,  and  that  no  effiart  has  been  spared 
by  the  enterprising  farmers  of  this  county,  to  elevate  and  improve 
the  standard  of  agriculture  among  us.  This  county  did  not  wait  for 
the  passage  of  the  law  appropriating  funds  to  the  aid  of  county  soci- 
eties, but  organized  their  society  with  the  determination  to  sustain  it 
if  possible,  either  with  or  without  pecuniary  aid  from  the  State.  The 
small  appropriation  made  by  the  law  of  1841,  and  since  renewed, 
was  however  a  very  acceptable  one,  and  has  enabled  us  to  accom- 
plish far  greater  results  than  could  otherwise  have  been  accomplished. 
The  proportion  of  money  for  this  county  is  $255.  The  society  has 
raised  each  year  much  more  than  an  equal  amount  by  voluntary  con- 
tribution, and  in  some  years  nearly  twice  the  amount  received  from 
the  State.  These  contributions,  with  a  few  exceptions,  have  been 
received  in  sums  of  one  dollar  each  for  membership,  a  source  to 
which  the  society  has  looked  mainly  for  its  funds. 

It  will  be  gratifying  to  all  friends  of  agriculture,  and  more  especi- 
ally to  the  members  of  the  Oneida  County  Society,  to  be  assured  that 
this  society  has,  by  its  uniform  and  impartial  action,  and  by  avoiding 
all  causes  of  jealousy  and  complaint,  secured,  and  now  enjoys  the 
confidence  of  the  farmers  and  other  classes  who  have  manifested  an 
interest  in  its  welfare,  and  that  its  prospects  of  usefulness  are  highly 
flattering.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  the  county  contains  a  popu- 
lation of  more  than  eighty-five  thousand  persons,  and  that  within  its 
borders  may  be  found  nearly  every  variety  of  soil.  A  great  propor- 
tion of  the  county  is  well  adapted  to  dairying  and  to  the  raising  of 
cattle  and  sheep,  another  is  peculiarly  adopted  to  the  growing  of 
coarse  grains,  and  a  small  part  of  the  county  is  properly  classed 
among  our  best  wheat  lands.  Let  it  not  be  understood  that  these 
particular  branches  are  pursued  exclusively  in  the  respective  portions 
of  the  county,  for  here  the  growing  of  grain  and  the  keeping  of  cat- 


450  [Senate 

tie  or  sheep,  the  cultivation  of  wheat,  corn,  harley,  roots,  &c.,  are 
often  pursued  in  the  same  neighborhoods  and  on  the  same  farms. 

We  will  not,  however,  devote  more  space  to  a  notice  of  former 
years,  but  proceed  to  give  a  brief  account  of  our  transactions  during 
the  past  year.  This  society  in  the  commencement  of  its  operation 
adopted  the  plan  of  holding  the  annual  exhibitions  in  different  loca- 
tions each  successive  year,  and  the  show  for  1845  was  held  in  the 
village  of  Rome,  on  the  9th  and  10th  of  September.  The  State  So- 
ciety having  located  their  fair  for  this  year  in  this  county,  it  was  sup- 
posed by  all  connected  with  the  society,  that  the  greater  attractions 
which  that  show  would  present  might  prevent  that  general  atten- 
dance on  our  county  show,  which  it  had  always  heretofore  secured. 
For  the  same  reasons  it  was  anticipated  that  the  exhibition  might  in 
itself  prove  a  failure.  That  these  causes  did  detract  much  from  the 
exhibition  and  attendance  is  unquestionable,  but  the  result  of  the 
show  and  of  the  whole  proceedings,  were  such  as  to  afford  to  the 
friends  of  the  society,  the  most  gratifying  assurances  that  the  farmers 
of  Oneida  will  sustain  triumphantly  those  principles  and  improve- 
ments for  which  they  have  many  years  labored.  The  following 
brief  abstract  will  show  the  number  of  entries  in  each  department  of 
the  exhibition. 

Horses  of  all  ages  and  classes, 79 

Swine, 18 

Bulls, 14 

Working  oxen  and  steers,  a  large  exhibition,  number  lost. 

Cows  and  heifers, ...... .31 

Sheep, ^ .  . 52 

Butter, 5 

Cheese, 5 

Silk  and  cocoons,   ' 5 

Farm  implements, 5 

Fruit  and  vegetables, 20 

Maple  sugar, 4 

Discretionary, 36 

Domestic  fancy  articles  by  the  ladies, 90 

Premiums  were  awarded  in  cash  to  the  amount  of  $346.  There 
were  also  given  as  premiums,  20  volumes  of  Transactions  of  the  State 
Society,  and  36  Diplomas. 

The  attendance  at  the  show  was  large,  and  the  proceedings  through- 
out seemed  to  afford  almost  universal  satisfaction.  The  address  was 
delivered  in  the  afternoon  of  the  first  day,  by  the  president  of  the 
society. 

The  plowing  match  has  in  this  county  always  attracted  great  at- 
tention, and  this  feeling  does  not  seem  in  any  degree  to  have  abated. 
But  we  were  well  nigh  balked  in  our  anticipations  by  the  unusual 
drought  which  had  prevailed  for  some  weeks  previously.  The  ground 
was  so  hard  and  dry  as  to  make  it  extremely  doubtful  whether  it 
could  be  plowed  at  all ;  but  a  few  men  were  found  who  evinced  a 


No.  105.]  451 

willingness  to  make  the  experiment.  Seven  teams  only  were  entered, 
where,  had  the  ground  been  in  good  condition  for  plowing,  not  less 
than  twenty  would  have  contested  for  the  prizes.  It  is  but  justice 
to  say  that  the  plowing  done,  evinced  a  skill  and  knowledge  of  the 
work  highly  creditable  to  the  plowmen,  for  there  was  not  a  land  plow- 
ed which  could  not  be  said  to  be  extremely  well  done. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  society  was  held  at  South  Trenton, 
January  8,  1846.  At  this  meeting  the  premiums  on  grain  and  root 
crops,  were  awarded.  Many  of  the  crops  reported,  exceeded  those 
of  former  years,  some  of  them  being  by  far  the  best  reported  from  any 
part  of  the  State.  Crops  of  winter  wheat  were  grown  of  66,  56f  * 
and  41  bushels  per  acre,  the  samples  shown,  of  good  quality.  Of 
spring  wheat,  34  and  28|^  bushels  per  acre.  Of  corn,  89/^,  79||, 
and  75Jf  per  acre.  Of  winter  rye,  52^|^  and  46||  bushels.  Of  bar- 
ley, 63f  I  and  63/^  bushels.  Of  peas  56  and  48  bushels.  Of  pota- 
toes, 370|^  and  333f  i  bushels  per  acre.  Of  carrots,  415  and  386 
bushels  on  one  fourth  of  an  acre.  The  potatoes  estimated  at  60 
pounds,  and  carrots  at  45  pounds  per  bushel. 

Such  crops  as  the  foregoing,  substantiated  as  the  reports  are,  by 
the  cerfificate  of  a  member  of  the  committee  w^ho  witnessed  the  mea- 
sure ment  and  the  harvesting,  and  also  by  the  affidavit  of  the  appli- 
cant, aiford  the  surest  evidence  that  our  agriculture  is  rapidly  im- 
proving. 

The  receipts  and  expenditures  in  money  as  shown  by  the  Trea- 
asurer's  report  are  as  follows  : 

Balance  of  money  from  last  year, $72  30 

Received  from  State  Treasurer, 255  00 

"  "    Members, 273  00 

"         For  admission  to  exhibition  rooms, 54  55 


$654  85 


Cash  paid  premiums  at  annual  exhibition,  $343  00 
"     "  Sundry  expenses,  books,  printing, 

&c 71  55 

"     "  premiums  at  winter  meetings,..,     90  00 


u 


in  hands  of  Treasurer, 150  30 


$654  85 


Showing  a  balance  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer  of  $150,  and 
more  than  twice  the  amount  on  hand  at  the  last  annual  meeting. 
With  this  prosperous  condition  of  our  funds,  and  the  society  in  every 
way  flourishing,  and  its  course  onward,  the  late  officers  take  great 
pleasure  in  saying  that  the  society  has  been  fortunate  in  the  selec- 
tion of  men  for  its  officers  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  we  doubt  not 
that  the  farmers  of  Oneida  will  continue  to  bestow  upon  it  their  con- 
fidence and  support. 

All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted  in  behalf  of  the  late  execu- 
tive  board.  ELON  COMSTOCK,  President. 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  29 


452  [Senate 

ONTARIO  COUNTY. 

Fair  held  on  the  14th  and  15th  of  October.  John  Greig  of  Canan- 
daigua  ;  President.  Elias  Coit,  J.  Fellows,  J.  S.  Hart,  C.  Loomis, 
J.  Buel,  H.  Ashley,  Vice  Presidents.  William  W.  Gorham,  Re- 
cording Secretary.  Oliver  Phelps,  Corresponding  Secretary.  N.  G. 
Cheesboro,  Treasurer. 

The  address  was  delivered  by  Z.  Barton  Stout,  Esq.  of  Richmond. 


ORANGE  COUNTY. 

On  the  8th  of  October  the  society  held  their  fair  and  cattle  show. 
The  attendance  on  the  first  day  (the  8th  Oct.)  was  much  larger  than 
on  any  former  occasion,  and  the  competition  for  most  of  the  premiums 
offered  by  the  society  was  unusually  spirited.  A  greatly  increased 
interest  in  the  proceedings  and  prosperity  of  the  society  was  mani- 
fested by  our  citizens  generally,  and  the  most  gratifying  evidence 
was  exhibited  of  the  usefulness  of  the  society. 

The  officers  of  the  society  for  the  ensuing  year  were  elected,  con- 
sisting of  Frederick  J.  Betts,Newburg,  President ;  a  Vice-President  for 
each  town  ;  Benjamin  F.  Dunning,  of  Goshen,  Recording  Secretary  ; 
Joseph  W.  Gott,  of  Goshen,  Corresponding  Secretary ;  and  Charles 
Downing,  of  Newburgh,  Treasurer. 

In  the  afternoon  the  plowing  match  came  off,  for  which  eight 
teams  were  entered,  four  of  horses  and  four  of  oxen.  Each  team 
was  to  plow  one  quarter  of  an  acre  of  ground  in  seventy-five  minutes, 
including  five  minutes  rest,  after  the  first  about,  to  adjust  the  plows 
or  harness,  and  also  five  minutes  rest  during  the  match. 

The  show  of  animals  at  the  fair  was  very  far  superior  to  that  of 
any  former  exhibition  in  our  county. 

The  display  of  household  manufactures  was  more  than  double  that 
of  any  former  year,  added  most  materially  to  the  interest  of  an  exhi- 
bition, and  received  the  unqualified  commendation  of  the  committee 
of  judges. 

About  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  were  contributed  by  individual 
subscriptions  to  the  funds  of  the  society  for  the  year  ending  October, 
1845.  The  society  separated  apparently  fully  satisfied  that  the 
bounty  of  the  State  was  advantageously  expended  in  carrying  out 
the  intentions  of  the  Legislature. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

F.  J.  BETTS.  President 


ORLEANS  COUNTY. 

The  following  is  an  abstract  of  the  proceedings  of  the   Orleans 
County  Agricultural  Society  for  the  year  1845. 


No.  105.]  453 

The  funds  of  the  society  consisted  of  cash  on  hand,  not  expended 

last  year, ' $49  74 

Cash  received  from  members  this  year, 85  00 

Cash  received  from  the  Comptroller, T5  00 

Total, $209  47 


The  first  day  of  the  fair  and  cattle  show  was  held  on  the  first  day 
of  October,  and  was  devoted  to  an  exhibition  of  domestic  animals, 
family  manufactures,  horticultural  and  agricultural  implements;  and 
of  these  there  was  a  greater  number  than  the  year  before. 

The  plowing  match  took  place  on  the  morning  of  the  second  day, 
and  attracted  a  large  crowd  of  eager  spectators.  It  being  the  first 
plowing  match  ever  held  in  this  county,  there  was  not  as  many  com- 
petitors as  would  have  been  desirable,  yet  there  was  enough  to  show 
that  the  farmers  of  Orleans  county  mean  to  practise  and  carry  out 
the  trite  saying, 

**He  that  by  the  plow  would  thrive 
Must  himself  either  hold  or  drive." 

The  following  gentlemen  were  selected  for  officers  for  the  ensuing 
year,  viz  :  Archibald  L.  Daniels,  of  Barre,  President ;  Allen  Porter, 
of  Barre,  John  Willard,  of  Clarendon,  Asahel  Boynton,  2d,  of  Carl- 
ton, Lyman  Bates,  of  Ridgway,  James  Gilson,  of  Shelby,  David 
Jones,  of  Kendall,  Samuel  Hill,  of  Gaines,  Andrew  Wild,  of  Yates, 
Harley  N.  Bushnell,  of  Murry,  Vice  Presidents;  Pierpont  Dyre, 
Secretary  B.  L.  Bessac,  Corresponding  Secretary  ;  Lorenzo  Burrows, 
Treasurer. 

ARCHIBALD  DANIELS,  President. 

Barre,  Dec.  25,  1845. 


OSWEGO  COUNTY. 

The  society  held  its  annual  cattle  show  and  fair  at  the  village  of 
Mexico,  on  the  24th  and  25th  of  September,  1845. 

The  amount  of  premiums  awarded,  and  which  has  been  paid  by 
this  society  for  the  year  1845,  is  $250. 

By  the  Treasurer's  report  it  will  be  seen  that  the  amount  of  moneys 
on  hand,  and  received  by  subscription  for  the  year  1845,  is  $169  44 
Amount  received  from  the  State, 131  00 

Making  in  all, $300  44 

From  which  has  been  paid  in  premiums, $250  00 

Other  expenses  paid  by  treasurer, 19  63 

269  63 

Leaving  a  balance  in  hands  of  treasurer,  of $30  81 


454  [Senate 

Owing  to  tlie  previous  dry  weather,  the  condition  of  neat  cattle, 
&c.  was  not  equal  to  former  occasions.  But  the  specimens  offered' 
compared  very  well  with  previous  years,  particularly  working  oxen. 
Domestic  manufactures  also  seemed  to  indicate  a  commendable  spirit 
of  improvement,  w^hile  mechanical  productions  hardly  kept  pace  with 
former  exhibitions.  The  samples  of  butter  and  cheese  were  very 
good,  but  altogether  too  limited  for  a  dairying  district  of  country,  as 
ours  emphatically  is  or  should  be. 

An  address  was  delivered  by  Mr.  R.  K.  Sandford. 

This  was  the  sixth  annual  fair  of  the  Oswego  County  Agricultural 
Society,  and  we  hesitate  not  to  say  that  there  has  been  a  general  and 
marked  improvement  in  the  different  departments  of  agriculture  in 
the  county  since  their  establishment.  But  there  is  still  a  lack  of 
spirit  and  an  indifference  pervading  the  agricultural  portion  of  com- 
munity incompatible  with  the  improvement  of  the  age. 

As  an  evidence  of  the  general  improvement  manifested  at  the  fair 
compared  with  former  years,  we  noticed  with  pleasure  the  different 
specimens  of  plowing,  not  only  in  itself  considered,  but  what  has 
been  effected  for  the  farmer  in  the  very  marked  improvement  of  farm- 
ing implements.  The  plowing  which  received  the  society's  first  pre- 
mium was  performed  with  a  plow  purchased  at  the  State  Fair  at  Utica. 

It  will  be  seen  that  notwithstanding  the  premiums  awarded  on  grain 
and  other  field  crops  were  not  numerous,  yet  our  country  still  main- 
tains her  high  standing  for  great  yields  of  Indian  corn,  she  having  on 
several  occasions  carried  ofi"  the  palm  on  this  article  before  the  State 
Society.  By  Mr.  Sherwood's  statement  it  will  be  seen  that  his  crop 
amounted  to  over  138  bushels  per  acre. 

As  another  instance  of  uncommon  yield,  especially  for  the  past 
season,  we  cannot  forbear  alluding  to  the  crop  of  oats  raised  by  Mr. 
Nicholas  Bort,  of  the  town  of  Hastings.  He  raised,  as  will  be  seen 
by  his  statement  accompanying  this  report,  at  the  rate  of  over  106 
bushels  per  acre,  in  a  field  of  eighteen  acres. 


Mexico,  Dec.  30, 1845. 


PETER  CHANDLER,   Vice-Prest. 


OTSEGO  COUNTY. 

Fair  held  on  the  first  and  second  of  October. 

Olcott  C.  Chamberlain,  President ;  H.  Spencer,  Joseph  Gregory, 
D.  Gilchrist,  Vice  Presidents ;  H.  Phinney,  Treasurer  ;  C.  McLaren, 
Secretary. 


QUEENS  COUNTY. 

The  fourth  annual  fair  of  this  society  was  held  at  Hempstead,  on 
the  9th  of  October,  1845. 

The  weather  being  very  inauspicious  in  the  morning,  much  stock. 


No.  105.]  455 

etc.  was  kept  back.  The  display  of  flowers  and  vegetables  was  very- 
good. 

An  instructive  and  highly  interesting  address  was  delivered  by  the 
Hon.  John  S,  Skinner,  the  veteran  of  the  corps  editorial  in  the  agri- 
cultural field,  which  was  received  with  much  favor,  and  its  publica- 
tion called  for. 

There  is  much  interest  felt  for  the  success  of  the  society,  and  there 
is  reason  to  hope  that  it  may  be  the  means  of  much  usefulness. 

Part  of  our  committees  to  award  premiums  were  composed  of  ladies, 
which  gave  much  satisfaction,  as  they  are  so  much  better  judges  of 
many  articles  than  gentlemen. 

The  following  are  the  officers  for  1846  :  Singleton  Mitchell,  Presi- 
dent; Thomas  B.  Jackson,  David  W.  Jones,  John  Bedell,  Henry 
Story,  Robert  W.  Mott,  Thomas  Valentine,  Vice  Presidents  ;  Albert 
G.  Carll,  Jericho,  Corresponding  Secretary  ;  Edward  H.  Seaman, 
Recording  Secretary  ;  William  Ketchum,  Treasurer. 


RENSSELAER  COUNTY. 

The  Fourth  Annual  Cattle  Show  and  Fair,  was  held  at  Troy,  Sep 
tember  24th  and  25th,  1845.  The  competition  upon  stock  was  large 
and  in  fancy  articles,  the  exhibition  surpassed  that  of  any  previous 
year.  The  attendance  of  farmers  and  others  at  the  fair,  was  such  as 
to  give  promise  of  renewed  zeal  in  the  cause  of  agriculture  and  do- 
mestic improvement.     Premiums  to  a  large  amount  were  awarded. 

The  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Troy,  February  3,  1846,  and  the 
following  premiums  were  awarded. 

First  premium  on  corn,  $10,  for  I82i  bushels  on  two  acres. 

Value  of  crop, $169  75 

Interest  on  land,  and  expenses, 79  79 

Nett  Profit, $89  96 


First  Premium  on  flax,  $6,  for  47  bushels  and  3  pecks  of  seed,  and 
1305  lbs.  of  lint,  from  3  acres,  2  roods  and  5  rods. 

First  premium  on  wheat,  $6,  for  268  bushels,  from  8|  acres,  aver- 
aging 30  bushels  and  20  quarts  per  acre. 

First  premium  on  barley,  $5,  for  157  bushels  from  3  acres. 

First  premium  on  potatoes,  $5,  for  355  bushels  from  1  acre. 

The  report  of  the  treasurer  shows  $324.20  in  the  treasury.  The 
following  gentlemen  were  elected  as  officers  of  the  society  for  the 
ensuing  year. 

George  Vail,  Troy,  President.  Gen.  Wool,  Troy  ;  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards, do  ;  John  P.  Cushman,  do  ;  Alexander  Walsh,  Lansingburgh  ; 
Isaac  Tallmadge,  Schaghticoke  ;  Jacob  Y.  Kipp,  Pittstown  ;  Isaac 
Brownell,  Hoosick  ;  Squire  Allen,  Petersburgh  ;  Ebenezer  Stevens, 


456  [Senate 

Grafton  ;  George  F.  Dennison,  Berlin  ;  Roswell  G.  Pierce^  Stephen- 
town  ;  Seth  Hastings,  Nassau ;  Jacob  A.  Ten  Eyck,  Schodack  ; 
Isaac  Lovejoy,  Greenbush;  Henry  W.  Coon,  Sandlake ;  Joseph 
Hastings,  Brunswick,  Vice  Presidents.  Seth  H.  Terry,  Troy,  Re- 
cording Secretary.  John  J.  Viele.  Troy,  Corresponding  Secretary. 
Francis  N.  Mann,  Troy,  Treasurer. 

S.  H.  TERRY, 
Recording  Secretary. 
Troy,  February  5,  1846. 


ROCKLAND  COUNTY. 

Enclosed  we  se  nd  a  statement  of  field  crops  raised  in  this  county, 
also  a  paper  containing  an  account  of  the  Annual  Fair,  together 
with  the  election  of  officers  for  the  present  year. 

The  following  are  the  officers  for  1846  : 

Isaac  M.  Dederer,  of  Orangetown,  President.  John  W.  Felter,  of 
Haverstraw,  James  Suffern,  of  Ramapo,  and  David  P.  Demarest,  of 
Clarkstown,  Vice  Presidents.  Matthew  D.  Bogert,  Corresponding 
Secretary.  Abraham  J.  Demarest,  Recording  Secretary.  John  C. 
Blauvelt,  Treasurer.  A.  B.  Conger,  of  Haverstraw,  Erastus  John- 
son, of  Ramapoj  Peter  T.  Stephens,  of  Clarkstown,  John  Westervelt 
of  Orangetown,  Executive  Committee. 

Fair  held  on  the  15th  October,  1845. 

I.  M.  DEDERER, 

President. 

Blauveltville,  Rockland  Co.  January  30. 


SARATOGA  COUNTY. 

The  5th  annual  Fair  and  Cattle  Show  of  the  Saratoga  Co.  Agricultu- 
ral Society,  was  held  at  Ballston  Spa,  on  Tuesday,  and  Wednesday, 
the  14th  and  15th  days  of  October,  1845.  The  first  day  was  devo- 
ted exclusively  to  the  exhibition  and  examination  of  animals  and 
articles  offered  for  premiums,  and  called  out  an  unusually  large 
assemblage  of  the  friends  of  agriculture,  from  different  parts  of  the 
county.  The  exhibition  was  very  creditable  to  all  concerned.  It 
was  an  improvement,  decidedly  so,  upon  all  the  preceding  fairs  held 
by  our  county  society.  The  show  of  horses,  cattle,  and  stock  of  va- 
rious descriptions,  exceeded  those  of  previous  years,  and  every  thing 
betokened  advancement  in  the  several  branches  of  agricultural  in- 
dustry represented  on  this  occasion.  Although  the  regulations  of 
the   Executive  Committee  prevented,  to    some  extent,  the  bringing 


No.  105.]  457 

forward  of  many  things  which  had  heretofore  receive  premiums,  still 
the  number,  variety  and  beauty  of  the  animals  and  articles  was  much 
better  than  we  anticipated,  and  encourage  the  belief  that  the  next 
fair  in  this  county,  will  equal,  if  not  exceed,  that  of  any  other  in  the 
state.  It  was  apparent  to  all  who  have  attended  these  exhibitions, 
that  the  zeal  of  many  of  our  farmers  is  awakened  to  the  importance 
of  the  noble  science  of  cultivating  the  earth,  and  that  the  spirit  of 
emulation  is  prompting  them  to  excel  in  the  various  branches  of  pro- 
ductive industry  in  which  they  are  engaged. 

As  is  usual  at  our  county  fairs,  a  well-contested  ploughing  match, 
which  took  place  in  the  forenoon  of  the  second  day,  excited  much 
interest,  and  called  together  large  numbers  of  the  farmers  from  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  county.  Indeed,  this  part  of  the  exhibition  was  one 
of  the  most  attractive  features  of  the  fair.  Eight  teams  of  horses  and 
two  of  oxen  entered  the  field,  and  the  competitors  acquitted  them- 
selves with  much  credit. 

Officers. — Henry  D.  Chapman,  of  Saratoga,  President ;  Seth  D. 
Whalen,  of  Milton,  1st  Vice  President ;  Elisha  Curtis,  of  Ballston, 
2d  Vice  President ;  Edward  W.  Lee,  of  Ballston  Spa,  Treasurer  j 
William  I.  Gilchrist,  of  Charlton,  Corresponding  Secretary  ;  John 
A.  Corey,  of  Saratoga  Springs,  Recording  Secretary. 

Amount  of  Premiums  awarded, $15  71 

Single  vols,  of  Transactions, 60 

2  vols,  of                    "            2 

Two  instances  where  3d  and  5th  vols,  are  specified, 

Colman's  Tour, 31 


SCHOHARIE  COUNTY. 

The  Annual  Fair  was  held  in  this  county  at  Cobleskill,  on  the  15th 
and  16th  of  October.  The  fair  was  well  attended  and  a  very  large 
number  of  premiums  were  awarded. 

The  address  was  delivered  by  Almerine  Marks,  Esq.,  of  Durham, 
Greene  county,  and  is  one  well  worthy  of  commendation. 

No  return  of  the  officers  or  transactions  of  this  society  has  been 
received. 


SENECA  COUNTY. 


Our  Annual  Fair  was  held  on  the  23d  and  24th  of  October  last. 
There  has  been  paid  for  premiums,  printing  &c.,  $144.50,  and  there 
is  now  in  the  treasurer's  hands  $19.50,  unexpended. 


458  [Senate 

Enclosed  are  the  reports  of  members  to  whom  premiums  were 
awarded  on  grain,  with  some  others.  We  regret  to  say  that  the  re- 
ports are  few  in  number ;  and  on  stock,  the  manner  in  which  it  is 
raised,  generally,  does  not  seem  to  admit  of  an  accurate  detail  of  ex- 
penses ;  and  a  disposition  seems  manifest  adverse  to  report  vague 
conclusions. 

JOHN  D.  COE, 

President. 


TOMPKINS  COUNTY. 

This  society  numbers,  this  year,  about  200  members,  most  of  whom 
are  sturdy  farmers,  instead  of  "  beggars,^'  and  who  seem  to  take  a 
deep  interest  in  the  agricultural  welfare  of  our  county  and  State. 
Our  meetings  through  the  year  have  generally  been  well  attended. 
Our  last  annual  fair,  which  was  held  in  this  village  on  the  3d  and  4th 
of  October  last,  was  indeed  a  farmer's  jubilee.  Nature  smiled. 
Farmers,  mechanics,  men,  women  and  children,  were  there,  and  they 
also  smiled.  From  the  increased  number  who  attended  the  fair,  as 
also  from  the  spirit  of  rivalship  manifested  as  to  who  should  excel  in 
obtaining  the  first  premiums.  We  are  satisfied  that  the  State  and 
county  societies  are,  in  connection  with  the  various  agricultural  pub- 
lications of  the  day,  working  great  good  to  the  farming  interests  of 
our  country. 

The  annual  address  was  delivered  by  D.  B.  Stockholm,  esq. 

The  amount  of  funds  raised  mostly  in  sums  of  four  shillings  from 
each  member  for  membership  in  our  society  the  past  year,  is  |110. 
An  equivalent  amount  has  been  received  from  the  State.  This  amount 
has  mostly  been  appropriated  in  payment  of  premiums,  and  in  de- 
fraying necessary  expenses  of  the  society  for  the  year. 

The  committee  on  plowing  report,  that  there  were  eleven  teams 
and  plows  entered  the  field  for  competition.  That  the  plowing  by 
most  of  them  was  very  superior  and  highly  creditable  to  the  plow- 
men, and  they  challenge  any  county  in  the  State  to  produce  the  same 
number  of  teams  and  plowmen  to  do  as  good  and  as  much  work  in 
the  same  time. 

Officers  :  Jacob  McCormick,  Ithaca,  President ;  Thomas  Robert- 
son, Lansing,  Henry  Brewer,  Enfield,  George  Jones,  Newfield,  James 
Giles,  Dryden,  John  W.  Abell,  Ulysses,  Nathan  Benson,  Groton,  E. 
Wixon,  Hector,  Jacob  Bates,  Danby,  James  R.  Speed,  Caroline  ; 
E.  L.  Porter,  Ithaca,  Recording  Secretary  ;  E.  Mack,  Ithaca,  Cor- 
responding Secretary;  N.  T.  Williams,  Ithaca,  Treasurer. 

S.  CRITTENDEN,  Rec.  Secretary, 

Ithaca,  Feb.  18,  1846. 


No.  105.]  459 

ULSTER  COUNTY. 

The  fair  of  the  Ulster  County  Agricultural  Society  was  held  at 
Rosendale  in  said  county,  on  the  seventh  and  eighth  days  of  October, 
where  premiums  were  awarded  on  the  various  successful  specimens 
there  offered  for  competition.  The  prospect  of  the  society  on  the 
days  of  the  fair  was  less  flattering  than  at  some  previous  fairs,  owing 
not  so  much  to  a  want  of  enterprise  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants, 
as  to  the  unfavorable  state  of  the  weather.  The  rain,  on  the  first  day 
of  the  fair,  prevented  the  farmers  from  driving  in  their  stock  to  so 
large  an  amount  as  they  otherwise  would  ;  nevertheless  many  beauti- 
ful horses,  cattle  and  sheep,  were  offered  for  competition.  The  pre- 
miums on  bulls  and  cows  were  principally  awarded  to  grade  and  full 
bred  short  horn  Durhams.  Some  very  fine  sheep  of  the  long,  middle 
and  fine  wool  varieties,  were  exhibited,  doing  much  credit  to  Ulster 
for  the  taste  her  farmers  have  manifested  in  selecting  the  article  of 
stock.  The  inattention  of  some  of  the  competitors  on  stock  in  com- 
plying with  the  law  in  presenting  to  the  society  a  written  statement 
of  the  manner  of  feeding  their  stock,  has  in  some  instances  put  it 
out  of  our  power  to  make  a  full  return  on  that  subject,  as  the  law 
directs. 

The  application  of  science  to  agriculture  has  as  yet  received  but 
little  attention  in  this  county,  with  a  few  honorable  exceptions.  The 
principle  of  a  rotation  of  crops  is  generally  observed  by  most  of  our 
successful  farmers.  The  introduction  of  the  short  horned  Durhams 
into  this  county  is  effecting  a  decided  improvement  in  our  herds  of 
cattle. 

Agriculture  and  the  manufacturing  and  mechanical  arts  are  receiv- 
ing a  new  impulse  from  the  effect  of  producing  the  various  specimens 
raised  and  manufactured  before  the  public  for  competition. 

That  we  fully  believe  that  our  ngricultural  society  will  be  perpetu- 
ated upon  its  present  basis  as  evidenced  by  the  increased  co-operation 
of  our  citizens  in  its  support. 

We  would  further  report  that  a  meeting  of  the  members  of  our 
agricultural  society  was  held  at  Rosendale  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
second  day  of  the  fair,  and  the  following  gentlemen  were  chosen 
officers  of  the  association  for  the  ensuing  year  :  David  L.  Bernard 
President;  Richard  Hardenburgh,  John  Griffith,  Thomas  Wygant, 
Vice  Presidents  ;  John  Lounsbury,  Rec.  Sec.^  Rodney  A.  Chipp,  Cor. 
Secretary  ;  Cornelius  Bruyn,  Treasurer ;  and  an  Executive  Com- 
mittee composed  of  one  individual  from  each  of  the  towns  in  the 
county. 

DAVID  L.  BERNARD,  President.. 


WASHINGTON  COUNTY. 

The  fifth  annual  fair  was  held  at  Salem  on  the  l4th  and  15th  of 
October.  The  address  was  delivered  by  the  Hon.  John  Savage, 
and  a  lecture  upon  agricultural  chemistry  by  Dr.  D.  Lee  of  Buffalo. 


460  [Senate 

Among  the  premium  crops  were,  winter  wheat  44|  and  44|  bushels 
per  acre  ;  spring  wheat  30i  and  28 J  ;  rye  41|  and  35| ;  oats  86| ; 
barley  45;  and  corn  131|,  1284  and  121  shelled  bushels  per  acre. 
It  is  deserving  of  note,  as  a  signal  evidence  of  what  the  "  act  for  the 
encouragement  of  agriculture"  is  accomplishing,  that  the  three  last 
of  these  crops  were  reared  on  soil  and  with  a  mode  of  cultivation 
closely  analogous  to  a  crop  of  115  bushels,  which  drew  the  first  pre- 
mium in  this  county  two  years  ago,  the  truth  of  the  statement  re- 
specting which,  though  amply  attested,  was  doubted  by  some  of  our 
citizens.  These  crops,  which  are  certainly  magnificent  for  the  "  worn 
out  hills  of  old  Washington,"  have  evidently  resulted  from  closely 
following  the  details  given  respecting  the  premium  crop  of  1843. 

The  amount  of  funds  at  the  society's  disposal  has  been  $363.46, 
of  which  over  $300  has  been  paid  in  premiums,  $44  for  printing 
handbills  and  circulars,  and  other  incidental  expenses,  leaving  a  ba- 
lance now  on  hand  of  $13.46. 

Officers. — Abira  Eldridge,  North  White  Creek,  President ;  L. 
B.  Armstrong,  John  Savage,  Henry  Holmes,  Harvey  Brown,  Vice 
Presidents;  James  Savage,  Argyle,  Corresponding  Secretary ;  John 
McDonald,  Salfm,  Recording  Secretary  ;  John  McNaughton,  Trea- 
surer. 

It  is  a  source  of  no  ordinary  gratification  to  witness  the  state  of 
palmy  prosperity  the  society  has  attained,  and  the  marked  indications 
which  it  has  received  from  year  to  year,  of  a  steady  advancement  in 
the  public  esteem.  Those  bitter  taunts  that  were  flung  out  when  it 
was  first  organized — that  it  was  "  a  mushroom  affair" — that  it  would 
"  die  out  in  three  or  four  years" — show  how  little  some  persons  know 
of  the  character  and  spirit  of  the  community  in  which  they  live. 
We  would  have  felt  it  as  a  stigma  upon  this  county  if,  with  the  fos- 
tering aid  extended  to  it  by  the  State,  it  could  not  sustain  an  agricul- 
tural society,  provided  such  society  was  managed  with  ordinary  care 
and  discretion.  But  that  a  society  with  the  limited  amount  of  means 
that  ours  must  possess,  would  be  able  year  after  year  to  get  up  fairs, 
and  have  these  uniformly  so  well  conducted  and  so  attractive  as  to 
bring  out  the  throngs  of  citizens  which  we  have  seen  together  on 
these  occasions,  is  a  degree  of  success  far  transcending  our  most 
sanguine  anticipations.  And  still  less  did  we  anticipate  such  brilliant 
results  as  have  already  crowned  the  operations  of  this  society. 
Though  at  the  date  of  its  early  settlement,  this  district  of  country 
was  almost  regarded  as  the  Eden  of  the  world,  yet  the  system  of 
husbandry  then  pursued — continually  taking  from  the  earth,  all  that 
it  would  produce,  without  returning  any  thing  to  it  to  compensate  for 
this  exhaustion — had  so  far  impoverished  our  soil,  that  latterly  it  had 
come  to  be  popularly  believed  that  it  was  no  longer  capable  of  yield- 
ing more  than  a  scanty  return  for  the  most  incessant  labor.  Its  ste- 
rility was  fast  becoming  proverbial.  A  Wisconsin  correspondent  of 
one  of  the  New-York  papers,  a  few  months  ago,  congratulated  him- 
self that  he  was  "  no  longer  doomed  to  toil  over  the  worn  out  hills 
of  old  Washington."  But  already  have  the  proceedings  of  this  so- 
ciety brought  prominently  before  our  community  the  utter  fallacy  of 


No.  105.]  461 

such  sentiments.  Already  has  it  clearly  shown  that  by  a  liberal  use 
of  manures  and  a  judicious  rotation  of  crops,  it  is  within  the  power 
of  every  farmer  speedily  to  restore  his  exhausted  lands  to  their  pris- 
tine degree  of  productiveness.  Who  thought,  five  years  ago,  that 
46  bushels  of  wheat,  40  bushels  of  rye,  100  bushels  of  oats,  120  and 
130  bushels  of  corn  could  be  produced  upon  an  acre  in  this  county. 
The  most  fertile  districts  of  the  vaunted  west  would  be  proud  of  such 
crops  as  these.  Some  of  them  fall  but  little  short  of  the  largest 
yields  that  are  upon  record.  They  conclusively  show  that  "  the  worn 
out  hills  of  old  Washington"  can  successfully  compete  with  any  sec- 
tion of  our  country. 

A.  FITCH,  Recording  Secretary. 


WAYNE  COUNTY. 

The  agricultural  society  of  this  county  held  its  fair  on  the  first  and 
second  of  October  last.  The  increasing  interest  in  relation  to  the 
progress  and  prosperity  of  agricultural  pursuits  in  this  section,  is 
deeply  gratifying  to  all  who  properly  appreciate  the  importance  and 
dignity  of  the  farmer's  calling.  Our  late  fair  excelled  any  thing  of 
the  kind  ever  held  in  this  county.  The  display  of  cattle,  horses, 
sheep  and  swine,  was  very  large,  and  contained  specimens  of  the 
best  varieties  in  the  country.  The  exhibition  of  horses,  mares  and 
colts,  was  very  superior,  and  of  sheep,  the  display  of  both  coarse 
and  fine  wooled  was  as  good  as  produced  by  any  county  in  the  State, 
and  far  superior  to  that  usually  furnished.  The  plowing  match  was 
an  interesting  display.  An  intelligent  farmer  of  this  county  says 
that  his  attendance  upon  former  plowing  matches  of  this  society  has 
been  worth  at  least  $100  to  him,  by  the  difference  it  has  produced  in 
the  manner  of  plowing  upon  his  farm,  and  the  consequent  increase 
of  his  crops.  The  address  was  delivered  on  the  second  day  by  Ornon 
Archer,  Esq.  Among  other  premiums  on  field  crops,  one  was  awarded 
for  51 /(J  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre,  and  one  for  six  acres  averaging 
44  bushels  per  acre ;  corn  60^  bushels  per  acre ;  oats  76  bushels  per 
acre;  barley  330  on  six  acres,  55  per  acre. 

Officers  for  the  present  year  :  Truman  Heminway,  Palmyra,  Presi- 
dent; A.  G.  Percy,  T.  Barnes,  J.  Hall,  J.  Wilder,  J.  Watson,  W. 
D.  Cook  and  J.  A.  Miller,  Vice  Presidents  ;  J.  J.  Thomas,  Macedon, 
Corresponding  Secretary;  D.  Kenyon,  Recording  Secretary ;  K.  H. 
Foster,  Treasurer. 

T.  HEMINWAY,  President 

Palmyra,  Jan.^  1846. 


WESTCHESTER  COUNTY. 

A  peculiar  feature  in  the  constitution  of  this  society,  is  the  provi- 
sion for  the  formation  of  "  Farmer's  Clubs"  in  the  different  towns, 
for  the  discussion  of  subjects  connected  with  the  improvement  of  the 


462  [Senate 

Agriculture  and  Horticulture  of  the  county,  &,c.  It  is  proposed  to 
have  a  club  in  every  town  in  the  county,  several  of  which  have 
already  been  formed. 

Among  the  subjects  brought  forward  for  consideration,  the  use  of 
alluvial  deposits  and  swamp  muck  as  manure,'  has  been  urged  with 
perseverance  ;  and  I  am  happy  to  say  that  a  considerable  number  of 
farmers  have  commenced  the  removal  of  these  accumulations  of  centu- 
ries, and  I  have  no  doubt  the  county  will  be  very  much  enriched, 
and  the  farmers  will  find  their  own  interests  greatly  improved  by 
their  use. 

An  evidence  that  the  county  is  taking  an  increased  interest  in 
agricultural  improvement  was  manifest  at  the  county  fair  held  at 
White  Plains,  on  the  8th  of  October,  1845.  The  display  of  stock  of 
various  kinds,  was  very  fine  ;  and  the  productions  of  the  orchard,  the 
garden,  and  the  vineyard,  (including  the  common  grain  crops)  were 
w^orthy  of  commendation.  The  number  of  persons  who  visited  the 
fair,  was  large,  far  beyond  any  thing  the  society  had  anticipated,  as 
only  a  few  weeks  intervened  between  the  time  that  the  list  of  premi- 
ums was  made  out  and  the  day  of  the  exhibition. 

The  society  awarded  premiums  for  the  year  1845,  amounting  to 
upwards  of  four  hundred  dollars.  It  is  proposed  to  increase  the  list 
of  premiums  for  the  year  1846,  to  between  six  and  seven  hundred 
dollars ;  so  as  to  give  an  impetus  to  all  branches  of  industry  con- 
nected with  the  agriculture  and  horticulture  of  the  county. 

R.  T.  UNDERHILL,  M.  D., 

President, 

JVew  York,  and  Croton  Point, 


WYOMING  COUNTY. 

The  fair  was  held  on  the  1st  and  2d  of  October,  and  was  one  of 
surpassing  interest.  It  was  held  in  Warsaw — the  county  town,  and 
though  the  weather  was  not  favorable,  and  it  was  the  second  one  ever 
held  in  the  county,  the  inhabitants  of  that  village  state  that  there 
were  more  persons  in  attendance  on  the  2d  day  of  the  fair,  than  they 
had  ever  seen  together  in  that  place  on  any  other  occasion,  not  ex- 
cepting the  great  political  gatherings  of  1840  and  '44.  The  exhibi- 
tion of  all  sorts  of  stock  and  articles,  was  also  very  gratifying  to  the 
friends  of  the  society,  and  greatly  exceeded  both  in  quantity  and 
quality,  the  exhibition  of  last  year.  The  increase  of  interest  spring- 
ing up  in  all  parts  of  our  county  on  the  subject  of  agriculture,  domes- 
tic manufactures,  and  improvement  in  the  breeding  of  stock,  is  most 
manifest,  and  has  been  doubtless  mainly  stimulated  by  the  operations 
of  our  society  for  the  two  past  years. 


No.  105.]  463 

The  information  communicated  to  the  immense  multitudes  who 
a  semble  at  these  annual  fairs  and  interchange  views  in  reference  to  the 
various  subjects  of  interest  connected  with  the  exhibition  of  animals 
and  articles  presented  for  premiums,  is,  of  itself,  of  immeasurable  im- 
portance ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  wholesome  spirit  of  competition 
awakened,  and  the  valuable  instruction  imparted  in  the  addresses 
delivered  on  such  occasions.  On  the  second  day  of  the  fair,  the 
society  held  its  annual  meeting,  elected  its  officers,  and  listened  to  a 
highly  practical  and  interesting  address  from  Col.  Wales  Cheney,  of 
Middlebury,  one  of  its  own  members.  The  following  are  some  of 
the  officers  of  the  society  for  the  ensuing  year. 

James  C.  Ferris,  of  Wyoming,  President ;  J.  S.  Horsford,  of  Castile, 
Corresponding  Secretary  ;  John  A.  McElvain,  Warsaw,  Treasurer  ; 
Seth  M.  Gates,  Warsaw,  Recording  Secretary. 

The  society  awarded  premiums  to  the  amount  of  $132  in  cash,  and 
25  vols,  of  the  Transactions  of  the  State  Society. 

I  will  call  attention  to  the  crop  of  corn  raised  by  Mr.  Job  Sher- 
man of  Middlebury,  of  106  bushels,  44  lbs.  to  the  acre,  and  to  the 
crops  of  spring  wheat  raised  by  Joel  S.  Smith  Esq.  of  Weathersfield, 
one  acre  producing  43  bushels  of  wheat,  weighing  59  i  pounds  to  the 
bushel;  and  another  acre  producing  30  bushels  by  measure,  weigh- 
ing 59  lbs.  to  the  bushel.  In  each  case  I  forward  an  account  of  the 
soil,  manuring,  and  cultivation.  The  wdieat  crop  is  very  extraor- 
dinary. 

Our  report  to  the  Comptroller  shows  that  we  have  received  from 
the  state  this  year  $87,  and  have  raised  in  the  county  $88  25.  We 
feel  the  need  of  foreign  assistance,  and  trust  the  provisions  of  the  act 
of  1841  will  be  continued  by  the  present  Legislature. 

JAMES  C.  FERRIS, 

President. 

Warsaiv,  December  31,  1845. 


YATES  COUNTY. 

The  Annual  Fair  was  held  at  Penn  Yan,  on  the  first  day  of  Octo- 
ber, and  was  well  attended.  The  interest  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
society  seems  to  be  increased,  and  much  good  has  already  resulted 
from  its  establishment.  The  Hon.  Daniel  Lee  delivered  the  annual 
address.     The  following  officers  were  chosen  for  the  ensuing  year  : 

Meletiah  H.  Lawrence,  President ;  Russel  A.  Hunt,  Alexander 
F.  Whitaker,  Caleb  Cowen,  Sanford  Bennet,  John  Underwood,  Jo- 
seph Mc  Cain,  Daniel  B.  Lindsley,  and  Wm.  S.  Green,  Vice  Presi- 
dents ;  Benjamin  L.  Hoyt,  Secretary  ;  Fitz  A.  Stebbins,  Treasurer. 

In  connection  with  the  society,  a  "  farmer's  club  "  has  been  estab- 


464  [Senate 

lished  which  holds  semi  monthly  meetings  for  the  discussion  of  agri- 
cultural questions,  and  is  doing  much  good.  I  take  the  liberty  of 
enclosing  a  short  address,  delivered  by  one  of  its  members,  upon 
vegetable  muck. 

Upon  the  enclosed  communications  premiums  were  awarded  by  the 
society. 

L.  E.  LAPHAM, 

Secretary. 
January  y  1846. 


AMERICAN  INSTITUTE. 


ANNUAL  REPORT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE 
OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW- YORK— 1845. 

In  compliance  with  the  act  of  the  Legislature,  passed  May  7th, 
1844,  the  trustees  submit  the  following  statement  of  their  transac- 
tions with  the  annexed  documents. 

The  efforts  of  those  who  have  had  the  agency  in  the  operations  of 
the  Institute  the  last  year,  have  been  marked  with  zeal,  energy,  and 
perseverance,  steadily  directed  to  the  duties  enjoined  in  its  charter, 
viz  :  "  Encouraging  and  promoting  domestic  industry  in  this  State, 
and  the  United  States,  in  Agriculture,  Commerce,  Manufactures,  and 
the  Arts." 

Means  for  effecting  these  objects,  similar,  in  a  great  measure  to 
those  named  in  the  former  report,  have  been  pursued  the  last  year. 

The  daily  meetings  of  a  portion  of  the  officers  and  active  mem- 
bers of  the  Institute  have  been  regularly  held,  to  whom  have  been 
submitted  for  consideration  important  letters  and  communications,  em- 
bracing an  extensive  correspondence  reaching  to  other  States,  and 
even  to  distant  foreign  countries.  Experience  has  shown  these 
meetings  to  be  eminently  beneficial.  The  contents  of  these  letters 
and  communications  are  discussed  and  made  subservient  as  far  as 
practicable  in  advancing  the  cause  of  industry  and  improvement. 
Suggestions  of  wholesome  measures  for  future  meetings  of  the  Insti- 
tute are  also  debated,  and  matured,  instead  of  being  pre&ented  in 
their  crude  state. 

Means  of  improvement  are  thus  promptly,  by  frequent  meetings, 
made  available,  which  otherwise  might  be  overlooked,  forgotten,  and 
neglected.     By  means  of  these  meetings,  numbers  become  intimate- 


466  [Senate 

ly  acquainted  with  the  affairs  of  the  Institute  now  grown  to  be 
very  multifarious,  embracing  a  vast  variety  of  details  ;  and  they  can 
from  time  to  time  before  the  meetings  of  the  Institute,  managers, 
committees,  &c.,  give  such  explanations  as  conduce  to  uniformity 
of  action,  and  consistency  in  the  general  measures  of  its  adminis- 
tration. 

The  Farmers'  Club  of  the  Institute  has  met  semi-monthly  through 
the  year — ^besides  holding  frequent  adjourned  meetings.  They  have 
been  well  attended  and  great  spirit  manifested — abstracts  of  the  pro- 
ceedings have  been  published,  and  extensively  circulated.  Farmers 
who  have  attended,  have  frequently  expressed  their  gratification,in  the 
most  enthusiastic  terms.  When  a  subject  has  been  under  considera- 
tion, some  accurate  observing  farmer  brings  the  experience  of  a 
whole  life  to  bear  upon  it — others  follow,  and  a  variety  of  experi- 
ments made  under  various  circumstances  applying  to  the  same  sub- 
ject, with  particulars  of  their'  success  or  failure  are  related,  which, 
with  the  scientific  explanations — causes  and  effects — are  made  known 
to  the  perfect  satisfaction  of  those  with  whom  all  was  mystery  be- 
fore. The  freedom  of  questions  and  answers  enables  those  who  de- 
sire to  arrive  at  the  exact  point  of  information  sought,  and  thus 
avoid  the  sacrifices  of  fruitless  experiments,  the  dread  of  which 
has  induced  thousands  to  persevere  in  the  old  routine  of  their 
fathers. 

Thus  improvements  in  farming  have  been  comparatively  stationary, 
while  the  mechanic  arts  have  progressed  far  beyond  the  most  san- 
guine anticipations,  multiplied  and  cheapened  the  comforts  of  our 
whole  race,  and  for  the  purposes  of  commerce  and  social  intercourse 
placed  distant  countries  in  proximity  to  each  other. 

The  early  and  successful  operations  of  this  club  have  induced  the 
formation  of  a  great  number  of  others,  from  which  useful  communi- 
cations have  been  received.  Clubs  are  formed  in  some  States  in  every 
county,  and  arrangements  are  making  in  a  neighboring  county  in  this 
State  for  the  organization  of  clubs  in  all  the  towns.  Two  have  re- 
cently been  formed  in  New-Jersey,  and  two  on  Long  Island.  Far- 
mers' clubs,  we  believe,  are  destined  to  extend  over  the  whole  coun- 
try. Scatter  knowledge  among  the  secluded  husbandmen  !  and 
break  down  the  prejudices  which  have  retarded  their  advance  in  im- 
provements, and  by  the  lights  of  science  elevate  them  to  a  position 


No.  105.]  467 

corresponding  with  the  intrinsic  importance  of  their  occupation. 
Great  quantities  of  rare  and  useful  seeds  have  been  received,  and 
distributed  within  the  last  year — more  than  thirty  varieties  at  a  single 
meeting,  many  of  them  obtained  through  government  agents,  naval 
officers,  missionaries,  travellers,  &c.,  in  foreign  countries.  No  small 
proportion  of  the  most  admired  productions,  both  of  the  farm  and 
garden,  exhibited  at  the  last  fair,  were  from  seeds  supplied  by  the 
club.  Our  table  has  been  often  covered  with  grafts  of  choice  fruit, 
which  have  been  carefully  and  discreetly  distributed. 

There  is  in  our  country  unoccupied  ground  sufficient  for  such  an 
abundance  of  fine  fruit  as  will  supply  our  whole  population,  and  add 
greatly  to  their  health  and  happiness.  Let  the  numberless  clubs 
already  formed  and  forming  follow  the  example,  and  at  their  outset 
resolve  to  press  its  prosecution  simultaneously  at  the  proper  season, 
and  the  orchards  and  vineyards  of  America  will  very  soon  be  the  ad- 
miration of  the  world. 

The  stated  meetings  of  the  members  of  the  Institute  have  been 
held  every  month  in  conformity  to  the  charter.  Great  unanimity  has 
prevailed  in  the  transactions  of  the  meetings,  and  a  determination  to 
carry  into  effect  the  legitimate  designs  of  the  association.  The  in- 
creasing correspondence,  with  reports  of  committees  on  models  and 
machines,  of  new  inventions  and  improvements  submitted  and  dis- 
cussed, have  been  interesting  and  instructive.  The  committee  on 
arts  and  sciences,  and  also  on  manufactures,  examine  and  report  on 
all  inventions,  discoveries  and  improvements  referred  to  them.  The 
inventor,  discoverer,  or  fabricator,  has  only  to  ask  from  the  Institute  a 
reference,  and  it  is  granted  of  course.  The  committees  are  selected 
from  the  most  scientific  and  skilful  men  in  this  part  of  the  country  ; 
and  we  are  not  aware  that  in  a  single  instance  these  reports  have 
proved  fallacious. 

All  the  accounts  of  the  Institute  are  submitted  to  meetings  of  the 
members.  By  the  by-laws  all  monies  received  on  account  of  the  In- 
stitute are  deposited  with  the  treasurer,  and  they  cannot  be  drawn  out 
without  an  appropriation  by  the  meeting,  and  no  appropriation  can  be 
made  without  a  statement  first  submitted  showing  the  purposes  for 
which  it  is  wanted.  All  the  accounts  are  audited  by  the  finance 
committee,  and  vouchers  required  for  every  item.  Their  report  is 
submitted  to  the  meeting  with  the  vouchers,  and  both  the  accounts 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  30 


468  [Senate 

and  the  vouchers  are  subjected  to  the  after  examination  of  any  and 
all  the  members  who  desire  a  more  minute  scrutiny.  Hence  the 
charges  of  the  misapplication  of  the  funds  of  the  Institute,  which 
have  sometimes  been  made  in  one  or  two  of  our  city  newspapers,  are 
known  to  be  false,  and  excite  no  other  sensation  among  the  members 
of  the  Institute,  than  that  of  detestation  for  the  reckless  depravity  of 
the  calumniators. 

A  faculty  of  science  has  also  been  established  under  professors  of 
high  attainments  within  the  past  year,  whose  duty  it  is  to  give  gra- 
tuitous information  in  the  different  departments  of  knowledge  to 
members  of  the  Institute,  whose  vocation  may  embrace  their  particu- 
lar sciences,  and  thus  the  application  of  the  mechanic  arts  will  be 
rendered  available  to  every  member,  . 

The  appointments  have  been  as  follows  : 

James  Renwick. 
Professor  of  Mechanical  Philosophy. 

James  R.  Chilton. 
Professor  of  Analytical  Chemistry. 

James  J.  Mapes. 

Professor  of  JVatural  Philosophy  and  Chemistry ^  as  applicable  to  the 

Useful  Arts. 

Paul  P.  Dugan. 

Professor  of  the  Arts  of  Design^  as  applicable  to  the  Useful  Arts. 

Gabriel  Furman. 
Professor  of  Geology  and  History. 

Henry  Meigs. 

Professor  of  Languages. 

Arrangements  have  also  been  made  for  a  school  of  the  arts  of  design. 
Several  of  our  first  artists  have  volunteered  their  services  for  this  pur- 
pose. There  are  comparatively  few  proficients  now  in  this  country; . 
the  ingenuity  and  taste  of  our  countrymen  cannot  fail  to  become  sig- 
nalized, whenever  suitable  opportunity  is  afforded  them  for  learning 
th(  se  arts.  Vast  amounts  are  paid  annually  to  foreign  nations,  for 
fabrics  of  various  kinds,  merely  on  account  of  the  superior  taste  and 
.  skill  in  their  designs.  France  abounds  with  schools  of  designs,  and  her 


No.  105.]  469 

trade  is  greatly  extended  in  foreign  countries  thereby  ;  her  beautiful 
prints  command  the  most  extravagant  prices  among  the  fashionables 
of  every  civilized  country.  There  are  instances  in  v^^hich  our  coun- 
trymen have  succeeded  in  the  imitation  of  some  of  these  goods. 
One-sixth  of  the  price  charged  for  the  foreign  fabric,  fully  compen- 
sated the  manufacturers  for  their  production. 

Tho  collection  of  machines,  models,  specimens  of  manufactures 
and  the  arts,  for  exhibition  at  the  repository,  has  had  many  additions 
within  the  past  year.  There  are  two  hundred  and  fifty-four  machines 
and  models  displayed.  Also,  specimens  of  various  manufactures  of 
silk,  iron,  and  wood  ;  minerals,  drawings,  &c.  These  are  exhibited 
free  of  expense  to  originators  and  owners,  and  are  objects  of  attrac- 
tion to  those  who  wish  to  purchase  or  examine,  in  order  to  keep  up 
with  the  continued  improvements  that  ar  >  continually  multiplying, 
especially  in  implements  of  husbandry,  manufacturing,  and  mechani- 
cal labor  saving  inventions.  They  are  the  continued  subjects  of  ex- 
amination by  our  inquisitive  and  ingenious  fellow-citizens,  and  their 
utility  by  these  means,  and  the  gratuitous  explanations  afforded  by 
practical  engineers  and  mechanics,  always  in  attendance,  is  under- 
stood, and  soon  they  become  extensively  in  use,  not  only  in  this  vici- 
nity but  in  distant  States. 

The  all-pervading  enterprise  of  our  people  seizes  at  once  on  every 
improvement  which  effects  the  smallest  abridgment  of  manual  labor. 
More  than  twenty  thousand  articles  were  exhibited  at  the  late  fair. 
A  record  is  made  of  the  name  and  residence  of  every  exhibitor. 
There  were  more  than  200,000  visitors  entered  Niblo's  Garden,  the 
principal  place  of  exhibition.  Among  the  visitors,  great  numbers  are 
always  desirous  of  becoming  purchasers  ;  the  delivery  of  the  articles 
is,  however,  impracticable  during  the  exhibition.  After  the  fair,  and 
during  the  whole  year,  the  calls  at  the  repository  by  purchasers  are 
almost  incessant,  to  obtain  articles  which  attract sd  their  attention  in 
the  exhibition  rooms.  By  a  reference  to  the  records  this  information 
iS  promptly  given,  and  the  place  of  sale  pointed  out.  Sales  are 
thereby  promoted  to  an  immense  amount  every  year.  The  inquiry 
often  extends  to  articles  exhibited  many  years  back.  If  the  American 
Institute  performed  no  other  service  to  the  public  than  this,  by  pro- 
moting the  sales  and  consumption  of  domestic  articles,  it  would  be 
>tbe  interest  of  the  people  to  sustain  it.     More  than  one-half  of  the 


-^70  [Senate         ; 

States  in  the  Union  contribute  some  of  their  best  fabrics  and  produce  i 

tions,  and  help  to  carry  out  the  fair.  Through  the  exhibition  they  are 
made  known  to  purchasers.     Factors  and  agents  are  employed,  and  I 

the  amount  of  our  city  business  is  greatly  extended,  and  new  articles  j 

are  introduced,  and  become  permanent  objects  of  trade  and  mercan-  ) 

tile  profit.  ,! 

It  was  an  early  object  with  the  Institute,  to  establish  a  library  of  ' 

utility,  embracing  political  economy,  statistics,  practical  and  scientific  ' 

farming,  commerce,  manufactures,  and  the  arts.     Every  year  since  it  i 

was  commenced,  large  additions  have  been  made  of  books  and  pam-  j 

phlets,  rare  and  useful.      It  already  possesses  acknowledged  intrinsic  | 

practical  value  beyond  almost  any  other  library  ;  numbering  about  | 

six  thousand  volumes.     As  the  good  to  be  effected  by  such  a  collec-  ! 

lion  of  books,  depends  on  the  number  and  character  of  the  readers,  j 

the  most  liberal  measures  for  their  accomodation  have  been  adopted  | 

It  has  always  been  open  for  reading  and  reference  free  of  all  expense.  ■ 

In  this  respect  it  is  unique,  being,  as  far  as  we  know,  the  only  library  • 

in  the  country  that  is  entirely  free  to  any  and  all  who  wish  to  avail 
themselves  of  its  privileges.  Literary,  scientific  and  practical  men, 
in  all  the  departments  of  labor  and  art,  are  continually  consulting  it. 
Room  and  tables  are  provided  for  authors,  compilers,  editors  of  peri- 
odicals, &C.5  who  may  daily  be  found  in  their  places,  pursuing  their 
objects  of  reading,  writing,  and  investigation.     A  large  number  of  j 

standard  works  and  miscellaneous  publications  have  been  added  the  i 

last  year  ;  and  almost  every  steamboat  and  packet  from  the  other  side 
of  the  water,  has  brought  more  or  less  of  books,  and  regularly  the  j 

latest  and  most  approved  periodicals  devoted  to  agriculture  and  the 
arts  published  in  England,  Scotland,  France,  &g.  ;  beside  new  publi- 
cations are  received  every  day  from  corresponding  members  and 
friends  of  the  Institute,  scattered  over  the  United  States  and  foreign 
countries. 

In  the  course  of  several  years  a  variety  of  specimens  of  geology, 
minerals,  &c.,  have  been  collected  and  carefully  preserved,  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  cabinet  for  the  entertainment  and  instruction  of 
those  who  take  an  interest  in  this  department  of  science  as  it  is  inti- 
mately connected  with,  and  calculated  to  throw  much  light  on  agri- 
culture and  benefit  the  arts. 

The  hope  had  been  entertained  by  this  Institute^  on  v/hose  petitioa 


No.  105.]  471 

the  geological  survey  of  the  State  was  granted,  that  in  all  justice 
provision  would  be  made  for  perfecting  their  cabinet  by  a  complete 
•set  of  the  many  specimens  which  were  obtained  ;  and  it  is  still 
hoped  that  justice,  though  long  delayed,  will  eventually  be  done. 
It  has,  however,  recently  been  determined  to  wait  no  longer,  but  to 
commence  at  once,  and  a  room  is  now  fitting  up  for  the  purpose  of 
displaying  such  specimens  as  have  been  or  hereafter  may  be  bestow- 
ed. And  further  contributions  from  all  parts  of  the  country  will  be 
solicited. 

These  preparations  are  made  in  the  confident  hope  that  we  shall 
soon  be  enabled  to  perfect  our  cabinet  by  the  rich  varieties  which  the 
State  ;has  the  means  of  supplying. 

The  conductors  of  this  Institute  were  early  impressed  with  the  im- 
portance of  an  annual  public  exhibition  of  the  choice  products  of 
agriculture  and  the  arts,  accompanied  with  the  distribution  of  premi- 
ums for  those  adjudged  most  excellent,  as  being  calculated  most 
effectually  to  promote  the  object  of  the  charter  of  the  Institute.  They 
have  therefore  been  held  every  year  since  its  organization.  The 
effect  was  at  once  seen  to  be  salutary,  and  a  powerful  emulation  was 
awakened  through  all  the  ramifications  of  industry,  and  over  a  vast 
area  of  our  country.  Curiosity,  a  deep  American  feeling  the  pride  of 
national  independence,  at  the  first  notice,  filled  the  halls  of  the  exhi- 
bition with  admiring  spectators.  Three  great  incentives  to  human 
exertion  and  improvement,  pride,  ambition  and  interest  were  brought 
into  action  in  their  full  potency.  Continual  approbation  greeted  the 
€ars  of  the  ingenious  contributor,  and  his  meritorious  productions 
were  gazetted  through  the  country.  This  was  not  all.  At  the  close 
of  the  exhibition  more  durable  evidences  of  merit  were  bestowed  in 
premiums  publicly  awarded  in  the  presence  of  vast  concourses  of  the 
people.  The  very  first  exhibition  roused  a  spirit  of  competition 
which  spread  throughout  our  land,  and  has  been  growing  more  and 
more  intense  ever  since.  The  amount  of  improvement  which  has 
resulted  from  the  powerful  stimulus  the  exhibitions  have  afforded  for 
eighteen  years,  continually  increasing  in  magnitude,  and  attended 
with  the  strong  and  encouraging  approbation  of  the  public,  no  one 
can  measure,  while  all  must  be  satisfied  that  our  unparalleled  pro- 
gress has  been  greatly  accellerated  by  their  impulses.     For  the  pur- 


472  [Senate 

pose  of  presenting  some  idea  of  the  18th  annual  fair  and  its  influence 
in  accomplishing  the  designs  of  the  Legislature,  and  suggestions  by 
the  managers  deemed  by  them  important,  we  here  insert  their  report 
presented  at  a  subsequent  stated  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  In- 
stitute. The  premiums  awarded  to  agriculture  and  horticulture,  with 
the  names  of  the  fortunate  competitors  of  the  18th  fair.  Also  a  table 
showing  the  Agricultural  and  Horticultural  premiums  for  a  series-  of 
years. 


REPORT 

0/  the  Managers  of  the  V^th  Annual  Fair, 


By  the  accounts  herewith  submitted,  it  appears  that  both  the  re- 
ceipts and  expenditures  have  been  larger  than  at  any  previous  fair. 

Every  thing  was  done  on  the  part  of  the  managers  to  render  this 
exhibition  of  native  genius,  industry  and  enterprise  as  attractive  and 
interesting  as  possible.  Crowds  of  visitors  thronged  the  exhibition 
rooms  from  the  commencement  to  the  end  of  the  fair.  The  number 
who  paid  for  admission  is  estimated  at  fifty  thousand,  and  it  is  believ- 
ed that  the  free  visitors  amounted  to  four  times  that  number.  This 
class  comprised  the  members  of  the  Institute  and  their  families,  all 
the  exhibitors  and  their  families,  delegates  from  other  states  and  sister 
institutions,  distinguished  gentlemen  from  all  parts  of  the  Union, 
members  of  the  corporation,  judges,  charitable  schools,  &c. 

The  managers  were  particularly  gratified  at  seeing  among  the  visi- 
tors an  unusually  large  number  of  strangers  and  residents  of  other 
cities,  proving  that  the  importance  of  the  Institute  in  a  national  point 
of  view  is  rapidly  increasing  and  extending.  The  managers  wish 
that  it  may  always  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the  Institute  is  what  its 
name  indicates,  American.  Its  services  and  benefits  are  extended  to 
all  sections  of  the  country,  and  every  American  citizen  has  not  only 
the  privilege,  but  the  right  to  visit  the  institution  at  any  time^  and 
avail  himself  of  all  the  information  which  the  models,  records  and 
reports  of  the  Institute  can  afford,  as  well  as  to  consult  the  library  of 
the  Institute,  which  is  not  excelled  by  any  other  in  the  country  of 
equal  extent. 

It  was  justly  remarked  by  one  of  the  managers  in  an  address  de- 
livered during  the  fair,  that  it  would  be  an  endless  task  to  portray  the 
benefits  which  have  resulted  from  these  yearly  exhibitions. 


474  [Senate 

The  managers  beg  leave  to  make  the  following  statement  of  pri- 
vate contributions  to  increase  the  premiums  on  stock. 

From  Jacob  Little,  Esq. , $50  00 

John  Ward,  Esq., 25  00 

Henry  G.  Stebbins,  Esq., 25  00 

G.  M.  Patchin,  Esq., »■■  25  00 

$125  00 


This  sum  was  divided  as  follows  : 

To  native  stock, $20  00 

Improved  stock,  , 18  00 

Fat  cattle, 8  00 

Working  oxen, 15  00 

Sheep, 31  00 

Horses, 18  00 

Mules, 10  00 

Swine, 5  00 


$125  00 


The  premium  committee  have  received  84  written  reports  from  the 
judges  in  the  various  departments  of  manufactures,  agriculture  and 
the  arts. 

The  number  of  premiums  awarded,  amounted  to  745,  and  are  esti- 
mated to  cost  $2,250  ;  they  consist  of  the  following  : 

34  Gold  medals. 

35  Silver  cups. 
181  Silver  medals. 
355  Diplomas. 

170  Dollars  in  cash. 
4  Washington's  Letters  on  Agriculture. 

6  Draper's  Organic  Chemistry. 

3  Farmer's  Dictionary. 

4  Downing's  Landscape  Gardening. 

7  Colman's  Agricultural  Tour. 
4  Prince  on  Fruit  Trees. 


No.  105.]  475 

11  Bridgeman's  Gardeners'  Assistant, 

3  American  Husbandry,  (2  vols.) 

1  American  Flower  Garden  Directory. 

2  Mrs.  Loudon's  Flower  Garden. 

5  Kenrick's  American  Orchardist. 

6  Bridgeman's  Fruit  Cultivator's  Manual. 

4  Bridgeman's  Florist's  Guide. 

2  Chapin's  Hand  Book  of  Plants. 
4  Cultivators. 
9  American  Agriculturist. 
4  New-York  Farmer  and  Mechanic. 
33  Transactions  New-York  State  Agricultural  Society. 

12  Transactions  American  Institute. 
4  Buist's  Rose  Manual. 


128  vols. 

The  silk  premium  of  the  Hon.  Myndert  Van  Schaick,  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars  per  annum  for  ten  years,  was  given  at  the  late  fair,  for 
specimens  of  home  made  silk  of  increased  excellence. 

Among  the  many  articles  exhibited^  we  had  from  Virginia  some 
very  splendid  specimens  of  crystal  glass,  made  and  cut  in  that 
State. 

Of  the  numerous  machines,  we  have  only  time  to  mention  Billings 
&  Harrison's  machine  for  rotting  and  dressing  hemp  and  flax  ;  Mor- 
ris' steam  hoisting  machine,  calculated  with  unerring  exactness  to 
lift  wieghty  articles  at  a  very  great  saving  of  labor  ;  Stillman,  Allen 
&  Co.'s  beautiful  steam  engine,  that  kept  in  motion  the  machinery 
at  the  fair  j-  many  fine  plows  ;  a  valuable  machine  for  harvesting 
grain  ;  straw  and  vegetable  cutters  ;  a  horse  rake  of  great  value  ;  a 
drill  for  boring  rocks  ;  a  telescope  of  excellent  quality  ;  useful  tools 
and  instruments  for  every  mechanical  work;  cloths  and  cotton  fabrics 
in  every  variety,  &c.  &c. 

The  horticultural  exhibition  met  with  universal  admiration,  the 
whole  direction  of  which  rested  with  the  intelligent  and  indefatigable 
Mr.  Thomas  Bridgeman,  aided  by  a  horticulturist  of  kindred  spirit 
Mr.  Samuel  Walker,  of  Boston,  Mass. 

The  cattle  show  was  held  in  the  spacious  premises,  corner  of 


476  [Senate 

Twenty-third  street  and  Fifth  avenue,  and  presented  some  very  fine 
specimens  of  the  stock  of  our  country. 

The  annual  plowing  and  spading  matches  were  held  at  Harlem^ 
and  attracted  a  crowd  of  spectators,  vs^ho  admired  the  right  lines  cut 
by  the  plowmen,  and  the  light  draft  of  the  plows,  as  tested  by  the 
dynamometer,  showing  that  the  recently  improved  plows  perform 
better  work,  with  a  third  less  power  than  the  old  fashioned  ones. 

The  spading  match  was  both  novel  and  pleasing  ;  the  neatness  and 
rapidity*  of  the  digging,  showed  how  much  can  be  done  with  that  in- 
valuable instrument  of  cultivation. 

These  exhibitions  were  all  cheered  by  the  fine  bands  of  music 
voluntarily  sent  by  Col.  Bankhead,  of  the  U.  S.  Army,  and  by  Com- 
modore Jones,  of  the  U.  S.  ship  of  the  line  North  Carolina,  who  al- 
ways act  promptly  when  any  public  service  requires  it. 

The  managers  were  provided  by  the  Harlem  Railroad  Company, 
gratuitously,  with  the  means  of  transportation  for  all  those  engaged 
in  the  management  of  the  plowing  and  spading  matches.  Another 
evidence  of  the  growing  popularity  of  the  Institute,  was  the  prompt- 
ness with  which  the  owners  of  the  several  Broadway  lines  of  omni- 
busses  furnished  the  managers  with  free  tickets  during  the  exhibi- 
tion. 

During  the  fair,  the  annual  convention  of  farmers,  gardeners,  and 
silk  culturists  was  held  and  continued  three  days,  at  which  represen- 
tatives appeared  from  fifteen  States. 

The  proceedings  of  that  convention  being  voluminous,  have  not 
yet  been  received  from  the  press. 

Before  concluding  this  report^  the  managers  beg  leave  respectfully 
to  say,  that  the  business  and  operations  of  the  American  Institute  are 
governed  by  a  spirit  which  reflects  great  credit  upon  the  patriotism  of 
those  who  are  most  active  in  Its  management,  as  well  as  upon  the 
society  at  large.  All  have  the  same  objects  in  view,  which  are,  im- 
provement in  those  arts  and  sciences  which  tend  to  increase  the  inde- 
pendence and  strength  of  our  glorious  republic. 

The  routine  of  business,  which  embraces  a  vast  amount  of  domes- 
tic and  foreign  correspondence,  is  managed  by  a  very  few  officers,  at 
exceedingly  low  compensations,  and  by  the  unpaid  efforts  of  hundreds 
of  our  fellow-citizens,  who  give  their  time  and  their  talents  to  pro- 
mote the  great  objects  of  the  association.     The  most  distinguished 


No.  105.]  477 

men  in  the  science,  the  most  skilful  in  mechanics/  and  the  most  prac- 
tical in  agriculture,  have  cheerfully  and  gratuitously  brought  their 
knowledge,  ingenuity,  and  experience  to  tEe  Institute^  that  they 
might  from  thence  be  disseminated  through  every  portion  of  our 
favored  land. 

It  must  naturally  be  supposed,  that  an  institution,  toiling  for  the 
benefit  of  the  laboring,  manufacturing  and  agricultural  classes  :  pur- 
suing the  even  tenor  of  its  way  unostentatiously,  by  never  interfering 
or  clashing  with  any  other  association,  and  free  from  all  political  bias 
or  influence,  would  at  least  have  the  good  fortune  t&  be  exempt  from 
enemies.     It  is  to  be  lamented  that  such  is  not  the  fact. 

It  has  been  an  undeviating  principle,  from  the  commencement  of  the 
Institute,  not  to  recognize,  much  less  to  favor,  any  political  party.  It 
needed  no  sagacity  to  foretell,  that  whenever  the  American  Institute 
lost  its  political  neutrality,  the  seeds  of  its  dissolution  would  be  sown, 
and  its  future  usefulness  irrevocably  gone  5  so  sensible  were  all  the 
members  of  this  fact,  and  so  cautious  and  guarded  have  they  been,  that 
there  has  never  been  a  political  discussion  within  its  walls,  nor  so 
muclx  even  as  the  expression  of  a  political  sentiment. 

Yet  strange  as  it  may  appear,  and  in  the  face  of  all  this,  the  Insti- 
tute has  been  charged,  as  if  with  a  determination  to  mar  its  usefulness^ 
with  secretly  advocating  political  or  party  views.  The  managers  re- 
pel the  charge  with  honest  indignation,  and  boldly  challenge  a  refuta- 
tion of  the  assertions  they  have  just  made. 

The  word  American  was  not  placed  first  in  our  title,  without  a  due 
sense  of  its  hallowed  importance.  It  is  our  pride  and  boast  that  this 
lofty  and  honored  name,  has  not  become  tarnished  by  partisan  or  sec- 
tional feelings.  We  invite  every  man  in  these  United  States,  as  has 
been  already  stated,  without  distinction  of  party,  not  only  to  visit  our 
institution,  and  avail  himself  of  all  the  information  which  our  records^ 
our  officers,  our  members,  or  our  library  can  afford,  b\it  to  become 
members  of  the  same,  and  thus  bear  witness  to  our  neutrality. 

Such  an  institution  ought  to  have  an  influence  among  our  citizens^ 
and  to  possess  their  confidence  and  good  will,  and  we  do  not  hesitate 
to  say,  that,  laboring  honestly  and  faithfully  as  we  have  done,  and  will 
continue  to  do,  in  the  noble  cause  of  American  independence,  we  shall 
grow  in  importance  and  in  fame,  both  at  home  and  abroad ;  and  as  we 
increase  in  usefulness,  we  cannot  fail  to  advance  in  public  faTor 


478 


[Senate 


tjoverned  by  such  motives,  and  adhering  to  such  principles,  the  man- 
agers hope  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant,  when  our  representatives  at 
Albany  will  be  convinced  that  it  will  be  an  act  of  patriotism  to  aid  the 
American  Institute  in  procuring  ground,  upon  which  to  erect  suitable 
buildings  for  its  permanent  accommodation. 

JOHN  CAMPBELL,  Chairman. 


STATEMENT. 


Showing  the  number  of  Premiums  awarded  to  the  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment from  1835  to  1845. 


¥ear. 

Gold 

Silver 

Silver             < 

::!a3h. 

Diplomas. 

Vols,  of 

Medals. 

Cups, 

Medals. 

Books. 

1835,.... 

1 

•  •  •  • 

4 

17 

1836, . . . . 

3 

•  •  •  • 

9 

28 

1837, . . . . 

2 

•  •  •'& 

15 

39 

1838, . . . . 

4 

•    a -e    e 

21 

42 

1839, . . . . 

6 

13 

17 

70 

1840, . . . . 

2 

18 

12 

60 

1841,  .... 

6 

17 

31 

71 

26 

1842,  .... 

3 

25 

34 

37 

82 

1843, .... 

4 

2Q 

28 

48 

93 

1844, .... 

1 

29 

28 

$70 

46 

120 

1845,  .... 

5 

35 

44 

100 

38 

128 

Total,.,.. 

37 

164 

$243 

170 

496 

449 

The  reports  of  the  agricultural  and  horticultural  productions  of  the 
farm  and  garden  exhibited  at  Niblo's  Garden,  the  annual  ploughing, 
and  spading  matches,  and  farmers',  gardeners'  and  silk  culturists'  con- 
vention, referred  to  by  the  managers,  are  appended.  The  voluntary 
donations  by  liberal  individuals  to  increase  the  premiums  on  cattle  and 
other  live  stock,  and  on  silk,  will  encourage  competition.  Large  pre- 
miums are  required  to  induce  breeders  at  a  distance  to  encounter  the 
trouble,  expense,  and  risk  of  the  journey.  A  new  subscription  has 
been  opened  for  the  19th  annual  fair  under  the  most  promising  circum- 
stances.    A  very  considerable  number  of  donors  have  already  subscrib- 


No  105.] 


479 


ed  to  promote  the  breeding  of  fine  stock,  and  a  gold  medal  is  offered 
by  the  president  of  the  Institute  for  the  encouragement  of  the  cultiva- 
tion of  flax.  The  increase  of  country  visitors,  particularly  of  substan- 
tial farmers,  was  a  subject  of  frequent  remark  at  the  last  fair.  This 
change  is  naturally  accounted  for  by  the  growing  interest  taken  in  ag- 
riculture, and  the  increased  desire  of  farmers,  to  obtain  information  of 
the  new  and  improved  productions  of  the  field  and  the  garden,  and  the 
most  profitable  culture  adopted  with  the  new  labor-saving  machines, 
and  convenient  implements  of  husbandry  shown  on  these  occasions  ; 
where  there  are  always  present  those  who  will  explain  their  applica- 
tion and  benefits.  The  plan  of  the  charter,  combining  all  the  great 
interests  of  industry,  is  essential  to  an  institution  graduated  on  a  scale 
of  expenditure  required  by  the  variety  and  magnitude  of  its  operations. 
If  an  amount  equal  to  the  admission  fees  of  the  exhibition,  contri- 
buted by  either  of  the  great  interests  embraced  in  the  charter,  were 
withheld,  the  Institute  could  not  meet  its  expenses. 

Subjoined  is  a  statement  of  the  number  of  premiums  awarded  by  the 
Institute  from  the  year  1835  to  1845,  inclusive. 


PREMIUMS. 

Awarded  by  the  American  Institute  of  the  city  of  JVew- York ^  from 

1835  to  1845. 


Year. 

Gold 

Silver 

Silver 

Diplomas. 

Cash. 

Vols,  of 

Medals. 

Cups. 

Medals. 

Books. 

1835  .  .  .  . 

16 

•  •  •  • 

91 

340 

1836 . . . . 

27 

•  •  •  • 

125 

249 

1837 . . . . 

29 

•  •  •  • 

126 

308 

1838.... 

26 

•  •  •  « 

167 

396 

1839 . . . . 

27 

13 

124 

384 

1840.... 

12 

18 

60 

331 

1841 . . . . 

17 

19 

118 

336 

•    •    •   • 

26 

1842 .... 

12 

26 

88 

439 

•    •    •    • 

82 

1843 .... 

17 

27 

91 

439 

•    •    •    • 

104 

1844 .... 

20 

29 

104 

444 

|150 

120 

1845.... 

34 
237 

35 
167 

181 

5     356 

135 

131 

127 

4022 

$285 

463 

480  [Senate 

The  receipts  of  the  repository  are  chiefly  for  memhership,  from  the 
annual  fairs,  and  voluntary  donations.  The  increase  of  contribu- 
tions of  articles  which  the  reports  of  the  committees  made  to  the 
managers  show,  are  four  times  as  great  as  in  former  years  ;  the  pal- 
pable improvement  in  their  workmanship  and  quality,  the  increasing 
number  of  visitors  both  at  the  repository  and  the  fairs,  the  number 
and  value  of  the  premiums,  all  show  the  American  Institute  is  firmly 
established,  steady  and  sure  in  its  progress,  uninfluenced  by  the  vi- 
cissitudes that  have  shaken  other  institutions  to  their  foundation.  It 
is  a  favorite  institution  of  our  people,  and  their  determined  support 
heretofore  is  a  guaranty  that  it  will  continue  to  command  their  un- 
failing patronage  while  it  is  conducted  with  integrity  and  ability. 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  receipts  and  disbursements  of  the  Institute, 
the  last  year,  that  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  expenditures  are  made 
on  account  of  the  Annual  Fair,  which  continues  about  three  weeks. 

This  at  first  view,  might  seem  extravagant,  and  those  acquainted 
with  the  large  amount  of  receipts,  have  been  at  a  loss  to  know  the 
purposes  of  such  large  expenditures.  By  the  accounts  of  the  last 
fair  it  appears  that  the  whole  expenditures,  were  $8,507.95.  By 
the  same  accounts,  it  will  be  seen  that  more  than  half  that  sum,  viz: 
$4,653.77,  was  expended  for  rent  and  fixtures  of  the  places  of  exhi- 
bition and  premiums  awarded. 

Niblo's  Garden,  the  principal  place  of  exhibition,  and  on  account 
of  which  a  great  portion  of  the  expense  of  rent,  fixtures,  &c.,  is  in- 
curred, is  the  only  one  in  the  city  suitable  in  locality,  space,  and 
construction,  to  give  the  best  effect  to  the  display,  and  considering 
the  injury  to  his  grounds,  shrubbery,  plants,  &c.,  is  not  deemed  ex- 
travagant. Most  of  the  amount  paid  him,  is  required  to  put  the  pre- 
mises in  order  when  the  fair  is  over ;  and  whether  extravagant  or 
not,  it  cannot  be  procured  at  a  less  sum.  Other  places  not  so  con- 
venient might  be  obtained  for  a  small  consideration,  but  the  public 
would  not  be  satisfied,  their  patronge  would  be  withheld,  and  the 
Institute  would  lose  both  its  popularity,  and  money.  The  expense 
of  printing  and  light  exceeds  $1400.  Light  is  procured  nt  the  low- 
est possible  rates,  and  the  small  amount  paid  for  printing  has  provoked 
an  attack  on  the  Institute  from  two  of  our  city  papers, 

The  printing  is  not  half  the  amount  paid  by  some  of  our  sister  ci- 
ties at  their  fairs.  Their  existence  depends  on  extensive  publicity. 
The  account  shows  thai  the  cost  of  three  items,  steam  power,  carpen- 


No.  105.]  481 

ter  work,  and  loss  on  lumber,  amounts  to  $1275.00.  The  lumber 
and  labor  are  both  procured  as  low  as  the  market  will  admit. 

The  premiums  are  intended  to  be  graduated  by  the  amount  of  re- 
ceipts, which  are  estimated  near  the  close  of  the  fairs,  and  before  the 
awards,  so  as  to  leave  only  a  sufficient  sum  in  the  treasury  to  meet 
the  probab4e  expenses  till  another  fair,  and  a  prudent  provision  for 
contingencies.  If  an  edifice  could  be  obtained,  the  premiums  might 
be  doubled. 

It  is  designed  to  apply  a  portion  of  the  unusually  large  receipts  of 
the  last  year  in  enlarging  the  library,  and  one  thousand  dollars  has 
been  proposed  for  that  purpose.  A  suitable  plate  for  the  diplomas, 
executed  by  accomplished  artists,  is  demanded  by  the  character  of 
the  Institute,  which  will  probably  cost  six  or  seven  hundred  dollars. 
The  receipts  from  this  time  till  the  next  fair,  will,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  fall  short  of  the  expenditures,  more  especially  as  a 
large  sum  will  be  required  in  fitting  up  new  rooms  for  the  repository, 
a  change  of  rooms  having  been  required  by  the  common  council. 

The  whole  amount  paid  for  salaries  for  superintending  agent,  re- 
cording and  corresponding  secretaries,  and  two  clerks,  who  devote 
their  whole  time,  was  last  year,  twenty-two  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars. A  compensation,  which,  considering  the  variety,  and  complex- 
ity of  the  concerns  of  the  Institute,  and  the  labor  required,  bears  no 
proportion  to  the  salaries  of  the  officers  of  our  other  city  institutions. 
Some  fault  finding  papers  have  complained  that  the  charge  for  re- 
freshments, was  extravagant.  A  calculation  was  entered  into,  which 
showed  that  it  was  short  of  fifty  cents  per  day,  for  each  of  the  mana- 
gers and  attendants  whose  services  were  affiDrded  without  any  other 
compensation.  The  services  of  the  same  men  could  not  have  been 
paid  at  five,  or  even  ten  dollars  per  day.  The  managers  have  used 
their  best  endeavors  every  year  to  abridge  expenses,  and  though 
sometimes  successful  in  some  items,  others  have  been  increased,  and 
the  amount  in  the  end  has  not  been  materially  diminished.  Expen- 
ses not  anticipated  occur  from  day  to  day,  and  no  time  can  be  spared 
to  seek  after  cheap  workmen. 

As  further  means  of  promoting  agriculture^  the  trustees  most  re- 
spectfully recommend  the  encouragement  of  the  formation  of  farmers' 
clubs.  Their  tendency  will  operate  directly  to  create  enquiry,  ex- 
amination, reading,  observation,  and  experiments  among  farmers. 

At  least  one  agricultural  college  should  be  established  in  every 


482  [Senate 

state,  under  the  patronage  of  the  state  legislature,  and  encourage- 
ment given  to  schools  in  all  the  farming  districts.  One  central  col- 
lege, with  an  experimental  farm,  should  be  located  with  as  little  de- 
lay as  possible,  in,  or  near  the  city  of  New-York,  accessible  at  the 
cost  of  a  few  cents,  to  that  great  population  and  the  many  hundreds 
of  thousands  w^ho  visit  it.  An  establishment  so  located  could  nrt 
fail  of  success.  There  are  in  the  city  many  opulent  merchants,  who, 
strongly  impressed  with  the  disasters  of  trade,  would  gladly  avail 
themselves  of  such  an  institution  to  prepare  their  sons  for  a  farmer's 
life,  and  secure  to  them  and  their  families,  competence  and  indepen- 
dence. It  is  believed  two  hundred  students  might  be  obtained  from 
the  city  alone. 

The  opportunities  and  the  facilities  for  obtaining  information,  for 
procuring  seeds,  plants,  &c.,  all  kinds  of  choice  live  stock,  and  dis- 
tributing them  by  land  and  water,  over  the  country,  far  exceed  those 
of  any  other  locality  on  the  western  continent.  For  the  purpose  of 
making  such  an  establishment,  the  American  Institute  have  prefer- 
red their  petition  to  the  Legislature  now  in  session  asking  for  an  ap- 
propriation to  purchase  suitable  grounds,  and  erect  buildings  thereon. 
Also  to  enable  the  conductors  to  carry  out  this  and  other  important 
measures,  they  have  preferred  another  petition  asking  to  be  admitted 
to  a  participation  in  the  literature  fund  of  this  state.  The  petition, 
with  the  reasons  at  length,  has  been  referred  to  the  literature  com- 
mittee of  the  Senate,  which  we  believe  will  be  found  on  examina- 
tion, conclusive.  To  carry  out  these  important  objects,  we  respect- 
fully solicit  the  co-operation,  and  influence  of  the  State  Agricultural 
Society,  satisfied  that  they  will,  on  due  consideration,  agree  with  the 
Institute  that  it  is  time  to  establish  one  such  college  and  experimen- 
tal farm  in  the  state  ;  and  to  insure  its  success,  that  the  proposed  lo- 
cation is  the  proper  one. 

Under  the  superintendence  of  the  American  Institute,  with  its  ex- 
tensive library,  its  repository  of  "machines  and  implements,  learned 
professors  and  men  of  science  with  their  laboratories  and  chemical 
apparatus,  the  practical  agriculturists  among  its  members,  and  those 
that  personally  communicate  with  it,  and  daily  rally  round,  and  with 
its  extensive  correspondence,  such  an  establishment  cannot  fail  of 
success.  The  trustees  are  strongly  impressed  with  the  importance  of 
the  success  of  the  first  undertaking.  Other  states  will  then  readily 
loUow  the   example.     Accomplished  teachers  will  come  forth  from 


No.  105.]  483 

these  institutions  and  schools  will  spring  up  in  all  the  great  farming 
districts  of  our  country.  In  any  other  locality  the  means  of  success 
will  be  less  efficient,  and  less  available  ;  its  progress  will  be  compara- 
tively tardy,  and  its  usefulness  more  limited,  because  a  much  less 
number  will  have  an  opportunity  to  become  acquainted  with  its  ad- 
vantages. 

Nothing  exclusive,  or  partial  is  intended  to  be  asked  for.  "  The 
greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number,"  is  the  motto  of  the  American 
Institute. 

JAMES  TALLMADGE, 
ADONIRAM  CHANDLER, 
SHEPHERD  KNAPP, 
WM.  INGLIS, 
H.  MEIGS, 
T.  B.  WAKEMAN, 
EDWARD  T.  BACKHOUSE, 

Trustees. 
Jfew-Yorky  February  28,  1846. 


[Senate,  No.  105.]  31 


REPORT 

Of  the  committee  on  Flowers,  Fruits  and  Vegetables^  and  Agricultural 

and  Dairy  Productions. 


In  presenting-  this  report  of  the  eighteenth  annual  fair  of  the  Ame- 
rican Institute,  your  chairman,  in  behalf  of  the  agricultural  board, 
has  just  cause  to  congratulate  his  fellow-citizens  on  the  steady  ad- 
vancement of  American  skill  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  The  dis- 
play of  flowers,  fruits  and  vegetables,  agricultural  and  dairy  produc- 
tions, has  been  such  as  to  more  than  realize  the  warmest  anticipa- 
tions of  the  friends  of  this  national  association.  Indeed,  to  every 
mind  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  patriotism,  the  contemplation  of  what 
HAS  BEEN  DONE  by  this  Institute  for  the  interests  of  horticulture,  es- 
pecially within  the  last  five  years,  must  prompt  the  most  ardent  and 
sincere  wishes  for  a  continuance  of  its  prosperit}^  As  a  proof  of 
the  unwearied  zeal  of  its  members  in  promoting  the  great  and  impor- 
tant objects  designed  by  its  originators,  the  following  enumeration  of 
premiums  is  respectfully  submitted  by  your  chairman  : 

Silver  cups, 130 

Gold  medals, 30 

Silver  medals, 150 

Agricultural  and  horticultural  books, 450 

Diplomas, 250 

The  value  of  these  testimonials  of  merit,  according  to  the  lowest 
estimate,  exceeds  the  sum  of  three  thousand  dollars.  In  addition  to 
the  foregoing,  seven  thousand  dollars  have  been  expended  in  the  re- 
quisite arrangements  for  an  impartial  and  effective  display  of  the  va- 
rious productions  forwarded  by  contributors.  Does  not  this  afford 
convincing  evidence  of  the  liberal  encouragement  given  by  the  Insti- 
tute to  the  claims  of  agriculture  and  horticulture  1  Nor  is  this 
ALL.  In  the  emphatic  language  of  Professor  Mapes,  "  Its  services 
to  the  agriculturists  are  freely  admitted  from  Maine  to  Georgia." 
From  the  force  of  its  example,  agricultural  and  horticultural  associa- 
tions have  been  established  in  the  counties  of  nearly  every  State  in 
the  Union,  and  men  have  been  induced  to  regard  planting  and  sow- 
ing as  the  most  permanent,  profitable,  and  independent  avocation. 
Practical  works  on  farming  and  gardening  have  been  distributed  by 
these  newly-formed  societies,  and  an  increased  sale  created  for  such 
manuals  ;  in  proof  of  which,  "  The  Young  Gardener's  Assistant^'  has 
been  in  great  demand  throughout  the  far  westj  from  its  having  been 


No.  105.]  485 

adopted  as  a  suitable  award  to  competitors,  in  promoting  tiie  success- 
ful cultivation  of  vegetables,  flowers  and  fruit. 

With  much  regret  your  committee  must  here  remark,  that  until 
within  the  last  few  years,  the  art  of  cultivating  the  earth  has  been 
by  many  parents  considered  a  degrading  pursuit.  From  fallacious 
views,  they  have  looked  upon  the  handling  of  the  plough,  the  spade, 
and  the  rake,  as  not  so  likely  to  confer  riches,  honor  and  dignity,  as 
some  other  occupations.  The  earliest  records  of  history,  however, 
establish  the  pleasing  fact,  that  terraculture  has  excited  the  sweetest 
and  loftiest  strains  of  the  poet ;  that  it  has  engaged  the  attention  of 
the  great  and  the  good  ;  and  that  the  most  profound  philosophers 
have  deemed  it  a  study  of  primary  importance. 

The  subject  of  horticulture  comes  recommended  to  us  from  the  de- 
clarations of  Holy  Writ ;  for  it  is  recorded  in  the  second  chapter  of 
the  book  of  Genesis,  that  "  the  Lord  God  planted  a  garden  eastward 
in  Eden,  and  there  he  put  the  man  whom  he  had  formed,  to  dress 
and  to  keep  it.  And  out  of  the  ground  made  the  Lord  God  to  grow 
every  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for  food."  And  from 
the  contents  of  the  third  chapter,  we  may  infer  that  the  cultivation 
of  the  fig,  and  other  tempting  fruits,  was  well  understood. 

All  ancient  history  begins  with  fable  and  tradition,  and  the  fabu- 
lous gardens  of  antiquity  are  connected  with  the  religions  of  those 
times.  Each  order  of  religion  has  its  system  of  creation,  its  heaven 
and  its  hell,  and  what  now  concerns  us,  each  had  its  system  of  gar- 
dens. 

The  garden  of  Jewish  tradition  is  for  the  use  of  rcan  ;  that  of  the 
Eastern  polytheism  is  appropriated  to  the  gods  ;  and  the  Mahomme- 
dan  paradise  is  the  reward  held  out  to  the  good  in  a  future  state. 
The  inhabitants  of  Ceylon  say,  that  paradise  was  situated  in  their 
country,  and  Johnson  informs  us,  that  they  point  out  the  tree  which 
bore  the  forbidden  fruit,  the  Divi  Lander,  or  Tabernemonfana  alteani- 
folia  of  bo  anists.  The  fruit  of  this  tree  is  said  to  be  of  great  beauty, 
and  the  shape  gives  the  idea  of  a  piece  having  been  bitten  off;  it  is 
now  poisonous,  though  said  to  have  been  excellent  before  Eve  ate 
of  it. 

The  Egyptians,  B,  C.  2000,  according  to  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  invent- 
ed the  art  of  cultivating  the  soil ;  they  possessed  a  great  variety  of 
fruits,  and  held  the  peach  tree  as  sacred  to  Harpocrates,  the  god  of 
Silence,  for  the  reason  that  its  fruit  resembled  the  heart,  and  its  leaves 
the  human  tongue.  Of  Jewish  gardens.  King  Solomon's,  B.  C.  1500, 
is  the  principal  one  on  record.  The  area  of  his  garden  was  quadrangu- 
lar, and  contained  a  variety  of  plants,  odoriferous  and  showy  flowers, 
as  the  rose,  lily  of  the  valley,  the  calamus,  the  spikenard,  satfron,  and 
cinnamon  ;  timber  trees,  as  the  cedar,  pine,  and  fir  ;  and  the  richest 
fruits,  as  the  fig,  grape,  apple,  and  date.  The  agricultural  productions 
of  the  Jews,  at  this  time,  were  wheat,  barley,  rye,  millet,  vetches,  len- 
tils, and  beans ;  their  gardens  produced  cucumbers,  melons,  gourds, 
onions,  garlic,  anise,  cummin,  coriander,  mustard,  and  various  spices. 
Vines  were  raised  from  seed,  and  it  appears  probable  they  were  aware 
of  the  effects  of  one  flower  being  impregnated  with  the  pollen   of 


486  [Senate 

another;  for  Moses  says,  Deut.  xxii.,  9,  "Thou  shalt  not  sow  thy 
vineyard  with  clivers  seeds  :  lest  the  fruit  of  thy  seed  which  thou  hast 
sown,  and  the  fruit  of  thy  vineyard,  be  defiled." 

The  Persians,  B.  C.  500,  were  very  fond  of  gardens,  which  Xeno- 
phon  says  were  cultivated  for  the  sake  of  beauty  as  well  as  fruit. 
King  Cyrus,  whose  garden  was  at  Sardis,  conceived,  disposed,  and  ad- 
justed the  whole  himself,  and  planted  a  considerable  number  of  trees 
with  his  own  hands.  According  to  Pliny  and  other  Roman  authors, 
in  the  gardens  of  limited  description,  the  trees  were  arranged  in  straight 
lines  and  regular  figures  ;  and  the  margins  of  the  walks  covered  with 
tufts  of  roses,  violets,  and  other  odoriferous  flowering  plants. 

A  tower  was  a  necessary  appendage  to  an  eastern  garden  from  the 
most  remote  era — see  Isaiah,  v.  2.  See  again,  700  years  afterwards, 
Matt.,  xxi.j  33.  Epicurus  taught  philosophy  in  a  garden  in  the  city 
of  Athens.  Lord  Bacon,  in  his  learned  Essay  on  Gardenings  consid- 
ers gardening  as  rather  a  neglected  art  in  Greece,  and  makes  the  fol- 
lowing striking  and  philosophic  remark  :  "  That  when  ages  grow  to 
civility  and  elegance,  men  come  to  build  stately  sooner  than  to  garden 
finely,  as  if  gardening  were  the  greater  perfection."  All  writers  agree 
in  putting  the  fig  at  the  head  of  fruit  trees  first  cultivated,  and  thevine 
as  next  in  order.  The  use  of  flowers  for  preternatural,  religious,  fu- 
neral, and  medical  purposes,  like  every  other  use,  is  of  the  remotest 
antiquity.  Bundles  of  flowers  covered  the  tables  of  the  Greeks,  and 
were  worn  during  repasts,  because  the  plants  of  which  they  consisted 
were  supposed  to  possess  the  virtue  of  preserving  the  wearer  from  the 
fumes  of  wine,  of  refreshing  the  thinking  faculty,  imparting  purity  to 
the  ideas,  and  promoting  a  disposition  to  cheerfulness.  The  first  im- 
plement used  in  cultivating  the  soil,  all  antiquarians  agree,  must  have 
been  of  the  pick  kind.  In  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
gardens  of  Peru  had  no  other  spade  than  a  pointed  stick.  The  Chi- 
nese implement  bears  the  marks  of  the  highest  civilization,  since  it  has 
a  hilt  or  cross  handle,  and  a  tread  for  the  foot,  and  consequently  sup- 
poses the  use  of  sandals  by  the  operator.  It  is  said  that  the  browsing 
of  a  goat  gave  the  first  idea  of  pruning  the  vine,  as  chance,  which  had 
set  fire  to  a  rose  tree,  gave  the  first  of  pruning  the  rose.  The  origin 
of  the  art  of  grafting  as  yet  remains  a  secret.  It  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  known  to  the  Persians  or  to  the  Greeks  in  the  time  of  Ho- 
mer or  Hesiod,  and  was  communicated  to  the  natives  of  Peru  and 
South  America  by  the  Spaniards.  According  to  some  authorities,  that 
singular  people,  the  Chinese,  were  for  many  centuries  back  acquainted 
with  the  best  methods  of  European  agriculture,  and  conferred  high 
honors  on  successful  cultivators,  the  tilling  of  the  earth  being  consid- 
ered the  first  of  duties  :  even  the  monarch  of  the  "  Celestial  Empire  " 

"  Lays  his  sceptre  down, 
"  Nor  deems  the  task  unworthy  of  the  crown." 

Moses  gave  useful  directions  to  his  people  on  the  culture  of  the  vine 
and  the  olive :  "  For  the  first  three  years,  they  are  not  allowed  to  ri- 
pen any  fruit."      This  contributed  materially  to  the  strength  of  the 


No.  105.]  487 

plants,  and  their  establishment  in  the  soil.  The  horticultural  skill  of 
the  Greeks  appears  from  their  writers  on  geoponics  to  have  been  con- 
siderable. It  seems  that  both  ringing  and  grafting  were  practised  by 
them  ;  and  the  fertilization  of  the  fig  tree  was  etfected  by  the  well 
know^n  practice  of  caprification.  Anatolius  and  Sotion  direct,  that 
when  an  apple  tree  is  required  to  bear  a  larger  crop  than  usual,  a  liga- 
ture should  be  bound  tight  round  the  stem.  Of  the  importance  of  ma- 
nure they  were  well  aware,  and  even  of  sowing  green  crops  to  be 
buried  in  the  soil  for  that  purpose. 

The  first  mention  of  a  garden  in  Roman  history  is  that  of  Tarquinius 
Superbus,  B.  C.  534  ;  it  abounded  with  flowers.  The  ne  xt  in  order 
of  time  are  the  gardens  of  Lucullus,  situated  on  the  promonotory  of 
Misenum,  in  the  Bay  of  Naples.  They  were  of  great  magnificence 
and  expense,  and  procured  for  that  general  the  epithet  of  the  Roman 
Xerxes.  Lucullus  introduced  the  cherry,  the  peach  and  apricot,  from 
the  East,  and  thus  conferred  a  benefit.  Statues  and  fountains  came 
into  vogue  about  the  commencement  of  the  christain  era.  The  luxury 
of  flowers  under  Augustus,  was  pushed  to  extreme  folly;  and  Nero,  it 
is  related,  spent  upwards  of  thirty  thousand  pounds,  $140,000,  in  the 
purchase  of  roses  to  strew  the  floor  and  decorate  the  walls  on  occasion 
of  a  supper.  The  Romans,  according  to  Pliny,  in  the  summit  of  their 
power,  had  nearly  all  the  different  species  now  under  cultivation,  since 
which  time  the  varieties  have  been  multiplied  a  hundred  fold. 

The  commercial  men  of  Holland,  in  the  13th  century,  were  among 
the  most  eminent  and  wealthy  of  merchants,  and  probably  imported 
bulbs  from  Constantinople  to  ornament  their  gardens,  of  which  nearly 
every  commercial  man  had  one.  The  horticultural  society  of  the  Nether- 
lands is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  richest  in  Europe,  having  a  capital  of 
nearly  .£20,000,  and  possessing  at  Brussels  one  of  the  handsomest  gar- 
dens on  the  continent. 

The  taste  for  gardens,  in  modern  times,  has  not  been  less  universal, 
nor  less  operative.  They  are  frequently  mentioned  in  the  history  of 
the  earliest  monkish  establishments  and  religious  houses,  during  the 
dark  ages.  Italy  and  France  have  been  long  conspicuous  for  their  gen- 
eral and  ostentatious  horticulture.  They  are  more  celebrated  for  their 
cultivation  of  delicious  fruits,  for  their  ornamental  and  shady  walks, 
and  their  various  and  refreshing  artificial  fountains  of  water,  than  for 
the  excellence  of  their  culinary  vegetables. 

Holland  and  Flanders  were  very  early  distinguished,  as  they  still 
are,  for  their  love  of  plants  and  flowers,  in  which  they  have  pro- 
bably excelled  all  the  other  people  of  Europe.  Previous  to  the 
sixteenth  century,  exotics  were  more  cultivated  there  than  any 
where  else,  and  their  gardens  contained  a  great  variety  of  rare  plants. 
At  that  early  day  they  carried  on  a  considerable  commerce  in  these 
articles.  They  imported  plants  from  the  Levant  and  both  the  Indies, 
and  exported  them  to  England,  France,  and  Germany.  Before  the 
time  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  the  London  market  was  supplied  with  culi- 
nary herbs  and  roots  from  Holland.  And  during  many  reigns  after- 
wards the  English  kings  obtained  their  gardeners  from  that  country. 


488  [Senate 

The  soil  of  Great  Britain  was  considered  unfit  for  the  productions  of 
horticulture  till  within  the  last  century.  It  was  always  unrivalled  for 
the  freshness  and  beauty  of  its  verdure.  But,  it  has  been  known  only 
within  the  three  or  four  last  generations  to  have  paid  great  atttention 
to  the  ornamental  cultivation  of  its  pleasure  grounds,  or  the  profitable 
produce  of  its  kitchen  and  fruit  gardens.  Since  the  general  introduc- 
tion of  forcing  houses,  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  her 
noblemen,  and  other  men  of  taste  and  opulence,  have  been  wonder- 
fully successful  in  the  finest  arts  of  cultivation.  Now  there  is  said  to 
be  more  certainty  of  finding  pine  apples,  of  domestic  growth,  in  the 
London  market,  every  day  in  the  year,  than  there  is  either  in  Jamaica 
or  Calcutta. 

The  total  number  of  vegetable  species,  not  indigenous  in  England, 
introduced  previous  to  the  accession  of  George  the  4th,  is  said  to  have 
been  11,970  ;  of  which  the  first  47  were  brought  in  before  and  during 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. ;  533  during  that  of  Elizabeth  ;  578  during 
the  reign  of  the  two  Charleses,  and  Cromwell ;  44  in  that  of  James  11. ; 
298  in  that  of  William  and  Mary  ;  230  in  that  of  Anne  ;  182  in  that 
of  George  I.  ;  1770  in  that  of  George  II. ;  and  6766  in  that  of 
George  III. 

In  1805  a  private  association  for  horticultural  objects  was  commen- 
ced in  London,  which  was  incorporated  by  royal  charter  in  1809.  In 
1803,  in  Edinburgh,  a  florist's  society  was  instituted,  which  in  1809 
enlarged  its  views,  and  took  the  title  of  the  Caledonian  Horticultural 
Society.  At  Paisley,  in  Scotland,  a  florist's  society  was  some  time 
ago  established,  of  which  an  eminent  writer  observes,  that  "the  rearing 
of  beautiful  flowers  is  found  to  improve  the  taste  for  manufacturing 
elegant  patterns  of  fancy  muslin  ;  while  the  florists  of  Paisley  have 
been  long  remarked  for  the  peacefulness  of  their  dispositions,  and  the 
sobriety  of  their  manners." 

The  benefits  of  such  associations  are  numerous,  and  of  great  impor- 
tance to  the  human  family. 

They  encourage  profitable  industry.  In  the  vicinity  of  London, 
there  are  occupied  as  fruit  and  kitchen  gardens,  about  20,000  acres  of 
land,  of  which  the  annual  produce  is  sold  for  more  than  7,000,000  dol- 
lars. Within  six  miles  of  Edinburgh,  there  are  computed  to  be  2000 
acres  occupied  in  the  same  way,  of  which  the  annual  produce  is  worth 
near  800,000  dollars.  For  the  supply  of  the  New-York  market  with 
vegetables,  fruits,  and  flowers,  there  are  cultivated  several  thousand 
acres  of  land,  of  which  the  aggregate  annual  produce  is  supposed  to  be 
about  $1,000,000.  The  proportions  of  earth  thus  cultivated  are  far 
more  productive  than  any  other  equal  portions  of  land  in  the  countries 
where  they  are  situated  ;  and  they  give  healthy  employment  to  great 
multitudes  of  human  beings. 

In  no  calling  may  the  healthful  activity  of  the  mind  be  more  happily 
blended  with  the  healthful  activity  of  the  body,  than  in  the  noble  art 
of  multiplying  the  treasures  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  It  has  been 
remarked  by  the  editor  of  the  New-York  Tribune,  that  the  country  is 
greatly  overstocked  with  lawyers,  doctors,  &c.  and  a  persuasive  ap- 


No.  105.]  489 

peal  is  made  by  him  to  our  aspiring  and  capable  young  men  to  avoid 
the  crowded  avenues  of  those  professions,  and  find  usefulness,  honor, 
and  happiness  in  the  shady  walks  of  agriculture,  diversified  as  it  now 
is  by  a  thousand  applications  of  scientific  truths  and  principles.  "We 
have,"  says  that  writer,  "  thousands  of  young  men  who  would  have 
been  useful  and  respected  if  Agricultural  Schools  had  existed  in  their 
boyhood,  but  who  are  now  thriftless,  useless  and  miserable.  The  pro- 
fessions cannot  afford  employment  for  half  our  educated  and  ambitious 
youth  :  the  soil  is  the  only  true  resource."  The  establishment 
of  Agricultural  Schools  in  different  sections  of  the  country  may  be  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  most  favorable  signs  of  the  times.  In  his  letter 
to  the  editor  of  the  Southern  Planter,  Bishop  Ives  regards  their  foun- 
dation as  of  infinite  value,  "  both  with  respect  to  the  physical  and  moral 
advancement  of  the  people." 

Commercial  speculations  may  enrich  the  merchant ;  imperishable 
renown  may  be  conferred  on  the  achievements  of  genius,  and  nations 
gain  the  pinnacle  of  glory  by  military  valor ;  all  this,  however,  is  but 
"  the  bubble  reputation,"  which  sinks  into  the  shade  when  contrasted 
with  the  operations  of  the  plough,  guided  by  the  diligent  farmer,  and 
the  skill  of  the  gardener,  in  producing  the  sustenance  indispensably 
requisite  to  human  existence.  In  one  portion  of  the  earth  the  labors 
of  the  husbandman  may  be  destroyed  by  mildew,  storm  and  tempest, 
and  the  horrors  of  famine  threaten  swarming  millions.  With  what  an 
intensity  of  feeling  in  such  a  calamitous  visitation,  would  more  favored 
regions  then  be  regarded.  Unhappily,  at  this  moment  Europe  presents 
such  a  catastrophe  !  Figuratively  speaking,  to  America  she  casts  her 
imploring  eyes,  and  craves  of  our  abundance.  Thanks  to  an  overrul- 
ing Providence,  her  supplications  will  not  be  in  vain  !  Our  hardy  and 
industrious  farmers  have  ploughed  deep,  and  reaped  prosperity  in  every 
furrow  ;  our  horticulturists  have  seen  their  gardens  and  their  orchards 
smiling  in  all  the  luxuriance  of  plenty  ;  the  plough,  the  harrow,  the 
spade  and  the  rake  have  been  managed  by  wise  heads  and  willing 
hands,  diffusing  happiness  at  home,  and  on  the  wings  of  commerce, 
wafting  it  abroad. 

How  vitally  important  then,  that  every  Association,  having  for  its 
object  the  culture  of  the  soil,  should  receive  the  cheerful  support  of  the 
People  ;  that  its  progress  should  be  onward,  unchecked  by  the  malig- 
nity of  purblind  meddlers,  ever  ready  to  dip  their  pens  in  gall.  Millions 
of  our  fellow  men,  in  distant  lands,  will  be  rescued  from  the  pangs  of 
starvation  by  the  successful  results  of  scientific  Agriculture  in  the  Uni- 
ted States. 

To  silence  the  tongues  of  gainsayers,  it  may  here  be  observed  that 
$7,246.92  cents  were  expended  by  the  American  Institute  at  their 
Seventeenth  Annual  Fair.  The  amount  actually  received  at  the  door 
of  Niblo's  garden  was  $9,678,  which  would  pay  for  the  entrance  of 
38,712  persons.  To  this  number  must  be  added  those  who  either  by 
right  or  by  courtesy  were  admitted  free,  to  wit:  the  members  of  the 
Institute  and  their  families,  the  contributors,  who  were  provided  also 
with  ladies'  tickets,  United  States,  State,  and  corporation  officers,  the 


490  [Senate 

Judges,  Delegates  of  other  Institutions,  and  distinguished  men  from 
other  parts  of  the  Union,  Charitable  Schools,  &c.  And  to  these  must 
likewise  be  added  the  very  large  number  who  gain  admittance  by  the 
transfer  or  loan  of  tickets  and  other  deceptiye  modes. 

Your  chairman  is  here  led  to  remark,  that  many  thoughtless  indivi- 
duals have,  on  former  anniversaries,  gained  admittance  by  presenting 
articles  which  were  unworthy  of  exhibition,  thus  disparaging  the  dis- 
play and  crowding  the  rooms  with  unprofitable  visitors.  On  the  pre- 
sent occasion,  however,  he  has  deemed  it  his  duty  to  reject  these  "  un- 
considered trifles,"  to  the  disappointment  of  many  a  seemingly  patriotic 
contributor.  Every  article  received  should  be  distinguished  by  the 
mark  of  excellence,  superior  culture  being  the  end  and  aim  of  this 
Association. 

It  has  been  the  object  of  your  chairman  to  render  the  Horticultural 
Department  a  House  of  Representatives  to  all  contributors.  With 
this  view,  he  has  attached  the  name  of  each  in  uniform  and  legible 
characters,  to  the  different  articles  of  merit  sent  in  for  competi- 
tion. 

In  conclusion,  your  chairman  would  respectfully  remark,  that  dis- 
satisfaction has  been  expressed  by  competitors  in  the  Mechanical  Arts, 
relative  to  the  premiums  awarded  for  the  promotion  of  Floriculture  ; — 
a  darling  pursuit  of  the  virtuous  and  enlightened  from  "  time  imme- 
morial." We  hope  to  prove  that  these  censures  have  not  justice  for 
their  foundation,  and  to  convince  the  unprejudiced,  that  more  honor 
"than  profit  has  been  the.  portion  of  those  who  have  contributed  so 
largely  to  the  chief  attraction  of  the  Fair.  Have  not  our  Florists,  by 
their  inimitable  displays  of  "  Nature's  choicest  gems,"  attracted  to  the 
Horticultural  Room,  thousands  of  "virtuous  wives  and  beautiful  daugh- 
ters,"— the  pride  and  glory  of  our  Commonwealth  1  This  they  deem 
a  distinguished  honor,  and  a  pleasing  evidence  of  that  pure  and  refin- 
ed taste  which  elevates  and  so  well  befits  the  female  character.  A  few 
"^words  as  to  the  profit.  Since  the  commencement  of  the  Fair,  on 
the  6th  instant,  upward  of  30,000  Dahlia  blooms  have  been 
exhibited  ;  their  value,  in  connection  with  the  time  occupied  in  suc- 
cessive renewals,  cannot  be  computed  at  less  than  five  hundred  dollars 
a  larger  sum,  by  five  times,  than  the  cost  of  the  premiums  awarded  by 
the  Institute  to  the  cultivators  of  this  splendid  floral  gem. 

By  adopting  the  new  regulation  of  adjudging  distinct  premiums  for 
ornamental  designs,  renew^ed  during  the  fair,  and  appointing  one  day 
expressly  for  the  awards  on  the  twenty-five  best  specimens  of  seed- 
ling and  other  choice  varieties,  a  goodly  number  of  amateurs  assem- 
bled together  in  friendly  communion.  Monday,  the  15th  day  of 
•October,  will  be  long  remembered  in  the  annals  of  American  flori- 
'  culture.  A  more  gorgeous  display  of  the  varieties  of  the  Dahlia  was 
never  before  witnessed  on  the  American  continent :  their  glowing 
colors,  their  rich  contrasts,  and  beautiful  perfection,  excited  general 
admiration.  Well  did  these  brilliant  favorites  repay  the  well-spent 
hours  devoted  to  their  cultivation. 


No.  105.]  491 

Finally,  the  conviction  that  the  interests  of  agriculture,  horticul- 
ture and  floriculture,  are  of  A'ital  importance  to  the  welfare  of  the 
human  race,  and  that  associations  established  for  encouraging  im- 
proved methods  of  culture,  may  be  truly  designated  the  "  collective 
wisdom"  of  the  republic,  is  the  only  apology  your  chairman  has  to 
offer  for  enlarging  on  this  interesting  subject  in  the  present  report. 

That  each  member  of  the  American  Institute  may  energetically 
fulfil  the  patriotic  duties  he  has  undertaken,  in  promoting  the  noble 
objects  contemplated  by  its  founders  ;  that  the  proceedings  of  the 
Association,  in  time  to  come,  may  continue  to  be  dignified  by  the 
administration  of  "  equal  justice  to  all  ;"  and  that  it  may  ever 
prove  the  firm  friend  of  the  farmer,  the  gardener,  the  mechanic,  and 
the  manufacturer,  is  the  heartfelt  wish  of  your  chairman. 

THOMAS  BRIDGMAN. 

Mw-  York,  October  25,  1845. 


SCRIPTURE'S  HORSE  POWER, 

The  committee  to  whom  was  delegated  the  duty  of  examining  and 
reporting  on  Mr.  Eliphalet  S.  Scripture's  new  arrangement,  for  ap- 
plying horse  power  to  move  machinery,  beg  leave  to  state  :  That  on 
going  to  the  place  where  the  machine  was  in  operation,  they  found  a 
horizontal  horse  wheel  on  a  vertical  shaft  in  the  usual  manner,  but 
instead  of  being  fitted  on  the  edge  or  face  with  cogs,  or  teeth  in  the 
ordinary  way,  the  wheel  is  so  made,  that  either  or  both  of  the  faces 
and  the  edge  may  be  fitted  with  a  deep  groove,  each  edge  of  the 
groove  in  the  material  so  formed  as  to  produce  a  truncated  semi- 
cycloidal  face  inwards,  while  above,  below,  or  at  the  edge  of  the 
horse  wheel,  there  are  shafts  placed,  which,  when  horizontal,  have 
their  gudgeons  in  levers,  set  with  the  fixed  fulcrums  a  short  distance 
from  the  gudgeons,  and  the  longer  arms  weigthed  so  as  to  allow  a  vi- 
bratory motion  in  the  shafts  and  gudgeons,  and  on  the  shafts  thus 
fitted,  Mr.  Scripture  has  fixed  what  your  committee  think  may  be 
termed  "  blank  pinions,"  formed  as  follows  : 

A  disk  of  metal  is  cast  convex  externally  and  concave  internally, 
forming  an  open  shell,  whose  edges  are  made  sectionally,  nearly  in 
the  same  shape  as  the  grooves  in  the  horse  wheel,  but  a  little  thicker 
near  the  edges  of  the  grooves;  and  just  outside  this  part,  an  annular 
groove  receives  a  cover  plate ;  a  hole  of  the  proper  size,  through 
both  parts,  enables  the  workmen  to  wedge  or  key  them  on  the  shaft, 
so  that  the  thickest  part  of  each  pinion  shall  run  in  and  fit  tight  on 
the  edges  of  the  groove  in  the  horse  wheel,  wdiich,  when  put  in  mo- 
tion, carries  the  pinions  and  shafts  with  it,  by  the  adhesion  of  the 
parts  in  contact.  In  situations  where  metal  "  blank  pinions"  cannot 
be  obtained,  wood,  put  in  the  same  shape,  will  answer  the  same  pur- 


492  [Senate 

pose  so  long  as  they  will  stand  the  work.     Your  committee  agree, 
that  the  value  of  this  arrangement  lies  in  the  following  points  : 

First.  The  facility  with  which  the  most  ordinary  workman  can 
construct  such  a  machine,  in  any  place  where  he  can  get  the  wood 
and  tools;  as  the  whole  may  be  keyed  and  pinioned  together  with 
wood,  and  made  with  wood  gudgeons,  where  iron  cannot  be  had,  and 
from  the  way  in  which  the  shafts  are  held,  in  vibratory  levers,  if  the 
horse  wheel,  from  haste,  shrinkage,  warping,  or  hard  work,  "  gets 
out  of  truth^''  the  shafts  and  levers  will  so  accommodate  themselves 
to  any  undulatory  motion  in  the  wheel,  that  the  work  required  can 
still  be  progressed  with. 

Second.  A  well  made  wheel  and  pinions  will  last  many  years  with- 
out repairs,  and  if  the  wheel  grooves  get  worn  wider,  a  packing 
placed  between  the  annular  ring  and  cover  plate  of  the  pinions,  will 
spread  the  pinion,  to  fill  out  the  worn  space,  and  make  the  parts  ef- 
fective again. 

Third.  The  advantage  your  committee  considers  the  most  impor- 
tant, is  a  greater  security  from  injury  by  accident  or  design  than  they 
have  seen  in  any  machine  of  equal  power ;  for,  if  the  levers  and 
weights  are  properly  adjusted,  any  strain  exceeding  the  strength  of 
the  parts,  which  would  break  a  wheel  fitted  in  the  ordinary  manner, 
and  cause  loss,  and  probably  personal  injury  to  some  one,  will  be  here 
evaded  by  the  pinions  and  grooves  slipping  over  each  other.  If  a 
stone  or  other  substance  gets  in  a  groove,  the  pinions  will,  in  a  great 
majority  of  cases,  overleap  it  by  the  vibratory  lever  allowing  the  pi- 
nion to  rise  without  injury,  and  the  most  violent  efforts  of  a  restive 
or  unmanageable  horse  can  hardly  derange  the  connection  of  the 
parts. 

Your  committee  concur  in  the  belief  that  Mr.  Scripture  is  entitled 
to  great  credit  for  having  brought  forward  a  cheap,  safe,  effective  and 
permanent  horse  power,  which  appears  to  them  deserving  of  encou- 
ragement from  any  one  requiring  such  a  machine. 

Respectfully  submitted. 
(Signed)  WM.  SERRELL, 

JOHN  H.  RHODES, 
H.  MEIGS. 


No.  105.]  493 


REPORT 

On  Messrs.  Billings  and  Harrison^s  Hemp  and  Flax-dressing  Machi- 
nery and  process  for  rotting  the  same. 


Your  committee  take  pleasure  in  stating  that  they  have  examined 
the  process  and  machinery  above  named,  and  that  in  all  its  details 
they  find  the  process  for  rotting  superior,  and  more  certain  in  its  re- 
sults than  any  plan  previously  known  to  them.  The  rotting  pools 
have  peculiar  advantages,  from  the  ease  with  which  the  rapidity  and 
regularity  of  the  process  can  be  controlled  ;  and  the  after  drying  and 
evaporation  of  the  aqueous  matter,  and  retention  of  the  feculent, 
without  decomposition,  as  described  by  them,  is  theoretically  correct, 
and  consequently  practically  useful.  This  method  of  rotting  and 
drying  will  probably  render  American  hemp  fully  equal  to  Russian, 
and  the  flax  of  our  country  as  good  as  the  Flemish  or  French. 

The  machinery  for  breaking  has  been  only  seen  by  the  committee 
in  operation  upon  flax,  and  when  combined,  as  seen  by  them  with 
the  skutching  process,  the  flax  is  ready  for  market,  fully  as  well 
cleaned  from  shives,  and  freer  from  tow,  than  by  the  ordinary  hand 
process  of  breaking  and  swingling;  at  the  same  time  the  strength  of 
the  fibre  is  not  in  any  way  impaired.  The  skutching  process  as  mo- 
dified by  them,  appears  to  possess  some  advantge  over  the  usual  form 
of  such  machinery. 

Samples  of  hemp,  (American  water  rotted,)  broken  and  skutched 
in  a  state  for  market  by  the  above  mentioned  machinery,  in  Missouri, 
were  exhibited  to  the  committee,  and  are  more  clean,  and  better 
freed  from  shives,  than  any  they  have  before  seen,  while  at  the  same 
time  the  fibre  of  the  hemp  is  equally  carried  out  in  thickness  to  the 
end  of  the  head,  and  in  their  opinion,  such  hemp  would  waste  less  in 
hackling  than  that  broken  and  cleaned  by  hand. 

JAMES  REN  WICK,  Chairman. 
JAMES  J.  MAPES, 
HENRY  B.  RENWICK, 
JAMES  R.  CHILTON,  M.  D. 

Committee. 

JYeW'York,  October ^  1845. 


494  [Senate 


MAIZE. 

Lynn,  Mass.,  Dec.  15th,  1845. 
The  soil  upon  which  my  maize  was  planted,  is  a  dark  loam,  clay 
subsoil,  underdrained;  the  crop  last  year  Indian  corn.  The  manure 
for  this  crop  consisted  of  twenty-eight  horse-cart  loads  of  night  soil, 
composted  with  loam  and  muck  mud.  It  was  hauled  on  last  winter, 
spread,  and  plowed  under  the  21st  of  May  following;  furrowed  three 
and  a  half  feet  each  way,  a  handful  of  compost  dropped  on  each  hill, 
and  five  or  six  grains  of  corn  dropped  on  the  compost.  The  compost 
was  composed  of  four  barrels  of  poudrette,  one  barrel  of  plaster,  and 
fifty  bushels  leached  ashes,  well  mixed.  The  corn  was  planted  the 
23d  of  May,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  up,  the  cultivator  was  run  through 
it  both  ways.  It  was  twice  hoed,  without  hilling,  and  cultivated 
twice.  Two  cwt.  of  African  guano  was  applied  on  the  hills.  At 
the  second  hoeing,  a  part  was  mixed  with  fine  dry  muck  mud,  and  a 
part  applied  alone  without  mixture.  A  large  spoonful  of  the  pure, 
and  a  handful  of  the  mixed,  were  the  quantities  applied,  but  I  per- 
ceived no  difference  in  the  effect  between  the  pure  or  mixed,  and 
cannot  say  there  was  any  decided  benefit  in  either.  The  corn  was 
topped  October  10th,  harvested  November  10th,  A  part  of  the  crop 
was  a  failure,  either  from  the  strength  of  the  guano  or  the  compost ; 
I  think  the  latter,  as  I  noticed  where  we  (having  some  left  in  the  cart,) 
applied  it  plentifully,  the  corn  did  not  grow  well,  but  where  the 
handful  only  was  used,  it  did  well.  The  following  is  a  statement  of 
the  amount  of  corn  obtained,  together  with  the  expenditures. 


To  56  cart  loads  of  manure  at  $1, $56  00 

30  days  work,  actual  cost,  with  board, 22  22 

Four  barrels  of  poudrette, 5  00 

One  barrel  plaster, 1  50 

Fifty  bushels  leached  ashes, 3  50 

Two  hundred  weight  African  guano, 5  00 

Half  bushel  white  seed  corn, 0  50 

Interest  on  two  acres  land,  6  per  cent, 12  00 

$105  72 

Profit  of  crop, 58  94 


$164  66 


By  130  bushels  corn  at  80  cents, $104  00 

"  corn,  fodder,  &c., 25  00 


"  half  manure,  ...<,.... 35  66 


-$164  66 


No.  105.]  495 

The  yellow  variety  was  planted  on  the  same  kind  of  soil,  last  year 
in  grass.  It  was  plowed  in  the  fall,  and  rolled  with  a  heavy  roller  ; 
forty-nine  (horse  cart)  loads  offish  compost  were  carted  on  in  the  winter, 
and  left  in  a  pile  till  this  spring,  composted  with  dry  muck,  then 
spread  and  harrowed  in  ;  furrowed  three  and  a  half  feet  each  way.  A 
handful  of  poudrette,  and  five  or  six  grains  of  corn  allowed  to  each 
hill.  Planted  May  8th.  It  was  hoed  three  times,  and  cultivated 
twice  ;  the  seed  soaked  in  a  solution  of  nitre  as  strong  as  I  thought  it 
would  bear,  but  this  did  not  prevent  the  crows  from  pulling  it  up  bad- 
ly.    The  yield  was  as  follows  : 

To  49  loads  fish  compost,  at  $1, $49  00 

"  35  days  work, 25  72 

*'  six  barrels  poudrette, 7  50 

"  half  bushel  seed,  13  oz.  nitre, 0  56 

"  interest  on  two  acres  at  6  per  cent, 12  00 

$94  78 

Profit  of  crop, 113  87 


$208  65 


By  94  bushels  sound  shelled   corn,  118  at  80 

cts., $150  40 

"  corn  and  soft  corn, 30  00 

"  half  manure, 28  25 

$208  65 


Very  respectfully, 

J.  HAMMOND  COGGESHALL. 


STATEMENT   OF   SOLO    WRIGHT    JEWETT. 

New-York,  Oct.  13,  1845. 

Gentlemen — I  send  you  40  ears  of  my  variety  of  seed  corn  for  your 
inspection  and  consideration.  It  is  the  twelve  rowed  variety  of  yel- 
low corn  grown  in  Addison  county,  Vermont. 

In  the  year  1838  I  procured  of  Mr.  Munson  of  Chittenden  county, 
Vermont,  a  large  kind  of  the  twelve-rowed  yellow  corn,  which  I  have 
carefully  selected  and  cultivated  each  year  to  this  day.  A  sample  of 
four  ears,  marked  A,  is  for  your  inspection. 

On  or  about  the  year  1839  I  obtained  a  smaller  sort  of  the  twelve- 
rowed  variety  of  Eleazer  Jewett  ol  Franklin  county,  Vermont,  which 
was  of  a  very  dark  yellow,  husks  soft  and  pliable  ;  it  ripened  about 
eight  days  earlier  than  the  above  named  larger  variety.     I  send  you 


496  [Senate 

sample  in  the  four  ears  marked  B.  This  I  have  also  cultivated  sepa- 
rate, and  with  great  care.  Both  of  the  above  are  valuable  kinds  of 
corn  for  our  State.  Both  mature  very  early.  I  have  had  the  Button 
twelve-rowed  corn,  procured  of  Judge  Buel,  which  was  eight  days  la- 
ter than  either  of  the  above  Vermont  kinds. 

Out  of  these  two  kinds,  A  and  B,  I  have  produced  a  third  variety 
by  crossing  and  carefully  selecting.  Forty  ears  of  which  is  sent. 
For  the  last  six  years  I  have  been  carefully  crossing,  and  at  the  time 
of  planting,  judiciously  selecting  such  ears  as  appeared  to  be  a  me- 
dium between  the  two  kinds  ;  until  I  think  I  have  procured  the  third 
variety,  darker  color  than  the  kind  marked  A,  but  not  as  dark  yellow 
as  that  marked  B.  This  is  very  early  corn,  and  much  admired  in  our 
State.  We  plant  it  in  rich  loam  land,  hills  3  by  3i  each  way  ;  four 
stalks  in  a  hill.  It  produces  about  50  bushels  to  the  acre.  The  stalk 
is  rather  small,  bearing  generally  two  ears  to  each  stalk  ;  the  kernels, 
you  will  observe,  stand  close  together,  a  small  cob  and  very  stiff. 
But  a  very  few  "  nubbins"  or  "  pig  ears"  are  gathered  from  this  kind. 
The  ears  are  generally  sizable  and  sound  ;  it  is  the  best  corn  in  our 
State.  It  took  the  first  premium  at  the  Addison  county  show,  October 
2d,  1845. 

This  corn  planted  farther  south  would  of  course  grow  larger,  and 
not  ripen  in  so  short  a  time  as  in  our  State.  Within  three  years  it 
would  be  equal  or  superior  to  that  marked  A. 


WHEAT. 

STATEMENT   OF   JOHN   G-    BERGEN. 

GowANus,  Sept.  23,  1845. 

The  ground  the  summer  previous  to  sowing  was  occupied  by  pota- 
toes and  squashes,  of  about  equal  quantity  each.  The  potato  ground 
was  plowed  after  the  crop  came  off,  before  manuring  for  the  wheat ; 
the  squash  ground  was  not.  Manured  the  potato  ground  in  the  spring 
with  sea-weed  from  the  beach  j  the  squashes  with  street  manure  from 
New-York,  spread  broadcast ;  both  crops  manured  in  the  hill,  and 
both  on  mellow  ground,  or  where  plow  and  hoe  crops  had  grown  the 
previous  year. 

The  ground  was  prepared  for  sowing  wheat  by  carting  thereon 
about  60  loads  of  street  manure,  (New-York  corporation  cartage,)  at 
12|  cents  per  load  and  15  cents  freight ;  total,  $16.50.  Plowed  the 
ground  immediately  preceding  sowing,  and  sowed  about  the  28th  Sep- 
tember, 1844,  with  timothy,  and  in  the  spring  with  clover.  Wheat 
heavy  in  straw ;  heads  large ;  about  one-fourth  lodged  ;  heaviest  in 
potato  ground  ;  harvested  when  ripe  ;  shelled  out  more  than  sufficient 
to  sow  the  ground  ;  on  which  was  sowed  a  trifle  less  than  four  bushels. 


No.  105.]  497 

Threshed  on  the  8th,  9th  and  10th  September  by  a  machine.  The 
straw  being  very  large,  the  machine  coukl  not  take  the  grain  out  clean, 
and  in  the  longest  straw  which  was  lodged,  probably  one-fourth  re- 
mained in  the  straw.  Considerably  injured  while  in  the  barn,  where 
it  had  remained  since  harvesting,  by  mice,  rats  and  barn  weevil. 
Measured  when  cleaned  86  J  bushels,  or  about  425  bushels  to  the  acre. 
Ground  surveyed  and  certified  as  containing  two  acres  and  6if| 
perches.  Variety  selected,  red  beard,  white  wheat,  three  rows  of  grain 
on  a  side. 


CULTURE  OF  HOPS. 

MoRRisviLLE,  Sept.  20th,  1845. 
To  the  President  of  the  American  Institute: 

Dear  Sir — I  send  you  herewith  a  statement  of  the  process  of  culti- 
vating two  acres  of  hops,  of  which  the  samples  sent  to  the  fair  for  a  pre- 
mium were  a  part. 

The  ground  was  well  plowed  and  manured  with  40  loads  of  barn- 
yard manure  per  acre,  and  planted  with  corn  and  hops.  Last  year 
the  expense  of  cultivating  the  two  acres  for  the  present  year  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

41  loads  of  manure  put  in  hills, $30  00 

Rise  of  poles, 45  00 

Labor  of  cultivating  2  acres, 40  00 

Use  of  land, 14  00 

Harvesting  and  bagging, 87  50 

$216  50 
Produce  of  the  2  acres,  25001bs.  at  1^., 312  50 

Net  profits, $96  00 


The  above  land  is  a  mixture  of  dark  loam  and  gravel  well  adapted 
to  grass. 

Yours  respectfully, 

EZRA  LELAND, 


498  [Senate 


STATEMENT  OF  GEO.  W.  BILLINGS. 

Questions  answered  hy  Geo.  W.  Billings^  of  Missouri ^  on  the  Culture 
and  Manufacture  of  Flax  and  Hemp. 

1st.  What  kind  of  soil  shall  I  choose  1  and  what  manure  % 

Where  there  is  most  lime.  On  our  best  prairie  land  we  add  twenty 
bushels  of  lime  to  an  acre  ;  the  lime  should  first  be  slaked.  Use  also 
good  well  decomposed  manure. 

2d,  When  and  how  often,  and  how  deep  shall  I  plow  it  1 

Plow  as  soon  as  the  crop  is  off  the  field  in  the  fall;  plow  deep,  and 
if  necessary  use  the  subsoil  plow  so  as  to  plow  12  inches  deep.  Then 
in  the  spring  plow  four  or  five  inches  deep. 

3d.  When  and  how  shall  I  sow  the  seed — broadcast  or  in  drills — 
and  how  many  bushels  to  each  acre  1 

As  soon  as  the  land  is  plowed  in  the  spring,  harrow  it  lightly,  and 
sow  two  and  a  half  to  three  bushels  of  seed  to  each  acre,  then  harrow 
well. 

4th.  How  shall  I  keep  the  crop  clean  ? 

The  crops  keep  clean  of  weeds  by  the  close  thick  growth  of  flax. 

5th.  How  shall  I  gather  the  flax,  and  at  what  time  i 

Cut  the  flax  with  a  cradle,  having  a  scythe  from  eighteen  to  twen- 
ty-two inches  in  length.  Cut  as  soon  as  the  blossoms  of  the  flax  begin 
to  fall. 

6th.  How  shall  I  secure  the  crop  when  gathered  1  What  quantity 
in  a  bundle  % 

Let  the  flax  lie  on  the  ground  until  it  wilts.  In  fair  weather  it  may 
lie  there  thirty-six  hours.  Wet  weather  must  be  avoided  at  this  time, 
if  possible.  Bind  up  as  much  flax  as  a  wisp  of  flax  will  bind  in  one 
bundle.  Shock  it  on  the  field  so  as  to  prevent  wet  from  getting  into 
it.  Do  not  stack  it.  Leave  it  in  the  shocks  for  five  or  six  days. 
When  the  weather  is  favorable  and  it  is  about  as  dry  as  you  would 
have  your  hay  or  oats,  then  house  it. 

7th.  How  long  can  I  keep  it  before  it  is  sent  to  market  % 

Fifty  years !  The  flax  is  improved  by  keeping  it  a  year.  The 
gluten  which  is  in  it  then  dissolves  more  readily  when  you  come  to 
rot  it. 

8th.  Is  it  worth  my  while  to  rot  it  on  my  own  farm  ? 

Noj  you  cannot  make  so  good  a  profit  by  doing  it  1 


No.  105.]  499 

9th.  Is  it  worth  my  while  to  have  a  machine  for  dressing  the  crop  1 

If  you  can  raise  two  hundred  acres  of  flax,  then  you  can  afford  to 

rot  and  dress  it.     One  hundred  acres  will  not  pay  a  sufficient  profit. 

10th.  What  is  an  average  crop  of  flax  in  the  United  States  per 
acre  1 

About  two  hundred  pounds  to  the  acre  if  you  let  it  all  go  to  seed, 
but  four  hundred  pounds  if  you  gather  it  in  the  blossom.  Ireland  ave- 
rages five  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  an  acre,  on  one  hundred  thousand 
acres. 

11th.  Do  you  know  how  much  it  will  cost  to  raise  it  per  acre  ? 

Twelve  dollars  an  acre  when  housed. 

12th.  What  is  the  cost  of  dressing  it  1  How  much  can  one  of  your 
dressing  machines  prepare  in  a  day  1 

Three  cents  a  pound,  from  the  stack  to  the  bale  press.  One  of  my 
dressing  machines  with  seven  men,  will  dress  in  one  day  six  hundred 
pounds  of  flax,  and  so  much  tow  is  made  by  it,  that  it  saves  twenty  per 
cent  of  the  flax  by  my  operation ;  and  the  same  process  answers  for 
hemp.  Flax,  when  rotted  in  water  heated  to  ninety  degrees  of  Fah- 
renheit, is  done  in  three  or  four  days.  In  raising  flax,  a  part  of  a  field 
should  be  sowed  thin  for  the  seed.  Common  Flemish  and  French 
dressed  flax  imported  into  England  for  forty  years  past,  brings  them 
from  four  to  eight  hundred  dollars  a  ton.  This  difference  of  value  is 
owing  to  the  difference  of  qualities  which  are  assorted, 

13th.  Can  flax  and  hemp  be  grown  for  a  series  of  years  on  the  same 
ground,  or  is  rotation  necessary. 

I  have  known  hemp  grown  on  the  same  field  perfectly  well  for 
twenty  years  in  succession.  The  hemp  crop  is  from  seven  hundred  to 
nine  hundred  pounds  per  acre.  I  add  lime  to  land  for  flax  crop,  but 
not  for  hemp,  When  flax  is  not  allowed  to  go  to  seed,  it  does  not  ex- 
haust the  soil  one  half  as  much.  It  exhausts  about  as  much  as  the 
wheat  crop.  Our  corn  and  wheat  in  Missouri  certainly  exhaust  our 
soil.  We  have  already  found  the  necessity  of  deep  plowing  and  sub- 
soiling  the  land.  It  is  better  and  cheaper  far  to  me,  to  cradle  flax 
than  to  pull  it  by  hand  in  the  old  way.  We  do  not  consider  the  rot- 
ting and  dressing  flax  an  unhealthy  business.  We  raise  about  50,000 
tons  of  hemp  per  annum. 


[Senate,  No.  105.]  32 


500  [Senate 

APPLES. 

MoNnoEj  Orange  Co.,  Dec.  6th,  1835. 
T.  B.  Wakeman  : 

Sir — I  send  you  a  short  statement  of  my  method  of  cultivating  the 
trees  from  which  was  gathered  the  fruit  exhibited  at  the  late  fair  of  the 
American  Institute. 

I  do  not  believe  in  trimming  further  than  to  remove  such  branches 
as  exhibit  signs  of  decay.  I  prune  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  believing 
that  the  wounds  heal  quicker,  and  no  check  is  given  to  the  growth  of 
the  tree. 

Horse  manure  I  find  to  be  much  the  best  taken  from  the  stable,  and 
spread  under  the  tree  as  far  out  as  the  top  projects  ;  and  not  too  near 
the  trunk.  An  orchard  of  apple  trees,  should,  I  think,  be  plowed  once 
every  four  years,  and  then  sown  with  timothy,  which  I  think  prefera- 
ble to  clover,  as  the  roots  of  the  latter  generally  run  very  deep,  and 
withdraw  vegetation  from  the  tree. 

Quince  trees  do  best  on  a  rich  damp  soil.  I  dress  them  once  a  year 
with  slacked  lime,  and  prune  them  very  little,  merely  removing  the 
dead  branches. 

Yours,  respectfully, 

OBADIAH  SMITH. 


MANNING,  ON  THE  CULTURE  OF  THE  PEAR. 

Salem,  Mass.,  JVov.  21th,  1835. 

Our  pear  trees  are  set  at  a  distance  of  from  12  to  15  feet  each  way, 
and  the  apple  trees  30  feet.  In  planting  them,  especial  care  should  be 
taken  that  they  are  not  set  too  deep  ;  and  that  no  cavities,  or  hollows 
unfilled  by  dirt  are  left  among  the  roots. 

For  manure,  we  find  nothing  better  than  good  stable  dung  (the  old- 
er the  better)  and  decomposed  vegetable  matter.  We  have  also  used 
muscle  bed,  or  sea  marl,  quite  extensively,  and  with  very  good  success 
especially  on  plum  trees.  Pruning  is  performed  only  to  preserve  the 
balance  of  the  tree  and  to  prevent  limbs  from  interfering  with  each 
other. 

We  consider  the  best  season  for  pruning  to  be  whenever  the  wounds 
will  heal  over  soonest,  which  is,in  this  climate,from  the  1st  to  the  middle 
of  June.  Insects  do  not  trouble  much,  the  method  we  have  pursued 
with  them,  and  which  I  believe  to  be  the  best,  is  to  kill  them  all  by 
hand  while  young. 

Yours,  respectfully, 

ROBERT  MANNING. 


No.  105.]  501 

JOHN  M.  IVES'  METHOD  OF  CULTIVATING  THE  PEAR. 

Salem,  Mass.,  JYov.  19th,  1845. 

My  soil  is  a  light  sandy  loam,  with  a  subsoil  of  gravel  and  clay, 
made  retentive  by  the  application  of  clay,  and  salt.  The  former  I 
place  upon  the  ground  in  the  fall  in  heaps,  and  in  the  spring  spread  it 
evenly  over  the  surface,  and  plough  it  in  ;  the  latter  I  spread  also  up- 
on the  surface  in  early  spring  at  the  rate  of  30  bushels  to  the  acre.  I 
cultivate  pears  upon  the  quince  dwarfs,  as  some  of  the  new  Flemish 
varieties  grow  better  on  this  stock,  especiallly  the  '"  Duchess  d'  An- 
gouleme."  I  have  been  more  successful  in  the  cultivation  of  the  plum 
since  using  salt.  Upon  three  quarters  of  an  acre,  I  placed  last  spring 
early  in  April,  spread  broadcast  upon  the  surface  at  least  four  hogs- 
heads of  damaged  salt ;  on  the  1st  of  May  this  was  spaded  in.  I  usu- 
ally prune  in  June,  believing  that  wounds  heal  better  at  that  pe- 
riod. 

Yours  respectfully, 

JOHN  M.  IVES. 


SULLIVAN  BATES'  METHOD  OF  RAISING  CRANBERRIES. 

Bellingham,  Mass.,  1845. 

I  first  commenced  the  experiment  of  the  culture  of  the  cranberry 
some  eight  years  since,  by  transplanting  the  plants  in  their  wild  state, 
on  to  upland  soil,  of  a  clayey  nature.  After  harvesting  a  crop  of  po- 
tatoes, I  prepared  the  soil  as  for  sowing  grain,  by  plowing  and  har- 
rowing, then  marked  it  out  lightly  in  drills,  18  or  20  inches  apart. 
The  following  spring  I  perceived  that  not  more  than  two  or  three  hun- 
dred had  survived.  I  then  filled  the  vacancies  by  transplanting  as  be- 
fore. In  the  fall  I  found  I  had  been  no  more  successful,  than  in  the 
previous  spring.  Upon  an  examination  of  those  first  planted,  I  found 
many  young  plants  shooting  up  from  their  roots.  With  these  I  filled 
up  the  vacancies,  and  found  them  all  to  survive.  An  abundant  proof 
that  they  will  become  naturalized  to  a  dry  soil,  and  require  no  more 
trouble  in  the  raising,  than  the  strawberry,  or  any  other  plant.  I  have 
since  made  experiments  on  different  soils,  and  find  that  they  will  do 
well  on  any  ground  that  will  produce  the  potato.  The  first  season  we 
must  not  expect  much  fruit.  In  the  third  or  fourth,  the  plants  will 
cover  the  whole  ground,  yielding  from  two  to  three  hundred  bushels 
per  acre.  From  half  an  acre  I  have  obtained  104  bushels,  and  should 
no  doubt  have  gathered  many  more  if  they  had  not  been  destroyed  by 
an  early  frost.  I  consider  the  cranberry  crop,  as  sure  as  that  of  any 
other  fruit.  It  is  sometimes  injured  by  late  spring  frosts,  while  in 
blossom;  and  sometimes  by  early  frosts  in  August,  as  was  the  case 
this  year.  Those  who  have  land  bord&ring  upon  a  running  stream  of 
water,  that  can  be  stopped,  and  made  to  overflow  it  at  night,  when  an 


502  [Senate 

early  frost  is  anticipatedj  and  withdrawn  in  the  morning  without  injury 
to  the  plants,  need  have  no  fear  of  failure  in  their  crops. 

The  time  to  harvest  the  cranberry  is  generally  from  the  first  to  the 
middle  of  September.  They  are  gathered  with  rakes  made  expressly 
for  the  purpose  ;  one  man  gathering  from  30  to  40  bushels  per  day, 
witli  the  assistance  of  a  boy  to  collect  the  scattering  berries.  They 
grow  to  double  the  size  of  those  in  the  wild  state,  of  much  better  fla- 
vor, and  command  in  market  30  or  40  per  cent  more  than  the  others. 
I  shall  have  plants  to  supply  those  who  wish  in  the  spring. 

With  much  respect, 

SULLIVAN  BATES.     > 


JAMES  EWBANK'S  METHOD  OF   CULTIVATING   ISABEL- 
LA GRAPES. 

Flushing,  JYov.  24th,  1845, 

I  plant  my  vines  in  an  ordinary  soil,  and  pay  but  little  attention  to 
the  ground  culture. 

My  vines  are  planted  against  a  house,  and  have  a  southern  exposure, 
the  building  protecting  them  from  the  northeast  and  northwest  storms. 
For  several  years  past  I  have  had  abundant  crops  of  well-ripened  fruit, 
and  from  observation  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  fertility  of  my 
vines  is  attributable  to  position  more  than  character  of  the  soil  ;  and 
above  all  to -the  high  training,  which  is  some  twenty  feet  upright,  and 
then  horizontally  over  an  arbor,  which  gives  the  vine  a  free  circulation 
of  air  and  light.  I  have  noticed  that  all  vines  yield  better  the  farther 
the  fruit  spears  are  from  the  roots,  if  due  attention  is  paid  to  elevat- 
ing the  vine,  so  that  light  and  air  have  free  access  beneath.  I  in- 
variably prune  later  than  is  the  custom  of  my  neighbors,  and  not  until 
the  sap  runs  freely,  say  in  March,  or  according  to  the  condition  of  the 
season. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  the  grape  should  be  trained  high  as  possible  in 
an  upright  position,  say  twenty  feet,  and  then  horizontally  towards  the 
south,  and  no  fruit  be  permitted  to  grow  upon  the  upright  part  of  the 
vine.  The  greater  height  the  vine  has  when  in  full  foliage,  the  better 
the  prospect  of  a  full  crop.  By  this  process  my  grapes  ripen  simulta- 
neously and  uniformly.  I  am  inclined  to  think,  that  greater  attention 
to  ground  culture  would  add  much  to  the  size  of  my  fruit,  without  af- 
fecting the  other  excellent  qualities  of  my  vines. 

Yours,  &c., 

JAMES   EWBANK. 


No.  105.]  503 

WM.  A.  SWAIN'S  METHOD  OF  CULTIVATING  ISABELLA 

GRAPES. 

The  natural  soil  was  a  clay  loam,  very  shallow,  but  made  2  J  feet 
deep,  by  trenching  and  adding  good  stable  manure.  Each  vine  has  a 
space  of  about  4  ieet  each  way,  which  has  the  best  of  tillage  during 
the  summer,  being  highly  manured  and  kept  fine  and  clean. 

The  vines  were  put  in  their  place  3  years  ago  last  fall.  About  one- 
half  were  from  cuttings  put  out  the  previous  spring  in  a  rich  compost. 
The  other  half  were  vines  two  years  old,  from  R.  T.  Underbill.  The 
cuttings  are  much  the  largest  and  finest  vines,  and  bore  the  largest 
crop  of  grapes.  They  have  always  been  trimmed  in  February  ;  the 
first  season's  growth  was  cut  back  to  within  two  feet  of  the  ground ; 
the  second  year's  growth  was  one  half  cut  back,  so  that  a  small  pro- 
portion of  wood  only  might  be  left  lo  each  vine  compared  to  the  size 
of  the  root.  The  crop  was  about  1000  lbs.  upon  22  vines.  I  used  a 
great  quantity  of  strong  ley  made  of  oil  soap,  to  water  with  during  the 
dry  weather  of  each  season. 

Very  respectfully, 

^WM.  A.  SWAIN. 

Port  R'Lhtncnd,  S.  L 


NOYES  ON  THE  CULTURE  OF  GRAPES. 

Stonington,  Jan.  1st.,  1846. 

Sir  :  In  answer  to  your  circular,  I  send  you  a  statement  of  my 
method  of  cultivating  the  grape. 

Those  which  I  exhibited  were  taken  from  vines  five  years  old,  al- 
ways spur-pruned  until  the  past  season,  when  part  were  spur  and  part 
cane  pruned.  The  soil  dry  and  sandy,  the  roots  placed  outside  the 
glasshouse  in  a  border  twelve  feet  wide,  well  filled  with  bones,  the 
stem  taken  under  ground  into  the  house,  and  trained  to  rafters  eight- 
teen  feet  long. 

On  the  first  of  December,  1844,  I  pruned  all  my  vines,  56  in  num- 
ber, which  are  in  four  apartments,  half  spur  and  half  cane  trimmed, 
and  after  the  closest  examination  1  am  not  satisfied  which  is  the  best 
way.  I  have,  the  past  Dec,  1845,  been  governed  by  the  appearance 
of  the  vine,  and  cut  accordingly.  On  the  15th  of  Dec,  1844,  I  laid 
the  vines  in  a  trench,  inside  the  house,  and  covered  them  with  dirt 
four  inches  deep,  then  opened  the  windows  and  doors  and  left  them  so 
until  March  15th,  when  the  vines  were  raised  and  washed,  and  on  the 
1st  of  April  placed  under  the  rafters.  When  the  grapes  were  as  large 
as  peas,  I  commenced  thinning  out  the  old  and  new  wood  when  it  was 
found  too  much  had  been  left  at  the  previous  pruning,  and  continued 
to  prune  as  often  as  once  a  week  until  the  fruit  was  fit  to  gather,  leav- 


504  [Senate 

hg  certain  branches  to  use  for  the  next  year,  and  keep  up  a  healthy 
icirculation  of  the  sap.  The  border  was  manured  from  a  hog-pen,  but 
the  greatest  benefit  was  derived  from  a  free  use  of  soap-suds,  dish-wa- 
ter, and  other  slops  from  the  house.  I  am  indebted  to  the  Rev.  Doc- 
tor Patton,  of  your  city,  for  this  mode  of  watering  my  vines. 

I  had  at  least  one  ton  of  grapes  as  good  as  those  exhibited.  I  used 
no  fuel  to  warm  the  house,  but  as  often  as  possible  got  it  to  about  65 
degrees  of  heat,  when  the  leaves  were  started  70  to  75  degrees,  and 
during  the  summer  kept  as  near  85  or  90  degrees  as  I  conveniently 
couldo 

Respectfully  yours, 

THOMAS  NOYES. 


STATEMENT  OF  GEORGE  M.  PATCHEN  ON  HORSES. 

Brooklyn,  Jfov.  15th,  1845. 

Cassius  M.  Clay,  stallion,  half-brother  to  Logan,  also  a  stallion, 
were  both  exhibited  at  the  late  fair.  They  are  very  fast  trotters.  C. 
M.  Clay  is  a  dark  bay,  two  years  and  five  months  old,  the  17th  day  of 
last  September,  full  16  hands  high,  matchless  in  trotting,  speed,  uni- 
formity of  parts,  and  equalization  of  muscular  power,  a  paragon  of  ex- 
cellence and  symmetry.  He  was  sired  by  Henry  Clay,  who  was  sired 
by  the  unrivalled  trotting  stallion,  Andrew  Jackson.  The  dam  of 
Henry  Clay  was  the  fast  trotting  mare  Surry  ;  remarkable  for  her  suc- 
cess in  beating  the  best  horses  in  her  day,  Ephraim  Smooth,  Paul  Pry, 
and  others,  at  two  mile  heats.  *  The  dam  of  C.  M.  Clay  was  a  cele- 
brated mare  bred  by  T.  Roch,  Esq.  of  Philadelphia,  well  known  as  a 
breeder  of  trotting  horses.  C.  M.  Clay  was  taken  from  the  mother  at 
five  months  old,  fed  on  bran  and  hay  during  the  fall  and  winter,  and 
continued  in  the  spring  and  summer,  with  a  small  quantity  of  pasture. 
When  18  months  old  he  was  broke  to  the  saddle  and  harness,  and  the 
muscle  much  strengthened  and  enlarged  by  the  exercise  of  breaking. 
At  the  time  of  breaking  in,  the  second  winter,  gave  him  eight  quarts 
of  oats  and  hay  per  day,  until  the  following  summer,  when  I  gave  him 
grass  in  the  stable  for  two  months,  but  no  oats  during  the  time  of  feed- 
ing grass. 

I  now  purpose  devoting  C.  M.  Clay  and  Logan  to  the  improvement 
of  arriage  and  farm  horses.  With  good  mares  I  am  confident  of  suc- 
cess. I  have  proved  beyond  a  doubt,  that  a  distinct  breed  of  trotting 
horses  can  be  produced  from  16  to  17  hands  high,  compact,  and  per- 
fect in  form,  with  an  equalization  of  extension  and  lifting  muscles  ;  that 
is,  to  extend  far,  and  lift  quick  and  .strong,  but  not  very  high;  such 
action  is  certain  to  produce  speed. 

The  difficulty  at  present  with  large  carriage  horses  is,  that  they  have 
not  got  muscular  power  to  travel  with  much  speed,  in  consequence  of 


No.  105.[  505 

which  they  soon  tire,  and  if  you  urge  them  on  you  make  a  toil  of  plea- 
sure, at  the  same  time  running  the  risk  of  injuring  or  killing  them. 
Not  so  with  fast  trotting  horses.  It  is  a  pleasure  for  them  to  travel, 
which  gives  pleasure  to  those  who  are  riding.  They  have  great  pow- 
er to  continue  fast  travellirg,  or  any  kind  of  labor,  and  generally  a 
vigorous  constitution.  They  do  not  require  any  more  care  or  feed 
than  the  common  farm  horses,  and  their  value  is  twice  as  great.  They 
would  give  large  profits  to  breeders,  and  present  strong  inducements 
for  them  to  improve  the  breed  of  horses  and  stock  in  general. 

Violetah,  a  chestnut,  full-blooded  brood  mare,  8  years  old,  15 f  hands 
high  ;  was  got  by  Gohanna,  out  of  the  dam  Medoc,  and  was  in  a  five 
thousand  dollar  stake,  paying  forfeit  in  consequence  of  an  attack  of 
distemper.     Fed  as  blooded  horses  in  general. 

Narcissus,  a  sorrel  filley,  17  months  old,  15  hands  high  ;  got  by  Lo- 
gan out  of  a  Stargazer  mare  ;  was  taken  from  the  mare  at  6  months 
old,  and  fed  with  1  bushel  of  bran,  sugar  beets  and  hay  per  day,  dur- 
ing the  winter.  In  the  spring  was  turned  out  to  grass  without  any 
other  feed. 

Yours  respectfully, 

GEORGE  M.  PATCHEN. 


STATEMENT  OF  JACOB  LATTING. 

Lattingtown,  Oct.  20th,  1845. 

Noticing  the  intention  of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Society,  of 
sending  to  England  for  the  best  breed  of  dairy  cattle,  induced  me  to 
look  at  minutes  made  on  reading  English  reports  of  their  cattle,  and 
find  the  following. 

A  cow  kept  by  Wm.  Crum,  of  Lewis,  Sussex  county,  yielded,  in 
1805,  540  lbs.  of  butter ;  in  1807,  675  lbs. ;  in  1808,  466  lbs. ;  and 
mentioned  that  a  cow  kept  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Racket,  gave  19  lbs.  of 
butter,  avoirdupoise  weight,  in  one  week. 

I  have  a  cow  that  was  put  to  pasture  in  the  early  part  of  June  ; 
about  noon  she  was  brought  in  by  the  maid,  with  the  milk  streaming 
from  her  bag,  and  she  proposed  milking  her  three  times  a  day.  At 
each  milking  she  gave  between  nine  and  ten  quarts,  averaging  about 
28  quarts  per  day,  yielding,  in  three  days,  six  lbs.  of  butter.  She  con- 
tinued that  course  until  the  last  of  July,  when  the  pasture  growing 
short,  she  was  milked  but  twice  a  day,  the  average  yield  between  18 
and  20  quarts  per  day,  making  four  pounds  of  butter  in  three  days,  at 
which  rate  she  is  now  proceeding. 

With  much  respect, 

JACOB  LATTING. 


506  [Senate 


STOCK. 

Watertown,  Conn.,  Dec.  20fh,  1845. 

The  bull  exhibited  by  me  was  a  full  blood  Devon,  five  years  old, 
and  was  fed  when  young  on  a  short  allowance  ;  afterwards  kept  on 
grass  and  hay,  with  little  or  no  grain.  My  experience  has  taught  me 
that  nearly  all  animals  raised  on  short  allowance  when  young,  produce 
the  most  valuable  offspring ;  they  are  less  turbulent,  and  give  less 
trouble  in  their  care. 

The  young  Devon  heifer  offspring  of  the  above  bull,  was  fed  on 
skimmed  milk  after  four  days  old  until  she  was  about  three  months  : 
since  that  time  she  has  had  a  phort  allowance  of  grass  and  hay. 

The  merino  ewes  were  bred  from  sheep  imported  by  Daniel  Hum- 
phrey in  1802,  and  crossed  by  others  imported  by  Peck  and  Atwater 
in  1810.  Their  great  grandsire  was  a  full  blood  Escurial,  imported 
in  1811  by  John  Deforest.  I  think  they  can  be  called  pure  blood  Spa- 
nish merino  sheep.  They  were  raised  by  short  keeping.  The  fleece 
of  two  weighed,  when  cut  last  spring,  12  pounds. 

Yours  with  respect, 

JACOB  N.  BLAKESLEE, 


EXTRACTS 

Prom  Communications  made  to  the  American  Institutei 


The  following  is  from  a  practical  farmer  in  New-Jersey  in  relatioti 
to  the  treatment  of  salt  hay  and  sedge. 

He  states  : — That  after  three  years  experience  he  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  by  mowing  all  his  salt  meadows  he  improved  them  very 
much. .  By  placing  a  large  portion  of  the  grass  in  his  barn-yard,  where 
he  kept  some  40  head  of  cattle,  he  could  make  more  manure  than  he 
could  well  use,  make  it  cheaper,  and  thought  it  of  better  quality  than 
any  he  cculd  get.  His  plan  was  to  haul  it  from  his  barn-yard  fall  and 
spring,  pile  it  in  as  large  heaps  as  possible,  and  on  every  two  or  three 
loads  of  his  manure  to  strew  two  or  three  hundred  pounds  of  potash, 
and  cover  the  whole  with  sods,  and  leave  it  so  until  it  was  required  to 
spread  it,  and  then  just  before  spreading  he  would  turn  it  over.  The 
cost  of  mowing,  raking  and  carting  the  grass  from  the  meadow  to  the 
barn-yard  was  $1.25  per  acre,  each  acre  yielding  five  farmer's  loads 
of  grass.  He  made  the  comparison  between  the  cost  of  100  loads  of 
manure  prepared  in  this  way,  and  delivered  on  the  field,  and  a  like 
quantity  obtained  from  this  city,  as  follows : 

$1 ,25  per  acre,  for  five  loads,  is  for  one  hundred  loads, $25  00 

Team  and  man  at  $2  per  day,  for  15  loads,  is  for  100  loads, ...     13  33 

do  for  hauling  30  loads  per  day, 6  67 

100  pounds  potash  sweepings  at  3  ^  cents  per  pound, 3  50 

Labor  in  covering. 50 

$49  00 


100  loads  New-York  street  manure, $28  00 

Hauling  20  loads  per  day  at  $2,  is  for  100  loads, 10  00 

Freight  at  18  cents  per  load, 18  00 

$57  00 


508  [Senate 

For  100  carmen's  loads.  You  must  bear  in  mind  that  a  carman's 
load  is  little  more  than  half  one  of  our  farm  loads,  consequently  my 
manure  would  appear  to  cost  25  cents  per  cart  load  less  than  one-half 
the  price  of  that  manure. 

I  do  not  hesitate  in  saying  that  my  soil  has  experienced  greater  ben- 
efit from  this  manure  than  from  any  other  I  have  ever  used,  that  is  in 
reference  to  the  condition  of  the  soil  after  cropping.  As  an  objection 
to  the  use  of  this  manure,  it  is  said  that  the  product  of  marshes  and 
swamps  abound  in  the  larvae  of  insects.  By  adding  a  due  proportion 
of  lime,  the  larvse  will  not  only  be  destroyed  but  also  the  grubs  that 
are  already  in  the  ground. 


AN  ANALYSIS. 
Of  barren  and  improved  Soils  and  the  Muck  used,  by  Dr.  Field. 

We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Thomas  Kerr  for  the  following  analysis  of 
soils.  He  observes  there  is  no  room  for  dispute  as  to  the  necessity  of 
exact  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  nature,  if  we  would  have  truly  successful 
agriculture,  I  find  Dr.  Field's  muck  to  be  very  nearly  pure  clay  with 
2h  per  cent  of  vegetable  matter. 

The  marl  in  composition  consists  of  clay,  64  per  cent ;  of  lime,  (43 
• — 71  to  100)  — ^28  of  lime.     Vegetable  matter  in  the  proportion  of  38. 

Carbonate  of  lime, 64  per  cent. 

Vegetable  matter, 4       do 

Clay,  pure,  nearly, 13|     do 

100  parts. 

Barren  Soil. 

Sand  74  per  cent.     Sandy  loam  consists  of — 

Water, 3  per  cent. 

Organic  matter, 3  i     do. 

Mineral  matter, 93^     do. 

100  parts. 

Its  organic  matter — 

Soluble  manures, 2  per  cent. 

Insoluble  do 1  i     do. 

3i  as  above 

Its  saline  matter — 

Soluble  saline  matter, 2^  per  cent. 


« 


No.  105.]  509 

Consisting  of  potash,  soda,  azotized  body  as  N.  H.  with  no  trace  of 
lime,  phosphoric  or  sulphuric  acid.  The  cause  of  sterility  is  the  evi- 
dent want  of  lime,  the  phosphates  and  sulphates,  without  which  no 
crop  can  be  raised. 

Improved  soil — mould  and  limb  added. 

Its  mechanical  texture  is  a  loam — 60  per  cent  of  sand. 

It  consists  of  water, 5  per  cent. 

Organic  matter, 5     do. 

Carbonate  and  other  salts, 6     do. 

Lime,  sand,  clay  and  other  minerals, 84     do. 

100  parts. 

Organic  matter — 

Soluble  manures, 3  per  cent. 

Insoluble  do 2     do. 

5  as  above. 

Mineral  matter — 

Soluble,  6  per  cent ;  consisting  of  potash,  soda,  lime,  N.  H.,  and 
phosphoric  acid. 

It  is  still  wanting  in  some  of  the  valuable  mineral  substances.  But 
I  think  it  is  very  probable  that  sulphuric  acid  is  present,  though  in 
such  sipaall  proportion,  that  it  cannot  be  correctly  determined  by  ana- 
lysis. Of  magnesia  and  the  metallic  oxides,  which  are  absent,  their 
place  may  be  supplied  by  those  ingredients  present.  Lime  is  found 
to  do  in  the  place  of  magnesia,  while  alumina  is  found  to  be  a  substi- 
tute for  the  oxides. 

Swamp  muck  or  mould. 

Consists  of  water, ,  30  per  cent. 

Organic  matter, 37     do. 

Mineral  do 33     do. 

100  parts. 

Its  organic  matter  has  of — 

Soluble  manures, 23  per  cent. 

Insoluble  do 14     do. 

37  as  above. 

Its  saline  or  mineral  matter  consists  of — 

Soluble, .* 2 J  percent. 

Insoluble, 30 si     do. 

33  as  above. 


510  [Senate 

Consisting  of  f  of  1  per  cent  of  the  salts  of  lime,  and  If  per  cent  of 
potash  and  soda. 

Salts  of  lime  being — 

Phosphate  of  lime, * » * 8 i  of  1  per  cent. 

Sulphate  do.,  ...*.... 1-|         do. 

9 J  or  I  as  above. 

Besides  the  addition  of  organic  or  vegetable  food,  these  valuable 
salts  were  added  to  the  land,  lime  also — this,  with  the  phosphates  and 
sulphates,  forming,  in  all  probability,  the  chief  beneficial  effect  of  the 
application. 

This  muck  has  mineral  matter  in  it  indispensable  to  vegetable 
growth*     I  have  ascertained  by  analysis  that  there  is  37  per  cent. 


AN  ESTIMATE 

Of  the  Consumption  of  Cattle  in  JVeu?-  Ycrk  city. 

The  following  is  an  estimate  of  the  beef,  mutton,  pork  and  veal 
killed  in  New-York  city,  &c.  per  annum,  made  by  Mr.  Wakeman,  the 
corresponding  secretary,  from  information  obtained  from  several  of  the 
leading  butchers,  and  by  him  submitted  to  the  Institute* 

Beeves. 


Headsc 

Av.  weight, 

lbs. 

Total  lbs. 

50,660 

675 

34,400,000 

Sheep  and  Lambs. 

150,000 

42 
Hogs. 

6,300,000 

City  killed. 

Country  killed. 

Av.  wti 

25,000 

150,000 

Calves, 

150 

3,750,000 

16j650 

60 

Total 

999,000 

45,449,000 

No.  105.]  511 

Assuming  the  population  of  the  city  to  be  350,000,  and  that  the  con- 
sumption of  animal  food  averages  four  ounces  per  day  to  each,  the 
total  consumption  in  a  year  amounts  to  31,937,500  lbs.,  to  which  may 
be  added  the  amount  consumed  by  commerce  in  the  coasting  and  for- 
eign trade,  and  also  by  the  population  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
city,  13,472,500  lbs.,  a  fair  estimate;  it  makes  up  and  confirms  the  to^ 
tal  before  stated  of  45,449,000  lbs.,  which  at  3  cents  per  lb.  amounts 
to  $1,363,470, 


512  [Senate 


MARL. 

From  a  variety  of  communications  made  to  the  Institute  on  this  sub- 
ject, we  extract  the  following  : 

Br.  Underhill. — "  Marl  is  chiefly  formed  f"om  decomposed  shells ; 
lime,  therefore,  becomes  the  principal  ingredient ;  potash  and  soda  are 
also  found  in  it,  and  are  its  best  parts.  The  Jersey  marl  is  very  valu- 
able, principally  on  account  of  the  constituents,  soda,  alkalies  general- 
ly.    The  alkali  is  the  most  important. 

^'  In  reference  to  muck  deposites,  I  am  aware  that  there  are  thou- 
sands of  them  in  which  you  find  no  marl.  The  muck  is  an  alluvial 
deposite.  On  my  Croton  Point  farm,  I  have  put  fifteen  thousand  loads 
of  the  muck  from  the  margin  of  the  Croton  river.  There  is  no  shell, 
no  marl  in  it — there  are  the  remains  of  the  bones  of  fishes.  I  find  this 
muck  excellent  as  a  manure — winter  freezes  it,  (I  draw  it  out  in  win- 
ter,)— it  freezes  and  in  the  spring  it  crumbles.  I  put  it  into  a  tilled 
crop,  plow,  harrow,  and  hoe  it  into  the  soil.  If  you  put  on  this  allu- 
vial matter  as  a  top-dressing  on  your  land,  you  may  justly  expect  a 
fever  and  ague,  for  it  has  often  proved  its  power  to  furnish  the  inter- 
mittents  when  exposed  to  the  influence  of  sun,  air  and  moisture.  It  is 
highly  carbonaceous,  and  must  for  safety  be  well  mixed  up  in  your  soil. 
My  land  so  treated  with  this  muck  bears  severe  drought.  No  ordina- 
ry soil  or  barn  yard  manure  stands  a  dry  time  at  all  like  it." 

Dr.  Field. — "I  consider  our  marl  highly  valuable.  Such  materials 
are-abundant  in  our  country,  and  of  the  highest  importance  to  our  far- 
mers. The  formation  of  muck  or  alluvial  matter  over  shelly  marls  are 
common  ;  the  muck  on  my  farm  has  proved  its  fertilizing  powers.  I 
have  prepared  it  in  various  ways  :  This  year  I  raised  a  thousand  cart- 
loads of  muck  upon  my  fields  ;  my  crops  are  fine.  I  have  it  hauled 
out  of  the  muck  holes  in  August,  when  the  weather  is  dry,  after  the 
hurry  of  the  harvest  is  over  ;  when  there  is  an  intermission  of  labor 
on  the  farm,  I  haul  it  out  with  a  scraper  to  a  spot  where  the  water 
will  drain  off;  when  winter  comes  it  freezes  thoroughly,  and  in  the 
spring  it  will  crumble.  I  then  make  a  layer  of  it  one  foot  thick,  on 
that  4  inches  thick  stable  manure,  then  one  inch  of  slaked  lime,  then 
a  layer  of  muck  as  before  &c.,  until  the  heap  is  7  feet  high.  My 
pears,  beans,  onions  &c.,  grown  on  land  manured  with  this  compost, 
are  luxuriant.  I  also  place  the  muck  on  the  floor  of  my  stable,  sprin- 
kle a  little  ground  plaster  over  it,  then  place  the  bedding  over  that, 
when  being  trampled  and  having  the  urine  &c.  in  it,  I  take  it  away 
and  begin  a  new  layer  of  muck,  &c.  In  this  way  the  smell  of  the  am- 
monia is  absorbed.  I  treat  the  barnyard  in  the  same  way.  Dutchess 
county  has  an  abundance  of  muck,  it  is  of  a  dark  color,  and  lies  seve- 
ral feet  usually  in  thickness  over  marl  full  of  shells.  By  analysis  it 
is  found  to  contain  soda  and  potash.  It  is  an  excellent  manure  for 
fruits,  flowers  and  vegetables,  on  land  formerly  barren. 


No.  105.]  513 


CULTURE  OF  THE  PEACH. 

A  gentleman  in  New  Jersey,  writes  thus.  "  I  planted  on  my  farm 
900  peach  trees.  I  treated  them  in  every  way  applying  ashes  and 
lime,  and  cleaning  the  roots,  and  had  120  left.  One  near  my  house  I 
cultivated  as  I  would  a  cabbage,  leaving  no  grass  or  weeds  near  it ; 
that  one  is  a  healthy  and  vigorous  fruit  bearer;  cultivation  does  that  for 
it.  The  tree  and  all  plants  must,  like  animals  have  good  and  proper 
food.  The  grub  worm  does  not  mind  ashes,  lime  or  salt,  he  will  crawl 
out  of  it,  and  I  have  tried  by  wrapping  them  in  these  substances  to  kill 
them,  but  find  they  do  not  mind  it.  I  tried  it  on  bots  taken  alive  from 
a  dead  horse  ;  the  bots  were  not  killed  by  it,  nor  by  any  of  the  arti- 
cles given  to  a  horse  as  remedies  for  bots.  This  animal  does  not  die 
either  in  or  out  of  a  horse  by  being  enveloped  in  the  articles.  As  to 
the  peach  tree,  I  wrapped  a  bandage,  and  a  mat  over  that  around  the 
body  of  the  tree,  just  under  the  forking  of  the  branches,  yet  the  worm 
eat  down  to  the  ground.  All  the  remedies  applied  to  the  roots  of  the 
tree,  were,  I  have  no  doubt,  useful  to  the  soil ;  they  invigorated  the 
tree,  but  did  not  kill  the  worms. 

^'  Tansey  planted  at  the  roots  of  trees  has  been  found  to  prevent  the 
attack  of  worms.  The  worm  bores  a  hole  through  the  bark  at  the 
edge  of  the  ground  ;  its  eggs  are  hatched  in  June." 


CURING  MEAT. 

Mr.  Ethan  Campbell. — "  Between  the  years  1838  and  1842, 1  made 
several  experiments  on  curing  meat.  I  tried  the  exhaustion  of  air, 
and  high  pressure  also.  I  had  an  iron  cylinder  made,  put  in  meat,  ex- 
hausted the  air  by  steam  vacuum,  proved  the  vacuum  by  using  a  glass 
tube  with  a  portion  of  water  through  which  the  air  might  be  detected 
in  passing.  I  made  a  perfect  vacuum.  I  then  administered  a  saturated 
solution  of  salt,  applied  a  pressure  of  five  hundred  pounds  an  inch  ; 
the  meat  was  found  after  all  this  not  to  contain  a  particle  of  salt.  I 
broke  the  cylinder  by  over  pressure.  I  then  made  a  cylinder  of  the 
best  cast  iron,  perfectly  tight,  solid  at  one  end  and  the  other  capped 
with  great  accuracy  and  strength.  I  placed  hams  in  it,  exhausted  the 
air,  then  admitted  the  saturated  solution  of  salt,  kept  on  pressure  un- 
til portions  of  the  liquor  passed  through  the  pores  of  the  iron ;  kept  it 
on  for  half  an  hour.  The  ham  was  not  at  all  salted.  I  repeated  the 
experiment  leaving  it  under  pressure  for  24  hours  ;  the  hams  were 
not  salted  half  an  inch  into  the  meat.  I  then  tried  it  for  four  days,  the 
meat  started  from  the  bone,  and  assumed  a  round  figure.  I  cut  it  to 
the  bone  and  found  no  salt  in  it.     I  put  it  into  fresh  water  to  test  the 


514  rSliNATB 

salt,  there  was  none.  I  tried  the  experiment  for  a  week,  there  was  no 
salt  in  the  meat,  not  one  particle,  I  then  left  the  meat  under  like 
treatment  for  a  fortnight  with  the  same  result.  The  pressure  applied 
in  these  experiments  with  the  cast  iron  cylinder  amounted  to  three 
thousand  four  hundred  pounds,  per  square  inch. 

"  I  searched  for  the  philosophy  of  it  j  I  carefully  examined  the 
meat  ;  I  put  hams  into  the  cylinder,  exhausted  the  air,  then  admitted 
brine  and  it  was  perfectly  exhausted  in  one  week.  Time  is  required 
for  the  penetration  of  the  salt,  and  such  is  the  constitution  of  the  meat 
that  pressure  appears  to  be  useless  in  infusing  salt  into  it.  Pressure 
acts  of  course  greatly  on  the  exterior  surface  of  the  meat  and  in  the 
direction  of  radii  to  the  centre.'^ 


No.  105.]  515 


ROOTS  FOR  STOCK. 

Extract  from  a  letter  from  Wm.  McUnster  of  Conn,,  on  the  subject  of 

Roots  as  food  for  Stock. 

"  I  consider  the  root  crop  as  the  only  sure  one.  I  therefore  have 
been  in  the  habit  of  raising  roots  for  my  stock  for  several  years,  and  I 
do  not  think  I  could  do  well  without  them.  I  will  therefore  state,  as 
nearly  as  I  can,  my  mode  of  raising  them,  feeding,  &c. 

"  Carrots  I  consider  the  most  valuable;  I  feed  them  to  all  kinds  of 
stock ;  and  think  them  better  for  my  horses  than  oats,  and  for  my 
milch  cows  in  winter ;  they  not  only  give  the  butter  color,  but  flavor 
equal  to  summer-made  butter.  I  raise  them  in  drills,  the  rows  about 
20  inches  apart,  and  the  carrot  in  the  row  say  from  four  to  six  inches ; 
mangel  wurtzel  in  drills  two  feet  apart  in  the  row,  and  one  foot  in  the 
drill ;  sugar  beet  the  same  distance  ;  ruta  baga  two  feet  apart  in  the 
row,  and  about  nine  inches  in  the  drill ;  and  common  turnips  I  sow 
broadcast  as  follows :  say  in  June  I  find  some  pieces  in  my  lots,  in- 
tended for  mowing,  that  the  grass  has  winter-killed,  or  in  some  way  is 
destroyed  :  these  pieces  I  plow  up,  taking  care  to  turn  them  over  as 
well  as  I  can,  sometimes  before  and  sometimes  after  mowing,  but  al- 
ways in  time  to  sow  and  re-seed  with  grass  by  the  20th  July.  I  roll 
my  land,  and  harrow  it  well  the  same  way  I  plowed  it,  and  put  on 
about  15  cords  of  manure  to  the  acre,  (barn- yard  manure);  I  harrow 
until  all  is  well  mixed  ;  I  then  sow  my  turnips,  say  one  half  pint  of 
seed  to  the  acre ;  it  is  my  wish  not  to  have  the  seed  nearer  than  nine 
inches  of  each  other ;  in  doing  so  I  give  my  grass  seed  a  chance  to 
take  root.  At  the  time  of  sowing  my  turnips,  I  sow  a  compost  pre- 
pared as  follows  :  ashes  fifteen  bushels,  bone  dust  five  bushels,  plaster 
one  bushel,  per  acre ;  in  this  way  I  always  raise  good  turnips,  and  I 
think  at  a  triiling  expense,  as  all  that  was  done  was  with  a  view  to  re- 
seed  the  land,  &c.  As  to  the  other  root  crops,  the  same  rule  as  to  ma- 
nuring will  apply  to  them,  but  the  ground  must  be  made  mellow  to 
any  depth  you  please,  the  deeper  the  better.  I  use  the  same  compost 
in  the  drills  for  all  my  roots,  taking  care  at  all  times  to  apply  it  in  a 
moist  condition.  I  raised  the  last  season  the  white  Silesian  carrot  at 
the  rate  of  960  bushels  to  the  acre  j  but  I  prefer  the  orange  carrot. 
As  to  feeding  roots,  I  feed  them  to  my  fat  cattle,  cows,  horses,  and 
hogs,  in  the  raw  state  ;  nor  do  I  think  it  advisable  to  cook  them  for 
any  animal  except  the  fatting  hogs.  I  then  boil  them  and  mix  pro- 
vender, and  feed  when  soured.  Quantity  per  day  :  I  feed  my  fatting 
cattle,  say  three-fourths  of  a  peck,  to  be  fed  at  two  different  times,  say 
morning  and  evening ;  my  milch  cows  half  bushel  per  day  ;  my  store 
hogs,  of  beets  three  lbs.  per  hog,  and  one  gill  of  corn  per  feed.  By 
feeding  in  this  way,  I  have  always  found  my  stock  to  improve,  and  I 
have  never  had  them  scour  or  be  injured  in  any  way  from  their  feed 
on  roots.  I  continue  feeding  on  roots  to  my  fat  cattle  until  about  the 
1st  of  January  ;  I  then  commence  feeding  on  meal,  made  with  corn, 
and  cob,  and  continue  the  roots  at  discretion  in  smaller  quantities." 

[Senate,  No.  105.]  33 


516  [Senate 


FENCES. 

Wire  fences  are  made  by  planting  posts  firmly  in  the  earth,  at  a 
distance  of  eight  or  ten  feet  from  each  other,  and  then  by  means  of 
some  tension  machine,  stretching  any  required  number  of  wires,  at 
suitable  distances,  one  above  the  other,  from  post  to  post,  and  then 
securing  them  by  means  of  a  turn  around  the  stems  of  large  headed 
nails  driven  almost  home. 

These  fences,  if  properly  made,  will  turn  any  animal,  even  the  most 
vicious,  as  I  once  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  near  Philadelphia, 
in  the  unavailable  attempts  of  a  furious  bull  to  pass  one  of  them. 
They  will  be  more  or  less  durable,  according  to  the  material  used. 
When  trees  are  substituted  for  posts,  they  present  a  beautiful  relief 
to  the  eye  on  large  cultivated  farms,  are  enduring,  and  may,  if  the 
mulberry  or  fruit  bearing  trees  be  selected,  be  made  in  themselves  a 
source  of  profit  to  the  farmer,  and  of  health  and  comfort  to  grazing 
animals,  from  the  shade  and  shelter  they  afford. 

Galvanized  wires  would  be  lasting — if  not,  let  black  varnish  be  ap- 
plied by  means  of  a  woollen  cloth  saturated  with  it,  being  once  a  year 
used  to  coat  the  wires.  White  and  black  thorn  hedges  have  been 
successfully  tried  in  this  country,  particularly  in  the  States  of  Dela- 
ware and  Pennsylvania.  The' only  drawback  to  their  more  general 
adoption  that  I  have  heard  of,  is  their  liability  to  destruction  from 
field  mice,  which  shelter  themselves  among  their  roots,  and  devour 
the  bark  and  so  destroy  them.  The  apple  shrub,  pruned,  makes  a 
good  hedge,  but  like  the  thorn,  is  preyed  on  by  mice.  The  locust, 
willow,  and  red  cedar,  have  all  been  cultivated  for  hedges.  Some  of 
the  mulberry  trees  may  be  so  cultivated,  except  for  enclosing  grazing 
animals,  who  would  prune  them  too  close.  Willow  does  well  on  low 
grounds,  especially  along  water  courses,  where  it  answers  the  double 
purpose  of  hedge  fence  and  preserving  the  banks  from  falling  in. 
Red  cedar  well  pruned,  and  its  limbs  interlocked,  makes  a  valuable 
hedge,  and  has  the  advantage  of  not  being  eaten  by  animals.  In 
France,  fences  are  sometimes  made  by  beating  earth  between  planks 
till  a  solid  earth  wall  is  produced,  the  planks  being  carried  forward  to 
continue  the  process.  The  earth  so  used  ought  to  have  clay  enough 
in  it  to  render  it  cohesive.  Houses  are  so  constructed,  and  when 
covered  over  with  good  mortar  last  many  years. 

Sod  fences  are  made  by  a  double  row  of  sods,  with  earth  between 
them.  Such  fences  should  have  shallow  ditches  on  each  side,  with 
cuttings  of  dwarf  willows,  or  planted  with  the  seeds  of  thorny  run- 
ning vines.  Such  fences  are  well  adapted  for  prairie  inclosures,  and 
wherever  timber  is  scarce. 

EDWARD  CLARK. 


No.  105.]  517 


THE  TANNIER,  OR  ARUM— A  NEW  ESCULENT. 

This  valuable  plant,  I  believe,  is  little  known  in  the  United  States. 
I  had  a  present  of  one  some  eighteen  years  ago,  which  I  planted  near 
the  mill  pond,  in  a  damp  soil  ;  it  escaped  notice  for  three  or  four 
years,  until  my  attention  was  drawn  to  it,  by  the  beautiful  leaves  it 
produced  amidst  briars  and  weeds.  On  examining  the  roots,  I  found 
they  had  become  numerous,  and  the  first  planted  much  increased  in 
size.  I  carefully  removed  them  for  cultivation,  not  knowing  them 
valuable  for  anything  more  than  ornament.  The  leaf  and  root  were 
both  as  hot  to  the  taste  as  pepper,  and  on  scraping  the  skin,  would 
cause  a  smarting  of  the  hands.  I  found,  on  boiling  the  root,  a  rich 
vegetable  of  a  chocolate  color,  resembling  in  taste  deer's  marrow. 
As  the  roots  grew  large  until  last  year,  they  were  generally  split  for 
boiling  as  turneps.  But  finding,  under  this  process,  a  large  amount 
of  glutinous  substance  they  contained  mixed  with  the  water,  and  upon 
its  surface,  from  which  it  was  necessary  frequently  to  skim  it,  it  was 
discontinued.  When  boiled  without  cutting,  and  with  the  skin  on, 
they  retained  the  rich  glutinous  substance,  and  when  taken  from  the 
boiling  water,  are  as  the  Irish  potato. 

They  grow  to  the  depth  of  four  to  six  feet  in  rich  moist  soil,  the 
stalk  at  the  root  about  two  and  a  half  inches  in  diamater,  branching 
off  into  many  stems,  one  to  one  and  a  half  inches  broad,  forming  a 
leaf  from  twelve  to  thirteen  inches  broad,  and  from  twelve  to  twenty- 
four  inches  long,  of  a  transparent  green.  They  should  be  planted  as 
Irish  potatoes,  about  two  feet  wide,  in  drills,  three  inches  from  each 
other.  They  will  remain  in  the  ground  for  ten  years,  increasing 
their  numbers  every  year,  the  old  root  increasing  in  size,  and  forming 
new  bulbs,  which,  in  a  year  form  others.  I  did  not  know  the  value 
of  the  tops  until  last  summer ;  these,  when  boiled,  form  a  glutinous 
substance,  which  hogs  eat  as  freely  as  boiled  cabbage.  One  acre  of 
rich  damp  soil  will  produce  1000  bushels  by  the  second  year. 

NEEDHAM  DAVIS, 

Davis'^  Mills,  S.  C. 


518  [Senate 


R.  T.   UNDERBILL,  OF  CROTON   POINT^   ON  SOWING 

WHEAT, 

September,  1845. 

The  wheat  crop  is  so  valuable,  so  intimately  connected  with  the 
prosperity  of  not  only  the  agricultural,  the  manufacturing,  mechani- 
cal and  commercial  interests  of  the  whole  country,  that  we  cannot  be 
too  well  informed  on  the  subject. 

Land  that  has  been  well  manured  in  a  previous  crop,  such  as  corn 
or  potatoes,  is,  with  proper  plowing  and  harrowing,  very  suitable  for 
winter  wheat.  It  is  always  best  that  the  manure  should  be  applied 
to  the  previous  crop,  particularly  if  the  manure  is  rank  or  recently 
formed,  or  your  wheat  will  produce  too  much  straw,  and  be  weak  and 
fall  down.  There  are  some  exceptions  to  this  rule.  Bone  dust,  oily 
fish,  street  manure,  &c.,  have  often  been  applied,  at  the  time  of  sow- 
ing, to  procure  a  good  crop.  A  sandy  loam,  with  a  good  supply  of 
calcareous  earth  or  lime,  forms  the  best  soil  for  wheat.  A  certain 
amount  of  sand  or  silex,  clay  or  lime,  being  essential  to  secure  a 
good  crop.  When  I  say  that  the  land  should  be  thoroughly  plowed 
three  or  four  times,  and  harrowed  as  often,  I  am  fully  aware  what  is 
the  usual  practice,  and  also  of  the  loss  sustained  by  only  one  plowing 
and  two  harrowings.  I  do  not  speak  of  lands  just  cleared  of  the 
forest,  although  then  the  more  and  the  better  the  plowing,  the  better 
is  the  crop,  or  of  the  prairie  sod  just  turned  over,  but  of  the  lands 
of  old  States,  long  under  cultivation.  The  object  in  this  frequent 
plowing  is  to  mix  more  completely  the  atmospheric  air  with  the  soil ; 
the  air  contains  nitrogen,  oxygen,  and  carbonic  acid ;  these,  well 
mixed  with  the  soil,  will  ensure  a  great  increase  of  crop ;  and  the 
thorough  pulverizing  of  the  soil  renders  it  easy  for  the  fine  roots  to 
get  well  rooted  before  winter  sets  in,  and  thus  secure  it  from  being 
winter  killed.  And  this  also  enables  you  to  ^sture  sheep  and  young 
cattle  upon  it,  in  the  forepart  of  November,  without  any  fear  of  their 
pulling  it  up.  They  will  also  secure  it  from  the  Hessian  fly,  by  eat- 
ing up  the  larvae  of  that  insect. 

It  is  also  very  important  to  prepare  the  seed  properly.  The  most 
plump  and  clean  seed  must  be  obtained.  Six  shillings  or  a  dollar 
more  per  bushel  for  the  best  seed,  is  of  no  consideration.  Take  a 
barrel  or  a  half-hogshead,  fill  it  with  brine  that  will  bear  an  egg — ^use 
the  old  salt  from  your  meat  or  fish  casks,  if  you  have  it.  The  old 
salt  is  most  readily  dissolved.  Put  in  one,  two  or  three  bushels  of 
your  seed  wheat,  mix  well  with  the  brine,  skim  off  all  the  chess,  foul 
seeds,  &c.,  which  rise  to  the  top.  The  brine  should  cover  the  seed 
wheat  three  inches  deep.  Stir  up  the  wheat  occasionally  with  a  stick ; 
let  the  wheat  be  in  the  brine  three  or  four  hours  ;  then  draw  off  the 
brine  and  lay  the  wheat  on  an  inclined  surface,  that  the  brine  may  all 
run  off ;  then  to  each  bushel  of  wheat  add  three  or  four  quarts  of  air 
slacked  lime,  and  then  rake  and  shovel  the  wheat,  so  that  every  grain 
becomes  coated  with  lime,  and  the  grains  separated  from  each  other 


No.  105.]  519 

as  much  as  possible.  If  you  have  no  lime,  use  unleached  ashes. 
You  must  measure  the  wheat  before  you  prepare  it.  You  will  find  it 
difficult  to  hold  in  your  hand  as  much  of  the  prepared  wheat  as  is 
necessary,  owing  to  its  increased  bulk.  It  is  therefore  better  to  sow 
twice  and  at  right  angles.  That  is,  after  the  first  sowing,  sow  again 
across  the  first  sowing.  You  will  thus  have  it  more  even,  and  will 
sow  sufficient  seed,  which  is  rarely  the  case.  When  you  have  pre- 
pared your  land  well,  then  use  plenty  of  good  seed  —  a  virtue  rarely 
practised  in  this  part  of  the  world  !  The  object  of  all  this  prepara- 
tion is  to  destroy  all  the  smut,  (which  it  does,)  and  all  the  eggs  of  in- 
sects. The  salt  and  lime  also  act  as  stimulating  manures  to  the 
grain,  and  greatly  invigorate  it  in  the  early  stage  of  its  growth,. 


520  [Senate 

Northampton,  Jan.  15,  1846. 

T.  B.  Wakeman,  Esq., 

While  perusing  the  paper  which  you  sent  me,  I  was  reminded  of 
some  facts  connected  with  the  settlement  of  the  town  of  Springfield, 
about  the  year  1636,  under  William  Pyncheon,  with  whom  came  my 
ancestor  Rowland  Stebbins.  The  first  settlers  had  lands  set  apart  for 
them.  The  Stebbins  family,  among  other  things,  had  assigned  to 
them  an  alluvial  tract  on  Connecticut  river,  called  Three-corner 
Meadow  j  this  being  annually  enriched  by  the  overflow  of  the  river, 
required  no  manure  to  yield  twenty  bushels  of  corn  an  acre,  and  pro- 
portionably  of  rye.  This  meadow  was  plowed  by  running  the  fur- 
rows east  and  west.  Another  meadow  adjoining  was  of  same  quality, 
A  division  of  the  meadows  took  place,  and  one  piece  being  narrow, 
it  became  necessary  to  change  the  direction  of  the  plowing  from 
north  and  south  to  east  and  west.  After  this  change  the  land  did  not 
for  twenty  years,  possess  the  same  ability  to  give  good  crops,  al- 
though dressed  -with  manure.  The  other  meadow,  plowed  from 
north  to  south,  without  manure  gave  its  usual  crops.  Some  fifty  or 
sixty  years  ago,  this  circumstance  attracted  the  notice  of  several  in- 
telligent farmers  and  some  well  educated  men,  and  they  came  to  the 
following  conclusion,  viz  : 

That  where  land  is  plowed  east  and  west,  the  south  sides  of  the 
furrows  would  be  thawed  by  the  sun  while  the  north  sides  remained 
frozen,  thus  heaving  up  and  injuring  the  roots  of  the  rye  or  other 
grain  on  the  south  side,  so  injuring  the  crop.  While  on  furrows 
lying  north  and  south,  the  sun  acted  on  both  sides  alike  in  the  course 
of  a  day  ;  the  grain  was  not  hurt. 

Justus  Stebbins  tried  the  enrichment  of  his  land  by  sowing  clover  : 
he  had  many  cattle.  He  began  by  sowing  three  pounds  of  clover 
seed  on  an  acre.  He  observed,  that  after  he  had  plowed  in  a  clover 
crop,  a  cloud  of  mist  like  a  fog  remained  over  that  field  for  hours  after 
the  surrounding  fields  were  clear  of  dew  ! 

He  was  pleased  with,  his  clover  experiments,  and  went  onincreas- 
ino-  the  quantity  of  clover  seed  sown  on  an  acre,  till  at  last  he  sowed 
on  one  acre,  half  a  bushel.  And  that  by  this  means  his  land  became 
as  rich  as  a  garden  without  any  other  manure.  He  tried  a  field  well 
manured  and  well  dressed  without  clover,  and  got  forty  bushels  of 
corn  per  acre.  While  on  that  field  of  clover  turned  in,  and  which, 
as  the  plow  did  not  well  cover,  he  rolled  it  well,  he  had  sixty  bushels 
of  corn  per  acre. 

The  roller  is  very  important  to  farmers.  We  have  noticed  that 
wherever  a  sled  path  has  been  made  over  a  grain  field,  there  the 
growth  was  decidedly  the  best, 

D.  STEBBINS. 


No.  105.]  521 


H.  MEIGS  ON  THE  DISEASE  OF  THE  POTATO. 

You  have  done  me  the  honor  of  requesting  answers  to  four  ques- 
tions relative  to  the  disease  of  the  potato.  In  answer,  I  will  state 
my  impressions  as  accurately  as  I  can. 

Question  first. — Were  the  potatoes  in  general  attacked  by  a  disease 
which  destroyed  or  impaired  the  substance  of  the  root  in  any  of  the 
years  1843,  1844,  or  1845  1 

I  reply  that  in  each  of  these  years  the  disease  appeared  in  various 
fields  in  the  United  States.  In  1832  my  potato  field  first  exhibited 
evidence  of  disease  in  the  leaves  and  stems,  which  I  have  often  seen 
since.  The  leaves  first  curled  up,  presenting  a  grey  color  which 
rapidly  changed  to  a  darker  hue,  and  without  frost  or  any  known 
cause,  prematurely  perished  But  the  potatoes,  although  a  smaller 
crop  than  usual,  did  not  show  any  disease.  That  summer  was  distin- 
guished by  the  first  visit  of  Asiatic  cholera  in  the  United  States,  It 
ravaged  this  city  taking  off  eight  or  ten  thousand  persons  of  all  the 
various  ages,  sexes  and  conditions.  I  then  inclined  to  ascribe  the 
potato  disease  to  the  same  evil  influence,  as  we  are  very  apt  to  select 
always  proximate  causes.  Since  that  time  the  disease  has  appeared 
in  Europe  and  America,  in  every  variety  of  soil  and  climate,  in  moist 
and  in  dry,  lowland  and  upland  situations,  yet  remarkably,  in  adja- 
cent lands,  appearing  in  one  and  not  in  another,  very  much  as  was 
the  appearance  of  Asiatic  cholera.  I  therefore  answer  that  I  am  at 
a  loss  for  any  specific  cause  of  this  disease. 

Question  second. — Did  the  potatoes,  which  were  sound  when  dug, 
remain  sound,  and  were  any  means  of  averting  the  corruption  of  the 
root,  after  it  had  been  taken  out  of  the  ground,  found  effectual  1 

I  reply,  that  it  is  established  that  the  starch  in  potatoes  is  readily 
extracted  from  those  diseased  as  well  as  from  the  sound,  and  that  this 
is  the  only  sure  method  of  preserving  the  farina.  But  it  is  believed 
that  where  the  diseased  potato  is  placed  in  contact  w^ith  lime,  the  dis- 
ease is  entirely  arrested,  so  that  on  cooking  the  diseased  potato  which 
has  been  limed,  the  diseased  part  readily  separates  from  the  sound 
part.  The  experiments  of  Col.  Edward  Clark,  of  Brooklyn,  in  this 
matter,  are  satisfactory  to  me. 

Question  third. — Was  it  found  that  potatoes  and  other  vegetables 
or  grains,  planted  in  ground  where  diseased  potatoes  had  been  grown, 
were  attacked  by  the  same  disase  ? 

I  reply,  that  in  fields  where  potatoes  have  been  diseased  in  one 
season,  those  sound  ones  selected  from  the  diseased  crop  have  been 
planted  in  the  same  field,  and  have  this  year  yielded  sound  potatoes. 
And  recently  potatoes  were  exhibited  by  Mr.  Lodge,  a  gardener  of 
Westchester,  of  as  perfect  a  character  as  ever  known.  And  that  his 
method  is  to  till  the  soil  with  the  most  perfect  care,  making  thorough 
clean  work  of  it,  following  Tull's  theory  of  deep  and  constant  tilling. 

As  to  the  idea  of  the  cause  of  this  disease  being  telluric,  when  we 


422  [Senate 

consider  that  soils  consist  of  bases,  oxides,  salts,  constant  in  their 
nature  and  incapable  of  change  in  themselves,  we  must  turn  our  at- 
tention to  those  elements  in  nature  which  act  upon  these  bases.  If 
these  bases  were  kept  in  a  dry  state,  there  would  be  no  change  in 
them,  it  is  only  when  acted  upon  by  other  elements  that  they  unite 
in  any  vegetable  or  other  product.  It  is  then  to  the  active  elements 
we  must  look  for  causes.  There  are  in  constant  play  in  the  ocean  of 
air,  light,  gases,  electricity,  &c.  &c.  operating  upon  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  and  their  effects  are  found  to  be  for  all  our  purposes  con- 
fined to  about  one  foot  in  depth  on  the  earth,  that  being  the  average 
depth  of  soil. 

A  singular  occurrence  has  lately  been  noticed  by  chemists,  that  is 
the  presence  of  caseine  in  diseased  potatoes.  Caseine  is  very  perish- 
able, whereas  starch  which  constitutes  the  valuable  element  of  the 
potato  is  not  so,  for  it  may  be  extracted  pure  from  rotten  potatoes. 

Solanin  has  lately  been  adverted  to.     It  seems  that  this  poison,  of 
which  a  trace  is  always  to  be  found  in  the  solanum  tuberosum  (potato) 
is  found  to  be  much  more  abundant  in  the  stalk  of  potatoes  grown  in 
cellars  where  there  is  but  little  light ! 

Question  fourth. — Were  any  means  of  preventing  the  recurrence 
of  the  potato  disease  in  successive  years  found  effectual. 

I  reply,  that  I  have  no  confidence,  for  any  useful  purpose  in  any 
of  the  theories  yet  published.  We  all  know  that  there  are  epidemics 
occasionally,  both  in  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdom,  (if  the  word 
may  be  applied  except  to  people,)  which  baffle  all  our  knowledge 
both  as  to  their  beginning  and  end.  One  truth,  however,  remains 
for  our  consolation,  and  that  is  that  they  are.  if  periodical,  not  very 
lasting.  The  animals  and  plants  still  continue  to  grow,  although  dis- 
astrous interruptions  occur  in  their  progression.  The  original  potato 
still  keeps  its  annual  growth  in  wild  places  in  South  America,  some- 
times among  the  wild  cacti  in  barren  places,  annually  yielding  its 
little  tuber  somewhat  ot  the  form  and  size  of  a  pea-nut,  putting  forth 
annually  its  little  seed  ball,  which  again  falling  to  the  earth  renews 
the  seedling  potaio  from  age  to  age.  Perhaps  it  would  be  well  for 
us,  (as  I  have  long  ago  suggested,)  to  procure  these  wild  originals, 
and  by  careful  culture  in  our  gardens,  obtain  a  new  race,  which  may 
remain  domesticated,  and  feed  us  for  another  period  of  three  centu- 
ries. I  have  sent  to  South  America  for  them,  and  hope  that  the  ex- 
periment will  be  fully  tried.  We  have  long  ago  tried  seedlings  and 
obtained  great  varieties.  But  perhaps  the  seedling  from  the  domes- 
ticated race  may  not  possess  the  stamina  of  the  wild  original  which 
has  maintained  its  character  from  creation. 

Accept,  my  dear  sir,  upon  this  vexed  and  important  question,  the 
answers  here  given  to  your  four  questions.  I  have  said  thus  much, 
not  having  found  the  lost  gem,  but  because  I  believe  that  in  a  multi- 
tude of  seekers  it  may  be  found. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  esteem  and  consideration,  your 
obedient  servant. 

HENRY  MEIGS. 


No.  105.]  523 


EXTRACTS 

From  the  proceedings  of  a  convention  of  Farmers^  and  Silk  Culturists 
in  JVew-York,  on  the  9th  lOth  and  Wth  of  October. 

Mr.  Perry,  of  Texas,  presented  as  specimens  of  the  products  of  the 
"  Lone  Star,"  a  grain  somewhat  resembling  our  wheat.  It  was  ta- 
ken from  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  river,  on  the  4th  of  March  last, 
twenty  feet  above  water.  It  was  when  pulled  three  feet  nine  inches 
high,  but  being  carried  many  miles  on  horseback,  it  had  consequently 
become  much  broken.  It  was  in  full  vigor  when  taken.  He  then 
exhibited  samples  of  wild  oats,  (moskeet  grass,)  taken  from 
Lake  Sands  near  Preston.  It  remains  green  during  the  winter.  Also 
some  of  wild  rye,  taken  from  the  bottom  of  the  San  Antonio  river,  on 
the  6th  April  last.  It  begins  to  grow  in  the  fall,  continues  green  all 
the  winter,  and  comes  to  maturity  in  April. 

The  president  on  presenting  the  specimens,  remarked,  that  it  was 
the  wish  of  the  Institute,  that  all  grains,  grasses,  and  other  products 
of  the  earth  presented  to  them,  be  accompanied  by  a  particular  des- 
cription of  the  soil,  climate,  mode  of  culture,  &c.,  which  secures  to 
them  the  greatest  prosperity. 

Mr.  Hennen,  of  New-Orleans,  remarked,  that  he  understood  the 
Louisianians  commenced  manufactures  in  the  United  States,  and  that 
they  are  now  the  greatest  manufacturers  in  the  world.  They  manu- 
facture cotton  from  the  seed. 

Recently  they  have  introduced  a  new  machine,  by  which  one  man 
can  gather  and  gin  an  amount  of  cotton  in  one  day  equal  to  the  pro- 
duct of  the  labor  of  forty  men  on  the  old  system.  It  was  invented  by 
Mr.  Pierce,  an  Englishman. 

England  has  failed  in  all  her  attempts  to  raise  cotton  in  the  Indies 
and  elsewhere,  and  experience  proves  that  the  cotton  plant  will  not 
thrive  except  in  about  3  degrees  of  latitude — between  30°  and  34.° 

It  grows  well  in  Egypt,  and  seed  has  been  imported  from  there  to 
Louisiana  and  found  to  do  well.  It  is  between  the  Sea  Island  and 
the  Mexican.  The  Mexican,  or  Gulf  cotton,  was  raised  to  its  present 
perfection,  by  a  careful  selection  of  seed,  and  superior  cultivation. 


624  [Senate 

The  low  price  of  cotton  has  compelled  them  to  introduce  labor  saving 
machinery,  and  to  employ  their  labor  to  better  advantage  than  former- 
ly ;  6,8  and  10  cents  are  the  present  prices  ;  it  has  sold  as  high  as  37 
and  40  cents ;  hence  the  impossibility  of  raising  it  to  advantage,  and 
hence  too  the  feeling  fast  extending  itself  throughout  the  South,  that 
other  pursuits  must  be  substituted.  Mr.  H.  had  been  familiar  with 
the  business  from  its  infancy.  He  descended  the  Mississippi  river  with 
the  first  bale  of  cotton  or  hemp,  the  first  hogshead  of  tobacco,  barrel 
of  pork,  and  bag  of  saltpetre,  that  came  out  of  that  river. 

One  of  the  substitutes  contemplated  to  supply  the  place  of  cotton, 
was  silk,  in  the  culture  of  which  he  was  prepared  to  embark  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  and  for  producing  which  he  considered  Louisiana  pe- 
culiarly adapted.  He  was  satisfied  from  what  he  had  seen,  that  the 
worms  could  there  be  fed  without  a  loss  of  1  per  cent,  and  was  confi- 
dent that,  with  proper  exertion,  the  South  could  clothe  its  negroes 
cheaper  in  silk  than  with  wool  or  cotton.      (Cheers.) 

The  President  called  the  attention  of  the  convention  to  some  beauti- 
ful specimens  of  domestic  sewing  silk  manufactured,  and  sent  to  the 
fair  by  several  young  ladies  in  South  Carolina. 

John  S.  Pierce,  of  Burlington  Vt.,  now  rose  and  spoke  of  his  own 
State  as  well  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  silk.  There  was  no  difficul- 
ty whatever  in  any  department  of  the  work.  They  could  raise  the 
worm,  reel  the  silk,  and  manufacture  it  too  !  (Applause.)  Then  with 
a  glow  of  real  pride  and  independence  he  exclaimed  !  And  here  Mr. 
President,  is  a  proof  of  it  !  I  am  clothed  throughout  in  silk  manufac- 
tured entirely  by  my  wife,  and  that  too  with  no  better  machinery  than 
a  common  wheel  and  loom,  such  as  are  used  in  working  flax.  (Loud 
and  continued  applause.) 

The  President  here  very  humorously  remarked,  "  here,  do  you  see 
him  ?  is  a  gentleman  too  poor  to  wear  British  broadcloth,  but  wears 
silk  of  his  own  production." 

Mr.  Pierce  further  stated,  that  his  family  had  no  experience  save 
what  they  had  acquired  by  practice,  and  that  his  lady  had  become  sat- 
isfied that  she  could  make  a  yard  of  silk  cloth  easier  than  of  flax  or 
wool.  The  suit  in  which  he  was  clad  was  made  of  perforated  cocoons. 
(It  was  a  most  beautiful  and  substantial  article,  and  called  forth  great 
applause  from  the  crowd  who  surrounded  him  for  some  time,  to  exam- 
ine its  texture,  and  to  grasp  the  hand  of  a  man  whose  independence  and 
patriotism,  not  his  poverty,  compelled  him  to  appear  m  the  product  of 
his  own  hands,  in  preference  to  "  British  broadcloth,  "  or  any  other  fo- 
reign fabric. 

Colonel  Clark  remarked  that  the  culture  of  cotton  had  become  so 
exceedingly  unprofitable,  that  the  South  must  inevitably  be  driven  into 
other  pursuits.  Wool  offered  one,  and  men  are  now  traversing  the 
Northern  States,  collecting  droves  to  stock  their  plantations.  The 
South  presents  an  immense  field  for  men  of  mind  to  occupy  and  culti- 
vate ;  and  it  is  likely  to  become  by  far  the  most  important  part  of  this 


No.  105.]  525 

Union.  The  culture  of  silk  can  doubtless  be  made  a  most  valuable 
substitute  for  cotton.  It  is  impossible  to  calculate  the  value  of  this 
branch  of  industry  to  the  United  States,  when  it  once  becomes  perma- 
nently established.  Teach  any  number  of  negroes  to  feed  the  silk 
worm  and  gather  the  cocoons,  and  they  will  produce  results  far  ex- 
ceeding any  present  pursuit.  Here  is  one  of  our  Vice  Presidents  from 
Vermont,  clothed  in  silk  of  his  own  make  !  It  is  made  in  Maine  ;  cer- 
tainly in  Connecticut ;  and  if  in  the  extreme  North,  where  we  are 
obliged  to  limit  our  operations  to  three  and  at  most  four  months  it  can 
be  done  with  profit,  what  may  not  done  at  the  south,  where  six,  eight, 
and  ten  months  may  be  devoted  to  it  I 

A  miscellaneous  conversation  here  followed,  on  the  comparative 
quality  of  wool  grown  at  the  north  and  south,  in  which  Mr.  Afflick,  of 
Mississippi,  Col.  Clark,  and  others  participated,  some  contending  that 
the  wool  became  coarser  grown  at  the  south,  and  others  maintaining 
the  opposite  opinion. 

Dr.  Wait,  of  Delaware,  then  took  the  floor,  and  said  that  he  was 
probably  the  only  person  in  that  State,  engaged  in  the  silk  culture. 
He  commenced  in  1838,  the  year  of  the  "  mulberry  excitement,"  and 
had  been  engaged  in  it  ever  since,  believing  that  from  $50  to  $60 
clear  profit  can  be  realized  from  every  acre  devoted  to  the  business. 
He  had  worked  to  great  disadvantage,  being  obliged  to  pull  down  one 
year  what  he  had  erected  the  year  previous  ;  but  since  the  introduc- 
tion of  Gill's  cradle,  he  had  diminished  the  labor  of  feeding  from  eight 
or  ten  to  that  of  two  persons. 

He  had  this  year  been  unfortunate  in  trusting  to  the  worms  to  spin 
in  the  bush  ;  it  occasioned  a  loss  of  one  half  his  worms.  There  must 
be  attached  to  the  cradle  some  apparatus  for  the  worms  to  spin  in.  He 
had  adopted  a  plan  to  accomplish  this  end,  and  now  considered  the 
system  of  cradle  feeding  almost  perfect. 

Formerly  he  had  reeled  his  own  cocoons,  but  owing  to  the  death  of 
his  reeler,  he  this  year  brought  them  to  the  filature  of  Mr.  Van  Epps, 
of  this  city. 

Mr.  Afflick,  of  Mississippi  took  the  floor. 

He  had  come  to  the  north  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  sheep,  and 
had  just  returned  from  examining  those  exhibited  at  the  fair  of  the  N. 
Y.  State  Agricultural  Society  at  Utica.  The  sheep  they  have  in  Mis- 
sissippi and  Louisiana  were  generally  poor,  and  the  wool  filled  with 
burrs.  They  had,  however,  some  there  as  fine  as  can  be  found  in  any 
part  of  the  country.     Their  pasture  continues  throughout  the  year. 

Silk  had  been  grown  to  some  extent,  and  with  great  success.  No- 
thing is  needed  but  the  most  simple  shelter,  to  protect  from  rain  and 
birds.  He  saw  no  reason  why  it  could  not  be  prosecuted  from  March 
to  December  ;  and  there  was  no  obstacle  to  prevent  Mississippi,  Ten- 
nessee, Louisiana,  Georgia,  and  South  Carolina  from  entering  into  it 
with  great  success,  and  to  any  desired  extent. 

Dr.  Phillips  has  taken  the  lead  near  Natchez,  and  has  been  follow- 
ed  by  several  of  his  neighbors. 


526  [Senate 

Mr.  Afflick  said  the  Bermuda  grass  had  become  a  great  article  in 
his  State.  One  person  realized  by  its  cultivation  $100  per  acre.  In- 
stead of  the  common  rail  fence,  they  had  introduced  the  Cherokee  rose. 
It  is  a  running  plant,  and  forms  a  vast  hedge.  A  planter  who  has  his 
plantation  well  fenced  with  it,  need  have  no  fear  of  his  negroes  ab- 
sconding. These  hedges  grow  to  the  height  of  18  feet,  fall  over  on 
each  side,  and  are  all  winter  covered  with  most  beautiful  single  white 
roses. 

Our  finest  grape  at  the  south,  is  the  Jack  grape.  It  grows  in  fine 
large  bunches,  and  makes  excellent  wine.  Mr.  Longworth's  grape  of 
Ohio  is  the  same.  We  are  beginning  to  raise  peaches  for  the  New- 
Orleans  market,  which  sell  readily  at  $11  per  barrel ;  have  had  them 
on  my  table  measuring  13  inches  in  circumference.  I  think  we  might, 
in  our  fruits,  astonish  northern  horticulturists.  The  comparative 
ease  with  which  we  produce,  has  made  us  somewhat  shiftless,  but  we 
have  quite  as  large  a  proportion  of  good  farmers  at  the  south  as  at  the 
north. 

Mr.  Robinson,  of  Indiana,  stated  that  there  was  a  great  opening  for 
wool  growers  in  Indiana,  but  he  did  not  know  whether  they  could 
compete  with  Mr.  Afflick.  This  the  future  must  decide.  We  have 
certainly  one  disadvantage — we  must  always  provide  feed  for  five  full 
months. 

Mr.  R.  thought  the  south  could  not  raise  sheep  to  any  great  advan- 
tage. A  man  to  carry  on  this  business  with  success,  must  be  himself 
a  shepherd,  and  carry  the  lambs  in  his  own  bosom,  and  not  trust  to 
miserable  "  lazy  niggers. '^'^ 

He  could  go  to  Ohio,  and  with  the  assistance  of  one  boy,  return 
home  in  one  month  with  1,000  head  of  sheep,  at  a  cost  of  less  than 
one  dollar  per  head,  and  if  he  did  not  wish  to  keep  them  himself  could 
let  his  neighbors  have  them  for  half  their  wool,  or  receive  double  their 
number  in  three  years.  We  can  keep  them  on  hay,  which  in  the 
stack  costs  us  but  one  dollar  per  ton.  Our  worst  season  is  late  in 
autumn  ;  the  prairie  grass  then  fails,  and  we  are  obliged  to  sow  rye  or 
other  grain  for  fall  feed.  One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  matter 
is  our  clayey  soils ;  there  are  other  sections  free  from  this  objection 
in  abundance,  where  wool  can  be  raised  to  profit  for  12  J  cents  per 
pound. 

Gen.  Tallmadge. — Are  they  not  troubled  with  burrs  1 

Mr.  R. — We  are  not,  but  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  they 
prove  a  great  annoyance. 

Great  losses  are  frequently  sustained  by  over  driving.  Drivers 
should  never  drive  over  10  miles  per  day ;  nine-tenths  of  the  driving 
is  done  after  August,  and  not  wishing  to  feed  hay,  they  are  turned  out 
on  the  prairies,  where  they  are  frequently  found  in  a  state  of  actual 
starvation. 


No.  105.]  527 

Mr.  Afflick  said,  in  answer  to  the  remark,  that  the  wool  market 
might  be  glutted  ;  that  Mr.  Lawrence,  of  Boston,  informed  him  a  few 
days  since,  that  he  would  now  purchase  for  five  years  in  advance,  at 
present  prices. 

An  animated  conversation  here  took  place  on  the  subject  of  silk 
growing,  in  which  several  gentlemen  from  the  South  engaged.  The 
facts  elicited  were  of  great  interest,  and  calculated  to  prove  conclu- 
sively the  feasibility  of  the  business,  and  the  certainty  of  its  progress, 
and  final  triumph. 


TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


According  to  the  arrangements  made  by  the  Executive  Committee  with  J.  B.  Nott, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Society,  he  will  visit  the  county  Societies  and  discharge  the 
duties  of  an  Agricultural  Lecturer. 


« 


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